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6ji ijiibcrt ijomc iloncrofl

NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES ; five volumes.
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA ; three volumes.
HISTORY OF MEXICO; six volumes.
HISTORY OF TEXAS and the NORTH MEXICAN STATES;

two volumes.
HISTORY OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO; one volume.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA ; seveu volumes.
HISTORY OF NEVADA, COLORADO AND WYOMING; one

volume.
HISTORY OF UTAH; cue volume.

HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST COAST; two volumes.
HISTORY OF OREGON; two volumes.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, IDAHO and MONTANA; one

volume.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA; one volume.
HISTORY OF ALASKA ; one volume.
CALIFORNIA PASTORAL; one volume.
CALIFORNIA INTER-POCULA ; one vo'.unie.
POPULAR TRIBUNALS ; two voUim; s.
ESSAYS AND MISCELLANY ; oze volume.
LITERARY INDUSTRIES; one volume.
CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS ; several volumes.

HISTORY

ALASKA

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT

1730-1885

SAN FRANCISCO
THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS

1890

Bntered according to Act of Congress In tho year 1889, by

HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
in the Office ol the Librarian of CoiigresB, at Washington.

All BljIiU Reserved.

H(l

PREFACE.

On the whole, the people of the United States have
not paid an exorbitant price for the ground upon which
to build a nation. Trinkets and trickery in the first
instance, followed by some bluster, a little fighting,
and a little money, and we have a very fair patch of
earth, with a good title, in which there is plenty of
equity, humanity, sacred rights, and star-spangled
banner. What we did not steal ourselves we bought
from those who did, and bought it cheap.

Therein we did well, have that much more to be
proud of, and to confirm us in our own esteem as a
great and good nation; therein lies the great merit —
the price we paid. Had it been dear, as have been
some meagre strips of European soil, over which
France, Germany, and the rest have fought for cen-
turies, spending millions upon millions of lives and
money, all in the line of insensate folly, and for that
which they could not keep and were better off with-
out — then we would cease boasting and hold our
peace. But our neighbors have been weak while we
are strong ; therefore it is not right for us to pay them
much for their lands.

Ignoring, as we do, the birthright of aboriginal
races, that have no Christianity, steel, or gunpowder,
we may say that the title to the Mississippi Valley

PREFACE.

was Kottlcd, and the Oregon Territory adjudged to be
ours l)y divirie right. Texas came easily; while one
month's interest, at the then current rates, on the gold
picked up in the Sierra Foothills during the first five
years of American occupation would repay the cost of
the Mexican war, and all that was given for California
and the adjoining territory.

In the case of Alaska we have one instance where
bluster would not win; figlitingwas not to be thought
of; and so we could pay for tlie stationary icebergs
or let them alone. Nor with money easy, was Alaska
a bad bargain at two cents an acre. It was indeed
cheaper than stealing, now that the savages receive the
teachings and diseases of civilization in reservations.

In 18G7 there were few who hold this opinion, and
not one in a hundred, even of those who were best in-
formed, believed the territory to be worth the pur-
cliase money. If better known to-day, its resources
are no better appreciated; and there are many who
still deny that, apart from fish and fur-bearing ani-
mals, the country has any resources.

The area of Alaska is greater than that of the
thirteen original states of the Union, its extreme
lenjTjth beiufjf more than two thousand miles, and its
extreme breadth about fourteen hundred; while its
coast-line, including bays and islands, is greater than
the circumference of the earth. The island of Una-
laska is almost as far west of San Francisco as San
Francisco is west of the capital of the United States;
while the distance from the former city to Fort
St Michael, the most northerly point in America
inhabited by the white man, is greater than to the
city of Panamd.

PREFACE. t*

With the limits of the continent at its extreme
north-west, the limit ui the history of western North
America is reached. But it may be asked, what a
land is this of which to write a history? Bleak,
swampy, fog-begirt, and almost untenanted except by
savages— can a cbuntry without a people furnish ma-
terial for a history? Intercourse with the aborigines
does not constitute all of history, and few except sav-
ages have ever made their abiding-place in the wintry
solitudes of Alaska; few vessels save bidarkas have
ever threaded her myriad isles: few scientists have
studied her geology, or catalogued her fauna and flora;
few surveyors have measured her snow-turbaned hills ;
few miners have dug for coal and iron, or prospected
her mountains and streams for precious metals. Ex-
cept on the islands, and at some of the more accessible
points on the mainland, the natives are still unsubdued.
Of settlements, there are scarce a dozen worthy the
name ; of the interior, little is known ; and of any cor-
rect map, at least four fifths must remain, to-day,
absolutely blank, without names or lines except those
of latitude and longitude. We may sail along the
border, or be drawn by sledge-dogs over the frozen
streams, until we arrive at the coldest, farthest west,
separated from the rudest, farthest east by a nanow
span of ocean, bridged in winter by thick-ribbed ice.
What then can be said of this region — this Ultima
Thule of the known world, whose northern point is
but three or four degrees south of the highest lati-
tude yet reached by man?

Such is the general sentiment of Americans con-
cerning a territory which not many years ago was
purchased from Bussia, as before mentioned, at the

Hist. Ai.tw*. 9*

vUi

PREFACE.

rate of about two cents an acre, and waa considered
dear at the price.

To answer these questions is the purpose of the
present volume. This America of the Russians has
its little century or two of history, as herein we see,
and which will ever remain its only possible inchoation,
interesting to the story of future life and progress on
its borders, as to every nation its infancy should be.

Though it must be admitted that the greater por-
tion of Alaska is practically worthless and uninhabit-
able, yet my labor has been in vain if I have not made
it appear that Alaska lacks not resources but develop-
ment. Scandinavia, her old-world counterpart, is pos-
sessed of far less natural wealth, and is far less grand
in natural configuration. In Alaska we can count
more than eleven hundred islands in a single group.
We can trace the second longest watercourse in the
world. We have large sections of territory where the
average yearly temperature is higher than that of
Stockholm or Christiania, where it is milder in win-
ter, and where the fall of rain and snow is less than in
the southern portion of Scandinavia.

It has often been stated that Alaska is incapable of
supporting a white population. The truth is, that her
resources, though some of them are not yet available,
are abundant, and of such a nature that, if properly
economized, they will never be seriously impaired.
The most habitable portions of Alaska, lying as they
do mainly between 55° and 60° n., are in about the
same latitude as Scotland and southern Scandinavia.
The area of this portion of the territory is greater than
that of Scotland and southern Scandinavia combined ;
and yet it contains to-day but a few hundred, and

PREFACE. Is

has never contained more than a thousand white
inhabitants; while the population of Scotland is about
three millions and a half, and that of Norway and
Sweden exceeds six millions.

The day is not very far distant when the coal meas-
ures and iron deposits of Scotland, and the mines and
timber of Scandinavia, will be exhausted ; and it is not
improbable that even when that day comes the re-
sources of Alaska will be but partially opened. Th«
little development that has been made of late years
has been accomplished entirely by the enterprise
and capital of Americans, aided by a few hundred
hired natives. Already with a white population of
five hundred, of whom more than four fifths are
non-producers, the exports of the territory exceed
$3,000,000 a year, or an average of $6,000 per capita.
Where else in the world do we find such results ?

It may be stated in answer that the bulk of these
exports comes from the fur-seal grounds of the Pry-
bilof Islands, which are virtually a stock-farm leased
by the government to a commercial company; but the
present value of this industry is due mainly to the
careful fostering and judicious management of that
company; and there are other industries which, if
properly directed, promise in time to prove equally
profitable. Apart from the seal-islands, and apart
from the trade in land-furs that is diverted by the
Hudson's Bay Company, the production of wealth
for each white person in the territory is greater than
in any portion of the United States or of the world.
This wealth is derived almost entirely from the land
and pelagic peltry, and from the fisheries of Alaska;
for at present her mines are little developed, and

i I

S PBEFAOB.

her forests almost intact. And yet w« are told that
the country is "without resources I

It may be supposed that for the history of such a
country as Alaska, whatever e^istiujtif information
there might be would be quite accessible and easily
obtained.

I have not found it specially sa Hero, as elsewhere
in my historic fields, there were three classes of mate-
rial which might be obtained : first, public and private
archives; second, printed books and documents; and
third, personal experiences and kuowledge taken from
the mouths of living witnesses.

Of the class last named there are fewer authorities
here than in any other part of my territory north of
latitude 32°, though proportionately more than south
of that line; and this notwithstanding three distinct
journeys to that region by my Aff it— a man thor-
oughly conversant with Alaskan affairs, and a Rus-
sian by birth — for the purpose of gathering original
and verbal information. All places of historical im-
portance were visited by him, and all persons of his-
torical note still living there were seen and ques-
tioned. Much fresh information was thus obtained;
but the result was not as satisfactory as has been the
case in some other quarters^

The chief authorities in print for the earlier epochs
are in the Russian language, and published for the
most part in Russia; covering the later periods, books,
liave been published — at various times in Europe and
America, as will be seen by my list of authorities—
a^d have been gathered in the usual way.

The national archives, the most important of all

PREFACE. 4

sources, are divided, part being in Russia and part in
America, though mostly in the Russian language.
Some four or five years were occupied by my assist-
ants and stenographers in making abstracts of mate-
rial in Sitka, San Francisco, and Washington. For
valuable codperation in gaining from the archives of
St Petersburg such material as I required, I an^ pe-
cially indebted to my esteemed friend M. Pinart, and
to the leadiiig t^ieii of letters and cortain officials m
the R 3ian capital, from whom I have r'^ceived every
courtesy.

Vr^

coiirrENTS OF this volume.

CHAPTER I.

INTBODDCTOET.

FAA*

Russia's Share in America — Physical Features of Alaska — Confignratioii
and Climate — The Southern Crescent — The Tumbled Mountains —
Volcanoes and Islands — Vegetation — California-Japan Current — Arc-
tic Seaboard and the Interior — Condition and Character of the Rus-
sians in the Sixteenth Century — Serfs, Merchants, and Nobles — The
Fur Currency — Foreign Commercial Relations — England in the
White and Caspian Seas — Eastern Progress of the Russian Empire —
The North-east Passage 1

CHAPTER n.

THE CENTUBT iURCH OT THE COSSACKS.

1578-1724.

Siberia the Russian Canaan — From the Black and Caspian Seas over the
Ural Mountains— Stroganof, the Salt-miner — Visit of Yermak -
Occupation of the Ob by the Cossacks — Character of the Conquer-
ors—Their Ostrog on the Tobol— The Straight Line of March thence
to Okhotsk on the Pacific — The Promyshleniki — Lena River Reached
— Ten Cossacks against Ten Thousand — Yakutsk! Ostrog— Explora-
tion of the Amoor— Discoveries on the Arctic Seaboard — Ivory ver-
sus Skins — The Ivuid of the Chukchi Invaded — Okhotsk Estab-
lished — Kamchatka Occupied — Rumors of Realms Beyond 14

CHAPTER in.

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

1725-1740.
Purposes of Peter the Great — An Expedition Organized — Sets out from
St Petersburg — Death of the Tsar — His EflForts Seconded by Cath-
erine and Elizabeth— Bering and Chirikof at Kamchatka — They
Coast Northward through Bering Strait and Prove Asia to bo Sepa-
rated from America — Adventures of Shostakof — Expeditious of Hens,

(xlU)

xiT

CONTENTS.

tjum

Fedorof, and Gvozdef — America Sighted — Organization of the Sec-
ond (General Expedition — ^Bibliography — Personnel of the Expedi-
tion — Bering, Chirikof, Spanberg, Walton, Croy6re, Steller, Miiller,
Fisher, and Others— Rnssian Religion — Easy Morality — Model Mis-
sionaries — The Long Weary Way across Siberia — Charges against
Bering— Arrival of the Expedition at Okhotsk 35

CHAPTER IV.

DISCOVEBT OF ALASKA.

Ii4a-1741.
The Day of Departure— ^\rrivBl of Imperial Despatches — ^They Set Sail
from Okhotsk — The 8v Petr and the Sv Pavel — Bering's and
Chirikof's Respective Cor-jnands — Arrival at Kamchatka — Winter-
ing at Avatoha Bay — Embarkation — HI Feeling between Chirikof
and Bering — The Final Parting in Mid-ocean — Adventures of Chiri-
kof — He Discovers the Mainland of America in Latitude 55° 21' —
The Magnificence of his Surroundings — A Boat's Grew Sent Ashors
— Another Sent to its Assistance — ^All Lost I — Heart-sick, Chirikof
Hovers about the Place— And is Finally Driven Away by the Wind
— He Discovers Unalaska, Adakh, and Attoo— The Presence of Sea-
otters Noticed — Sickness — Return to Avatcha Bay — Death of Croy^ra
-Illness of Chirikof 63

CHAPTER V.

DKATH OT BXRINO.

1741-1742.

Discovery by Rule — ^The Land not where It ought to be — The Avatcha
Council should Know — Bering Encounters the Mainland at Mount
St Eliaa — Claims for the Priority of Discovery of North-westernmost
America — Kyak Island— Scarcity of Water— The Return Voyage —
Illness of Bering — Longings for Home — Kadiak — Ukamok — Sickness
and Death — Intercourse with the Natives — Waxel's Adventure-
Vows of the Dane — Amchitka, Kisbka, Semich'), and other Island*
Seen — At Bering Island — Wreck of tLe Sv Petr — Death of Bering
— Gathering Sea-otter Skins — The Survivors Build a Small Sv Petr
from the Wreck — Return to Kamchatka — Second Voyage of Chirikof.

CHAPTER VI.

THB 8WAKMIN0 OW TiUC PBOMTSHLKNIKI.

1743-1762.
Effect of the Discovery in Siberia— Hunting Expeditions in Search of
Sea-otters— Voyages of Bassof, Nevodchikof , and Yugof— Rich Har-
vciits of Sea-otter and Fur-seal Skius from the Aleutian Archipelago

CONTENTS.

«t

ttam

— The Conniiig Promyshleniki and the Mild Islanders — ^The Old
Tale of Wrong and Atrocity — Bloodshed on Attoo Island — Early
Monopolies — Chuprof's and Kholodilof's Adventures — Russians De-
feated on Unalaska and Amlia — Yugof's Unfortunate Speculation
— Further Discovery — The Fate of Golodof — Other Adventures

VAOB

CHAPTER Vn.

rn&THEB ADVBNTUaES OF THE PBOUTSHLENIKI.

1760-1767.
Tolstykh's Voyage — Movements of Vessels — Staehlin's Map — Wreck of
the Andreian i Natalia — Catherine Speaks — A Company Formed
— Collecting Tribute — The Neiie Nachrichten — Voyage of the Zah-
har % Elizaveta — Terrible Retaliation of the Unalaskans — Voyage
of the Sv Troitska — Great Sufferings — Fatal Onskught — Voyage
of Glottof — Ship Nomenchiture — Discovery of Kadiak — New Mode
of Warfare— The Old Man's Tale— Solovief's Infamies— The Okhotsk
Government — More St Peters and St Paula — Queen Catherine and the
Merchant Nikoforof — End of Private Fur-honting Expeditions....

127

■I

CHAPTER Vni.

IKFEKIAL BITOaTS AMD VAII.TmE8.

1764-1779.
Synd's Voyage in Bering Strait — Staehlin's Peculiar Report — The Grand
Government Expedition — Promotions and Rewards on the Strength
of Prospective Achievements — Catherine is Sure of Divine Favor —
Very Secret Instructions — Heavy Cost of the Expedition — The Long
Journey to Kamchatka — Dire Misfortunes There — Results of the
Effort — Death of the Commander — Journals and Reports — More Mer-
cantile Voyages — The Ships Sv Nikolai, Sv Andrei, Sv Prolcop, and
Others — ^The Free and Easy Zaiikof — His Luck 157

CHAPTER IX.

BXPLORATION AND ICRADK.

1770-1787.
Political Changes at St Petersburg— Exiles to Siberia — The Long Weary
Way to Kamchatka — The Benyovski Conspiracy — The Author Bad
Euougli, but not So Bad as He would Like to Appear — Exile Regula-
tions — Forgery, Treachery, Robbery, and Murder — Escape of the
Exiles — Bohm Appointed to Succeed Nilof as Commandant of Kam-
chatka — Further Hunting Voyages — First Trading Expedition to the
Mainland — Potop ZaiLof — Prince William Sound — Ascent of Copper

vri

CONTENTb.

PAH

River— Treacherous Chugaohes— Plight of the RuBsians — Homeof th 3
Fur-seals— Its Discovery by Gerassiin Pribylof — Jealousy of Rival
Companies 17S

CHAPTER X.

OVFIOIAL EXPLORATIONS.

177»-1779.
Russian Supremacy in the Farthest North-west — The Other European
Powers would Know Whnt It Means — Perez Looks at Alaska for
Spain — The Santiago at Dixon Entrance — Cuadra Advances to
Cross Sound— Cook for England Examines the Coast as Far as Icy
Cape — Names Given to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet — Rev-
elations and Mistakes — Ledyard's Journey— Again Spain Sends to
the North Arteaga, Who Takes Possession at Latitude 59° 8'— Bay of
La Santisima Cruz — Results Attained 101

CHAPTER XI.

COLONIZATION AND THB FUB-TRADB.

1783-1787.
First Attempted Settlement of the Russians in America — Voyage of Grl-
gor Shelikof — Permanent Establishment of the Russians at Kadiak —
Return of Shelikof— His Instructions to Samoilof, Colonial Command-
er — The Historic Sable and Otter — Skins as Currency — Trapping
and Tribute-collecting — Method of Conducting the Hunt — Regula-
tions of the Peredovchiki — God's Sables and Man's — Review of the
Fur-trade on the Coabtsof Asia and America — Pernicious System In-
troduced by the Prouiyshleuiki — The China Market— Foreign Ri-
vals and their Method — Abuse of Natives — Cook's and Vancouver's
Opinions of Competition with the Russians — Extirpation of Ani-
mals

'i-j2

CHAPTER Xn.

FOREIGN VISITORS.

1786-1794.

French Interest in the North-west — La P^rouse's Examination — Discov-
ery of Port des Franpais — A Disastrous Survey — English Visitors —
Meares is Caught in Prince William Sound— Terrible Struggles with
the Scun^y — Portlock and Dixon Come to the Rescue — Their Two
Years of Trading and Exploring — Ismailof and Bocharof Set Forth
to Secure the Claims of Russia — A Treacherous Chief— Yakutat
Bay Explored — Traces of Foreign Visitors Jealously Suppressed —
Spain Resolves to Assert Herself — Martinez and Haro's Tour of In-
yestigation — Fidalgo, Marcliand, and CaamaQo — Vancouver's Expe-
dition 255

CONTENTS.

xrU

CHAPTER Xm.

THE BILLINGS SCIENTinO EXFESITIOM'.

1786-1793.

VAm

Flattering Prospects — Costly Outfit — The Usual Years of Freparation-
An Expectant World to be Enlightened — Oathering of the Expedi-
tion at Kamchatka — Divers Winterings and Ship-building — Prelim-
inary Surveys North and South — At Unalaaka and Kadiak — Russian
Rewards — Periodic Promotion of Billings — At St Lawrence Island —
Billings' Land Journey — Wretched Condition of Russian Hunters —
End of the Tribute System — Result of the Expedii Ion — Sarychef'a
Surveys — Shelikof 's Duplicity — Priestly Performance 282

CHAPTER XrV.

OBOANIZATION OF MONOFOLT.

