so that the loss this year on St. Pauls was but one hundred and thirty from all causes. The salt-houses are arranged with large bins, called kenches, made of thick planks, into which the skins are put, fur side down, with a layer of salt between each layer of skins. They become sufficiently cured in from five to seven days, and are then taken from the kenches and piled up in books, with a little fresh salt. Finally they are prepared for shipment by rolling them into compact bundles, two skins in each, which are secured with stout lashings. The largest of these bundles weigh sixty-four pounds, but their average weight is but twenty-two. The smallest skins, those taken from seals two years old, weigh about seven pounds each; and the largest, from seals six years old, about thirty. The skins are counted four times at the island, as follows: By the company's agent and the native chiefs when they are put into the salthouses, the latter given in their accounts, after each day's killing, to the Government agent; again when they are bundled by the natives, who do the work, as each is paid for his labor by the bundle; by the Government's agents when they are taken from the salt-houses for shipment; and the fourth time by the first officer of the company's steamer, as they are delivered on board. An official certificate of the number of skins shipped is made out and signed by the Government agents in triplicate, one copy being sent to the Treasury Department, one to the collector at San Francisco, the third given to the master of the vessel in which they are shipped. The amount of the tax or duty paid by the company to the Government is determined by the result of a final counting at the custom-house in San Francisco. The books of the company show that it has paid into the Treasury since the date of the lease $170,480.45 on account of the rental of the islands, and $1,057,709.74 tax on seal-skins, which sums also appear in those of the Treasury Department. The latter sum is less by $16,458.63 than the tax that should have been paid had one hundred thousand skins been taken each year since 1870, or, in other words, 6,269 fewer skins have been shipped than the lease permitted. The record kept at the islands, by both the Government's and company's agents, shows that in 1871 but 19,077 skins were on St. Georges instead of 25,000, the number allowed. and that nearly every year since the number shipped has fallen a little short of 100,000. EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF J. S. MOORE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 1875.1 First in order is to report my investigation as to the number of furseals killed on the two islands of Saint Paul and Saint George. I have compared the custom-house entries and the certificates of tax paid with the shipping books of the Alaska Commercial Company. These I found differed during a term of five active tax-paying years, and in number of 404,638 skins by exactly 1,427 skins. This discrepancy, however, as will be seen in the appended statement taken from the company's books, is reduced by the actual account of sales of Messrs. Lampson & Co., in London, to a discrepancy of 559 skins only, and this latter I have no doubt is correct. The significance I attach to this small discrepancy is rather favorable than otherwise, as the very difficulty of a correct count by ignorant packers, who salt, prepare, and pack the skins in casks for shipment, easily warrants a differ House Ex. Doc., No. 83, Forty-fourth Congress, first session, p. 193. ence in the numbers, and I should have felt more suspicious had there been not a single discrepancy in five years and in a number of 403,761 skins. The next test was to compare the Alaska commercial shipping account with the return of account of sales from Messrs Lampson & Co., in London. As the company very readily placed their books and correspondence at my disposal, I availed myself of the privilege, and with their full consent transcribed from their books an account of salesthe whole transaction of fur-seals taken, shipped, and sold—which I herewith append: Statement of fur-seal skins from St. Paul and St. George Islands. The first column headed "Skins," represents the number of fur-seals on which the tax was paid. The second column headed "Skins," represents the number shipped by the company to London. The third column headed "Skins," represents the number of skins Messrs. Lampson & Co., of London, actually received and rendered account of sales for. I am perfectly satisfied that these figures are correct, unless not only the company, but the customs officers on the islands, the officers of the ships that bring the skins, the custom officials in San Francisco, and the great house of Messrs. Lampson & Company in London, are one and all in collusion and conspiracy to defraud the Treasury of the United States. There would, besides, be another difficulty to overcome, as it would be necessary to keep false books and false entries, while in fact nothing is so easily detected as false bookkeeping. We may therefore take it for granted that the true