538 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



year later, after I had spent two months in the autumn of 1896 hunt- 

 ing for these animals and seeing them by the thousands, and when 

 Lucas and myself were looking for them in 1897, with the experience 

 we had in 1896, we found them very readily. We are, however, made 

 to contradict Dr. Jordan by a change of date. 



The Chairman. Do you mean that means July 25, 1897 ? 



Mr. Clark. I mean that it should be July 25, 1896. 



The Chairman. That is a mistake in the figures there? 



Mr. Clark. Yes. 



The Chairman. That is your explanation of that? 



Mr. Clark. Yes. It is a serious matter to make a mistake like 

 that when you are charging persons with a contradiction. 



Mr. McGuire. Who made that mistake ? 



Mr. Clark. It must have been made by the person who prepared 

 this manuscript for the printer. 



Mr. McGuire. Who prepared that ? 



Mr. Clark. Mr. Henry W. Elliott. 



Mr. Elliott. I quote the page right there; there is no mistake in 

 that. 



The Chairman. Let us clear that up right here now. 



Mr. Clark. This reference is to page 341 of volume 2 of the record 

 of field notes of the commission of 1896-97. It is the second para- 

 graph from the bottom of the page. The full text is as follows: 



At the time of our first enumeration on Kitovi, Tolstoi, and the Lagoon the rookeries 

 were at their height, with more cows present than at any time since. But all were 

 not in, and no yearlings nor 2-year-olds had appeared. Nor am I sure that any have 

 appeared since, unless yearling cows are among the bachelors. I have never seen one, 

 and am not sure that I have seen a 2-year-old. 



That is dated July 25, 1896. 



Mr. McGuire. Who made that statement ? 



Mr. Clark. That is Dr. Jordan's note at page 341. The observa- 

 tions of 1897 began on page 517 of this volume, and the page reference 

 here, as given by Mr. Elliott, is correctly given. The numbers 544 

 to 566 are the pages given for the Lucas-Clark notes, but they are 

 only in part. This is the document right here [indicating] to show it. 



the Chairman. Where did you get the 1897? 



Mr. Elliott. I quote that light from the journal here. 



Mr. McGuire. You came within a year of it. 



The Chairman. What he means is that this was in the year 1896 

 instead of 1897. 



Mr. McGuire. That statement is all right except that there is a 

 mistake of one year. 



Mr. Elliott. But that is corrected in the next year by his own 

 people. 



Mr. McGuire. But you said you were right about this. 



Mr. Elliott. That is your own witness that makes that statement. 

 I proved the yearlings were there, and he denied it. 



Mr. Clark. The thing I want to protest against on my own part 

 and Dr. Jordan's part is that we are made to contradict each other 

 by a mistake or a change of the date. 



The Chairman. The committee will determine that. 



Mr. Elliott. That is correctly quoted, and it has not been changed 

 for any purpose. 



Mr. McGuire. I suggest Mr. Elliott testify when the time comes. 

 I think the dignity of the committee would require the examination 



