CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 85 



111 Audbeadds: 



The fur trade of this conutry, with the exceptiou of that conjined H. R., Ex.Doc, 

 to ihe seal islands and set apart byhiw, is free to all legitimate enter- Nf> 40,45th cong., 

 ,,,.;„„ ' 3flSess.,vol. xvni, 



l"'-^*^- . p. 68. 



Sealing vessels aud their catches were also reported by j^^-^l^^- ^^'J*'/ 

 the Uuited States cutter " Corwiii," but none were inter- cong., ist'sess. 

 fered with when outside of the 3 -mile limit. 



In 1881 au Agent of the United States Government h. r.,Ex. doc. 

 stated that during the past twenty years probably 100 ves- cong^f2mi slss.f 

 sels had " prowled " about the Pribiloff Islaiuls. v-^sl ' 



COMPLAINTS OF DEPREDATIOXS OX KOOKEIllES. 



The agents of the United States Government sent to the 

 seal islands previously to 1880 continually reported upon 

 the inadequacy of th(> protection of the islands, and they 

 frequently referred to the depredations upon the rookeries 

 by the crews of vessels sealing in Behring Sea. 



LETTER 1-KOM MH. D'aNCOXA. 



Early in 1881, Collector D. A. d'Ancona, of San Fran- 

 cisco, appears to have requested information from the 

 Treasury Department at Washington in regard to the 

 meainng placed by that Department upon the law regulat- 

 ing the killing of fur-bearing animals in the territory of 

 Alaska, and specially as to the interpretation of the terms 

 " waters thereof" and " waters adjacent thereto," as used in 

 tlie law, and how far the jurisdiction of the United States 

 was to be understood as extending. 



REPLY OF MR. FRENCH. 



In reply, Acting Secretary H. F. French, of the Treasury 

 Department, wrote as follows on the 12th March, 1881 : 



Sir: Your letter of the 19th ultimo, requestiiii;- eertain information H. R.,Ex.Doc., 

 in regard to the meaning ]»la(ed by this Dei)artmcnt upon the law SOtli Cong., 2nd 

 regulating the killing of fur-bearing animals inthe Territory of Alaska, Se8s.,ls^o. 3883, p. 

 Avas duly received. The law prohibits the killing of any fur-bearing" 

 animals, except as otherwise therein provided, within the limits of 

 Alaska Territory or iu the waters thereof, and also prohibits the kill- 

 ing of any fur-seals on tiie Islands of St. Paul and St. George or iu the 

 waters adjacent thereto, except during certain months. 



You inquire in ivgard to the interpretation of the terms "waters 

 thereof" and "waters adjacent thereto," as used iu tlielaw, and how 

 far tlie jurisdiction of the United States is to be understood as extend- 

 ing. 



Presuming your iuquiry to relate more especially to the waters of 

 AVestern Alaska, you are informed that the Treaty with Russia of the 

 SOtli March, 1870 [sJc], by which tlie Territory of Alaska was ceded to 

 the United States, defines the l)onndary of the Territory so ceded. 

 This Treaty is found on pp. G71 to 673 of the volume of Treaties 

 of tlie Revised Statutes. It will be seen therefrom that the 



112 limit of the cession extends from a line starting from the Arctic 

 Ocean aud running through iSeriug Strait to the north of St. 



Lawrence Islands. The line runs thence in a south-westerly direction, 

 so as to pass midway between thelsland of Attoo and Copper Island of 

 the Krouianboski [>>(cj couplet en- group, in the Xorth Pacific Ocean, 

 to meridian of 1M3 degrees of west longitude. All the waters within 

 that boundary to the western end of the Aleutian Archipelago and 

 chain of islands, are considered as comxjrisedi Avithiu the waters of 

 Alaska Territory. 



