244 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



existence goes, the American method of living on and in the climate 

 of the Pribylov Islands is highly conducive to strength and health. 

 Tea and coffee, seasoned with condensed milk and lump sugar ; hot 

 biscuits, cakes and waffles ; potatoes, served in every method of 

 cookery ; salt salmon, codfish, and corned beef ; mess pork, and, 

 once a week, a fresh roast of beef or steaks ; all the canned vege- 

 tables and fruits ; all the potted sauces, jams and jellies ; pies, pud- 

 dings and pastries ; and the exhaustive list of purely seafaring 

 dishes, such as pea and bean, barley and rice soups, curries and 

 maccaroni ; these constitute the staples and many of the luxuries with 

 which the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company prolong their 

 existence while living here in the discharge of their duties, and to 

 which they welcome their guests for discussion and glad digestion. 



A piano on St. Paul, in the company house ; an assorted library, 

 embracing over one thousand volumes, selected from standard au- 

 thors in fiction, science, and history, together with many other un- 

 expected adjuncts of high comfort for body and soul, will be found 

 on these islands, wholly unlooked for by those who first set foot 

 upon them. A small Russian printed library has also been given 

 by the company to the natives on each island for their special en- 

 tertainment. The rising generation of sealers, however, if they read 

 at all, will read our own typography. 



Before leaving the consideration of these people, who are so in- 

 timately associated with and blended into the business on these 

 islands, it may be well to clearly define the relation existing between 

 them, the Government, and the company leasing the islands. When 

 Congress granted to the Alaska Commercial Company of San Fran- 

 cisco the exclusive right of taking a certain number of fur-seals 

 every year, for a period of twenty years on these islands, it did so 

 with several reservations and conditions, which were confided in 

 their detail to the Secretary of the Treasury. This officer and the 

 president of the Alaska Commercial Company agreed upon a code 

 of regulations which should govern their joint action in regard to 

 the natives. It was a simple agreement that these people should 

 have a certain amount of dried salmon furnished them for food 

 every year, a certain amount of fuel, a school-house, and the right 

 to go to and come from the islands as they chose ; and also the 

 right to work or not, understanding that in case they did not work, 

 their places would and could be supplied by other people who would 

 work. 



