510 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



natives helped us to brand on the 3d of September. It occurred 

 prior to the 9th of September, because we had to leave the island on 

 that date. Mr. Lempkey finished the work later in the season. 



Mr. McGuire. And you branded them practically from the 5th 

 to the 10th of September? 



Mr. Clark. That was really too early, and it was done then only 

 because I had to get away. The real time for branding would be a 

 month later. The animals are larger at that time- 

 Mr. McGuire. Then, in 1913, you say, you made a search for the 

 branded animals, and they were not there ? 



Mr. Clark. Except as to this one animal which I found in this 

 bunch on the reef, and we snared it, but I saw, in addition to that one, 

 three other animals, two of them on St. George Island. 



Mr. McGuire. The search you made for them was made during 

 the killing season, was it ? 



Mr. Clark. Yes, the later period of the killing season. Of course, 

 there was no killing in 1913, and so the hauling grounds were undis- 

 turbed. But I could go at any time and look over the bunch of 

 animals as they lay in the hauling ground, and determine if possible 

 whether there were any branded animals among them. 



Mr. McGuire. What truth has the branding of those animals 

 developed ? 



Mr. Clark. It settled the question of the yearling seal. If those 

 animals came in any considerable numbers to the hauling grounds, 

 a large number of the 6,000 branded pups would have appeared on 

 the hauling grounds. So few of them did appear there that we have 

 a right to say that the yearlings do not come to the hauling grounds 

 in the killing season. 



Mr. McGuire. In your report to which attention has been called, 

 I have forgotten the page, you stated that the hauling grounds were 

 practically killed clean. What light has this branding thrown upon 

 your report of 1909, if any? 



Mr. (lark. It has cleared up my doubts at that time. I saw a 

 condition in 1909 where practically every small animal was killed, 

 and the question was whether the yearlings came to the hauling 

 grounds or not. 



Mr. McGuire. That had been the question prior to that time? 



Mr. Clark. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. If they came then the situation of 1909 was a 

 serious one, with respect to that. If the yearlings came to the 

 grounds, they must have been killed, because there was no con- 

 siderable number left not killed. The effect of the branding demon- 

 strated that the yearlings did not come to the hauling grounds and 

 therefore they were necessarily not killed in 1909, and the animals 

 that were killed were the 2-year-olds, or above that age. 



Mr. Clark. That was connected back also to our experience in 

 1897. In 1897 we saw 18,000 annuals killed, and for the 18,000 

 animals killed there was turned back 23,000 of the small animals. 

 Many of the small animals were driven several times. In 1897 the 

 limit of killing was 6 pounds, and that exempted the 2-year-olds. 

 A large part of the annuals turned back in 1897 were 2-year-olds. 

 But the minimum of killing in 1909 was 5 pounds, and this permitted 

 the taking of 2-year-olds into the quota in 1909. 



