FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 209 



there and to iutimidate the Government agent? — A. No. Whenever I 

 ordered anything- to be done, Webster would say, " You are the Gov- 

 ernment ; go ahead on your own responsibility." 



During the winter there was a good deal of "chaffing" and joking 

 going on between Dr. Noyes and Webster. 1 never took any part in it 

 myself, because I did not want to become involved in such things. 1 

 kept my side of the house pretty well. Dr. No;^es used to put hair 

 nets and garters and such things in old man Webster's bed — he used to 

 slip in there when Webster was out — so that the woman who made up 

 the beds would see them, and she would tell all over the village that a 

 woman had been sleeping with Mr. Webster. They had great sport 

 out of that. That is what Dr. jS^oyes told me. Then they would talk 

 and joke and " run " Webster about it for a day or two, and then they 

 would go on to something else. They used to have native women come 

 to the house during breakfast to make up the beds and to sweep out 

 the rooms, and such things as that. They used to play a good many of 

 these tricks and oue thing and another. But I never heard of anything 

 being done out of the way. 



Q. Did anything come within your observation that they were using 

 the Government house or the company house as a house of ill-fame or 

 prostitution 1 — A. No, sir. I think I know of one case, the case of a 

 girl there. She was "mashed" on a company's employe who came up 

 there as a teacher. Well, she was very badly treated by her i)eople, 

 and she would slip into the company house and stow herself away in a 

 closet and stay there two or three d;4ys, and the professor would feed 

 her, and the old woman would come there and hunt her up. Mr. Mor- 

 gan generally stood the brunt of that. He told her she ought to keep 

 the girl at home. He did not want her in the company house. She did 

 the same thing in other houses there, native houses, and would stow 

 herself among them as long as the natives would keep her. She is mar- 

 ried now, and living very happily, I have no doubt, with a man on St. 

 Paul. I do not know what were the relations between the girl and the 

 professor. 



Mr. Felton. He was a sort of natural protector at that time? 



The Witness. I don't know. He left there before 1 did, and I un- 

 derstand he is teaching a seminary now somewhere down East. 



The Chairman. They both seem to have gotten over it. 



The Witness. Yes, sir; the girl is married. A man came over from 

 Sr. Paul and married her. The St. George girls are in great demand. 

 I do not know whether it is on account of their good housekeeping or 

 what it is. 



Cross-examination by Mr. Jeffries: 



Q. You are editor of the Pittsburgh Press, are you not? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. How long did you say you had been on St. George Island! — A. I 

 was stationed there four years; that was my station. 



Q. Subsequent to that you had been oVer the entire Territory of 

 Alaska ?— A. Previous to timt, in 1879. 



Q. You have written a book on Alaska? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. 1 want to ask you now how the natives of St. George Island com- 

 pare with the other natives of Alaska — I mean the dilfereut parts of 

 Alaska? — A. Well, the natives of St. Paul and St. George rank about 

 alike, and they are considered the native aristocracy of the Territory. 

 There is one of the St. George girls, Natalia ^lerculiff, who had several 

 ofters of marriage from Oonalaska men ; but she would not marry them. 

 She said she would rather live single all her life than marry them. She 



