In 1877, part to Talladega.

In 1977, from parts of Blount, Marshall, Morgan and Win

* In 1875, part to Chilton.

Included in the total are 4 Chinese and 213 Indians. There were living in the United States 1,319,189 persons born in Alabama (703,904 white and 610,285 colored). Of the total population 622,629 were males and 639,876 females, 1,252,771 native and 9,734 foreign born. Of persons ten years of age and upward, 370,279, or 43.5 per cent, could not read, and 433,447, or 50-9 per cent, could not write. Of the latter, 111,040 were native whites, being 25 per cent of that class, and 321,680 were colored, being 80.6 per cent of that class. There were 141,461 white and 118,423 colored males twenty-one years of age and over. The number of horses on farins was 113,950; mules and asses, 121,081; working oxen, 75,534; milch-cows, 271,443; other cattle, 404,213; sheep, 347,538; swine, 1,252,462; manufacturing establishments, 2,070; capital, $9,668.008; hands, 10,019; value of materials used, $8,470,205; products, $13,565,504.

POLITICAL CONVENTIONS.-The Democratic State Convention met in Montgomery on the 7th of June, and on the second day nominated the following ticket:

For Governor, Edward A. O'Neal, of Lauderdale; for Secretary of State, Ellis Phelan, of Jefferson; for Attorney-General, Henry C. Tompkins, of Montgomery; for Treasurer, Isaac II. Vincent, of Chambers; for Auditor,

Since 1870, name changed from Sanford to Lamar.

10 In 1877, part to Cullman.

11 In 1877, parts to Bullock and Elmore.

12 In 1821 name changed from Cataco to Morgan; in 1877, part to Cullinan.

13 In 1877, part from Clay.

14 In 1850 name changed from Hancock to Winston; in 1877, part to Cullman.

Jesse M. Carmichael, of Dale; for Superintendent of Education, Henry C. Arinstrong, of Macon,

The following is the platform adopted: Resolved, by the Democratic and Conservative party of Alabama, in convention assembled:

1. That we re-affirm our devotion to the time-hon

ored principles of the Democratic party; a strict construction of the Federal Constitution, obedience to the laws of the General Government within its constitutional limits, and maintain the right of the State to regulate its local affairs by its own authority.

2. We are unalterably opposed to the continued acts of the Federal authorities tending to centralization of all power in the General Government, to the destruction of local self-government.

3. We present the record of the administration of the State's affairs while in the control of the Democratic party as an earnest of the fidelity of the party to the principles of economy and good government. pledge full and perfect protection to all such as may We invite immigration and capital to our State, and

come among us.

4. That public education should be fostered and encouraged by the State as far as the means of the State will allow, having at the same time due regard to the preservation of the public credit.

5. We recognize the necessity of protecting and preserving the purity of the ballot-box as the safeguard of free institutions, and condemn any attempt to interfere with the free and full exercise of the elect

ive franchise.

The nominee for Governor was born in Madison County in 1818. He was a general in the

Confederate army. In 1841 he was elected solicitor of his circuit; in 1875 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and in 1880 one of the Hancock electors from the State at large.

The Independent-Greenback State Convention met in Birmingham on the 5th of July, and nominated the following ticket:

For Governor, James L. Sheffield, of Marshall; for Secretary of State, A. H. Townsend, of Butler; for Attorney-General, Paul L. Jones, of Madison; for Treasurer, John W. Montgomery, of Jefferson; for Auditor, John B. Shields, of Walker; for Superintendent of Education, Dr. Ira G. Wood, of Jackson.

On the 6th the Republican State Convention met in Montgomery, and indorsed the above ticket; but Charles P. Lane, of Limestone County, was subsequently substituted for Mr. Jones. The following platform was adopted, which is substantially that of the Birmingham Convention:

Be it resolved, by the Republicans of Alabama in convention assembled:

1. That we favor such amendment or revision of the present election law of Alabama as will give each voter of the State assurance that his ballot will be counted as cast, and that the real result of every election will be honestly declared, and will remove the existing inspectors and other officers of clection, and render it impossible to defeat the will of the majority by making fraudulent returns.

