114 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



cess the compauy Las attained. In acldition, however, large expeuditnre has been 

 necessary in all the European centers to keep the article before the public and in their 

 favor. The laws of trade take these skins to Loudon for market Two public sales 

 are held each year, usually in March and November. At these sales attend buyers 

 from Russia, Germany, France, EngJand, and America. The compauy sells the entire 

 stock on hand at each occasion, and has no fur'.ber connection with the skins. Its 

 rule is to meet the market, and it buys no skins for account, nor has it auy interest in 

 the dressing and dyeing. That this work is done so largely in London is the choice of 

 the buyers, and as more than half of the Alaska skins sold in London are returned as 

 dressed skins to Ameri<"a, the United States Government adds to its revenue from the 

 seal islands by the collection of 20 per cent, duty on the valuation of this return. It 

 is estimated that 75,000 dressed and dyed skins were shipped from London to New 

 York in 18b7. To the intelligent iiKjuirer as to the value of the system now in oper- 

 ation for handling and disposing of the annual quota of skins from the seal islands, 

 no doubt can remain.that it is the best, indeed the only one possible, to pursue with 

 success. The Government itself could not enter into business and follow details either 

 ■with propriety or hope of profit. 



To open the sea and the rookeries to the taking of seal by any who choose to seek 

 them would be simply to surrender the herd to destruction. But a danger menaces 

 the system and the seals which the Government alone can avert, viz, the intrusion of 

 foreign vessels with armed cr.ews in the waters of Bering Sea, with intent to kill 

 seal in the water between the Aleutian chain of islands and the Pribylov group. In 

 this water the seal rest and sport after their long migration " Here the females, heavy 

 with young, slowly nearing the land, sleep soundly at sea, by intervals, reluctant to 

 haul out of the cool water upon the rookeries until the day and the hour which limits 

 the period of gestation." Ilere, with gun and spear and drag-net. these marauders 

 desire to reap their harvest of destruction and for their selfish greed exterminate the 

 animal which now, under the wise policy of Congress, jday so important a j)art in the 

 economy and distribution of commerce. Three years of open sea would suffice in 

 these waters to repeat the story of the Southern Ocean and the fur seal would be of 

 the past, and a valuable industry vrould be obliterated forever. Let the sea be open 

 to all commerce that harbors no evil intent, but protect the seal life that swims in its 

 ■waters aud "hauls" on its shores. 



Let the sea be as free as the wind to all legitimate commerce, but protect the unique 

 possession of seal life that harms none and benefits thousands. 



C. A. Williams. 



64 QuEKN Street, E. C., 



London, August. 22, 1883. 



Dear Sir : We beg to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 10th instant in- 

 closing draugl>t of a j)aperto be submitted to Congress on merchant marine and fish- 

 eries. 



We have read the paper with a great deal of interest and consider that it places 

 the matter in a thoroughly impartial way before its readers. It has been so carefully 

 prepared and goes into all details so fully that we can add but little to it. There 

 are, however, one or two points to which we beg to draw your attention, aud which 

 you will find marked in red ink on the paper. 



When speaking of the supply of fur-seal skins, we would suggest mentioning the 

 following localities: 



(1) Ca2)e of Good Hope. — From some islands off this cape, under the protection of 

 the Cape government, a yearly supply of from 5,000 to 8,000 skins is derived. All 

 these skins come to the London market, part of them being sold at public auction, 

 tlie remainder being dressed and dyed for account of the owners. 



(2) Japan. — The supply from this source has varied very much of late years, amount- 

 ing sometimes to 15,000 skins ayear, at others to only 5,000. Last year, we understand, 

 the Japanese Government passed stringent laws xjrohibiting the killing and importa- 

 tion of seals, with the view of protecting .seal life and encouraging rookeries, and the 

 consequence has been that this year very few skins have come forward. 



(3) Vancouver's Island. — For many years past, indeed long before the formation of the 

 Alaska Company, regular supplies of furseals in'the salted aud parchment state have 

 come to the London market, killed mostly off Cape Flattery. The quantity, we should 

 say, has averaged at least 10,000 per annum. This catch takes place in the mouths of 

 March and April and wo believe that the animals from which these skins are de- 

 rived are the females of the Alaska seals, just the same as those caught in the Ber- 

 ing Sea. 



Had this quantity been materially increased we feel sure that the breeding on the 

 I'ribylov Islands would have suffered before now; but, fortunafely, the catch must 

 ueces-sarily bo a limited one, owing to the stormy time of the year at which it is 

 made and the dangerous coast, where the seals, only for a short time, are found. 

 It must, however, be evident that, if these animals are followed into the Bering Sea 



