270 ' ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



in getting' them, they took only 1L*,000, On the island of St. (ieorge, 

 instead of getting 40,000 or 35,000, only 1,300 were killed. * * * 

 (Yeuiauiinov: Zapieskie, etc., pt. i, chap, xn, 1840.) 



The table and extract.s whicli I ({note above give me the only direct 

 Russian testimony as to the value of the l*ribilof fur-seal catch wlien 

 the skins were in scant supply. It will be seen that they were worth 

 then just $<10 eacb. 



I now append a brief but significant extract from Teclimainov — sig- 

 nificant simply because it demonstrates that all llussian testiuu^ny, 

 other than Veniaminov's, is utterly self-contradictory in regard to the 

 number of seals taken irora the I'ribilof Islands. Techmainov first 

 gives a series of tables which lie declares are a true transcript and 

 exhibit of tbe skins sold out of Alaska by the Russian-American Com- 

 pany. The latest table presented, and up to the date of his writing, 1862, 

 shows that 372,894 fur seal skins were taken from tbe Pribilof Islands, 

 via Sitka, to tbe Russian markets of the world, in the years 1842-1802, 

 inclusive; or giving an average catch of 18,044 per annum (p. 221.) 

 Then, further on as he writes (nearly 100 pages), he stultifies his record 

 above quoted by using tbe language and figures as follows: 



"In earlier times more were taken than in the later 5 at present (1862) 

 there are taken from the island of St. Paul 70,000 annually, without 

 diminishing tbe number for future killing; on St. George, 6,000. *" * * 

 From 1842 to 1861 there Avere taken from the island of St. Paul 277,778 

 seal skins; blue foxes, 10,508; walrus teeth, 104 poods; from St. George 

 31,923 fur seals; blue foxes, 24,286." (P. Techmainov; Eestorecheskoi 

 Obozeraiuia Obrazovania, Russian-American Company; pt. 11, p. 310, 

 1863, yt. Petersburg.) Further comment is unnecessary upon tbis 

 author, who thus writes a "history of tbe doings of the Russian- Amer- 

 ican Company." Still, since Veniaminov's time, 1838-1840, it is the only 

 prima facie testimony tbat we have touching these subjects while 

 under Russian domination. 



Russian governors controlling the Pribilof Islands. — 

 The following list gives tbe names of tbe several autocratic governors 

 of tbe Russian- American Company who, in their order of mention, exer- 

 cised absolute control over the Pribilof Islands between 1799 and 1867, 

 inclusive: 1, Baranov; 2, Yahnovskie; 3, Moorayvev; 4, Chestyahkov: 

 5, Wrangell; 6, Kooprianov; 7, Etboline; 8, Tebenkov; 9, Rossenburg; 

 10, Viaviatskie; 11, Foragelm; 12, Maxsutov. Of the above, Avith the 

 exception of Baranov, who was a self-made man, and General Viaviats- 

 kie, of the Russian army, all tbe others were admirals and captains 

 in the Imperial navy of Russia. 



First exemption of females in driving. — In the details of an 

 old letter from a creole agent of the Russian-American Company on St. 

 Paul in 1847, I find the following side reference to tbe number of skins 

 which were shipped from the Pribilof Islands tbat season: [MS. letter 

 of Kazean Shiesneekov, St. Paul Islands, 1847. J 



5,606 "liolluschickov" (young males). 



1,894 "sah-iee" (4 and 5 year old males) ; or a total of 7,497. 



This is interesting, because it is tbe record of the first killing on the 

 seal islands when the females were entirely exempted from slaughter. 



The seal islands were the exchequer of the Russian- 

 American Company: 1799-1825. — "The Russians, in their colonial 

 possession under Baranov, made first tbe seal skin tbe basis of all 

 transactions with foreigners by buying up whole cargoes of goods and 



