FUR SEALS AND OTHER LIFE, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, 1914. 1 45 



MORALS. 



The natives give the impression of an honest, docile body of people, devoid of the 

 small vices of the poorer parts of American towns, but addicted to a certain amount of 

 drunkenness and to sexual looseness. 



Though not supposed to have access to alcoholic drink, they brew for themselves, 

 from the sugar and other sweets supplied them, an alcoholic beverage known as quass, 

 which is the occasion of most of their drunkenness. From the reports of those whites 

 who have wintered on the islands, it appears that quass debauches are of not infrequent 

 occurrence. This practice could be suppressed only through the action of the natives 

 themselves, and even its partial control presents many difficulties. 



Sexual looseness is seen in the considerable number of illegitimate births and in the 

 prevalence of venereal diseases. So far as the natives are concerned, these conditions are 

 due not so much to viciousness as to purely animal habits. In some respects the natives 

 resemble children with the appetites of adults. They are reasonably honest; they are 

 not vicious, but they indulge their appetites almost without control. Changes in these 

 conditions can result only from racial improvement brought about through sanitary 

 surroundings and proper education. 



RELIGION. 



The natives are members of the Russian Church. On each island there is a church 

 building and priest answerable to the head of the American division of the Greek Church 

 in New York City. The services are usually conducted in Russian with some Aleut 

 interpretation. Each priest maintains with more or less regularity a Russian school 

 which is chiefly concerned with teaching the Russian Church service. The priests have 

 been extremely diverse; some have been self-seeking, deceitful, and cunning; others 

 have been simple, kindly, and benevolent. All seem to be strongly conservative and 

 oppose those steps in the social and educational organization of the islands that from 

 the American standpoint mean progress. It is difficult to see how many needed improve- 

 ments can be carried out on the islands without the cooperation of the church. If 

 intelligent priests could be obtained and thoroughly sympathetic relations established 

 with them, a most effective avenue for advance would probably be opened up. 



EDUCATION. 



The education of the natives, as the reports of the several school-teachers on the 

 islands have shown, is not a simple task. School is in session for eight months each year, 

 and the pupils in attendance range from 6 to 1 6 years of age. In the past year on St. 

 Paul there were 26 boys and 16 girls enrolled, and on St. George 12 boys and 13 girls. 

 The schoolhouses are single-room frame bmldings, poorly and inadequately furnished, 

 and in wretched condition, particularly on St. George. While the school on St. George 

 can be managed by one teacher, that on St. Paul requires two, one of whom should be a. 

 woman. Some improvement has been accomplished during the present year on St. Paul 

 by the utilization of a smaller building for the younger scholars, thus relieving somewhat 

 the congestion. New school buildings with better equipment, or extensive repairs and 

 enlargement of the old buildings, are urgently needed on both islands. Although the time 

 devoted to school is nominally eight months, this period is considerably reduced by the 

 large number of holidays. The total number of school days in the school year is about 