2. That, while demanding that adequate punishment shall be meted out to every violator of the law, we favor such changes in the convict system-both State and county-as will at least tend to reform as well as punish criminals, to humanize rather than brutalize them, and also such other changes as will put an end to the conflict now existing, in some portions of the mineral districts of our State, between cheap convict-labor and the working-man.

3. That we favor a liberal support to the free schools of the State, and an enactment of such laws as will foster and cherish our school system.

4. That we favor the enactment of such laws as will not only invite, but make it to the interest of, immigrants to seek homes in Alabama.

5. That we favor, as far as the same may be practicable under our organic law, the encouragement and protection of manufactories of all kinds in our State for such time as may be necessary to secure their permanent establishment. This we favor, believing that the prosperity of all the people depends largely upon it.

6. That we favor and heartily approve the protection of all home industries by the Federal Government, and we recognize in the principle "protection for protection's sake" the wisdom that cherishes its own, and in its application by the National Republican party in its administration of the government we recognize the statesmanship that favors the laboring man of the nation by enlarging and increasing the demand for labor; and at the same time taking from their shoulders the burden of taxation and placing it on the wealthy.

A State Temperance Convention was held in Montgomery on the 21st and 22d days of November, which agreed to ask of the Legislature certain amendments and new laws looking to the restriction of the liquor-traffic.

ELECTION RETURNS.-The election in August resulted in the choice of the Democratic ticket. The aggregate vote was as follows: For Gov

I.

ernor, Edward A. O'Neal, 100,591; James L. Sheffield, 46,386. For Secretary of State, Ellis Phelan, 103,153; A. H. Townsend, 44,798. For Treasurer, Isaac H. Vincent, 102,780; J. W. Montgomery, 43,639. For Auditor, Jesse M. Carmichael, 100,968; J. B. Shields, 45,053. For Attorney-General, H. C. Tompkins, 103,562; C. P. Lane, 44,605; Paul Jones, 20. H. Vincent_received 1,031 for Auditor intended for Treasurer. J. M. Carmichael received 1,041 for Treasurer, and Jas. M. Carmichael 2,247 for Auditor, all intended for Jesse M. Carmichael. For Superintendent of Education the vote was: Armstrong, 104,170; Wood, 47,133. The Legislature stands as follows: Senate, 31 Democrats and 2 opposition; House, 79 regular and 7 independent Democrats, and 14 opposition. Democrats were elected to Congress in November in each of the eight districts.

ALASKA AND ITS FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY. The population of Alaska Territory is given by the census of 1880, by districts, as follows: Yukon Division, 7,000; Interior Division, 2,226; Kuskoqwim, 3,654; Bristol Bay, 4,340; Kadiak, 2,606; Kenai, 984; Belkovsky, 669 Oonalaska, 1,392; islands in Behring Sea, 1,290; Prince William Sound, 500; Southeastern Alaska, 6,725; total, 31,386, of whom about 18,000 are supposed to be Esquimaux or Innuits. In addition to these, who represent the regular population, are about 1,500 whites, mostly traders and miners, in Southeastern Alaska. The Aleutian population and a part of the Innuits were civilized under the Russian domination, and live after the European_style; of these, some 8,000 or 9,000 are attached to the Russian Greek Church.

Recent surveys show that the country is much more important, and its resources are more extensive, than had been supposed. Its area (580,107 square miles) is equal to that of all the United States east of the Mississippi River, and north of Georgia and the Carolinas. It measures 1,400 miles in direct line from north to south, and 2,200 miles from its eastern boundary to the end of the Aleutian Islands, and has a total of 25,000 miles of coastlines. The total area of its islands is 31,205 square miles. Its principal river, the Yukon, may be ranked among the largest rivers in the United States, being seventy miles wide across its five mouths and the intervening deltas, and from one to five miles wide for the first thousand miles of its course. It is known to be navigable for 1,500 miles, and is believed by Mr. Robert Campbell, of the Hudson Bay Company, who has explored the streams, to be, with its tributary, the Pelly, navigable, when full, for nearly 3,000 miles. land abounds in fur-bearing animals; the seas yield fur-bearing seals and otters, and fish in many varieties and immense quantities. Three thousand tons of codfish were caught on the banks off the Shumagin Islands, during 1879, for houses in San Francisco. Salmon

