404 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



OTeat many "soft" spots will be foimd on the outer edges of the skins 

 from which the fur pulls out, and thus destroys the par value of those 



skins. , . , ^. ^ ^, , 



Touching this subject in 1874, I said m relation to the work: 



The skins are takeu from the field' to the salt house, Avhere they are laid out after 

 being a^iin carefully examined, one upon another, "hair to fat," like so many sheets 

 of nane? i^th salt profusely spread upon the fleshy sides as they are piled up in the 

 'Sw' or bins] The salt house is a large barn-like frame structure, bo built as 

 to afford one-third of its width in the center, from end, to end clear and open as a pas- 

 sa-ewav while on each side are rows of stanchions, with shdmg planks which are 

 taken down and put up in the form of deep bins or boxes-" kenches," the sealers 

 callthem As the pile of skins is laid at the bottom ot an empty ''kench, ' and salt 

 tJro vnTn on the outer edges, these planks are also put "^Pl-^«' \« ^^f^^/^^f ^^^^ 

 be kept intact until the bin is filled as high up as a man can toss the skins Att^er 

 lying two or three weeks in this style, they become -pickled," and they are suited 

 Self aVany time to be taken up and rolled into bundles of two skins to the package, 

 w^ith the hairy side out, tightly corded, ready lor shipment from the islands 



The bundled skins are 'carried from the salt houses to the biiidar, when the order for 

 shipment is -iven, and pitched into that lighter one by one, to be rapidly stowed: 700 

 to 1 °00 bundles making the average single load. Then, when alongside the steamer, 

 they are again tossed Sp and on to her deck, from whence they are stowed agam m 

 the hold. 



DESCRIPTION OF KILLING GROUND AT ST. TAUL VILLAGE. 



The killing ground of St. Paul is a bottomless sand flat, only a few feet 

 above high water, which unites the village hill and the reef with the 

 island itself. It is not a stone's throw from the heart of the settlement— 

 in fact it is right in town— not even suburban : and, a most singular and 

 striking characteristic of the island of St. Paul is the fact that this 

 immense slaughtering held, upon which 55,000 to 70,000 tresh carcasses 



1 Under the old order of affairs, long prior to the present management, the skins were 

 packed up and carried on the backs of the boys and girls women ami old men, to 

 the drvin- houses and drying frames. When I first arrived, season ot lb72, a slight 

 variat on^was made in this i^espect by breaking a small S berian bull into harness 

 Ind hitching it to a bob cart in which the pelts were hauled Betore the cart was 

 aSjusted, however, and the "bulk" taught to pull, t was led out to the kil ing 

 ^rounds bv a ring in its nose, and literally covered with the green seal hides, which 

 were thus packed to the kenches. The natives were delighted with even this part al 

 r8s5stan^e,\ut now they have no further eoneern about it at ''^l\f«^-«'^,^;:Jf ,;""!«/ 

 and carts render prompt and ample service. They were introduced here tirst m 18 <4. 

 The Eusshm American Company, and also the Alaska Commercial Company have 

 biou -ht up three or four horses to' St. Paul : but they have been unlortunate in losing 

 them all soon after lauding: the voyage and the climate combined being mimica to 

 enuine health. Cut the nfules of the present order of affa rs, have been snccessf u in 

 S transportation to and residence on the Pribilov Islands. One ot the lirst of 

 these horses iust referred to, perhaps did not have a iair chance lor its lite. It was 

 saddled one morning and several camp kettles, coffee pots, etc., slung on the crupper 

 for the use of the Russian agent, who was going up to Northeast Point lor a ^veek or 

 ten davs' visit. He got into the saddle, and while en route, near Polavina, a kettle 

 or pot broke loose behind. The alarmed horse kicked its rider promptly oti, and dis- 

 appeared on a full run in the fog, going toward the bogs of Kamminista, where its 

 lifeless and fox-gnawed body was found several days afterwards. 

 ^The practice of curing in early times was quite difterent from this rapid and 

 effective process of salting-. The skins were then all house or air dried pegged out 

 when " oreeu" upon the ground, or elsestretched upon a wooden trelhsor frame, which 

 stood like a rude fence adjacent to the killing grounds. It was the accumuhition of 

 such aiidrled skins from the Pribilov Islands at Sitka which rotted so m 1803 tbat 

 "750 000 of them were cut up or thrown into the sea," and so destroyed, tiaa 

 tbev 'been treated as they now are, such a calamity and hideous waste could not have 

 Sc^Ted The method of air drying which the old settlers employed is we 1 por- 

 trayed by the practice of the natives now, who treat a few hundred sea- ions skins 

 toYhepr^ocess^every fall, preparing them thus ^ov ^-^\V^--^\\y.^f-^f;^^^^^ 

 they ai^ used by brother Aleuts in covering their bidarkies or kyacks. The nat ves 

 in speaking to me of this matter, said that whenever the weather was rough and the 

 wind blowing hard, these air-dried sealskins, as they were tossed from the bidarrah 

 To the ship's deck, I'uimbers of them would frequently turn in the wind and fly clean 

 over the vessel into the water beyond, where they were lost. 



