38 FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 
Mr. Hircucock. Everything in connection with the fur-seal service. 
Mr. Crarx. I want to get the figures. You say 97,000 cows? 
Mr. Hireucock. Ninety-seven thousand two hundred and ninety-six. 
Mr. Cuarx. And how many active bulls? 
Mr. Hircucock. Two thousand, three hundred and forty-three. 
Mr. Crark. And how many inactive bulls? 
Mr. Hircucocx. About 500 on both islands. 
Mr. Crark. Is that all the bulls there are up there? 
Mr. Hircucock. That is all of the bulls. That does not mean all 
the male seals, however. ; 
Mr. Ciarx. There isn’t any sort of a male seal except a bull, is 
there? 
Mr. Hirencocx. You understand that before the male seals reach 
maturity they are not called bulls. 
Mr. Crarx. What are they called? 
Mr. Hrtcucockx. The term usually employed is ‘‘ bachelors.” 
Mr. Cuiark. They are of no earthly account, are they? 
Mr. Hrrcscocx. The company would not say that; it is the bach- 
elors they take for their skins. 
My. Crarx. What I want to get at is the total number. You say 
there are 97,000 cows, 2,300 heads of families, and 500 that are not 
doing anything? 
Mr. Hircucock. There were probably over 200,000 seals of all kinds, 
including pups, on and about the Pribilof Islands last summer. 
Mr. Crarx. Senator Faulkner says this company averages 17,000 
that they kill, How many do the English and the Japanese get? 
Mr. Hircucocs. I am coming to that. 
Mr. Crarx. Are those figures in such shape that you can hand them 
to the reporter? 
Mr. Hircscock. Yes; I have them in tabular form. 
Mr. Crarx. What I want is to get at the facts, so we can form some 
rational conclusion as to whether this seal herd is decreasing or increas- 
ing, or what it is doing. 
The Cuatrman. Do your figures show a comparative statement? 
Mr. Urrencock. They do. 
The Cuarrman. You may insert them in the records. (See p. 57.) 
Mr. Hrrescock. I will do so. But if you will permit me, I should 
like to present at this time the statistics that were requested a moment 
ago regarding pelagic sealing. The number of skins taken last season 
off the northwest coast and in Bering Sea by the Canadian sealing fleet, 
as officially reported by our consul at Victoria, was 12,026, to which 
should be added 765 skins taken along the coast by Indians in canoes, 
making a total of 12,791. These figures relate exclusively to the 
American herd. They do not inelude the skins taken by the Canadian 
fleet in Asiatic waters, amounting last season to 1,910; nor do these 
figures include skins taken from the American herd by vessels sailing 
under flags other than the Canadian, and there is reason to believe that 
during the past season a considerable catch was made by such vessels. 
There can be little doubt, however, that the entire pelagic catch, 
including skins taken by Japanese vessels as well as Canadian, has 
been much smaller during the past few seasons than it was several 
years ago. In 1899, and also again in 1900, the Canadian fleet. took 
over 33,000 skins from the American herd. Since then the catch at 
sea has undoubtedly been much reduced, and consequently the pelagic 
