10 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1909. 
TOTAL SEALSKINS SHIPPED. 
From St. Paul Island, on August 14, 1909, on the steamer Homer , 
there were shipped 11,054® sealskins, 32 of which were chargeable to 
the quota of 1908 and 11,022 to that of 1909. From St. George 
Island there were shipped on the same vessel 3,314 sealskins, all 
chargeable to the quota of 1909, with the exception of 5 skins credited 
to 1908 under the authority already quoted. 
The total shipment of skins in 1909 from both islands, as detailed 
in the foregoing, was 14,368, of which 14,331 are credited to the 
quota of 1909, and 37 to the quota of the previous year, 1908. 
OBSERVANCE OF REGULATIONS. 
On St. Paul Island the lessee took only 1 skin which failed to weigh 
at least 5 pounds, and none were taken weighing over 8J pounds, the 
limits prescribed by the Department. It is doubtful, furthermore, 
whether the 1 skin was not the result of an accident in clubbing or was 
not taken from a seal that had died from overheating during a drive. 
As the good faith of the lessee was undeniably demonstrated in every 
particular this 1 skin was permitted to be included in the shipment. 
On St. George Island 4 skins exceeding 8J pounds in weight were 
taken, and these are now retained in salt on that island awaiting 
instructions. 
WEIGHTS OF SKINS. 
In addition to being weighed on the islands the lessee’s take of 
skins in 1909, when shipped to London, was classified by the factor, 
and the weights of the various classes ascertained there. As weighed 
on the islands there is a variation among the skins in respect to their 
degree of moisture. The scales, moreover, register only to the quar- 
ter pound ; and the recording of the weights in the midst of the noise 
in the salt house incident to salting and weighing at the same time, 
with the subsequent necessary transcription and classification from 
notebooks, are further factors operating against perfect accuracy in 
the weights. Deficiencies in the following table are explained by 
these conditions. As weighed in London, on the other hand, the 
skins contain some of the salt that was used to cure them. Notwith- 
standing the impracticability of close comparison, however, it will be 
interesting to observe how the island weights in general correspond 
to the London weights taken by a disinterested person. 
V* 
a To the season’s catch of 11,053 on St. Paul Island, one skin from a subsequent food drive was added 
to make an even number, as required for shipment. 
