THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF CAPE FLATTERY. 393 



law of July 1, 1870. The Treasury Department, while fully concurring in my representations, 

 seemed to doubt its power to do so; then, with its sanction, I carried the question before Con- 

 gress, January, 1874, and secured from that body an amendment of the act of July 1, 1870, 

 above quoted in full (act, &c., approved March 24, 1874), which gives the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury full discretion in the matter, and fixes the hitherto inflexible ratio of killing on each island 

 upon a sliding scale, as it were, for adjustment from season to season, upon a more intelligent 

 understanding of the subject; and, also, this amendatory act grants an extension of the legal limit 

 of killing, by giving the Secretary of the Treasury the power to fix it annually. 



LAW WOEKS WELL. As the law is now amended, thakllling on the two islands can be sensi- 

 bly adjusted each season, by the relative number of seals on the two islands, which will vary so 

 markedly on Saint George according as it may be abnormally dry and warm when the period for 

 driving the " holluschickie " is at hand. 



SPECIAL AGENTS OP THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. Prior to March, 1872, the supervision 

 of the Treasury Department over its interest, on the Pribylov Islands was directed by the detail of 

 special agents by the Secretary, who paid them out of a contingent fund of $50,000, which Con- 

 gress voted in 1868 for the " collection of customs " in Alaska ; this appropriation running out, the 

 secretary drew the following bill, which Congress adopted, and it was approved March 5, 1872 : 



SECTION I. Be it enacted, 4-0., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint one 

 agent and three assistant agents, who shall be charged with the management of the seal fisheries iu Alaska, and the 

 performance of such other duties as may be assigned to them by the Secretary of the Treasury ; and the said agent 

 shall receive the sum of $10 per diein ; one assistant ageut the sum of $8 per diem; and two assistant agents the sum 

 of |6 each per diem while so employed; and they shall also be allowed their necessary traveling expenses iu going to 

 and returning from Alaska, such expenses not to exceed the sum of $300 in any one year. 



SEC, II. And be it farther enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, authorized to erect a 

 dwelling-house upon each of the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George for the use of said agents, the cost of both not 

 exceed the sum of $6,000. 



SEC. III. And be it further enacted, That the said agents be, and they are hereby, empowered to administer oaths 

 in all cases relating to the service of the United States, and to take testimony in Alaska for the use of the Government 

 in any manner concerning the public revenues. 



Under this law the present force of Treasury officers is creditably maintained on the Pribylov 

 Islands. Living there, as they do, in perfect isolation, so far from headquarters, it is necessary 

 that, to insure the personal ability of the officers -to be out on the killing grounds in the sealing 

 season, two agents at least should be detailed upon each island, as they are ; should one fall sick, 

 then the other is on hand. The work every year of taking the seals, like the moving of the tides, 

 cannot and will not wait for any man ; it is literally " now or never ! " with its conduct. 



2. THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF CAPE FLATTERY AND 



VICINITY.* 



JAMES. G. SWAN. 

 1. HISTORY, PRESENT CONDITION, AND METHODS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



The northern fur-seals (Callorhinus ur sinus Gray) in their annual migration, north, approach 

 the coast between Point Grenville, Washington Territory, and the western shores of Vancouver 



'According to Prof. D. S. Jordan, a few California vessels are employed in the capture of fur-seal. At San 

 Diego he states the chase of the fur-seal is more important than the fisheries proper. They are sought for chiefly in the 

 Guadaloupe Islands. Most of them are killed by shooting, but sometimes they are dispatched with clubs. Their skins 

 are sold in San Francisco at $4 to $6 each. The carcass is thrown away. About $10,000 worth of the skins of fur- 

 Heal from this region were sold in San Francisco in 1879. 



