The table entitled "White Hunters" is made

Sources of

"White Hunters"

up from the statements of sixteen witnesses; tablo.
five of these (Nos. 1, 7, 20, 26, and 27, p. 107)
state specifically that the loss of seals they refer
to are seals lost by sinking; six others, examined
at the same time as the former witnesses, do not
state what they mean by "seals lost," but it is
to be presumed their meaning is the same; the
statements of three others whose evidence "was
personally obtained" can not be examined on
this point, as such statements have not been
published; Abel Douglass's ratio of loss is given.
in the table without reference to where it was
obtained, so that what he means by "seals lost"
is impossible to determine; the one remaining
hunter used in the compilation of the table
(William Fewing) is the only one who definitely,
or impliedly, states that "seals lost" refers to
those escaping as well as to those that sink, and
this is particularly noted in the table under
"Remarks."

seals lost by sink

It can be fairly assumed, therefore, that this Table only gives table only represents the seals lost by sinking. ing. The whole question, so important to this controversy, as to how many seals are lost by wounding is summed up in the vague admission, that "a certain proportion of the seals shot of course escape" (Sec. 628), and is dismissed by calculat

12364 7

seals lost by sink

ing.

wounding.

Table only gives ing the number of encysted bullets found in male seals killed on the Islands in 1890, showing an average of one bullet to 280 seals killed (Sec. 628). The notion that the carcass of every seal killed on the Islands is searched for encysted bullets is sufficiently absurd, but it seems to be assumed in the reasoning of the Commissioners. Seals lost by The necessarily large percentage of seals which lose their lives by wounding is shown by Mr. Townsend in his account of his experience as a pelagic hunter.1 He states that "many times the animal is wounded sufficiently to get out of reach of the hunter before it dies;" and, again, "it is from the instantly killed the seals are secured; the wounded animal uses its death struggle to get out of reach." It is evident how much this class of "seals lost" must outnumber those which, killed outright, sink before they can be secured;2 and yet the Commissioners have, presumably through oversight, ignored this important factor of waste of life and have dealt solely with the seals which pelagic hunters lose by the sinking of the carcass.

1 Post p. 395.

1

1

See also reports of Capt. C. L. Hooper, post pp. 208-219.

the apology insuf

ficient.

The United States, having reviewed these three The bases for propositions set forth in the Report, namely, (1) that the percentage of female seals in the pelagic catch is not large, (2) that pelagic sealing in Bering Sea is not as destructive to seal life as in the North Pacific, and (3) that the waste of life resulting from pelagic sealing is insignificant, deny that any one of these grounds for the Commissioners' apology have been, or can be, established.

SECOND.

MATTERS UPON WHICH THE REPORT RELIES TO
ESTABLISH CONCLUSIONS ADVANCED THEREIN
AND TO FORMULATE THE REGULATIONS RECOM-
MENDED, WHICH MATTERS HAVE NOT BEEN
DEALT WITH IN THE CASE OF THE UNITED
STATES.

habitat" theory.

HABITS OF THE FUR-SEALS.

1. That the Alaskan seal herd has a defined winter habitat.

The Commissioners have advanced a most extraordinary theory as to the life history of the Alaskan seal herd. It is presented in the follow

The "wintering words: "The fur-seal of the North Pacific may thus be said, in each case [referring also to the Commander herd], to have two habitats or homes between which it migrates, both equally necessary to its existence under present circumstances, the one frequented in summer, the other during the winter" (Sec. 28). Again, the Report states that the portion of sea lying off the West Coast, between the 56th and 46th parallels of north latitude, which limits include the whole length of the British Columbian coast, "is the winter habitat of the fur-seal of the eastern side of the North Pacific" (Sec. 192, p. 31), and that Bering Sea may be named "their summer habitat" (Sec. 192, p. 31).

100.

of

This theoretical proposition of an animal pos- Object of proposing this sessing two homes is contrary to what has been theory. observed in respect to the habits of animals in general, and is advanced for the sole purpose establishing a property interest in the Alaskan seal herd, resulting from the alleged presence of seals for several months in the waters contiguous to Vancouver Island. This object is shown from the following statement in the Report: "This independent native hunting [by the Indians of British Columbia] is undoubtedly a primitive vested interest of the coast tribes, and its character in this respect is strengthened by the fact, now made clear, that the winter home of the fur-seal lies along, and is adjacent to, the part of the coast which these seal-hunting tribes inhabit" (Sec. 113).

An examination of the evidence (if statements

made by the Commissioners without giving the names of their informants can be so called) on which this remarkable proposition is advanced shows an important fact, which seems to have been entirely overlooked by the Commissioners. It is, that "the full-grown males, known as 'beachmasters' or 'seacatchie,' have seldom or never been reported to the south of the 50th parallel" (Sec. 193). It is evident that the Commissioners never heard of a bull seal below that

The bulls do not

resort to the "win

ter habitat.”