160 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



White men in charge. 



1. Dr. Mclntyre. 



2. H. W. Mclntyre. 



3. Dr. Cramer. 



4. John M. Morton. 



5. Chas. Bryaut. 



6. D. Webster. 



7. , a cooper. 



8. , a carpenter. 



226. Akoolena, his mother. 



227. Kerick Tarakanov. 



228. Domian M. Kok (John Frater). 



229. Oolyahiiali, his wife. 



230. Anna, bis daughter. 



231. Salomayab, Artamanov's daugbter. 



What constitutes a native of St. Paul. — There has been some petty divergence of opinion on the 

 island as to who are the real " natives " thereof, because these natives enjoy certain privileges that are very valuable 

 to them and coveted by all outside Alaskan brethren. 



In this connection the people living here are divided into three classes; that is, the males : 



First. The natives, properly speaking, or those who have been born and raised upon the Pribylov islands; not 

 over one-quarter of the present adult population can lay claim to this title. 



Second. The people who were living thereon, but not born natives at the time of the transfer of all Alaska, 

 July, 1867; this class constitutes a majority of the citizens of the two islands as they exist to-day. 



Third. The peo])le who were living and working as sealeis on the Pribylov islands at the date of the granting 

 by the government of the present lease to the Alaska Commercial Company, August 31, 1870. 



Of the above three divisions, strict justice and true equity unite in recognizing the third class as the natives of 

 the Pribylov islands. This settles the question also to the best satisfaction of these peojile themselves, and removes 

 every quibble of dispute in the premises. Accurate records of the men, women, and children living on each island 

 at the date of the lease in 1871 can be found in the church registers on both St. Paul and St. George. 



Curious derivation op natives' names. — Any one at all acquainted with the Russian language will not 

 fail to notice that the names in the above list have some odd derivations, relating to physical peculiarities, defects, 

 and other originations that are more or less comical in their suggestions. I was told by a very bright Russian, who 

 spent a season here, 1871-72, as special agent of the Treasury Department, that the Aleutian ancestors of these 

 people when they were converted and baptized into the Greek Catholic church received their names, bran new, 

 from the fertile brains of the priests, Avho, after exhausting the common run of Muscovitic titles, such as our 

 Smiths and Joneses, were compelled to fall back upon some personal characteristics of the new claimant for civilized 

 nomenclature. Thus we have to-day ou the seal-islands a "Stepan Bayloglazov", or "Son of aWhite Eye", "Oseep 

 Baizyahzeekov", or "Sou of a Man without a Tongue". A number of the old Russian governors and admirals 

 of the imperial navy are represented here by tlieir family names, though I do not think, from my full acquaintance 

 with the namesakes, that the distinguished owners in the first place had anything to do with their physical 

 embodiment on the Pribylov islands. 



Causes of death among the people. — The principal cause of death among the people, by natural infirmity, 

 on the seal-islands, is the varying forms of consumption and bronchitis, always greatly aggravated by that inherited 

 scrofulous taint or stain of blood which was, in one way or another, flowing through the veins of their recent 

 ])rogenitors, both here and throughout the Aleutian islands. There is nothing worth noticing in the line of nervous 

 diseases, unless it be now and then the record of a case of alcoholism sui)erinduced by excessive quass drinking. 

 This " makoolah" intemperance among these people, which was not su])pressed until 1876, was a chief factor to the 

 immediate death of infants ; for, when they were at the breast, the mothers would drink quass to intoxication, and 

 the stomachs of the newly-born Aleuts or Creoles could not stand the infliction which they received, even second- 

 hand. Had it not been for this wretched spectacle, so often presented to my eyes in 1872-'73, 1 should hai-dly have 

 taken the active steps which I did to put the nuisance down ; for it involved me, at first, in a bitter personal 

 controversy, which, although I knew at the outset it was inevitable, still weighed nothing in the scales against the 

 evil itself.* 



A few febrile disorders are occurring, yet they yield readily to good treatment. The chief source of sickness 

 used to arise from the wretched character of the barrabkies in which they lived; but it was, at first, a very difficult 

 matter to get frame houses to supplant successfully the sod-walled and dirt roofed huts of the islands. 



Difficulty of getting suitable houses. — Many experiments, however, were made, and a dozen houses 

 built, ere the result was as good as the style of primitive housing, when it had been well done and kept in best 



*Tliis evil of babitnal and gross intoxication, under Russian rule, was not characteristic of these islands alone, it was universal 

 throughout Alaska. Sir George Simpson, speaking of the subject, when in SitUa, April, 1842, says: "Some reformation certainly was 

 wauted in this respect; for of all the dvuukc^u, as well as of all the dirty places that I had visited, New Archangel [Sitk.a] was tlie worst. 

 Ou the holidays in particular, of which, .Sundays iucludcd, there are one huudred iiud sixty-tive in the year, men, women, and even 

 children were to bo seen staggering about in all directions." [Simpson: Joiirne;/ Around the World ; lS41-'42, p. 8d.] 



Surprise has often been genuine among those who inquire, over the fact that there is no l.aw officer here at either village, and 

 wonder is expressed why such provision is not made by the government. But, when the following facts relative to this subject are 

 understood, it is at once clear th.at a'justice of the peace and his constabulary, would be entirely useless, if established on the seal- 

 islands. As these n.ativcs live hero, they live as a single family in each settlement, having one common purpose in life aud ouly one; wh.it 

 one native does, cats, wears, or says, is known at once to all the others, just as wh.atsoever any mcuiber of our househild may do will soou 

 be kuown to us all who belong t» its organization ; hence if they steal or quarrel among themselves, they keep the m.atter wholly to 

 themselves, aud settle it to their own satisfaction. Were there rival villages on the islauds aud diverse people and employment, then tho 

 case would be reversed, aud need of legal machinery apparent. 



