74 FUE-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



they have been exterminated or been driven away ? Take your time, 

 and state it to the committee in your own way. — A. Witli regard to 

 the habits of the fur seal as an animal I know that at certain seasons of 

 the year the cows come upon the laud for the pnrjwse of giving birth 

 to pups and the ordinary purposes of reproduction. They come regularly 

 to certain haunts familiar to them, remain there usually through six 

 mouths of the year, go through the process of delivering their young and 

 shedding their coats. At the proper time in the season they take their 

 departure from these haunts for points practically unknown. When they 

 are on the land they are at the mercy of whomsoever hunts them, un- 

 less there are restrictions. The history of sealing goes back to about 

 1790, and from that to the early })art of this century. 



In the earlier period of which 1 speak there were no seals known in 

 the North Pacific Ocean. Their particular haunt was the South Atlan- 

 tic. They were discovered by Cook in his voyages, on the island of 

 Desolation, by Widdall,in his voyages to the south pole, on the island 

 of South Georgia and Sandwichland, and by latter voyagers, whose 

 names escape me, in the islands of the South Pacific (Jceau. When 

 the number of seals on those islands were first brought to the notice of 

 British merchauts they pursued the hunting of these animals on the 

 island of Desolation. The most authentic authority we have about the 

 matter is derived from reports made by these voyagers as to the number 

 of seals taken from those places, and although they are not entirely ac- 

 curate, I think they are fully as accurate as could be expected, consid- 

 ering the lapse of time. On the island of Desolation it is estimated that 

 1,200,000 fur seals were taken; from the island of South Georgia a like 

 number were taken, and from the island of Masafuero probably a greater 

 number were taken. As to the Sandwichland the statistics are not 

 clear, but there can be no doubt that over half a million seals were taken 

 from that locality, and in 1820 the islands of South Shetland, south of 

 Cape Horn were discovered, and from these islands 320,000 fur seal were 

 taken in two years. There were other localities from which seals were 

 taken, but no others where they were found in such large numbers. The 

 market for fur seals in those days was China. The trade which the 

 Brjtish and Americans had with China was very much against theai 

 becatise of the high rates of exchange upon the coin. 



In the trade with China some exchangeable medium was necessary, 

 and they found in the fine furs of various kinds, particularly the fur 

 seal and sea otter, a good medium of exchange. These skins of which 

 I have spoken were sent mostly to China, altiiough some portions went 

 to England and France and Germany, and were exported from there to 

 Eussia. They were used in the manufacture of caps and capes and 

 small articles of that character. The Chinese used them for lining gar- 

 ments and making dresses of luxury and comfort for their mandarins. 

 The market price for these skins in China, as nearly as can be found 

 now, was $4 to $G, but it often happened that when there was a 

 large quantity in the market, the price of skins was depressed, so that 

 they would bring scarcely 50 cents apiece. Captain Delano carried a 

 cargo of 38,000 skins to China and sold them for $16,000, which shows 

 the result of a depressed market, and the uncertainty of all ventures of 

 that sort. The trade went on until these localities were all exhausted 

 of their fur-bearing animals. Then the trade went into a state of des- 

 uetude, and was ended. There were a few skins brought in from the 

 Capeof Good Hope occasionally, but I do not think they averaged a 

 thousand skins a year from all these places. 



Q. What is the condition now of those rookeries that you have enu- 