The

canneries have been established near Sitka, at Klawak, and at Kasaan Bay. The southeastern section of the Territory is densely covered with forests of yellow-cedar, white-spruce, and balsam-fir. Coal has been found at different places along the coast; petroleum near the Bay of Kat:nai and on Copper River; copper abundantly on Copper River and at Kasaan Bay; lead on Whale Bay and in Kadiak Island; iron and graphite in many places; marble and sulphur in large quantities; bismuth on Vostovia Mountain; and kaolin, fire-clay, gypsum, amethysts, zeolites, garnets, agates, carnelians, and fossil-ivory are also found. Gold-mines, both placer and quartz, were opened during 1881 on Gastineaux Channel, opposite Douglas Island,

when the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America began to establish schools. That board has now five schools in the Alexandria Archipelago (including Sitka and Port Wrangell), in all of which the English language is taught. These schools, with two which are supported by the Alaska Commercial Company on the Seal Islands, and the two Russian schools already mentioned, represent all the facilities for education existing in this vast Territory.

An exploring expedition left San Francisco for Alaska during the summer, under the direction of Mr. Edward Schieffelin, who purposed to ascend the Yukon River as far as possible. He took with him a stern-wheel steamer and three

and yielded more than $30,000 during the first summer. Gold is supposed to exist in many other places; and the Cassiar mines of British Columbia, which are near the Territory, probably extend into it.

Sitka, the capital of the Territory, is the port of Alaska most familiarly known to Americans of the States, but is really, according to Mr. Henry W. Elliot, of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, inferior in importance to several other places. "Kadiak, Oonga, Belkovsky, and Oonalaska," says this author, in his "Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska," "each has a greater population than has Sitka to-day, and each has a hundredfold more importance as a trade-center."

A considerable number of schools were established by the Russians while they held Alaska, both on the main-land and on the islands. When the Territory passed under the control of the United States they were all discontinued, except one at Oonalaska and one at Belkov sky; and education was neglected until 1877,

companions, and expected to spend a year in his cruise.

FUR-SEALS. One of the most important business industries of Alaska is connected with the capture of the fur-seal (Callorhinus ursinus) at the Pribylov Islands, and the trade in its furs, which are under the exclusive control of the Alaska Commercial Company. The fur-seals, particularly as represented by the southern species (Arctocephalus Australis), were formerly numerous and widely distributed, frequenting the islands of the coast of South America and of the Southern and Antarctic Oceans; but they have been nearly exterminated by reckless hunting, and now only a comparatively insignificant part of the world's supply is drawn from these sources. In the northern hemisphere they are not represented in the Atlantic Ocean at all, and in the Pacific Ocean only at two localities, the Pribylov Islands St. Paul and St. George, Alaska, and Behring and Copper Islands, of the Commander Group, which are under Russian jurisdiction. The world's supply

of seal-furs is principally derived from the former locality, where the seal population is, by wise management, kept up unimpaired.

The Pribylov Islands lie in the heart of Behring Sea, 192 miles north of Oonalaska, 1,400 miles west-northwest from Sitka, and 2,250 miles west-northwest from San Francisco. They include the Islands of St. Paul and St. George, which lie from twenty-seven to thirty miles apart, and of which St. George lies southeastward of St. Paul. The Island of St. Paul, the larger of the two, has an area of about 33 square miles, or 21,120 acres, and 42 miles of shore-line, of which 16 miles are "hauled" over by fur-seals. St. George has an area of about 27 square miles and 29 miles of coast-line, of which 24 miles only are visited by the seals. The islands are inhabited by 390 Åleuts (298 on St. Paul and 92 on St. George), who dwell in comfortable houses in the villages of their respective islands, and are employed in killing the seals.

