684 INVESTIGATION OF THE FTJK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



That Dr. Jordan could make such a statement in distinct denial of the only authority 

 which he has used, and knows, is hard to believe, when on page 222, following, of this 

 same report above cited, part third, appears the following translation of Bishop Venia- 

 minov's account of this killing, which was originally published in St. Petersburg, 

 1839, by Yon Baer, to wit: 



"The taking of fur seals commenced in the latter days of September. * * * The 

 siekatchie (bulls) and old females (i. e., two years and older) having been removed, 

 the others are divided into small squads and are carefully driven to the place where 

 they are to be killed, sometimes more than 10 versts distant. * * * 



"When brought to the killing grounds they are rested for an hour or more, according 

 to circumstances, and then killed with a club. * * * Of those one year old, the 

 males are separated from the females and killed; the latter are driven carefully back 

 to the beach." 



Here is the explicit, clear cut statement made by Veniaminov, who; writing in 

 1825, after a season spent on St. Pauls Island, denies Dr. Jordan's assertion that the 

 Russians killed male and female seals alike, and that that killing of females destroyed 

 the herd. 



And still worse for Dr. Jordan, this translation quoted, was made by Leonhard 

 Stejneger, one of Dr. Jordan's own associates on the Seal Islands, in 1896-97. 



I do know that. I have it from hundreds of authorities on the 

 islands. 



Do you wonder now, Mr. Chairman, why Bishop Shaishnikov 

 begged me to omit the salient untruths which were bound up with 

 truths in VenianiinoY 's chapter? 



Please take note of the following fairly grotesque fiction put up in 

 this connection, and soberly brought in to you as an "official report" 

 by Mr. Clark. He testifies, February 24, 1914, to wit: 



Mr. Clark. * * * As to disturbances of the females I wish to cite this descrip- 

 tion of the Russian methods of sealing, Zon's MS., 23 (363): 



"After having chosen favorable weather, and wind, irrespective of the time of 

 day, all inhabitants, men, women, and children arm themselves Avith small clubs, 

 with which they can kill seals, and walk in a line along the shore on which the seals 

 are lying. Having cut off their retreat to the sea, they drive all the seals, without 

 discrimination! inland. . After having driven them some distance, they stop them and 

 begin to separate mother seals and siekatchie, the latter very seldom present. The 

 old mother seals, which have already been driven in this way, as soon as they notice 

 a passage to the sea go by themselves, but the young mother seals can not be driven 

 from the herd at all. where are found their young. Such of necessity are driven to the 

 very killing ground. When the killing of the seals begins, some of these mother 

 seals defend their children, and lie for a long time over the killed ones, so that it is 

 necessary to use force to drive them to the sea." 



The Chairman. They had the same habits then that they have now? 



Mr. Clark. Yes. And all these animals, young and old, are driven up in this 

 heterogeneous mass, and then culled over, and I wish I could draw a picture of injury 

 to mothers and young that must have been done on the killing field." 



Here you have, Mr. Chairman, the very limit of sel£-confessed non- 

 sense and untruth in redriving seals as above cited to you from Venia- 

 minov. Here you have Mr. Clark, with all his "expert" knowledge, 

 putting this absurd relation up to this committee as a fact of his own 

 belief ! 



Why, only think of it! Here is a picture of "all the women and 

 children" with the "'men," actually driving the bulls, cows, and pups 

 up from a rookery over to the killing grounds; i. e., he wants you to 

 believe that men would have "women and children" to help them do 

 such a job. Why, the very absurdity of the idea ought to come to 

 Clark's, mind instantly, if he was sane. If such a job was being done, 

 no "women or children" could or would be in that line between those 

 breeding seals and the sea. 



But Veniaminov in truth and in fact was not describing the driving 

 from a rookery or breeding ground; he was describing the manner in 



