FUR-SEAL FISHEEIES OF ALASKA. 319 



Q, And how long has he been in the employ of the Alasska Commer- 

 cial Company ? — A. Since the formation of the company. 



Q. How old a man is he? — A. He is a man sixty-three to sixty-five 

 years of age. 



Q. What are his habits? — A. Temperate. 



Q. What is bis character! — A. Very good. 



Q. How as to temperance ! — A. He is a thoroughly temperate man. 

 At times of responsibility, or when he is on duty, he is to be relied upon 

 in every respect. I suppose at times that he may indulge in a social 

 glass when he is off duty. I have never seen him under the influence 

 of liquor. 



By the Chairman : 

 Q. I believe I will ask you a question which Dr. Mclntyre was not 

 prepared to answer, as to the aggregate probable value of your trade in 

 Alaska outside of the seal islands ? — A. That has varied some in past 

 years. When sea-otter were plentiful their hunting was a fairly good 

 trade to pursue. Under the present condition of the diminution of sea- 

 otter trade, the competition in prices which the company has to meet 

 from other parties engaged in the trade — and they are very many — the 

 value of what is called the land business of the company, which includes 

 sea otter and land furs, is so inconsiderable as hardly to be remunera- 

 tive, and if I am permitted 1 will say that if it were not for the human- 

 itarian aspect of the matter — if it were not necessary to sustain the 

 natives of Attoo — the pompany would withdraw their vessels from the 

 prosecution of that trade. But the natives on the islands of Attoo and 

 Athka, and other of the Aleutian chain, depend almost entirely for sus- 

 tenance on sea-otter hunting, and the returns from it are so little that the 

 company does not receive sufficient money to pay coal bills for steaming 

 to Attoo and back again ; but if we did not go there and supply the 

 natives I really think they would starve. During the past three years 

 we have followed that business at a loss. 



Q. Would the natives be able to reach a market for their furs them- 

 selves if your vessels and trading stations were not there? — A. The 

 natives on the extreme islands of the Aleutian chain would have no op- 

 portunity whatever, especially these natives at Attoo. They would 

 have no possible opportunity of reaching a market unless, perhaps, a 

 transient vessel should pass, hunting trade. But they would be quite 

 unable themselves to get to a market. 



There is one point 1 would like to call the attention of the committee 

 to if permitted to do so — not in the interest of the company, but simply 

 in the interest of the Aleut population of the Aleutian chain of islands^ 

 That is, that whereas in former years the result of the sea otter hunt- 

 ing of those islands was sufficient to direct attention to them and induce 

 traders and our company and other parties to go to them for the pur- 

 pose of securing skins and taking them supplies, the people were in the 

 way of getting a sufficient living in a very resjiectable way. The dim- 

 inution of sea otter life has been very rapid, owing to the large increase 

 of huuters, and instead of 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000 being secured, as in 

 some years, it has run down to 2,200 or 2,000, and even less than that, 

 and if the same ratio of decrease continues it will be but a very few 

 years before the sea-otter will be extinct, or at least be taken in such 

 small quantities that the expenditure would not pay traders to seek for 

 them. If that source of sustenance is lost to these natives it is going 

 to be a very important and pressing question as to how they are to live. 

 The islands furnish absolutely no means of sustenance ; no agricultural 



