THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 81 



Chinese, that the 450 bachelor and young- bnll skins from the ship 

 Suvorof were not accepted as Cahfornia skins, which are considered by 

 the Chinese to be worth one and a half times as much as the grays. 

 The bulls and young bulls received by the Komiantin are valued still 

 higher than the bachehtrs, although the hair on them is coarse and can 

 not be utilized; the skins, however, are large, of good texture, and of 

 whitish-yellow color, the hair being plucked out so as to leave oidy the 

 fur on the skin. The fur thus obtained is dyed and is then ready for 

 use. The grays from the ship /S'«i'oro/have cleaned skin, but short hair, 

 and are rather thin. They were valued lower than those from the Kon- 

 stantin, which, although of a paler color and with reddish spots, are 

 larger in size and have a thicker and longer fur. Our friends (the Chi- 

 nese) are very particular as to (piality, andnot less particular as to size; 

 they sort and measure by inches, and they therefore valued the skins 

 brought by the Konstantin higlier than the bachelors and grays from 

 the Snvorof. The young sea lion skins received by this office have been 

 exhibited, but inasmuch as they have no fur and short hair, though 

 they make a Very good hide, our friends refused to take them at any 

 price, but asked that they be given a cou])le of skins to take to Kal- 

 gan, where they might ascertain by experiment whether they could be 

 utilized for any purpose. 



Demetei Kuznetzof, 



Manager. 



Vassili Joukoe, 



Jjool{]{eej7er. 



No. 22. 



Letter from the Board of Adminisfration of the Russian American Com- 

 pany to (Japtaiii of the first ranlc and Knir/ht Adolf Carlovitch Etholin, 

 Chief Manager of the liKSsian American colonics. Written from t^t. 

 Petersburg, March 8, 18 IS. 



The regulations of the fur-seal industry mentioned in your dispatch 

 No, 287, of May y, 18t3, are I'ully appro\'edaiid coniirmedby the board 

 of adminiscration, and the pro])osed clfxse season on the Island of iSt. 

 George and the Conunander Isliinds is hereby ordered. For the pur- 

 pose of preserving this most valuable resource, the board of adminis- 

 tration respectfully requests you to make it your permanent rule to 

 conduct the annual catch in such a manner that not only the rookeries 

 will not be depleted, but that they will be allowed to increase, i. e., that 

 the annual increase should always exceed the annual catch. 



In (n'der not to disturb prices at j)resent, an annual shipment of 

 10,000 fur-seal skins to Ilussia will suffice. 



Wrangel, 

 A. Sever IN, 

 N. Prokoeyef, 

 N. KusoF, 



Directors. 

 11 



