FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 79 



of drain from the company. The company was composed of high offi- 

 cials, mostly in Russia, and it was considered a good thing', because if the 

 seals did not pay the Government would. It was to bo gotten out of 

 them in some way. They had an establishment on a grand scale. They 

 sailed their own ships and exercised martial law over that region and 

 handled these Aleuts, who were there like so many machines which you 

 move from onei sland to another. They took them from the Aleutian isl- 

 ands and carried them over on those islands, and I think the highest 

 wages they paid them was 10 cents a day for killing, [)acking, and 

 loading the skins on board their ships, and they gave them the necessary 

 ])rovisions to sustain life, but they were all of the coarsest and cheapest. 

 They were simply looked u])on as a higher grade of animal than the 

 seal. The people lived in huts in the ground, with a turf roof, and they 

 liad nothing but their religion and their priests to keep their attention 

 other than that of their business. 



The Chaiuman. In that connection I wish you would refer to these 

 photogra[)hs and state whether they are correct representations of their 

 habitations there. 



The Witness. Here are stereoscopic views of the old houses in which 

 these people live, and, those were the best they had ; and, in fact, they 

 were all tliey had. Here are some more rec-ent of the native huts. That 

 was the hut in which they lived and their whole life was in accord with 

 that. They had nothing much to hoi)e for. These islands when lirst 

 discovered had no inhabitants, but there were natives ou the Aleutian 

 chain. 



By Mr. Cummings : 



Q. Are these photographs of the Aleutian Islands? These, you say, 

 are of the Pribylov group. — A. These are the houses in wliicli they live, 

 and that is about the manner of their life. St. Paul and St. George, 

 1 mean, not of the Copi)er Islands. Here are a couple of views of seal 

 on the rookeries [handing photograph]. As time went on the trade, as 

 I said before, in these skins was not remunerative to this Hussian com- 

 pany, and they were continually falling ba(;k on the Gover'ument for a 

 recoup of their losses; consequently, when the transfer was made it 

 does not seem to me that they consiiiered these fisheries of much value. 



Q. luntlerstand the Itussians brought the Aleuts over tirstf — A. They 

 brought them from the Aleutian Islands, where they found a good hunt- 

 ing ground ami a comfortable existence, placed them on those islands 

 to kill seal and load the skins on board their vessels, but the peoi)le of 

 the Aleutian Islands considered it a great hardshii) to be taken there, 

 because the service was very hard and the climate was harsh, the living 

 l)oor, and there was no possible living for them outsi<le of the work 

 wliich the Russians gave them. There is nothing else on the island 

 except the fur seal. 



Q. Did you import any more Aleuts after the contract with the Gov- 

 ernment ? — A. No. After the cession was made, and after the lease 

 was made to this company, a Treasury regulation directed that the 

 Aleuts then inhabiting St. Paul and St. George should take the 

 seal, and that no other labor should be brought on the island to take 

 the seal; and tliesepeojde, who number something like ."547 or o50 men, 

 women, and children of all kinds, receive from the Alaska Commercial 

 Company the sum of 40 cents per skin, or, in round numbers, $40,000 a 

 year, which is divided amongst those people solely for their labor of 

 perhaps two months. They receive that compensation, and earning as 

 they do so largely, as you can see, $40,000 divided amongst less than 



