FUR-SEAL FlSMliKlES OF ALASKA. IX 



the extermination of far bearing animals in Alaska, " was passed, for in 

 that act, as well as the i^receding and snbsequenr acts in reference to 

 Alaska, Congress expressly asserted our jurisdiction over the marine 

 territory acqnired by the purchase as well as over the land, and ex- 

 tended the laws of the United States over the entire territory embraced 

 within the boundary specified in the treaty, as will appear from tlie 

 following enactments: 



(1) The first legislative action in reference to Alaska was the act of 

 July 27, 18G8, appropriating $7,200,000 in payment of the price stipu- 

 lated in the treaty with Eussia, of certain territory "therein tlescribed" 

 and ceded to the United States. In other words, the api)ropriatiou was 

 to pay for the territory described in the treaty of cession. 



(2) By the act also approved July 27, 1S08, it is provided : 



The laws of the United States relating to customs, commerce, aud navigation are 

 extended to and over all the main-laud, islands, and waters of the territory ceded to 

 the United States by the Emperor of Russia, etc. 



(3) By the act ai)proved March 3, 1873, the twentieth and twenty-first 

 sections of "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian 

 tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers," approved June 30, 1831, 

 be, " and are hereby, extended to aud over all the main-land, islands, 

 and waters of the territory ceded to the United States by the Emperor 

 of Russia," etc. 



(4) By joint resolution March 3, 1869, "the islands. of St. Paul and 

 St. George in Alaska are declared a special reservation for Government 

 purposes," etc. 



It will be observed that these islands, which are declared to be in 

 Alaska, are situate near the center of what Mr. Sumner designates a« 

 " our part of Bering Sea." 



(5) By the act approved July 27, 18G8 (Rev. Stat., sec. 1956), it is 

 I)rovided that " no person shall kill * * * any fur seal or other fur- 

 bearing animals within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters 

 thereof." 



The " limits" of Alaska Territory are defined by the treaty of cession 

 as follows: 



The eastern limit is the line of demarkation between the Russian and British pos- 

 sessions in North America, etc. 



The western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed are con- 

 tained pass through a point in Bering Straits on the parallel of 65 degrees :?0 minutes 

 north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian wiiich i>assoa midway between the 

 islaud of Krusenstern or Ignalook and the island of Ratmanov or Noonarbrook, aud 

 l>roceeds due north, without limitation, into the same frozen ocean. The .same west- 

 ern limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly 

 southwest through Bering Straits and Bering Sea so as to i)ass midway between 

 the island of Attoo and the Copper Islaud of the Kormaudorski couplet or group in 

 the North Pacific Ocean to the meridian of 193 degrees west longitude, so as to include 

 the whole of the Aleutian Islands east of that meridian. 



See treaty of cession by Russia to the United States, March 30, 1867, 

 for complete description of boundary. 



In other words, the eastern limit of the territory ceded to the United 

 States is the boundary between the British and Russian possessions, 

 and the western limit a line running in a southwesterly direction from 

 the frozen ocean through Bering Straits and Bering Sea to the North 

 Pacific Ocean, thus dividing Bering Sea into two distinct and separate 

 parts. 



The northern boundary is the frozen ocean, and the southern the 

 southern coast of the Aleutian chain of islands. 



