ALASKA. 23 T 



thau that of good, honest manual labor, with the exception of 

 a certain Aleut named Oostigov, who at Sitlja "was considered 

 a fair navigator." These people made good ordinary carpenters, 

 blacksmiths, coopers, locksmiths, and sailors — good enough for 

 the Russian service — but snch a grade of labor will not satisfy 

 our traders or captains; and there is, therefore, no demand for 

 such upon these people, and there never will be, as long as the 

 country is under American control. We have in San Francisco 

 to-day too many idle workmen of all grades better than the Aleuts 

 could be made, and when such labor is wanted in Alaska, these 

 men will be employed there. Eemoving the Eussian Company 

 from the country leaves no future employment whatever for the 

 Aleuts, in the capacity above mentioned, no matter what may be 

 their educational advantages. 



(3) That Mr. Dall can advance such an argument in regard' 

 to the monopoly of the fur- trade of the Aleutian Islandsby the 

 control of the sea-lion skins of the Prybilov Islandsis very strange, 

 for the fact is, that any trader to-day who may deem the fur- 

 trade of that section worth the outlay necessary to fit up a small 

 schooner or sloop, and send it out every other season equipped 

 for sea lionhuntingamongthe Aleutian Islands, on the north side 

 of the Peninsula and those islands south of it, can secure skins 

 enough for the entire use of the whole Aleutian population ! An 

 annual outlay of only $2,500 is all that is necessary for an oppo- 

 sition trader at Ounalashka to place himself on the same foot- 

 ing, in this respect, with his present rival there. Whether the 

 fur-trade of that district is worth enough to warrant this small 

 expenditure or not is a matter for the traders themselves to 

 settle, not us, but the fact speaks for itself. Even if there were 

 no sea-lions except on the Prybilov Islands, (which is not true,) 

 the traders who take anj"^ interest in this section are perfectly in- 

 dependent of the Alaska Commercial Company, for there are 

 thousands upon thousands of walrus not four hundred miles 

 from Ounalashka, the skins of which can be made, with a little 

 more labor, quite as valuable for covering the bidarkies or canoes 

 of the sea-otter hunters ; if anything, they are more durable,^ 

 and these walrus can be obtained as easily as so many hogs or 

 sheep. 



(4) In this i>aragraph I concur ; it is true. 



(5) This is a case in which I think, or rather know, that Mr. 

 Dall casts an unworthy reflection upon the Alaska Commercial 

 Company without jnst ground. The facts are as follows : In 



