The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-24

shall be allowed to kill sea otter within the limits of Alaska territory or it's wa ters from or by the use of any boat or vessel other than the ordinary twol hatch, skin covered bidaTka or the open Yakutat canoe. and they also provide that only sailing vessels and bidarkas and open Yakutat canoes may be em- plOyed in transporting sea otter hunt ing parties to and from the hunting grounds. The government prohibits the use of nets for the capture of this most expensive fur bearing animal, and also interdicts the killing or taking of sea otter pups, and gives instructions each year to officers of the United States who may be stationed in the localities where sa otter are taken to take all pro- per measures to enforce the penalties of the law. Foreign vessels of every de- scription are forbidden to hunt sea ot- ter within the territorial waters of the United States.
 When taken the otter is skinned whole, as it were, by cutting across the launches and stripping the skin down the body and over the head. The skin is then turned, the fur in, and board showed through it. It is then frightened by driving wedge shaped piece down on one side between the board and the skin, and another contrariwise on the other. All the grease is then carefully removed, and the skin is dried and laid away ready for the market. An aver age skin is about five feet long by twelve inches wide, double, or, when cut, twenty-four inches wide, and in the hunters hands is valued at from one hundred and twenty-five to one hun dred and fifty dollars, but these prices leave handsome margin to the fur men who handle them. In Russia an overcoat made from these same otter skins brings from one to two thousand dollars, while in China even more is sometimes paid. The game is getting to be so scarce that four skins season is considered as doing we'll by any hunter. In fact, some pass the season without taking any. The hunters have a rule among themselves, which is strictly ob- served, that only one derrick is allowed within range of about half a mile. a#
 Fur trade papers complain that the more expensive fur bearing animals are growing career every year, and advo- cate legislative measures to prevent their entire extermination. Tn recent report to the state department on the Siberian fur industry, Consul General Halloway, at St., Petersburg, said that leading experts claim that unless Rus sia, the United States, England, Cana da and Japan agree to puta stop to pe- lagic sealing, seals will disappear from the market The leading market for Siberian furs is Irbit, one thousand miles east of Moscow and one hundred and fifty miles east of the Ural Noun tains, and Mimi Novgorod, where annu- al fairs are held. The fair at Irbit is held in February each year, and that at Mini Novgorod in July, and August. The former is much the larger, the sup ply of better belts consisting of bear, glutton, lynx, elk, reindeer, stag, musk OK, sea otter, fox sable, marten, mink, ermine, polecat, squirrel, Alpine wolf and blue, silver and red fox, and one or two kinds of wildcat indigenous to Kamchatka. The Siberian blake hare has become very scarce, as we'll as blue fox, which brings about fifty dollars a fell. Speaking of the condition of the market, MT. Holloway said that the supply was not equal to that of former years. ''The number of buyers from all the leading capitals of Europe and America increased and prices were higher, which is attributed in part to the fact that the world has adopted the American fashion of wearing furs out side instead of as Innings, which re-
 quires better skins. Although a Rus- sian company enjoys the monopoly of catching Alaska seals. they are sold in London and none are to be found in the
 Russian market. ;
 Previous to September, 1902. Russian
 squirrel fells were used only as Things
 for women's shubas, but the demand at
 the Mini Novgorod fair during that
 year and this was So great that the price increased and the undressed skins
 sell at from ten to thirty cents each.
 It requires from one hundred to two
 hundred and fifty to make jacket, six to to one Hundred and fifty for cap, twenty to forty for a boa. and five to ten for a huff. Pale squirrel tails are sold at $2.63 a pood (36,112 pounds) and