FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 237 



Q. After they have bronoht forth their young do you know whether 

 or not it is their habit to leave the rookeries and go down for food and 

 stay sometimes for days at a time before coming back to nurse their 

 young ! — A. Yes, sir ; 1 understand that is one of their habits. 



Q. And that when thej^ are killed while with young two seals are 

 lost ?— A. Yes, sir. 



Q. If after they bring forth their young they go down for food and 

 are killed, then what becomes of the young seals ou the rooker;^^ f — A. 

 1 sui)i)ose they would starve to death. 



Q. In that event two seals are wasted? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Did you happen to observe, among the skins that you captured 

 in Bering Sea, whether or not a large majority of those skins were the 

 skins of female seals? — A. I looked over the captured skins as they 

 were passed out of the vessels, and 1 estimated that 75 per cent, of them 

 were skins of female seal. 



By Mr. Macdonald: 



Q. I want to ask you whether, in stating that if the present condition 

 of things continues the seals would not be exterminated, you took into 

 consideration the tact that 75 per cent, of these were females ? — A. That 

 did not enter my mind at the time. 



Q. That being the case, it would largely increase the liability of their 

 being exterminated f — A. Yes, sir. 



By Mr. Felton : 



Q. Was it not your idea that if the present state of things continued 

 that the seals would continue to increase? — A. Yes, sir 5 with protec- 

 tion. 



Q. You eliminated from your idea this killing in the open sea? — A. 

 Xot wholly. Of course the more there are taken the more liability there 

 is that the seals will decrease. 



Q. If there were no depredations more seals could be taken on the 

 island by the company ? — ^^A. More could be killed on the island if there 

 were none at all killed in the water. 



Q. And those killed on the islands are of a better grade? — A. Yes, 

 sir ; they are the best of the seals. 



By Mr. Jeffries: 



Q. Do you happen to know whether the company kill any female 

 seals? — A. They are very careful not to do so. 



Q. They are not permitted to by law ? — A. No, sir. 



Q. It has been stated in testimony here that not one out of five, six, 

 or seven of the seals wounded in the water are recovered. I thirds: you 

 put the estimate a little lower than that. Have you any knowledge ou 

 that subject? — A. I think they recover about one half. 



Q. In 1887 you say there were 40,000 skins taken by these maraud- 

 ers ? — A. Y^es, sir; according to the best information I have. 



Q. If they recover only one-half that would be a loss of 80,000 seals ?— 

 A. Yes, sir. 



Q. And if one-half of those were females with pup it would add to 

 that number very much ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. And it would also deprive them of a capacity for further produc- 

 tion ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. From all these considerations, if Government protection were with- 

 drawn from Bering Sea how long, in your judgment, would it take to 

 exterminate the fur-seal rookeries of Alaska?— A. It is a difficult ques- 



