174 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



No. 31. 



Letter from the chief manager of the Russian American colonies to the 

 manager of the island of tit. Paul. Written from Sitka May 1, 1864. 



Your reports, forwarded last year by the steamship Constantine and 

 the bark Prince Menshikof, have been received, and in reply I give you 

 the following instructions : 



As to No. 29. — Last year you were instructed to fill requisitions of the 

 manager of Unalaska Island in a certain contingency, and instructions 

 have now been given to the manager of the island of St. George here- 

 after to furnish Unalaska with necessary supplies, and your duties in- 

 clude, as heretofore, the furnishing Sitka and Fort Michael with supplies. 



As to Nos. 30, 31. — For want of space on the brig Shelikof I was 

 unable to grant permission to Iraida Herman to visit the island of St. 

 Paul this year, and for the same reason I could not send you a cow and 

 a bull. 



As to No. 32. — In my instructions No. 249 of last year I determined 

 the number of fur-seal skins to be taken by you in each year. By order 

 of the board of administration I revoke said instructions No. 219, as 

 well as all previous instructions concerning the catch of fur- seals, and 

 I now direct you to take hereafter annually as many as 70,000 fur-seal 

 skins, 25,000 of which must be dried and the remaining 45,000 salted 

 according to the new directions in your possession. 



You must take the 70,000 skins now ordered to be prepared only in 

 case no decrease in the numbers of the animals is observed; otherwise 

 you must immediately advise me for the purpose of having the number 

 reduced with a view to the preservation of the seals for the years to 

 come. 



As these instructions will reach you late in the season, and as you 

 will consequently be unable to prepare the whole quantity of fur-seal 

 skins now required, I have to request that you will endeavor to take and 

 salt not less than 10,000 skins during the time occupied by the trip of 

 the vessel from St. Paul to Fort Michael and back, and to put them on 

 board of the vessel on her second visit to St. Paul. Last year you sent 

 only 14,000 dried skins, while the order was to send about 20,000. In 

 future you must endeavor to strictly fill the orders. 



As to No. 34. — You will make a report to my successor as to the re- 

 wards to zealous employes. He will probably visit your island in the 

 course of this year. 



As to No. 36. — I thank you for your efforts in regard to the vaccina- 

 tion of the inhabitants, and I request that you will not neglect the mat- 

 ter in future. 



In regard to your request for the admission of your son to the Colonial 

 Public School as a company's boarder, I have to inform you that that 

 school is not yet fully prepared for the reception of boarders, and I 

 therefore advise you to place your son in the house of any of your sis- 

 ters who are now r receiving pensions; your son, while living at Sitka, 

 can attend the school on the same terms as all the newcomers who are 

 not the company's pupils. 



The annual supplies are sent you by the brig Shelikof; unload the 

 cargo, and deliver to the brig all your skins and your reports. Besides 

 this vessel, you will be visited by the steamer Constantine on her re- 

 turn voyage from Nushagak; this vessel will bring you about 2,500 

 poods of salt, and probably some lumber. 



1 have ordered the Russian skipper Arch im an dri toff to proceed by 

 this brig to inspect the island under your charge; you are therefore di- 

 rected to comply with all his requests. 



