FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 71 



suicidal. J do Dot tliink there is a possible question, bat if .you will al- 

 low these marandinj; schooners to go into Bering- Sea and hunt any- 

 where, siiy 10 miles off, that it is only a matter of Lime, and not a long 

 time, before the seal fishery is ruined. The cod, and halibut, and sal- 

 mon lishing 1 am not conversant enough about, any mor*' than by au 

 idea how it will affect that lishing iu our portiou of the Nvaters on the 

 Connecticut coast. 



Q. In other words, fishing seems to be open to all nations coming 

 there, and the other fellow has bait gourd. — A. On the northwest coast 

 it is just the other way. We have the bait gourd, the water, and the big- 

 fish. 



Q. And the bait too? — A. And the bait, too. 



Q. So you think if we had it all, the policy would be to keep it all ? — 

 A. I generally think when 1 have got a good thing I do not w^ant to 

 give it to my neighbors without an equivalent. There is no question 

 but what these schooners have had an effect upon the rookeries in' the 

 last three years iu the difference in the way the seals arrive. A large 

 number of these seals come ashore wounded and carrying lead. I think 

 last season I took out of 18,000 or 20,000 as much lead as I could hold 

 iu my hands this way, bullets and shot. I do iu)t know that I saw but 

 one seal that would have died. This one was wounded with four buck- 

 shot, and was breathing through the wount> and not through his uos- 

 trils ; that was a fresh wound. There is no question in my mind but 

 what a very large percentage of those animals taken near the shore are 

 females. I was requested by officers of revenue vessels to investigate 

 certain skins they seized there, and that is where 1 got my information 

 iu that respect. 



Q. Do you think it is important for theGovernment to keep a revenue- 

 cutter in these waters during the sealing season ? — A. 1 do. 



Q. In addition to the precautious you mention of requiring vessels 

 to enter at Ooualaska?— A. One cutter to cruise tlie sea would be suf- 

 ficient. If you will allow vessels to go there within a limit of 9, 10, or 

 20 miles, you want sufficient vessels to keep them off". It is almost im- 

 possible for the men there to watch over these vessels, for they might 

 get lost iu a fog and drift inside of that limit, and if he intended to be 

 dishonest it is the easiest thing in the world for him to slip over on the 

 island and kill a few seals. 



Q. Is whale fishing carried on to auy extent? — A. Not near these 

 islands or Oonalaska. 



Q. They will generally go through that sea? — A. They go up by it. 



Q. Have you ever formed an estimate of the value of the seal rook- 

 eries as a property, if it was reducible to possession and control ? — A. 

 I have always felt and said that if the United States Government would 

 give ai)Solute protection I would be perfectly willing to ))ay them for the 

 seal fishery what they paid for Alaska originally— $7,500j^000. 



Q. Well, the Government has very nearly got even on its i)urchase? — 

 A. Yes, sir; and it is more valuable to-day than In 1868, when they 

 first got it. 



Q. How has it worked that?— A. In 1877 the company issued a re- 

 port in regard to the rookeries. At that time I was on St. George 

 Island, January, 1877. There were two men in the employ of the com- 

 ])aHy who were available to make that report. One was Mr. Daniel 

 Webster, an excellent man,who was there in 18G8and 18G0, and he went 

 over the rookeries and inspected all around the islands. They had in- 

 creased largely on the west end of St. Paul. Tluu-e is a"^ rookery 

 there now that will produce probably 5,000 or 10,000 seal. In 1868 not 



