42 FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 
The Cuarrman. We all have. What questions have you to ask? 
Mr. Extiorr. Let Mr. Hitchcock tell the committee how many 
seals under 2 years old are up there to-day which he proposes to save. 
Mr. Hrrcncocn. Kindly repeat that question. 
Mr. Ex.iorr. How many seals on those islands next summer under 
9 years of age will you be able to save, and will they kill 15,000, as 
you say you will allow? 
Mr. Hrrcscock. Mr. Elliott, I think you are as competent as I am 
to make an estimate of that number. 
The Cuarrman. If you want to ask any questions for information, 
ask them. We do not propose to allow a cross-examination. 
Mr. Exxiorr. I would like to have the gentleman answer the ques- 
tions in your presence. How many seals! 
Mr. Warson. I do not understand that they were to have the privi- 
lege of killing 15,000. He said that they were to save all under 2 
years old. 
Mr. Hircsxcock. Yes, sir; that is correct. 
Mr. Grosvenor. And if the 15,000 did not materialize, that would 
be their bad luck? 
Mr. Hitcucocn. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Extiotr. How would you draw that distinction, ‘‘long” two 
‘years or “‘short” two years? 
The Cuarrman. What do you mean by “‘long” years or ‘‘ short” 
ears? 
‘ Mr. Exuiorr. They have ‘‘long” two years old or ‘‘ short” two 
years old. 
The Cuarrman. We take the ordinary sense of two years which 
means twenty-four months. 
Mr. Cuark. A yearling is a yearling from the time that it is a year 
old until it is 2 years old. _ 
The Cuarrman. He said no seals under 2 years old. A man of 
ordinary sense understands that, and I do not think we will quibble 
on that. 
Mr. Hrrencock. The agents on the island understand perfectly the 
distinction, and they will be able to carry out the instructions, with the 
information they have. 
Mr. Exuiotr. He says these agents will carry out these instructions. 
How have they carried them out heretofore? The law says they shall 
not kill any seal under a year old up there. I state here, weighing 
my ue carefully, that they have killed thousands of seals under a 
year old. 
The Cuarrman. That statement has been made and it has been con- 
tradicted. Have you any evidence as to that? 
Mr. Evtiotr. I have it here, and I want to present it. If these 
agents are going to make this selection in 1904, we want to know what 
they have clone in the past year. 
Last summer they were allowed to kill 25,000 seals if they could get 
them. They only killed 19,000. I have an analysis of a sale made in 
London on the 17th of December, 19038. Fifteen thousand one hundred 
and eighty of those 19,000 skins were sold at this sale, on the 17th of 
= a and I have an analysis of the sale of every skin that was 
sold. 
The Cuairman. You suggested yesterday that you should judge 
from the weight of the skins- 
