Facilities extended British Commissioners. Treasury, wherein I was directed to extend every courtesy to them. In pursuance of such instructions I did everything pos sible to aid them in getting information on the seal islands. I had the natives come to the Government House whenever they desired, that they might question them in regard to the habits and conditions of seal life. I also gave them free access to all records on the islands, including the daily Journals, showing what transpired on every day of the year, and their secretaries spent several days going through these records by themselves, making such notes and extracts from them as they pleased. They were invited to visit the rookeries, observe the drives and killings, to note the methods of counting the skins into the salt-house, and to make any examinations they pleased on the Islands. Wм. H. WILLIAMS. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of December, 1892. [SEAL.] CHAS. L. HUGHES, Notary Public. Deposition of William H. Williams, United States Treasury Agent in charge of Pribilof Islands. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, City of Washington, ss: William H. Williams, being duly sworn, deposes and says: Experience. I am the U. S. Treasury Agent in charge of the Pribilof Islands; I was in charge of the Government interests on those Islands in 1891, and was present on St. Paul Island, Alaska, July 27th, 1891, the date of arrival of the English Commissioners, to wit, Sir George Baden-Powell and Dr. George M. Dawson. I again went to these Islands in the same capacity in 1892. Rookeries when in At the time of the arrival of the British Commissioners in 1891 the breeding grounds did not present the compact form they did about the 12th of July, for disintegration and spread- prime condition. ing had been going on for several days, thus making their appearance as to size very misleading. In 1891 I instituted the practice of frequent visits to the breeding rookeries by myself and Assistant Agents Murray and Nettleton, and from about the 1st to the 20th of July I required these visits to the rookeries to be made daily. Each agent made careful note of his observations and reported to me the result at the close of his day's work. United States Treasury Agent J. StanleyBrown also coöperated with me in this work, and his statements confirmed the reports of the other agents. One of the objects of these visits to the rookeries was to determine the condition of the harems and at what date in that year the cow seals appeared in the greatest numbers on the breeding rookeries. It was the unanimous opinion of all the Government Agents that the breeding rookeries were at their fullest July 12th, and the following entry was made at the time in the Government Journal on St. Paul Island, to wit: "Sunday, July 12.-During the past five or six days the rookeries have been carefully scanned, and it is believed that at this date they are at their very best for this year. To all appearances it may with safety be presumed that the pups are fully 95 per cent of the cows," thus leaving only 5 per cent of the cows to bring forth their young after this date. I presume that by the 25th of July not over 1 per cent of them were left. Commissioners. On July 12th the cows, having nearly all given birth to their young, were going to and coming from the sea. The English Visit of British Commissioners arrived at the Islands about noon of July 27th and remained on and about St. Paul Island until the morning of the 31st of July, at which time they sailed for St. George Island, about forty miles distant, returning to St. Paul on the evening of August 2nd and remaining until the morning of August 6th. They next returned to the Islands August 19th and left August 20th, again returning on the morning of the 15th of September, and took their final departure September 16th. The foregoing dates cover all the time that the English Commissioners were on or about the Islands, and as they had their quarters on board the S. S. Danube, anchored from a half to a mile off shore, they spent but a portion of their time each day on the Islands. During the time included in the foregoing dates there were but three small drives of seals made and they were for food, to wit: August 1st. North and Zapadnie Rookeries, killed.... British Commis sioners present at but one killing. 118 seals 467 seals 26 seals The seal drives take place very early in the morning, and to the best of my recollection the English Commissioners did not see a drive nor were they present at any of the killings on St. Paul except that of August 3rd. The principal drives had taken place that year, as in all previous years, prior to July 27th, and between July 27th and August 11th only a few seals were killed, and those were for food. From August 11th to October 1st no seals were taken for any purpose, except that during this period 178 were killed for food on St. George. I visited Southwest and English Bays about the middle of July, 1891, when the harems were at their fullest, in a small sail Seals not easily boat and sailed close in shore near the rookeries; while frightened. the seals were somewhat disturbed, yet they would only retreat a few feet from the harem when they would turn and show fight, and as soon as we had passed them a short distance they would resume their usual position on the rookeries. for pup. In the fore part