596 INVESTMENTS. 



So far the average selling price at Victoria has been $7.G5. 

 German schooner Adele, 1,600 



American schooner Allie 1. Alger, 284 



" " Neicton, 239 



" " J. G. Swan, 60 



" " Henry Dennis, 700 



British schooner Pathfinder, 50 



" " Viva, 2,180 



" " Annie C. Moore, 1,300 



" " Maggie Me, 1,290 



" " Sapphire, 1,629 



" " W. P. Sayicard, 1,600 



" " Kate, 911 



" " Favorite, None. 



" " Penelope, 1,850 



" " Black Diamond, 55 



" « Z?'%, 74 



" " ^IneZ, 834 



" " Minnie, 521 



" " Beatrice, 700 



" " Therese, None. 



" " Mary Ellen, None. 



The record of the collection, as given above, is from the custom house 

 at Victoria, and verified by the principal purchasers. The price paid 

 for skins came from the account books of the purchasers, and were veri- 

 fied by current price lists published in the Loudon fur market. 

 There are 24 Victorian schooners in the trade and 32 San Francisco 

 aud Paget Sound schooners, making a total of 56 

 T. T. Williams, p. 502. schooners. At the rate of 3,000 skins to the 

 schooner, they would, if undisturbed, take 168,000 

 skins. As the seals they kill in the Bering are nearly all females either 

 in young or having just pupped, the loss of seal hie would be 336,000. 

 To this must be added 168,000 killed and wounded seal and their pups 

 not caught, making a total of 672,000 seal killed with the present iieet. 

 Both Miln's valuations and my own include the cost of the sealing 

 outfit. The value of an outfit tor sealing depends 

 Thos. T.Williams, p. 501. upon the size of the schooner, the number of men 

 and boats she carries, and whether or not they 

 are Indians. As you will see by one of the tables ap] tended, there were 

 this year 383 Indians and 2(51 white men employed on sealing schooners 

 fitted out in Victoria, and where white men are employed the schooner 

 carries boats of American make, has her hunters armed with rifles and 

 shotguns, and carries all told a crew of 4 men to each hunting boat. 

 The men are engaged in this way: The hunter who shoots the seal has 

 2 men in his boat to row him, making 3 men actually in the boat, and 

 a few hands are left on board the schooner to handle her. Thus a 

 schooner having a crew of 20 men all told would have 5 boats and 5 

 hunters. The cost of the outfit is, for such a schooner: 



Five boats costing in San Francisco, where they are all built, $100 each $500 



Five Marling rifles, at $35 175 



Five shotguns, at $35 175 



Two extra guns 70 



Salt for sealskins 200 



Five thousand rounds ammunition for guns and rifles 125 



Provisions for 20 men four months, at $8 per head per month 610 



Insurance, one- third of year 175 



2,060 



