THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 8B 



and callous to tliis stencli by long familiarity. Like the other old residents I then became quite unconscious of the 

 prevalence of this rich "funk ", aud ceased to notice it. 



Those who land here, as I did, for the first time, nervously and invariably declare that such an atmosphere must 

 breed a plague or a fever of some kind in the village, aud hardly credit the assurance of those who have resided 

 in it for the whole period of their lives, that such a thing was never known to St. Paul, aud that the island is 

 remarkably healthy. It is entirely true, however, and, after a lew weeks' contact, or a couple of mouths' experience, 

 at the longest, the most sensitive nose becomes used to that aroma, wafted as it is hourly, day in and out, from 

 decaying seal-flesh, viscera, and blubber; aud, also, it ceases to be an object of attention. The cool, sunless cUmate 

 dui'ing the warmer months has undoubtedly much to do with checking too rapid decomposition, and consequent 

 trouble therefrom, which would otherwise arise from the killing-grounds. 



The freshly-skinned carcasses of this season do not seem to rot substantially until the following year; theu 

 they rapidly slough away into the sand upon which they rest; the envelope of blubber left upon each body seems 

 to act as an air-tight receiver, holding most of the putrid gases that evolved from the decaying viscera until their 

 volatile tension causes it to give way ; fortunately the line of least resistance to that merciful retort is usually 

 right where it is adjacent to the soil, so both putrescent fluids and much of the stench within is deodorized and 

 absorbed before it can contaminate the atmosphere to any great extent. The truth of my observation will be 

 promptly verified, if the skeptic chooses to tear open any one of the thousands of gas-distended carcasses in the fall, 

 that were skinned in the killing-season ; if he does so, he will be smitten by the worst smell that human sense can 

 measure ; and should he chance to be accompanied by a native, that callous individual, even, will pinch his grimy 

 nose and exclaim, it is a "keeshla )>ahknoot"! 



At the close of the third season after the skinning of the seal's body, it will have so rotted and sloughed down, 

 as to be marked only by the bones and a few of the tendinous ligaments; in other words, it requires from thirty to 

 thirty six months' time for a seal carcass to rot entirely away, so nothing but whitened bones remain above ground. 

 The natives govern their driving of the seals and laying out of the fresh bodies according to this fact; for they can, 

 and do, spread this year a whole season's killing out o\er the same spot of the field previously covered with such 

 fresh carcasses three summer's ago; by alternating wilii the seasons thus, the natives are enabled to annually 

 slaughter all of the "holluschickie" on a relatively small area, close by the salt-houses, and the village, as I have 

 indicated on the map of St. Paul. 



Dkscription of killing-ground or St. Paul. — The killing-ground of St. Paul is a bottomless sand flat, 

 only a few feet abov^e high water, and which unites the village hill and the reef with the island itself;, it is not 

 a stone's throw from the heart of the settlement — in fact, it is right in town — not even suburban. 



Dkscription of the killing ground at St. George. — On St. George the "holluschickie" are regularly 

 driven to that northeast slope of the village hill which drops down gently to the sea, where they are slaughtered, 

 close by and under the houses, as at St. Paul ; those droves which are brought in from the North Eookery to the 

 west, and also Starry Ateel, are frequently driven right through the village itself. This slaughtering field of St. 

 George is hard tufa and rocky, but it slopes down to the ocean rapidly enough to drain itself well ; hence the 

 constant rain and humid fogs of summer carry off that which would soon clog aud deprive the natives from using 

 the ground year after year in rotation, as they do. Several seasons have occurred, however, when this natural 

 cleansing of the ground above-mentioned has not been as thorough as must be to be used again immediately; theu 

 the seals were skinned back of the village hill, and in the ravine to the west on the same slope from the summit. 



This village site of St. George to-day, and the killing-grounds adjoining, used to be, during early Russian 

 occupation, in Pribylov's time, a large sea.-lion rookery, the finest one known to either island, St. Paul or St. George. 

 jSTatives are living there who told me that their fathers had been employed in shooting and driving these sea- 

 lions so as to deliberately break up the breeding-ground, and thus rid the island of what tfiey considered a 

 superabundant su]iply of the Uumetopias, aud thereby to aid and encourage the fresh and increased accession of 

 fur-seals from the vast majority peculiar to St. Paul, which could not take place while the sea-lions held the land.* 



*The St. Paul village site is located wholly on the iiortherii slope of the village bill, where it drops from its greatest elev.ation, at the 

 flagstaff, of l-.>5 feet gently down to tlio sandy killing-flats below and between it and the iiiain body of the island. The bouses are all 

 placed facing the north, .at regul.ar intervals .along the terraced streets, which run S. E. and N. W. There .are 74 or 80 native bouses, 10 

 large and smaller buildings of the comj>any, the treasury agent's residence ; the church, the cemetery crosses, and the .school building are 

 all standing here in coats of pure white |)aint. The survey of the town site, when rebuilt, was made by Mr. H. W. Mclntyre, of the 

 Aliiska Commercial Company, who, himself, planned and devised the entire reconstruction. No offal or decaying refu.se of any kind is 

 allowed to stand around the dwellings or lie in the streets. It required niudi determined effort on the ptirt of the whites to effect this 

 sanit.ary reform, but now most of the natives take equal pride in keejiiiig their surroundings clean and unpolluted. 



The site of the St. George settlement is more exposed and bleak than is the one we have just referred to on St. Paul. It is 

 planted directly on the rouuded summit of one of the first low hills that rise from the sea on the north shore; indeed, it is the only hill 

 that does slope directly and gently to the salt water on the island. Here are Hi to ;iO native cottages, laid with their doors facing the 

 opposite sides of a short street between, running also east and west, as at St. Paul. There, however, each house looks down upon 

 the rear of its neighbor, in front aud below. Here the bouses face each other, on the top of the hill. The treasury agent's quarters, the 

 company's six or seven buildings, the school-house, and the church are all neatly jiainted, and this settlement, from its prominent 

 position, shows from the sea to a much better advantage than does the larger one of St. Paul. The same municipal sanitary regulations 

 are enforced here. Those who may visit the St. George and St. Paul of to-day will find the streets dry and bard as lioors. They have 

 been covered with a thick laver of volcanic cinders on both islands. 



