242 ALASKA. 



the accounts of the first ones there to see, nothing grew, even 

 grass, except on the places where the carcasses of dead animals 

 rotted. In the course of time both islands were covered with 

 grass, a great part of it being of the sedge kind. On them are 

 two varieties of berries, &c., &c. 



" The Aleuts serving the company here sustained the follow- 

 ing relations between themselves and it, to wit : Each of them 

 worked without solicitation and at whatever was found, and to 

 which they were directed, or that which they understood. Pay- 

 ment for their toil was not established by the day or by the 

 year, but in general for each thing taken by them or standing 

 or put to their credit by the company ; for instance, especially, 

 the skins of animals, the teeth of walrus, barrels of oil, &c. 

 These sums, whatever they might be, were placed by the com- 

 l^any to their credit, for all general hunting and working was 

 established or fixed for the whole year fairly. The Aleuts in 

 general received no specific wages, though they were not all 

 alike or equal, there being usually three or four classes. 



" In these classes, to the last or least, the sick and old work- 

 men were counted in, although they were only burdens, and 

 therefore they received the smaller shares, about 150 rubles, 

 and the other and better classes received from 220 to 250 rubles 

 a year. Those who were zeatous were rewarded by the com- 

 pany with 50 to 100 rubles. The wives of the Aleuts, who 

 worked only at the seal-hunting, received from 25 to 35 rubles.* 



'''Animals on the Prybilov Islands. — Foxes and mice. Some- 

 times the ice brings bears and red foxes. The bears were never 

 allowed to live since they could not be made useful ; and also 

 the red foxes, as they would only spoil the breed already exist- 

 ing, with regard to color of the fur. 



" Fur-seals, sea-lions, bair-seals, and a few walrus are the only 

 animals that may be said to belong to the Prybilov Islands. 



" Birds. — The guillemonts, (or arries ;) gulls ; puffins; crested, 

 horned, and white-breasted auks ; snow-finches ; geese, (two 

 kinds ;) a few kinds of Tringa; sea-ducks, black and gray. Most 

 of these birds come here to lay, and with them jagers, hawks, 

 owls, and ^chikees,^ {big Lauriis glaucus,) and the albatross is fre- 

 quently to be seen around the beaches." 



^^Seaotfers became scarce generally in 1811, and in the next 

 thirty years extinct. 



* Compare thia annual payment made by the Russians with the cash set- 

 tlement made every year by the Alaska Commercial Company, the present 

 lessee of these islands, as presented in the chapter on the condition of affairs 

 on the seal islands. — H. W. E. 



