268 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



and as the skins are much less valuable when taken during the process 

 of the shedding of the hair, the company will not wish to secure them 

 in this conditiou. 



If the seal are present of proper size and in such numbers as to per- 

 mit, without permanent injury to the herd, the company's taking the 

 "catch" as stated, you will allow them to do so, and you are to use 

 your best judgment in determining when the season will close. Should 

 the maximum number for the year not be secured before the stagey 

 period begins, and in your opinion seal of i)roper size can be taken 

 alter it is over without harm to the rookeries, you are authorized to 

 permit the company to resume killing with a view to filling the quota. 

 The catch of G0,000, or such lesser number as may be taken, should be 

 apportioned between the two islands. The original law mentioned 

 75,000 for St. Paul and 25,000 for St. George; later changed by order 

 of the Secretary of the Treasury to 8">,000 for St. Paul and 15,000 for 

 St. George, and you may follow this ratio or change it as the circum- 

 stances may require, taking care that in any event not more than 15,000 

 are killed upon the Island of Sr. George. 



The Department desires you to make careful daily examination dur- 

 ing the sealing season as to the habits, numbers, and conditions of the 

 seal and seal rookeries, with a view to reporting from your observation 

 and such knowledge on the subject as you may have whether, in your 

 opinion, the seal are diminishing, and, if so, the causes therefor. Com- 

 ments upon any other matters of interest pertinent in this connection 

 which you may think proper to make will not be out of place. 



The care and welfare of the natives are matters which should re- 

 ceive your careful attention, and among your most important duties 

 is the insistence that the ISorth American Commercial Company shall 

 fulfill all the obligations of their lease toward these people. The 

 Government maintains a protectorate over them, and they look to its 

 agents to see that their employers, the lessees, carry out in good faith all 

 that they promise. It will be within your province to learn the prices 

 charged at the company's stores and to compare them with the prices at 

 San Francisco, and to report to the Department whether the natives 

 are charged more than a fair sum for the articles sold them. The sup- 

 plies provided should also be inspected as to quality and quantity, and 

 if deficient, notice of the fact should be sent to the Department. The 

 instructions of the agent last year were such that he felt compelled to 

 stop the killing when the company had taken but 21,000 skins, and it 

 is not believed that the money earned by the natives in killing this 

 number of seal was sutticient to provide them with the amount of food 

 required, above what is furnished by the company under its lease, and 

 to buy the necessary clothing which they need in addition to that which 

 they make from skins. In view of the increased market value of the 

 skills since the lease to the present company and the large per cent of 

 profit derived, together with the reduced "catch," which lessens the 

 opportunity for earning enough for their subsistence, it has been deter- 

 mined by the Department, and is hereby ordered, that the compensa- 

 tion to be paid to the natives for killing, salting, curing, and loading 

 the seal skins on board the !North American Commercial Company's 

 steamer shall be 50 cents for each skin , for the year ending April 30, 1892. 



Before leaving the islands you will divide the total earnings of the 

 natives for the season's "catch" among them according to their respec- 

 tive classifications, and make a report of such division, showing the 

 amount apportioned to each native participating in the commimity fund, 