1787-1795.
Shelikof's Grand Conception — Governor-general Jacobi Won to the
Scheme — Shelikof's Modest Request — Alaska Laid under Monopoly
— Stipulations of the Empress — Humane Orders of Kozlof-Ugrenin
— Public Instructions and Secret Injunctions — Delarof 's Administra-
tion — Shelikof Induces Baranof to enter the Service of his Com-
pany — Career and Traits of the New Manager — Shipwreck of Ba-
ranof on Uualaska — Condition of the Colony — Rivalry and Other
Troubles — Plans and Recommendations — Engagement with the Kal-
jushes — Ship-building — The Englishman Shields — Launch and Trib-
ulations of the Phoenix 305

CHAPTER XV.

STRIFE BETWEKM B'VAL COMPANIES.

1791-1794.
The Lebede. Compaay Occupies Cook Inlet — Quarrels between the Lebe-
def and Shelikof Companies — Hostilities in Cook Inlet — Comr/laints
of Kolomin against Konovalof — War upon Russians ant'' Indians
Alike — Life of the Marauders — Pacific Attitude of Barar of — His Pa-
tience Exhausted — Playing the Autocrat — Arrest of tlie Ringleaders
— Effect on the Natives — Baranof's Speech to liis Hunters — Expedi-
tion to Yakutat — Meeting with Vancouver — The Lebedef Company
Circumvented — Troubles with Kaljushes — Purtof's Resolute Conduct
— Zaikof's Expedition 334

CHAPTER XVI.

OOLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

1794-1796.
Mechanics and Missionaries Arrive at Pavlovsk — Ambitious Schemes of
Colc<nization — Agricultural Settlement Founded on Yakutat Bay —
Shipwreck, Famine, and Sickness — Golovuiu's Report on the Affairs

xviU

CONTENTS.

rial

of the Shelikof Company — Discontont of the Missionaries — Com-
plaints of the Archimandrite — Father Makar in Unalaska— Father
Juvenal in Kadiak— Divine Service at Three Saints — Juvenal's Voy-
age to Ilyamna — His Reception and Missionary Labors— He Attempts
to Aboliah Polygamy — And Falls a Victim to an Ilyamna Damsel —
He is Butchered by the Natives 361

CHAPTER XVn.

THE EVSSIAK ASURIOAN OOHPAKT.

1796-1799.

Threatened Exhaustion of the Seal-fisheries— Special Privileges Given to
Siberian Merchants — Shelikof Petitions for a Grant of the Entire
North-jveat — He is Supported by Rezanof— Muilnikof 's Enterprise —
The United American Company — Its Act of Consolidation Confirmed
by Imperial Oukaz — And its Name Changed to the Russian Ameri-
can Company — Text of the Oukaz— Obligations of the Company. . . . 875

CHAPTER XVni.

VBX irotrNDiKo or sitka.
179»-1801.
Baranofs Difficulties and Despondency — Sick and Hopeless — Arrival of
the Elizaveta— An Expedition Sails for Norfolk Sound — Loss of
Canoes— The Party Attacked by Kolosh— Treaty with the Sitkans —
Yankee Visitors— A Port Erected— The Yakutat Bay Settlement—
Baranof Desires to be Relieved— His Official Tour of the Colonies —
The Chief Manager's Piety — His CompUints of Foreign Encroach-
ments — British Aggressiveness 384

CHAPTER XIX.

TBJI SITKA MABSAORIL
180S.
Rumors of Revolt among the Kolosh— They Attack Fort Sv Mikhail-
Testimony of Abrossim Plotuikof — And of Ekaterina Lebedef —
Sturgis' Equivocal Statement— Captain Barber as a Philanthropist —
Khlebnikof's Version of the Massacre— Secret Instructions to Bara-
nof— Tidings from Unalaska— Further Promotion of the Chief Man-
ager—He Determines to Recapture Sitka— Preparations for the K;q>e-
dition 401

CHAPTjiR XX.

BITKA RECAPTtrKKD.

1803-1805.
The NadesMa and Neva Sail from Kronstadt— Llsiansky Arrives aft
Norfolk Sound in the .ATeva— Baranof Sets Forth from Yakutat —
fiis Narrow Escape from Shipwreck— He Joins Forces with Lisianakj

CONTENTS. idi

PAoa
— Fruitless Negotiations — Defeat of the Russians — The Fortress Bom-
barded — And Evacuated by the Savages — The Natives Massacre
their Children — Lisiansky's Visit to Kadiak — His Description of the
Settlements — AKolosh Embassy — A Dinner Party at Novo Arkhan-
gelsk — The Neva's Homeward Voyage — Bibliography » 421

CHAPTER XXI.

bezanof's viaiT.
1804-1806.
Voyage of the Nadeshda — A Russian Embassy Dismissed by the Japan-
ese — Rezanof at St Paul Island — Wholesale Slaughter of Fur-seals —
The Ambassador's Letter to the Emperor — The Envoy Proceeds to
Kadiak — And Thence to Novo Arkhangelsk — His Report to the
Russian American Company — Further Trouble with the Kolosh —
The Ambassador's Instructions to the Chief Manager — Evil Tidings
from Kadiak — Rezanof's Voyage to CaUfomia — His Complaints
against Naval Officers — His Opinion of the Missionaries — His Last
Journey 443

CHAPTER XXn.

BSVKN HORK YBAKS ur ALASK,Alf ANMAI4.

1806-1812.
Ship-building at Novo Arkhangelsk — The Settlement Threatened by
Kolosh— A Plot against the Chief Manager's Life — The Conspira-
tors Taken by Surprise — Arrival of Golovnin in the Sloop-of-war
Diana — His Description of the Settlement — Astor's Vessel, the
Enterprise, at Novo Arkhangelsk — Negotiations for Trade — Golov-
nin 's Account of the Matter — Faruum's Journey from Astoria
to St Petersburg — Wreck of the /wno -bufferings of her Crew, . . . 461

CHAPTER XXIII.

I'OfiEION VENTURB8 AND THE BOSS COLONT.
1803-1841.

Baranofs, Want of Means — O'Cain's Expedition to California—And to
Japan — The Mercury at San Diego — Trading Contracts with Ameri-
can Skippers — Kuskof on the Coast of New Albion — The Ross
Colony Founded— Seal-hunting on the Coast of California — Ship-
building — Agriculture — Shipments of Cereals to Novo Arkhangelsk —
Horticulture — Stock-raising— Losses Incurred by the Company —
Hunting-post Established at the Farallones — Failure of the Enter-
prise — Sale of the Colony's Efiects 476^

IT-

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV.

VOKTBKR ATTEMPTS AT FOEEION COLOMIZATIOW.

1808-1818.

VAaa

Hagemeister in the Sandwich Islands — Baranof Again Desires to be Re-
lieved — Eliot Sails for California in the Ilmtn — His Captivity —
Kotzebue in the Rurik in Search of a North-east Passage — His Ex-
plorations in Kotzebne Sound — He Proceeds to Unalaska — And
thence to California and the Sandwich Islands — King Kamehameha
— A Stonn in the North T-cifio— The Rurik Returns to Unalaska
— Her Homeward Voyage— Bennett's Trip to the Sandwich Islands —
Captain Lozaref at Novo Arkhangelsk — His Disputes with the Chief
Manager — Sheflfer Sails for Hawaii — And thence for Kauai — His
Agreement with King Tomari — Jealousy of American and English
Traders— Flight of the Russians 490

CHAPTER XXV.

CLOSE or BABANOF'S ADHINI3TRATI0N.

1810-1821.
Hagemeister Sails for Novo Arkhangelsk — He Supersedes Baranof —
Transfer of the Company's Efifects — The Accounts in Good Order —
Sickness of the Ex-manager — Baranof Takes Leave of the Colonies —
His Death— Remarks of Khlebnikof and Others on Baranof — Kora-
sokovsky's Expedition to the Kuskokvim— Roquefenil's Voyage —
ilassacre of his Hunters — Further Explorations — Dividends and In-
crease of Capital — Commerce — Decrease in the Yield of Furs — The
Company's Servants 510

Rtt?«

HI L«\

CHAPTER XXVI.

SECOND PERIOD OF THE RUSSIAN AMERICAM COMPANT'S OPERATIONS.

1821-1842.
Golovnin's Report on the Colonies— The Company's Charter Renewed —
New Privileges Granted — Mouravief Appointed Governor — Alaska
Divided into Districts — Threatened Starvation — Chiatiakof Super-
sedes Mouravief — Foreign Trade Prohibited — The Anglo-Russian
and Russo-American Treaties — More Explorations — Wrangell's Ad-
ministration'— He is Succeeded by Kupriauof — Disputes with the
Hudson's Bay Company— Their Adjustment — Fort Stikeen — Etholen
Appointed Governor — A Small-pox Epidemic — Statistical SM

CHAPTER XXVn.

THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

1842-1866.
The Charter Renewed— Its Provisions— The Affair at Petropavlovsk—
Outbreaks among the Natives— The Nulato Massacre— A Second
Massacre Threatened at Novo Arkhangelak— Explorations — Tho

CONTENTS.

PAaa

Western Union Telegraph Company — Weetdahl's Experience — The
Company Requests Another Renewal of its Charter — Negotiations
with the Imperial Government— Their Failure — Population — Food
Supplies— The Yield of Furs— Wlialing— Dividends— Trade— Bib-
liographical 568

490

CHAPTER XXVin.

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

1867-1883.
Motives for the Transfer by the Russian Government — Negotiations Com-
menced—Senator Cole's Efforts — The Treaty Signed and Ratified —
Reasons for and against the Purchase — The TerritOi^y as an Invest-
ment — Its Formal Cession — Influx of American Adventurers — Meas-
ures in Congress — A Country without Law or Protection — Evil Effect
of the Military Occupation — An ^meute at Sitka — Further Troubles
with the Natives — Their Cause — Hootchenoo, or Molasses-rum — Rev-
enue—Suggestions for a Civil Government — Want of MaU Facilities
— Surveys and Explorations

600

610

CHAPTER XXIX.

COMMERCE, BEVENUE, AND FUBS.

1868-1884.
Imports and Exports — Cost of Collecting Revenue — The Hudson's Bay
Company — Smuggling — The Alaska Commercial Company — It Ob-
tains a Lease of the Prybilof Islands — The Terms of the Contract
— Remuneration and Treatment of the Natives — Their Mode of Life
— Investigation into the Company's Management — Statements of
Robert Desty — And of the Secretary of the Treasury — Increase in
the Value of Furs — Remarks of H. W. Elliott — Landing of the Fur-
seals — Their Combats — Method of Driving and Slaughtering — Cur-
ing, Dressing, and Dyeing — Sea-otters — Land Peltry

630

CHAPTER XXX.

FISHERIES.

1867-1884.

Salmon Packing— Price and Weight of the Raw Fish — Yukon River
Salmon — Alaskan Canneries — Domestic Consumption and Waste —
The Cod-banks of Alaska — Large Increase in the Catch of Cod-fish
and Decrease in its Value — The Halibut-fisheries — Herring and Her-
ring-oil — Mackerel — The Eulachon or Candle-fish — Value and Pros-
pects of the Alaskan Fisheries — Whaling Enterprise — The North
Pacific Whaling Fleet — Gradual Decrease in the Catch — Threatened
Exhaustion of the Whaling-grounds 660

i!l;i

CXJNTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXI.

nmLXUKITTS, AOSIOULTURK, 8IIIP-BniI.Pnn}, AITD mSTHO.

1794-1884.

FAOa

Sitka during the Ruuian Occupation — The Town Half Deaerted — Social
Life at the Capital — The Sitka Library — Newspapers — Fort Wran-
gell — Tongass — Harrisburg — Settleni«;. .ta on Cook Inlet — Kudiak —
Wood Island — Spruce Island — Three Saints — Afognak — The Aleutian
Islands — Volcanio Bruptions and Earthquakes — Saint Michael— Fort
Yukon — Agriculture— Stock-raisings — Timber — Ship-building — Coal-
mining-Petroleum, Copper, Quicksilver, Lead, and Sulphur-Silver
and Gold 671

CHAPTER XXXn.

0HUBCHX8, SOHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

1795-1884.
The First Chnrches in Russian America>— A Diocese Established — Veni-
aminof— The SitI Cathedral- Conversionof the Indiana — The Clergy
Held in Contempt— Protestant Missions — Schools — The Sitka Semi-
nary — The General Colonial Institute — Meteorological — Diseases —
Hospitals — The Company's Pensioners — Creoles — Bibliographical. . . . i

CHAPTER XXXni.

ALASKA AS A OITIL AND JCDIOIAL DISXBIOI.

1883-1886.
The Organio Act— A Phuitom of Civil Gtovemmeni— Propoaed IndiMH
B«servation8 — Educational Matters — Appointment of United StatM
Officials— Report of Governor Kinkead — His Successor Appointed—
Sohwatka's Voyage on a Raft— Everette's Exploration— Stoney'a
Bzpedition— Mining on the Yukon and its Tributaries— The Takoo
Mines—The Treadwell Lod»— Fisheries— Commeroe and Navigatun 717

.' «

AUTHOEITIES QUOTED

THE HISTORY OF ALASKA. ;

Acta Petropolitana, 1750 et seq. In Lib- rr of Consresa.

Akademie der Wisaenschaften Sitzungsbenchto und Abhandlungen. Bwlin,

1850 et seq.
Alaska, Archives from Unalaska and St Paul. MS.
Alaska, Army Sketches by an Officer of the U. S. Navy. In Army and

Navy Journal, 1868-9.
Alaska, History of the Wrongs of. San Francisco, 1875.
Alaska, Report of the Icelandic Committee. Washington, 1875.
Alaska, Traders' Protective Association. San Francisco, 1869.
Alaska Commercial Company, Alaska Fur-Seal, n.pl., n.d. ; By-laws. S. F.,

1870; Extraordinary Developments in regard to the Monopoly, n.pl., l d.
Alaska Commercial Company, Taylor vs A. C. Co. [12th Dist. Court, 187<].

MS.
Alaska Fur-Seal Fisheries, Letter of the Secretary of the Treasury [41st

Cong., 2d Sess., H. Ex. Doc, 129]. Washington, 1870.
Alaska Scrap Book, 1868-76, by Agapius Honcbarenko. 2 vols.
Alaska Ship Building Company, Petition praying for grant of certain lands

[43d Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Mis., 13.] Washington, 1875.
Albany (Or. ) Register.
Alegre (Francisco Javier), Historia de la Compafiia de Jesus en Nueva Eapafiia.

Mexico, 1841. 3 vols.
Alturas (Cal.), Modoc Independent.

Alvanwlo (Juan Bautista), Hiatoria de California. MS. 6 vols.
American Geographical and Statistical Society. New York, 1850 et seq.
American Quarterly Review. Philadelphia, 1827 et seq.
American State Papers. Boston, 1817-19. 12 vols.; Washington, 1832-4;

1858-61. folio. 39 vols.
Anaheim (Cal. ), Gazette.
Anderson (Adam), Historical and Chronological Dedaction of the Origin of

Commerce. London, 1801. folio. 4 vols.
Anderson (Alexander C), Northwest Coast History. MS.
Anderson (Alexander C. ), Notes on Indian Tribes of British North America.

In Historical Mag., vii. 73.
Annals of Congress. [1st to 18th Congress.] Washington, 1834-56. 42 vols.
Antioch (Cal. ), Ledger.

Apost^licos Afanes de la Compafiia de Jesus. Barcelona, 1754.
.<lro6. Log-book. 1821-5. MS. .,■''..,.

Archivo del Arzobispado de San Francisco. MS. 5 vols. •' -

Hut. Alaska. 3* (nlill

Jtxir

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

Archivo de California. MS. 273 vols., and a great mass of loose papcra.

DocumonU preserved in the U. 8. Survevor-generars office at San tnui'

CISCO. Copies in my Collection. Divided aa followi: Prov. St. Pap.}

Prov. Rec. ; Dept. St. Pap.; Dent. Rec.
Archivu de las Misionas. MS. *2 vols.
Archivo del Obispado de Monterey y Loa Angelea. MS.
Archivo de Suatn Bdrbara. MS. 1 1 vols.
Armstrong (Alexander), Personal Narrative of the DisooTery of the North*

west Passage. London, 1857.
Arteaga (Ignacio), Tercera Explorocion, 1770. MS.
Astoria |Ur.), Astorian.
Atahiial/ia. Journal of the Ship. MS. In Librarj of Department of State.

Washington, D. C.
Atlantic Monthly. Boston, 1868 et seq.
Azanza (Virey), Vnstruccion, 1800. MS.

Baer (Karl Fr. Ton), See Wrangell (Contre Admiral V.), Statistiaehe, etc.
Baird (Spencer F.), Fish and Fisheries [41st Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Mis. Doc.,

108; 45th Cong., 2d Sess , Son. Mis. Doc, 40J. Washington, 1870, 1877.
Balbi (Adrien), Introduction h I'Atlaa •thBOffraphiquo du globe. Paris, 1826.
Bancroft (Hubert Howe), History of the Pacific States of North America.

San Francisco, 1882 «t aeq. 28 vols. ; Nativs Races of tha Pacific States.

New York, 1875. & voU.
Bancroft Librarv, MS. Scrap-books, containing classified notes ussd in writ*

ing Bancroft's works.
Barmnova (Alek. A.), ShimeopisaDiai. [Biography.] St Petersburg, 18.35.
Barber (John), and Henry Howe. History of Western States aud Teni<

torics. Cincinnati, 1867.
Barrington (Dailies), Miscellanies. London, 1781.
Barrow (J.), Cook's Voyages of Discovery. London, 1871.
Bashmakof (B^eodor), Papers relating to Trial for Sorcery, 1820. MS.
Bayly (William), The Original Astronomical Obaervationa made by Capt.

Cook and Lieut. Jaa. King, 1770-^. Londoo, 1782. 4to.
Beaman (C. C), Our New Northwest. In Harper's Monthly. July, 1807.
Beardslee (L. A.), Report on coadition of afiairs in i^loaka [4Ath Cong., 2il

Sess., Sen. Ex. Doc., lOft]. Washington, 1880.
Beechey (F. W.), Narraiive of Voyage to the Pacific, ets., in 1825-8.

London, I8ai, 2 vols.; Pbiladi >hia, 1832.
Beechey (F. W.), Zoology of Voyag'o See Richardson (J. ) et al.
Belcher (Edward), Narrative of a Vo ' > round the World in 1836-42. Lon*

don, 1843. 2 vols.
Bell (Jnmes), A System of Geography. '"gow, 1836. 6 vols.

Bell (W. C), The Quiddities of an Alaska, ^rip. Portland, Or., 1873.
Belmont (Nev.), Courier.
Benton (ThOTias H.K Abridgment of Debate in Congress, 1750-1856. New

York, 1857-63. Iftvola.
Benyovski (Maurice A. ), Memoirs and Travels. London, 1700.
Berens (Evgeni A.), Puteshestvie kortiblaR. A. Kompaniy liikelai. [Voyage

of the Russian American Company's ship Nikolai, 1837-0.] InZapiwi

Hydr. viii.
Berg (Vaasili), Khronologiche8ka.)(a latoriA. [Chronological History of tha

Discovery of the Aleutian Islands.] St Petersburg, 1820.
Berry (M. P.), Developments in Alaska. MS.
Bidwell (John), California, 1841-8. MS.
Bigland ( JohnK A Qaographieail and Hiatorical View of the World. London,

1810. 5 vols.
Blachke (L. ), Topogruahia modicaportUB Novo-Archangelsoenau. Fetropoli,

1842-8.
Blagdon (Francis WiUiABt), Tha Modan Oaograpber. London, n.d. 5 vola.

