800 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Patton. Were those skins dry that were here ? 



Mr. Elliott. Oh, do not ask me about them. I will let the testi- 

 mony stand as to that. We went over all that, April 24, 1912, see 

 pages 545-557, hearing No. 10, et seq. 



Mr. Patton. Well, that is not an answer to my question. Were 

 they dry ? 



Mr. Elliott. Oh, no. They were moist with more or less salt 

 adherent. But if I had taken those skins — I will show you right 

 here now 



Mr. Patton (interposing). I am asking you. 



Mr. Elliott. All right ; those skins were moist with more or less salt 

 adherent. 



Mr. McGuire. Now, Mr. Elliott, you spoke of taking 400 skins 

 while you were there on the islands last summer. 



Mr. Elliott. They were " taken" by Mr. Lembkey, July 7, 1913, 

 and I handled them, July 29, 1913. I did not see him kill the seals; 

 but the official record of that work fixes the date. I did not land on 

 St. Paul until 8.40 a. m., July 9, 1913. 



Mr. McGuire. Did you examine those skins? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes ; every one. I looked at every one very closely. 



Mr. McGuire. What about the blubber on those skins? Was 

 there more or less than there ought to be? 



Mr. Elliott. I have described it in detail — see pages 122-135, 

 hearing No. 1, 1914. Briefly, I will tell you that every little skin, with 

 the exception of 18, carried an excessive thickness of Llubber, varying 

 in thickness from — well, the thickness of the blubl.er varied from 

 half an inch to one-sixteenth of an inch. The lightest of the small 

 skins weighed 4£ or 4+ pounds. Some of them were "loaded" or 

 blubbered up to bh, to 6£, and 7, and 7£ to S\ pounds. There were 

 only 18 of tnose small 34-inch skins that were properly skinned and 

 not unduly "blubbered" out of a total of 134 such. 



Mr. McGuire. What do you mean by properly blubbered ? 



Mr. Elliott. Not "properly blubbered." 



Mr. McGuire. You mean those that had too much Llubber? 



Mr. Elliott. They had "blubbered" them from 4\ pounds up to 

 6, 7, and 8 pounds. They are all identified and ready for use. 



Mr. McGuire. You took that number of skins from the salt house 

 where all skins had been salted ? 



Mr. Elliott. No; I did not take them, Mr. McGuire. They were 

 taken by Mr. Lembkey on July 7, the day before we landed. It was 

 a typical day's work. I gave notice to Mr. Chamberlin July 14, 1913, 

 that I did not want them disturbed for bundling until I measured 

 them and examined them. 



Mr. McGuire. And that is the batch of 400 skins? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir. 



Mr. McGuire. They were killed in the usual way? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. Skinned and cared for as all the rest of them were 

 skinned and cared for ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes, sir. That was a complete, typical day's work, 

 as had been done every season for 16 years back. 



Mr. McGuire. And they had the proper and usual amount of 

 blubber ? 



Mr. Elliott. Yes. 



