120 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



On St. George Island — 



20,000 prime seiil skins, at 40 cents $8,000 



Distributed as follows — 



7 shares, at $375 each 2, 625 



7 shares, at $365 each 2, 555 



3 shares, at $315 each 945 



3 shares, at $270 each 810 



1 share, at $275 275 



1 share, at $210 210 



1 share, at $200 200 



Church 380 



Total 8,000 



This is exclusive of sums earned by day work in otlier employments. 



The proceeds are distributed equitably among the people through 

 their chiefs and head men, so that all share in the common earnings. 

 The wants of all are provided for; they have wherewithal to feed, 

 clothe, and warm themselves, and general contentment prevails. 



The lessees of the islands — the Alaska Commercial Company — have 

 complied witb the terms and conditions of their lease. 



The accompanying accounts current, marked I and K, show the con- 

 dition of the fish, fuel, and school accounts on both islands. 



The fuel (60 tons coal) for the use of the natives during the succeed- 

 ing year had been delivered before I left the islands. The salmon was 

 yet to arrive by schooner. 



CONCLUSION. 



The important question whether the seal life of these islands is 

 increasing or diminishing is one which I will feel more competent to 

 confidently and definitely answer, from personal knowledge, after fur- 

 ther observation. It is the expressed belief of reliable white observers 

 of long experience on the seal islands, including Government officers, 

 that the seal life is now as numerous as at any former period since the 

 transfer of the Territory to the United States; and it is my own 

 oijinion that so long as the seals continue to visit these islands in pres- 

 ent numbers, and at the present rate of killing, and with proper care 

 exercised in i^rotecting the breeding rookeries, the period of their 

 extermination maybe indefinitely postponed; but no increase in the 

 number now annually killed ought, in my judgment, to be permitted by 

 the Government. 



It is proper to say, however, that many of the native people profess 

 to believe that the seals are decreasing in numbers on St. Paul Island. 

 In an interview with me the native chiefs ascribed the alleged fact 

 to the presence of the steam oil works. They asserted that the steam, 

 the odor, and the offal from these works have the effect of driving away 

 the seals. They do not, however, ask for any reduction in the number 

 of seals permitted to be killed. 



I repeat these assertions and opinions to you in compliance with a 

 promise made to the chiefs, though I am not able to concur in their 

 •view, since my own observation and the best impartial and intelligent 

 white testimony I could gather convince me that the presence of the 

 oil works has no j^erceptible effect upon the seal life. The rookery 

 nearest the oil works (but a few rods away) is increasing rather than 

 diminishing. 



Nevertheless, if it shall ever appear that the oil factory does have the 

 effect of driving the seals away, to even the smallest extent, its opera- 

 tion should be forthwith stopped. The work of making oil has no impor- 

 tance to the Government or coiumercially when compared with the 