number of skins taken from the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George is correctly given in the last column of the foregoing statement, which is the receipt and return of account of sales of Lampson & Company. I have, besides all these proofs, a copy of letter and specifications from the company's shipping books to Messrs. Lampson & Company, which, being very voluminous, will be found in Appendix B, the details of which, agreeing perfectly with the stipulated numbers, may be taken as very satisfactory proof of the correctness of the books and accounts of the company. It is now necessary to state that the lease having been signed and delivered August 3, 1870, and that year, counting for one full year in the lease, the company would have been entitled to 500,000 skins from 1870 to 1874, inclusive, while the actual seal-skins taken on which tax was paid was 403,208. I find, however, that the number of skins sold by Messrs. Lampson & Company on account of the Alaska Commercial Company was 403,767, which, as stated, is a discrepancy of 559 skins on which no tax was paid. It would, therefore, seem evident that a tax of $2.62 per skin, or a total of $1,467.37, is due to the Treasury by the Alaska Commercial Company. With the adjustment of these 559 skins from which a tax is due to the Treasury,' that portion of my instructions which requires me to ascertain the correctness of taxes paid on skins taken from the islands during 1870-'74, inclusive, will no doubt prove as satisfactory to the Department as it is to me to be able to record it. EXTRACT FROM THE FISHERIES AND FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF CAPE FLATTERY AND VICINITY. 1. History, present condition, and methods of the industry. The northern fur-seals (Callorhinus ursinus Gray), in their annual migration north, approach the coast between Point Grenville, Washington Territory, and the western shores of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in vast herds, and are taken by the Indians of Cape Flattery and the natives of Vancouver Island on the ocean off the coast, and occasionally in the Strait of Fuca as far inland as the Dungeness Light. The great body of these seals keep well out to sea, and during the present year (1880) have been reported by vessels bound in from China and the Sandwich Islands as having been seen from 100 to 300 miles off shore, covering the sea as far as the eye could reach, and looking like vast beds of kelp in the distance. Meteorological causes seem to effect this vast collection, sometimes causing it to keep off from the shore at a great distance, with only a few scattering ones coming near enough to fall victims to the Indian's spear. At other times, and notably the present season, the great herd sways inward toward the land, following the same general movement as may be observed in a school of herring, the center of the school or herd being invariably the most numerous. During the voyage of Captain Meares in 1788-'89, as well as those of Portlock, Dixon, Manhand, and other early voyagers, but little mention is made of seals, as they were then of such small value that in the list of furs and skins which the captains were directed to procure no mention is made of them, the sea-otter then being the most plentiful, as it was and is at this time the most costly and beautiful of all the furs. Black fox-skins were very valuable, as also sable, black beaver, and black marten; but river otter and seals were classed with inferior furs, which the captains were directed to purchase or not as they judged best, but to confine their work to the sea-otter. From all the accounts given in the records of those early voyages, as well as from the traditions of the Indians, it seems that a hundred years This tax was duly paid. See Report No. 623, 44th Congress, p. 68. ago the sea-otter were as numerous in this vicinity and as readily taken by the Indians as the fur-seal is at the present time. Sea-otters are but rarely taken now and seem to have abandoned their ancient haunts on the American coast and to have migrated in a body to the northeastern shores of Asia and the islands off the Siberian coast and Japan, where they abound. Their places on the American shores are now taken by the fur-seal, which of late years seem to be steadily on the increase. From 1857, the date of the first white settlement at Neah Bay, to 1866, but few seals were taken. They were in those years very scarce, and it is only since 1866 that they have been known to resort to the vicinity of Fuca Strait in such large numbers. The majority of the seals killed by the Makahs, or Cape Flattery Indians, at the commencement of the season are females and yearling pups; the older males appear to keep well out to sea and are seldom taken near the shore until toward the close of the season. The female seals killed by the Indians invariably have fœtuses in them in various stages of development, according to the month when taken.1 I procured of an Indian two fœtal seal pups on the 20th of May last, which I selected from a lot the Indian was skinning; they were