154 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
Suppose that a crew of 25 or 30 men were landed in July on Reef rookery of St. 
Paul; that these men entered the breeding grounds and slaughtered every animal 
they could reach, keeping up the operation day after day as new animals came ashore 
or until no more were found, returning the following season to pick up any remnant 
which might be left. This would be the method of slaughter in the southern 
hemisphere transferred to the northern. 
“INDISCRIMINATE,” NOT “EXCESSIVE.” 
The trouble with the contention of the British commissioners lies in the use of 
“excessive” for “indiscriminate.” It was not the contention of the United States 
that the land killing of the south seas was identical in method with open-sea killing 
in the north, but rather that the results were identical. Both were indiscriminate 
killing, and, as a result, it was to be expected that the fate of the southern rookeries 
would overtake those of the north if such slaughter were continued. That the herds 
of the north have lasted longer than those of the south is simply the results of their 
protection on land. Were it possible for the pelagic sealers to land on the Pribilof 
and Commander islands, they could accomplish in one season what it has taken a 
dozen years to accomplish contending with the uncertainties of the sea. 
PREPONDERANCE OF FEMALES. 
Before the Paris Tribunal, and even subsequent to it, the claim has been made 
that land killing was excessive in its reduction of male life, and had been in large 
measure, if not wholly, responsible for the decline. We have already discussed the 
latter part of this contention and shown its untenable character. ‘The fact, however, 
is freely admitted that the killing on land had greatly reduced the male life of the 
herd. The investigations of the past season, showing that about twenty-nine males 
out of thirty born are destined to be superfluous, indicate how this has been possible 
without affecting the herd. Since the islands came into the possession of the United 
States nearly 3,000,000 male seals have been taken on land, while no females whatever 
have been killed. 
The point we wish to make clear is, that with such an abstraction of male life it 
naturally results that the herd as a whole under normal conditions must show a large 
excess of females. Notwithstanding this self-evident fact, it has been persistently 
contended by those interested in pelagic sealing that the pelagic catch contained no 
preponderance of females; that in fact the sexes as found and taken at sea were 
practically equal. 
THE SEALING CAPTAINS’ RECORD OF SEXES TAKEN. 
To illustrate this, we may say that under the regulations of the Paris award it 
was made obligatory on the captains of sealing vessels to keep a record of the sexes 
of all animals taken. It was manifestly absurd to suppose that men engaged ina 
business like pelagic sealing would take the trouble to report accurately facts which 
must injure their business, The result has been that whenever the sex returns have 
been supplied by the sealers themselves the sexes have been reported so nearly equal 
that the proportion of females has on the average rarely exceeded 55 per cent. What 
we have said regarding the relation of land killing to the proportion of the sexes is 
sufficient proof of the falsity of these returns. But we also note that during the 
