298 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



SO no more has been made since, and none has ever been shipped. The 

 tax was taken off last year and the company simply required to pay 

 to the natives 10 cents per gallon for their labor in making the oil, but 

 during the sealing season the entire working force of the natives is fully 

 occupied in taking the skins, and after it is over they are unwilling to 

 do the work of trying out oil from the carcasses, for, as they say, they 

 make money enough by sealing. They do, however, make a few gallons 

 for themselves yearly, which they use for burning. Care is taken to i)re- 

 vent molesting or frightening the seals; no dogs are allowed upon the 

 islands, and the use of firearms is prohibited except in winter. It has 

 been asserted that the sight of blood and the sight of the killing of their 

 companions has a tendency to drive them away from the islands, but 

 the experiment has been tried of fastening tallies to numbers of the 

 seals which are turned away from the killing grounds, and always with 

 the result that the same seals have been found upon the beach and 

 driven again within a day or two. Moreovei-, there is a breeding rook- 

 ery within sight of the killing grounds on St. Paul, and but a short 

 distance from them, which has been increasing in size for several years. 



TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES BY THE COMPANY. 



The lease requires that provision be made by the company for the com- 

 fort, maintenance, education, and protection of the native inhabitants of 

 the islands. 



The natives do all the work of taking and curing the seal skins, for 

 which they are x^aid by the company 40 cents a skin. This produces 

 each year a fund of $40,000, which is divided between the inhabitants 

 of the two islands, according to the number of skins taken from each, 

 which gives $30,000 to the people of St. Paul and $10,000 to those of St. 

 George. In addition to this they are paid 10 cents apiece for sea-lion 

 skins, 10 cents for their throats, and $5 a barrel for their intestines. As 

 this sum is earned by the joint labor of all the able-bodied men, it is con- 

 sidered a common fund, to be divided equitably among them. Payment 

 is made for all other labor to each individual performing it at established 

 rates. In dividing the sealing fund the ability of the sealers is consid- 

 ered, and the division made accordingly. Thus the strongest and most 

 skillful men, who work the entire season, receive a first-class share. 

 Those who are less skillful, and the old men who are unable to do the 

 harder part of the work, receive second and third shares, while the 

 boys who take part in the sealing for the first time receive a fourth- 

 class share. The assignment of shares is made by the chiefs and 

 acquiesced in by the others. Each year, after all the skins have been 

 taken, the chiefs furnish the company's agents with a list of the men 

 who have been engaged in sealing during the season, and the share 

 assigned to each. The second, third, and fourth class are respectively 

 90, 80, and 70 per cent of the first-class share. Two first-class shares 

 are voluntarily given for the support of the church, and one for that of 

 the priest. The value of the shares varies a little from year to year 

 with the number of men engaged in sealing. This year (1874) it was 

 for each, respectively, $429.53, $368.58, $343.63, and $300.63. The result 

 of the division is formally made to the people by the company's agents, 

 through the chiefs and in the presence of the Government's agents. 

 These sums are not paid at the time to the natives, but are placed to 

 their credit in the book of the company and in passbooks which are 

 furnished to each man. All other labor is paid for in coin when per- 

 formed, at the rate of from 6 to 10 cents an hour, according to the 



