142 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



of such an arrangement will, of course, need to be worked out. A careful study of the 

 conditions on the islands convinces one that the work necessary to put the plant on an 

 efficient working basis will keep the natives employed for several years during the sea- 

 sons when outdoor work is possible. 



FOOD REQUIREMENTS. 



The diminution of the seal herd and the consequent restriction of the killing of seals 

 to the number considered necessary for native food has sometimes led both on St. Paul 

 and St. George to so limited a kill as to be hardly sufficient for the maintainance of the 

 community. As a result the use of large quantities of imported foodstuffs has been 

 necessary. Thus, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, the natives on both 

 islands consumed over 3,000 pounds of canned salmon, about 1,400 pounds salted 

 salmon, 7,500 pounds canned meats, about 6,500 pounds salt beef, and over 1,000 

 pounds of salt pork. While it would be inadvisable to stop entirely the importation 

 of these articles of food, since the natives have acquired a taste for them and would be 

 dissatisfied if they were withheld, it is plain that the quantity of these costly foods con- 

 sumed would be greatly reduced if an abundance of seal meat, fresh or properly pre- 

 served and which costs nothing, was furnished them. 



To ascertain the amount of seal meat really necessary for the natives, a conference 

 was held on St. Paul with the agent in charge, Mr. Hatton, and with the native chief, 

 John Stepetin. It appeared that a family of eight persons would consume in one month 

 14 fresh seal carcasses or 7 salted ones; hence fresh meat would be eaten at the rate of 

 1 1^ carcasses per capita per month and salt meat at half that rate or seven-eighths of a 

 carcass per capita per month. 



As fresh seal meat is available for eight months in the year and salt meat must be 

 relied upon for the remaining four months, it follows that the total amount of seal meat 

 needed for one native for a year is 17.5 carcasses. This amounts to not more than one 

 pound of meat free of bone per day for each person. A seal carcass as roughly dressed 

 by the natives and including bone weighs about 35 pounds. St. Paul, with a population 

 of 192 natives, is therefore entitled to 3,360 seal carcasses per year for native food, and 

 St. George, with about half that number of natives, to about half that amount of meat. 

 Scaling these figures to conservative round numbers, it seems not unfair to set the allow- 

 ance for native food on St. Paul at 3,000 seals and on St. George at 1,500 seals, making 

 a total of 4,500 seals for the native food on the two islands combined. The economical 

 utilization of this meat would be greatly facilitated by the establishment of a cold-storage 

 plant on each island. The natives also consume freely soda biscuits, sweet crackers, 

 preserved fruit, jelUes, and condensed milk. Sugar, candies, and sweetened foods of all 

 descriptions have been used in considerable quantities in the home manufacture cf an 

 intoxicating drink called quass. Various means of stopping this custom have been 

 attempted, but without complete success, although there is undoubtedly much less 



intemperance than formerly. 



HOUSING. 



The natives live in small wooden houses. With few exceptions these houses were 

 built in the first few years of the incumbency of the Alaska Commercial Co. and are, 

 therefore, about 40 years old. At that time the natives were living in their primitive 

 barrabkies, a combination of sod house and burrow, compared with which these neat 



