FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
Ill 
with this method, that only a small percentage of the slaughtered seals 
is secured. Some believe that not more than one in ten is saved, while 
others think it may be one in four or five. No distinction as to age or 
sex is made in pelagic sealing ; consequently the destruction is great, 
and its effect on the rookeries is vastly disproportionate to the number 
of skins obtained. The pelts are salted in the holds of the schooners 
and kept in kench until the port of discharge is reached; sometimes 
the skins are sent to market on a “tender” that meets the sealing fleet 
at some rendezvous for this purpose. 
Sea otters are also shot and their valuable skins are very carefully 
handled. 
The only parts of the walrus saved are the hide, tusks, and “ whiskers.” 
The hides sometimes weigh as much as 500 pounds apiece, and average 
about 350 pounds ; they sell at 10 cents per pound. Tusks average 7 
pounds each; the price is usually 55 cents per pound; they are mostly 
exported to China, where the bristles are also sent; the latter are used 
for toothpicks by the wealthy Chinese, and are also mounted with gold 
and utilized for hairpins by the women of China. 
Lay, icages , etc .— Elliot has so fully discussed the system 'of wages, etc., 
on the Pribilof Islands, that I will not consider the matter here. The 
sealing vessels furnish all arms, outfits, and equipment of every kind, 
including salt, and the men ship on wages or on a lay. If wages are 
paid, the cook and hunters each receive $50 per month, while the others 
are paid $30 per month. By the lay system the master receives -jV, the 
mate and the seamen from to T ^o« The average share is usually 
small. In 1888 it varied from $30 to $200 for the season. 
Statistics . — According to the report (H. Rep. 3883, Fiftieth Congress 
first session) of George R. Tingle, United States Treasury agent, at the 
seal islands of Alaska, the number of fur seals killed on the islands of 
St. Paul and St. George for the year ending July 31, 1888, was 103,920, 
classified as follows : 
Items. 
Number. 
Young pups for native food 
For native food during the stagy season when the skin is not merchantable. . . 
Small young seals killed by natives during food killing 
Small young seals killed by the Alaska Commercial Company through accident 
while taking their catch 
Alaska Commercial Company under contract 
3, 533 
309 
60 
18 
100, 000 
Total 
103, 920 
It will be seen that the full quota of 100,000 skins was obtained at 
the Pribilof Islands. Add to this the catch of the San Francisco seal- 
ers and we have 104,455 pelts as a result of this branch of the American 
fishery prosecuted from San Francisco. It seems proper to mention iu 
this connection the products received from the Commander Islands, 
since the fishery there was controlled by American capital. The Russian 
