AMENDED TRANSLATIONS. 167 



No. 24. 



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

 pany to Captain of the First Rank and Knight Stcpan Vassilicvitch 

 VoyevodsJcy, chief manager of the Russian American colonies. Writ- 

 ten from St. Petersburg April 24, 1854. 



Captain of the Second Class Rudakoff, in his dispatch 318, of May 

 30, 1853, reporting to the board of administration the increase of seals 

 on the island of St. Paul and the arrangements made by him, in con- 

 sequence, with regard to killing them, inquires of the board of admin- 

 istration what number of them must be killed in future and what kinds 

 are preferred. 



In reply the board of administration respectfully requests your ex- 

 cellency to order that bachelors be killed in preference, the older the 

 better, as the purchasers prefer large skins. Hence small seals must 

 be killed only in such numbers as are necessary for obtaining oil to 

 supply the demand; and, as at the present time the demand for seal- 

 skins has considerably decreased, they must be killed, as a rule, only 

 in such numbers as will not affect their increase until a greater demand 

 sets' in, for which the board of administration is making constant ex- 

 ertions. 



V. KJLUPEEL, 



Presiding officer. 

 A. Etholin, 

 N. Kusof, 

 Baron Wrangel, 



Members. 



No. 25. 



Letter from the board of administration of the Russian American Company 

 to Captain of the Second Rank Prince MaJcsutof, chief manager of the 

 Russian American colonics. Written from St. Petersburg November 

 8, 1854. 



At present the sale of sealskins has risen to 43,000, namely, 20,000 

 to 21,000 at New York, 15,000 to 16,000 at St. Petersburg, and 5,000 to 

 0,000 at Irkutsk. They must be of the best quality ; that is to say, large 

 and medium bulls, young bulls, and bachelors. 



The whole quantity sent to New York may be salted, but the pur- 

 chasers request that in salting them the oil be removed from them as 

 carefully as possible, for the better preservation and for the further 

 dressing of the skins. They must be sent there by way of San Fran- 

 cisco, preferably, to complete the cargoes of vessels going to New York, 

 because by this arrangement the delivery of them will cost much less. 



Only dried sealskins are in demand at St. Petersburg, and they must 

 be sent there by our own vessels going round the world, or, in the 

 absence of these, by way of San Francisco or Victoria; but preferably, 

 to complete cargo on vessels going to London, to Mr. Pelly, or to 

 Hamburg, to Mr. Sturm, for further dispatch to their destination, as at 

 San Francisco it is impossible to find a vessel with cargo going to St. 

 Petersburg or Kronstadt, and it would be very expensive to charter 

 one for that special purpose. 



