130 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



From 1799 to 1826, the period of 28 years during the lease of the Eussian- American 

 Company, when the yield was not sufficient to induce the company to establish settle, 

 ments on the islands, I have assaiiied that the annual average can not have exceeded 

 the yield between 1842 and 1861, when the company still maintained the settlements, 

 or, in round figures, 15,000. 



For the 15 years from 1827 to 1841, inclusive, I have made the following guess: 

 Assuming that Wrangell at the end of 1833 had 30,000 skins on hand, about 25,000, 

 or 4,1G6 annually ^ (Wrangell shipped, 1827-1833, 132,160 + assumed surplus on hand, 

 30,000=162,000— Veuiaminof's figures for killed seals on Pribilofs in years 1826-1832, 

 137,503=24,658), must have been taken on the Commander Islands from 1827 to 1832, 

 inclusive. In 1840 the Eussians had a demand for not over 30,000 skins annually 

 (Simpson, Overl. Jouru., p. 131). Probably they were nearly able to fill it, for Mr. E. 

 Teichmann states (Fur Seal Arb., in, p. 579) that "up to the year 1853 about 20,000 

 skins were annually received in London" from the Eussian- American Company. It is 

 probably safe to assume, then, that 6,000 went to Kiakhta. Now, during the nine 

 years from 1833 to 1841, inclusive, the Pribilof Islands yielded only 80,135. The 

 assumed sale being 234,000 skins, and there being only 30,000 ou hand and 80,000 

 killed on the Pribilofs, it follows that a yearly average of about 14,000 would have to 

 be obtained ou the Commander Islands, or about 125,000, to which should be added 

 the 25,000 assumed to have been taken from 1827 to 1833, giving a total of 150,000.2 



The only figures relating directly to the yield of the Commander Islands during 

 this period are those by Tikhmenief, that there were exported from Bering Island 

 during the third term of the Eussian- American Company 9,526 fur-seal skins (Istor. 

 Oboz. Obraz. Eoss.-Amer. Komp., ii, p. 296), as well as a corresponding list for both 

 islands given by Savitch (Otchet, 1893, p. 11). It will be seen that tlie number of 

 skins taken on Bering Island between 1847 and 1860 is given by the latter as exactly 



' This agrees pretty well witli Liltke's statement that the yield on the Commander Islands ahout 

 that time was only 5,000 skins (Voy. aut. Monde, i, p. 276). 



^ Figures thus obtained do not pretend to any accuracy. How misleading the process may he is 

 clearly illustrated in the table presented by the British Bering Sea commissioners (Rep., p. 132) and 

 the explaniition concerning the sonroes of information. They utilize the total given by Bancroft for 

 1842-1861, viz, 338,600 (the identical figures utilized above), and from this deduct the number of skins 

 taken from 1842 to 1860, according to a diiferent source, thus obtaining the number taken in 1861. Cor- 

 recting an apparent error in the subtracter, the number for 1861 would be 19,699. October 14, 1861, 

 the chief manager of the colonies, Furuhielm, writes home to the board of administration that "in 

 the course of this year 47,940 seal skins haveheen taken from the islands of St. Paul and St. George." 

 19,699 calculated, hut 47,940 taken! This is a sad commentary upon the probable accuracy of the 

 calculated figures. 



