INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 655 



Mr. Gallagher. They are, to the best of 1117 knowledge and belief. 



The Chairman. I notice that you have a certificate as to the correct- 

 ness of the documents as you saw them ? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes. 



The Chairman. While the counting was going on, you merely 

 took the notes and 



Mr. Gallagher (interposing). Mr. Elliott and I estimated the 

 number of seals at the places designated on his chart, and as he finished 

 each place Mr. Elliott dictated a sort of description of that particular 

 place. 



The Chairman. And you took the notes in doing this ? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir; and in that particular description we 

 used the figures as shown at that particular rookery. 



The Chairman. You did not go there as an expert on seals and 

 their history, but simply as an expert stenographer? 



Mr. Gallagher. That is correct. 



The Chairman. That is what the record shows, that he is not an 

 expert on the herds of seals, and so on. 



Mr. Stephens. In weighing the skins you say the smaller one 

 was put on the larger one? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Stephens. That twine was added to them and they were tied 

 up together? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Stephens. Was the flesh of those skins put together? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Stephens. And the fur left on the outside ? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Stephens. Were these bundles untied or was the salt left 

 between the skins? 



Mr. Gallagher. The salt was left between the skins as they were 

 bundled. 



Mr. Stephens. Then when did you discover that blubber was on 

 the sealskins ? 



Mr. Gallagher. The skins were loose in the first place. 



Mr. Stephens. They were loose in the first place when they were 

 weighed ? 



Mr. Gallagher. They were not weighed separately. They were 

 loose in the first place, and were extracted from the loose salt by the 

 natives. 



Mr. Stephens. Was the salt shaken off of them then ? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes; and afterwards there were several handfuls 

 of salt thrown on the skins; that is, before they were bundled. 



Mr. Stephens. What I was trying to get at particularly was the 

 way you handled them. As I understand it, they were all packed 

 together; and you would take out a small skin and shake the salt from 

 that skin, and then take a large skin and shake the salt from it, and 

 put the flesh sides together. 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Stephens. Then tie twine around them, and those two skins 

 would be weighed together ? 



Mr. Gallagher. Yes, sir; and before they were tied together there 

 were several handfuls of salt thrown on the different skins by the 

 natives. 



