FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OP ALASKA. 141 



above meutioued, shall be in accordance with the provisions thereof, and all acts and 

 parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 



Skc. 8. A}id he it further enacted, That the Congress may at any time hereafter alter, 

 amend, or repeal this act. 



Approved July 1, 1870. 



[Amended March ;;4, 1874.] 



Be it enacted, etc.. That an act entitled "An act to prevent the extermination of 

 fur-bearing animals in Alaska," approved July first, eighteen hundred and seventy, 

 is hereby amended so as to authorize tlie Secretary of tlie Treasury, and he is hereby 

 authorized, to designate the mouths in which the fur seals may 1)6 taken i'or their 

 skins on the islands of St. Paul and St. George, in Alaska, and in the waters adjacent 

 thereto, and the number to be taken on or about each island resi)ectively. 



In pursuance of this act of July 1, 1870, on the 3d of August 1870, 

 the Secretary of the Treasury executed the following lease : 



TERM.S OF THE SEAL-ISLAND LEASE FKOM THE GOVERNMENT. 



This indenture in duplicate, made this 3d day of August, A. D., 1870, by and between 

 William A. Richardson, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance of an act of 

 Congress approved July 1, 1870, entitled "An act to prevent the extermination of fur- 

 bearing animals in Alaska," and the Alaska Commercial Company, a corporation 

 duly established under the laws of the State of California, acting by John F. .Miller, 

 its president and agent, in accordance with a resolution at a meeting of its board of 

 trustees, held .January 31, 1870, witnesseth : 



That said Secretary hereby leases to the said Alaska Commercial Company, with- 

 out power of transfer, itir the term of twenty years from the 1st day of May, 1870, 

 the right to engage in the business of taking fur seals on the islands of St. George 

 and St. Paul within the territory of Alaska, and to send a vessel or vessels to said 

 islands for the skins of such seals. 



And the said Alaska Commercial Company, in consideration of their right under 

 this lease, hereby covenant and agree to pay for each year during said term and in 

 ])roportion during any part thereof, the sum of .$55,01)0 into the Treasury of the 

 United States in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary to l)e made for 

 this purpose under said act, which payment shall be secured by deposit of United 

 States bonds to that amount, and also covenant and agree to pay annually into the 

 Treasury of the United States, under said rules and regulations, an internal-revenue 

 tax or duty of $2 for each seal skin taken and shipped by them in accordance with 

 the provisions of the act aforesaid, and also the sum of OOi cents for each fur-.seal 

 skin taken and shipped, and 55 cents per gallon for each gallon of oil obtained from 

 said seals, for sale in said islands or elsewhere, and sold by said company; and also 

 covenant and agree, in accordance with said rules and regulations, to furnish, free 

 of charge, the inhabitants of the islands of St. Paul and St. George annually during 

 said term 25,000 dried salmon, 60 cords firewood, and a sufficient quantity of salt 

 and a sufficient quantity of barrels for preserving the necessary supply of meat. 



And the said lessees also hereby covenant and agree during the term aforesaid to 

 maintain a school on each island, in accordance with said rules and regulations and 

 suitable for the education of the natives of said islands, for a period of not less than 

 eight months in each year. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree not to kill upon said island of St. 

 Paul more than 75,000 fur seals, and u])on the island of St. (Jeorge not more than 

 25,000 fur seals per annum ; not to kill any lur seal upon the islands aforesaid in any 

 other month except the months of .lune, July, September, and October of each year; 

 not to kill said seals at any time by the use of firearms or means tending to drive 

 said seals from said islands; not to kill any female seals or seals under one year old; 

 not to kill any seal in waters adjacent to said islands, or on the beach, cliffs, or rocks, 

 where they haul up from tlie sea to remain. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree to abide by any restriction or limi- 

 tation upon the right to kill seals under this lease that the act prescribes, or that 

 the Secretary of the Treasury shall judge necessary for the preservation of such 

 seals. 



And the said lessees hereby agree that they will not in any way sell, transfer, or 

 assign this lease, and that any transfer, sale, or assignment of the same shall be 

 void and of no effect. 



And the said bissees farther agree to furnish to the several masters of the vessels 

 employed by them certified copies of this lease, to be presented to the Government 

 revenue officers lor the time being in charge of said islands, as the authority of said 

 lessees for the landing and taking of said skins. 



