REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 195 



Total Shipments of Skins (by periods) made hy the Russian American Company and the 

 succeeding Alaska Commercial Company. 



Includes some skius from the Commander Islands and elsewhere — Skiua. 

 Russian-American Company (and Antecedent United American Com- 

 pany), 1799 to 1821 (both inclusive), 23 years 1,232,374 



(Elliott, Census Report, p. 70.) 

 Russian-American Company (second period), 1822 to 1841 (both inclu- 

 sive), 20 years 458,502 



(Bancroft, p. 563, froniTechminoflF; Elliott, Census Report, p. 70.) 

 Russian-American Company (third period), 1842 to 1861 (both inclu- 

 sive), 20 years 338,600 



(Bancroft, p. 582, from Techminoff.) 

 Pribyloff Islands alone — 



Interregnum (1862 to 1867), being years between last term of Russian- 

 American Company and period of United States control (about) . .. 242, 294 

 (See Table of annual killing.) 



In 1868 there were taken about 240,000 



(Elliott, Census Report, p. 70.) 



In 1869 there were taken about 87,000 



(Elliott, Census Report, p. 70.) 

 Alaska Commercial Company, 1870 to 1889 (both inclusive), 20 years. 1,840,364 



(Parliamentary Paper [C. 6368], p. 45.) 



Total, 1799 to 1889 (91 years; .' 4,439,134 



Average annual shipment of skins 48, 782 



133 Sources of Information Utilized in the above Tables. 



772. 1786. Sbelikofif (quoted by Bancroft, vol. xxxiii, p. 192) states 

 that 40,000 skins were secured in tlie first year of bunting-. 



773. 1787 to 1806. Taking- Eesanoff's estimate of total killing- of seals 

 on Pribyloff Islands to 1806 at 1,000,000, the annual killing during this 

 period seems to have averaged about 50,000, though known to have 

 been irregular from year to year. 



774. 1807 to 1816. In 1817 Veniamiuov's account of number of seals 

 killed on Pribyloff Islands begins. No exact data have been found for 

 the years between 1806 and that date, but from the figures quoted in 

 Bancroft's History (vol. xxxiii, p. 418) from Materialui Istor Euss, a 

 rough approximation may be arrived at of annual killings in Behring 

 Sea from 1745 to 1822, a period extending from the beginning of sealing 

 for seventy-six years. The total number of skins obtained in this 

 period was, according to the above figures, 2,324,364. Deducting from 

 this Veniaminov's figures for seals killed on the Pribylotf Islands from 

 1817 to 1822 (both inclusive), the number remaining for the years 1745 

 to 1816 (both inclusive) is 2,056,880, or an average of 28,970 per annum. 

 This of course includes skins taken on the Commander Islands, with 

 some obtained from natives in trade elsewhere. It also includes the 

 years 1745 to 1785 antecedent to the discovery of the Pribylolf Islands, 

 during- which it is known that more than 93,000 fur-seal skins were 

 obtained, chiefly from the Commander Islands (Bancroft, pp. 111-191). 

 It, however, does not include seals killed for food on the Pribyloff 

 Islands, and of which the skins were not kept. It thus api)ears proba- 

 ble that, allowing the differences in opposite senses to offset each other, 

 the total average annual killing on the Pribyloff Islands from 1807 to 

 1816 (both inclusive) was not far from 30,000. 



Another approximate value for the killings in these years may be 

 obtained from Techminofif's figures, w^hich are official, and are quoted 

 by Elliott. 



Techminoff gives the total shipments for the years 1798 to 1821 (both 

 inclusive) as 1,232,374.* Elliott states that about 5,000 of this amount 



* Bancroft, however, gives the figures for 1799 to 1821 (both inclusive) as 1,767,340 

 (p. 418), and no explanation has been found of this discrepancy. 



