The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-01
Interesting Facts About the Habits of the
SealIOw They Are Killed and
Prepared for Market.
Perils Encountered by the Natives in
Procuring Suitable Food.
A Thousand Feet Over Cliff-Features of
Life in Alaska-A Talk with Hon.
Louis Kimmel.

was in the city on Saturday. st. Georges island
is one of the Aleutian group, chain of islands
of volcanic orr gin that reach out from Alaska to
almost within hailing distance of the Asiatic
coast. 1t is about 300 miles from Ounalaska,
upon whose dismal Shore Campbell, in his
| Pleasures of Hope" locates the VOLTS long
howl, and 2, 400 miles from San Francisco. st.
| Georges island and the island of St. Paul. which
| is thirtyeight miles to the northwest of it, are
the greatest source of the sealskin supply in the
world the killing franchise being vested in the
Alaska Commercial Company, given in 1870 to
expire in 1890.
| ''St George" said Mr. Kimmel to the reporter
'is nine miles long, and, in its greatest BREADTH
five miles wide There are 113 natives, Aleuts,
men, women and children on the island. They
belong to the Greek Church, that form of rei gion
having been forced upon them by the Russians
during their occupancy of the Alaskan territory.
! The natives take to the Greek Church kindly, it
being adapted to their supersttious ma
! ture. There were but two other white persons
on the island with me, one the doctor sent
out by the Alaska Commercial Company (he was
also employed to teach the natives and the agent
of the company. The government Of the island
was in my hands. st. George hasn't much to
| SOuHlSuQ IL dS udDildUlOu 1Of civilized man.
Owing to the Japan current, which has much to
do with ameliorating the temperature coming in
contact with the cold a fog prevails about the
island nearly all the time. 1t is rare thing to
get an hours sunshine in day. That phenome-
non sometimes only happens once or twice in a
year The nights there now are twenty hours
long The highest temperature we had last sum-
mer was 450. Summer before last the highest
was 56o. Last winter was very mild, the lowest
mark reached being 12o below zero. 1t some
times goes down to 25o below. Over on the main
land, on the Yukon, it is much colder, frequently
! 5Oo below zero. Our average in the winter is
from 50 to 12o below zero
THE ISLAND AND ITS INHABITANTS.
1.-The natives subsist on seal meat, the meat of
the sea-ion and on gulls' eggs. In June and
July the island is literally covered with gulls
They lay great quantities of eggs, which
are gathered by thousands. The eggs are palat-
able when FRESH but the natives are not par
ticular in that sense. If they are over-ripe
or have chicks in them they are preferred, being
then used in a sort of omelet. which they
consider their choicest dish. So with the
meat of the seal and the sea lion-the stronger
it smells the better they like it. Gathering
gulls' eggs looks hazardous but the natives say
! there has never but accident producing
death occurred to any one engaged in it, Two
men, or as often man and woman, go together,
taking with them long rope One, lying down
with his feet braced against the solid earth or a
stone, holds one end of the rope, while the other
descends sometimes near l 900 feet over the sheer
| face of cliff, and then swinging from side to
side, gathers the eggs. The accident occurred
through native going out alone and fastening
the rope to stake stone. He was found dead
at the foot of a cliff, the rope broken. The
breaking of the rope was credited to the blue
foxes who were charged with having gnawed, it
in two. Each winter the Aleuts trap from 800 to
5000 of these foxes, for which the company pays
fifty cents each. The SKINS cured, readily bring
So and SO apiece.
'The Aleuts have no great variety of amuse-
ments. They pitch half dollars and are expert
at it. They also play ball There are no rules
in the game, which appears to be nothing more
than knock about As there is no timber on the
island-not tree-there is no uniformity in
their clubs-anything goes any kind of a stick
or a seal rib. They are intensely fond of cards.
and are great gamblers; always playing
Russian card game which | do not pretend to
understand, never having tried to learn it, A
while ago they about at their wits end to
continue their card playing Their packs were
dOOuG played OuU Une SpOlS worn OH. 1ney had
| seen me drawing and cooring, and came with
their well worn cards to have me put new spots
on them.
''It wouldn't do for the ladies here to see the
waste of sealskins that have seen-to see the
Aleut women in their fur clothes made of pup
seals, which finer, but, because of their size,
not as valuable as the sealskins of commerce.
They do not estimate things do those
misguided Aleuts and they actually prefer
bright calicoes and brass jewery to seal-skn and
pure gold. Men and women are fond of dancing,
the women especially. Their dances are un-
couth and barbarous, but their watzng is really
exceedingly graceful, and they like to dance
every Sunday afternoon after coming from their
Greek chapel They are indebted to the Russian
sailors and soldiers for their waltz, as they are
for their religion and their diseases. CivilZa-
ton has almost done for them it has for the
Sandwich Islanders There is no leprosy among
them, but they have scurvy, and, as a sequence
of syphilis, they have loathsome skin diseases.
They have gandular swelling in the neck,
which seldom leaves them without scar. Speak
ing of dancing, Christmas, in the Greek Church,
according to the Russian calendar which is old
STYLE comes twelve days later than with u.s.
Last year they had permission to use the gov
ernment house, and beginning with their Christ
mas, they danced every night for two weeks.
They are inordnate tea drinkers; that, too,
they learned of the Russians, and they
keep the teakettle on day and night.
That is the strongest beverage they have, as
not drop of spirits is allowed by the govern
ment on the island Under the Russians they
had plenty of whisky, 'vodki," as the Russians
and Aleuts call it, and they have good will
toward this paternal government for depriving
them of it, The men, generally, are about five
feet two inches in height, the women shorter. 1t
Is mistake to suppose them similar to our In
dians They are not copper colored. Their
features are Monaghan; they have high cheek
bones, broad noses and slant eyes. Some
Of them are dark, while others have skins much
| like the Chinese. The effort of the company to