18 CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 



out, 1,100 seals; Mail/ Ellen, 2,309 seals; Favorite, 2,065 seals; San Diego, 1,725 seals; Sierra, 

 1,312 seals; Vanderbilt, (about) 1,000 seals; Henrietta, (about) 1,200 seals; Alexander, CCO seals 

 and 107 sea-otters; Otter, a few seals and about 50 or GO sea-otters, with the Adele aud other 

 vessels yet to hear from. Thus it will be seen that upwards of ten vessels were engaged in 

 unlawful sealing in Alaskan waters during the present year, and I am convinced that next 

 year the number will be considerably increased. 



Rumors are current here that the American consul at Victoria has informed diffei'ent 

 people that they are not prohibited by law from sealing iu Alaskan or other waters, pro- 

 vided they keep more than three leagues from the shore. Encouraged by this decision aud 

 the success of the marauding sealers during the present year, parties iu Victoria are fitting 

 out vessels (two or three being steam schooners) to engage in the business next year. Not 

 only are seals killed out of season, but they are shot in the water, and young and old, male and 

 female, killed indiscriminately; all iu direct violation of sections 1900 and 1901, Revised Stat- 

 utes, and all tending, if allowed to continue, to drive the seals from their regular haunts. 



Skins so obtained are shipped to London as Victoria skins, and on their return to this coun- 

 try, after dressing and dyeing, are invoiced at a price far below their actual value to avoid the 

 payment of legitimate duties. The Government, by this means, loses about §1.50 on each skin 

 so invoiced, aud on the catch of the present year is defrauded to the amount of about §20,000 

 on duties alone. In addition to this, the royalty of $2.50 per skin, as provided by section 1969, 

 Revised Statutes, is not paid, the Government thereby being defrauded of many thousands of 

 dollars additional. 



In view of the foregoing facts, I would respectfully suggest: 



First. That the Department cause to be i:)rinted in the Western pajjers, particularly tliose 

 of San Francisco, Cal., and Victoria, B. C, the sections of law relating to the killing of fur- 

 bearing animals in Alaskan waters, aud defining in si^ecific terms what is meant liy Alaskan 

 waters. 



Secondly. That a revenue-cutter be sent to cruise iu the vicinity of the Priliyloll' Islands 

 and Aleutian grouj) during the sealing season. 



One vessel cannot protect those islands and visit the Arctic Ocean besides. The cruising 

 ground is far too extensive, coveriug as it does a distance of several thousand miles, and wliile 

 the cutter is absent in the Arctic much damage can bo done by marauding vessels to the seal 

 islands. 



The presence of a cutter is needed in the Arctic to look after the Indians and td ])i-eveiit 

 the illegal traffic in liquor. The whaling fleet, representing as it does hundreds of tliousaiids 

 of dollars and over a thousand lives, exposed to the rigors and hardships of that frozen 

 (•(juntry, calls for some protection on the i)art of the Government, a fact which is attested by 

 the services rendered the fleet during the past few years. 



Since the Territory of Alaska was ceded to the United States no ofBcer of the Government 

 has been on official (hity iu Alaskan waters more than I, my first assignment having been in 

 1S08. From personal obsei-vations covering most of the time from that date to the present year, 

 I caji truly say that the condition of the natives has improved in a remarkable degree since the 

 Alaskan Commercial Company has obtained the lease of that jjortion of the country from the 

 Government. Before the compauy assumed control of the seal islands the natives were but 

 little in advance of the Indians of Alaska. Their habitations were formerly mud huts, and 

 their food and clothing such only as the country afi'orded. Education, even of the most primi- 

 tive nature, was unknown and undreamed of, and they, being satisfied to live from day to day, 

 gave no thought whatever of the morrow. Their huts have now given place to comfortable 

 frame houses, giving them an air almost of luxui-iance, when compared with their former 

 abodes. Carpets, furniture, and the ordinary comforts of the middle classes in tlu! United 

 States form the rule of the furnishings of their houses. In dress they border on the extrava- 

 gant, silks with the women and 1)i'oadcloths with the men being not infrequent, while many 

 of the latter have neat .sums of money placed to their credit. 



Schools are maintained on the islands, and attendauce at them is comjnilscn'v. A church 



