102 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The only figures relating’ directly to the yield of the Comniander Islands during 
this period are those hy Tikhinenief, that there were ex])orted from Bering Island, 
during the third term of the Enssian-American Company, 9,520 fur-seal skins (Istor. 
Oboz. Obraz. Eoss.-Amer. Komj)., ii, p. 290). These figures, from the connection, are 
meant to cover the Avhole export from the Commander Islands, as from the fact that 
the population of Copper Island at tliat time Avas but 90, all told, it seems iirobable 
that no fur-seals AA^ere taken on Copper Island at all. 
ADMINISTRATION. 
There remains to be said a few words concerning the Government administration 
of the Commander Islands. 
Before the establishment of the Enssian-American Comi)any the islands were 
scarcely under any territorial jurisdiction, though in reality they Avere undoubtedly 
subject to the rule of the ‘‘commander” of Kamchatka, a naval officer residing in 
Petropaulski. With the advent of the Eussian- American Company the direct control 
of these islands Aveut out of the hands of the Enssiaii Government, but it seems that 
the company took but slight interest in them until 1820, in Avhich year they Avere 
incorporated into the Atkha District, Avith headquarters on Atkha Island. After the 
permanent location of a colony, a Eussian “ overseer” was stationed on Bering Island. 
When, in 1808, the Enssian-American Company’s regime Avas at an end, tlie 
islands returned to the jurisdiction of the “ ispra-Amik ” in Petropaulski, Avhile the 
remainder of the Atkha District became part of the United States by the cession of 
Alaska to the latter. Kamchatka being, since 1855, only a district of the so-called 
Coast Province (Primorskaya Ohlast)^ the administration of the islands consequently 
rested with the governor at Khabarovka, subject to the authority of the governor- 
general of Eastern Siberia at Irkutsk. 
Thus things remained until the growing imiAortance of the seal business during 
the lease to Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co. made it desirable to locate a higher 
official oil the islands to represent the GoAwnment in its dealings with the company 
on the islands and to govern the natives. Mr. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Grebnitski 
was selected as the first “administrator,” landing on Bering Island on August 21, 
1877, and has continued as such up to the present time. His long retention in office, 
collided with the fact that his salary has been raised repeatedly, that he has gradually 
risen in rank, until he now holds that of a colonel, and that he has been decorated 
several times, is ample proof that he has conducted the affairs of the Commander 
Islands to the full satisfaction of his Go\^erument. 
As subordinates, two kossaks from Kamchatka were stationed, one on each island. 
Since 1890, however, another civil officer has been located on Copper Island, acting as 
Mr. Grebuitski’s assistant tliere. Until last year, when he had to seek a milder climate, 
on account of broken health, this position Avas held by Mr. Nikolai Matveyevich 
Tielmann. His successor was on his way to the islands in the fall of 1895, oii the bark 
Bering^ but on account of the Aveather failed to make a landing and had to return to 
Vladivostok. 
One of the first things attempted by Mr. Grebnitski, after putting the community 
affairs of the natives into shape, Avas to regulate the fur-seal business, i. e., the admin- 
istrative portion of it as it related to the taking of seals on the rookeries, and the rules 
first framed were embodied in an order {priliaz) dated April 28, 1878 (o. s.), and the 
second chapter of a regulation {predpisanie) of the following May 1 (o. s.). 