AlTfRORlTIRS QUOTED.

tt*

Blake (Theodore A. ), Oeneral Topomphtcftl and Geological Featnrea of NortlW
woitcrn L'oaat of America [40th Cong., 2d Sesa., H. Ex. Doc., 177.]
Washington, 1868.

Blaku (William P.), Oeographical Notes upon Rusaian America. Waahing-
ton, 18(18.

Blodgott (Loring), AUmka, what is it worth ? In Lippincott'a Mav. i. 1866.

Rloodgood (C. D.), Eight Months in. Sitka. InOrerland Monthly, Feb. I8«».

Ikniuga y Cuadra (Juan Francisco), Comento do la Navegacion, 1775. M8.

Bo<lega y Cuadra (Juan F'- -rcisco), Navegacion y Descubrimiento, 1770.
MS.

Bodega y Cuadra (Juan Fi-ancisco), Segunda Salida, 1779. MS.

Bodega y Cnadr» (Juan Francisco), Tiage de 1775. M9.

Boone (J. H. A.), Russian America. In Atlantic Monthly, Jrrae, IMT.

Boston (Mass.), Daily Advertiser, Evening Transcript, Herald.

Boston in the Northwest, Solid Men of. MS.

Brockett (L. P.), Our Westeni Empire. Philadelphia, etc., 1881.

Brooks (Charles Wolcott), Japanese Wrecks In North Pacific Ocean. San
Francisco, 1876.

Brouchton (William R.), A Voyage of Dltcovery at the North Pacific Ocean.
London, 1804.

Browne (J. Ross), Lower California. See Taylor, Alex. 8. ; Report upon the
Mineral Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky
Mountains. Washington, 1867; Washington, 1868; San Francisco, 1868.

Bryant (Charles), and H. II. Mclntyre, Report on Alaska. [4l8t Cong., 2d
Sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 3-'.] Washington, 1869.

Bnrke (Edmund), An Account of the European Settlements in Amerieai
London, 1780. 2 vols.; Id., 1770. 2 vols.

Bumey (James), Chronological History of North Eastern Voyages of Dis-
covery. London, 1819.

Buschinan ( Juh. Carl), Die Pima-Spntche und die Sprache der Koloschen, ete.
[Berlin, 1850.] 4to.

Busse, Junial Flir Russland. St Petersborg, 1794.

Bustamante (Cilrlos Maria), Snplemento & Im Trea Siglos de CaTO» Jalapa,

, 1870.

lutler (William F.), The Wild North Land. Philadelphia, 1874.

California, Establecimiento y Progresos do las Misiones de la Antigua Cali-
fornia. In Doc. Hist. Mex. , seric iv. torn. iv.
California, Journals of Assembly and Senate, Ist to 24th session*;, 1850-81;

with Appendices — 103 volumes i,. all.
Calvo (Charles), Rocueil Complet des Trait^s de t'Am^rique Latlne. Paris',

1862-9. 16vob.
Camp (David W.), American Year Book. Hartford, 1869.
Campbell (Archibald), A Voyage round the World from 1809-12. E^bnrgt!;

1816; Roxbnry, 1825.
Campbell (Joseph B. ), Letter concerning importation of breech-loading rifles.

[44th Cong., Ist Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 83.] Washington, 1876.
Cancelada (Joan Lopez), Ruina de la Nueva Espafio. Cadis, 1811; TeMgrofo

Mexicano. Cadiz, 1813 et seq.
Carr (John A.), Communications to See. of War in relation to illicit traffic in

liquor. [43d Cong., 2d Sess. Sen Docs. 24, 27. J WashIhgtoH, 1875.
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Cartas Edificantes, y Curiosas. Madrid, 1753-7. 16 vols.
Cartography of the Pacific States. San Francisco, 1873. MS. S Tols;
Costaaares (Manuel), Coleccion de documentos relati!vos al departunento de

Califomiaa. Mexico, 1846.
Castro (Manuel), Documentos para la Historia de Galilomia. MS. 2 toU.
Castroville (Cal.), Argns.
CatalA (Magin), Gartft sobre Nootk% 1794. Wk

1 i'

m
•III,

Ilia

!'l ill

ill

x^vi

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

CSiamisso (Louis Charles A. ron), Adelbert von Chamisso's Werke. Vierto

Auflage. Berlin, 1856. 6 toIs. ; Reise included in preceding.
Choppe d'Auteroche, Voyage en Sib^rie. Paris, 1768. .3 vols.; Amsterdam,

1770. 2 vols.
Chateaubriand (F. A.), Voyages en Am^rique. Paris, 1865.
Chicago (111. ), Inter-Ocean, Tribune.
Chirikof (Alexei), Zhumal Puteshestvia. [Journal of Voyages.] In Imperial

Naval Archives. St. Petersburg. Bundle xvi.
Chistiakof (Peter Y.), Puteshestvie korabla R. A. Kompaniy Elena. [Voyage

of the Russian American Company's ship £Jlena 1824-6.] In Zapiski

Hydr. viii.
Choris (Louis), Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde. Paris, 1822. folio.
Clavigero (Francisco Saverio), Storia dolla California. Venezia, 1789. 2

vols.
Cleveland (Richard J.), Narrative of Voyages. Cambridge, 1842. 2 vols.;

Boston, 1850.
Coffin (James Henry), Winds of the Globe. Washington, 1875.
Coleccion de Documentos In^ditos para la Hiscoria de Espafia. Madrid,

1842-80. 71 vols. [S. F. Law Library.]
Collinsou (R.), Account of the Proceedings of H. M. S. Enterprise from Beh-

ring Strait to Cambridge Bay. In Lond. Geog. Soc, Jour. xxv. 194.
Columbia, Department of, General Orders. I860 ct seq.
Colyer (Vincent), Bombardment of Wrangell. Wash., 1870; Fur-seal Fish-
eries of Alaska [41st Cong. 2d Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 144.] Wash., 1870;

Report on Indian AfiFairs. n.pl., n.d.
Conant (Charles T.), Letter concerning the killing of fur-bearing animals. In

S. F. Bulletin, March 12, 1877.
Congressional Globe. Washington, 1836 et seq. 4to.
Congressional Record. Washington, 1874et8eq.
Cook (James), Troisifeme Voyage ^ 1 'Ocean Pacifique 1776-80. Paris, 1785.

4to. 4 vols.
Cook (James), Voyage to the Pacific Ocean 1776-80. London, 1784. 4to. 3

vols, plates in folio; London, 1784, 4to. 4 vols.; Philadelphia, 1818, 2

vols.
Cooley (W. D.), Maritime and inland discovery. London, 1830-1. 3 vols.
Coues (Elliott), Tlie Fur-bearing Animals of North America. Boiiton, 1877;

also inU. S. Geol. Surv. of the Territories. Haydeu, Mis. Pub. viii.
Coxe (William), Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and Amer-
ica. London, 1787.
Crespi (Juan), Diario do la Exjaedicion de Mar., 1774. In Palou, Not., i. 624.
Cronise (Titus Fey), Natui-al Wealth of California. San Francisco, 1868; Id.

with illustrations and corrections.

Dall (William Healey), Alaska and its resources. Boston, 1870; Is Alaska a

paying investment. In Harper's Monthly, Jan., 1872; Letter concerning

General Thomas' Alaska report. In Boston Daily Advertiser; Letter to

Elliott and Maynard on condition of affairs in Alaska. Wash., 1875; On
_ , the relative value of Alaska to the United States. In Wash. Philosop.

Soc. Bull., May 1871; Report upon the agricultural resources of Alaska.

Wash.. 1869; Report on Mt. St. Elias. In U. S. Coast Sirrrcy Rpt, 1875.
Dallas (A. G.), San Juan, Alaska and the north »vest boundary. London,

1873.
Dalles (Or.), Mountaineer.
Daly (Charles P,), Annual Address Jan. 25, 1870. In American Geog. and

Stat. Jour., vol. ii., pt. ii. Ixxxiii.
Davidof (Gavrila I.), Dvukratnoio Puteshestvie. [Two Voyages to America.]

St Petersburg, 1810. 2 vols.
Davidson (George), Coast Pilot of Alaska. Wash., 1869; Directory for Pacific

Coast. Wash., 1868; Scientific Expodition to Alaska. In Lippincott'a

Mag., 1808, Nov. 407.

AUTHORITIES QUOTEA

xxv«

Davis (Horace), Record of Japanese vessels driven upon Northwest Coast.

Worcester, 1872.
Davis (William H.), Glimpses of the Past in California. MS. 2 vols.
Dawson (George M, ), Note on some of the most Recent Changes in level c^

the Coast. Montreal, 1877.
Dease (Peter Warren), and Thomas Simpson, Account of Rece.it Arctic Dis-
coveries. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. viii. 213.
Delafield (John Jr. ), An Inquiry into the origin of the Antiquities of America.

Cincinnati, 1831'.
Departmental Records. MS. 14 vols. In Archivo de Cal.
Departmental State Papers. MS. 20 vols. In Archivo de Cal. ; Id. Benicia

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IS.

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Bt. MS.
68. StoU.
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made in the
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t2d Cong. l8t

»; [Vojrage of
1 Colonies; In
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844; London,

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[26th Cong.

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■ l"

xkx

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

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Pioche (Nev.), Record.

Placerville ((jal.), Mountain Democrat.

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Portland (Or.), Bee, Bulletin, Commercial, Deutcho Zeitung, Herald, Oregon
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Quarterly Review. Loudon, 180& el seq.

XXXIV

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

I 'i ' "ii

Radio (L.), Einigo Nachrichten liber die Sprache der Kaiganen. St Peters-

burc, 1858.
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In Hutchings' Mag., v. 26.3.
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Red Bluff (Cal.), Independent, Sentinel.
Revilla Gigedo (Virey), Informe de 12 Abril, 1793. In Bustamante Suple-

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Revue des Deux Mondes. Paris, 18.30 et seq.
Revue Orientate et Americaine. Paris, 18u9 ct seq.
Richardson (Sir John), Arctic Searching Expedition. London, 1851. 2 vols.;

The Polar Regions. Edinburgh, 1861.
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Rivinus (Edward F.), Atlantis, Journal des Neuesten und Wissenswiirdigsten

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Rocky Mountain Presbyterian. Denver, 1877 ct seq.
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[40th Cong., 2d Sess., H. Report 37.] Washington, 1868.
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■'fe

AUTHORITIES QUOTED,

XXX7

^ mercial Herald and Market Review, Evening Bulletin, Examiner, Golden
Era, Herald, Journal of Commerce, Mining and Scientific P;"<S8, News
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San Jos(^ (Cal. ), Argus, Mercury, Patriot, Santa Clara Argus.

Sankt Petersburger Kalcnder 1750, et seq.

San Luis Obispo (Cal.), Tribune.

Santa Barbara (Cal), Press.

Santa Clara (Cal.), News.

Santa Cruz (Cal. ), County Times, Sentinel.

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Seattle (Wash. ), Intelligencer, Pacific Tribune, Puget Sound Dispatch.

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MS. " ^ ^ ' ^

Sonora (Cal. ) Herald, Union Democrat.

ZXXTt

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

SoutheMtera Alaska, Memorial of the people to the President and CongreM

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Sonthern Quarterly Keview. New Orleans etc., 1842 ct seq.
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Sntil y Mexican*, Relacion del Viage hecho por las Qoletas. Madrid, 1802.

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Sutter (John A.), Examination of the Russian Grant. Sacramento, 186(k
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Syn Otochestva. [Son of the Fatherland.j St Petersburg, 1820 et seq.
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Teleskop (The Telescope). Moscow, 1825 et seq.

Thornton (J. Quinn), Oregon and California in 1848. N. Y., 1849. 2 vols.

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Tikhmencf (P.), Istoriclieskoie Obozrauie Obrazovanie Rossiysko Amerikan-
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Tilling, Reise un die Welt. Asohaffenburg, 1854

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TuBcarora(Nev.), Times Review.

Tuthill (Franklin), History of California. San Franoiaco, 186(1.

Twiss (Travers), The Oregon Question. London, 1846; The Oregon Terri-
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Ukiah (Cal.), Democratic Dispatch, Mendocino Demoorat, Mendocino Her-
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Union'rille (Nev.), Register.

ArTHORlTIES QUOTED.

xxxvii

nd Coflgreu

tplski Hydr.

o. London,

d., Miwiona

Frankfurt,
sburg, 1793.
iVaahington,

ablican.
g. , xiv. S32.
lOBsessiou of

o the U. S.

adrid, 1802.

to, 1860.

et seq.
rburg, 1820.

In Browne's
brary.]

ax American

i. StPeters-

,9. 2 volt.
;., 2d Seas.,

Amerikan-
ji Ariencan

vol*.

oyageofths

egon Terri-

i stations of
1872.
rery. Edin*

loeino Her*
Ion, 1790.

United StAtea CoMt and Geodetic Survey, C. P. Patterson Supt. Paciiio
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1 7 vols. J folio, 8 vols.

United States Geological Surveys of the Territories, F. V. Hayden. Annual
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United States Geological and Geographical Surveys, J. W. Powell. Contri-
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United States Government Documents. Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics,
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of Secretary, Postmaster General, Secretary of War, Signal Service Re>
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United States Government Documents. House Exec. Doc., House Journal,
House Miacel. Doc, House Reports of Com., Message and Documents,
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Vallejo (Jose de Jesus), Reminiscencias Histdrica. MS.

Vallejo (Mariano G.), Correspondencia Histdrica. MS.

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Walla Walla (Wash.), Statesman.

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r I I

'If

zxxviil

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

Whyinper (Frederick), Journey from Norton Sound to Fort Yukon. In Load.
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Wilkea (Charles), Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition. Fhiladel-
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Woodland (Cal.), News, Yolo Democrat.

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Wythe (W. T.), Cook's Inlet. In Overland, xiii. 64; Kodiakand Southern
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Yermolof { M. ), Extrait d'une note sur PAmerique msse. In Nouv. An. Voy. ,

cxi.
Yezhemesicchnaie Sochinenle [Monthly Magazine]. St Petersburg, 1750

et seq.
Yreka (Cal.), Journal, Union.
Yuba City (Cal.), Sutter Banner, Sutter County Sentinel.

Zabriskie (James C. ), The Public Land Laws of che U. S. Son Francisco,
1870; Supplement. San Francisco, 1877.

Zagoskin (A.), Pieshekhodnaia Opia Chasty Russkikh Vladeniy v Ameriku
[Pcdestiian Exploration of Parts of the Russian Possessions in Americn,
1842-4]. St Petersburtf, 1847, 2 vols.

Zaikof (Stepan), Kratkoie obozranie puteshestviy na Ostrovakh, etc. [Sum-
mary of the voyages to tlie islands situated between Asia and America. ]
In Sobranio Soch.

Zapbki Admiralteistkago Departamenta. [Journal of the Admiralty Depart-
ment.] St Petersburg, 1807 et seq.

Zapiski Hydrograticheskago Departamenta. [Journal of Hydrographio De-
partment.] St Petersburg, 1842 et seq.

Zapiaki Russkago GeograHcheskago Obshestva. [ T •iblicitions of the Russian
Geographical Society.] St Petersbur;*, I'MH et r;eq.

Zapiski ucheuago komiteta morskago shtaba. i^Joumal of Committee on In-
struction of Naval StaflF.] St Petersburr?, U'^Betseq.

Zarembo (Dionia F. ), Puteshestvie iz Khronihs^d oa do Sitkhi, 1840-4! . [Voy-
apo from Kronstadt to Sitka, 1840-41.] In Zapiski Hydr. viii.

Zavalishin (Dmitri I.), Dielo o Koloniy Ross (Affairs of the Ross Colony).
Moskow, 1866.

Zclcniy (N.), Correspondence. In Sitka Archives, MS., vols, i.-vii.

Zhumal departamenta narodnago prosvieshchenia. [Journal of the Depart-
ment 01 Public Instruction.] St Petersburg, 1822 et seq.

/^^

Ill

FISTORT OF AJLASKA.

CHAPTEK I.

INTRODUCTORY.
Rttssia's Shakb nr Ahebica — Phtsicaii Features of Alaska — Configuba-

TIOK AND CUMATB — ^ThE SoDTHEEN CeESCENT — ThE TUMBLED MOUN-
TAINS— VOLCANOES AND Islands — Vegetation— California-Japan Cur-
rent— Abctio Seaboard and the Interior — Condition and Charac-
ter OF THE Russians in the Sixteenth Century — Serfs, Merchants,
and Noblss— The Fur Currency — Foreign Commercial Relations —
England in rrtE White and Caspian Seas— Eastern Progress of
THE Russian >i;». 1 1 tu-— The North-east Passage.

In the gi sat f ^izure and partition of America by
European p» -ors there was no reason why Bussia
should not i^.^ (. a share. She was mistress in the
east ana north .< v'.ro France and Spain in the west
and south; she was as grasping ai'> Portugal and as
cold and cruel as England; and because she owned so
much of Europe and Asia in the Arctic, the desire
was only increased thereby to extend her broad belt
quite round the world. It was but a step across from
one contire'it to the other, and intercourse between
the prin , >ve peoples of the two had been common
from til if is iraemorial. It was but natural, I say, in
the gigair.'. robbery of half a world, that Russia
should have a share; and had she been quicker about
it, the belt might as well have been continued to
Greenland and Iceland.

Geographically, Alaska is the northern end of the

long Cordillera which begins at Cape Horn, extends

(1)

INTKOT^UCTORY.

through the two Americas, and is here joined by the
Nevada-Cascade range; the Coast Range from Lower
California breaking mto islands before reaching this
point. It iis not always and altogether that cold and
desolate region v Hioh sometimes has been pictured,
and which from i >~ ^tion we might expect. Its
configuration and i te are exceedingly varied.
The southern seaboaiu is comparatively mild and
habitable; the northern frigid and inhospitable.

Standing at Mount St Elias as the middle ci a cres-
cent, we see the shore-line stretching out in either
direction, toward the south-east and the south-west,
ending in the former at Dixon Inlet, and in the latter
sweeping off and breaking into mountainous islands as
it continues its course toward Kamchatka. It is a
most exceedingly rough and uncouth country, this
part of it; the shore-line being broken into fragments,
with small and great islands guarding the labyrinth of
channels, bays, sounds, and inlets that line the main-
land. Back of these rise abruptly vast and rugged
mountains, the two great continental chains coming
together here as if in final struggle for the mastery.
The coast range along the Pacific shore of Alaska
attains an elevation in places of eight or nine thou-
sand feet, lying for the most part under perpetual
snow, with here and there glistening white peaks four-
teen or sixteen thousand feet above the sea. And the
ruggedness of this Sitkan or southern seaboard, the
thirty-miles strip as it is sometimes called, with the
Alexander archipelago, continues as we pass on, to
the Alaskan Mountains and the Aleutian archipelago.
It is in the Alaskan Range that nature assumes the
heroic, that the last battle of the mountains appears
to have been fought. The din of it has as yet hardly
passed away; the great peaks of the range stand
there proudly triumphant but still angry; grumbling,
smoking, and spitting fire, they gaze upon their fallen
foes of the archipelago, rtiaLnta like themselves, though
now submerged, sunken in the sea, if not indeed

led by the
[•om Lower
Lching this
it cold and
1 pictured,
meet. Its
fly varied,
mild and
;able.

e 01 a cres-
t in either
aouth-west,
n the latter
s islands as
a. It is a
untry, this
fragments,
abyrinth of
e the main-
and rugged
dns coming
16 mastery,
of Alaska
nine thou-
perpetual
peaks four-
El. And the
jaboard, the
id, with the
pass on, to
archipelago,
assumes the
lins appears
3 yet hardly
mge stand
grumbling,
their fallen
Ives, though
not indeed

■'i

PHYSICAL FEATURES, t

hurled thence by their victorious rivals. These great
cowering volcanic peaks and the quaking islands are
superb beyond description, filling the breast of the
beholder with awe. And the ground about, though
cold enough upon the surface, steams and sweats in
sympathy, manifesting its internal warmth in geysers
and hot springs, while from the depths of the sea
sometimes belches forth fire, if certain navigators may
be believed, and the sky blazes in northern lights.

