80 FUR-«EAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA 



400 people for two months' labor, they are averse to any labor other 

 than that of driviiij^', killiiiiJ^, and deliveriuti;- the skins at the salt-honse. 

 Necessarily there is niucli other labor to be done there. The seal skins 

 have to be salted in the kench-house, they have to be counted and 

 handled and taken to the beach and put on board the steamers, and 

 the regular pay for that is $1 i)er day. 



The man who is earniug $300 or I'-tOO for two months' work is disin- 

 clined to work for$l a day; C(»nsequeurly permission was given to tlie 

 com|)any to bring from the Aleutian Islands such other laborers as 

 might be necessary to do this other work, the laborers brought up being 

 paul entirely and distinctly apart from the $40,0i»0 which went to the 

 natives. This $40,000 goes to them, and any other labor brought in has 

 to be paid for by the company at the rate of $1 a day or i cent a bun- 

 dle for bundling the skins. There were a great many people on the 

 island who bundled a hundred skins, some w^ho bundled two hundred, 

 and they soon found out that the extra exercise was not rewarded, and 

 $1 a day did not cover it; but at 1 cent a bundle, if one bundled two 

 hundred and fifty in a day, he would make $2.50. But that other pay- 

 ment of 40 cents a skin is a heritage of the natives of St. George and 

 St. Paul Islands, and was originally divided amongst these people in 

 accordance with the decision of their chief and their priests; but since 

 then I think Mr. Taylor said that the Government agents and the com- 

 pany's agents, realizing that there was an undue favoritism exercised 

 towards some natives, instituted a kind of tribunal by which each 

 man's work should receive a fair share of this division, whether they 

 were in high favor with the chief or priests or not; consequently the 

 matter is now arranged so, and the division is entirely equitable with 

 regard to the. money received. In this manner families are counted 

 of those who are not able to labor, women and children, and they re- 

 ceive a proportion of this seal money, as it is called, and are thereby 

 cared for as if they had a laborer in the family. Consequently the la- 

 borer on St. Paul and St. George has a sure position by the acts of the 

 Government in requiring that those people should take all the seals, 

 and each gets his share of this 40 cents per skin. 



Q. What becomes of the extra force of laborers when the shipment 

 is made? Do you return them? — A. They return to the Aleutian Islands. 

 When the steamer takes on board the skins she goes to Ooualaska and 

 these people return on her. 



Q. Where do they board on the island ; do the company board them 

 or do they erect huts of their own*? — A. I should have to ask Mr. Mor- 

 gan. 



Mr. Morgan. The company provides them with lodging and food, 

 unless they have relatives on the island to go to. 



Q, How many extra laborers are there °? — ^A. How many do you 

 bring up, ^Ir. Morgan ? 



Mr, Morgan. From 35 to 45 each year. They are taken from the 

 poorer class at Oonalaska, men not successful in hunting. They are 

 usually composed of old men, too old to hunt the sea otter. 



Q. Who procures the laborers at the Aleutian Islands 1 — A. I believe 

 they are sent up by selection of the .company's agent at Oonalaska. 

 The people of the Aleutian Islands get a living from hunting, mostly, 

 and many of these have grown old ami some are not successful, and they 

 are very glad to su])plement the failure of the otter hunt by securing 

 labor on St. Paul and St. George. The endeavor is made to select such 

 laborers as are most in need of something they can earn, and those are 

 sent up. 



