AVONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 243 



astounding. Their "samovars," and latterly the regular tea-kettles 

 of our American make, are bubbling and boiling from the moment 

 the housewife bestirs herself at daybreak until the fire goes out when 

 she sleeps. It should be stated in this connection that they are 

 supplied with a regular allowance of coal every year by the com- 

 pany, gratis, each family being entitled to a certain amount, which 

 alone, if economically used, keeps them warm all winter in their 

 new houses ; but for those who are extravagant, and are itching to 

 spend their extra wages, an extra supply is always kept in the store- 

 houses of the company for sale. Their appreciation of and desire 

 to possess all the canned fruit that is landed from the steamer is 

 marked to a great degree. If they had the opportunity, I doubt 

 whether a single family on that island to-day would hesitate to 

 bankrupt itself in purchasing this commodity. Potatoes they some- 

 times demand, as well as onions, and perhaps if these vegetables 

 could be brought here and kept to an advantage the people would 

 soon become very fond of them. Most of these articles of food 

 mentioned heretofore are purchased by the natives in the com- 

 pany's store at either island. This food and the wearing apparel, 

 crockery, etc., which the company bring up here for the use of the 

 people, is sold to them at the exact cost price of the same, plus the 

 expenses of transportation, and many times within my knowledge 

 they have bought goods here at these stores at less rates than they 

 would have been subjected to in San Francisco. The object of the 

 company is not, under any circumstances, to make a single cent of 

 profit out of the sale of these goods to the natives. They aim only 

 to clear the cost and no more. Instructions to this effect are given 

 to its agents, while those of the Government are called upon to take 

 notice of the fact. 



The store at St. Paul, as well as that at St. George, has its regu- 

 lar annual " opening " after the arrival of the steamer in the spring, 

 to which the natives seem to pay absorbed attention. They crowd 

 the buildings day and night, eagerly looking for all the novelties in 

 food and apparel. These slouchy men and shawl-hooded women, 

 who pack the area before the counters, appear to feel as deep an 

 interest in the process of shopping as the most enthusiastic vota- 

 ries of that business do in our own streets. It certainly seems to 

 give them the greatest satisfaction of their lives on the Pribylov 

 Islands. 



With regard to ourselves up here in so far as a purely physical 



