SEA-OTTER HUNTING IN THE KURILS 289 
territory by the exchange with Russia of the Kurils 
against Southern Saghalin. In 1880 the amount of 
Government expenditure allowed for the hunting 
business in the Kurils amounted to about £2,000. 
64 In 1882 the Colonization Commission was 
abolished, and the Hokkai Do (or North Sea Circuit), 
as Yezo and the Kurils were now called, passed under 
the control of the Department of State of Agricul¬ 
ture and Commerce ; but this transfer occasioned 
hardly any change as regards the hunting and fur 
trade system. An idea of the extent of these official 
operations may be gained from the following figures, 
extracted from official statistical publications : 
“Returns of the Sea-Otter Fur Trade during Nine 
Years of the Colonization Commission’s Administration. 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
1873 
299 
1876 
285 
1879 
211 
1874 
78 
1877 
342 
1880 
137 
1875 
250 
1878 
270 
1881 
77 
64 From this it would appear that in 1877, the 
best year, the Government’s receipts from the fur 
trade amounted to about £4,000, the cost of pro¬ 
duction being about one-quarter. 
44 The returns of the trade during the five years’ 
administration of the Department of Agriculture and 
Commerce show a considerable tailing off : 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
Year. 
No. of Skins 
taken. 
1882 
82 
1884 
53 
1886 
99 ” 
1883 
3 
1885 
31 
Mr. Hall gives no returns for 1887 and 1888, but 
in 1889 a company called the Teikoku Suisan Kaisha 
(Imperial Marine Products Company) was formed, 
with a capital of 750,000 yen. To this company 
19 