All along this sweep of southern seaboard Euro-
peans may dwell in comfort if so inclined. Even in
midwinter the cold is seldom severe or of long dura-
tion. An average temperature is 42°, though ex-
tremes have been named for certain localities of from
19° to 58°, and again from 58° below zero in January,
to 95° in summer. Winter is stormy, the winds at Sitka
at this season being usually easterly, those from the
south bringing rain and snow. When the wind is from
the north-west the sky is clear, and the cold nigLts
are often lighted by the display of the aurora, borealis.
Winter breaks up in March, and during the clear cold
days of April the boats go out after furs. Yet, for a
good portion of the year there is an universal and dis-
mal dampness — fogs interminable and drizzling rain;
clouds thick and heavy and low-lying, giving a water
fall of six or eight feet in thickness.

Much of the soil is fertile, though in places wet.
Behind a low wooded seaboard often rise abruptly icy
steeps, with here and there between the glacier canons
broad patches of sphagnum one or two feet thick, and
well saturated with water. The perpetual snow-line
of the Makushin volcano is three thousand feet above
the sea, and vegetation ceases at an altitude of twenty-
five hundred feet. Grain does not ripen, but grasses
thrive almost everywhere on the lowlands. Berries
are plentiful, particularly cranberries, though the sun-
light is scarcely strong enough to flavor them well.
Immense spruce forests tower over Prince William
Sound and about Sitka. Kadiak is a good grazing

I'!

l!:ii

;: ':!r

4 INTRODUCTORY. ">

country, capable of sustaining large droves of cattle.
On the Aleutian Islands trees do not grow, but the
grasses are luxuriant. In a word, here in the far
north we find a vegetation rightly belonging to a much
lower latitude.

The warm Japan current which comes up along
the coast of Asia, bathing the islands of the Aleutian
archipelago as it crosses the Pacific and washing the
shores of America far to the southward, transforms
the whole region from what would otherwise be inhos-
pitable into a habitation fit for man. Arising off the
inner and outer shores of Lower California, this stream
first crosses the Pacific as the great northern equa-
torial current, passing south of the Hawaiian Islands
and on to the coast of Asia, deflecting northward as
it goes, and after its grand and life-compelling sweep
slowly returns to its starting-point. It is this that
clothes temperate isles in tropical vegetation, makes
the silk-worm flourish far north of its rightfui home,
and sends joy to the heart of the hyperborean, even
to him upon the strait of Bering, and almost to the
Arctic seEU It is this that thickly covers the steep
mountain sides f^o the height of a thousand feet and
more with great growths of spruce, alder, willow,
hemlock, and yellow cedar. It is the striking of this
warm current of air and water against the cold shores
of the north that causes nature to steam up in thick
fogs and dripping moisture, and compels the surcharged
clouds to drop their torrents.

Chief among the fur-bearing animals is the sea-
otter, in the taking of whose life the lives of thou-
sands of human beings have been laid down. Of fish
there are cod, herring, halibut, and salmon, in abun-
dance. The whale and the walrus abound in places.

Go back into the interior if you can get there, or
round by the Alaskan shore north of the islands,
along Bering sea and strait, which separate Asia and
America and indent the eastern border with great
bays into which flow rivers, one of them, the Yukon,

RUSSIAN CHARACTER.

)f cattle.
, but the
I the far

a much

up along
Aleutian
hing the
ansforms
be inhos-
g oflf the
is stream
3m equa-
n Islands
hward as
ng sweep
this that
)n, makes
fui home,
ean, even
)st to the
the steep

1 feet and
:, willow,
ig of this
)ld shores
p in thick
ircharged

I the sea-
1 of thou-
. Offish
, in abun-

in places.
, there, or
le islands,

Asia and
i^ith great
tie Yukon,

having its sources far back in British Columbia; ascend
this stream, or traverse the country between it and the
Arctic Ocean, and you will find quite a different order
of things. Clearer skies are there, and drier, colder
airs, and ice eternal. Along the Arctic shore runs a
line of hills in marked contrast to the mountaiLd of
the southern seaboard. Between these ranges flow
the Yukon with its tributaries, the Kuskokvim, Sela-
wik, and other streams.

Mr Petrof, who traversed this region in 1880,
says of it: " Here is an immense tract reaching from
Bering strait in a succession of rolling ice-bound
moors and low mountain ranges, for seven hundred
miles an unbroken waste, to the boundary line between
us and British America. Then, again, from the crests
of Cook's Inlet and the flanks of Mount St Elias
northward over that vast area of rugged mountain
and lonely moor to the east, nearly eight hundred
miles, is a great expanse of country ... by its position
barred out from occupation and settlement by our
own people. The climatic conditions are such that
its immense area will remain undisturbed in the pos-
session of its savage occupants, man and beast."

Before speaking of the European discovery and
conquest of Alaska, let us briefly glance at the con-
dition and character of those about to assume the
mastery here.

It was in the middle of the sixteenth century that
the Russians under Ivan Vassilievich, the Terrible,
threw off" the last yoke of Tartar Khans ; but with the
independence of the nation thus gained, the free cities,
principalities, and provinces lost all trace of their
former liberties. An empire had been wrung from
the grasp of foreign despots, but only to be held by a
despotism more cruel than ever had been the Tartar
domination. Ignorance, superstition, and servitude
were the normal condition of the lower classes. The
nation rould scarcely be placed within the category

INTRODUCrrORY.

I 'f ?i
Hi:

of civilization. While in Spain the ruling spirit was
fanaticism, in Russia it was despotism.

Progress was chained; if any sought to improve
their lot they dared not show their gains lest their
master should take them. And the people thus long
accustomed to abject servility and concealment ac-

3uired the habit of dissimulation to a remarkable
egree. There was no recognition of the rights of
man, and little of natural morality. It was a prees-
tablished and fundamental doctrine that the weaker
were slaves of the stronger. In feudal times the main
difference between the lowest class in Kussia and in
other parts of Europe was that the former were not
bound to the soil. Their condition however was none
the less abject, their slavery if possible was more com-
plete. And what is not a little singular in following
the progress of nations, Russia, about the beginning
of the seventeenth century, introduced this custom of
binding men to lands, just when the other states of
Europe were abolishing it. Freemen were authorized
by law to sell themselves. Insolvent debtors became
the property of their creditors. And howsoever bound,
men could obtain their liberty only by purchase.

Women, even of the better class, were held in ori-
ental seclusion, and treated as beasts; husbands and
fathers might torture and kill them, and sell the off-
spring, but if a wife killed her husband she was buried
up to the neck and left to starve.

Pewter was unknown ; only wooden dishes were in
use. Each man carried a knife and wooden spoon tied to
the belt or sash. Bedding was scarcely used at court;
among rich and poor alike a wooden bench, the bare
floor, or at the most a skin of bear or wolf, sufficed
for sleeping. The domestic ties were loose; since the
crimes of individuals were visited upon the whole kin-
dred the children scattered as soon as they were able.
The lower classes had but a single name, which was
conferred in baptism, consequently the nearest rela-
tives soon lost sight of each other in their wandering

'filrt! -

i (v

' was none

CUSTOMS OP THE RUSSIANS. 7

life. Subsequently the serfs were attached to the
soil, but even to the present day an almost irresistible
disposition to rove is noticeable among the Russian
people.

The nobles, reared by a nation of slaves, were scarcely
more intelligent than they. But few of the priests
understood Greek ; and reading and writing even among
the nobles was almost unknown; astronomy and anat-
omy were classed among the diabolic arts; calculations
were made by means of a string of balls, and skins of
animals were the currency. Punishments were as
barbarous as manners. The peculator was publicly
branded with a hot iron, then sent back to his place,
thus dishonoring himself and degrading his office.
When a person was punished for crime, all the mem-
bers of his family were doomed to suffer likewise.
Every Russian who strayed beyond the frontier be-
came a rebel and a heathen.

Nobles alone could hold land; the tillers were as
slaves. True, a middle or merchant class managed
amidst the general disruption to maintain some of
their ancient privileges. The gosti, or wholesale deal-
ers, of Moscow, Novgorod, and Pleskovo might sit at
table with princes, and go on embassies; they were
free from imposts and many other exactions. Even the
small traders preserved some of the benefits which had
originated in the free commercial cities. The priests,
seemg their influence at court declining, cultivated the
merchants, and married among their families.

Thus all combined to strengthen the trading class
as compared with the agricultural. Taxes and salaries
were paid in furs ; in all old charters and other docu-
ments penalties and rewards are given in furs. The
very names of the early coins of Novgorod point to
their origin ; we see there the grivernik grivnui, from
the mane or long hairs along the back; the oushka
and poloushka, ear and half-ear. This feature in the
national economy explains to a certain extent the
slow spread of civilization over the tsar's domiojons-

INTRODUCTORY.

I-'

.1" I

In a country where furs are the circulating medium,
and hence the great desideratum, the people must
scatter and lead a savage life.

The same cause, however, which impeded social
and intellectual development furnished a stimulus for
the future aggrandizement of the Muscovite domain.
For more than two and a half centuries the Hanseatic
League had monopolized the foreign trade; but the
decline of Novgorod, the growing industry of the
Livonian cities, and the appearance of the ships of
other countries in the Baltic were already threatening
the downfall of Hanseatic commerce, when an unex-
pected discovery made the English acquainted with the
White Sea, which afforded direct intercourse with the
inland provinces of the Russian empire. The Hanse,
by its superiority in the Baltic, had excluded all other
maritime nations from Russian commerce, but it was
beyond the reach of their power to prevent the English
from sailing to the White Sea. In 1553, at the sug-
gestion of Sebastian Cabot, England sent three vessels
under Sir Hugh Willoughby in search of a north-east
passage to China. Two of the vessels were lost, and
the third, commanded by Richard Chancellor, entered
the White Sea. No sooner did he know that the
shore was Russia than Chancellor put on a bold face
and said he had come to establish commercial rela-
tions. The tsar, informed of the arrival of the stran-
gers, ordered them to Moscow. The insolent behavior
of the Hanse League had excited the tsar's displeas-
ure, and he was only too glad of other intercourse
with civilized nations. Every encouragement was
offered by the Russian monarch, and trade finally
opened with England, and special privileges were
granted to the so-called Russia Company of English
merchants.

The English commercial expeditions through Rus-
sia, down the Volga, and across the Caspian to Persia,
were not financially successful, though perhaps valu-
able as a hint to the Portuguese that the latter did

RUSSIAN FUR-TRADE.

r medium,
ople must

led social
Imulus for
e domain.
Hanseatic
; but the
ry of the
J ships of
ireatening
an unex-
d with the
B with the
tie Hanse,
1 all other
3ut it was
le English
t the sug-
'ee vessels
north-east
3 lost, and
>r, entered
that the
bold face
rcial rela-
the stran-
b behavior
3 displeas-
itercourse
ment was
de finally
!ges were
f English

ugh Rus-

to Persia,

baps valu-

latter did

■"-i

-;s

not hold the only road to India. To Russia, also,
this traffic proved by no means an unalloyed blessing.
The wealthy merchants of Dantzic and other Hanse
towns along the Baltic, who had enjoyed a monopoly
of Russian commerce, looked on with jealousy, and it
was doubtless owing to enmity in this influential
quarter that Ivan failed in all his attempts to secure
Esthonia and Livonia, and gain access to the Baltic
seaports. On the other hand, English enterprise
brought about commerce with different nations, and
introduced the products of north-western Europe into
the tsar's dominions. Further than this, the Musco-
vites copied English craft, and became more proficient
in maritime affairs. An incident connected with this
traffic may be considered the first link of a long chain
of events which finally resulted in Russia's stride
across the Ural Mountains, and the formation of a
second or reserve empire, without which the original
or European structure might long since have fallen.
On the return of an English expedition from Persia
across the Caspian, in 1573, the ship was attacked by
Cossacks, who gained possession of vessel and cargo,
setting the crew adrift in a boat furnished with some
provisions. The Englishmen made their way to Astra-
khan, and on their report of what had befallen them
two armed vessels were sent out. The pirates were
captured and put to death, while the cargo, worth
between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds sterling, was safely
landed at Astrakhan. The tsar then despatched a
numerous land force to destroy the nest of robbers
infesting the Lower Volga and the Caspian. His
army spread dismay. The Cossacks saw that sub-
mission was death, and many leaped from the blood-
stained deck of their rude barks to the saddle, being
equally familiar with both. Then they banded under
determined leaders and set out for countries beyond
the reach of Russia's long arm. Yermak Timofeief
headed one of these bands, and thus the advance of
the Slav race toward the Pacific began. Rude and

t,J

H INTRODUCTORY.

spasmodic as it was, the traflSc of the English laid
the foundation of Russian commerce on the Caspian.
Previous to the appearance of the English the Rus-
sians had carried on their trade with Bokhara and
Persia cmtirely by land; but from that time they
began to construct transport ships on the Volga and
to sail coastwise to the circumjacent harbors of the
Caspian.

Before following the tide of conquest across the
Ural Mountains, it may be well to cast a brief glance
over the contemporaneous eflForts of English and Dutch
navigators to advance in the same easterly direction
by water, or rather to thread their way between the
masses of floating and solid ice besetting the navigable
channels of the Arctic, demonstrating as they do the
general impression prevalent among European nations
at the time, that the route pursued by Columbus and
his successors was not the only one leading to the in-
exhaustible treasures of the Indies,and to that Cathay
which the Latin maritime powers were making stren-
uous efforts to monopolize.

The last English expedition in search of the north-
east passage, undertaken in the sixteenth century,
consisted of two barks which sailed from England early
in 1580, and were fortunate enough to pass bej^ond the
straits of Vaigatz, but made no new discoveries and
brought but a moderate return to their owners. The
Russians meanwhile kept up a vigorous coasting-
trade, their ill-shaped and ill-appointed craft generally
being found far in advance of their more pretentious
competitors.

In 1594 the states-general of Holland offered a
premium of twenty-five thousand florins to the lucky
navigator who should open the much desired high-
way. A squadron of four small vessels commanded
by Cornells Nay was the first to enter for the prize.
A merchant named Llnschoten, possessed of con-
siderable scientific attainments, accompanied the ex-

THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE,

pedition as commercial agent, and Willem Barontz,
who commanded one of the vessels, acted as pilot.
They sailed from Holland on the ISth of Juno 1594,
and arrived safely at the bay of Kilduyn, on the
coast of Lapland. Here they separated, Nay heading
for Vaigatz Straits and Barcntz choosing a more
northerly route. Tho latter discovered and named
Ys Hock, or Ice Cape, the northern extremity of
Novaia Zemlia, while tho other vessels passed through
the straits, where they met with numerous Russian
lodkas, or small craft. This southern division entered
the sea of Kara, called by Linschoten the sea of Tar-
tary the 1st of August. Wooden crosses were
obs( at various points of the coast, and the inhab-

itants uore evidence of intercourse with the Russians
by their manner of salutation. The Samoiedes had
come in contact with the advancing Muscovites in the
interior as well as on the coast.

On the 11th of August, when their astronomical
observations placed the vessels fifty leagues to the
eastward of the straits, with land still in sight toward
the east, this part of the expedition turned back, evi-
dently apprehensive of sharing the fate of their Eng-
lish predecessors, who had been unfortunate in those
latitudes. The two divisions fell in with each other
on the homeward voyage, and arrived at Amsterdam
on the 25th of September of the same year.

A second expedition sailed from Amsterdam on the
same errand in 1595. It consisted of not less than
seven vessels. Willem Barentz was chief in com-
mand, assisted by Heemskerk, Linschoten, and Cor-
nelis Rijp. The departure of this squadron was for
some reason delayed until July, and after weather-
ing the North Cape a few of the vessels sailed di-
rectly for the White Sea to trade, while the others
proceeded through the straits of Vaigatz. They met,
as usual, with Russian lodkas, and for the first time
definite information was obtained of the great river
Yenissei, which the Russians had already reached

^ ff

S- I

.1^1

■:"'!^!ir

INTRODUCTORY.

by land. After prolonged battling against ice and
contrary winds and currents, the expedition turned
back on the 15tb of September and made sail for
Amsterdam.

After this second failure the states-general washed
their hands of further enterprise in that direction,
but the city of Amsterdam still showed some faith in
ultimate success by fitting out two ships and intrust-
ing them respectively to Barentz and Rijp. This
expedition made an early start, sailing on the 2 2d of
May 1596. Their course was shaped in accordance
with Barent?/ theory that more to the north there
was a better chance of finding an open sea. On the
9th of June they discovered Bear Island in latitude
74° 30'. Still keeping on their first course they again
encountered land in latitude 79° 30', Spitzbergen, and
in July the two vessels separated in search of a clear
channel to the east. On the 26th of August Barentz
was forced by a gale into a bay on the east coast of
Novaia Zemlia, on which occasion the ice seriously
damaged his vessel. Here the venturesome Hol-
landers constructed a house and passed a winter full
of misery, a continued struggle with famishing bears
and the deadly cold. Toward spring the castaways
constructed two open boats out of remnants of the
wreck, fitted them out as well as they could, and put
to sea on the 14th of June 1597. Six days later
Barentz died. In July the unfortunates fell in with
some liussian lodkas and obtained provisions. They
finally reached Kilduyn Bay in Lapland, one of the
rendezvous of White Sea traders. Several Dutch
vessels were anchored there, and one of them was
commanded by Bijp, who had returned to Amster-
dam and sailed again on a private enterprise. He
extended all possible aid to his former companions and
obtained passage for them on several vessels. This
put an end in Holland to explorations in search of a
northern route to India, until the attempts of Hudson
in 1G08-9. The problem was partially solved by

THE FEAT ACCOMPLISHED.

nst ice and
tion turned
ide sail for

eral washed
,t direction,
)nie faith in
md intrust-
Rijp, This
I the 22d of

accordance
north there
Ba. On the

in latitude
3 they again
ibergen, and
sh of a clear
^ust Barentz
ast coast of
ice seriously
esome Hol-
1 winter full
lishing bears
le castaways
lants of the
uld, and put
i days later
} fell in with
lions. They
[, one of the
veral Dutch
)f them was

to A^mster-
arprise. He
ipanions and
Bssels. This

search of a
:s of Hudson
y solved by

Deshnefs obscure voyage in 1648, and after another
failure by Wood in 1676, Russia made the attempt,
Vitus Bering starting from Kamchatka; afterward
were the efforts of Shalaiirof and of Billings. Finally
a Swedish expedition under Nordenskjold accom-
plished the feat in 1879, after wintering on the Arc-
tic coast. >

KVJill

' nl' '

! r '

1 :
1

CHAPTER II.

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

1578-1724.

