LEASES OF THE FUR SEAL ISLANDS. 29 



THE FIRST LEASE. 



Under the terms of this lease the company were given the right to take 100,00b 

 male seals over one year of age during the months of June, July, September, and 

 October of each year. In 1874, by act of Congress, the number of seals to be taken 

 and the time of sealing was made subject to the control of officers of the Treasury 

 Department, and killing after August 1 was limited to the necessities of the food supply 

 of the natives. The use of firearms or of other methods of killing, tending to drive 

 the seals away, was prohibited, as was also the killing of the animals in the water. 



In consideration for the skins so taken the lessees agreed to pay to the Treasury 

 of the United States an annual rental of $55,000 for the islands, and a revenue tax of 

 $2.62 on each skin taken and shipped by them. In addition they were to furnish 

 free of charge to the inhabitants of the islands each year 25,000 dried salmon, 60 cords 

 of firewood, and a sufficient quantity of salt and preserved meats. The company was 

 also to maintain a school on each island for at least eight months of the year, and 

 were forbidden to sell any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL COMPANY. 



Under the provisions of this lease the affairs of the islands were conducted until 

 the close *of the season of 1889, when it expired. The Treasury Department again 

 advertised for bids and again leased the islands for a term of twenty years to a new 

 company, the North American Commercial Company, their offer having been accepted 

 as most advantageous to the Government. 



THE PRESENT LEASE. 



The new lease differs from the old to the advantage of the Government in the 

 following points: The rental of the islands is fixed at $60,000. The tax of each skin 

 is $9.62. Eighty tons of coal are furnished the natives. The quantity of salmon, 

 salt, and other provisions to be furnished can be fixed by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury. The company furnishes free dwellings, churches, physicians, medicines, 

 employment to the natives, and cares for the aged, the widows, and the orphans. 

 The quota was fixed at 60,000 for the first year, and has since been subject to the 

 regulation of the Secretary of the Treasury. 



THE DECLINE IN THE BACHELOR HERD. 



During the closing years of the lease of the Alaska Commercial Company a 

 marked decrease in the fur seal herd had begun to be noted. In the opening year of 

 the new company's lease the depleted condition of the herd became apparent in the 

 reduction to one-fifth in the original quota of 100,000 skins. Various factors entered 

 into this decline, which it is not necessary here to discuss fully. These, as well 

 as the original cause of decrease in the herd, were at best but imperfectly understood 

 at the time. 



LAND AND SEA KILLING. 



To make the matter clear in the briefest possible space, at this point it is necessary 

 to review somewhat the history of the herd. Conjointly with the killing on land, as 

 practiced by the Russians and Americans, there had been going on from time imme- 

 morial killing of another sort now known as pelagic sealing. This was carried on at 



