Captain  Carthcut  says:

About  80  per  cent  of  the  seals  1  caught  in  Bering  Sea  were  mothers  in  milk,  and
were  feeding  around  the  fishing  banks  just  north  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  and  I  got
most  of  ruy  seals  from  50  to  250  miles  from  the  seal  islands.  I  don't  think  I  ever
sealed  within  25  miles  of  the  Pribilof  Islands.  They  are  very  tame  after  giving
birth  to  their  young,  and  are  easily  approached  by  the  hunters.  When  the  females
leave  the  islands  to  feed,  they  will  go  very  fast  to  the  iishing  banks,  and  after  they
get  their  food  they  will  go  to  sleep  on  the  waters.  That  is  the  hunter's  great  chance.
I  think  we  secure*more  in  proportion  to  the  number  killed  than  we  did  in  the  North
Pacific.  I  hunted  with  shotgun  and  rifle,  but  mostly  with  shotgun.  Seals  were  not
nearly  as  numerous  in  1887  as  they  were  in  1877,  and  it  is  my  belief  that  the  decrease
in  numbers  is  due  to  the  hunting  and  killing  of  female  seals  in  the  water.  I  do  not
think  it  possible  for  seals  to  exist  for  any  length  of  time  if  the  present  slaughter
continues.  The  killing  of  the  female  means  death  to  her  born  or  unborn  pup,  and  it
is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  this  immense  drain  on  the  herds  can  be  continued
without  a  very  rapid  decrease  in  their  numbers,  and  which  practically  means  exter-
mination within  a  very  few  years.
Christ  Clausen  says:

The  Indian  hunters,  when  they  use  spears,  saved  nearly  every  one  they  struck.
It  is  my  observation  and  experience  that  an  Indian  or  a  white  hunter,  unless  very
expert,  will  kill  and  destroy  many  times  more  than  he  will  save  if  he  uses  firearms.
