THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 83 



and callous to this stench by long familiarity. Like the other old residents I then became quite unconscious of the 

 prevalence of this rich "funk n , and ceased to notice it. 



Those who land here, as I did, for the first time, nervously and invariably declare that such an atmosphere must 

 breed a plague or a fever of some kind in the village, and hardly credit the assurance of those who have resided 

 in it for the whole period of their lives, that such a thing was never known to St. Paul, and that the island is 

 remarkably healthy. It is entirely true, however, and, after a few weeks' contact, or a couple of months' experience, 

 at the longest, the most sensitive nose becomes used to that aroma, wafted as it is hourly, day in and out, from 

 decaying seal-flesh, viscera, and blubber; and, also, it ceases to be an object of attention. The cool, sunless climate 

 during the wanner months has undoubtedly much to do with checking too rapid decomposition, and consequeut 

 trouble therefrom, which would otherwise arise from the killing-grounds. 



The freshly-skinned carcasses of this season do not seem to rot substantially until the following year ; then 

 they rapidly slough away into the sand upon which they rest ; the envelope of blubber left upon each body seems 

 to act as an air-tight receiver, holding most of the putrid gases that evolved from the decaying viscera until their 

 volatile tension causes it to give way ; fortunately the line of least resistance to that merciful retort is usually 

 right where it is adjacent to the soil, so both putrescent fluids and much of the stench within is deodorized and 

 absorbed before it can contaminate the atmosphere to auy great extent. The truth of my observation will be 

 promptly verified, if the skeptic chooses to tear open any one of the thousands of gas-distended carcasses in the fall, 

 that were skinned in the killing-season ; if he does so, he will be smitten by the worst smell that human sense can 

 measure ; and should he chance to be accompanied by a native, that callous individual, even, will pinch his grimy 

 nose and exclaim, it is a "keeshla pahknoot"! 



At the close of the third season after the skinning of the seal's body, it will have so rotted and sloughed down, 

 as to be marked only by the bones and a few of the tendinous ligaments; in other words, it requires from thirty to 

 thirty six months' time for a seal carcass to rot entirely away, so nothing but whitened bones remain above ground. 

 The natives govern their driving of the seals and laying out of the fresh bodies according to this fact; for they can, 

 and do, spread this year a whole season's killing out over the same spot of the field previously covered with such 

 fresh carcasses three summer's ago; by alternating wit h the seasons thus, the natives are enabled to annually 

 slaughter all of the " holluschickie " on a relatively small area, close by the salt-houses, and the village, as I have 

 indicated on the map of St. Paul. 



DESCRIPTION OF KILLING-GROUND OF ST. PAUL. The killing-ground of St. Paul is a bottomless sand flat, 

 only a few feet above high water, and which unites the village hill and the reef with the island itself; it is not 

 a stone's throw from the heart of the settlement in fact, it is right in town not even suburban. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE KILLING GROUND AT ST. GEORGE. On St. George the " holluschickie " are regularly 

 driven to that northeast slope of the village hill which drops down gently to the sea, where they are slaughtered, 

 close by and under the liouses, as at St. Paul ; those droves which are brought in from the North Eookery to the 

 west, and also Starry Ateel, are frequently driven right through the village itself. This slaughtering field of St. 

 George is hard tufa and rocky, but it slopes down to the ocean rapidly enough to drain itself well ; hence the 

 constant rain and humid fogs of summer carry off that which would soon clog and deprive the natives from using 

 the ground year after year in rotation, as they do. Several seasons have occurred, however, when this natural 

 cleansing of the ground above-mentioned has not been as thorough as must be to be used again immediately; then 

 the seals were skinned back of the village hill, and in the ravine to the west on the same slope from the summit. 



This village site of St. George to-day, and the killing-grounds adjoining, used to be, during early Russian 

 occupation, in Pribylov's time, a large sea-lion rookery, the finest one known to either island, St. Paul or St. George. 

 Natives are living there who told me that their fathers had been employed in shooting and driving these sea- 

 lions so as to deliberately break up the breeding-ground, and thus rid the island of what they considered a 

 superabundant supply of the Eumetopia*, and thereby to aid and encourage the fresh and increased accession of 

 fur-seals from the vast majority peculiar to St. Paul, which could not take place while the sea-lions held the laud.* 



* The St. Paul village site is located wholly on the northern slope of the village hill, where it drops from its greatest elevation, at the 

 flagstaff, of 125 feet gently down to the sandy killing-flats below and between it and the main body of the island. The houses are all 

 placed facing the north, at regular intervals along the terraced streets, which run S. E. and N. W. There are 74 or 80 native houses, 10 

 large and smaller buildings of the company, the treasury agent's residence ; the church, the cemetery crosses, and the school building are 

 all standing here in coats of pure white paint. The survey of the town site, when rebuilt, was made by Mr. H. W. Mclntyre, of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company, who, himself, planned and devised the entire reconstruction. No offal or decaying refuse of any kind is 

 allowed to stand around the dwellings or lie in the streets. It required much determined effort on the part of the whites to effect this 

 sanitary reform, but now most of the natives take equal pride in keeping their surroundings clean and unpolluted. 



The site of the St. George settlement is more exposed and bleak than is the one we have just referred to on St. Paul. It is 

 planted directly on the rounded summit of one of the first low hills that rise from the sea on the north shore; indeed, it is the only hill 

 that does slope directly and gently to the salt water on the island. Here are 24 to 30 native cottages, laid with their doors facing the 

 opposite sides of a short street between, running also east and west, as at St. Paul. There, however, each house looks down upon 

 the rear of its neighbor, in front and below. Here the houses lace each other, on the top of the hill. The treasury agent's quarters, the 

 company's six or seven buildings, the school- house, and the church are all neatly painted, and this settlement, from its prominent 

 position, shows from the sea to a much better advantage than does the larger one of St. "Paul. The same municipal sanitary regulations 

 are enforced here. Those who may visit the St. George and St. Paul of to-day will find the streets dry and hard as floors. They have 

 been covered with a thick laver of volcanic cinders on both islands. 



