338 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



and then often step from the heated room into the chilly air without 

 taking the precaution to properly protect themselves against the cold. 

 A habit of sleeping on the floor still persists, in the face of all attempts 

 to correct it; and though the temperature is satisfactory on first lying 

 down, the fire goes out before morning and the sleeper is subjected to 

 the risks incident to the lowered temperature and the drafts which 

 circulate across the floor, to say nothing of the disastrous efl:ects of 

 breathing this lower strata of contaminated air. The mortality among 

 the infants is very great. Tins is due to inherited lack of vitality, the 

 inabdity of the mothers to nurse them, and the employment of condensed 

 milk in lieu of maternal care. 



Introduction of reindeer. — It is believed the introduction of reindeer 

 upon these islands would be advantageous to the health of the commu- 

 nity, in that it would furnish them with another article of diet, espe- 

 cially during the portion of the year in whi(;h no seals were killed. A 

 number of reindeer were brought to Unalaska by Captain Healy, of the 

 United States revenue steamer Bear^ last year, and experience has 

 shown that during the past twelve months they have thrived. The 

 conditions on St. Paul and St. George are favorable to their propaga- 

 tion. Experience will determine what eflect their i:)resence would have 

 upon the seals. It is not believed that it would be injurious. 



BRITISH AGENTS. 



During the summer Mr. J. M. Macoun, accomjjanied by his photog- 

 rapher, Mr. Maynard, was present upon the island, and evei-y eflbrt 

 was made on the part of the Government and company officers to assist 

 them in the prosecution of their work. 



IN GENERAL. 



Aiypointment of agents. — 1 beg leave to call the attention of the 

 Department to a defect in the i)resent method of appointing agents to 

 the seal islands. It is of prime importance in carrying out any Gov- 

 ernment policy in regard to these valuable possessions that there be 

 as little change of individuals from year to year as is possible. It is 

 recognized that the continuance of any one individual is undesirable, 

 but it is urged as an eflective arrangement that in the appropriation 

 bills providing for the appointment of ofticers a clause be inserted 

 requiring that two agents shall be selected from each of the dominant 

 political parties, each pair serving alternate years. There would thus 

 be vsecured continuity of administration, each officer would act as a 

 check upon the other, and there would be freedom from incompetency 

 which might arise from long retention of office. It should be remem- 

 bered that these positions are of no small degree of responsibility, and 

 calt for men of high character, of good intelligence, possessing a keen 

 sense of justice, atid bodily <iualified to meet the severe physical exer- 

 tion freciuently demanded by the proper administration of their office. 



Compamfs superintendent concurs in certain recommendations. — As 

 requested in my instructions, and as previously indicated, I availed 

 myself of the familiarity of the superintendent of the North American 

 Commercial Company with the questions of the sanitary improvement 

 of the islands and the furnishing of employment to the natives, and he 

 concurs in the recommendations made herein, (See Exhibit I.) 



Adoption oftivo orphans. — Upon application of Mrs. Earnest A. Cox, 

 the wife of the secretary of the North American Commercial Company, 