The fur-seal, which resorts to these islands to breed and shed its hair and fur, is the highest organized of all the animals of the order (Pinnipedia) to which it belongs, and exhibits an instinct of an extraordinarily high order. It is distinguished from the hair-seal (Phoca vitulina), with which it has not even a generic affinity, by its erect habit and black or ochrecolored body. The male, or "bull," when fully grown, measures between six and a half and seven and a half feet in length, and will weigh between four hundred and six hundred pounds. The head appears disproportionately small in comparison with the thick neck and shoulders, but is nearly all occupied by the brain; the eyes are bluish hazel, with a changing expression; the muzzle and jaws are of about the same size and form as those of a Newfoundland dog, but with firmly lined and compressed lips; it has a long, yellowish-white and gray mustache; and it carries its head about three feet from the ground. The females, or "cow-seals," are between four and four and one half feet in length, are much more shapely in their proportions than the bulls, and have handsome heads and eyes, and an expression of consider able intelligence. They resort to the islands for the purpose of giving birth to their young, reaching there at the end of their period of gestation, and generally within a day or two of their time of delivery. The selection of the Pribylov Islands for resort is determined by the peculiar adaptation of the beaches to the habits and comfort of the animals during the breeding-season. The shores present, at the places selected for the "hauling" and breeding-grounds, gentle slopes of shingle or a firm, well-drained surface, to which the seals can travel without discomfort, and where they can lie without annoyance from mud or sand, from May till October, every year, in perfect physical peace and security.

The "bull-seals" seek the islands considerably earlier in the season than the cow-seals,

the first arrivals taking place early in May, and the great body reaching the grounds about the first of June, while the females do not come up till three weeks or a month later than the latter time. Each bull selects a spot about six or eight feet square, which he defends as his own against all rivals, and to which he invites the females when they have come to the shore, till he has collected a "harem" of fifteen or more cows around him. The breeding-season is at its height from the 10th to the 15th of July in every year, after which it subsides at the end of that month and in August. It is also established that the breeding is confined entirely to the land, and that it is never effected in the sea; the females bear their first young, a single pup each, when they are three years old, after about twelve months of gestation. The animals begin to scatter from the definite limits of their breeding-places about the 25th of July, and the "rookeries" are entirely broken up after the middle of September, when the "pups" have all learned to swim. By far the largest number of the male seals, including those which are not yet six years old, fail in the competition to establish themselves on the breeding-grounds and to secure harems of females. They are called "bachelor-seals," or, in Russian," holluschickie," and are allotted distinct grounds, called "hauling-grounds,' after the seal's peculiar mode of progression. The hauling grounds, with the passages leading to them through the breeding-grounds, are definitely marked off, and the boundaries are strictly respected by both the breeding and the bachelor seals. The bachelor-seals are the particular objects of the chase which is conducted on the islands. The hunting-season nearly corresponds with the breeding-season, the greater proportion of the work being done in June and July. The process of hunting is rather one of driving the animals from the "hauling-grounds" to the "killing-grounds," as domestic animals are driven, for the seals are quite tame and obey the commands of their drivers with docility. Only, care has to be taken to avoid over-driving and heating them, which destroy the quality of the fur. The killing is done by the native inhabitants of the islands, who, armed with clubs about five or six feet in length and three inches in diameter (which are made in New London for the purpose), and knives, knock them on the head, stab them to the heart, and skin them speedily, before a peculiar reaction, which they call "heating," has had time to set in. The skins, which weigh from five and a half to twelve pounds each, according to the age of the animal, are salted, and piled, "hair to fat," in bins, whence, after having lain two or three weeks, till they are "pickled," they may be taken out at any time and rolled into bundles of two skins each, with the hairy side out, ready for shipment.

