THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. 83 



No. 25. 



Letter- from the Board of Admini.sfration of the R^lss^an American Com- 

 pany to Captuy/i of the second rank Prince j}[aksutof, chief manager of 

 the Russian American Colonics. Written from St. Petersburg, Novem- 

 ber 8, 1854. 



At the present time the market for fur-seal skius is limited'to the 

 number of 43,000, namely: In New York, from 20,000 to 21,000; at St. 

 Petersburg-, from 15,000 to 16,000, and at Irkutsk, from 5,000 to 6,000 

 skins, which must all be of the best quality, i. e., full-grown males, 

 half grown males, large and medium bachelors. 



The whole number sent to New York may be salted, but the buyers 

 demand that all fat or blubber be removed very carefully previous to 

 salting, for the better preservation and further preparation of the skins. 

 The skins may be shipped to New York by San Francisco, j)referably 

 as sui^plementary freight on the clippers of the New York and Cali- 

 fornia trade, as in this manner they can be forwarded quite cheaply. 

 At St. Petersburg only dried skins are in demand. These should be 

 shipped in our own vessels, but in the absence of such, they may also 

 be shijjped by San Francisco or Victoria, preferably on ships bound for 

 London, where they will be consigned to Pelly & Co., or to Hamburg, 

 consigned to Strong & Co., thence to be forwarded to their destination, 

 since no ships bound for St. Petersburg or Kronstadt can be found at 

 San Francisco, and to charter special vessels is very expensive. 



At Irkutsk also, only dry skins are required; they may be forwarded 

 by Ay an. 



At the same time the board of administration asks you to make 

 arrangements to enable you, with the proposed increase in the fur-seal 

 catch to 50,000 skins i)er annum, to ship 43,000 as indicated above in 

 due time to their several destinations, storing the remainder at New 

 Archangel for use in case of special demands. In (^)rder that these 

 stored skins may not spoil in the warehouses you will make it a rule to 

 ship the reserve of each year to Ilussia in the following year, replac- 

 ing them from the new surplus. The killing- of small seals should be 

 avoided altogether, if possible, but if it must be done, for the sake of 

 procuring- food, you must lind means of using the skins for clothing- in 

 the Colonies, keeping a strict watch to prevent their falling into the 

 hands of foreign traders. In the opinion of the board there can be no 

 difhculty in preparing such small skins in the Colonies, where so many 

 men are in need of employment whom we can more easily assist in this 

 way than with direct charity. 



In connection with this object of finding- a market for the small seal- 

 skins, the board of administration would ask you to introduce their 

 use as an article of clothin^g among the savages of the northern dis- 

 tricts Avho may purchase tliem with other furs, which the Company 

 could dispose of at a greater profit. The principal object in trying- to 

 accustom the natives to the use of small fur-seal skins for their cloth- 

 ing is of course to i)revent their falling into the hands of foreigners. 



V. Klupfel, 



Presiding Officer, 

 N. Tebenkof, 

 V. Zavoiko, 



Members. 



