34 ALASKA. 



ami the only way by which their villages can be reached is by 

 water. Traveling by laud is sinii>ly impossible, so that to-day 

 the two companies of artillery at Sitka are entirely unable to 

 correct the most wauton outrage which the Indians might see 

 fit to perpetrate but a mile from their sentry-lines. 



The practical result of quartering troops among people like 

 these in Alaska is bad. The communities thus visited were 

 net remarkable for sobriety, morality, or industry before the 

 coming of our troops, but after their arrival the change for the 

 -worse, wherever the natives were brought m contact with them, 

 was very marked. Honorable officers find it sufficiently diffi- 

 cult to restrain their subordinates in camps and posts remote 

 from demoralizing temptation, but when their men are sur- 

 rounded by simple natives who will sell themselves for rum and 

 tobacco, the inevitable result follows of debauchery and intem- 

 I)erance. The history of the militar^^ occu])ation of this Terri- 

 tory by our Government, although brief, reflects no honor upon 

 the troops, and is a most unfortunate one for the natives with 

 whom they came in contact, so much so that all the posts 

 throughout the Territory have been discontinued except that 

 of Sitka, of which the law, I believe, comj^els a conlinuance, 

 and which, I trust, will be soon repealed for the relief of the 

 troops, the credit of the Government, and also a saving of un- 

 necessary expense to the public Treasury in moving the sol- 

 diers to and from the Territory and of subsidizing a mail- 

 steamer to carry their letters, &c. 



The present statute, which provides ostensibly for the gov- 

 ernment of the Territory, authorizes the ap])ointment of a col- 

 lector of customs and four or five deputies there, the former lo- 

 cated at Sitka, the others at Oanalashka, Kodiak, and Wran- 

 gel, where they are able only to conjecture as to the condition 

 of revenue details in their respective districts, for they are un- 

 able to leave their posts. The collector of customs can exer- 

 cise no adequate vigilance against the illicit manufacture and 

 trade in whisky, smuggling, &c., with the sailing-cutter which 

 is allotted to this district. A small ste:im- vessel alone can fol- 

 low these traders and smugglers through the innumerable nar- 

 row and intiicftte channels and fjiords of the Aleutian and 

 Alexander xlrchipelagoes. 



With the present sailing cutter, no calculation can be made 

 with reference to her movements ; she is at the mercy of wind 

 and tide ; how long will be her trip to a given place, and wben 



