FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1910. 29 



and Asiatic herds aggregated 3,775 skins. The total pelagic catch 

 from the Pribilof herd, as shown by London trade sales, was in the 

 neighborhood of 15,000 skins. 



WRECK OF REVENUE CUTTER PERRY. 



On the early morning of July 26, 1910, the revenue cutter Perry 

 went ashore on Rocky Point Reef, St. Paul Island, in a thick fog. 

 Shortly afterwards, by the action of the swell, her bottom was punc- 

 tured on the rocks upon which she lay, and all efforts to get her off 

 were futile. Such movable property (guns, stores, boats, etc.) as 

 could be readily transported was brought ashore and stored in an 

 empty warehouse at Rocky Point. The entire crew was quartered 

 at the village for several days and was made as comfortable as circum- 

 stances permitted. The teams and native men on the islands were 

 used for several days in rendering assistance. Later the Perry's 

 men and stores were taken aboard the other cutters in the fleet and 

 the wreck stripped and abandoned. On August 19 the hull was 

 broken up by a strong southerly gale and scarcely anything was left 

 to mark where she grounded. 



FOXES. 



The history of foxing on the Pribilof Islands is interesting. What 

 number of fox skins were taken off these islands by the Russians will 

 never be known. Petroff (1883) states that 34,767 were taken from 

 1842 to 1860, inclusive. From that date to 1867, the fox skins 

 taken from the islands are not segregated from the returns of those 

 taken from general Alaskan sources, which are given by Petroff as 

 27,731. From 1870 to 1890 fox skins to the number of 4,380 on St. 

 Paul and 20,412 on St. George were taken and shipped by the Alaska 

 Commercial Company. From 1890 to 1910, 2,963 fox skins were 

 taken on St. Paul and 13,641 on St. George. 



During the lease of the Alaska Commercial Company (1870-1889), 

 there existed no contract with the Government for the right to pur- 

 chase these skins, and the only expenditure by the company for the 

 more than 24,000 skins it received was the 50 cents it paid the natives 

 for each skin. The North American Commercial Company during 

 the greater portion of its 20-year lease paid to the natives $5 for each 

 blue and $1 for each white fox skin. 



Foxes are trapped annually on St. George Island hi house traps 

 which do not injure the animal. The catch last year there was 227. 

 On St. Paul Island, where these animals never have been as plentiful 

 as they were on the other island, no trapping has been done since 1903 

 until last winter (1909-10), when 185 were secured. These were 

 killed in steel traps. For the blues the natives received $5 apiece; 

 for the whites, $1. This money was applied to the natives' support. 



