2C0 



ALASKA. 



dressed furs, like marten, beaver, &c., offer one of the best 

 cash markets in the world ; indeed, all the early trade of Alaska 

 ■went into China, both from Eussian, French, and English 

 traders. 



The following table shows the number of sea-otters and fur- 

 seals secured off the coasts of California and Oregon by the 

 Eussians during the period of their occupation of Eoss, or 

 Eodega, in California, Irom 1824 to 1834 inclusive : 



During the last forty years there have been no sea-otters to 

 speak of taken on the Californian coast ; and in 1835 the last 

 fur-seals, fifty -four in number, were taken on the Farallones, two 

 small rocky islets off the month of San Francisco Harbor. 

 Hunters along the coast of Oregon still continue, however, to 

 shoot a few annually, but at restricted localities, as on the 

 small reach of coast at Gray's Harbor, where nearly all that are 

 now obtained from the whole district are found. 



