324 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



Q. Have you known any intoxication among the employes on St. 

 George Island 1 — A. None whatever among the present employes. It 

 has happened, however, heretofore, and those who were found in that 

 condition at times were promptly discharged when the matter came to 

 our notice. 



Q. There were but two, I believe ? — A. I think only two, and those 

 were both physicians and had access to the liquors. 



Q. Where did Mr. and Mrs. Gavitt take their meals while on St. 

 George Island? — A. At the company's mess table. 



Q. Did they pay anything '? — A. Nothing whatever. We have never 

 demanded anything from any Government ofiBcer for board. 



Q. Did Mr. Gavitt go there prepared to take care of himself and 

 wife "? — A. No, sir ; he had made no provisions. I would like to say in 

 regard to Mr. Webster, that he reported to me, when I arrived at the 

 island, that he had had trouble with Mr. Gavitt; that Mr. Gavitt had 

 been absent from the mess-room for several days, perhaps for weeks, and 

 that he had proposed to Mr. Gavitt to send his meals to his house, if he 

 chose to have them, and in that way to provide for him. He told me 

 that Gavitt asked him to furnish him with facilities for taking care of 

 himself in the Government house. Mr. Webster replied that the sup- 

 plies were not in such shape that he could conveniently do so, but that 

 his meals should be cooked in the company's kitchen and sent to the 

 Government house. The two buildings are but a few steps apart. 



Q. What about the stove "? Gavitt says he tried to buy a stove ? — 

 A. We had no suitable stove on hand. I uuderstaud there was no kind 

 of a stove in stock except a large range, and this was not thought suit- 

 able for his purposes, 



Q. Do I understand you to say that Mr. Gavitt, on his own part, had 

 made no provision for living in Alaska? — A. None whatever. 



Q. How much time did you spend on St. George Island while Mr. 

 Gavitt was there ? — A. My headquarters being at St. Paul's, I staid at 

 St. George only while the vessel remained there, a day or two at a time, 

 on several different occasions. 



Q. You have heard these statements in regard to the immorality on 

 St. Paul and St. George Islands. What have you to say about them"? — 

 A. I think there is no foundation in fact for tliem. I believe there is no 

 more immorality on those islands at present than there is in the average 

 civilized community ; but in this respect they have greatly improved. 

 When I first went there it was customary for any one who chose to do 

 so to ask a native woman to accompany him, and she would do so. But 

 now the social evil has been restricted, as in other orderly villages. 



Q. That evil has been corrected ! — A. The good example set by the 

 agents of the company and the Government has inculcated a sense of 

 decency that has decidedly improved matters in this respect. 



AFTER RECESS. 



By Mr. Jeffries : 

 Q. I would like to call your attention to these photographs and ask 

 you whether these are correct representations ? — A. Yes, sir. This [in- 

 catingj shows the school as it was taught last winter. Here [indicat- 

 ing] are the scholars, arranged by the side of the school-house. I would 

 say in regard to the interior of the building, that it is fitted up with 

 modern school-room desks and seats and is kept in far better oyder 



tbaw the (Werage country sobool-boiise, 



