180 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



EPITOME OF SPECIAL REPORTS UPON THE SEAL ISLANDS IN THE 

 ARCHIVES OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 



The official files of the Treasury Department.— The first 

 direct reports received by the Government from its agents were those 

 of Charles Bryant and H. H. Mclntyre, each dated November 30, 1869, 

 and addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury. They were pub- 

 lished by order of Congress, January 26, 1870. (See Ex. Doc. No. 32, 

 Forty-first Congress, second session.) The references made to the 

 seal life in these documents are very brief and general. 



On the 30th December, 1870, the next communication from the seal 

 islands touching the condition of the animals, etc., was received by 

 the Treasury Department from its agent, Mr. S. N. Biiynitsky. It is a 

 very brief review of the whole state of affairs. (See Ex. Doc. No. 83, 

 Forty-fourth Congress, first session, pp. 41 and 44, inclusive.) This 

 is followed on November 10, 1871, by another report upon the same 

 subject by Charles Bryant, still brief and general. (Ex. Doc. No. 83, 

 Forty-fourth Congress, first session, pp. 59 and 66, inclusive.) It is 

 a mere synopsis of the success of the sealing season, and is followed 

 by another routine report by the same author, dated August 15, 1872, 

 of the same vague and general tenor. 



A series of brief annual reports of this character by the agents of 

 the Treasury Department have been annually received by the Gov- 

 ernment from Messrs. Bryant, Morton, and Otis, respectively, up to 

 date, being all restricted to short business recapitulations of the sea- 

 son's work in sealing, condition of the natives, etc. They are supple- 

 mented and illustrated by the reports made by the assistant special 

 agents of the Treasury Department, who address their communica- 

 tions to the Treasury agent in charge, or chief special ofdcer of the 

 Government. 



The last two annual reports of Colonel Otis, special agent Treasury 

 Department, are elaborated in regard to the details of sealing labor 

 and figures of the progress of the work itself. He gives no special 

 attention to the life and habits of the fur seal in his communication 

 to the Secretary. 



the RUSSIAN SEAL ISLANDS, BERING AND COPPER, OR THE COMMANDER 



GROUP. 



[Extracted from Professor Nordenskiold's report in reference to Bering Island; translated by 



Capt. G. Niebaum.] 



Arrival of Nordenskiold : Location of Bering Island.— The 

 Vega anchored on the 14th August, 1879, in a rather poor, open 

 harbor on the northwest coast of the island. Bering Island is the 

 most westerly of the Aleutian Islands, and is situated nearest Kam- 

 chatka. It does not belong, nor does the neighboring Copper Island, 

 to America, but to Asia, and is controlled by Russia; nevertheless, 

 the American Alaska Company have obtained the hunting privilege 

 and maintain here a not inconsiderable trading station, which consists 

 of about 300 inhabitants, supplying them with provisions and manu- 

 factured goods, and from them in turn receiving their labor, principally 

 rendered in taking skins of the eared seal or sea bear {Otaria ursina). 

 Between 40,000 and 100,000 ^ of these animals are killed yearly on this 



'These figures are in error; the table given at the close of this translation will 

 show it. It is well known that the fur seal, as it bred, was first seen and described 

 by Steller, who wrote his description on this island, when shipwrecked there with 



