18 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



crackers every Saturday and every Wednesday, when they get all the 

 crackers they want. 



Q. What were your observations of the prices charged them for such 

 commodities or articles as they bought from the store at the time? — A. 

 I was iu the store a great deal because I had a curiosity to watch the 

 natives trade. It is as good as a show to see them trade, as they have 

 so many j^eculiarities about them. The prices charged for everything 

 I saw were as reasonable as I could buy for in San Francisco at retail. 



Q. Do you know anything about the regulation of the company in re- 

 gard to cbargiug 25 per cent, above the wholesale price at San Fran- 

 cisco, referred to by the preceding witness ? — A. They charge 25 per 

 cent, above the wholesale price in San Franscisco. I examined their 

 bills, and so far as I saw there was no evidence of any variation from 

 that rule. There are some things 1 did not notice, but these were un- 

 necessary articles, jewelry and such things, which I never looked into 

 The natives are very fond of jewelry and very fond of dress. 



Q. Were any intoxicating liquors sold there at the time you were 

 there, or furnished to them in anyway? — A. No, sir; never. Under 

 my instructions and directions, they did furnish in a tew instances in- 

 toxicating liquors to natives when they were sick, on the order of a 

 doctor. 



Q. In the way of a prescription ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Was there any physician there at that time? — A. Yes, sir; and 

 the physicians and medicines were free. 



Q. Under whose employ ? — A. He was employed by the Alaska Com- 

 pany, and he was a very excellent physician too, because my wife was 

 very sick for about three months, when she did not leave her room, and 

 he doctored her all the time. He is a very able physician. 



Q. Aud no charges were made against the natives for medicines or 

 his services? — A. No, sir. And very often when a person is sick he 

 goes to the kitchen of the company to get food. The native are no 

 cooks. They can put a carcass in the pot aud boil it, but that is about 

 all they can do with it. When they are sick and want something extra, 

 they get an order from the doctor and go to the kitchen and get food — 

 if they want a soup or something of that kind. 



Q. What were their educational facilities when you went there? — A. 

 They had a very fine school-house, better than the average of our school- 

 houses in the State of New York. They had blackboards, maps, globes, 

 and everything which an ordinary school would have. They had an 

 excellent teacher. The first year I went there there was a gentleman 

 from New York who was a teacher. They are good schools, but the 

 natives and priests do not like the children to attend English schools. 

 They are opposed to it in some way because they thiuk that it might 

 attract them away from the church, which is the Greek Church. 



Q. They insist upon keeping up the Eussiau language ? — A. Yes, sir, 

 as far as possible. In the last few years the teacher they had was a 

 native Russian, a young man who came to this country when about 

 thirteen years of age and engaged with the company to teach school, 

 and he could talk both Russian and English. He is a very excellent 

 teacher and took a great deal of interest in it. 



Q. What was the attendance at the school ; what percentage of the 

 children attended ? — A. When I first went there they would not go to 

 school, aud it used to be the custom to go and hire somebody to go and 

 bring them into school. I pursued a ditfereut course. I issued an 

 order — there the agent is the supreme ruler, and when an agent issues 

 orders they are generally obeyed promptly — I issued an order that they 



