ALASKA INDUSTEIES. 



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was but 130 from all causes. The salt houses are arranged with large 

 bins, called kenches, made of thick planks, into which the skins are put, 

 fur side down, with a layer of salt between each layer of skins. They 

 become sufficiently cured in from five to seven days, and are then taken 

 from the kenches and piled up in books, with a little fresh salt. Finally, 

 they are prepared for shipment by rolling them into compact bundles, 

 two skins in each, which are secured with stout lashings. The largest 

 of these bundles weighs 64 pounds, but their average weight is but 22. 

 The smallest skins, those taken from seals 2 years old, weigh about 7 

 pounds each, and the largest, from seals 6 years old, about 30, 



The skins are counted four times at the island, as follows: By the 

 company's agent and tbe native chiefs when they are put into the salt 

 houses, the latter given in their accounts, after each day's killing, to the 

 Government agent; again when they are bundled by the natives, who 

 do the work, as each is paid for his labor by the bundle; by the Gov- 

 ernment agents when they are taken from the salt houses for shipment, 

 and the fourth time by the first officer of the company's steamer, as 

 they are delivered on board. An official certificate of the number of 

 skins shipped is made out and signed by the Government agents in 

 triplicate, one copy being sent to the Treasury Department, one to the 

 collector at San Francisco, the third given to the master of the vessel 

 in which they are shipped. The amount of the tax or duty paid by the 

 company to the Government is determined by the result of a final 

 counting at the custom-house in San Francisco. The books of the 

 company show that it has i)aid into the Treasury, since the date of the 

 lease, $170,480.45 on account of the rental of the islands, and $1,057,709.74 

 tax on seal skins, which sums also appear in those of the Treasury De- 

 partment. The latter sum is less by $10,458.03 than the tax that should 

 have been paid had 100,000 skins been taken each year since 1870, or, 

 in other words, 6,269 fewer skins have been shipped than the lease per- 

 mitted. The record kept at the islands, by both the Government's and 

 company's agents, shows that in 1871 but li',077 skins were taken on St. 

 George, instead of 25,000, the number allowed, and, that nearly every 

 year since, the number shipped has fallen a little short of 100,000. 



In addition to the seals killed by the company for their skins, about 

 12,000 are killed annually, under the direction of the Government's 

 agents, to supply the natives with food. Between 7,000 and 8,000 of 

 these are pups, killed in November and scattered for consumption during 

 the winter, when there are no seals on the islands. The remainder are 

 bachelor males, killed between the months of April and November, at 

 times when none are being killed by the company. The skins of the 

 pups are too small and inferior to be salable, but are tanned and used 

 by the natives for robes, car^jets, etc. Those taken from the others are 

 good, except those taken in August and September, when they are 

 "stagey," and are accepted by the company and counted as a part of their 

 quota. The seals shed their coat of hair and get a new one between 

 the months of June and October. Skins are said to be stagey when the 

 hair of the new coat has not grown long enough to project beyond the fur, 

 and are consequently injurious to it, as they can not be plucked out. No 

 use is made of the carcasses of the dead seals, which are left on the 

 killing grounds to be decomposed and dispensed by the action of the 

 elements. It was thought at first that a large amount of valuable oil 

 could be obtained from them, and the comi^any agreed to pay a tax of 

 55 cents a gallon for all that should be shipped or sold, but after making 

 about 8,000 gallons in 1871-72, it was found that the cost of making and 

 shipping it to San Francisco was greater than the price it brought there, 



