The herald., 1895-11-08
FROM THE SEALING GROUND
The Seal Herd Seems Doomed
to Destruction
THE CASE IN A NUTSHELL
Alaskan Residents Greatly Excited Over
Boundary Questions
England Wants Gold Fields, but Is Still
More Anxious to Secure Coal
ing Station Locations


Associated Press Special Wire.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7.-Captain c.
L. Hooper of the revenue cutter Rush.
who commanded the Boring sea feet last
season, is more than ever convinced of
the ultimate destruction of the seal herd
If pelagic sealing in Boring sea is con-
ii ued. There can be no regulations
framed, he sad, that will preserve the
neri ii such sealing be permitted in the
future. The most important of Captain
Hooker's recommendations to the treas
ury department therefore, in all proba-
bility will be that all sealing in Boring
sea be prohi pited for time. at least, ex-
cept that carried on at he islands by the
company having a contract with the
government. In 1862 when CIptain
Hooper first visited Boring sea, he says
ne belisves there were 100000 or 1000,
00) seals, but now ths number is proba-
bly, less than $4,000. The regulations
promulgated under the Paris tr bunal Of
arbitration do not, in the estimation OF
Captain Hooper. meet the requirements
of the case for the preservation Of seal
life. One of those regulations prohibits
seali,g within sixty ililes of the Seal ISL
ands. The fact is explained by Captain
Hooper that the greater mum Der of fe
male seals 90 out into the sea distances
far exceeding sixty miles, where they are
killed by the sealers. AT lie; st two-thirds
OF the 80, 900 KILLED this year by the
peagic sealers were females, and the
reco DIS substantiate the statement. The
regulations issued under the arbitration
trpI"al prohibiting tho shouting of
seals in Berlng sea and permitting the
spearing of them outside the PROM ited
zone, was beneficial, IN that nearly every
seal that was speared was caught, VIII re-
as by shooting them they are often lost.
The regulations requiring the sealing
vessels to record each day the mum bei
and sex of seals caught had demon
strated, he says, the accuracy OF tbs con-
tention OF the A merjcan government that
the majority OF the seals killed by the
peIagic sealers were females. Ihere w4rs
between fifty and sixty vessels in the
sealing fleet this year, most OF them Brit
ish, and the patrol fleet made over 800
toai dings to ascertain if the masters
were obeying the law. Very little illicit
sealing was reported by Captain Hooper
as having occurred during the season,
and there were but four seizures. The
result of the pelagic scaling, about &c. u0
skins, shows slight decrease from last
year, due to diminution OF the herd.
The greater portion of this catch was by
expert Indian spear hunters. The Amer
lean vessels are manned by white men,
who are not expert with the spear.
SAN FRAN CISCO, Nov. &c. A. Car
penter. who was formerly editor of the
Alaska News at juneau. has us5 retur J.
ed from the north and he says that 4e
peo) lie in the territory are i'll "a fever Of
excl ement over the boundary question
Mr.. Carpenter has been in AL SIX. for
two years and is fan. liar with TIL bound
airy question in all its deta Is. He stis-
N alizes the attempt OF the Canadian sur
veying party to l.cate the line according
tn their charts as grab on the part of
England. The great scheme of En.l md,
he says besides her natural greed for the
gold of the Yukon, is to establish a
coaling station and port of entry on
the ALASKAN coast so that she may occupy
a position of vantage in the event of an
Oriental war or trouble between Great
Bri ia in and Russia.
81 he dispute in nutshell he sa d.
sis that Great Britain holds. in accord :
ance with the provisions of the tire. ty,
that the boundary line is ten marine
leas ues in thu interior from tho outward
from the coast line Of the mainland. By
taking the outer edge OF the islands as
the point from which the boundary line
parallels England will try to shut out
Alaska from her harbors along the main
Land. In uther words, rob Alaska of the
greater part of southeastern Alaska. The
American government has always held as
its Interpretation of the kusso-English
treaty that the line is ten marine leagues
from the indentatons or coast line of the
mainland and there never would have
been dlspute if England had port of
entry by which she could reach the Yu-
kon valley