Siberia the Russian Canaan— Prom the Black and Caspian Seas over
THE Ural Mountains — Strooanop, the Salt-miner — ^VisiT of Yer-

MAK — OcOtrPATION OF THE OB BY THE COSSACKS — CHARACTER OF THE

Conquerors — Their Ostroo on the Tobol — The Straight Line of
March thence to Okhotsk on the Pacific— The Promyshleniki—
Lena River Reached — Ten Cossacks against Ten Thousand — Ya-

KUTSKI OSTROG — EXPLORATION OF THE AmOOR — DISCOVERIES ON THE

Arctic Seaboard — Ivory versus Skins — The Land of the Chukchi
Invaded — Okhotsk Established — Kamchatka Occupied — Rumors of
ReaIjMS Beyond.

"While the maritime nations of north-western Eu-
rope were thns sending ship after ship into the Arctic
ice-fields in the hope of finding a north-eastern passage
to India, the Russians were slowly but surely forcing
their way over Siberian rivers and steppes, and even
along the Arctic coast from river-mouth to river-
mouth, and that not in search of any India, or other
grand attainment, but only after skins, and to get far-
ther and farther from parental despotism. Their an-
cient homes had not been abodes of peace, and no
tender reminiscences or patriotic ties bound them to
the soil of Russia. It was rather a yearning for per-
sonal freedom, next after the consideration of the
sobol, that drew the poor Slav farther and farther
through forests and swamps away from his place of
birth; he did not care to band for general indepen-
dence. Rulers were of God, the church said, and he
would not oppose them, but he would if possible es-
cape. In view of these pecuhar tendencies the open-

(U)

A CENTTjilY SABLE-HUNT.

ing of the boundless expanse toward the east was a
blessing not only to the oppressed but to the oppress-
The turbulent spirits, who might have caused

ors.

trouble at home, in early times found their way to
Siberia voluntarily, while later the * paternal ' govern-
ment gathered strength enough to send them there.

A century sable-hunt half round the world this re-
markable movement might be called. It was at once
a discovery and a conquest, which was to carry Cos-
•gack and Russian across the vast continent, and across
the narrowed Pacific to the fire-breathing islands,
and the glistening mountains and majestic forests of
Alaska. The shores of the Black and Caspian seas
was the starting-point. Russia's eastern bound was
then the Ural Mountains. Anika Stroganof set up
salt-works there, and the people at the east brought
him furs to trade. They were pretty little skins, and
yielded the salt-miner a large profit; so he sent his
traders as far as the great river Ob for them. And
the autocrat of the empire smiled on these proceed-
ings, and gave the salt-merchant lands, and allowed
his descendants to become a power and call them-
selves counts.

In 1578 the grandson of the first Stroganof received
a visit from a Cossack chieftain or ataman, named
Yermak Timofeief, who with his followers had in
Cossack fashion led a life of war and plunder, and
was then flying from justice as administered by Ivan
Vassilievich II.

Yermak's mounted followers numbered a thousand,
and Stroganof was anxious they should move on; so
he told them of places toward the east, fine spots for
robber-knights to seize and settle on, and he sent
men to guide them thither. This was in 1578. At
the river Ob the Cossacks found a little Tartar sover-
eignty, a fragment of the great monarchy of Genghis
Khan. The warlike spirit with which Tamerlane had
once inspired the Tartars had long since fled. Their
httle kingdom, in which cattle-herding, the chase, and

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

traffic were the only pursuits, now remained only
because none had come to conquer them. The Cos-
sacks were in the full flush of national development.
They had ever been apt learners from the Tartars,
against whom they had often served the Muscovites
as advance guard. Now Yermak was in a strait.
Behind him was the wrathful tsar, to fall into whose
hands was certain death. Though his numbers were
small, he must fight for it. Attacking the Tartars,
in due time he became master of their capital city,
though at the cost of half his little army. And now
he must have more men. Perhaps he might buy
friendship of the tsar. A rich gift of sables, with in-
formation that he had conquered for him the kingdom
of Kutchum Khan, accomplished the purpose. Re-
enforcements and confirmation of rulership were the
response. Thus was begun the long journey of the
Russians across the continent.

i>)

Vast as is the area of Siberia its several parts are
remarkably similar. Plants, animals, and men; cli-
mate, conditions, and customs, are more alike than on
the other side of the strait of Bering. The country
and its contents are upon a dead level. A net-work of
navigation is formed by the upper branches of rivers
flowing into the frozen sea through the tundras, or
ice-morass, of the north, so that the same kind of boats
and sledges carry the traveller across the whole coun
try. The fierce and cunning Cossacks of Russia were
in marked contrast to the disunited semi-nomads of
Siberia, busy as they were taming the reindeer, hunt-
ing with dogs, or fighting with the bow and arrow and
lance ; and if they could conquer the Tartars of the
Ob there was no reason why they could not march
on to the Pacific.

They were a singular people, brave as Spaniards
and tough as gypsies. Their weapons, the later Eu-
ropean kind, of iron and gunpowder, gave them a vast
Bupericrity over the tribes of Siberia, and their boats

t .

THE SIBERIAN LINE OF OSTROGS.

and horses seem to have been made for the purpose.
The latter were small and enduring, adequate to the
long day's march, and like their masters accustomed
to cold, hunger, thirst, and continuous fatigue. Like
the chamois and reindeer they would scrape oflF the
snow from their scanty nourishment, or if grass was
wanting they were glad to get frozen iish to eat.

The invaders found it well to divide their forces,
and advance in small scattered bodies, a dozen war-
riors sometimes subjugating a tribe; then again some
hundreds were required for the occupation of a river-
territory or a kingdom. There was no need of a large
united army, or of any great discipline. This also
suited Cossack ideas and habits, as they were repub-
lican in their way. Born equal, they everywhere met
on a common footing. They chose their atamans and
sotniks, or centurions, who, if they did not rule to suit,
were quickly deposed and others elected. The highest
position was open to the humblest aspirant.

It was on the Tobol that the (dossacks and Rus-
sians built their first ostrog, or fort, which later became
Tobolsk, the head-quarters of their organized govern-
ment, and the starting-point of their expeditions.
Thence their conquering march was straight through
: the middle of Siberia, the line being equidistant from
the mountains of the south and the morasses of the
north, and it later became the principal line of traffic.
I On this line, cutting through the various river ro-
jgions, the chief colonies of the country were founded.
[Eastward from Tobolsk, in the territory of the river
I Ob, the city of Tomsk; eastward from this, on the
lYenissei, the city of Yenisseisk; then Irkutsk and
Yakutsk in the Lena district, and finally, on the
shores of the Pacific, Okhotsk, which stands upon
about the same parallel as that of the starting-point.
These cities grew successively or 3 out of the other,
and for every new river province the last served as
a jioint d'appui for the various enterprises, military

Hut, al^ka. a

': I'

I :; / i

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

■'<!-fi

or commercial. At every important river a halt was
made, during which they settled themselves more
firmly, and organized their new territory. They built
boats, explored up the rivers, and down them oven
to the frozen ocean, where they founded little settle-
ments.

The Cossacks themselves were a light troop, but
they were preceded by a still lighter, a flying advance
guard, called the promyshleniki, . kind of Russian
coureurs des hois. They were freebooters who hunted
on their own account and at their own risk. . No one
could control them. They flitted everywhere in the
woods and morasses, companions of wild beasts. They
made the several first discoveries in Siberia, and
brought home the earliest information of hitherto
unknown parts. . '

In the spring of 1628 the Cossacks reached Lena
River. The party consisted of ten men under Vassili
Bugor, who had crossed over from the Yenissei on
snow-shoes. Arrived at the Lena, the great central
stream, lying midway between the beginning and end
of their century-march, they built a boat and went
down and up the river for some distance, spreading
dismay and collecting their tribute of sable-skins.
Ten Cossacks against the inhabitants of that great
valley 1 I know of nothing in American history that
equals it. After making the people swear submission,
Bugor posted two of his men at the middle point on
the river, and two each at points two hundred miles
above and two hundred miles below. After three
years of bluster and traffic Bugor returned to the
Yenissei. In 1632 a Cossack chieftain named Bekc-
tof sailed far down the Lena and built the first ostrog
on this river, among the Yakut nation. This was
the Yakutski Ostrog, out of which rose later the city
of Yakutsk, the capital of eastern Siberia, and which
finally served as head-quarters for expeditions to the
Arctic and to the Pacific. From the Lena, Siberia

Ki'iir.ii':

a halt waa
jlves more
They built
them even
ittle settle-
troop, but
ing advance
of Russian
who hunted
ik. . No one
rhere in the
jasts. They
Siberia, and
of hitherto

3ached Lena
ander Vassili
Yenissei on
^reat central
jing and end
,at and went
ce, spreading
• sable-skins.
)f that great
1 history that
ir submission,
ddle point on
Lundred miles

After three
urned to the

named Bekc-
he first ostrog
)n. This was

later the city
ria, and which
iditions to the

Lena, Siberia

FROM RIVER TO RIVER.

extends, gradually narrowing, about five or six hun-
dred leagues further to the east. The length of the
rivers decreases with the breadth of the land, and the
mighty Lena is followed by the smaller Yana, Indi-
girka, Kolima, and at last, in the farthest corner by
the Anadir which empties into the Pacific. The dis-

Eastebk Sibebia.

covery of these more distant rivers of Siberia began
in 1638. Some Cossacks, under the leadership of a
certain Busa, reached the Yana by water from the
mouth of the Lena, while others, under the sotnik
Ivanof, penetrated on horseback to its sources from

M II

iHi.l .,j; ,
t. 1 '. r !:I

iillii! !i

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

Yakutsk. Here they heard of the Indigirka, and the
year following they trotted on to the river.

In 1639 the rugged mountains on the eastern bor-
der of Siberia were crossed on horseback and on
snow-shoes, and an ostrog was built on the sea-shore
to which the name of Okhotsk was given. Thus the
Pacific Ocean was first reached by the Russians on
the shore of the Okhotsk Sea, a place destined to play
an important part in the advance toward America.
The discovery was achieved by Andrei Kopilof, a
Cossack leader, who made his way thither from the
Lena at the head of a small party, thus completing
the march across the continent of Asia, in its broadest
part, in about sixty years from the time of Yermak's
visit to Stroganof.

The ascent of the Lena brought the Russians to
Lake Baikal, and showed them another route to the
Pacific, through China by way of the Amoor. The
rich silver deposits in that quarter drew population
from the north-western ostrogs, something after the
manner of a California mining rush. The Mantchoo
Tartars were most of them absent from home at the
time, completing their conquest of the celestial empire,
which left the Amoor region comparatively defence-
less. On the return of the Tartars the Russians were
obliged to relinquish some of their pretensions, though
they retained their hold on the mines, and continued
trade with China. In 1643 Vassili Posharkof set out
from Yakutsk with one hundred and thirty-two men,
and following the course of the Amoor to its mouth,
and thence proceeding north and westward some dis-
tance along the coast, returned to Yakutsk in 1646
by a different route, and one direct from the Okhotsk
Sea.

Sixteen Cossacks on the Indigirka took captive the
ruling prince of the country. On their neighing steeds

a, and the

atern bor-
k and on

sea-shore

Thus the
ussians on
led to play

America.
Kopilof, a
• from the
jompleting
;3 broadest

Yermak's

tussians to
ute to the
loor. The
population
T after the
Mantchoo
jme at the
ial empire,
y defence-
5sians were
ns, though

continued
iof set out
^-two men,
its mouth,

some dis-
3k in 1646
le Okhotsk

EASTERN SIBERIAN SEABOARD. 91

they charged his forces, armed with only bows and
arrows, and vanquished them with great slaughter.
In 1640 they had completed the conquest of the whole
river, eight hundred miles long. Forthwith they again
beo-an to listen to tales of new streams in the east, of
the Aliseia and the Kolima. Strengthened by addi-
tional troops they proceeded in 1646 to subdue this
region. East of the Kolima, where Siberia approaches
its termination, dwelt the warlike Chukchi, the Tschuk-
tscbi of German writers. Their land did not allure
with sables or silver-mines, but a new attraction was
found for the European. Dating existence from pri-
meval revulsions, were found on the shores and along
the banks of rivers vast deposits of fossil ivory, the
tusks of the ancient mammoth elephant. Similar de-
posits had been found before in other parts of Siberia,
but the largest were in the far north-east along the
shores of the land of the Chukchi. This substance,
which was called precious and a staple, exercised a
powerful influence in the conquest of Siberia and in
attracting emigrants to the north. Even at the pres-
ent day it plays an important part in Siberian traffic,
and is also found in the northern regions of America.

Isaii Ignatief, with a company of promyshleniki,
set out in search of mammoth tusks toward the Chuk-
chi country. From tho mouth of the Kolima he
proceeded a short distance along the Arctic seaboard
in boats. The natives were shy at first, but after
some traffic they told the Russians of a large moun-
tainous land which lay westward and toward the north
pole, and the outline of whose coasts could be seen
from time to time from the Siberian shore. This land,
they said, was rich in ivory, and there were the most
beautiful tusks heaped up there in huge banks and
mounds. Many believed that it was peopled and
connected with Novaia Zemlia in the west and with
America in the east.

With a daring which the well prepared Arctic ex-
plorer of our time can scarcely understand, the Rus-

I ',

1 ''■, i:

.. !■

II. I

IS THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

sians committed themselves to their fragile lodM, or
open sail-boats, of rough planks tied together with
thongs, and struck out for that land of ivory toward
the north pole. They sailed without compass out
into that sea; they battled with the ice found there;
their barks were shattered ; they were frozen in at sea
hundreds of versts from land. They even wintered
there that they might advance a little farther the fol-
lowing summer. What can science or modern adven-
ture show as a parallel? Lost on a wilderness of ice,
all warmth departed, hungry, ill-clothed, with scarcely
any shelter, yet still determined to achieve the land of
ivory. Perhaps some of them did reach it; let us hope
so, and that they obtained their fill of ivory. Nearly
two centuries later the first light concerning this land
came through the travels of Baron Wrangell, when it
was recognized as a group of islands and named New
Siberia.

Ignatief could hardly be said to have made the
acquaintance of the Chukchi, so eager had he been
after ivory. But better success attended the efforts
of the Russians a little later. By order of the tsar
Alexis, seven Tcotches, a small decked craft, were sent
along the shore in search of the mouth of the river
Anadir, whose head-waters had been sighted by the
venturesome promyshleniki. The expedition set out
from the mouth of the Kolima June 20, 1648. Of
four of the^e vessels nothing further is mentioned; but
we know that the remaining three were commanded
respectively by Simeon Deshnef and Gerassim Anku-
dinof, Cossack chiefs, and Fedot Alexeief, peredovchik,
that is to say, leader of promyshleniki. Deshnef, who
forwarded a detailed account of his adventures to
Yakutsk, speaks but incidentally of what happened be-
fore reaching Cape Chukotsk. Then he says: "This
isihmus, is quite different from that which is bound by
the Hiver Tschukotschia west of the River Kolima.
It hes between the north, and north-east, and turns

DESHNEF'S VOYAGE.

circular towards the river Anadir. On the Russian,
that is, the west side of it, there falls a brook into
the sea, by which the Tschuktschi have erected a
scaflfbld like a tower of the bones of whales. Over-
against the isthmus (it is not mentioned on which
side) there are two islands in the sea, upon which
were seen people of the Tschuktschi nation, thro'
whose lips were run pieces of the teeth of the sea-
horse. One might sail from the isthmus to the river
Anadir, with a fair wind, in three days and nights,
and i1 might be travelled by land within the same
time." The kotche commanded by Ankudinof was
wrecked at the cape, but the inmates were saved by
the other vessels. On the 20th of September Desh-
nef and Alexeief made a landing and had an engage-
ment with the Chukchi, during which Alexeief was
wounded. After this the two ketches lost sight of
each other and did not meet again. Deshnef drifted
about until October, and at last he was also wrecked,
as it appears, some distance to the south of the Ana-
dir, in the vicinity of the river Olutorsk. He had
only twenty-five men left, and with these he set out
by land in search of the Anadir; but having no guide,
he wandered about for ten weeks and at last reached
its banks not far from the mouth. One half of his
command started up the river, but hunger compelled
them to return. The following summer Deshnef as-
cended the Anadir in boats. He met with a tribe
called the Ananli, made them tributary after con-
siderable resistance, and founded the settlement of
ostrog Anadirsk. Here he remained till 1650, when
he was joined on the 23d of April by the Cossack
Motora with a volunteer expedition from Kolimsk.
Another expedition under Mikhail Stadukhin followed
immediately after; but the latter, jealous of the suc-
cesses already achieved by the others, went more to
the southward for further discoveries and was never
heard of again. Deshnef subsequently encountered a
Yakut woman who had been with Fedot Alexeief

7TT TB

,!!:,

U THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

and was told by her that Fedot and Ankudinof had
been wrecked and that both had died of scurvy among
the Koriaks.^ No mention is made by any of this
party of having seen the American continent, though
it is not impossible that some of them did see it.
They were obliged to hug the Asiatic shore, and the
opposite coast can be seen from there only on a clear
day.

Another account of Deshnef s voyage places it at
a still earlier date, between 1580 and 1590, but the
inaccuracy of this is evident.*

Last of all this region to be unveiled was that
narrow south-eastern strip of Siberia, the Kamcha^.a
peninsula, which, about the size and shape of Italy,
projects six hundred geographical miles from the con-
tinent into Bering and Okhotsk seas. The Cossack
Luka Morosko started from Anadirsk in 1669 with
a roving band and penetrated far to the southward,
but what he saw was not known until some time after-
ward. The name Kamchatka was known in Yakutsk
by report from 1690. Some years later the first part}''
of riders set out thither under the leadership of the
Cossack colonel, Atlassof, who passes for the actual

• The voyage of Deshnef was almost forgotten when Muller found a
record of it in Kolimsk. Moritkoi Sbomik, 1764, 37-49; Jefferya' MuUer'a
Voy., v.-ix.

^ An anonymous article in a literary monthly published in St Petersburg
in 17C9 contains the following: 'The honor of having taken the first steps
toward the discovery of these new islands (which on account of their number
may justly be termed an archipelago) belongs to the tsar Ivan Vassilievich
II. After having conquered the whole of Siberia he desired to know its
boundaries north and east, and the tribes inhabiting those far-off regions.
For this purpose he sent out an expedition, which only returned during the
reign of his son and successor, Tear Feodor Ivanovich, biinirinfi the first news
of the existence of the Polar Sea on the northern shore of Siberia, and another
vast ocean in the east. In some of the old Siberian archives documents have
been discovered which prove that the above-mentioned expedition made some
important discoveries in the Arctic Sea, and, following along its shores to
the north-east, one of the smaller vessels finally rounded the extreme point,
Capo Chukotsk, and arrived safely on the coast of Kamchatka. The troubled
times which came over Russia after this achievement during the lawless reigns
of the usurper Boris Godunof, and of the False Dmitri after him, made it
impossible to think of further explorations of the Kamchatka country, and
even tlie name was almost forgotten after the lapse of a few years.' Yeshe-
tniassachnaia Sochinenia, March, 1709, 336-7.

THE RUSSIANS ON THE PACIFIC.

idinof had
'vy among
ny of this
nt, though
[id see it.
e, and the
on a clear

laces it at
0, but the

was tliat
Lamchai'.a
B of Italy,
n the con-
e Cossack
1G69 with
louthward,
time after-
p Yakutsk
first part}''
hip of the
the actual

[uUer found a
ferya' MuUer'a

St Petersburg

the first steps
)f their number
an Vassilievich
id to know its
far-off regions,
led during the
i the first news
ia, and another
locuments have
tion made some
g its shores to

extreme point,
. The troubled
o lawless reigns
r him, made it
a country, and

years.' l'c«Ae-

discoveror and conqueror of Kamchatka. The Rus-
sians found in Kamchatka Japanese writings and even
some Japanese sailors cast ashore there by shipwreck.
From tlie latter they learned that the land stretched
far away to the south, and were at first induced to
believe that Kai -hatka reached as far as Japan, as
indeed it is laid clown on the oldest maps.

