142 TESTIMONY 



Deposition of Anton Melovedoff, native AJaftlan, and employe of lessees on 

 ^t. FaiU Island. 



management — habits. 



St, Taul Island, Pkibilof Group, 



Alasli-a, U. S. A., ss: 



Anton Melovedoff, being dnly sworn, deposes and saj's: I am thirty- 

 eiglit (38) years of age and I was born on Kadiak Island, Alaska. I came 

 toSt. Paul Island in 1804, the first time, and in 180D the second time. I 

 have resided here since 1869 and I have been constantly employed among 

 the Alaskan fur-seals in all that time. I have had a 

 Experience. ^^^,^^^ ^^^^ Varied experience in all the details of the 



business as it has been carried on on St. Paul Island, and I have 

 d(me service in aU the departments from the work of a boy to that of 

 First Chief of the Island. I can read and write the English, Eussian, 

 and Aleut languages and I can interj)ret them into one another. I have 

 read a considerable amount of the controversies on the Seal Question 

 since the seals began to decrease so rapidly on the rookeries and I have 

 observed tin; rookeries and their daily conditi(m since I became First 

 Chief in 1881, which office I resigiu^d in 1891. 



In the Eussian times, before 18G8, the seals were always driven across 

 Drivinii while un- '^^*^ Islaud of St. Paul fi'om North East Point to the 

 (ler Kussian manage- village Salt liousc — adistaucc of 12|miles — but when 

 ""improved methods the Alaska Commercial Company leased the islands 

 under American niau- they stoppcd loug driving and built salt houses near 

 agement. ^^ ^l^p liauliug gTOuuds, SO that by 1879 no seals were 



driven more than 2 miles. 



Ko one ever said in those days that seals Avere made impotent by 

 driving, although long drives had been made for at least fifty years. 

 I have never known or heard tell of a time when there 

 Plenty o bu 8. ^^^ ^^^^ bulls euough and to spare on the breeding 

 rookeries. I never saw a cow of 3 years old or over in August with- 

 out a pup by her side. The only cows on a breeding rookery without 

 pups are the virgin cows Avho have come there for the first time. I 

 never went onto a rookery in the breeding season when I could not 

 have counted plenty of idle vigorous bulls who had no cows. 



I have heard it sai<l that the seals are slaughtered indiscriminately 

 on the seal islands, and that the natives take no care of the seals. The 

 contrary of this is true. Eules could hardly be made any more stringent 

 than the rules laid down by the Government and Company Officers 

 for the care and management of the seals, and no people could be more 

 careful in obeying them in letter and spirit than what ours are. 



The killing of females is a crime on St. Paul Island, and our Church 

 teaches that it is a sin to kill one, and our people know that the death 

 of a cow seal means one pup less tor meat in years to come. Never, since 

 I came here in 1809, have I known of a cow to be killed 

 acckient.'""*"^""'^'^'-'^ uulcss by accidcut, and I think there has not been 10 

 cows killed out of every 85,000 seals killed every year 

 from 1870 to 1889. 



When I first went on a drive I remember how the Chiefs talked to 

 me about being careful of how I went on the hauling grounds; how I 

 must not distirrb the breeding rookeries, and that I must walk as slow 

 as I could when driving, and stop and let the seals rest occasionally. 



I believe the same instructions M^ero given at all times by the Chiefs 



