38 ALASKA. 



reservatious or agencies iu this country, with an idle and mis- 

 chievous retinue of superinteiideuts, chaplains, and school- 

 teachers, seems to me entirely uncalled lor. The people here 

 are keen hunters and quick-witted traders, and need no help 

 or care beyond that I have indicated. Such of them as are 

 christianized have long ago embraced the Greek Catholic faith, 

 and adhere to it with devotion. The rest, or Indians, as they 

 are called, are just as far from being in a Christian state of 

 n)ind as they were when first approached by the Russian priests, 

 over a hundred years ago. 



With regard to the education of the children of the better 

 class of the natives, that is, the Christian Aleuts, there appears 

 to be one invincible obstacle. The children, speaking a strange 

 tongue, will not attend school, and their parents, as a body, 

 will either i:)revent or discourage them by positive command, 

 or by utter indifference. If they are to be educated, their church 

 alone can do it. It now controls them perfectly in this matter 

 of education. 



That the children will not attend school has been most 

 thoroughly tested already, not only by the Russians, but by 

 ourselves during the past four years on the Seal Islands. In 

 1835 a school was opened at Ouualashka, and presided over by 

 one of the most indomitable and excellent of men, Veniaminov, 

 who tells us that in this settlement of over 275 souls then, only 

 " twelve boys could be brought together." When more than 

 this is wanted by Alaska in the way of legislation by Govern- 

 ment, it will suggest itself in due time, and iu reason. 



