FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 119 



UcMnoidw, and during the whole spring and summer seasons they may 

 be seen at botli islands, wading in the pools at low water, with their 

 scanty skirts high up, eagerly laying possessive hands upon every 

 ''bristling" egg that shows itselti They vary this search by ])okiug 

 with a short-handled hook into holes and rocky crevices for a small cot 

 toid tish, which is also found here at low water, iu this manner. Speci 

 mens of this ''kalog,'' which 1 brought down, declared themselves as 

 ie])resentatives of a new departure from all other recognized forms in 

 which the sculpin is known to sport; hence the name, generic and spe- 

 cific, Melletes papUio. 



By the 28th of May to the middle of June a fine table crab,' large, fat, 

 and sweet, with a light, brittle shell, is taken while it is skurrying in 

 and out of the lagoon as the tide ebbs and flows. It is the best flavored 

 crustacean known to Alaskan waters. The natives affirm the existence 

 of mussels here in abundance when the Pribilov group was first discov- 

 ered, but now, only a small supply of inferior size and quality is to be 

 found. 



The- native cooking is all done now in their houses on small cast-iron 

 stoves of American pattern and make. In olden times the unavoidable 

 use of fur-seal blubber in culinary operations caused the erection out- 

 side of most "barrabaras," of a small sod walled and low dirt-roofed 

 kitchen, iu which the strong smelling blubber fires were keiit. Indif- 

 ferent as the native* became to smells and smoke in the filthy life of 

 early days upon these islands, yet the acrid, stifling, asthmatic effect of 

 the blubber clouds never failed to punish them wlienever they attempted 

 to make use of such a fire in their living rooms. Most of these "cookh- 

 nefs," or "povarniks," were in full blast when I first landed at St. Paul: 

 and, coming freipiently into range of their smoky efiiuviuin 1 was infi- 

 nitely annoyed. Now, however, the complete substitution of new frame 

 houses for the "barrabkies" has, I believe, caused a perfect abatement 

 of the nuisance: it did last summer to my glad knowledge. 



On account of the severe climatic conditions it is, of course, imprac- 

 ticable to have any sort of a vegetable garden, or to keep stock here with 

 any i)rofit or pleasure. The experiment has been tried faithfully. It is 

 found best to bring beef cattle up in the spring on the steamer : turn them 

 out to pasture until the close of the season in October and November, 

 and then, if the snow comes, to kill them and keep the meat refrigerated 

 the rest of the year. Stock can not be profitably raised here; the pro- 

 l)ortion of severe weather annually is too great. Fi'om six to perhaps 

 eight months of every year they require feeding and watering, with good 

 shelter. To furnish an animal with hay and grain up there is a costly 

 matter, and the dampness of the growing summer season on both islands 

 renders haymaking impracticable. The natives keep a few chickens. 

 Some years they do very well, then an epidemic will break out, and for 

 several seasons thereafter poultry raising is a complete failure on the 

 islands; in short, chickens are kei)t with much difficulty; in fact, it is 

 only possible to save their lives when the natives take them into their 

 own rooms, or keep them above their heads in the little attics to their 

 own dwellings during severe winters. 



But for some reason or other these people have a strange passion for 

 seal-fed pork, and iu 1872-1874 there were quite a large number of hogs 

 on the island of St. Paul and a few on St. George, The ])igs soon 

 become entirely carnivorous, living, to the practical exclusion of all 

 other diet, on the carcasses of seals. It appears, however, that these 

 hogs became so numerous by 1879-80 that the agents of the Govern- 

 ment and comi:>any in 1881-1884 made up an indictment against the 



■ Telemessus chetragonus. 