of July, 1891, I saw a cow seal give birth to her young on Lukannon Rookery, and watched her for a long time; Affection of cow after giving birth to her young she fondled and caressed it; placing herself in a good position she gently pushed it to her breast that it might suckle her, showing all the care and affection for her young that is exhibited in other animals; a few days thereafter while visiting the same rookery I came upon a cow seal with her young sheltered behind a rock just back of the rookery; she at once showed fight and refused to leave her young, but stayed with it, and I went away leaving her there. Also in the latter part of July I went out on the Reef just back of the rookeries on the west side, and as I came near one of the rookeries there were a few cow seals that were scattered some little distance from their harems; one of the cow seals that had her young by her side picked it up in her mouth and carried it some distance and then, placing it on the ground by her side, prepared to defend it, and showed the greatest solicitude for its safety. Tolstoi in 1891. In the year 1891 there were no bachelor seals driven from Tolstoi hauling grounds on St. Paul Island; since 1890 practically no bachelor seals have hauled out on Tolstoi, but No driving from the seals driven from this part of the island were taken from a hauling ground known as Middle Hill, which is at least a quarter of a mile from the nearest breeding seals. On or about the 10th of November, 1892, when at the office of the Alaska Commercial Company in San Francisco, I asked Weight of bundles. and received permission to examine and weigh some of the fur-seal skins from their warehouse where they had stored several hundred bundles. I weighed one of the largest and one of the smallest bundles. The first weighed sixty-eight and the latter twenty pounds; I then had the bundles cut open and personally examined them. Each bundle contained but two skins. Those from the first bundle were what are known as wigs, and those from the second what are known as yearling pups; in both bundles there was the usual amount of salt, but in the case of the smaller bundle the skins had quite an amount of blubber left on them, which aided in absorbing the salt, and thus added very materially to the weight of the skins. In my judgment, the yearling skins when first removed from the seals would not have weighed more than five pounds to the skin. I also had the porter who handles and cares for the furs of the Alaska Commercial Company try to bundle the two Difficult to place large and one small skin together, and although he more than two skins was an expert at handling skins, anyone familiar in a bundle. with the business would have quickly discovered that there was something unusual in the appearance of the bundle. I also had him try to bundle the four skins together, but the failure was much more marked than in the former case; and I am of the opinion that not more than two skins can be bundled together without leaving marked characteristics easy observable to anyone of ordinary intelligence, and which would have been instantly detected by the Government officers on the island and by the inspector at San Francisco who examines them as they are removed from the vessel. I have read section 759 of the English Commissioners' report. The facts, so far as they relate to me, were as follows: On Section 759 of Britthe morning of the 27th of July the watchmen at ish commissioners' Northeast Point telephoned to the village that they report. thought they could hear gunshots out at sea (it being too foggy to see the boats, if any). Mr. Redpath and myself drove over to Northeast Point and had a talk there with Mr. Fowler and the watchmen, and also started to personally inspect the rookeries. A little later I was informed that I was wanted at the telephone by Mr. Tingle. For all I know, Mr. Tingle may have worked the telephone quite hard before getting me to answer, because I was on the rookery. What he had to say to me was that the English Commissioners had arrived at the village and were very desirous of seeing me personally. I requested Mr. Tingle to say to the English Commissioners that I would return to the village at once. If anything was said about schooners or poachers by me it was to the effect that I had seen none, for there were none to see. Mr. Tingle, of course, could not notify me of schooners about Northeast Point, for I was on the ground and he was 12 miles distant. A whaling brigantine passed near the village July 29 and had a perfect right to do so without interference. It is a very common occurrence for the watchman to report sails from ten to fifteen miles off Northeast Point, and I have known several to be so reported in one day. It is a noted track for whalers, and it would be absurd to detain every vessel that sailed past the islands. Suspicious looking schooners are watched with sufficient care. If the vessel the Commissioners saw had undertaken to raid a rookery it would have met with a warm reception. I do not pretend to say that the British Commissioners were not vividly impressed with the events they record. I merely state the facts as they were, so that everyone can form his own impressions of them. WM. H. WILLIAMS. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of December, 1892. [SEAL.] SEVELLON A. Brown, Notary Public in and for the District of Columbia. |