270 FUE-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



" I know this Peter Rezanoff, whose letter was printed in the Sim. When I was 

 ajjeiit he was the brightest and most intelligent man of the natives on the island. 

 He can even talk English. I used to talk with him when I could, but the company 

 employes prevented it whenever tihey had a chance, and warned me not to talk to him. 

 They said he was treacherous, but I believe him to be as honest a man as lives. If 

 he were in this country I should not hesitate for a moment to make an equal of him. 



" These natives are all fr^r above savages in intelligence, They are half-civilized at 

 least, and would make good citizens if they had achance. As it is they iiave no rights, 

 except what the company employes choose to allow them. The school^ which tlie 

 company's contract obliged them to keep up, was nothing but a humbug. The teacher 

 was drunk all the time. An agent can do nothing for the natives. If he doesn't act 

 to suit the company's employes his life is made miserable. They attempted to blacken 

 my character while I was there by inventing a lot of stories about me. I sent for 

 Gus Saner, the company's steward, who was responsible for them, and told him I 

 would shoot him on sight if I heard any more of them. After that they let me alone. 



" That 18 the method with all the Government officers who do not act to suit them. 

 They attempt to blacken the agent's character, and with the kind of men they have 

 got u|> there it is easy to get them to tell most any story about a man they don't like. 

 I don't say anything about the company itself, for I uuderstaud that the men in- 

 terested in it are honest and reputable men ; but the employes who do their work 

 are a horde of rascals, who ought to be cleaned out. 



"The exact number of inhabitants on the two seal islands is less than 350, but the 

 possession of these two islands gives the Alaska Company the key to the whole com- 

 mercial business of the Territory, affording it a monopoly, by the profits of which it 

 can carry on the whole business of the country on terms with which no other com- 

 pany can hope to compete. This power is particularly complete over the Aleutian 

 Islands, with a native population of about 4,000; and, besides these direct victims of 

 the company's oppression, there is a great body of natives on the main-land who are 

 to a less extent under the thumb of the monopoly. 



Q. Is that true ? — A. No, sir ; tliat is perverted greatly. 



Q. From an iuterview that you had with a correspondent ? — A. Yes, 

 sir. I did not know he was a correspondent. During our conversation 

 it turned out that he was a correspondent. Tliat was at Indianapolis. 

 I see that it is dated La Fayette, Ind. Mr. Gavitt wrote uie several letters 

 that if I wanted to hear any news of the St. George Islands to come 

 to Evansville to see him. I thought it would not pay me to go to E vans- 

 ville to hear the news. He then wrote me a letter to come up to In- 

 dianapolis, and he stated in it that he would go to Washington in a few- 

 days ; that if I wanted to see him and hear the news of St. George 

 Island to come up there, and he gave the number of the street where I 

 could find him. That is, if you wish me to tell you how I got there. So 

 I went to Indianapolis tbe next day and found him at the number of the 

 house where he wrote me. We commenced talkiug over who had died 

 there, and who were still living, and then he said, " Let us go down to 

 the new Dennison House and see Tom Eyan, who has been Treasury 

 agent there." I never knew him before. So we went down to the new 

 Dennison House, and we could not find Ryan there, and then Gavitt 

 said, "Let us go to the Bates House; perhaps we will find him there." 



We went to the Bates House and sat down there, and he introduced 

 me to one Mr. Chamberlain and we talked about the seal islands, and 

 talking along we discussed and talked about St. George Island, and during 

 the conversation he said, "Mr. Chamberlain is a correspondent of the 

 New York Sun." I did not know what was up until then. If I had 

 known it I would not have said — as you talk freely to a man, perhaps 

 something slips from your lips you ought not to have said, but some- 

 thing has been laid in my mouth that I never uttered and never made 

 any such remarks. 



Q. Did you ever hear of any cases of rape there? — A. No, sir ; I never 

 heard of any such thing. 



Q. Did you observe any unusual amountof debauchery among women 

 there? — A. Not to my knowledge. What has been going on among the 

 natives I could not observe very closely. 



