FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 7 



ment undertakes to manage that business at the start under these con- 

 ditions, I do not see what revenue could be derived. 



Q. That is, if the Government changed its policy and took the skius 

 and prepared them and sent them to the London market, you think it 

 would be doubtful if the Government could get as much net as it does 

 now; is that what you mean? — A. That is what I mean ; the Govern- 

 ment would not get anything whatever, and would have to support the 

 natives at an expense to the Treasury. That would have been undoubt- 

 edly the result then. Now, to day, I do not know what these are ; it 

 might be a special agent of the Government might make $10 a skin, but 

 I do not know. 



Q. Do you know what skins are worth in London now 1 — A. I do not ; 

 General Jeffries will tell you; but I say, on the prices that were com- 

 manded for the skins about 1870, the Government operation would have 

 been a loss. 



Q. What is your observation as to the effect upon business and the 

 seal interests of Alaska generally by this lease to the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company ; that is, what efiect it has generally upon the commer- 

 cial and business interests of Alaska outside of the seal islands "? What 

 are its relations to the population of Alaska, not of the natives alone, 

 but of the business population and inhabitants of Alaska ?— A. On that 

 subject I have no information of my own knowledge, as I had no oppor- 

 tunity. I never visited any other place in Alaska but the two islands 

 and an island in Alaska where the steamer coming up stops. I made 

 some notes about the island of Oonalaska: " The only place in the ter- 

 ritory besides the islands of St. Paul and St. George which I had an op- 

 portunity to visit was at Oonalaska, the most important of the Aleutian 

 Islands, which is situated near the Oonimak Pass, which is the best en- 

 trance to Bering Sea, and possesses a good harbor. Oonalaska is vis 

 ited by vessels engaged in the fur trade more than any other, not ex- 

 cepting Sitka. The principal settlement on the island is lUnook Har- 

 bor, with 300 inhabitants. It is the religious metropolis of the Aleutian 

 tribe. From this point the light of Christianity spread all over the 

 Aleutian Archipelago. Hero lived the apostle of the Aleuts, Father 

 John Veniamiov, whose name and teachings are reverently transmitted 

 from father to sou in every Aleutian family. 



" Fishing and seaotter hunting are the principal occupations of the 

 inhabitants of Oonalaska. Fresh and dried fish are the staple articles 

 of food. The sea-otter skins, of which the Oonalaskans secure from 

 three to four hundred a year, are traded at the rate of from $15 to $35 

 for clothing, hardware, crockery, sugar, tea, and tobacco. The Aleutian 

 tribe, numbering about 3,000, receives nine-tenths of the trade of the 

 Territory, and is unquestionably far in advance of all other tribes with 

 respect to moral, religious, and social development." That was abso- 

 lutely true in 1870. 



Q. The Alaska Fur Company deals with other furs than seal furs, do 

 they not ? — A. At the time I was at Alaska there were two stores there 

 that traded with other furs, principally of sea-otter furs. 



Q Are any other companies engaged in the trade in Alaska, except 

 the Alaska company ? — A. I know at that time there were two ; there 

 was Taylor & Beudel, and there was another small store, the name of 

 which I forget. 



i Q. Were those on the Aleutian Islands !— A. On the island of Oona- 

 laska. 



Q. There was some fur trading on the Yukon and othe^ rivers. Do 

 you know anything about it? — A. Nothing except from hearsay. 