Like the Spaniards in Mexico, the fuot Russians in
Kamchatka were highly honored, almost deified, by
tlie natives. That the aboriginal Americans should
have ascribed divinity to the first Spaniards is not
Kt range. They came to them from oft* the limitless
and mypterious water in huge white-winged canoes,
in martial array, v. ;tL gaudy trappings and glittering
armor; they lau'^d nih. imposing ceremonies; their
leaders were men or' dignified bearmg and suave man-
ners, and held their followers in control. The first
appearance of the Russians in Kamchatka, however,
presents an entirely different aspect; surely the Kam-
chatkans of that day were satisfied with ungainlj
gods.

The Cossacks who came with Atlassof were rough-
looking fellows, of small size, clad in furs like the
Kamchatkans, most of them the offspring of unions
between half Tartars and women from the native
tribe of ' ria. They were filthy in their habits,
•nd lad just completed a weary ride of many months
)ugh the wilderness. They were naturally cruel
ad placed ) restraint on their beastly propen-
ities- nevertheless they were called gods by beings
ij'i a ower order than themselves, and it were well
to piopitiate them. Indeed, they did possess cue
attribute of the deity: d\ey could kill. A few rusty
firelocks, a few pounds of powder, and thej were
omnipotent. Gods are prone to quarrel as \\ell as
men, but can they die? T^-e Kamoliatkans thought
not; so when they sa\ one ol Atlassof 's men struck
down by another, saw the warm red blood gush from
a mortal wound to stain the virgin snow, the spell

■ ^

\ Ii:f

II Ml

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

was broker These were no gods; and thenceforth
the Russians had to fight for the supremacy. After
many expeditions and many battles, for these people
were in truth brave and lovers of liberty, the Rus-
sians, in 1706, reached the southern extremity of
the Kamchatka peninsula, where they saw the north-
ernmost islands of the Kurile chain which points to
Japan.

Thus did the Russians, after the lapse of a century
full of toil and ravages, reach the extreme end of the
Old World. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century they found themselves on a separate strip of
coast, twelve hundred miles long, facing another
twelve hundred miles' strip, the north-west end of
America. It was hardly to be expected that they
would rest contented where they were.

The natives of Kamchatka did not appear to have
any knowledge of America, so that the Russians were
left to learn of the holshaia zemlia, or 'great land'
toward the east, slowly and as they were able. Tall
trunks of fir and other trees which did not grow in
Kamchatka were thrown from time to time by cur-
rents upon the shores along the east side of that
country. Large flocks of land-birds came to the coast
occasionally from the east and disappeared again in
the same direction. Whales came from the east with
spear-heads in their backs different from any used in
Kamchatka; and now and then foreign-built boats
and other unusual objects were washed upon the
eastern coast. Even the waves carrying these token'j
did not have as long a swell as those to the soiich.
Hence they said this land must front a sea wholly
or partially enclosed, and that toward the north the
sides must bo nearest together. Surely the Chukchi
should know something about it. Indeed, often in
their fights witli these people the Russians had taken
captives with pieces of walrus ; 'ory thrust through
their lips and cheeks, and spoal-ir.-Tf a language diftcr-
ent from that of the Chuk^h;. And the story was

THE 'GREAT LAND' TO THE EAST.

encefortb
After
36 people
the Rus-
•emity of
he north-
points to

a century
nd of the
ighteenth
te strip of
T another
ist end of
that they

ar to have
5sians were
Teat land
ible. Tall
ot grow in
me by cur-
ie of that
to the coast
id again in
le east with
any used in
built boats
i upon the
hese token 'j

the south.

sea wholly
3 north the
,he Chukchi
cd, often in
is had taken
ust through
Tuage diffcr-
ic story was

that the great land was no island, but had rivers and
chains of mountains without end.'

About this time the stolnik knias, Vassili Ivanovich
Gao-arin, was present at Yakutsk, sent thither by his
uncle, the governor, Prince Matvei Petrovich Gagarin,
to make discoveries. He issued several orders to the
voivod, or nobleman, Trauernicht, who commanded in
that section, one of them being that he should " make
diligent inquiry about the islands situated opposite the
mouth of the river Kolima, and the land of Kam-
chatka; what people inhabited them; under whose
jurisdiction they were; what was their employment;

' Matvei StrebykLin, commander of the ostrog of Anadirsk. 'i"" instructed
in 1711 to collect information concerning the Chukchi and an isla... jr conti-
nent lying to the eastward of their country. One of the results of this inves-
tigation was a deposition made and sworn to hy the Yakout Cossack Peter
Eliauovich Popof, the promyshlenik Yegor Vassihevich Toldin, and the newly
converted Yukagir Ivan Vassilievich Tereshkin, and dated Anadirsk, Sept.
2, 1711. It was to the eflfect that on the 13th of January 1711 Popof and
the two others, who served as interpreters, were sent out by Governor F'?dor
Kotovskoi to visit the valley of the Anadir and receive tribute from some of
the Chukchi tribes. This done they were to proceed to the cape, Chakot^koi
Noss, in order to persuade tho Chukchi living there to become tributary to
Russia. Popof met everywhere with a peremptory refusal to pay tribute.
The Chukchi said that formerly the Russians had come to their country in
ships, and they paid no tribute then, and therefore they would not do it now,
and Popof must expect no hostages from them. The Chukchi who dwdl
near the capo keep tame reindeer, and in order to find pasture for their animals
they fre(juently change their habitation. Opposite tho capo on either side,
in the sea of Kolima as well as in that of Anadir, islands have been seen,
whici> the Chukchi call a large country, and they say that the people livinc
there liave large teeth in their mouths, projecting through the clieeks. Popoi
fjund ten of these men, prisoners among tho Chukchi, with their c'.eeks still
disligurcd by the projecting ivory. In summer time they sail across to tlie
Great Land in one day, and in tho winter a swift reindeer team can make it
in one day over the ice. In the other land there are sables, wolves, and bears.
The people are, like tlie Chukchi, without any government. They have the
wood of cedar, larch, and fir trees, which tho Cluikchi sometimes obtain for
tlicir bidars, weapons, and huts. About 2,000 people live at and near the
cape, but tho inhabitants of the other country are said to be three times
that numlier, whicli is confirmed not only by prisoners but also by one of tho
Chukchi, who has often been tiiere. Another statement was essentially as
follows: Opposite tho capo lies an island, within sight, of no great extent,
devoid of timber, and innabited l)y people resembling tho Chixkchi, though
they speak their own language. It is half a day's voyage to the island from
the cape. IJoyond the island there is a largo continent, scarcely to be seen
from it, and that only on very clear days. In calm weather one may row
over tho sea to the continent, which is inhabited. There are largo forests,
aiiil great rivers fall into tho sea. The inhabitants have fortifii I dwellings
with ramparts of earth. Their clothes are the skins of sable and fox. The
Cluikchi are often at war with them. Yeihemiastiaclmaia Sochinenia, 17SG,
152-0; Muller'g Toy., 24-6.

! ih

m THE CE^fTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

how large the islands were and how distant from the
continent." The commanders and Cossacks ordered
to those regions were all commissioned with such in-
quiries, with the promise of special rewards for such
service from the emperor, who should be informed of
any discoveries by express as soon as any authentic
report was forwarded to Yakutsk. '

Orders had been issued as early as 1710 to the
commanders of Ust-Yana and Kolima to give these
discoveries their special attention. In answer, a dep-
osition was sent in by the Cossack Yakov Permakof
of Ust-Yana, stating that he once sailed from the
Lena to the River Kolima, and that on the east side
of Sviatoi Noss he had sighted an island in the sea,
but was unable to ascertain if it was inhabited. There
was also an island situated directly opposite the river
Kolima, an island that might be seen from the conti-
nent. Mountains could be seen upon it, but it was
uncertain whether it was inhabited.

The voivod Trauernicht was further encouraged,*
and prepared two expeditions, one from the mouth of
the river 'i! ana and one from the Kolima, simultane-
ously to search for the supposed island; for which
purpose the men were either to go in boats or travel
on the ice till it could be definitely ascertained if such
an island existed. Concerning the first-named expedi-
tion, which was begun by Merkuri Yagiu, a Cossack,
Miiller found several reports at Yakutsk, but in liis
opinion the documents did not deserve much consid-
eration.

Vagin departed from Yakutsk during the autumn
of 1711, with eleven other Cossacks, and in May

* Knias MatveY Gagarin wrote to the voivod, under date of January 28,
1711, aa follows: 'I have heard by Cossacs and Dworancs from Jakutzk
that you intend to send a party of Cossacs and voltinteers to the new coun-
try or island opposite the moutli of the river Kolima, but that you hesitated
about doing it without orders; therefore I have found it necessary to tell you
that you should by "-o means neglect to do it; and if other islands may l«'
discovered, you will be pleased to do the same with respect to them. ]5ut
above all things the expedition is to bo made this present year, 1711- This
I vr-ito to you by order of his Czarieh Majesty.' Mutter's Voy., Intr., :

xv.-xvu

I from the
:s ordered
h such in-
s for such
iformed of
authentic

10 to the
give these
ver, a dep-
Permakof
L from the
e east side
in the sea,
:ed. There
ie the river
I the conti-
but it was

ncouraged,*
e mouth of
, simultanc-
for which
,ts or travel
ined if such
lied expedi-
, a Cossaclc,
;, but in his
luch consid-

the autumn
,nd in May

,te of January 28,
1C8 from Jakutzk
to the new cmui
hat you hesitated
cessary to tell you
er islands may li>
ect to them. But
year, 1711. This
oy.,Intr,, xv.-xvi.

EASTERN EXPLORATIONS.

1712 he made a voyage from Ust-Yanskoie Simovie
to the frozen sea. Ou this occasion the Yakov Per-
makof, previously mentioned, served as his guide.
The party used sledges drawn by dogs, and after fol-
lowing the coast to Sviatoi Noss, they emerged upon
the frozen ocean and travelled directly north. They
came to a desert island, without wood, which Vagin
estimated to be from nine to twelve days' travel in
circumference. From this island they saw, farther to
the north, another island or land, but as the spring
was already too far advanced, Vagin dared not pro-
ceed, and his provisions running short the whole party
returned to the continent, to provide themselves with
a sufficient supply of fish during the summer. The
point where he reached the coast was between Sviatoi
Noss and the river Khroma. A Cossack had formerly
erected a cross there, and after him it was named Ka-
taief Krest. Being out of provisions, they failed in
an attempt to reach the Khroma, and were compelled
to eke out an existence on the sea-coast, devouring
even the sledge-dogs. Vagin, however, still intended
to prosecute his explorations; but his Cossacks, remem-
bering their sufferings, to prevent a repetition, rose
against their leader and murdered him, his son, the
guide Permakof, and one promyshlenik. The crime
was revealed by one of the accomplices and the of-
enders were brought to justice. During the trial it
appeared that the guide Yakov Permakof did not
believe the supposod large island to be really an island,
but only vapor.

The other expedition, that from the Kolima, met
with no better success. It consisted of a single vessel
commanded by the Cossack Vassili Stadukhin, with
twenty-two men. He merely observed a single prom-
ontory, extending into the sea to the east of Kolima,
=^ surrounded by ice, impenetrable by their vessels.^

^ ' They used shitiki, or boats, the planks of which were faatened together
"•fU with lawhido straps and thongs. They measured about 30 feet in length and
12 fout bronil , with a Hat bottom, calked with moss. The sails consisted of soft,

•!il

til

Iff II

'4 a

; j

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

^:ir- ■ ■

Another expedition was undertaken by a Cossack
named Amossof. He started in 1723 with a party
to search for an island reported to extend from the
mouth of the Yana beyond the mouth of the Indigirka.
He proceeded to the Kohma, and was prepared to
sail in July 1724. According to his account he found
such shoals of ice before him that he changed his
course and sailed along the coast eastward to the so-
called habitation of Kopai, which he reached on the
7th of August. Here again ice drove him back, and he
returned to the Kolima. The dwelling of Kopai was
about two hundred versts east of that river. Amossof
also mentioned a small island situated near the conti-
nent, and during the following winter he made another
journey, with sledges, of which he sent an account to
the chancellery of Yakutsk. The report was to the
effect that on the 3d of November 1724 he set out
from Nishnoie Kolimskoie Simovie, and met with
land in the frozen sea, returning to Kolima on the 23d
of the same month. Upon this land he saw nothing
but old huts covered with earth; it was unknown
to what people they belonged, and what had be-
come of them. Want of provisions, and especially
of dog-food, had obliged him to turn back without
making any further discoveries. This journey was
also impeded by ridges of ice piled to a great height,
which had to be crossed with the sledges. The place
where Amossof left the continent to go over to the
island is between the Chukotcha and the Aliscia
rivers. It was an island, in circumference about a
day's travel with dogs, and about the same distance
from the continent, whence its high mountains can
easily be seen. To the north were two other islands,
likewise mountainous and separated by narrow straits.
These he had not visited and did not know their ex-
tent. The first was without trees ; no tracks of animala

dressed reindeer-akin, and in place of ropes, straps of elk-skin were used. The (4
ancboro were pieces of wood, to which heavy stones were fastened. Multer't
Voy., latrud., xviii.

KAMCHATKA REACHED BY SEA.

were seen but those of reindeer, which live on moss.
The old huts had been constructed of drift-wood and
covered with earth. It is probable that they had
been made by Yukagirs or Chukchi, who had fled
before the first advance of the Russians, and subse-
quently returned to the continent.®

Kopai, mentioned in Amossofs narrative, was a
chief among the Shelages, living at the mouths of the
Kolima and Aliseia rivers. He first paid tribute to
Russia at the request of Vilegin, a promyshlenik, and
in 1724 he paid tribute to Amossof. Subsequently,
however, he broke his allegiance and killed some of
Amossofs party.

Tht) first passage by sea from Okhotsk to Kam-
chatka took place in 1716. One of the sailors, a
native of Hoorn in Holland, named Bush, was alive
when Mtiller visited Yakutsk in 1736, and he related
to him the circumstances. On the 23d of May 1714
a party of twenty Cossacks and sailors arrived at Ok-
hotsk under command of Kosma Sokolof. These were
followed in July by some carpenters and shipwrights.
The carpenters built a vessel for sea-service, resem-
bling the Russian lodkas in use between Arkhangel,
Pustozersk, and Novaia Zemlia. The vessel was du-
rable — fifty-one feet long, with eighteen feet beam, and
drew when laden only three and a half feet of water.
Embarking in June 1716, they followed the coast
north-easterly till they came to the mouth of the river
Ola, where a contrary wind drove them across the sea
to Kamchatka. The land first sighted was a promon-
tory north of the river Tigil, where they cast anchor.
Some went ashore, but found only empty huts. The
Kamchatkans had watched the approach of the vessel
and fled to the mountains. The navigators again
set sail, passed the Tigil, and arrived in one day at

* Mflller does not seem to have placed much faith in Amossofs report.
He expresses the opinion that it was framed to serve private purposes and
subsequently altered to suit ciicumstances. Voy., Introu., xx.

m i

r'm III'
ll'lnl I' HI

'f i

THE CENTURY-MARCH OF THE COSSACKS.

the mouth of the little river Kharinzobka, in the
vicinity of two small islands. From Kharinzobka
they went the following day to the river Itcha, keep-
ing the sea at night and making for the land in the
morning. Here, again, some men were put ashore,
but they could find neither inhabitants nor houses.
They soon returned and the vessel sailed down the
coast till they came to the river Krutogorova. They
intended to make this river, but missed its mouth,
and finding a convenient bay a little to the south
they anchored. On searching the country, they met
with a girl who was gathermg edible roots in the
field, and she showed them some huts, inhabited by
twelve Kamchatka Cossacks, stationed there to receive
tribute. The Cossacks were sent for, and served as
guides and interpreters. The vessel was then brought
to the mouth of the river Kompakova, and it was
resolved to winter there.^

Early in May 1717 they put to sea, and on the
fourth day became lodged between fields of ice, and
were held there for over five weeks. At last they
regained the coast of Okhotsk between the river Ola
and Tanisky ostrog, where they stayed several days,
and then returned to Okhotsk about the middle of
July. From that time there was constant navigation
between Okhotsk and Kamchatka.

In 1719 the Russian government sent two naviga-
tors or surveyors, Ivan Yevreinof and Fedor Lushin,
to make geographical observations, and specially to
find, if possible, among the Kurile Islands the one
from which the Japanese were said to obtain gold and
silver. They arrived at Yakutsk in May 1720, crossed
over to Kamchatka the same summer, and returned
to Yakutsk in 1721." Yevreinof left Lushin in Sibe-

' During the stay of Sokolof and Bush on the Kompakova, a whale was
cast ashore, which had in its body a harpoon of European make, marked with
Roman letters. Mulkr's Voy., lutrod., xlij.

* The results were kept secret and Miiiler could not get access to their in-
structions, so that nothing more is known about this voyage. MuUer's Voy.,
Introd., xliii.

THE AMERICAN SIBERIA.

ria and proceeded to Rassia to report to the tsar, tak-
ing with him a map of the Kurile Islands as far as he
had explored them. For the next three years, that is
to say to 1724, rumors and ideas concerning the east
assumed more and more definiteness in Kamchatka,
and at Okhotsk, Yakutsk, and other Russian settle-
ments, at last reaching Moscow and St Petersburg,
there to find attentive listeners."

Obviously the Great Land opposite, if any such
there was, would present aspects quite different to the
tough Cossacks and to the more susceptible Europeans
from the south. The American Siberia, this farther-
most north-west was once called, and if to the Amer-
ican it was Siberia, to the Siberian it was America.
The eastern end of Asia is lashed by the keen east-
ern tempests and stands bleak and bare, without
vegetation, and the greater part of the year wrapped
in ice and snow. The western shores of America,
though desolate and barren enough within the limits
of Bering sea, are wonderfully different where they
arc washed by the Pacific and protected from the east
by high chains of mountains. Here they are open to
the mild westerly winds and warm ocean currents;
they have a damper climate, and, in consequence, a
more vigorous growth of trees and plants. In com-
paratively high latitudes they are covered with fine
forests down to the sea-shore. This is a contrast
which repeats itself in all northern countries. The
ruder Sweden in the east contrasts in a like manner
I with the milder Norway in the west; the desolate

* Miiller relates ' that in the year 1715 there lived at Kamchatka a man of
a foreign nation, who, upon account of the Kamchatkan cedar-nuts and tlio
low sluubs on which they grow, said that he came from a country to the caat
where tliero were large cedars which bore bigger nuts than those of Kam-
chatka ; that his country was situated to the east of Kamchatka ; that tliere
[were found in it great rivers where he lived which discharged themselves
I westward into the Kanicliatkan sea; that the inhabitants called tliemselvea
ITontoli; they rcsemhhid in their manner of living the people of Kamchatka
land miule use of skiu boats or haidares like those of the Kamchadales. Tliat
jmaiiy years ago he went over with some more of his countrymen to Karag-
jiiiskoi ostrow where liis companions were slain by the inhabitants, and he
Jaloue made his escape to Kamchatka.' Voy., Introd., xxviii.
Qui. AiiiBKA. 3

I i' V'>

f'fl

ll i ^ 1 ■

El I •■

THE CENTURY-MARCH OP THE COSSACKS.

eafltern coast of Greenland buried in polar ice, with
its western coast inhabited, and at times gay with
flowers and verdure. Thus the great eastern coun-
try, the bolshaia zemlia, rich in harbors, shelter,
woods, and sea and land animals, might well become
by report among the north-eastern Asiatics a garden
of paradise.

