THE FUK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 383 



Outside of the seal-islands all trade iu this Territory of Alaska is entirely open to the public. 

 There is no need of protecting the fur-bearing animals elsewhere, unless it may be by a few whole- 

 some general restrictions in regard to the sea-otter chase. The country itself protects the animals 

 on the mainland and other islands by its rugged, forbidding, and inhospitable exterior. 



The Treasury officials on the seal-islands are charged with the careful observance of every act 

 of the company ; a copy of the lease and its covenant is conspicuously posted iu their office ; is 

 translated into Kuissian, and is familiar to all the natives. The company directs its own labor, 

 in accordance with the law, as it sees fit ; selects its time of working, &c. The natives themselves 

 work under the direction of their own chosen foremen^or^ " toyone." These chiefs call out the 

 men at the break of every working-day, divide them into detachments according to the nature of 

 the service, and order their doing. All communications with the laborers on the sealing-ground 

 and the company passes through their hands ; these chiefs having every day an understanding 

 with the agent of the company as to his wishes, and they govern themselves thereby. 



METHODS OF BUSINESS. The company pays 40 cents for each skin that is taken. The natives 

 take the skins on the ground ; each man tallying his work and giving the result at the close of 

 the day to his chief or foreman. When the skins are brought up and counted into the salt-houses, 

 where the agent of the company receives them from the hands of the natives, the two tallies 

 usually correspond very closely, if they are not entirely alike. When the quota of skins is taken, 

 at the close of two or three or four weeks of labor, as the case may be, the total sum for the entire 

 catch is paid over in a lump to the chiefs, and these men divide it among the laborers according to 

 their standing as workmen, which they themselves have exhibited on their special tally-sticks. For 

 instance, at the annual divisions, or u catch" settlement, made by the natives on Saint Paul Island 

 among themselves, in 1872, when I was present, the proceeds of their work for that season in 

 taking and skinning 75,000 seals, at 40 cents per skin, with extra work connected with it, making the 

 sum of $30,037.37, was divided among them in this way : There were seventy-four shares made up, 

 representing seventy -four men, though in fact only fifty-six men worked, but they wished to give 

 a certain proportion to their church, a certain proportion to their priest, and a certain proportion to 

 their widows ; so they water their stock, commercially speaking. The seventy -four shares were 

 proportioned as follows : 



37 first-class shares, at $451 22 each. 



23 second-class shares, at 406 08 each. 



4 third-class shares, at 360 97 each. 



10 fourth-class shares, at 315 85 each. 



These shares do not represent more than fifty-six able-bodied men. 



In August, 1873, while on Saint George Island, I was present at a similar division, under 

 similar circumstances, which caused them to divide among themselves the proceeds of their work in 

 taking and skinning 25,000 seals, at 40 cents a skin, $10,000. They made the following subdivision : 



Per share. 



17 shares each, 961 skins $384 40 



2 shares each, 935 skius 374 00 



3 shares each, 821 skius 328 40 



1 share each, 8aO skins 328 00 



3 shares each, 770 skius 308 00 



3 shares each, 400 skius 160 00 



These twenty-nine shares referred to as above, represent only twenty-five able-bodied men ; two 

 of them were women. This method of division as above given is the result of their own choice. 

 It is an impossible thing for the company to decide their relative merits as workmen on the ground, 

 so they have wisely turned its entire discussion over to them. Whatever they do they must agree 



