WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 253 



natives would know it as quickly as it was done, and they would, 

 on the strength of their record and their tally, demand the full 

 amount of their compensation for the extra labor ; and were any 

 ship to approach the islands, at any hour, these people would know 

 it at once, and would be aware of any shipment of skins that might 

 be attempted. It would then be the common talk among the three 

 hundred and ninety-eight inhabitants of the two islands, and it 

 would be a matter of record, open to any person who might come 

 upon the ground charged with investigation. 



Furthermore, these natives are constantly going to and from 

 Oonalashka, visiting their relations in the Aleutian settlements, 

 hunting for wives, etc. On the mainland they have intimate inter- 

 course with bitter enemies of the company, with whom they would 

 not hesitate to talk over the whole state of affairs on the islands, as 

 they always do ; for they know nothing else and think of nothing 

 else and dream of nothing else. Therefore, should anything be 

 done contrary to the law, the act could and would be reported by 

 these people. The Government, on its part, through its four agents 

 stationed on these islands, counts these skins into the ship, and one 

 of their number goes down to San Francisco upon her. There the 

 collector of the port details experts of his own, who again count 

 them all out of the hold, and upon that record the tax is paid and 

 the certificate signed by the Government. 



It will therefore at once be seen, by examining the state of af- 

 fairs on the islands, and the conditions upon which the lease is 

 granted, that the most scrupulous care in fulfilling the terms of the 

 contract is compassed, and that this strict fulfilment is the most 

 profitable course for the lessees to pursue ; and that it would be 

 downright folly in them to deviate from the letter of the law, and thus 

 lay themselves open at any day to discovery, the loss of their con- 

 tract, and forfeiture of their bonds. Their action can be investigated 

 at any time, any moment, by Congress ; of which they are fully aware. 

 They cannot bribe these three hundred and ninety-eight people on 

 the islands to secrecy, any more successfully than they could conceal 

 their action from them on the sealing fields ; and any man of average 

 ability could go, and can go, among these natives and inform him- 

 self as to the most minute details of the catch, from the time the 

 lease was granted up to the present hour, should he have reason to 

 suspect the honesty of the Treasury agents. The road to and from the 

 islands is not a difficult one, though it is travelled only once a year. 



