Fur  seals  have  decreased  very  rapidly  during  the  last  five  years,  and
we  believe  it  is  due  to  the  large  number  of  vessels  engaged  in  bunting
them  at  sea. (Vassili  Ohichinoff.)

Have  noticed  the  seal  are  decreasing  very  fast  the  last  four  years;
too  many  schooners  are  hunting  them  in  the  open  waters  of  the  Pacific
Ocean  and  Bering  Sea. (Chin-koo-tin.)

The  last  five  years  fur  seal  has  been  growing  very  scarce,  and  it  is
hard  to  get  any  now. There  are  too  many  white  men  with  schooners
hunting  them  off  Dixons  Entrance,  and  unless  it  is  stopped  the  seal
will  be  all  gone. (William  Clark.)

Seals  are  now  very  scarce  and  wild  along  the  coast. I  believe  the
cause  of  this  is  that  white  hunters  have  been  hunting  them  so  much
with  guns. (James  Claplanhoo.)

Seals  used  to  be  very  plentiful,  and  I  never  noticed  any  decrease  in
their  number  until  white  hunters  commenced  coming  here  and  killing
them  with  guns,  about  six  or  seven  years  ago;  since  that  they  have
decreased  very  rapidly  and  have  got  very  shy. Our  tribe  used  to
have  no  difficulty  in  catching  8,000  to  10,000  seals  and  now  we  can
not  get  a  thousand. (Circus  Jim.)

I  have  been  out  sealing  on  the  coast  this  spring  in  a  schooner  that
carried  10  canoes,  with  two  hunters  to  each  canoe. We  were  out  three
days  and  caught  5  seals. If  we  had  been  out  that  long  six  or  eight
years  ago  with  the  same  crew  we  would  have  taken  between  (JO  and  100
seals. Seals  are  wild  and  shy  now,  and  have  become  very  scarce. I
think  the  reason  for  this  is  that  they  have  been  hunted  so  much  by
white  hunters  who  use  firearms. (Jeff. Davis.)

Some  years  ago  the  fur  seal  were  plenty  off  the  islands,  but  since  the
schooners  have  hunted  them  they  are  nearly  all  gone,  and  it  is  hard  for
the  Indians  of  this  village  to  get  any. (Eshon .)

Seals  are  not  so  plentiful  as  they  were  a  few  years  ago. They  began
to  decrease  about  five  or  six  years  ago. 