ALASKA. 51 



fnr-sojil, wliich lias been greatly cMiliaiiocd i?i value by reason of 

 iinprovonuMit in dressin*;, but tlie marten and tlio sea-otter 

 stand to-day at ahnost the same fi^nires at wliicli tliey W(iro 

 bon<;ht and sold a hundred years ago in Oliina, wliere the value 

 of money has remained the same; the native hunters, how- 

 ever, receive now three, four, and five times as much as tliey 

 were paid by the Russian American Company for their skins. 

 The following list may be taken as very nearly correct, and 

 shows the gross value of the fur-trade of the Territory to the 

 traders for the year 1873 : 



100,000 fur-seal skins, at an averago of A7 $700, 000 



3,000 sea-otter skins, at au avcrago of $75 22.'), 000 



50,000 skins from tlio Yukon district, assorted, at an average of $2. 100, 000 

 30,000 skins from all the rest of the Territory, (this is a very un- 

 satisfactory estimate,) at an average of §2 GO, 000 



A grand total of 1, 085, 000 



Which is more than double the annual receipts of any one of 

 the best of the last twenty years of the llussian American 

 Company, so far as can be judged by reference to their state- 

 ments, as is shown in the table at the close of this article. 



It seems that the Seal Islands represent two-thirds of the 

 whole value of the fur-trade of Alaska, and that with the sea- 

 otter interest combined there is scarcely anything left. 



Matters are now so arranged on the Seal Islands that the Gov- 

 ernment nets a revenue of $300,000 per annum, with the pres- 

 ervation of its interest there in all of its original integrity. 

 With reference to the sea-otter trade, I think I clearly show 

 the necessity for protection from the Government in my dis- 

 cussion of the subject in this report, and, in regard to the 

 remaining interests, the country itself protects them. 



