WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 233 



twenty or twenty-four such bouses to as many families at St. George, 

 and eight other structures. The large ware-houses and salt-sheds 

 of the Alaska Commercial Company, built by skilful mechanics, as 

 have been the dwellings just referred to, are also neatly painted ; 

 and, taken in combination with the other features, constitute a pict- 

 ure fully equal to the average presentation of any one of our small 

 eastern towns. There is no misery, no downcast, dejected, suffer- 

 ing humanity here to-day. These Aleutes, who enjoy as a price of 

 their good behavior, the sole right to take and skin seals for the 

 company, to the exclusion of all other people, are known to and by 

 their less fortunate neighbors elsewhere in Alaska as the "Bogat- 

 skie Aloutov," or the " rich Aleutes." The example of the agents of 

 the Alaska Commercial Company, on both islands, from the begin- 

 ning of its lease, and the course of the Treasury agents during the 

 last eight or nine years, have been silent but powerful promoters of 

 the welfare of these people. They have maintained perfect order ; 

 they have directed neatness, and cleanliness, and stimulated indus- 

 try, such as those natives had never before dreamed of.* The chief 

 source of sickness used to arise from the wretched character of the 

 barrabkies in which they lived ; but it was, at first, a very difficult 

 matter to get frame-houses to supplant successfully the sod- walled 

 and dirt-roofed huts of the islands. 



Many experiments, however, were made, and a dozen houses 

 built, ere the result was as good as the style of primitive housing, 

 when it had been well done and kept in best possible repair. In 

 such a damp climate, naturally, a strong moldy smell pervades all 

 inclosed rooms which are not thoroughly heated and daily dried by 



* Surprise has often been genuine among those who inquire, over the fact 

 that there is no law officer here at either village, and wonder is expressed why 

 such provision is not made by the Government. But when the following facts 

 relative to this subject are understood, it is at once clear that a justice of the 

 peace and his constabulary would be entirely useless if established on the 

 seal-islands. As these natives live here, they live as a single family in each 

 settlement, having one common purpose in life and only one ; what one na- 

 tive does, eats, wears, or says, is known at once to all the others, just as what- 

 soever any member of our household may do will soon be known to us all who 

 belong to its organization ; hence if they steal or quarrel among themselves, 

 they keep the matter wholly to themselves, and settle it to their own satisfac- 

 tion. Were there rival villages on the islands and diverse people and employ- 

 ment, then the case would be reversed, and the need of legal machinery ap- 

 parent. 



