360 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



way so long as Government officers are compelled, because of lack of 

 boat service, to stand helpless on shore while the smuggler plies his 

 illegitimate trade beneath their very eyes, so long- will the present state 

 of affairs continue to curse Alaska and to be a disgrace to our whole 

 country. 



While at Juneau in May 1 wa^ informed of an attempt that was about 

 to be made to laud a cargo of liquor destined for the Yukon Valley 

 trade, and one of the most energetic inspectors in Alaska was on the 

 watch to capture it if possible. He did not succeed, however, for by 

 the time he secured a boat to transport him to the rendezvous of the 

 smugglers he found he was twenty-four hours late. Speaking of the affair 

 afterwards he said to me: "If I only had a boat that was always at 

 my disposal I think I could break up a great deal of this smuggling; 

 but, hampered as I am now, I am powerless, for no sooner do 1 hire a 

 boat to go anywhere than the signal ilies over the district. It will 

 require the presence of a revenue cutter and half a dozen steam launches 

 to kill oft* smuggling in Alaska." Every word of which I indorse 1 . 



The peculiar conditions surrounding the Alaskan liquor question 

 have not been taken into account by many men of extreme views who 

 have written or spoken on the subject; indeed, I question if they ever 

 understood it. The truth is that if there is a climate under the sun 

 where liquor is a necessity to man that climate is in Alaska, and con- 

 sequently white men demand and must have it at any cost and in spite 

 of all obstacles. 



This is the reason we find 99 per cent, of the white population bitterly 

 opposed to the present prohibitory law. This is why no officer can be 

 found to attempt to enforce the law or a jury to uphold it. And where 

 public sentiment and public opinion are so plainly against a law, no 

 matter how well intentioned or good in itself, it is wise to heed the sign 

 and amend or repeal it. During a conversation with the assistant dis- 

 trict attorney, Mr. Hoggert, on this subject he said: u During the past 

 four years $148,000 were spent in Alaska on cases of Indians and half- 

 breeds who had gotten drunk or had peddled whisky without any lasting 

 or definite results. Had we had a high license during that time we could 

 have saved that expense to the Government and collected revenue 

 enough to make the Territory self-supporting." 



DESTRUCTION OF GAME-FOWL EGGS. 



The stories told of the wanton destruction and the systematic steal- 

 ing of wild game-fowl eggs have no foundation in fact. 



I have traveled over thousands of miles of the coast line of Alaska, 

 making diligent inquiry into this matter, without finding one person 

 who knew anything about it. 1 have conversed with men who spent 

 twenty to thirty years in the interior of Alaska, mining, hunting, and 

 trading, men who had gone over every mile of habitable land in the 

 Territory, without ever hearing of such a thing until I asked them. I 

 have written to traders whose business takes them to the Upper Yukon 

 country, far into the British possessions, men who travel from the 

 source to the mouth of the great river; I have written to missionaries 

 whose labors call them into all the native settlements on the Yukon, 

 Kuskoquim, and other rivers, and the unvarying reply is, u We never 

 heard anything about such things." 



As a matter of fact, it is not yet known for certain where the wild 

 fowl lay their eggs. They certainly find some island, marsh, morass, 

 swamp, or tundra where man can not penetrate, or, at all events, where 



