I  have  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  sealing  industry  and  felt
a  great  desire 'to  have  them  protected  from  destruction,  and  I  say  with-
out hesitation  that  the  great  decrease  in  the  number  now  annually
arriving  at  the  seal  islands  is  due  entirely  to  the  killing  of  female  seals
by  pelagic  sealers.  (George  Adams.)

From  my  general  knowledge  of  natural  history,  from  my  study  of  the
habits  of  seals,  as  well  as  from  the  opportunities  I  have  had  to  acquaint
myself  with  the  sources  of  destruction  which  are  at  work,  I  firmly
believe  that  pelagic  sealing  would  not  only  account  for  the  diminution
of  the  seal  herd,  but  if  continued  the  seals  will  inevitably  be  commer-
cially destroyed.  (A.  B.  Alexander.)

I  believe  there  has  been  a  great  decrease  of  seals  on  the  islands
since  I  left  there,  and  this  is  no  doubt  due  to  pelagic  sealing.  (James
Armstrong.)


SEAL    LIFE    ON    THE    PRIBILOF    ISLANDS.  21 0

My  people  wondered  why  this  was  so,  and  no  one  could  tell  until  we
learned  that  hunters  in  schooners  were  shooting  and  destroying  them
in  the  sea.  Then  we  knew  what  the  trouble  was,  for  we  knew  the  seal*
they  killed  and  destroyed  must  be  cows,  for  most  all  the  males  remain
on  or  near  the  islands  until  they  go  away  in  the  fall  or  fore  part  of  the
winter.  We  also  noticed  dead  pups  on  the  rookeries  that  had  been
starved  to  death.  If  they  had  not  killed  the  seals  in  the  sea  there
would  be  as  many  on  the  rookeries  as  there  was  ten  years  ago.  There
was  not  more  than  one  fourth  as  many  seals  in  1891  as  there  was  in  1880.
