136 ALASKA INDUSTRIES, 



same to a sad degree. I was laughed at by the residents who noticed 

 my facial contortions, and assured that this state of smell was noth- 

 ing to what I should soon experience when the frost and snow had 

 fairly melted. They were correct; the odor along by the end of May 

 was terrific punishment to my olfactories, and continued so for several 

 weeks until my sense of smell became blunted and callous to this 

 stench by long familiarity. Like the other old residents I then became 

 quite unconscious of the prevalence of this rich "funk" and ceased to 

 notice it. 



Those who land here, as I did, for the first time, nervously and 

 invariably declare that such an atmosphere must breed a plague or a 

 fever of some kind in the village, and hardly credit the assurance of 

 those who have resided in it for the whole period of their lives that 

 such a thing was never known to St. Paul, and that the island is 

 remarkably "healthy. It is entirely true, however, and after a few 

 weeks' contact, or a couple of months' experience at the longest, the 

 most sensitive nose becomes used to that aroma, wafted as it is hourly, 

 day in and out, from decaying seal flesh, viscera, and blubber; and, 

 also, it ceases to be an object of attention. The cool, sunless climate 

 during the warmer months has undoul)tedly much to do with check- 

 ing too rapid decomposition and consequent trouble therefrom, which 

 would otherwise arise from the killing grounds. 



The freshly skinned carcasses of this season do not seem to rot sub- 

 stantially until the following year; then they rapidly slough away 

 into the sand upon which they rest. The envelope of blubber left 

 upon each body seems to act as an air-tight i-eceiver, holding most of 

 the putrid gases that evolved from the decaying viscera until their 

 volatile tension causes it to give way. Fortunately, the line of least 

 resistance to that merciful retort is usually right where it is adjacent 

 to the soil, so both putrescent fluids and much of the stench within is 

 deodorized and absorbed before it can contaminate the atmosphere to 

 any great extent. The truth of my observation will be promptly veri- 

 fied if the skeptic chooses to tear open any one of the thousands of 

 gas-distended carcasses in the fall that were skinned in the killing 

 season. If he does so, he will be smitten by the worst smell that 

 human sense can measure; and should he chance to be accompanied 

 by a native, that callous individual, even, Avill pinclj his grimy nose 

 and exclaim, " It is a ' keeshla pahknoot!' " 



At the close of the tliird season after the skinning of the seal's body 

 it will have so rotted and sloughed down as to be marked only by the 

 bones and a few of the tendinous ligaments ; in other words, it requires 

 from thirty to thirty-six montlis' time for a seal carcass to rot entirely 

 away, so nothing but whitened bones remain above ground. The 

 natives govern their driving of the seals and laying out of the fresh 

 bodies according to this fact; for they can and do spread this year a 

 whole season's killing out over the same spot of the field previously 

 covered with such fresh carcasses three summers ago. By alternating 

 with the seasons thus the natives are enal)led to annually slaughter 

 all of the "holluschickie " on a relatively small area, close by the salt 

 houses and the village, as I have indicated on the map of St. Paul. 



Description of killing ground of St. Paul. — Thekilling ground 

 of St. Paul is a bottomless sand flat, only a few feet al)ove high water, 

 and which unites the village hill and tlie reef v.ith the island itself. 

 It is not a stone's throw froni the heart of the settlement; in fact, it is 

 right in town — not even suburban. 



Description of the killing ground at St. George. — On St. 