CHAPTEE III.

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

172^1740.

Ptoposks of Pbtee the Great— An Expedition Organized — Sets out
FROM St Petkrsburq — Death of the TaAR— His Efforts Seconded
BT Catherine and Elizabeth— Berino and Chirieof at Kamchat-
ka—They Coast Northward through Bering Strait and Prove
Asia to be Separated from America — Adventures of Shestakof —
Expedition of Hens, Fedorof, and Gvozdef — America Sighted— Or-
ganization OF THE Second General Expedition — Bibliography —
Personnel of the Expedition — Bering, Chirikof, Spanberg, Walton,
CROYiRE, Steller, ML'ller, Fisher, and Others— Russian Religion —
Easy Morality — Model Missionaries — The Long Weary Way across
Siberia— Charges against Bering — Arrival of the Expedition at
Okhotsk.

The excessive curiosity of Peter the Great extended
further than to ship-building, astronomy, and general
geography. Vast as was the addition of Siberia to
the Russian empire there lay something more beyond,
still indistinct and shadowy in the world's mind, and
the astute Peter determined to know what it was.
The sea of Okhotsk had been found, and it was in the
same latitude as the Baltic; the ostrog of Okhotsk
had been built, and it stood upon almost exactly the
same parallel as St Petersburg. Might not there be
for him an American Russia, as already there was a
European and an Asiatic Russia? And might not
this new Russia, occupying the same relative position
to America that the old Russia did to Europe, be
worth more to him than a dozen Siberias? He would
see. And he would know, too, and that at once,
whether the continents of Asia and America joined.

til': 1

I i

^i '-=1

:i-i:

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

This would be a good opportunity likewise to try his
new ships, his new discipline, and see what the skilled

fentlcmen whom he had invited from Austria, and
*russia, and Holland could do for him. There were
many around him whom his enthusiasm had inspired,
and who wished to try their mettle in strange ad-
venture.

Such were the thoughts arising in the fertile brain
of the great Peter which led to what may be called
the two Kamchatka expeditions; that is, two prin-
cipal expeditions from Kamchatka, with several sub-
ordinate and collateral voyages, the first of which
was to ascertain whether Asia and America joined or
were separate, and the second to thoroughly explore
eastern Siberia, to discover and examine the American
coast opposite, and to learn something more of the
Kurile Islands and Japan. Both explorations were
under the command of Vitus Bering, a Danish cap-
tain in the Russian service, who was engaged on the
first about five years, the second series occupying
some sixteen years, not wholly, however, under this
commander.

For the guidance of his admiral. Count Apraxin,
the tsar drew up instructions with his own hand.
Two decked boats were to be built at Kamchatka,
and, to assist Bering in the command, lieutenants Mar-
tin Spanberg and Alexeii Chirikof were appointed.
Other officers as well as ship-builders and seamen
were chosen, and on February 5, 1725, the expedition
set out overland through Siberia. Three days there-
after the monarch died; but his instructions were
faithfully carried out by his successors, Catherine the
wife and Elizabeth the daughter.

Much trouble was experienced in crossing the con-
tinent, in obtaining provisions, and in making ready
the ships; so that it was not until the 2l8t of August
1727 that Bering with Chirikof set sail in the Fortuna,
from Okhotsk, for the southern end of the Kamchat-
kan peninsula, where by July of the following year

-i-^i.

BERING'S FIRST VOYAGE.

they had ready another vessel, the Gavril, or Gabriel.
Leaving the river Kamchatka the 20th of July, they
coasted the eastern shore of the peninsula northward,
till on the 8th of August they found themselves in
latitude 64° 30', at the river Anadir. The Chukchi
there told them that after rounding East Cape the
coast turned toward the west. Continuing, they
passed and named St Lawrence Island, and the
IGth of August they were in latitude 67° 18', having
passed the easternmost point of Asia, and through the
strait of Bering. There the coast turned abruptly
westward, as they had been told. If it continued in
that direction, as was more than probable, Asia and
America were not united.^ Bering's mission was ac-
complished, and he therefore returned, reaching Kam-
chatka in September.

In connection with this first voyage of Bering, two
expeditions were undertaken in the same direction
under the auspices of Afanassiy Shestakof, a chief of
the Yakutsk Cossacks, This bold man, whose energy
was of that reckless, obstinate type that knows no
defeat, went to St Petersburg and made several pro-
posals to the senate forthe subjection of the independent
Chukchi and Koriaks and the unruly Kamchatkans.
The eloquence with which he advanced his scheme
procured him applause and success. He was appointed
chief of an expedition in which to accomplish his heart's
desire.

The admiralty appointed a Hollander, Jacob Hens,
pilot; Ivan Fedorof, second in command, Mikhail Gvoz-
def, "geodesist," or surveyor; Herdebal, searcher of
ores, and ten sailors. He was to proceed both by
land and by sea. From the arsenal at Catherineburg,
Siberia, he was to be provided with small cannons and
mortars, and ammunition, and a captain of the Siberian
regiment of dragoons at Tobolsk, Dmitri Pavlutzki,

' Miiller, Voy. 4, is in error when he says that 'the circumstances on which
the captain founded his judgment were false, he IxjinR then in a bay which,
although one shore did trend to the west, the opposite shore ran again to the
east.' Bering'* suppositions were correct iu every particular.

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDmONS.

!|.

! [■ ;.il

I I

was ordered to join him, each receiving command
over four hundred Cossacks, while at the same time
all the Cossacks stationed in ostrogs and simovies, or
winter-quarters, in the Chukchi district, were placed
at their disposal. With these instructions Shestakof
returned to Siberia in June 1727. At Tobolsk he re-
mained till late in November, wintered on the upper
Lena, and arrived at Yakutsk the next summer. There
a dispute arose between Shestakof and Pavlutzki,
which caused their separation. In 1729 Shestakof
went to Okhotsk and there took possession, for the
purposes of his expedition, of the vessels with which
feering had lately returned from Kamchatka. Ou the
1st of September he despatched his cousin, the syn-
hotjarski, or bastard noble, Ivan Shestakof, in the Gavril
to the River Ud, whence he was to proceed to Kam-
chatka and begin explorations, while he himself sailed
in the Fortuna. This vessel was wrecked near Taniski
ostrog, and nearly all on board perished, Shestakof
barely saving his life in a canoe. With a small rem-
nant of his men and some friendly Tunguses and Kor-
iaks he set out for Kamchatka on foot, but on the
14th of March 1730 he was overpowered near the
gulf of Penshinsk by a numerous body of Chukchi
and received a mortal wound. Only three days before
this Shestakof had sent orders to Taniski ostrog that
the Cossack Tryfon Krupischef should embark for
Bolsheretsk in a sea-going vessel, thence make his
way round the southern point of the peninsula, touch
at Nishekamchatsk, and proceed to the river Ana-
dir. The inhabitants of the "large country lying
opposite to this river" he must ask to pay tribute to
Russia. Gvozdef, the navigator, was to be taken on
board if he desired, and ^hown every respect.

After battling with adverse winds and misfortunes
for about two years, the explorers passed northward
along the Asiatic shore, by the gulf of Anadir, noting
the Diomede Islands, and perhaps catching a glimpse
of the American shore. The leaders were quarrelling

WHAT MIKHAIL QVOZDEF SAW.

89.

'pfi

'i .; '

■ '

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIOlSrS.

continually, and Fedorof, the navigator in command,
was lame and confined to his bed during nearly all
the voyage. On their return to Kamchatka they made
the most contradictory statements before the author-
ities. From Gvozdef s report we are told that at some
time during the year 1730 he found himself between
latitude 65° and 66°, **on a strange coast, situated
opposite, at a small distance from the country of the
Chukchi, and that he found people there, but could
not speak with them for want of an interpreter."^

The land expedition was more successful. In Sep-
tember 1730 Jacob Hens, the pilot, received intelli-
gence from Pavlutzki, dated at Nishnekolimsk, to
the effect that Shestakof's death would not delay the
expedition. Hens was to go with one of the ves-
sels loft at Okhotsk by Bering, to the river Anadir,
to the head-waters of which Pavlutzki was shortly to
march. Whereupon Hens proceeded in the Gavril to
the mouth of the Kamchatka, where he arrived in
July 1731, and was told that a rebellious band of
Kamchatkans had come to Nishnekamchatsk oscrog,
killed most of the Russians there, and set fire go the
houses. The fe^^' remaining Russians took shelter in
the vessel, and Hens sent men and reduced the Kam-
chatkans to obedience. This, however, prevented his
going to the Anadir River.

'Mvller's Voyages, 8-11. Of the commander of this expedition, Ivan
Fedorof, we have but little information beyond the fact tliat he died in
February 1733, and that !)«• had been with Shestakof's expedition in 1727;
that he had been ordered to join him together with the mate Hens, and
the surveyor Gvozdef. His companion and assistant, and finally successor
in conmiand, Mikhail Spiridonovich Gvozdef, began liis education in 1716, at
the scliool of navigation and in 1719 attended the St Petersburg Naval
Academy, being in the surveying class. In 1721 he was sent on govcnnnent
duty to Novogorod, where he remained till 172i). In 1727 he graduated as
surveyor, and was sent to Siberia to join Shestakof. After liis exploration in
Bering Strait, he was arrested in 1735 by the governor of Siberia at Tobolsk,
upon an erroneous accusation, and sent back to Okhotsk in 1730. In 1741
lie explored and surveyed the Okhotsk coast for 200 versts southward, and in
1742 he accompanied midshipman Schelting to the Shantar Islands, at the
mouth of the Amoor. After the disbandment of the Kamchatka expedition
he remained in Siberia till 1704, when he was appointed teacher in the uav-il
corps of c-ulets. The date of his death is not known. Zapinki, llydro{ 7/i-
chenkaijo Dc/iarlamciita, ix. 7S-87.

It is possible that Gvozdef's voyage was of greater importance tlw. t;io

ostrol

iinde]

chi.

bis CI

and

somei

thon[

Aftel

ten

lutzl^

of a

the

This

an Gi

of Ji

HENS AND PAVLUTZKI.

Meanwhile Pavlutzki had arrived at Anadirskoi
ostrog in September 1730, and the following T>oai' he
undertook a campaign against the obstinate Chuk-
chi. On the 12th of March 1731 he put in motion
his column, composed of 215 Russians, IGO Koriaks,
and GO Yukagirs, moving along the head- waters of
some of the northern tributaries of the Anadir, and
then turning northward to the coast of the Arctic.
After marching two months at the rate of about
ten versts a day, stopping frequently to rest, Pav-
lutzki arrived at the frozen sea, near the mouth
of a river. For two weeks he travelled eastward along
the coast, mostly upon the ice and far from the shore.
This was done, probably, for the purpose of avoiding
an encounter with the natives, but at last, on the 7th
of June, a large body of Chukchi was seen advancing,

writers of that period ascribed to it. In the year 1743 Captain Spanberg of
Bering's expedition was commissioned by the imperial government to inves-
tigate tlie results of this voyage. Iii -ise oi a failure to obtain satisfactory
information, Spanberg was to tal c (xi.n ;and of auotlier expedition to review
and correct the work of Gvozdef and Feaorof. Spanberg evidently entered
upon this duty with his usua' eLi;rgy, and as upon his report the order for a
new expedition was countcvi. landed from St i'etersbui^', we may suppose
that Spanberg at least was satisfied that the information obtained by Gvozdef
and Fcdorof was satisfactory. Spnuberg found in addition to twodcpositiona
made to Gvozdef on the subject an original journal kejit by Fcdorof alone,
' for his own personal remembrance. ' VVith the help of this document a chart
was compiled by Spanberg under Gvozdef's supervision, illustrative of the
voyage in question. The chart was finally transmitte(l to the admiralty
coilego, where cojjiea were executed, but the original can no longer bo found.
In his journal we find, after a detailed accurate description of the Dionicdo
Ishmds, leaving no room for doubt as to their identity, an entry to the eirect
that after sailing from the mouth of the Anadir River they steered in an east-
erly direction, and after sailing five days with favorable wind, they saw land
on their left side (nortlierly side), and hoped to find it an island. They made
directly for this land, but when they had approached within half a verst,
they saw tliat it was not an island, but a continent. Tlie joast was nand and
there were dwellings on the shore, and a number of peoj .e. T'here was nlso
timber on this land, spruce and larch. They coasted along this laud, keeping
it on the left side for live days, and then, not seeing the end of it, they dici
not dare to go any farther in that direction because the water became too
Bhallow for their small craft. Tlie same statement wa« confirmed in the
deposition of Shurikhin, a member of the expedition, also examined by Spau-
berg. Gvozdef, Fcdorof, and Shurikhin agree in the statement that the
natives (if the 'continent' used skin boats covered on top or the Kakimo'a
kiak, which is found only on the American side of the strait. The descrip-
tion of the land would fit well the country about Norton Sound, the only
point on all that coast where the timber approaches the shore. The shallow
water found going to tin.' southward, wimlil also indicate that they approached
the I'cmarl .able shoals lying off the mouths of the Yukon liiver. Sokolof,
Jutoria; Morskoi tivbornifc, passim.

Jtr THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

and as they ^vould not listen to Pavlutzki's summons
to obedience, he attacked and put them to flight.
About the last of June another battle was fought
and with the same result. After a rest of three days
the march toward Chukotskoi Noss was resumed, but
another larger body of natives was met with there and
a third battle ensued, during which some articles were
recovered which had been in possession of Shestakof.
Pavlutzki claimed this engagement, also, as a victory
and declared his total loss in the three battles to have
been but three Russians, one Yukagir, and five Ko-
riaks killed. But the Chukchi were by no means
subdued. After reaching the cape the expedition re-
turned across the country in a south-easterly direction
and in October reached ostrog Anadirskoi." Pav-
lutzki finally died at Yakutsk with the rank of voivod.
His explorations were carried on with indomiiilaible
courage and rare ability, and altogether his achieve-
ments furnish a worthy prelude to those of Bera^
and Chirikof a few years later The feat of marchiong
across the country of the warlike Chukchi was not
repeated till half a century later, when a party undnr
Billings, not as an army defying interference, but as
an humble expedition, were suffered to pass by the
insolent natives, who robbed them at every step with
impunity.

The second Kamchatka expedition, under the
auspices of the empress Elizabeth, was the morv,
brilliant effort toward scientific discovery which up
to this time had been made by any government.* It

• MvUnr's Voy., 11-15; CoaseV Rtimian Ditcoveriw, 237; Bumey's Chnm.
Hist., ]2S-<37, 196et!H9q.

* The warces uf iaionnation conccmLug this expedition &r<- numeroua, but
not altogetiter satiBtactory. The llrst account, lirief and wholly uureliable,
wttH publiafaed by the Fariaian geographer Do L'Ifile, in 1752, in >\ painphlet
entitled ExpliccUian de la Carte den Nvuvelti'ii Decouverten om Norii (U Ui Mer
du Sud. In I'jS thtare was printed at Berlin, also in Frunch, and iminedi-
ately traimlated into Engliah and Geniian, though never published -.u Russian,
a Letter of a liutHtcai. A'aval OJiiier, whicli was ascribed Uj Miiller, who <x)n-
tradict.ed the Htatements of De L'Islo. and gave his own version. F.ugci, in
his Ocoy mp kkei u- uud Kriluchc Kachrichlei^ , ii. 44, 47i eudeavon to Qn>v«

m: ,

^, iiii ftmu i L

ARCTIC GEOGRAPHY.

must be borne in mind that Siberia, discovered and
named by the Cossacks in the sixteenth century,
was in the earHer part of the eighteenth but httle
known to European Russia, and the region round

Miiller to be t^e author of the letter. In 1758 Miiller published a volume
entitled Voyages and JJiacoveries of the Russians in the Arctic Hea, and the
Eastern Ocean, in both German and Russian, which was translated into Eng-
lish in li71, and into French in 1776. The volume is accompanied by maps,
and covers the entire ground, without, however, going into minor details, and
without doing justicu to the vast work performed by the attendant scientists,
Thi . ^he chief authority until Sokolof took up the subject in a lengthy
coir, I '1' '1 -ion to the Zapiski Hydrograficheskago Departamenta in 1831.

lu -■ D another brief description of the expedition was furnished by
Sarychef, under the title of Voyages of Russian Nartd Officers in the Arctic
Sean, from 1734 to 1743, printed in vol. iv. of the publications of the Russian
admiralty department. In the mean time other publications connected M-ith
or resulting from the expedition, though not treating of it, appeared at vari-
ous tim'd, such an the Flora Sibericn., by Gmelin, published serially between
1749 ;ind 17(51); A Voyage throiif/h Siberia, also by Gmelin, in 1752; A his-
tory ot Siberia, under the title of Sammlung russischer geschichten, by Miiller,
in 1732-6; Description of the Kamchatka Country, by Kraslicnnikof, in 1755;
History of Siberia, by Fisher, in 1768 (this was in German, the Russian
translation appearing only in 1774); Description of the Kamchatka Country,
by Steller, in 1774; Journal qf a Voyage from Kamchatka to America, also by
Steller, published in 1793, in Fellas, Neue Nord. Jleitr. ; A Detailed Dcscrip-
ti'U of the Voyages from the White Sea to tlie Gulf of Obi appeared in the
Four Voyage.' of Lutke, in 1826; in 1841 Wrangell published a Voywje in
Siberia, with frequent allusions to the second Kamchatka expedition. A
few articles on the results of the expedition Ln the fields of natural history,
astronomy, and history appeared in pajjors of the Imperial Academy of Sci-
ences, and the documents collected by Mulle- from the Siberian archives for
his historv of Siberia have been published from time to time in the proceed-
ings of the imperial Russian historical and arclifeological commission. The
most reliable source of information upon this subject has been found in the
archives of the Russian naval department. The documents concerniiifj; tlio
doings of the Bering expedition comprise 25 large bundles of over 30,000
pages; these documents extend over a period of 17 years, between 1730 and
1747. The archives of the hydrographic department of the Russian navy
contain the journals of navigation of nearly all the vessels engaged, all in
copies only. The original journals and maps were sent in 1754 to Irkutsk
and placed in the hands of Miatlef, governor of Siberia, with a view to a
resumption of the labors of the expedition; thence the papers were trans-
ferred in 1759 to Governor Saimonof at Tobolsk, and they were finally given
to Sokolof, above mentioned, by N. N. Muravicf, governor general of eastern
Siberia, for the purpose of writing an account of the expedition. The greater
part of these documents were copies made by pupils of the naval corps of
cadets and of the nautical academy, and though written clearly and care-
fully, they are full of egregious errors. The collection comprises over CO
manuscript volumes. The copies of the original maps accompanying tho
journals were also cflrclessly made. In the archives and library of the
imperial academy thc-e exists the so-called 'Miiller Portfolio,' containing a
largo numljer of reports, lettera, and journals of members of tho academy
accompanying the expedition, written in Russian, French, German, and Latin.
The only naval journal found in this collection was kept by Master Khilrof,
and is the most valuable thing in tiie portfolio. Sokolofs account of tlie
second Kamchatka expedition i)ogins with the following dedication of his
work to Peter the Great: 'To thee I dedicate this work, to thee without

"'My!,

' m

mri

U THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

Kamchatka scarcely at all. The maps of the day
were problematical. The semi-geographical mission
of the surveyors Lushin and Yevreinof to the Kurile
Islands in 1719-21 had been barren of results. The
first expedition of Bering from 1725 to 1730 had
advanced along the river routes to Okhotsk, thence
by sea to Kamchatka, and northward to the straits
subsequently named after him, but made few discov-
eries of importance, determining the astronomical
positions of points and places only by latitude without
longitude, but revealing the trend of the Kamchatka
coast to the northward. The expedition of Shestakof
from 1727 to 1732 was more of a military nature,
and resulted in little scientific information. The ex-
ploration of Hens, Fedorof, and Gvozdef, made about
the same time, was scarcely more satisfactory in its
results, though it served to confirm some things re-
ported by Bering during his first voyage.

