ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 129 



and in carts drawn by oxen, to Kalgan, where the seal skins were 

 again sold to other dealers, who carried them to the ultimate retail 

 trade. 



Volume op Kiachta trade in 1837. — What the fnr trade of 

 Kiachta to-day is, even thougli the i-are skin of CaVorhlnus is seldom 

 seen, I can find no data; but in 1837 the native land furs were repre- 

 sented by a value of 7,4:00,188 rubles, and the peltries from Russian 

 America, including the fur seals, sea otter, and all the Alaskan land 

 catch, was 1,600,000 rubles. How many fur seals were sold in this 

 aggregate I can not ascertain, but the scanty yield during the two 

 and throe jears preceding would not warrant any considerable 

 showing. 



Chinese traders. — The Chinese at Kiachta were at first much 

 more shrewd in their bargains than w'ere their Russian neighbors; 

 but the Slavonic instincts did not need much brushing up ere they 

 Avere fully equal to all emergencies. The methods of the Chinese in 

 selecting seal skins were elaborate and length3^ Each pelt was 

 handled and measured, then a little metal tag attached on which the 

 result was recorded. I find a great deal of confusion in the data at 

 my command as to what the average price was in this market, because 

 the Russians took all ages, and at all stages of the season, from June 

 to December; consequently the number of really prime skins was 

 small compared with the whole aggregate sold. The best pelts brought 

 from "10 to 15 rubles" (I8 to |>12.50); the average sales were made, 

 however, as low as from Tt>l to 15 per skin. Techmainov gives the 

 most information touching the value of Russian-American furs in 

 tliose times that lean find; but, in regard to specific figures for the 

 fur-seal quotations, he is only vague and general, the reason doubt- 

 less being that the whole volume of trade at Kiachta was and is 

 exclusively one of barter, without the intervention of coin on either 

 side. 



Season of Kiachta commerce. — The business life of Kiachta is 

 never fully aroused until winter has well set in, continuing until 

 spring. There is no written regulation to this effect, but it has the 

 force of law through habit. In disposing of their commodities, the 

 Chinese have considerable local advantage, because their teas never 

 remain a single season unsold at Maimatschin, while the Russian 

 goods, partly through a diminution of the demand and partly through 

 the artifices of the Celestials, are often so depreciated in value as to 

 have to wait two and three years for a market. 



Demand op Chinese por furs. — The Chinese have from time 

 immemorial been solicitous jjurchasers of furs. The northern jjrov- 

 inces of their dominions are not only subjected to an extremely rigor- 

 ous winter cliiimte, but are tliose where the most wealthy reside, 

 because the best teas of the Celestial Empire grow there; lience the 

 desire for fur robes and garments as measures of comfort during cold 

 weather is universal among the inliabitants; they constitute an impor- 

 tant part of the wardi-obe of every imiDortant Chinaman throughout 

 all "Kathay." A Russian authority, Paul von Krusenstern, saj's: 

 "With the least change of air the C'hinese immediately alter their 

 dress; and even at Canton, wliich is within the confines of the tropics, 

 they wear furs in the winter." 



First traffic in furs between America and China. — It is a 



curious fact, that until Capt. John Gore anchored, December 18, 177U, 



near Canton with the ships of C'ook's last voyage, from Kamchatka 



and the northward, the furs which these English seamen then offered 



H. Doc. 1)2, pt. 3 9 



