102 ACTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



each offense, be fined, not less than $200 nor more than $1,000, or be 

 imj)risoned not more than six montlis, or both; and that all vessels, 

 with their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, found engaged in vio- 

 lation of that section shall be forfeited. 



No fur-bearing animals will, therefore, be allowed to be killed by i)er- 

 sons other than the natives within the limits of Alaska Territory, or in 

 the waters thereof, except fur-seals taken by the Alaska Commercial 

 Company in pursuance of their lease. The use of firearms by the na- 

 tives in killing otter during the months of May, June, July, August, 

 and September is hereby prohibited. No vessel will be allowed to 

 anchor in the well-known otter-killing grounds, except those which may 

 carry parties of natives to or from such killing grounds; and it will be 

 the duty of the officers of the United States, who may be in that local- 

 ity, to take all proper measures to enforce all the pains and penalties 

 of the law against persons found guilty of a violation thereof. White 

 men lawfully married to natives and residing within the Territory are 

 considered natives within the meaning of this order. 



John Sherman, 

 Secretary of the Treasury. 



Treasury Department, 



Office of the Secretary, 



Washington, D. C, March 12, 1881. 



Sir. : Tour letter of the 19th ultimo, requesting certain information 

 in regard to the meaning placed by this Department upon the law reg- 

 ulating the killing of fur-bearing animals in the Territory of Alaska was 

 duly received. The law prohibits the killing of any fur-bearing ani- 

 mals, except as otherwise therein provided, within the limits of Alaska 

 Territory, or in the waters thereof, and also prohibits the killing of any 

 fur-seals on the islands of St. Paul and St. George or in the waters 

 adjacent thereto, except during certain months. 



You inquire in regard to the interpretation of the terms " waters 

 thereof" and " waters adjacent thereto, " as used in the law, and how far 

 the jurisdiction of the United States is to be understood as extending. 



Presuming your inquiry to relate more especially to the waters of 

 western Alaska, you are informed that the treaty with Eussia of March 

 30, 1870, by which the Territory of Alaska was ceded to the United 

 States, defines the boundary of the Territory so ceded. This treaty is 

 found on pages 671 to 673 of the volume of treaties of the lievised Stat- 

 utes. It will be seen therefrom that the limit of the cession extends 

 from a line starting from the Arctic Ocean and running through Bering 

 Strait to the north of St. Lawrence Islands. The line runs thence in a 

 southwesterly direction, so as to pass midway between the island of Attn 

 and Copper Island of the Kromanboski couplet or group in the North 

 Pacific Ocean, to meridian of 193 degrees of west longitude. All the 

 waters within that boundary to the western end of the Aleutian Archi- 

 pelago and chain of islands are considered as comprised within the 

 waters of Alaska Territory. 



All the i^enalties prescribed by law against the killing of fur-bearing 

 animals would therefore attach against any violation of law within the 

 limits before described. 

 Very respectfully, 



H. F. French, 

 Acting Secretary. 



Mr. D. A. Ancona, 



No. 717 O^Farrell street, San Francisco, Cal. 



