THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 101 



Shipment of skins from the Commander Islands {exclusive of Jiohben Island), hy periods. 



174H to 17C0, 15 years (period of plenty of sea-otters, foxes, and sea-cows), annual 



average about 1,333 ! total about . . 20, 000 



171)1 to 17(St), 16 years (other fur-beariug animals becoming scarce and sea-cow 



ex term ina ted) annual average about 6,250 total about.. 100,000 



1787 to 1798, 12 years (from discovery of Pribylof Islands to Russian-American 



Company ), same annual average total in round figures about. . 50, 000 



1799 to 1826, 28 years (from Kussiau-Araericau Company to establishment of 



Atkha district), annual average about 476 ...total iu round figures about.. 15,000 

 1827 to 1841, 15 years (to expiration of Russian-American Company's second 



term), yearly average about 10,000 or total about.. 150, 000 



1842 to 1861, 20 years (Russian- American Company's third term), yearly average 



476 total about.. 9,526 



1862 to 1867, 6 years (hold-over of Russian- American Company), yearly average 



4,250 total about . . 25, 500 



1868 to 1870, 3 years (interregnum), yearly average 20,166 total about.. 60,500 



1871 to 1891, 20 years (lease of Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus &, Co.), yearly 



average 36,791 total.. 735,828 



1891 to 1895, 5 years (lease of Russian Seal Skin Companv to date), yearly 



average 27,077 total.. 135,385 



Skins seized within territorial waters, 1891 and 1892 2, 568 



Grand total about. . 1, 304, 307 



As previously stated, some of these figures do not pretend to be more than guesses. 

 Most of them are exphiined iu the foregoing pages, but the figures for the years from 

 1787 to 1801 need some e.xplanatory remarks as to how these guesses were made. 



From 1787 to 1798, inclusive, 12 j'ears, I have assumed the annual average to have 

 equaled that of the foregoing 26 years, giving 46,152, or, in round figures, 50,00(». 



From 1709 to 1826, the period of 28 years during the lease of the Kussian- American 

 Comitany when the yield was not sufficient to induce the company to establish settle- 

 ments on the islands, I have assumed that the annual average can not have exceeded 

 the yiehl between 1842 and 1861, when the company still maintained the settlements, 

 or, in round figures, 1.5,000. 



For the 15 years from 1827 to 1841, inclusive, I have made the following guess: 

 Assundiig that Wrangell at the end of 183.'5 had .30,000 skins on hand, about 25,000 

 (Wrangell shipped, 1827-1833, 132,160 -f assumed surplus on hand, 30,000=162,000— 

 Veniaminof's figures for killed seals on Pribylofs in years 1826-1832, 137,.503=:24,658) 

 must have been taken on the Commander Islands from 1827 to 1832, inclusive. In 

 1840 the Russians had a demand for not over 30,000 skins annually (Simpson, Overl. 

 Journ., p. 131). Probably they were nearly able to fill it, for Mr. E. Teichmann states 

 (Fur Seal Arb., iii, p. 579) that "up to the year 18.53 about 20,000 skins were annually 

 received in London" from the Russian-American Company. It is probably safe to 

 assume, then, that 6,000 went to Kiakhta. Xow, during the nine years from 1833 to 

 1841, inclusive, the Pribylof Islands yielded onlj^ 80,135. The assumed sale being 

 234,000 skins, and there being only 30,000 on hand and 80,000 killed on the Pribylofs, 

 it follows that a yearly average of about 14,000 would have to be obtained on the 

 Commander Islands, or about 125,000, to which should be added the 25,000 assumed 

 to have been taken from 1827 to 1833, giving a total of 150,000.' 



' Figures thus obtained do not pretend to any accuracy. How misleading the process may be is 

 clearly illustrated in tlie table presented by the British Bering Sea commissioners (Rep , p. 132) and 

 the exjdanation concerning the sources of information. They utilize the total given by Bancroft for 

 1842-1861, viz, 338,600 (thi' identical figures utilized above), and from thi.s deduct the number of skins 

 taken from 1842 to 1860, aeeordiug to adifi'erent source, thusobtainingthenumbert.akeu in 18G1. Cor- 

 recting an apparent error iu the subtracter, the number for 1S61 would be 19,699. October 14, 1861, the 

 chief manager of the colonies, Furuliielm, writes home to the board of administration that "in the 

 coiirse of this year 47,940 seal skins have been taken from the islands of St. Paul and St. George." 

 19,699 calculated, but 47,940 taken! This is a sad commentary upon the probable accuracy of the 

 calculated figures. 



