XIV FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



Treasury Department Circular No. 13, of January, 1882, contained the 

 published notice of the Russian consul at Yokahoma, warning foreign 

 vessels as follows : 



Notice. — At the request of the local authorities of Bering and other islands, the 

 underaigued hereby notifies that the Russian Imperial Government publishes for gen- 

 eral knowledge the following : 



" (1) Without a special permit or license from the governor-general of Eastern Sibe- 

 ria foreign vessels are not allowed to carry on trading, hunting, fishing, etc., on the 

 Russian coast or islands in the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, or on the northeast coast 

 of Asia, or within their sea ioundary-Une. 



" (2) For such permits or licenses foreign vessels should apply to Vladivosfcock, ex- 

 clusively. 



"(3) In the port of Petropaulovsk, though being the only port of entry in Kam- 

 chatka, such permits or licenses shall not be issued. 



" (4) No permits of licenses whatever shall be issued for hunting, fishing, or trading 

 at or on the Commodore or Robben Islands. 



"(5) Foreign vessels found trading, fishing, hunting, etc., in Russian waters with- 

 out a license or permit from the governor-general, and also those possessing a license 

 or permit who may infringe the existing by-laws on hunting, shall be confiscated, both 

 vessels and cargoes, for the benefit of the Government. This enactment shall be en- 

 forced henceforth, commencing with A. D. 18S2. 



"(6) The enforcement of the above will be intrusted to Russian men-of-war, and 

 also Russian merchant vessels, which, for that purpose, will carry military detach- 

 ments and be provided with proper instructions. 



"A. Pelikan, 

 "R. I. B. M. Consul. 



"Yokohama, November 15, 188L" 



This warning was published fifteen years after the transfer of the 

 eastern half of Bering Sea to the United States and gives notice to all 

 concerned that Eussia will enforce her jurisdiction over the western 

 half within her "sea boundary-line." 



RUSSIA'S TITLE TO BERING SEA. 



The sea of Kamchatka, as it was formerly called, was discovered by 

 Vitus Bering, a Russian subject, in 1725. From the date of discovery 

 until the purchase of Alaska, its waters were surrounded by Russian 

 territory, except the narrow straits leading to the Frozen Ocean and 

 the southwestern outlet to the North Pacific. Within a few years from 

 its discovery trading companies were formed and trading stations es- 

 tablished on its coasts and islands by Siberian merchants and traders, 

 and on the northwest coast of the North Pacific. The glowing accounts 

 of the rich products of the new possessions stimulated Russian enter- 

 prise ; companies were formed, ships were built, and factories established 

 at different points on the coasts and islands. 



In 1745 the Aleutian Islands were discovered, and in 1768 the whole 

 archipelago and the peninsula of Alaska were explored by an exjiedi- 

 tion ordered by the Empress Catharine. The coast of British Columbia 

 was discovered by Vancouver in 1790, and in the same year Gray en- 

 tered the Columbia River, so that the title of Russia is the earliest on 

 the northwestern coast. Subsequently there were four other Russian 

 expeditions: The first, under Commodore Billings, in 1785; the second, 

 under Kriisenstern, of the Russian navy, in 1803 ; the third, under Lieu- 

 tenant Kotzebue, in 1815 ; and the fourth, under Admiral Liitke, in 

 1826. 



As early as 1764 the Russian Government granted to certain mer- 

 chants the exclusive right to trade ui)on the Aleutian Islands, reserving 

 to itself a tithe of the profits; and in 1783 a trading company, which was 

 originally formed at Okhotsk, established its headquarters at Kadiak 



