FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 281 



teinber, and October of each year; not to kill such seals at any time by the use of 

 fire-arms or other means tending to drive the seals from said islands; not to kill any 

 female seal or any seal less than one year old ; not to kill any seal in the waters ad- 

 jacent to said islands or on the beaches, clifts, or rocks where they haul up from rbo 

 sea to remain. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree to abide by any restriction or lim- 

 itation upou the right to kill seals under this lease that the act prescribes, or that 

 the Secretary of the Treasury shall judge necessary for the preservation of such seals. 



And tlie said lessees hereby agree that they will not in any way jsell, transfer, or 

 assign this lease ; and that any transfer, sale, or assignment of the same shall be void 

 and of no effect. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree to furnish to the several masters 

 of the vessels employed by them certified copies of this lease, to be presented to the 

 Government revenue officers for the time being in charge of said islands, as the au- 

 thority of said lessees for the landing and taking said skins. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree that they or their agents shall not 

 keep, sell, furnish, give, or dispose of any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors on either 

 of said islands to any of the natives thereof, such person not being a physician and 

 furnishing the same for use as medicine. 



And the said lessees further covenant and agree that this lease is accepted subject 

 to all needful rules and regulations which shall at any time or times hereafter be 

 made by the Secretary of the Treasury for the collection and payment of the rentals 

 herein agreed to be paid by said lessees; for the comfort, maintenance, education, 

 and protection of the natives of said islands, and for carrying into effect all the pro- 

 visions of the act aforesaid, aud will abide by and conform to said rules and regula- 

 tions. ' ■ _ 



And the said lessees, accepting this lease with a full knowledge of the provisions 

 of the aforesaid act of Congress, further covenant and agree that they will fulfill all 

 the provisions, requirements, and limitations of said act, whether herein specifically 

 set out or not. 



In witness whereof the parties aforesaid have hereunto set their hands and seals 

 the day and year above written. 



William A. Richardson, [seal.] 



Acting Secretary of the Treasttry. 

 Alaska Commercial Company, [seal.] 

 By Jno. F. Miller, President. 



Executed in presence of— 



J. H. Saville. 



Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary, 



Washington, D. C, March 12, 1881. 



Sir: Your letter of the lt)th ultimo, requesting certain information in regard to the 

 meaning placed by this Department upon the law regulating the killing of fur-bear- 

 ing animals in the Territory of Alaska, was duly received. The law prohibits the 

 killing of any fur-bo-ariug animals, except as otherwise therein provided, within the 

 limits of Alaska Territory or in tjie waters thereof, and also prohibits the killing of 

 any fur seals on the islands of St. Paul and St. George or in the waters adjacent 

 thereto, except during certain months. 



You inquire in regard to the interpretation of the terms "waters thereof" and 

 "waters adjacent thereto," as used in the law, and how far the jurisdiction of the 

 United States is to be understood as extending. 



Presuming your inquiry to relate more especially to the waters of western Alaska, 

 you are informed that the treaty with Russia, of March '30, 1870, by which the Ter- 

 ritory of Alaska was ceded to the United States, defines the boundary of the Terri- 

 tory so ceded. This treaty is found on pages G71 to 673 of the volume of treaties of 

 the Revised Statutes. It will be seen therefrom that the limit of the cession extends 

 from a line starting from the Arctic Ocean and running through Bering Strait to the 

 north of St. Lawrence Islands. The line runs thence in a southwesterly direction, so 

 as to pass midway between the island of Attoo and Copper Island of the Kroman- 

 boski couplet or group, in the North Pacific Ocean, to meridian of 19:5 degrees of west 

 longitude. All the waters within that boundary, to the western end of the Aleutian 

 Archipelago and chain of islands, are considered as comprised within the waters of 

 Alaska Territory. 



All the penalties prescribed by law against the killing of fur-bearing animals would 

 therefore attach against any violation of law within the limits before described. 

 Very respectfully, 



H. F. French, 

 Acting Secretary. 



Mr. D. A. Ancona, 



No. 717 O'Farrell street, San Francisco, Cal. 



