118 ALASKA. 



either party now in control capable of discerning it, wbicli is not 

 likely, however, to be the case. 



We explained to them, in return, that the law which limited 

 the killinr»- on Saint George to 23,000, and on Saint Paul to 

 75,000, was based upon the imperfect information furnished by 

 the agents of the Government sent to the islands, and that kill- 

 ing 25,000 out of 100,000 on an island where there was not 

 one-twentieth of the number of seals that were on the ground 

 where the remaining 75,000 were taken, was entirely wrong, and 

 must be corrected, for the best interests of all parties concerned ; 

 and that thej^ had no right to profit at the expense of their 

 brethren on Saint George, who were expected, at the time the 

 law was made, to share equally with them the proceeds of this 

 labor, and in this spirit the defective law was framed. This 

 exi)lanation appeared to relieve their minds. 



They spoke to us with great satisfaction of the bettered con- 

 dition in which they are living as compared with the state in 

 which they lived but a short time since. A very perceptible 

 shade of gloom settled on the countenances of all when we as- 

 sured them that the Government could not permit any more 

 "quass"or beer drunkenness among them. We set forth the 

 propriety of this course on the part of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury as justitied by the following reasons: 



1. They are at present living without the restraint of police- 

 men and prisons, fines, &c., which we employ for the suppression 

 of such disorder in our own land, and it was best for them to live 

 sober and avoid the necessity of having such institutions. 



2. That they were, by the great generosity of the Govern- 

 ment and the company, allowed to enjoy the sole privilege of 

 jiarticipation in the sealing-labor and its good reward, by which 

 they were enabled to live in such comfort and ease j that if they 

 indulged in drinking they would drop out from the sKinning- 

 gangs, and be unable in a few years to attend properly to their 

 duty on the killing-grounds; that then the company would 

 have the power and would be justified in procuring others to do 

 this work, and that then but a short time would elapse before 

 the labor of persons not addicted to drink would crowd them 

 and their children out of their comfortable possession. 



In the course of our conversation with them in regard to the 

 eyents of early days on the island, they gave the following as 

 facts, relying on the ^' vivid imaginations and faithful memories" 