The business of hunting the seals and curing the skins is, by act of Congress, a monopoly of the Alaska Commercial Company of San Fran

eisco. This company was organized by Mr. H. M. Hutchinson and Captain Ebenezer Morgan, who were the first persons to visit the islands in search of seals (in 1868) after they had passed into the possession of the United States. They perceived what the islands could be made to yield permanently under proper regulations, and also that the seals would be speedily exterminated if such regulations were not adopt ed. They accordingly procured an order from the Treasury Department declaring the islands a governmental reservation, and afterward an act of Congress for the protection of the furbearing animals on the islands. This act limits the time when the seals may be killed to the months of June, July, September, and October in each year; prohibits killing by fire-arms, or any other means that will tend to drive the seals away, as well as the killing of female seals or of any seals less than one year old; and the killing of any seals in the waters or "on the beaches, cliffs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain"; limits the number that may be killed to 100,000 in each year, besides what the natives may require for their food; and provides for the leasing of the exclusive privilege of killing the seals for the term of twenty years. The lease was awarded to the Alaska Commercial Company, whose charter, rules, and regulations have been framed to accord with the provisions of the law. Practically the company does not allow more than 99,850 seals to be taken on its account in a single year. The natives use 5,000 or 6,000 more. The company employs a fleet of four steamers and a dozen or fifteen sailing-vessels, and gives its principal attention to the seal-islands, while it has also stations scattered over the Aleutian Islands and that part of Alaska west and north of Kadiak. Outside of the seal-islands, all trade in Alaska is open to the public.

The whole number of breeding-seals and their young on the two islands was calculated from actual survey in the season of 1873 to be 3,193,420. This enormous aggregate is entirely exclusive of the great numbers of non-breeding seals, to which the killing is confined, which are never permitted to come to the breeding grounds. The animals of the latter class are nearly equal in number to the adult breedingseals, and may therefore be counted at at least 1,500,000; so that the grand total of the furseal life on the Pribylov Islands is represented by more than 4,700,000 individuals.

The theoretical value of the interests of the Government on the islands, measuring it by the value of 2,500,000 or 3,000,000 adult fur-seals, male and female, in good condition, is estimated by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, to be not less than $10,000,000 or $12,000,000; taking, however, the females out of the question and from the calculation, and including the "holluschickie" alone, as they really represent the only killable seals, then the commercial value

of the same would be expressed by the sum of $1,800,000 to $2,000,000-a sum which stands as a permanent principal in the islands, and returns the public Treasury upward of $317,000, or more than 15 per cent, annually.

In answer to the question, which has been frequently asked him-whether the seals are not in danger of being exterminated at the present rate of killing them--Mr. Elliot says that, provided matters are conducted on the islands in the future as they are to-day, and no plague or abnormal causes of destruction arise, one hundred thousand seals under the age of five years, and more than one year old, may be safely taken every year, without the slightest injury to the birth-rates or regular increase. This assertion is based on the estimate that about a million "pups," or young seals, are born on the islands every year, of which about one half, or 500,000, are males. These animals reach the sea, having suffered a loss of not more than one per cent, but are there exposed to destruction by various agencies, in consequence of which not more than half of them, or 250,000 males, return in the following year. After that time the causes of destruction are less extensively operative, and 225,000 out of the original 500,000 male young, with as many females, may be expected to live out the ordinary terms of their natural lives. Not more than one in fifteen of the males born is needed for breeding purposes in the future; but, even if one fifth of them are reserved, there are still left 180,000 animals that might be safely killed every year. Mr. Elliot further states his belief that it is not possible by any management materially to increase the production of the islands. The total number of skins taken-from 1797 to 1880-is computed, from the best data that can be obtained, at 3,561,051. The Alaska Commercial Company paid into the Treasury of the United States, from July, 1870, to August, 1881, in taxes and rental, the total sum of $3,452,408.50. The fur-seals are voracious eaters, and live on fish, of which, estimating that each individual requires ten pounds a day, they can hardly consume less than six million tons every year. They are also, in their turn, particularly the young ones, preyed upon actively by the killer-whale (Orca gladiator). The most probable contingency under which a change may be produced in the seal productiveness of the Pribylov Islands may possibly arise from a diversion of the herds to Behring and Copper Islands, of the Commander Group, in Russian territory, which afford equally favorable grounds for their rookeries, and are now sparsely visited by them. No other coast in the region is adapted to them. Between 1862 and 1880, 287,462 fur-seal skins were shipped from the Commander Islands.

Among other animals of the Pribylov Islands which are applied to economical uses are the sea-lions (Eumetopias Stelleri), which are little appreciated in the commercial world, but are invaluable to the natives. Their skins are used