FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 87 



COWS corae laden with pups, waiting until the last moment in the water to 

 goashorettxleliver, because they can roll and scratch and heli) themselves 

 better than if they haul out when heavy with pup, and so they stay in 

 tbe water jjlayiug about until their iustinct warns them it is time to go 

 ashore, and during that time they are massed in great quantities in the 

 sea. 



Q. Now, in that view of it, the destruction of them there is almost 

 practically the same as the destruction on the islands ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. And the conditions are as bad? — A. Yes, sir; and often worse, for 

 this reason : If you kill a pup you destroy a single life, but in killing a 

 cow you not otdy destroy the life that may be, but the source from 

 which life comes hereafter, and when they are killed therein the water 

 by a shot-gun or a spear, the proportion saved by the hunters is 

 probably not one in seven. That was their own estimate; that out of 

 eight shots they would save one seal and seven were lost. If they were 

 killed on the land, those seven would go towards filling out their score. 



By JNIr. Jeffries : 



Q. In that connection, please state if it be a fact that at that time 

 tbe cows are with pup. — A. I already stated that, and that you not 

 only killed the cows and pup, but you kill the source of life of future 

 pups. 



Q. Of course this is a matter of opinion, and a matter of opinion that 

 only one who understands the habit of these seals could judge of. The 

 same instinct that lias driven seal away from other rookeries throughout 

 the world — would not that same iustinct, if they learn the fact, which 

 they must learn the same as the other did, teach them that it is unsafe for 

 them to go to these places, and in order to reach those places they have 

 to go in this manner, and would not that result in their leaving those 

 islands ; whether they were killed on the island and driven away or 

 whether they were killed in approaching the islands, would it not be 

 the same ? — A. In that connection, it would be proper to state here that 

 the Russians, who are acquainted with the habits of the seal and accus- 

 tomed to taking them, stated at the time of cession, "We sold the 

 seals, but the Americans will soon drive them back to us; they will have 

 the rocks and we will have the seals." The theory was that the indis- 

 criminate slaughter of seal by the American people, not being re- 

 stricted, would drive the seal over to the Russian Islands, and they 

 reached that opinion from the experience of the earlier days of their 

 seal-hunting; they had seen what resulted from the indiscriminate kill- 

 ing, and that caused the Russians to believe that the seals would be 

 driven over to the other islands. "Now," they said " the Americans 

 have got the seal, but they will only have them for a season, when we 

 "^illhave their money and the seals, too." 



By the Chairman: 



Q. Will you state just when and under what circumstances your com- 

 pany, or the persons comprising your company, commenced operations 

 on those islands, and what were the conditions after the cession and 

 prior to the ceding of those islands and reservation by the Government 

 of the United States? Just state the history of the transaction in that 

 connection.— A. Immediately after the cession and before restriction 

 iiad been i>laced by the Government? 



Q. Yes, sir. — A. My business at that time led me into the Pacific. I 

 was living at the Sandwich Islands, where I had been for some years, 

 tiLd had sealing vessels in those waters prior to that time ; and it was a 



