HUNTING AND THE FUR INDUSTRY. 139 



even of secretly killing seals, but the said company on its part took energetic . measures 

 against such piracy, thanks to which the latter was not ahle to assume large dimensions. 

 When the company's affairs were wound up, in 1868, and particularly during the time pre- 

 ceding the concession of the seal industry to another company in 1871, according to the 

 evidence of the Russian Consul General in San Francisco, the regular organization of the 

 illegal exploitation of both the seas commenced at first by the Americans and Canadians 

 and then by all other lovers of gain at other people's expense. 



In particular, Anadyr Bay with the Holy Cross and Anadyr gulfs, not being protected 

 by Russian authorities and little visited by cruisers, became, thanks to their convenient 

 anchorage, the favourite ground of those occupying themselves with the illegal industry. 

 They systematically depraved the uncivilized native population, intoxicating them with 

 brandy and receiving from them valuable furs for almost nothing. Besides this, several 

 considerable fishing firms in San Francisco openly caught cod and other fish between 

 Sakhalin and the Kuril chain, in the bays of Penzha, Gizhiga, Tauisk and Udsk. This 

 they practised unpunished, due to the absence of Russian cruisers in those waters. In 

 Kamchatka, and on the nearest islands also, a considerable quantity of fur animals 

 were killed, such as arctic foxes, beaver, bear, red and black foxes, Siberian gray-chested 

 foxes, sable, martens. All these valuable furs were sold by the natives to var- 

 ious piratical traders for brandy, powder, shot, guns and all kinds of rubbish. From this 

 cause the sea beaver particularly suffered, their number beginning to rapidly decline from 

 the irregular way in which they were hunted. This circumstance compelled the Russian Gov- 

 ernment to take measures against such injurious trade and with this object, in 1875 it first 

 despatched to the Far East the clipper «Gaidamak» to suppress the illegal trade in spirits with 

 the inhabitants of the Russian coast. Afterwards, more than once, other vessels were detached 

 from the Pacific squadron with the same object, and since 1884 a military guard has been 

 maintained on the Tiulen Island during the summer and autumn months. The occasional des- 

 patch of Men of War to protect the fur industries did not always attain its object, and 

 therefore since 1891 the transport cYakut» has been sent to cruise constantly in Behring 

 Sea. The result was the confiscation of the piratical schooners, employed in the prohibited 

 catching of fur seals, the crew being always set at liberty without the exaction of 

 any fine. 



The Americans on their part took a series of more energetic measures for the protec- 

 tion of their coast from the piratical catching of marine fur animals. For the regulation of 

 this matter, and the establishment of a close season for seals, in 1887 arose the question of 

 the necessity of an agreement between the governments of Russia, Great Britain, and the 

 United States of America. The conferences however appointed to deliberate the subject, at 

 first in London and then in Washington, with the participation of the countries interested, did 

 not lead to any deiinite results; and meanwhile the piratical activity of foreigners not only 

 continued, but apparently even increased. Fur seals were killed not only on land, but in the 

 water without distinction of age or sex in consequence of which a quantity of animals 

 perished without profit to anyone, as the wounded retired to sea and there died in large 

 numbers. The destruction of the females led to the death of the young seals still dependent on 



