THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



99 



Comparison of the catches at Commander Islands and Tiuleni with those at Pribylof Islands. 



There are a number of published statements referring to the seal catch on the 

 Commander Islands since 1871, but none of them are complete, nor are the figures 

 given for the separate islands. The, Hj^ures al.so vary to some extent, for several rea- 

 sons. In some cases the Tiuleni Island skins have been counted in with tho.se of the 

 Commander Islands. Thus, in Capt. G. Niebaum'.s statement (Fur Seal Arb., iii, p. 

 204), by inadvertence the number of killed seals for 1890, o;5,780, includes 1,456 skins 

 from Tiuleni, the total for the Commander Islands being only 52,324. Many other dis- 

 crepancies are explained by tbe fact that the various figures refer to various counts. 

 Some may and do refer to skins shipped, others to seals killed. The almost unavoid- 

 able ditference in the counting of such large quantities of skins is manifest when we 

 remember that the skins are first counted at the salt-house and then again as they go 

 over the ship's side into the hull. U])on these counts the otticial government statement 

 is made up. The skins are then unloaded in Petropaulski, again loaded into the steamer, 

 and again unloaded and counted in San Francisco. It is, therelbre, not to be ex))ected 

 that lists made up from tlie various figures in the island count, the ship's count, and 

 the custom-house count would agree exactly. The figures given in the following table 

 are based chietly upon the various station journals as well as the ships' logs, partly 

 upon the figures already published, and partly upon a list showing the number of 

 seals sliipped between 18So and 1891 from Bering and Copper islands separately, kindly 

 furnished by Mr. Jlax Heilbronner, of the Alaska Commercial Company. 



Number of fur-seal skins skip i)e<l from. Commander Islands and Eobdeu Island from 1H71 to lSd,'>, inclusive. 



*0f these, Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus &. Co. shipped 4,059; the Russian Seal Skin Co. shipped 13.825. 

 f Of the.se, Hutohiusou, Kohl, Philippoiis & Co. shipped 1 741; the Russian Seal Skin Co. shipped 16,324. 



To this total should be added 41(5 skins taken from the schooner J. IT. Lcich, 

 seized in 1891, and 2,152 skins taken in 1892 from the seized schooners, which obtained 

 them chiefly ofl' Copper Island. The latter skins were sold by the Russian Govern- 



