326 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GEEAT BRITAIN. 



2,283 bears, 6,445 lynxes, 26,384 sables, 19,076 musk rats, 2,536 ursine 

 seals, 338,604 marsb-otters, 712 " pairs of bare," 451 martens, 104 wolves, 

 46,274 castoreums, 7,309 beavers' tails. 



Here is an inexplicable absence of seal-skins. On the other band, 

 sables, wbicb belong to Asia and not to America, are mentioned. The 

 list is Russian, and perhaps embraces furs from the Asiatic islands of 

 the Comi^any. 



From a competent source I learn that the value of skins at Sitka 

 during the last year was substantially as follows: 



Sea-otter, 50 dollars; marten, 4 dollars; beaver, 2 dol. 50 c; bear, 4 

 dol. 50 c.; black fox, 50 dollars; silver fox, 40 dollars; cross fox, 25 

 dollars; red fox, 2 dollars. 



A recent price current in New York gives the prices there, in currency, 

 as follows : 



Silver fox, 10 to 50 dollars; cross fox, 3 to 5 dollars; red fox, 1 dollar 

 to 1 dol. 50 c. ; otter, 3 to 6 dollars; mink, 3 to 6 dollars; beaver, 1 to 4 

 dollars; musk rat, 20 to 50 cents; lynx, 2 to 4 dollars; black bear, 6 to 

 12 dollars; dark marten, 5 to 20 dollars. 



These New York prices vary from those of Sitka. The latter will be 

 the better guide to a comprehension of the proceeds at Sitka, which, of 

 course, must be subject to deduction for the expenses of the Company. 

 Of the latter I say nothing now, as I have considered them in speaking 

 of the existing Government. 



The skins, it appears, are obtained in three different ways: first 

 through the hunters employed by the Company; secondly, in payment 

 of taxes imposed by the Company; and thirdly, by barter or purchase 

 from independent natives. But with all these sources it is certain that 

 the Kussian Company has enjoyed no success comparable to tliat of its 

 British rival; and still more, there is reason to believe that latterly its 

 j)rofits have not been large. 



Amid all the concealment or obscurity which prevails with regard to 

 the revenues of the Company, it is easy to see that for some time there 

 must be a large amount of valuable furs on this coast. The bountiful 

 solitudes of the forest and of the adjoining waters have not yet been 

 exhausted; nor will they be until civilization has supplied substitutes. 

 Such, indeed, is a part of that humane law of compensation which con- 

 tributes so much to the general harmony. For the present there will 

 be trappers on the land, who will turn aside only a little from its prizes 

 there to obtain from the sea its otter, seal, and walrus. It cannot be 

 irrelevant, and may not be without interest, if I call your attention 

 briefly to those fur-bearing animals which are about to be brought 

 within the sphere of Eepublican Government. If we cannot find their 

 exact census we may at least learn something of their character and 

 value. 



The comparative poverty of vegetation in the more northern parts of 

 the continent contrasts with the abundance of animal life, especially if 

 we embrace those tenants of the sea who seek the land for rest. 

 80 These northern parallels are hardly less productive than the 

 Tropics. The lion, the elephant, and the hippopotamus find their 

 counterpart in the bear, the walrus, and the seal, without including 

 the sables and the foxes. Here again Nature by an unerring law 

 adapts the animal to the climate, and in providing him with needful 

 protection creates also a needful supply for the protection of man; 

 and this is the secret of rich furs. Under the sun of the Tropics such 

 provision is as little needed by man as by beast, and therefore Nature, 

 which does nothing inconsistent with a wise economy, reserves it for 

 other places. 



