SECTION VI. 



CONDUCT OF NATIVE LABOR AND PAY IN 1872-1874 AND 1890 ON THE 



PRIBILOV ISLANDS. 



Living as tlie seal islanders do, and doing wliat tliej^ do, the seal's 

 life is naturally their great study and objective ])oint. It nourishes and 

 sustains them. Without it they say they could not live, and they tell 

 the truth. Hence their attention to the few simple requirements of the 

 law, so wise in its provisions, is not forced or constrained, but is con- 

 tinuous. Self-interest in tliis respect appeals to them keenly and elo- 

 quently. They know everything that is done, and everything that is 

 said by anybody and by everybody in their little community. Every 

 seal drive that is made, aud every skin that is taken, is recorded and 

 accounted for by them, by their chiefs and their church, when they 

 make up their tithing roll at the close of each season's labor. Nothing 

 can come to the islands, by day or by night, without being seen by them 

 and spoken of. I regard the presence of these ])eople on the islands at 

 the transfer, and their subsequent retention and entailment in connec- 

 tion with the seal business, as an exceedingly good piece of fortune, 

 alike advantageous to the Government, to the company, and to them- 

 selves. 



When we go back to the beginning of the sealing industry on these 

 islands, the time of l^ribilov and his rivals in 178G, to 1799 and 1801, 

 and attemi)t to find any record of the conduct of the labor or compen- 

 sation paid to laborers here, we discover nothing that throws the least 

 light upon the subject. When the old liussian-American Company 

 was put into supreme control of all Alaska in 1799, and Baranov had 

 time in 1803 to visit these islands and close them to everybody save his 

 own agents, we may safely assume to know pretty well what was done 

 in this res])ect. We know it because we have the following statement 

 from the best authority : 



The Alents Herviiia; the com]>any sustain the followiug relations between them- 

 selves and it, to wit: Each of them workeil without solicitation, were ordered to do 

 ■vyhatever was found and to which they wore directed, or at that which they under- 

 stood best. Payment for their toil was not established by the day or by the year, 

 but in general for each thing taken by them, or standing or put to their credit by 

 the company; i'or instance, esijecially the skins of animals, the teeth of walrus, 

 barrels of oil, etc. These sums, whatever they might be, were placed by the com- 

 pany to their credit, for all general working and hunting was established or fixed 

 for the whole year fairly. These Aleuts in general, receive no specihc wages aud 

 they are not all alike or equal, there being usually three or four classes. 



In these classes, to the last or least, the sick and old workmen are counted in, 

 although they are only burdens aud, therefore, they receive the smaller shares, about 

 150 rubles (i. e., $40) a year, and the other and better classes receive from 220 to 250 

 rubles per year ($55 to $60). Those who sire zealous arc rewarded by the comi)any 

 with 50 to 100 rubles ($10 to $25). The wives of the Aleuts who worked at the seal 

 hunting received from 25 to 35 rubles ($6 to $9) per annum. ( Veniaminov : Zapieska, 

 etc., St. Petersburg, 1840.) 



This definition of the subject by Bishop Veniaminov shows us the pre- 

 cise relation and nature of pay that we are looking for. It covers the 

 whole of that extended period from 1801 to 1808, sixty-seven years. 

 124 



