INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 719 



Mr. Bruckner. You mean it is easy for them to tell the difference ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes; they know a yearling or a 2-year-old at sight. 



Mr. Bruckner. And a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old % 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. Mr. Lembkey has testified that thay have a 

 high degree of expertness. It is in his direct testimony. 



The Chairman. It seems to me that any man can tell the difference 

 in height between two men when one is 6 feet tall and another one is 

 5 feet 11 inches. 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir; they stand like so many steps on a stairway, 

 when you look at them riling over the field. There is not a man at 

 this table who could not have gone with me on those hauling grounds 

 last July, and determined that, just as did my friend Gallagher, 

 who saw them for the first time, and in an hour got accustomed 

 to their sizes: he began to realize the difference in their ages in an 

 hour or two. 



Mr. Stephens. There is no way except the size? 



Mr. Elliott. That is all. 



Air. Stephens. Take horses and cattle. You know 



Mr. Elliott (interposing). But they range differently. They 

 are not born all at the same time annually as these seals are. 



Mr. Walsh. But there is some exception even about them ? 



Air. Elliott. Yes; there are exceptions to all rules. There are a 

 few pups born early in June, the 16th of June; and a few born as 

 late as the 5th of August; but they are not one-hundredth of the 

 whole number. They are so few that they do not make the slightest 

 impression on you when looking at the different seals. 



Mr. Walsh. I mean, is there not an exception among those that 

 are born at the same time ? 



Air. Elliott. They are practically born 



Air. Walsh (interposing). The same as in the human being. 



Air. Elliott. You were not here earlier — I can see by your ques- 

 tion — when I stated to the committee that nine-tenths of these fur 

 seals are actually born between the 4th and 20th of July. So they 

 grow evenly into yearlings, and are evenly grown when you see them 

 the next year. 



Air. Patton. What Air. Walsh means is this : Is there not an excep- 

 tion even in the growth of the ones born at the same time ? 



Air. Elliott. Yes, there is, but not enough to mark that grade 

 between the ages. Of course, there are smaller yearlings and bigger 

 yearlings; there are yearlings 41 inches long and yearlings 33 inches 

 long. 



1877. In 1877, Assistant Treasury Agent J. H. Moulton, in charge 

 of St. George Island, reports under date of July 28, 1877, that: 



All the rookeries are in excellent shape. The rookeries and hauling grounds show 

 an increase of at least 33£ per cent over last year. This increase is seen in all classes 

 of seals (p. 97, Seal and Salmon Fisheries). 



In 1878 Chief Special Agent Morton, the son of Senator Alorton, 

 of Indiana, reports under date of May 15, 1878, to the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, from St. Paul Island (pp. 104-105; Seal and Salmon 

 Fisheries, etc.) : 



From a comparison of my observations of the breeding rookeries on this island during 

 the past season, with Treasury Agent Elliott's survey of their boundaries in 1872-73 — 



You see he had my official report upon his shelf there, just as I have 

 told you it was there — 



