264 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



TESTIMONY OF SIMEON MELOVIDOFF, 



Simeon Melovidoff, sworn and examined. 

 By the Chairman : 



Q. Where do you live ?— A. St. Paul Island. 



Q. Are you a native of the island"? — A. Yes. 



Q. Were you born there °? — A. No, sir ; I was not born there. I was 

 born at Sitka but have been on St. Paul Island since I was three months 

 old. 



Q. How old are you now? — A. Twenty-one years. 



Q, You have resided on St. Paul Island since vou were three months 

 old "?— A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Do you know the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company there, 

 all of them ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. How have they treated the natives of the island 1 — A. They have 

 treated them very nicely. 



Q. Have the people living' there had occasion to complain of them in 

 any way — the agents ? — A. They never have. 



Q. How old were you when the Commercial Company took posses- 

 sion? You were quite a child ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. A very little fellow, and you do not know much about what was 

 going on ? — A. Only fi'om what I heard. 



Q. What do the people say about their condition between now and 

 then ? — A. They say it is greatly improved since the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company came there. 



Q. Do they like to live under that arrangement better than the Rus- 

 sian system? Are they better treated? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. What sort of improvement was it and in what respect are they 

 better oft"?-;-A. Tiie Alaska Commercial Company has supplied houses 

 there. 



Q. They live in better houses than before ? — A. Oh, yes. 



Q. Pay any rent for their houses ? — A. No, sir. 



Q. Furnished to them free ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Are they clothed different from what they had before ? — A. Yes, 

 sir ; they are clothed better. 



Q. How are the schools now ? Does the company keep schools for 

 the children ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. You were educated there ? — A. Partly. 



Q. Do they have school every year ? — A. Every year, sir. 



Q. Teach English and Aleut both ? — A. jSo, sir ; the Russian language. 

 They teach English four days in the week, and on the fifth day they 

 have Russian taught. 



Q. They teach school eight months in the year ? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Do you know Mr. Webster, the company agent? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Is he an especially bad man? — A. No, sir; he is a very good 

 man. He is liked by every one up there on the island. 



Q. Do the natives all like him? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Is he a bad fighting man ? — A. No, sir. 



Q. iiet drunk?— A. I never saw him get' drunk; they have got 

 nothing to get drunk on. 



Q. You can not get any intoxicant ? — A. No, sir. 



Q. Why? — A. Because I believe the company does not allow an 

 thing tliere. 



Q. Do not the comj)any furnish it? — A. Yes, sir; but the doctors 

 have charge of it. 



