A recent resident in the region of the Yukon assures me that he has seen skins worth several hundred dollars bartered for goods worth only fifty cents.

But, with all these sources, it is certain that the Russian Company has enjoyed no success comparable to that of its British rival; and, still more, there is reason to believe that latterly its profits have not been large.

Amid all the concealment or obscurity which prevails with regard to revenues, it is easy to see that for some time to come there must be a large amount of valuable furs on this coast.

The bountiful solitudes of the forest and of the adjoining waters have not yet been exhausted; nor will they be, until civilization has supplied substitutes.

Here again Nature, by unerring law, adapts the animal to the climate, and in providing him with needful protection creates also a needful supply for the protection of man; and this is the secret of rich furs.

Under the sun of the tropics such provision is as little needed by man as by beast; and therefore Nature, which does nothing inconsistent with wise economy, reserves it for other places.

What even are sea-otter skins, by the side of that product of the sea, incalculable in amount, which contributes to the sustenance of the human family?

Nothing is clearer than that fish in great abundance are taken everywhere on the coast, around the islands, in the bays, and throughout the adjacent seas.

Down to the arrival of Europeans, the natives lived on fish.

Scientific explorers, prompted by the Smithsonian Institution, report cod in Behring Strait, on the limits of the Arctic Circle.

Salmon exists in unequalled numbers, so that this fish, so aristocratic elsewhere, becomes common.

Not merely the prize of epicures, it is the food of all.

Not merely the pastime of gentle natures, like Izaak Walton or Sir Humphry Davy, who employ in its pursuit an elegant leisure, its capture is the daily reward of the humblest.

Palatable, digestible, and nutritious, the cod, as compared with other fish, is as beef compared with other meats; so that its incalculable multitudes seem to be according to a wise economy of Nature.

Imagine these millions of eggs grown into fish, and then the process of reproduction repeated, and you have numbers which, like astronomical distances, are beyond human conception.

And yet the possession of this coast as a commercial base must necessarily give to its people peculiar advantages in the pursuit.

But the chiefest value--and this alone is worth more than the pittance asked for it--consists in its extensive cod and halibut fish-grounds.

From this concurring evidence, including charts and personal experience, it is easy to see that the first condition of a considerable fishery is not wanting.

As the yearly fishing product of this port is larger than that of any other in North America, perhaps in the world, this example cannot be without weight.

Besides the extended coast, where an immediate demand must always prevail in proportion to increasing population, there is an existing market in California, amply attested by long voyages to Kamtchatka for fish, and by recent attempts to…

Mexico, Central America, and the States of South America, all Catholic in religion, will require this subsistence, and, being southern in climate, they must look northward for a supply.

The two best customers of our Atlantic fisheries are Hayti and Cuba, Catholic countries under a southern sun.

The fishermen of Massachusetts began at an early day to send cod to Portugal, Spain, and Italy, all Catholic countries under a southern sun.

Notwithstanding the considerable supplies at home, it does not seem impossible for an energetic and commercial people to find a market here of inconceivable magnitude, dwarfing the original fur-trade with China, once so tempting.

From this Pilgrim origin are derived those fisheries which for a while were our chief commerce, and still continue an important element of national wealth.