] 32 SIBEUIA. 



|jc(|ueiilly call and rheir crews compiole Uio slaughler of those uuiirials siill left ou tLe 

 island. The population ol' both the Commander Islands has an organization based on the 

 commune, the whole earnings being divided among all the workmen on certain principles, a 

 small sum beiii(.' annually set apart as reserve capital. In consequence of the exceptional 

 conditions under which fho seal industry is carried on, only the ships of the lessees come 

 near the Commander and 'i'iulcti islands, and consequently the liirnisliiiif.' of the jiopulalion 

 with the necessary supplies is entirely in the hands of the Crown contractors. The latter here 

 are afforded the right of free trade, and although by agreement the company is obliged to sell 

 its goods at a lixed price confirmed by the authorities of the islands, this point has always 

 called forth a number of misunderstandings. In the same vv^y, from the absence of compe- 

 tition, the inhabitants of the islands were compelled to sell beaver, arctic fox, and other 

 furs which were not included in the company's rights, at prices fixed by the agents of the 

 latter. On concluding the agreement with the lessees of the industry, the Government held 

 only the seal industry to be the properly of the Crown, not touching the question of the 

 beaver and arctic fox. At the same time the two latter together yielded the company enor- 

 mous gains, without in any way proliting not only the State, but even the inhabitants them- 

 selves, from whorh the company obtained the skins at an incredibly low price. The fishing 

 was also free from any control on the part of the State, and beyond providing the inhabitants 

 with food brought the latter very little advantage, although they expended no little labour 

 upon it. Now with the new^ contract these conditions have been considerably changed for 

 the better, and the relations between the aborigenes of the islands and the lessees of the 

 industry are more clearly defined. To render clear the present position of these industries in 

 the Far East, it is necessary to throw a hurried glance at the relation of the Government to 

 this matter. 



In the XYIIIth century, as has been already said, the fishing, fur and other industries 

 upon the Siberian shore of the Pacific, and in the Russian possessions in North America, 

 as well as on the Pribylov, Commander, the Kuril and other islands lying in Behring and 

 Okhotsk seas, occupied many individual traders and companies, who possessed no regular organi- 

 zation. This latter fact led to constant misunderstandings among them in the settlement 

 of which the Government was forced to interfere. To put an end to the disputes among the 

 hunters and traders in furs and to sstablish a regular order for the exploitation of the 

 business, the largest representatives of it, the merchants Shelekhov and Galikov, in 1780 

 formed a company with the object of despatching small expeditions «to Alaska, called the 

 American land, to islands known and unknown, for the carrying on of the fur industry and 

 all explorations and the establishment of free t)-ade with the natives». The energetic initia- 

 tors personally visited all the nearest islands, crossed over to the American continent and 

 having become acquainted with the local conditions were easily convinced of the advantages 

 of the undertaking. However to guarantee success it was necessary for them to further ensure 

 themselves from the Government the exclusive right of carrying on the industry, which Shele- 

 khov and Galikov succeeded, in 1788, in doing, without any particular trouble, as the 

 Government at that time had not its owti representatives in the Far East. Soon the new 

 company was completely reorganized; new workers with fresh capital entered it, and in 1798 



