728 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii, 



BEARDED SEAL. 



Juii/iKilliiis hiirl'dhiK ( Ki'xIelxMi). 



Althoui»'li we ri^ceivcd no wliole skins of this species at Fort Ander- 

 son, we had every reason to believe that it is an inhabitant of the 

 northern ocean. It is conmion in Hudson Bay and vStrait and along- 

 the Alaskan coast from Bristol liay northward. Ross ol)s(M"ved it in 

 Boothia, and it has also been met with by other arctic explorers, includ- 

 ini>' Nares, and (Ireely ol)tained several sp(»cimens. The latter gives 

 latitude 81'- 46' north as the highest point where an example (S feet 

 2i inches in length and weighing (!40 pounds, gross) was secured. He 

 considers it a' summer visitor so far north. McC'lintock mentions that 

 the Dane, Peterson, shot an example in Bellot Strait which weighed 

 500 pounds, and that its tiesh was preferable to that of the smaller 

 seals. The Eskimos who resorted to Fort Anderson made use of the 

 parchment-dressed skins of this species for the canoes, and occasionall}' 

 also for their women's l)oats, instead of that of the walrus. They 

 heartily enjoy partaking of its Hesh and oil, no matter how rank it 

 may IxM'ome by keeping. They can and do eat raw meat and fish; 

 but during the sunmier season, as well as when living in their winter 

 huts on the coast, they cook the former, and the latter also when 

 fresh, much in the same way as do Indians and others. During our 

 five years' sojourn at Fort Anderson we received large quantities of 

 sun-dried reindeer tongues and venison, in excellent shape for con- 

 sumption, from the river Eskimos. 



FUR SEAL. 



C'dllorliinus (daHcana Jordan and Clark. 



This \aluable marine fur-l)earing animal is introduced here, like 

 PhociiUKi. p/iocdena., merely in connection with the company's receipts 

 of the skins and sale of same in London. There may have been 

 previous collections, l)ut the first record in the " statement'" is for 

 1S5-1:, with only 13 pelts; 1M55 is but 2 better; then we have 38 for 

 1850, and 79 for 1857. Next follow 1858 with 116, 1859 with 196, 

 1860 with 186, 1861 with 176, 1862 with 403, 1863 with 655, and 1864 

 with 977 pelts. Afterwards the trade has been good, with 2,086 for 

 1865, and only three years under that figure, while the sales vary 

 between 2,151 and the maxinuun, 13,620, in 1871, subse({uent to which 

 they irregularly decline to 1,588 for 1877. The total for the twenty 

 3^ears is 44,322, or an average of nearly 1,846 skins a year. There 

 is no entry of fur seals in the Hudson Bay catalogues for 1902 and 

 1903. In recent years, however, the company's trade of this pelt has 

 practically ceased on the western Pacific coast, but I understand that 

 they now sell on connnission the bulk of the yearh" catch of the 

 Victoria, British ('olumbia, sealing tieet. 



