MARKETS. 533 



The skins from the localities mentioned were marketed mainly in 

 China, as exchange for silks, teas, etc.; a portion 



went to Europe, and in France and England were c. A. Williams, p. 542. 

 manufactured into caps, gloves, and other small 



articles, being simply unhaired and dressed. The commercial value in 

 China was about $5 per skin for first class, and something less in 

 Europe. But Delano, chapter 11, page 197, says: "Having agreed for 

 a freight, Captain Stuart ordered his ship to Canton; he sold his cargo 

 of seals, 38,000, for only $16,000, so reduced was the price of this arti- 

 cle." There was no regular market established for them, and, under 

 the conditions of their taking, there could be none; for at one time 

 there would be a vast oversupply, while at another skins would be 

 unattainable, and always the assurance that however plentiful might 

 be the supply for a season the end was not distant, for utter destruc- 

 tion was the rule of capture, and no reproduction was possible. Capi- 

 tal could not undertake to develop such a trade, for the end was in 

 sight from the beginning. 



Until about 1853 the skins shipped by the Russian American Com- 

 pany from these islands, over which they had ab- 

 solute control, up till the time of the cession to C. A. Williams, p. 545. 

 the United States, went forward in the parchment 



(or dried) state at the rate of about 20,000 per annum. About 1853 a 

 small trial shipment of salted skins was shipped in the hands of Messrs. 

 J. M. Oppeuheim & Co., London, who had for many years previous 

 been the leading firm who unhaired and dressed fur seals from Lobos 

 Islands, Cape of Good Hope, etc. The first experience with salted 

 Alaskas proved a failure, the skins not having been properly cured ; 

 by degrees, however, the skins came forward in better condition, and 

 in the year 1858 Messrs. Oppeuheim contracted with the Russian 

 American Company for an annual supply of from 10,000 to 12,000 salted 

 fur-seals at 10s. \<dd. per skin, delivered in London. This quantity was 

 increased about the year 1864 to 20,000 per annum, the contract re- 

 maining in force until the time when the territory was handed over to 

 the United States Government. In addition to the salted fur seals, 

 Messrs. Oppeuheim received annually from the Russian American 

 Company about 10,000 parchment fur-seal at a price materially below 

 tli at of the salted skins. Messrs. Oppeuheim shipped to the United 

 States the first dressed and dyed Alaska seals about 1860, but their 

 shipments only amounted to a few thousand skins per annum until 

 1865. From that year until 1872, when this firm was liquidated, the 

 quantity shipped by them increased from 2,000 to 3,000 per annum to 

 probably 10,000 skins. 



Such was the state of the trade in fur-seal skins at the time of the 

 lease by the United States Government to the Alaska Commercial 

 Company. Skins were of low value; there were no regular open sales; 

 the dressing and dyeing were badly done, and the net result of sales 

 was insufficient to meet the rental, tax, and charges imposed by the 

 Government on the lessees at the date of the issue of the lease. The 

 company undertook the building up of this business by the introduc- 

 tion of method and system on the islands in the place of the loose and 

 careless management, by careful selection of skins and great attention 

 to the curing of them, and by guaranteeing regular supply as to quan- 

 tity and quality to the London market. They were most ably seconded 

 in their efforts by the London house of C. M. Lainpson & Co., to whom 

 the skins were consigned, and to the critical acquaintance with value 



