ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 15 



I hereby acknowledge receipt of instructions of date February 2, 

 1870. The prohibition referred to has been and will be strictly enforced. 

 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



WiNSLOW B. Barnes, 



Third Lieutenant, United States Revenue Service. 



Hon. George S. Boutwell, 



Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, I). C. 



Inelosure to report of Lieutenant Barnes, dated June 14, 1870. 



[Translation.] 



St. Paul Island, September 1, 1869. 



On your arrival at this island you read your instructions in our 

 presence. 



Those instructions were immediately translated to us, and we learned 

 from them that the Secretary of the Treasury left to your judgment and 

 intrusted you to designate the number of seals we can kill this year. 



You also handed us a translation of the order of 1868, by which the 

 killing of seals was prohibited. 



The fulfillment of this order would have not only brought us to 

 extreme poverty, but would have deprived us of means of subsistence. 



We have no money for changing the place of our residence, and the 

 prohibition of seal-kiUing will cause our ruin. 



You decided upon a certain number of seals to be taken for our sub- 

 sistence. Knowing that the fixing of the number of seals was left to 

 you, we take the liberty to request you to increase the number of seals 

 to be killed this season, and beg to explain hereby the reasons which 

 prompt us to do so. 



Twelve cents a day is not sufficient for our food, and besides food we 

 want warm clothing for the cold winter, and if we do not provide ihem 

 our families will suffer from the rigor of the climate. Our houses 

 must nearly all be repaired. 



Most of us have debts which we consider it our duty to pay before 

 expending for ourselves. We have a church and a school which we sup- 

 port. We have widows and orphans who require the support of the 

 community. Finally, we can not subsist on seal meat alone. 



The rigor of the winters and the discomfort of our dwellings made 

 us acquire the habit of drinling tea, which warms and stimulates us. 

 We are accustomed to this beverage, and it is difficult for us to dispense 

 with it. 



We request you to give due attention to our wants, and trust that 

 you will perceive the necessity of increasing the number of seals you 

 have decided may be killed in one year. 



Special Agent Charles Bryant: Annual Report for 1870. 



Island of St. Paul, Alaska, July 14, 1870. 

 Sir: In compliance with the instructions of the Department of May 

 24, 1870, ordering me to take charge of the sealing islands and to pro- 

 vide for the immediate wants of the inhabitants, if found in a condition 



