FROM FLAXMAN ISLAND TO ICY CAPE 349 



employs about seventy men with their families, and they get 

 all they need, and, as far as I can see, a little more, from him. 

 Some get a certain amount of food, and during the winter, 

 when the ice lies close inland and there is no whaling, they 



NATIVE HOUSES AT POINT BAKROW. 



leave the station, go further into the country to hunt cariboo 

 and bears, or to set traps for foxes. 



Others remain at the station all the year round. They are 

 provided with houses to live in, and every day the men, as well 

 as the women and children, came over to the storehouse to et 

 their ration of food or clothing. The houses, in my opinion, 

 do not add materially to their comfort and welfare, but the system 

 of paying them in food and clothing is better for the natives 

 than any other way. Each man costs the station about $250 

 a year. But the income derived from whaling, when carried 

 on systematically, is great, and the profit made by Mr. Brower 

 and his associates is considerable, and was increased by com- 

 mencing an autumn whaling season, which has proved very 

 successful hitherto. When I was there Mr. Brower had 

 5,000 Ibs. of whalebone at a price of $4.50 to $5.00 per Ib. in 

 his storehouses, and besides that there was the spring whaling, 

 which until two years ago was his only source of income. 



But he has no monopoly of the whaling industry; there are 



