48 ALASKA. 



(plenty,) marten, laud-otter, (abuudaut,) bears, browu and 

 black. Tbe people of this district keep traveling all the year 

 round. 



KUSHAGAK : 



About tbe same as at Koskoquim, but tbe quality of sable 

 or marten deteriorates very mucb and rapidly as the trader 

 goes soutb from this region. Tbepeople are also great travelers, 

 always on the move. This section closes the Yukon district, 

 ■which forms the western boundary of that of the Peninsula 

 and Kodiak. In this country, between Kotzebue and its so'Uth- 

 ern boundary back into the interior as far as a thousand miles, 

 furs are gathered as follows : 



Bearer are taken of the very best quality and in the greatest 

 quantity, and an immense number of musk-rat skins, for the 

 trader must buy everything, (these musk-rat skins are princi- 

 pally shipped to France and Germany, for i^oor people wear 

 them;) of red foxes, quite a large number are taken. Black 

 foxes are seldom obtained, perhaps three or four on an average 

 during tbe year. Silver-gray foxes, a small number annually. 

 Mink and marten of very fine quality from Koskoquim to the 

 nortbwi\rd, but from this point to the southward this fur deteri- 

 orates rapidly. Land-otter, quite a large number of the best 

 quality. Black and hroicn hear, a few ; a small trade in swans''- 

 doivn. Eifter-doion, with profit, cannot be sold in San Francisco, 

 but it is valuable in Russia. (German goose-down is used by 

 our upholster- rs in preference, as it is much cheaper and just 

 as good.) Reindeer-skins are dried; quite a large number of 

 tbese which go east are tanned, and make a very superior 

 leather. 



Figures to show the number of skins taken out of the coun- 

 try might easily be obtained were it under the control of a sin- 

 gle cor[)oration, as it was under the Russian rule, but as it is 

 now, witb ten or a dozen iiulependent traders, large and small, 

 all studiously concealing or purposely exaggerating their trans- 

 actions in order to draw or divert trade, tbe figures, were tbey 

 furnished, would be quite unreliable. The following table, how- 

 ever, sbow'iug the yield of this district during a period of 

 twenty years, between 1842 and ISGl, as given by Russian au- 

 thority, may be deemed correct; and I was assured by Father 

 Shiesneekov, of Ounalasbka, a Russian priest, born and raised 

 in tbis country, that the present yield of furs is at least four 



