266 THE SEALSKIN INDUSTRY 



Sources of sup- islands, Lobos Islands,^ St. Felix and St. Am])rose 

 ply. 



islands,^ the depleted condition of all which is 



well known, except Lobos Island, which, as 



before shown, has been long- protected by the 



Uruguayan Government.^ The arctic supply 



was, as now, the Pribilof Islands, the Commander 



Islands, Robben Reef, and the Kurile Islands, all 



these except the last mentioned being directly 



under the control and management of the Russian 



American Company. 



Markets. Prior to 1870 all the fur-seal skins save a few 



thousand were marketed and sold in China, 



where the skins were plucked,^ the commercial 



value being about five dollars in that country 



and something less in Europe ; ^ but the supply 



being so irregular the market price fluctuated so 



that a cargo of skins was sometimes sold as low 



as fifty cents per skin.^ Russia also received a 



portion of the supply obtained by the Russian 



American Company.^ A few skins, however, 



1 C. A. Williams, Vol. II, p. 542. 



2 Article by Dr. Allen, Parts I and II, Vol. I, pp. 371, 393 ; Gaffney, 

 Vol. II, p. 430. 



sEmil Teichmann, Vol. II, p. 578; Alfred Frazer, Vol. II, p. 556; 

 Urnguayan documents. Vol. I, p. 448. 



■• Emil Teichmann, Vol. II, p. 577 ; C. A. Williams, Vol. II, p. 541 ; 

 Letter from the Board of Administration of the Russian Amcricnn 

 Company to General Manager Baranof, dated April 6 (18), 1817, 

 Vol. I, p. 80, 



6iZ)(V;,Vol.II,p.542. 



6 Letter from Board of Administration of Russian American Com- 

 pany to Captain Rudakof, dated April 22 (May 4), 1853, Vol. I, p. 82. 



