FTTR-SEAL FISHERIES OP ALASKA. 21 



Q. Well, let ns have that. — A. As Mr. Buynitsky said, they manu- 

 facturo a beer called quass. When I went there my instructions were 

 to do what I i^uld to prevent the manufacture of quass. Well, I had 

 been in the (fistillery business ami I knew how whisky was made. I 

 took a good deal of pains about it, and I found how that was made. I 

 found they could not make quass unless they had sugar. Wo were not 

 selling to each family more than a pound of sugar a week, but the na- 

 tives would combine, those of them who would like to have a spree, and 

 they would put a pound a week aside until they got enough to make 

 quass. So I told the agent I wanted him to ship all sugar, except what 

 was used in the kitchen, off the island, and not to sell a pound of sugar 

 to anybody without my permission. He shipped away about sixty bar- 

 rels of sugar, and they have not made quass since. There has been one 

 occasion since when three of them went aboard a vessel and they got 

 some from a cook or assistant cook. 



Q. So that is a species of moon-shining there?- -A. Yes, sir; these 

 fellows had not been in the habit of drinking, and before they got to 

 shore — the vessel being about half a mile off'— their feet were tangled 

 so that they betrayed themselves. We had them up to the police court, 

 and tried and fined them $10 apiece. That is the only case of drunken- 

 ness I had there. 



Q. Did the company and the Government agent co-operate earnestly 

 in ])reventing the distillation of intoxicants'? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Did the use of intoxicants tend to the disturbance of the peace 

 among them 1 — A. Not very much. They are good-natured fellows, but 

 if it was continued, I do not know what it would be, of course. If 

 they have any trouble or complaint, they always come to the Govern- 

 ment agent and enter their complaint. 



Q. Do you know whether there has been any complaint made on their 

 part against the Alaska Commercial Company of interference in their 

 business transactions with that company? — A. No, sir; only they 

 thought the Commercial Company ordered the sugar away, and they 

 complained to me about that, but that was my fault. 



Q. You removed that to prevent the manufacture of quass ? — A. Yes, 

 sir. In case of sickness, I would allow them to have sugar. They 

 would get drunk on anything they could. 



Q. What was your observation in regard to the compensation of the 

 natives for their labors — such services as they rendered to the com- 

 pany ? — A. I think they are the best paid working people in the world. I 

 do not believe any laboring people in the world are better paid for the 

 time they work than they are. When I was up there I took pains to figure 

 over from the books in regard to that very point, as I was interested in it 

 myself. I took the number of skins taken each year I was there and be- 

 fore — the time they are engaged in killing varies from twenty to thirty 

 days — and I figured out the whole average for fourteen years on St. Paul 

 Island that the per diem compensation for the time they worked was 

 $12.99. 



Q. That is what the laborers earned? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Does this company employ any other native laborers except the 

 natives on the island ? — A. Yes, sir ; they had permission from the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury to take a few over from Ounalashka, not for seal- 

 ing labor, but for doing other work. There was a time when there was 

 a great deal of sickness and a good many deaths there one year, and they 

 lost about forty or fifty men. 



Q. These were natives resident of Ounalashka ? — A. Yes, sir. The 



