76 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
ties of blubber and meat on the pelt when it is removed from the 
animal. In addition to securing more evenly cured skins, the new 
method does away with the chances for cutting or flaying the skins 
on the killing field as the subsequent removal of the blubber and 
meat makes it unnecessary for the skinner to cut close to the pelt. 
The following comments by the Gibbins & Lohn Dressing & Dyeing 
Co., of St. Louis, in regard to the blubbered and washed skins of 
1920, show some of the practical advantages of the new treatment : 
The benefit of the better curing and more uniform condition of the pelts is 
apparent throughout the various dressing processes. The washing is rendered 
easier, more efficacious, and safer than on ordinary skins. The better condi- 
tion of the pelts is also felt in the unhairing process. The hair on the yellow 
spots is always quite difficult to remove. It is generally necessary on such pelts 
to loosen the hair by a slight and controlled sweating action, which can not 
be advantageous, for it has a tendency to loosen fur as well as hair. It was 
found that in the white-blubbered pelts the hair could be loosened by the 
unhairing process and the fur left firmer and set tighter when the process was 
finished. In other words, the hair was easier to remove because the fur held 
firm. Another result is that more of the fine hair is removed during the 
unhairing. While this fine hair can be clipped out during the subsequent 
machining process, a better finished product is obtained if it is removed during 
the unhairing. 
In addition to the skins which were washed and blubbered, a por- 
tion of the catch was handled in the usual manner and then cooled 
by washing before salting; others were given no special treatment 
beyond a stretching at the time of salting. Various small lots of 
skins were treated in different ways, the entire effort being toward 
developing improved methods. 
It is probable that the blubbering, washing, stretching, and single 
salting will be conducted on a larger scale in the season of 1921, as 
there 1s every reason to believe that the new methods result in a 
superior finished product. 
NATIVES. 
HEALTH CONDITIONS. 
The maintenance of good health among the natives on the Pribilof 
Islands is not only one of the responsibilities resting upon the Bureau 
in its administration of affairs there, but it is greatly to the interest of 
the Government to give the best of care to the communities which 
perform the bulk of the manual labor incidental to the valuable 
and remunerative industries centering on the islands. 
A resident physician is stationed on each of the two islands pri- 
marily for the purpose of attending to the health of the natives. 
Well-stocked dispensaries are provided and a small hospital is avail- 
able on St. Paul Island. A building to contain hospital facilities is 
to be constructed on St. George Island in the near future. 
During the summer and fall of 1920 a dentist was employed to give 
attention to the needs of the natives and others on the Pribilofs and 
he was fully occupied during his entire stay. Another dentist will 
be secured for the coming year to continue this important work. 
It is especially noteworthy that on St. George Island, with a popu- 
lation of about 135 persons, no deaths occurred for a period of 15 
months ending June 19, 1920. This is unprecedented in the history of 
the Pribilofs. 
