FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 43 



And 1 charged then, and I charge now, that the ageut who had control 

 over them was directly responsible lor it. 



Q. Do you mean the chief Government agent or the agent of the 

 company '? — A. 1 mean the Government agent. It is all a matter of 

 record, which you can find in my report to the Treasury Department. 

 Finding those people in that condition, I took occasion to make in- 

 quiry among the natives themselves who could talk English and ob- 

 tained all the information I could get of things that occurred dur- 

 ing the winter and the causes which led to this condition of the peo- 

 ple. Hooked upon it as a duty I owed to those who sent me there, re- 

 gardless of the fact that I had a superior who bad been there the winter 

 l)revious. As I stated I remained there one week but I should think 

 that at least one-third of the people were in that condition, and a good 

 many of them were diseased, made so, as I understand, from the fact 

 of some sailors going ashore, just when I do not know, and the dis- 

 ease worked into the people. Whether it was that year or the year 

 before or several years before nobody seemed to know ; but at any 

 rate the making and drinking of the quass was the direct cause of 

 their incapacity, and because of that fact, as I understand, the com- 

 pany found it necessary to take a few natives from Oonalaska every 

 year to do the necessary work, as they could not depend upon the 

 people when they were in that conditiorL 



To go back to St. George. If I had my notes I could be more ex- 

 plicit as to dates 



Q. That is immaterial ? — A. Our duties on the seal islands commence 

 with the killing, practically. 



Q. Just before you enter upon that will you now state as to whether 

 any, and, if so, what, measures were taken by the agents of the com- 

 pany itself to counteract these vices and bad habits among the people, 

 if any came to your knowledge ?— A. The company's agents complained 

 to me of the condition of the people. They had frequently, so they told 

 me, complained to Mr. Otis, but he had never taken any action ; in 

 other words, he was a man who was inclined to show his authority out- 

 wardly, and he would make so many threats to the people that he would 

 do so and so and would very seldom, if ever, carry them into execu- 

 tion, and the result of that was that the people had no regard or respect 

 for anything he said or did. 



Q. Was the chief authority and power vested in the Government 

 agent for correcting these evils"? — A. Yes, sir, altogether. The com- 

 pany's agents are absolutely powerless. 



Q. They had to rely upon him? — A. Entirely so. So far as the com- 

 pany's connection with the people is concerned, if the^^ want to com- 

 municate with the people in order to get any work out of them at 

 certain hours of the day or night, whenever it may be necessary, they 

 confer with the Government agent, as a rule, and through him to the 

 people, and in that way they get done what is necessary from day to 

 day. 



Q. Their dealings and transactions, then, were entirely through the 

 permission and consent and authority of the Government agent and in 

 accordance with the rules and requirements of the Government agentf — 

 A. Yes, sir. Mr. Otis laid down more rules, I believe, than any other 

 agent that ever was on the seal islands and executed a less number. 

 When I arrived at St. George Island the condition of affairs there 

 was directly opposite to those on St. Paul. Captain Moulton was in 

 charge there. So far as I could learn there had been no drinking or 

 carousing or debauchery, and the people were in a fairly good cojidition, 



