17G 



FUE-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



40 cents per skin, divided into annual salaries in proportion to the value of each man 

 ;ui(l boy's labor, jjayable weekly or monthly, -with the understanding that in consid- 

 eration of this salary their time and labor are subject to the orders of the lessees and 

 Treasury agents at any and all times. For nine months or more every year t be lessees 

 have nothing for them to do ; but the system of payment, as suggested, I am sure, 

 would prove more beneficial to the natives, and make no difference whatever to the 

 lessees, except it would subject the natives to their orders at all times for any work 

 necessary to be done. 



I would respectfully recommend that any additional force of natives you may see 

 proper to authorize to assist in sealing be paid by the year and not by the skin, and 

 such sum so paid be deducted from the community funds of 40 cents i^er skin before 

 the division is made, and the remainder divided, as heretofore, among the old sealers, 

 provided that none of the lessee's agents or white employes ai'epaid out of the native 

 funds. It is evident the rapid decrease of native adult males on the islands will neces- 

 sitate an increase in the outside force of natives, or the quota of 100,000 skins per 

 annum can not be taken. 



The Oonalaskan is paid by the lessees for doing the work which under their con- 

 tract the islanders are bound to do, and whilst the wages paid them by the Alaska 

 Commercial Company ($40 i>er month) is very good, the time employed (two months) 

 is A'ery short, lasting only through the killing season. 



In view of the facts stated, it Avould seem but just that some more equitable divis- 

 ion of the funds be made among those na,tives who do the work, as they are all of one 

 tribe, the fur-sea islands having been first peopled a hundred years ago by trans- 

 planting Aleuts from Oonalaska. 



The condition of the natives on the two islands is quite as good as usual after a 

 long winter of idleness, during which time they shut themselves up in their close 

 houses, without permitting any ventilation whatever, keeping the house warmed 

 up to an unhealthy temperature, taking only such outdoor exercise as is required of 

 them in attendance on their church service, emerging in the spring in time to clean 

 up and prepare for the arrival of the vessel. When it is damp and cold thej- are as 

 imprudent and careless as during the winter, consequently take cold easily, resulting 

 in many cases fatally. Bronchitis and imeumonia are the spring diseases. This year 

 has been an unusually fatal one, there having been seventeen deaths in June and up 

 to the I'ith of July, When once an Aleut makes up his mind to die, having no re- 

 cuperative powers, he batfies the skill of the physician and calmly awaits the inevi- 

 table. With proper care they would be much longer lived, as there is nothing in the 

 climate or sanitary condition of the islands to invite disease. 



The white population on both islands, some of whom have remained continuously 

 for five years, are always remarkablj^ healthy. It is a notable fact that not a single 

 death from disease has occurred among them since the transfer of Alaska to the United 

 States, whilst the percentage of mortality among the natives is much greater than 

 can be found in any State or country of which we have statistics. It is only a ques- 

 tion of time when the Aleuts will become extinct. 



The census taken January 1, 1887, is as follows: 



* Seventeen deaths from Juno 1 to July 12, iueludinj; 

 days. 

 t Ope death since June 1. 



5 sealers — almost 7 per cent, in forty-two 



