26 ALASKA. 



people, and the mere presence of an officer is, with fe<v excep- 

 tions, enough to secure obedience. 



For the present demoralization among the natives of the Ter- 

 ritory in this respect (and it is a vital one) the Government 

 alone is responsible. The people, during the last four or five 

 years, have indulged in all manner of excesses while under the 

 influence of beer, and have observed that, do what they will, 

 from beating their wives up to cold-blooded murder, there is 

 no authority in the land to punish them ; and this knowledge 

 tends to continue this unhappy state of affairs. This laxity is 

 an injustice toward the orderly and more soberly-inclined por- 

 tion of the communities, subjecting them to the control of the 

 leaders of drunken revels and to an immense amount of unneces- 

 sary suffering. The sea-otter traders would gladly pay, in the 

 form of a slight tax on the skins of that animal, more than 

 enough to afford a liberal salary twice over for the services of 

 some man armed with authority to suppress this demoralization 

 and attend to other urgent matters neglected on the part of the 

 Government. 



From the Aleuts we pass to the consideration of the rest of 

 the people (Indians) of the Territory, who, by far the most 

 numerous, are living now as they were when first discovered, 

 over a hundred years ago; those of the north, belonging to the 

 Eskimo race and immediate derivatives, are quite amiable in 

 their barbarism wheti compared with the Koloshes and other 

 tribes of Indians jjroper in their neighborhood. Any steps that 

 may be taken for the elevation and improvement of the condi- 

 tion of these Indians in the Territory of Alaska, however well 

 intended, would be entirely abortive. If they work, and they 

 frequently do, on the coasters as seamen, and about the sound 

 and Victoria as laborers, wood-cutters, &c.,the money neces- 

 sary for a debauch or a gambling game is the incentive. The 

 condition of any savage people is one that arouses the sympathy 

 of benevolent minds, and for its amelioration has absorbed the 

 best energies and resources of hundreds of bravo, devoted men 

 who have labored in our country, but the result of such labor 

 can only be successful under certain conditions of life and 

 mental constitution of a savage race not found in Alaska. 

 The Russian priests energetically struggled with these Indians 

 of Alaska, from Bering's Straits down to Queen Charlotte's 

 Island, backed up and cordially aided by the Eussian- American 

 Company, which hoped to gain more control over the natives, 