far enough advanced to be skinned, although their pelts were worthless for trade. These two specimens I gave to Professor Jordan, who has them among the collection he made at Neah Bay. The time the fur-seals make their appearance in the vicinity of Cape Flattery varies; generally they do not appear before the 1st of March, but this season the first were taken on the 18th day of January in Fuca Strait near Waadda Island, at the entrance to Neah Bay. The Indians killed on that day forty-five. This is as early as I have any recollection of, although the old Indians tell me they have known them to make their appearance, but rarely, as early as the last of December. I think their appearance for an average period of ten years past would be about the 1st of March. They remain some seasons as late as July and August, but in 1880 the last catch was made about the 20th of June. Until within a few years past the Indians have gone to sea boldly in their canoes, starting out by daybreak and returning at night. Three men usually go in a canoe at such times. Latterly they have put their canoes on board the sealing schooners which take them to the sealing grounds and lay by while the Indians went off in them and speared the seals. The canoes taken on board the schooner have but two Indians in each. The Indians here never use fire-arms to kill seals. They say the report would scare them away, and they strongly object to white men using rifles on the sealing grounds. Of the catch on the American side, that portion taken by Indians who went on the schooners, 4,710 skins, one-third were given by the Indians to the vessels to pay for transporting them and their canoes to the sealing ground, amounting to 1,570 skins. The remainder 3,140, Mr. Swan thinks it possible that the seals bring forth their young in the ocean, and says that many of the sealers agree with that opinion. Mr. H. W. Elliott, however, feels certain that it would be impossible for the newborn seals to live in the ocean, and thinks that no seals at Cape Flattery are so far advanced in pregnancy as to be unable to reach the Pribilof Islands before the pups are born.-A. Howard Clark added to the amount sold by the Indians to traders, independent of the schooners, 1,558 skins, makes a total of 4,698 skins, for which they received from the traders, in cash and trade, an average of $9 per skin, equal to $42,282. This sum divided among two hundred and thirtytwo Indians, the whole number who were engaged in sealing during the season, gives a little over $182 to each Indian for his six months' work. The total value of the fur-seal catch of 6,268 skins reported at Neah Bay, as taken by the Indians of the Makah Reservation, at $9 each, is $56,412. This shows the value and importance of one of the interests of Washington Territory of which hitherto but little has been known, it being evidently for the pecuniary advantage of the very few persons who have engaged in it to keep the public in the dark as much as possible regarding its extent and value. This season, however, has shown an increase of the vessels employed, and it is more than probable that the number will be increased another season. The unprecedented number of seals which made their appearance, a number which seems to have steadily increased each season since 1866, will give employment to a larger fleet of vessels another year. One of the captains remarked to me, "If a hundred schooners could have obtained crews of Indians, there were more than enough seals to have satisfied them all." EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY GIVEN BY JAMES G. SWAN By Senator ALLISON: Q. I want to get at your general idea of the treatment of seals and the fisheries as a whole question. You think there is an exhaustless supply of fish here, and that the number of seals is not diminished, and yet the seals feed on the fish?-A. So far as the salmon go, they have diminished them, no doubt about that at the Columbia River; they have been very destructive this year. They have destroyed the nets, and not only seals have done that, but sea-lions and all animals that make fish their food. Q. You think they ought to be killed before they reach the mouth of the Columbia?—A. I think they ought to be killed off the coast of California. By Senator DOLPH: Q. Do you think that they would have made much of an impression upon the salmon at the mouth of the Columbia if it had not been for the fishermen and their nets, and traps, and pounds?—A. I don't know that they would; but at the same time I don't see why they should be preserved, unless it is the fashion. Q. If a seal is shot with a rifle, wounded and not killed, what does it do?-A. I suppose it goes off. Q. Does it dive or sink?-A. I think it dives. Q. Then we must charge to the wanton destruction of seals all that are shot in the water and not killed at the first shot; they escape capture, do they not?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you any idea about the proportion that would be wounded 1 Senate Report, No. 1530, part I, Fifty-first Congress, first session, pp. 288 +~ `90. T |