THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 21 



recruits been regularly drawn from the mainland and other islands every season when the ships came up. As they 

 lived then, it was a physical impossibility for them to increase and multiply; but, since their elevation and their 

 sanitary advancement are so marked, it may be reasonably expected that those people for all time to come will at least 

 hold their own, even though they do not increase to any remarkable degree. Perhaps it is better that they should 

 not. But it is exceedingly fortunate that they do sustain themselves so as to be, as it were, a prosperous corporate 

 factor, entitled to the exclusive privilege of labor on these islands. As an encouragement for their good behavior 

 the Alaska Commercial Company, in pursuance of its enlightened treatment of the whole subject, so handsomely 

 exhibited by its housing of these people, has assured them that so long as they arc capable and willing to perforin 

 the labor of shinning the seal-catch every year, so loug will they enjoy the sole privilege of participating in that 

 toil and its reward. This is wise on the part of the company, and it is exceedingly happy for the people. They 

 are, of all men, especially fitted for the work connected with the seal-business — no comment is needed — nothing 

 better in the way of manual labor, skilled and rapid, could be rendered by any body of men, equal in numbers, 

 living under the same circumstances, all the year round. They appear to shake off the periodic lethargy of winter 

 and its forced inanition, to rush with the coming of summer into the severe exercise and duty of capturing, killing, 

 and skinning the seals, with vigor and with persistent and commendable energy. 



To day only a very small proportion of the population are descendants of the pioneers who were brought here 

 by the several Russian companies, iu 1787 and 178S ; a colony of 137 souls, it is claimed, principally recruited at 

 Ooualaslika and Atkha. I have placed in the appendix, together with other scattered notes, a list of these people 

 who were living on St. Paul island in August, 1873; also showing at the same time those who were living there in 

 1870. It is a simple record, perhaps of no interest to anybody except those who are intimately associated with the 

 islands. (See note, 39, F.) 



Origin and traits of the Aleuts. — The question as to the derivation of these natives is still a mooted one 

 among ethnologists, for in alt points of personal bearing, intelligence, character, as well as physical structure, they 

 seem to form a perfect link of gradation between the Japanese and Eskimos, although their traditions and their 

 language are entirely distinct and peculiar to themselves; not one word or numeral of their nomenclature resembles 

 the dialect of either. They claim, however, to have come first to the Aleutian islands from a "big land to the 

 westward", and that when they came there first they found the land uninhabited, and that they did not meet with 

 any people, until their ancestors had pushed on to the eastward as far as the peninsula and Kadiak. Confirmatory 

 of this legend, or rather highly suggestive of it, is the fact that repeated instances have occurred within our day 

 where Japanese junks have been, iu the stress of hurricanes and typhoons, dismantled, and have drifted clear over 

 and on to the reefs and coasts of the Aleutian islands. Only a short time ago, in the summer of 1871, such a craft 

 was so stranded, helpless and at the mercy of the sea, upon the rocky coast of Adak island, in this chain ; the few 

 surviving sailors, Japanese, five in number, were, I remember, rescued by a patty of Aleutian sea-otter hunters, 

 who took care of them until the vessel of a trader carried them back, by way of Ooualashka, to San Francisco, and 

 from thence they returned to their native land. 



The Aleuts on the islands, as they appear to-day, have been so mixed up with Russian, Koloshian, and 

 Kamschadale blood, that they present characteristics, in one way or another, of all the various races of men, from 

 the negro up to the Caucasian. The predominant features among them are small, wide-set eyes, broad and high 

 cheek-bones, causing the jaw, which is full and square, to often appear peaked ; coarse, straight, black hair, small, 

 neatly shaped feet and hands, together with brownish-yellow complexion. The men will average in stature five 

 feet four or five inches; the women less iu proportion, although there are exceptions to this rule among them, 

 some being over six feet in height, and others are decided dwarfs. The manners and customs of these people to-day 

 possess nothing in themselves of a barbarous or remarkable character, aside from that which belongs to an advanced 

 state of semi-civilization. They are exceedingly polite and civil, not only in their business with the agents of the 

 company on the seal-islands, but among themselves ; and they visit, the one with the other, freely and pleasantly, 

 the women being great gossips. But, on the whole, their intercourse is subdued, for the simple reason that the 

 topics of conversation are few, and, judging from their silent but unconstrained meetings, they seem to have a 

 mutual kuowledge, as if by sympathy, as to what may be occupying each other's minds, rendering speech superfluous. 

 It is only when under the influence of beer or strong liquor, that they lose their naturally quiet and amiable 

 disposition ; they then relapse into low, drunken orgies and loud, brawling noises. Having been so long under the 

 control and influence of the Russians, they have adopted many Sclavic customs, such as giving birthday-dinners, 

 naming their children, etc.; they are remarkably attached to their church, and no other form of religion could be 

 better adapted or have a firmer hold upon the sensibilities of the people. Their inherent chastity and sobriety 

 cannot be commended. They have long since thrown away the uncouth garments of the Russian rule — the shaggy 

 dog skin caps, with coats half seal and half sea lion — for a complete outfit, cap-a-pie, such as our own people buy in 

 any furnishing house; the same boots, socks, underclothing, and clothing, with ulsters and ulsterettes; but the 

 violence of the wind prevents their selecting the hats of our haut ton and sporting fraternity. As for the women, they 

 too have kept pace and even advanced to the level of the men, for in these lower races there is much more vanity 

 displayed by the masculine element than the feminine, according to my observation; in other words, I have noticed 



