244 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



number, but the circumstances do not seem to be important. On one 

 occasion a drive was made of 15,000 male and female seals, but the 

 night was dark, and it was not practicable to separate the cows trora 

 the males, and they were, tUerefore, allowed to stand over until day- 

 lioiit should come. The men put in charge of the herding of the drove 

 were careless, and the seals took advantage of this ueghgence and 

 made an attempt to escape by throwing themselves troin the blufts over 

 the beach near by into the sea; but as this bluff was steep, high, rough 

 and slippery, they fell over and were all injured. Now, lor the hrst 

 time, great numbers of seals were missed, and why, it was not signih- 

 cant or apparent; but in the following year, instead of the appearance 

 and catch of 40,000 or 50,000, less than 30,000 were killed and taken, 

 and then, too, the numbers of seals were known to dimmish, and in the 

 same wa|, only greater, on the other island. For instance, m the hrst 

 years, on the island of St. George, the seals were only five or six tunes 

 less tiian on St. Paul, but in 1817 they were only less than one-fourth; 

 but in 1820 they were almost one-sixth again. . , ■, n 



The diminution of seals there (St. Paul) and on the other island from 

 1817 to 1835 was very gradual and visible every year, but not always 



"""^The killing of seals in 1834, instead of being 80,000 or 60,000 was 

 only 15,751 from both islands (St. Paul, 12,700; St. George, 3,051). 



Sum total of fur seals taken.— In the first thirty years, accord- 

 ing to Veniaminov's best understanding, there were taken "more than 

 two and a half millions of seal skins;" then, in the next twenty-one 

 years, up to 1838, they took 578,924. During this last taking, from 

 1817 to 1838, the skins were worth on an average "no more than 30 

 rubles each" ($6 apiece).' q^- -p^ni 



A great many sea otters [Enliydra marina) were found on St. Paul 

 Island at first, and as many as 50,000 were taken from the island, but 

 years have passed since one has been seen in the vicinity, even, ot the 

 islands. 



HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN FUR 



COMPANY. 



Pribilof Islands pass into its control.— The mention made by 

 Veniaminov of the occupation of the Pribilof Islands immediately 

 after their discovery by a score or so of rival traders and tbeir butcher^ 

 ing suites is authentic. It is not necessary to paint the selfish details 

 of the mercenary crews as I find them drawn by several Slavic chron-^ 

 iclers. In 1790 the whole territory of Alaska went into the control ot 

 the Kussian-American Company, and a i.icture of this organization, 

 which managed affairs on the seal islands for sixty-seven long years, 

 may be interesting in this connection. .^ . i i^„„^ 



Causes of early Eussian fur trade.— The accidental circum- 

 stances connected with Bering's ill-fated voyage in 1741 were the first 

 direct means of impetus given to Russian exploration and trade m the 

 waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea. The skins ot the sea otter 

 and the blue foxes, in es],ecial, which the survivors took from Bering 

 Island back to Kamchatka and Russia, sold for such high prices that 

 it stimulated a large number of hardy, reckless men to scour those seas 

 in search of fur-bearing lands. This trade, thus commenced, was tor 



■These quotations aro^iTfchellaskan currency of that period, a";^^!? of RSau 

 or parchment "rubles," each worth about 20 ceuta specie. See table of Russian 

 weights, values, etc., in the Glossary.— H. W. E. 



