ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 17 



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off from the ships. There is no harbor at either of these islands, and 

 the ships lie oat in the roadstead so far from land that these pests do 

 not venture to swim to the shore. Mice were long ago brought to 

 shore in ships' cargoes, and they are a great nuisance to the Avhite 

 people as well as the natives throughout the islands. Hence cats also 

 arc abundant. Nowhere perhaps in the wide world are such cats to 

 be seen as these. The tabby of our acquaintance, when she goes uj) 

 there and lives upon the seal meat spread everywhere under her nose, 

 is metamorphosed, bj^ time of the second generation, into a stubby 

 feline ball; in other words, she becomes thickened, short, and loses 

 part of the normal length of her tail; also her voice is prolonged and 

 resonant far beyond the miserj^ which she inflicts upon our ears here. 

 These cats actually swarm about the natives' houses, never in them 

 much, for only a tithe of their whole number can be made pets of; 

 but they do make night hideous beyond all description. They repair 

 for shelter often to the chinks of precipices and bluffs, but, although 

 not exactly wild, yet they can not be approached or cajoled. The 

 natives, when their sluggish wits are periodically thoroughly aroused 

 and disturbed by the volume of cat calls in the village, sally out and 

 by a vigorous effort abate the nuisance for the time being. The most 

 extravagant caterwauling alone will or can arouse this Aleutian ire. 

 Stock and poultry raising. — On account of the severe climatic 

 conditions it is of course impracticable to keep stock here with any 

 profit or pleasure. The experiment has been tried faithfully. It is 

 found best to bring beef cattle up in the spring on the steamer, turn 

 them out to i^asture until the close of the season, in October and 

 November, and then, if the snow comes, to kill them and keep them 

 refrigerated the rest of the year. Stock can iiot be profitably raised 

 here, the jDroportion of severe weather annually is too great — from three 

 to f>erhaps six months of every year they require feeding and water- 

 ing, with good shelter. To furnish an animal with liay and grain up 

 there is a costlj^ matter, and the dampness of the growing summer sea- 

 sou on both islands renders haymaking impracticable. Perhaps a few 

 head of hardy Siberian cattle might pick up a living on the north 

 shore of St. Paul, among the grasses and sand dunes there, with noth- 

 ing more than shelter and water given them, but they would need both 

 of those attentions. Then the care of them would hardly return 

 expenses, as the entire grazing ground could not support any number 

 of animals. It is less than 2 square miles in extent, and half of this 

 area is unproductive. Then, too, a struggle for existence would 

 reduce the flesh and vitality of these cattle to so low an ebb that it is 

 doubtful whether they could be put through another winter alive, 

 especially if severe. I was then, and am noAV, strongly inclined to 

 think that if a few of those Siberian reindeer could be brought over 

 to St. Paul and to St. George they would make a very successful strug- 

 gle for existence, and be a source of a good supply, summer and winter, 

 of fresh meat for the agents of the Government and the company who 

 may be living upon the islands. I do not think that they would be 

 inclined to molest or visit the seal grounds; at least, I noticed that the 

 cattle and mules of the company running loose on St. Paul were care- 

 ful never to poke around on the outskirts of a rookery, and deer would 

 be more timid and less obtrusive than our domesticated animals. But 

 I did notice on St. George that a little squad of sheep, brought up and 

 turned out there for a summer's feeding, seemed to be so attracted by 

 the quiet calls of the pups on the rookeries that they were drawn to 

 and remained by the seals without disturbing them at all, to their own 



H. Doc. 92, pt. 3 2 



