VIII FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



To the amount already received direct from tbe com]>any should be 

 added the sum received by the United States from customs duties qfi 

 Ahiska dressed seal-skins imj)orted from Europe, amounting to $3,426,- 

 (i;'f>. to which should be added the sum of $502,000 (•u^toms duties ou 

 Jmi)orted seal-skins taken by said company uiidci- its contract with 

 linssia, making- an aggregate amount received l)y ilie Government on 

 account of this industry of $9,y2o,2>^3, being $2,325,283 in excess of the 

 amount paid to Eussia for the Territory. 



SIXTH. THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE RIGHTS AND INTERESTS 

 OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE FUR-SEAL AND OTHER FISHERIES 

 IN BERING SEA. 



The rights and interests of the Government in the fnr-seal and other 

 .fisheries in Alaska were acquired by purchase from Eussia and con- 

 veyed to it by tbe treaty of cession. 



The fur-seal rookeries were discovered in 1786 by Pribylov, a Rus- 

 sian subject, and in 1799 the right to take fur-seals was granted to the 

 Eussian American Company by the Eussian Emperor. From the date 

 of discovery down to the date of the transfer of Alaska to the United 

 States, Eussia claimed and exercised exclusive jurisdiction over those 

 islands and asserted her ownership of these fur-bearing animals and 

 disposed of them accordingly. No one ever questioned her right or 

 asserted an adverse claim. No foreign vessel was permitted to touch 

 at either of said islands during the entire period of Eussia's occupation. 

 Seal life was protected by her navy, both on the islands and in Ber- 

 ing Sea. 



By the treaty of cession this right was transferred to the United States. 

 It includes the right to protect seal life on the islands and in that part 

 of Bering Sea included within the boundary of the territory conveyed. 



The right of Eussia to patrol the waters of Bering Sea and protect 

 seal life was asserted and exercised for nearly a century, undisputed and 

 unquestioned; and the United States having acquired that right by 

 purchase from Eussia, has maintained it from the beginning. To illus- 

 trate: The killing of fur seals by unauthorized persons was prohibited 

 by act of Congress ; the right to take a specified number each year for 

 a period of twenty years at a fixed rate of tax and rental was author- 

 ized, with direction to the Secretary of the Treasury for the time being 

 to renew the privilege to proper and responsible parties at the expira- 

 tion of each period of twenty years. 



The penalty aflQxed to the violation of the statute prohibiting seal-kill- 

 ing is fine and imi)risonment and confiscation of vessels, their tackle, ap- 

 parel, and furniture. 



The object of this law was, first, to protect this valuable industry, upon 

 which the entire population of the islands depended for subsistence; 

 and second, to secure the United States a perpetual revenue therefrom. 



It is clear to yOur committee from the proof submitted that to pro- 

 hibit seal-killing on the seal islands and permit the killing in Bering 

 Sea would be no protection ; for it is not on the islands where the de- 

 struction of seal life is threatened or seals are unlawfully killed, but it is 

 in that part of Bering Sea lying between the " eastern and western 

 limits" of Alaska as described in the treaty of cession, through which 

 the seals pass and repass in going to and from their feeding grounds, 

 some 50 miles southeast of the rookeries, and in their annual migra- 

 tions to and from the islands. 



This was known to Congress when the act entitled "An act to prevent 



