232 THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASm 



FtTE Seal — Callorhinus alascana Jordan and Clark. 



This valuable marine fur-bearing animal is introduced 

 the Company's receipts of the skins and sale of same in 

 London. There may have been previous collections, but 

 London. There may have been previous collections, but 

 the first record in the " statement " is for 1854, with only 

 13 pelts; 1855 is but 2 better; then we have 38 for 1856, 

 and T9 for 1857. Next follow 1858 with 116, 1859 with 

 196, 1860 with 186, 1861 with 176, 1862 with 403, 1863 

 with 655, and 1864 with 977 pelts. Afterwards the trade 

 has been good, with 2,086 for 1865, and only three years 

 under that figure, wihile the sales vary between 2,151 and 

 the maximum, 13,620 in 1871, subsequent to which they 

 irregularly decline to 1,588 for 1877. The total for the 

 twenty years is 44,322, or an average of nearly 1,846 skins 

 a year. There is no entry of fur seals in the Hudson Bay 

 catalogues for 1902 and 1903. In recent years, however, 

 the Company's trade of this pelt has practically ceased on 

 the western Pacific coast, but I understand that they now sell 

 on commission the bulk of the yearly catch of the Victoria, 

 British Columbia, sealing fleet. 



CETACEA. 



White Whale — Delphinapierus leucas (Pallas). 



Common in the Arctic Sea and in the estuary of the 

 Mackenzie River, where the Eskimos capture a number every 

 season. Many years ago, it is said, several individuals 

 ascended that river as far as Fort Good Hope. They are 

 abundant in Hudson Bay, where a large niuinber are annually 

 captured at Fort Churchill by servants of the Company; 

 the oil is extracted, duly shipped, and sold in London. The 

 various boat and ship discovery and Franklin Arctic search 

 expeditions have all noticed the presence of white whales in 

 the northern sea under review, Greely gives latitude 81° 35' 

 north as its most northerly migratory observed range. 



