AMENDEI TRANSLATIONS. 165 



No. 21. 



Letter from the board of administration of the Russian American Com- 

 pany to Alexander Andreievitch Baranof chief manager of the Russian 

 American colonics. Written from St. Petersburg April 6, 1817. 



Iu reply to your communication the board of administration incloses 

 herewith an extract from the report of the Kiackta factory concerning 

 the profitable trade in sealskins with the Chinese at Kiachta, and de- 

 sires that you will make special efforts to send to Okotsk, for Kiachta, 

 those kinds which are most acceptable to the Chinese. Do not send 

 any sea-lion skins. 



[Inclosure in No. 21.] 



Report of the Kiachta office to the board of administration of the Russian 



American Company. 



February 8, 1817. 

 This factory had the honor, on February 1, to receive the instruc- 

 tions of the board of administration of the company (No. 715, of De- 

 cember 14, 181 G), in which the board was pleased to instruct us, in 

 disposing of the sealskins received by the ship Suvoroff, to notice what 

 kinds are prized more highly than others. In reply this factory has 

 the honor to report that the sealskins received by the ship Suvoroff 

 and by the Constantine were disposed of in a lot, but from the accept- 

 ance and demands of the Chinese it was observed that the 450 bache- 

 lors and young bulls brought by the Suvoroff, which were not even 

 called California s, are valued by the Chinese at half as much again as 

 the grays. The bachelors brought by the Constantine were far better, 

 as they value them at twice the price of the grays; and the bulls and 

 young bulls received by the Constantine still higher than the bachelors, 

 although the hair on them is coarse and not fit for use. They are large 

 and on the flesh side are very good. They are of a yellowish-white color. 

 The Chinese pull out the hair and only leave the down, which they dye, 

 and they use them in that condition. The grays brought by the 

 Suvoroff are very clean on the flesh side, but the fur is not long. 

 They are thin and of less value than those received by the Con- 

 stantine, which, although they are not clean on the flesh side, and 

 although they have a paler color and reddish spots, are larger and 

 have longer and thicker fur. Our friends have very sharp eyes for 

 quality, and not less for size. They assort and measure them to an inch, 

 and hence they value those brought by the Constantine more highly 

 than those brought by the Suvoroff, both bachelors and grays. The 

 sea lion skins received by this factory were shown them, but, while 

 they were very good on the flesh side, there was no down on them, and 

 the hair was coarse, so that our friends will not take them at any 

 price; and they only asked for two sea-lion skins, which they intend to 

 carry to Kalgan for the purpose of experimenting with them and seeing 

 whether they can not put them to some use. 



Demetri Kuznetzof, 



Manager. 

 Vassili Joukof, 



Bookkeeper. 



