130 REPORT OP BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



market. In 1811 the firm of Astor, of New York, made a special con- 

 tract to supply the Eassian Company with provisions, payment beiii^ 

 taken in furs to be sold in Canton. This enteri)rise took the name of 

 the Pacific Fur Company, and the two Companies undertook, besides 

 this mutual trade, to prevent the natives obtaining any liquor, to assist 

 each other against all interlopers and smugglers, and to respect each 

 other's hunting areas. In the following year these rights and under- 

 takings were bought up by the North- West Fur Company, of which the 

 headquarters were in Montreal. 



480. Thus, the English were in the North Pacific taking seal-skins 

 from the south seas to Canton, and also trading generally in 



85 furs, right away to that portion of the North Pacific which sub- 

 sequently became known as Behring Sea, on a well-established 

 basis, by the beginning of the present century. 



481. In connection with this part of the Nin-th Pacific, it may also 

 be borne in mind that about the year 1840 whaling began to be exten- 

 sively practised. In 1840 to 1842 the whaling tleet frequented the 

 Kadiak ground, where many right whales were taken. In 184(1, the 

 Japan Sea was found to be a good whaling ground, from which that 

 part of the Pacific near Kamschatka was next reached, and soon after 

 Okotsk Sea. In 1848, the first whaler entered the Arctic Ocean, and 

 thereafter not only Behring Sea, but also this further ocean, has been 

 regularly frequented by whalers, the bow-head whale chiefly being 

 taken in the extreme north. The industry has gradually declined, in 

 consequence of the lessened number of whales; but between 1849 and 

 1800, there were about 300 vessels under the United States flag, besides 

 British, French, Oldenburg, Danish, and other vessels. Many of the 

 British vessels came from Hobart Town and other places in Australasia. 



482. But the fur seal of the North Pacific remained in great measure 

 a monopoly of the Russians until towards the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, and then, by reason of its becoming a well-ascertained fact 

 that the supply of seal-skins from the Southern Ocean had practically 

 ceased, English and other nations also turned their attention to the 

 supply of seal-skins from the North Pacific. 



483. It is necessary to bear in mind tliat the commercial importance 

 of the skins of the fur-seal of the North Pacific; is thus of recent origin. 

 In the well-known "Penny Cycloptedia," published so lately as 1842, 

 the seal is described as follows, and it is stated that no market value 

 is attached to the skins of the adult: 



Arctocephalus urshius. — Islands on the uortli-west point of America, Kamschatka, 

 and the Knrile Islands. This is the Otaria ursina of Dozmaest; Phoca ursina of Lin- 

 njeus, &c. When these migratory seals apjiear off Kamschatka and the Kuriles early 

 in the spring they arc in high condition, and the females are pregnant. They remain 

 on or about the shore for two months, dnring which the females bring forth. They 

 are polygamons, and live in families, every male being snrronnded by a crowd of 

 females (from lifty to eighty), ^vholn he guards with the greatest jealousy. These 

 families each, including the young, amounting to 100 to 120, live separate, though 

 they crowd the shore, and that to such an extent on the islands oif the north-west 

 point of America, that it is said they oblige the traveller to quit it, and scale the 

 neighbouring rocks. Both male and female are very affectionate to their young, 

 and fierce iu their defence; bnt the males are often tyranically cruel to the females, 

 ■which are very submissive. . . . The skin, whii h is very thick, is covered^with 



hair There is a very soft, brownish-red wool close to the skins. .... 



The skins of the young are highly prized for clothing. 



484. Upon the Commander Islands, until the year 1808, nothing was 

 thought worthy of capture except the grey-pup seals, while on the Pri- 

 byloff Islands and along the coasts of North- West America the skins of 

 the fur-seal were considered as hardly worth the taking. For instance. 



