INVESTIGATION OF THE EUK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 727 



Dr. Evermann. These tables are weights of live seals which we have down at the 

 bureau. 



Mr. McGillicuddy. They are not skins? 

 Dr. Evermann. Not skins; no, sir. 



(Hearing No. 10, pages 513-514, April 24, 1912, House Committee 

 on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor.) 



THE DEADLY PARALLEL ON BRANDING. 



Geo. A. Clark, February 20, Dr. David Starr Jordan, Novem- 



1914, under oath, declares that ber 7, 1896, officially reports to 



he made the first branding of pup the Secretary of the Treasury^ 



seals to determine when they that Jos. Murray, assistant, Fur 



returned as yearlings in the fol- Seal Commission, on September 



lowing year. This was done by 1-10, 1896, has branded 315 pups 



him September, 1912, on the Reef and 2 cows, at Lukannon and 



rookery, St. Paul Island. Keelavio rookeries, St. Paul 



These pups, all males and Island: " All female pups." (See 



females, had not returned up to p. 62, Treasury Doc. No. 1913: 



July 25 — not one. (Good reason; 1896.) 



they were injured in their brains, They all return in 1897, "on 



if not all killed.) the hauling grounds," and as- 



Geo. A. Clark, February 20, 1914, under 

 oath testified, to wit: 



Mr. Clark. It is true, and I want to 

 explain what I mean by it. They cleaned 

 up all of the 2-year-old animals. They 

 killed absolutely no yearlings out ot the 

 herd, because the yearlings do not appear 

 on the hauling grounds during the killing 

 season. * * * 



Mr. Clark. I did not know it at the 

 time. This matter comes to my knowl- 

 edge as the result of the branding of 1912. 

 We branded 6,000 pups with a red-hot iron 

 on the head, and we searched for those 

 animals the next year, and if yearlings 

 came to the hauling grounds, those ani- 

 mals would have come, and they did not 

 come, except two or three animals which 

 we saw. * * * 



The Chairman. "What I want to ask 

 you is this: How did you arrive at the 

 conclusion that the quota of 1889 was 

 largely made up of yearlings? 



Mr. Clark. The point is in 1896-97, 

 both commissions quite generally 

 assumed that the yearlings came in large 

 numbers in the close of the season on the 

 hauling grounds. That is the way it 

 appeared to us in 1896-97. * * * 



The Chairman. You had the informa- 

 tion that they took yearling seals, did you 

 not, or else it would not be in your report 

 to the Government. 



Mr. Clark. To our knowledge at that 

 time. You remember, this report was 

 published in 1896-97. 



So they u assumed" nothing. They knew in 1896 and 1897, that the 

 pups that they branded in 1896, were back there on the hauling grounds 



"female yearlings." 



(They were not burned with hot 

 irons on the top of their heads, but 

 properly and safely branded" on 

 their backs.) 



Joseph Murray officially reports 

 and records the return of these 

 pups in 1897 (which he had 

 branded in 1896), as "yearlings" 

 and "on the hauling grounds," 

 to wit: 



The pups branded last year were also 

 seen hale and hearty in numbers on the 

 hauling grounds and rookeries. * * * 

 This appearance of the branded cows, aa 

 well as that of the yearlings, shows clearly, 

 etc. 



Fur Seal Investigations, part 3, 

 page 337, 1898. 



The drive from Lukannon showed a 

 marked excess of yearlings. In the 

 earlier drives these yearlings do not 

 appear, and in the later drives Lukannon 

 sends in an overwhelming majority of 

 them. 



Geo. A. Clark, July 25, 1896, 

 page 340, Fur Seal Investigations, 

 part 2, 1898. 



