536 



ALASKA INUUhTRIES. 



The transfer, as above stated, of merchandise and cash represented 

 no cost to the new lessees, since the former was native store goods: 

 was all salable, and was soon resold to the natives for a slight advance 

 over the figures given above. The cash is that coin (silver dollars and 

 half dollars chiefly) which is kept in circulation by the company among 

 the people, plus their credit books at the village stores. 



Table showing the number of fur-seal skins taken from the Russian hauling grounds on the 

 Commander Islands, Bering Sea, since 1871 and shipped to the markets.^ 



Year. 



Eobbens 

 Island. 



Bering 



and 

 Copper 

 islands. 



Total. 



3,614 

 29, 356 

 30, 404 

 31, 300 

 36. 279 

 26, 960 

 21, 533 

 31, 340 

 42, 750 

 48, 504 

 43, 521 



Tear. 



1882. 

 1883. 

 1884. 

 1885. 

 1886. 

 1887. 

 1888. 

 1889. 

 1890. 



Total 



Robbens 

 Island. 



4,106 

 2,049 

 3,819 

 1,838 



Bering 



and 

 Copper 

 islands. 



Total. 



40, 514 

 26, 650 

 50, 034 

 41,737 

 54, 591 



46, 347 



47, 362 

 52, 755 

 52, 502 



44,620 

 28, 699 

 53, 853 

 43, 575 

 54. 591 

 46, 347 

 47, 362 

 52, 755 

 52, 502 



769, 863 



' Bering and Copper islands constitute what is known as the Commander group. Kobbens Reef or 

 Island is a small islet, or rock, rather, about 30 miles off shore frgm the east shore of Sakhalen l.-^land, 

 in the Okotsk Sea; it belongs to Russia also. These skins were all taken under the lease to Hutchin- 

 son, Kohl Philippaeus & Co., and paid a ttix of $1.50 to the Imperial treasury for each akin taken. 

 This lease expired in November, 1890, and at the date of this report it is not known definitely as to its 

 renewal. 



Under Russian management the yield from these islands I have tlio record of, as 

 follows : 



1862 4,000 



1863 4,500 



1864 5,000 



1865 4,000 



1866 4,000 



1867 4,000 



1868 12,000 



1869 24,000 



1870 24,000 



No account of the proportion that Robbens Reef gives to this total for each year 

 between 1862 and 1870 has been found by the writer. 



THE PELAGIC CATCH FROM 1886 TO DATE. 



[With the year 1886 this work of hunting fur seals in the open waters of the ocean b_v white men, 

 outfitting vessels, and hiring hunters, practically begins : it is the first year thai the British hunters 

 ever got jnto Bering Sea.] 



Table showing the number of fur-seal skins taken by the pelagic sealers and poachers in the 

 North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. 



Pelagic and poaching catch of 1886 : Skins. 



Lauded at Victoria, British Columbia, by British sealers 25, 538 



Lauded at Victoria, British Columbia, by American sealers 5, 000 



Landed at Sau Francisco, Cal., by American sealers 2, 944 



Seized in Bering Sea by the United States Revenue-Marine cutter Bush . . 2, 177 



Total 35,659 



Pelagic and poaching catch of 1887 : 



Lauded at Victoria, British Columbia, by British sealers 17, 078 



Landed at Victoria, British Columbia, by American sealers 2, 536 



Landed at San Francisco, Cal., by American sealers 6, 502 



Seized in Bering Sea by cutters Bush and Bear 12, 345 



Total 38,461 



