730 INVESTIGATION OP THE PUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



being imperfectly branded, and would thus get back alive to the 

 islands next year; but every one, I understand, was "perfectly 

 marked;" therefore he did not see any of those! 



Mr. Patton. Did you ever see one that was marked ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Patton. Did you ever see one that was dead that was marked ? 



Mr. Elliott. No; they were properly branded over the shoulders or 

 on the back. 



Mr. Patton. How do you know how it affected them? 



Mr. Elliott. Well, I will leave that to you, gentlemen. 



Mr. Patton. I do not know. 



Mr. Elliott. I leave it to you; I am not going to argue that 

 question. 



Mr. Patton. But you are arguing the question. 



Mr. Elliott. No; I am leaving it to you. I am making a state- 

 ment of the way they did the work. But you, nor any other man, 

 could hardly stand over a pup while it was being held down, was 

 struggling, quivering, and shaking itself, and put that red-hot iron on 

 and say where — to what depth of that thin skin — you were burning. 

 You do not know how deep you are burning. You do not know. 

 And if you are making an "enduring mark" you are going through 

 that skin. Now, why did they not brand these seals in a safe place, 

 where they could not injure them seriously ? Why did they transfer 

 this safe branding of 1896, which they all recognized as such, then, 

 and put it on the gelatinous plates ol the cerebellum of these new- 

 born pups ? 



Mr. Stephens. If thev did that, what is your idea of the reason 

 for it ? 



Mi\ Elliott. My idea — well, you can draw your own inference, 

 whether they did that to kill them, or not, or whether it was ignorance. 

 Draw your own inference. There is no report of their coming back in 

 their evidence. 



Mr. McGuire. It is in Clark's evidence. 



Mr. Elliott. 1 did not find it in the testimony. 



Mr. McGuire. Aud the report is that they came back since that 

 time. You heard that testimony. 



The Chairman. Mr. Proctor's testimony was that they were dead. 



Mr. Patton. But he only saw one or two dead. 



The Chairman. Let me ask ) r ou a question. When did Clark say 

 he came away from the islands in 1912 ? 



Mr. Elliott. On the 8th of August. 



The Chairman. Then he made the statement that they were not 

 there, but the}' must have come later — was that not the way? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. No. Here is his statement in substance, that they 

 had heard from the islands later and the reports from the islands, 

 from the natives, was that later they had returned hi large numbers. 

 That is his statement and I will read it later. 



Mr. Elliott. If you can find it in the notes, I can not. That is all 

 I have to say. 



The Chairman. Mr. Lembkev said that in 1903 the department 

 made an order prohibiting the branding of seals. Now, what I have 

 doubts about is why this branding was necessary in 1912 for the good 

 of the Government. And, if Mr. Elliott, or anybody else, can en- 

 lighten me I would like to hear about it. 



