10 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



In framing laws for the territory the following year (1868), 

 Congress did not clearly signify the extent to which the 

 United States claimed jurisdiction in Bering Sea, but simply 

 enacted that the " laws of the United States relating to cus- 

 toms, commerce, and navigation, are extended to and over 

 all the mainland, islands, and waters of the territory ceded 

 to the United States by the Emperor of Russia . . . ", and 

 further enacted that, " no person shall kill any otter, mink, 

 martin, sable, or fur-seal, or other fur-bearing animals within 

 the limits of Alaska territory, or in the ivaters thereof. ..." 

 Thus the United States asserted its dominion over Alaska 

 and the waters thereof, the phrase "waters thereof" unfortu- 

 nately being left to the various interpretations of public 

 opinion, as shaped or fashioned by future national interests. 

 This ambiguity of expression was destined finally to play an 

 important part in a serious international complication. 



Two great industries at once developed in Alaska, the 

 salmon fisheries and the capture of fur-bearing animals. Of 

 these by far the most important was the pursuit of sealing. 

 The fur of seals is exceptionally fine, and being always in de- 

 mand, has commanded high prices in the markets of the world. 



The fur-seal, known to zoologists as Callorhinus ursinus, 

 resembles biologically a form of marine bear, and should 

 not be confounded with the true seal of our Pacific coast, 

 from which it differs in several respects. 



There are three herds of these marine creatures that annu- 

 ally visit the islands of the North Pacific. These herds do 

 not mingle, but have each their own particular breeding- 

 ground, to which they annually repair. One herd inhabits 

 Robin Island, in the Okhotsk Sea ; one the Commander 

 Islands which lie on the Russian side of Bering Sea ; and the 

 third (in point of numbers the most important, and known 

 as the " American herd " in contradistinction to the other 

 two, or "Asiatic heeds"), inhabits the Pribyloff Islands a 

 group of small islands on the American side of Bering Sea. 

 To these islands the seals resort in great numbers during the 

 latter part of May or the first part of June. The males 



