and one author says that a pair of boots for which the makers would demand ten rubles might be secured in barter for a bottle of rum worth three rubles.
The soldiers stationed at the fort when not on duty were employed by the Company and given a special compensation for their labor. Some of the soldiers and hunters by their industry and thrift accumulated con- siderable money which the Company held to their account and either paid to them on their discharge or sent home to Russia for them. Others spent their earnings, were continually in debt to the Company, and as their contract provided that they were not to be discharged while in arrears of debt, some of them served the remainder of their lives with no hope of return to Russia.
Around the hill ran a parapet and sentries walked their beat night and day. On the stockade which enclosed the town from the beach at the edge of the "Ranche" to the shore beyond the sawmill, making with the shore line an irregular rectangle, also walked the sentinels on their vigil, for the Thlingit at the gates was at all times an enemy to be feared. Strict military discipline was main- tained at all times. At the foot of the hill were clustered barracks, storehouses, bakeries, warehouses, etc., for the use of the garrison