206 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION, 
It is said to be very difficult to keep the natives engaged. At Afognak many of the 
natives are employed about the canneries as carpenters. They are engaged, also, in 
making boats of various kinds and their labor in this direction is appreciated. The 
presence of the canneries has not diminished the fish supply of the natives as far as I j 
could learn ; it is really easier for them to obtain what they need for winter use than i 
it was before the opening of the canneries. The natives, however, had nets, seines, 
and other appliances for catching fish before the white men came among them. If 
the supply of fish should become exhausted by overfishing or any other cause, the 
effect would be to starve the natives in all localities in which fish is the principal food 
supply 5 but if they are sufficiently interested in their own welfare to work foraliviug, 
they can get more salmon now than they could before the days of canneries, and will 
receive good wages and be well supplied with provisions. One great source of trouble 
with the natives is caused by the illegal sale of intoxicants by the Chinese and, occa- 
sionally, some Americans. This traffic is the means of destroying the usefulness of 
the people and renders them more liable to pulmonary diseases. 
Most of the work in the canneries, as already stated, is done by Chinese ; the 
superintendents and other principal men about the canneries are mainly Americans. 
Among the fishermen may be found Americans, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, 
Sicilians, and negroes. 
