INVESTIGATION" OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 117 



Q. Did the Government agents? — A. We do not know what the 

 Government agents did. 



Q. Have you ever seen a Government agent, since 1890, look over 

 the killing grounds for female carcasses ?— A. The Government agent 

 has looked for carcasses, as he gave us instructions not to kill the 

 females. At this time, too, we are all looking for them. 



Q. Have you ever seen a Government agent examine them? — A. 

 Yes. Carp Booterin saw them lift them up and examine them. The 

 agent goes through the carcasses and looks for the cows, and when 

 he finds a cow he examines it to make sure of it, and when he finds 

 it is a cow he gives orders to look out for the cows. 



Q. When you club a seal or when you skin one, do you know how 

 old it is ? — A. We all know it. 



Q. Do you ever speak to your fellow workmen about these matters 

 when the day's work is over, as to sizes, ages, numbers, etc., of the 

 seals killed and skinned ? — A. Carp Booterin says he used to talk 

 with the other men, but now he has been turning it over to a younger 

 man. The others all say they talk it over. 



Q. When the "green" or fresh skins are put in salt and then 

 bundled for shipment, are those bundles heavier after salting or 

 lighter? — A. The bundles of skins get heavier, because the salt is 

 inside. 



Q. Do those "green" skins ever shrink 4 or 5 or 6 or 8 inches 

 during those four or five days that they harden in salt while in the 

 kenches ? — A. Yes; they shrink. When we salt the skins we stretch 

 the skins, and while in the salt they shrink again, about 2 or 3 or 4 

 inches. 



Q. After they come out of the kench to be bundled and while 

 bundling, do tliey shrink any more ? — A. Some of them shrink after 

 they are taken out of the kench and booked, if they are put in the 

 air. Otherwise they do not. Only where the salt does not catch 

 the skin do they shrink. If they salt all right the skin does not 

 shrink. 



Natives' Town Hall, 

 St. Paul Village, Friday, 5.30 p. m., July 25, 1918. 



These questions have all been read to us, by Geo. Korchugin, in 

 Aleut, and our answers to them in turn, in Aleut, from this paper, 

 which we sign below, as being our own voice and correct in every 

 particular, to the best of our knowledge and belief. 



Kaep Buteein, Alex. Galaktionof, 



Elaet Stepetin, Petee Tetoff, 



Poefieio Pankoff, Fedosay (his x mark) Sedick, 



Nicetolai Kozloff, Neon Tetoff. 



Petee Onstigof, 



St. Paul Island, Alaska, 

 Village of St. Paul, Town Hall, Friday, July 25, 1913. 



The signatures, as above, were all affixed to this paper by the 

 signers, in our presence, after the foregoing questions and answers 

 had been read to these men in Aleut by George Kocherin, from this 

 original typed copy. 



Attest: Heney W. Elliott. 



A. F. Gallaghee. 