Russia wished to know more of this vast uncovered
region, wished to map its boundaries, and mark off
her claim. The California coast had been explored
as far as Cape Mendocino, but over the broad area
thence to the Arctic there still hung the great North-
ern Mystery j** with its Anian Strait, and silver moun-
tains, and divers other fabulous tales. The northern
provinces of Japan were likewise unknown to the
enlightened world; and now the Muscovite, who had
sat so long in deep darkness, would teach even the
Colt and Saxon a thing or two.

Soon after the return of Bering from his first expe-
dition, namely, on the 30th of April 1730, the com-
mander presented to the empress two letters called
by him, " Proposals for the Organization of the

■whom it would not exist, since the discoveries described in the same are the
fruit of the gi'eat idets conceived by thee, the benefactor, father, and organizer
of this vast empire; ) thee are tliy subjects indebted for law, oood order, and
influence within and without, aa well as for morality, knowledge, and every-
tliinf; else tliat makes a nation fortunate and important.' ZapLtli Hydrograji-
chenhaijo Departamenta, ix. 199.

'• For a full e.xposition of which see Hist. Northwest Coast, i., and Hist. Cat.,
i., passim, this series.

SCIENTISTS IN SIBERIA.

Okhotsk and Kamchatka country," and advised an
immediate discovery of routes to America and Japan
for the purpose of establishing commercial relations
with these countries. He also recommended that the
northern coast of the empire between the rivers Ob
and Lena be thoroughly explored.* The organization
of the country already known, commanded the first
attention of the empress, to which end she issued, on
the 10th of May 1731, an oukaz ordering the former
chief prokuror, or sergeant-at-arms of the senate,
Skorniakof Pisaref, then in exile, to assume control of
the extreme eastern country, and be furnished with
the necessary means to advance its interests. The
residence of the new official was to be Okhotsk, to
which point laborers and settlers were to be sent from
Yakutsk, together with a boat-builder, three mates,
and a few mechanics.'^ The exile-governor did not
however long hold his position. Scarcely had he
assumed office when the second Kamchatka expedi-
tion was decided upon and Vitus Bering received the
supreme command of all the territory included in his
explorations.

At that time several circumstances combined to
carry forward the plans of Bering to their highest
consummation. The empire was at peace and the
imperial cabinet was presided over by Count Oster-
mann, who had formerly been secretary of Admiral
Cruce, and had devoted considerable attention to naval
affairs. In the senate the expedition was earnestly
supported by the chief secretary Kirilof; in the ad-
miralty colk^ Co«nt Golovin presided as the ruling

'Appendix to Sokotac^ Se>.-ond Expedition. Zapiski Hydrograficheaka/jo
Departamenta, ix. 4;W.

'Grigoi- Sk<'niiak<»i Pisaref was apiwinted tu commiind Okhotsk as an in-
dependent dis»»rict. His liiiuu&l salary was fiv^ii at 300 rubles. 100 bushels of
rye n)e«I, mi^I 100 buokets of brandy. ThiB individual hud a check red
carpoa lu 17li he was a captain in tho Preobrashenski lifeguard? and
atWhe<l to the aoatiemy of naval artillery; in 1719, lie waa made comman-
dei (.4 the ivftTklaca^waty; in 17-0 ho published a book, Practical Manual of
StatMcH a>¥i Mrchtum^ >• 17"2i be w is tn.-nle 'chief proknn)r' of the Ei-nato;
in 17*23 he wm rtfcu^wA itumt die acii<*owy by Captain Narislikin: in 17'27, he
waa puutaJi«t Vllk !•* iBMM and n*ut to Sibt.-ria m ad exile. Morskoi ■■Hmr-
ni-fc. i. li. a»

■MJi.

I »',

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

k» .

spirit, while the prokuror was Saimonof, the rival of
Kirilof. The foreign members of the Academy of
Sciences, in order to preserve their prestige, were
looking about for fields of activity, anxious to serve
their new fatherland. The spirit of Peter the Great
was yet alive among the leading subjects of the
empire; his plans were still fresh in the memory of
men, and all were eager to execute his progressive
purposes. And soon all Siberia was flooded with men
of science searching out things both larger and smaller
than sables, and throwing Cossack and promyshlenik
completely into the shade. By toilsome processes
the necessary means of subsistence and materials
were collected at the central stations throughout
Siberia, and along the thirteen hundred leagues of Arc-
tic sea-coast were placed at various points magazines
of supplies for explorers. From six to seven months
were sometimes occupied in transporting from the
forest to the seaports trees for ship-building. And
many and wide-spread as were the purposes, every
man had his place. To every scientist was given his
work and his field, to every captain the river he was to
reconnoitre, or the coast he was to explore. And when
the appointed time came there set forth simultane-
ously, from all the chief river-mouths in Siberia, like
birds of passage, litfle exploring expeditions, to begin
their battle with the ice ar.u the morass. Some brought
their work to a quick and successful issue; others
encountered the sternest difficulties.

But the adventures which chiefly concern u«» are
those pointing toward the American continent, "w hich
were indeed the central idea of all these undertakings,
and by far the most important outcome from this
Siberian invasion by the scientists. Before embark-
ing on the first great eastern voyage of discovery, let
us glance at the personnel of the expedition.

Laptain-commander Ivan Ivanovich Bering, so the
Russians called him, notwithstanding his baptismal
name of Vitus, was a Dane by birth, as I have said, who

PETER'S INSTRUCTIONS.

«r

had been in the Russian naval service about thirty
years, advancing gradually from the rank of sub-lieuten-
ant since 1704. He was strong in body and clear of
mind even when nearly sixty; an acknowledged man
of intelligence, honesty, and irreproachable conduct,
though in his later years he displayed excessive care-
fulness and indecision of character, governed too much
by temper and caprice, and submitting too easily to the
influence of subordinates. This may have been the effect
of age, or of disease; but whatever the cause, he was
rendered thereby less fit to conimand, especially so im-
portant and hazardous an adventure in so inhospitable
a region as Siberia at the beginning of the eighteenth
century. He had been selected by Peter the Great
to command the first expedition upon the representa-
tions of admirals Seniavin and Sievers, because '* he
had been to India and knew all the approaches to that
country."^ After his return he had advanced gradu-

• In the archives of the admiralty council in St Petersburg there is still
preserved a manuscript copy of the original instructions indited by Peter the
Great for the first Bering expedition. The instructions were finally promul-
gated by the admiralty college, or perhaps by Count Apraxin, and had been
corrected in the great tsar's own handwriting, to read as follows:

'1. To select such surveyors as have been in Siberia and ha'c returned
thence; upon which, at request of the senate, the following surveyors were
ordered to the province of Siberia: Ivan Evreinof (died), Feouor Lushiu,
Peter Skobeltzin, Ivan Svostunof, Dmitri Baskakof, Vassili Siietilof, and
Grigor Putilof.

' 2. To select from naval lieutenants or second lieutenants, such as are fit to
be sent to Siberia and Kamchatka. In the opinion of Vice-admiral Sievers and
Contre-admifal Seniavin, the most desirable individuals of that class were lieu-
tenants Stanberg (Spanberg?), Zveref or Kessenkof, and the sub-lieutenants
Chirikof and Lapticf. It would not be bad to place over these as commander
either Captain Bering or Von Verd ; Bering has been to East India and knows
the routes, an<l Von verd was his mate.

' 3. To select from the master-mechanics or apprentices such as are able to
build a decked boat according to our model used with big ships; and for the same
purpose to select four carpenters with their instruments, as young as possible,
and one quartermaster and eigh*. sailors. The boat-builder apprentice. Fee-
der Kozlof, has all the required .^ salifications, being able to draught plans of
decked boats and to buiUl them. (In Peter the Great's own handwriting:
It is absolutely necessary to have some mate or second mate who has been to
North America. )

'4. The usual o implement of sails, blocks, ropes etc., and four falconete,
with the necessary ammunition, should be increased by half — doubled, in
Peter's own handwriting.

' 5. If such a mate cannot be found in the fleet it is necessary to write im-
mediately io Holland for two men, experienced navigatoi-s in the Northern or
Japan seas, and to forward them at once by way of Anadirsk. Vice.'j.dmiral

r ij

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

1 ;i

ally to the rank of captain-commander, and had re-
ceived a cash reward of a thousand rubles, an amount
commonly granted at that time to envoys returning
from distant countries. He was now anxious to ob-
tain the rank of contre-admiral for his long services
and discoveries. The admiralty college made repre-
sentations to that ofl'ect to the imperial cabinet, but no
reply was received.^

Next in command, appointed with Bering, and who
had served as junior officer on the first expedition, and
now a captain, was Alexei Ilich Chirikof, one of the
best officers of his day, the pride and hope of the fleet.
Russian historians are perhaps a little inclined to

Sievers promiaea to forward these men inunediately if they can be found in
the imperial fleet Another addition in Peter's own handwriting: The rig-

?ing may be omitted, the rest is all right. Signed on the 23d of December,
724.'
• Berg in his researches into Siberian history found several documents
giving biographical details concerning Bering and his family, which may be
of some interest to the reader. He had with him in Siberia his wife and chil-
dren, two sons named Tiiomas and Unos, who were still alive in the city of
Revel when Sokolof wrote his history of the expedition. The wife, Anna
Matveicvna, was a young and lively woman and apparently not without influ-
ence; pcssibly a little unscrupulous. At all events it is known that in conse-
quence of certain rumors the senate issued an order in September 1738 to
keep an eye on the wife of Captain-commander Bering, then on her way from
Siberia, as well as on other members of the expedition about to return, and
to detail for the purpose an 'able man.' This super/ision was proved to bo
necessary on the Siberian frontier, as it appeared that the lady carried in her
baggage a large quantity of furs and government property. However, on her
arrival at Moscow she surrendered everything, made a few presents to the
customs officials, and hurried to St Petersburg, where she informed the in-
spectors that she did not belong to Siberia but to St Petersburg. In 1744,
when she asked for a widow's pension, or the award of her husband's salary
for one year, she declared tliat she was 30 years of age; and in 1750, when she
again petitioned for a pension, her age was given as 40 — not an uncom-
mon mistake made by ladies. As characteristic of Bering's mind, Sokolof
produces a letter written by him to Lieutenant Plunting, who at that time,
1738, was cinarrelling with the commander of the port of Okhotsk, Pisaref.
'You know yourself better than I what kind of a man Pisaref is,' he writes.
'It is always better when a rabid dog is about, to get out of his way in order
not to be bitten when it is none of our business. You are yourself somewhat
to blame, and perhaps you think that as an offiiier you are exempt from pun
ishment, but if Captain-commander Villebois was your commander, you wouhl
havo been punished though you are an officer. I know not under what weak
commanders you Iiave served to cause you to act as you do; remember this
and take care of yourself in the future, if you would avoid a sore head. No-
body knows his fate, perhaps you will be an admiral yot, as has happened
to Nikolai Fodorovich Golovin, i)resident of the admiralty college, but for-
merly he was only a sub-lieutenant under my command; and look at Shafirof,
what honors have been bestowed upon him, according to our latest letters.
Pisaref 'a fate is fortunately hidden from bun. That may be your consolation. '
Zap. Ilydr., ix. 209-10.

BERING AND HIS OFFICERS.

magnify the faults of Bering the Dane as well as the
merits of Chirikof the Russian. The latter they say
was well educated, courageous, and straightforward,
bright of intellect as well as thoughtful, and whoso
kind heart the exigencies of the cruel naval service had
never been able wholly to debase. He had graduated
*rom the naval academy in 1721, and had been at once
promoted to a sub-lieutenancy, skipping the rank of
midshipman. He was at first attached to the fleet,
but subsequently received an appointment at the naval
academy as instructor of the marines of the guard.
While in that position he was presented to Peter the
Great by Sievers and Seniavin as one of the officers
selected to join the first Bering expedition. He was
placed under the immediate command of Bering, to-
gether with Spanberg, in 1725. Before setting out
he was promoted to lieutenant, and gave evidence
throughout the expedition of great courage and com-
mon-sense. On his return in 1730 he was made a
captain-lieutenant; two years later, in 1732, he was
again promoted and made full captain, " not by sen-
iority but on account of superior knowledge and
worth," as they said. At the time of his appoint-
ment he was on special duty at Kazan, and he re-
turned to St Petersburg only a few days before the
departure of the expedition in February 1733; but
he still found time to give most valuable assistance in
framing the final instructions.'"

The third in command was Captain Martin Petrovich
Spanberg, a countryman of Bering, a native of Den-

'" It ia remarkable that in all the accounts of quarrels between the heads of
the various detachments of scientists and naval ollicers serving under Bering's
command, the name of Chirikof is never found. He seems to have had the good-
will of every one and escaped all complaints from superiors; he had with
him in Siberia a wife and daughter. On his return from the American coast
he lived in the town of Yenisseisk, suffering from consumption until 174(); in
that year he was ordered to St Petersburg, and upon his arrival was ajjain
appointed to the naval academy. In the same year he was transferred to
Moscow to look after some naval afiairs of importance, and on tliat occasion
ho made several propositions for the organization of further exploring expe-
ditions. He died in 1747 with rank of captain-commander. Morakoi Sbor-
nik, iv. 213-14.

HiiT. Alaska, 4

i^^.A.r

J-:' i

}'^'

H THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

mark. It is not known when he entered the Russian
service, but he accompanied the first expedition as
senior officer. He was iU iterate, with a reckless au-
dacity, rough, and exceedingly cruel, avaricious and
selfish, but strong in mind, body, and purpose, of great
energy, and a good seaman. His bad reputation ex-
tended over all Siberia, and was long preserved in the
memory of the people. Sibiriaks feared him and his
wanton oppression. Some of them thought him a
great general, while others called him an escaped ex-
ecutioner. He was always accompanied by a dog of
huge dimensions, which it was said would tear people
to pieces at his master's command. Chirikof thought
him possessed of some sparks of a noble ambition, but
all was put down by his subordinates to a love of
tyranny. His knowledge of the Russian language was
exceedingly limited. Having been made a captain-
lieutenant during the first expedition, he was now a
captain, like Chirikof, but higher on the list Little
is said of his share in the work performed by the expe-
dition, but his name occurs in hundreds of complaints
and petitions from victims of his licentiousness, cruelty,
and avarice. He was just the man to become rich.
On his return from Siberia he brought with him a
thousand yards of army cloth, a thousand bales of fur,
and whole herds of horses. He carried to Siberia
his wife and son, and they accompanied him at sea."
Such is the character of the man as presented by
Russian authorities, which are all we have on the
subject. Again it will be noticed that while Chirikof,
the Russian, is highly praised, Spanberg, the Dane,
is roundly rated, and we may make allowance accord-
ingly.

" He returned to St Petersburg from Siberia without orders in 1745, and
•was promptly placed under arrest and remanded for trial. His sentence was
death, but in the mean time other charges had been preferred, based upon com-
plaints of the people of Siberia, and the sentence was postponed. After many
delays he was released at the request of the Danish ambassador. In 1749 he
was given the command of a newly constructed man-of-war, which foundered
on leaving the harbor of Arkhangelsk; for this he was again tried by court-
martial and again acquitted. He died at last in 1701, with the rank of cap-
tain of the first class Sokolof, in Zap. llydr.. ix. 215-26.

THE GREAT MAP-MAKER.

• Of the other officers of the expedition there is not
much to be said, as they were not prominently con-
nected with the discovery of the American coast.
Lieutenant Walton, the companion of Spanberg, was
an Englishman who had entered the Russian service
only two years before. Midshipman Schelting was an
illegitimate son of Contre-admiral Petrovski, a Hol-
lander. He was twenty-five years of age and had
been attached to the fleet only two years. Lieutenant
Lassenius, the senior officer of the Arctic detach-
ments, who was instructed to explore the coast beyond
the Lena river, was a Dane. He had also but recently
entered the Russian service. According to Gmelin
he was a skilful and experienced officer; later he was
relieved by Lieutenant Laptief, also an old lieutenant
who had been recommended to Peter the Great for
the first expedition as a considerate and courageous
man. The less said of the morals of any of these
mariners the better. Neither the age nor the nation
was conspicuous for justice or refinement. Drinking
and gambling were among the more innocent amuse-
ments, at least in the eyes of the sailors, among whom
were the most hardened villains that could be picked
out from the black sheep of the naval service. There
can be no doubt that an almost brutal discipline was
sometimes necessary, but the practice of it was com-
mon. In regard to honesty, we must not suppose that
the appropriation of public property by officers of the
government was then regarded as a greater crime than
now.

Upon the request of the senate the imperial acad-
emy had instructed its member, Joseph de L'Isle,
to compile a map of Kamchatka and adjoining coun-
tries; but not satisfied with this, the senate demanded
the appointment of an astronomer to join the expedi-
tion accompanied by some students advanced in astron-
omy, and two or three versed in mineralogy. Two
volunteers for this service were found among the

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THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

academicians, Johann Gmelin, professor of chemistry
and natural history, and Louis de L'Isle de la Croy^re,
a brother of the map-maker and professor of astron-
omy. These were joined by a third, Gerhard Miiller,
professor of history and geography. The senate
accepted these, but ordered further twelve students
from the Slavo-Latin school at Moscow to be trained
in the academy for the proposed expedition. The
admiralty college urged the necessity of extending
the exploration over the whole northern coast of
Siberia, and it was then that were appointed as com-
manders subordinate to Bering, Spanberg, and Chi-
rikof, one lieutenant, three sub-lieutenants, and a
command of servants and soldiers numbering one hun-
dred and fifty-seven in all. A few members of the
college proposed to send the whole expedition to the
coast of Kamchatka round the world by sea, the
earliest plan toward circumnavigation conceived by a
Hussian ; but their counsel did not prevail."

The command of the proposed expedition to Japan
was given to Captain Spanberg, assisted by Lieuten-
ant Walton and Midshipman Schelting. The explor-
ation of the northern coast was intrusted to lieutenants
Muravief and Pavlof; lieutenants Meygin, Skuratof,
and Ovtzin were also appointed but subsequently re-
lieved by Masters Minnin, Pronchishchef, and Las-
senius. The two latter died and were replaced by two
brothers, the lieutenants Hariton and Dmitri Laptief.
Another detail consisted of three lieutenants, Waxel,
Plunting, and Endogarof, four masters, twelve master's
mates, ship and boat builders, three surgeons, nine
assistant surgeons, a chaplain, six monks, commissaries,
navigators, a number ot cadets and sailors, all num-
bering five hundred and seventy men. From the
academy ti!„ fnal appointments were the naturalist
Gmelin and the historian Miiller, who were subse-
quently relieved by Steller and Fisher; the astronomer

*' Both Berg, in his Lives qf Admirals, ii. 238, and Gmelin, in his Voyagt
<tt iSibmo, make mention of these propoaala. "

SOMETHING OF THE SCIENTISTS. M

De L'Isle de la Croy^re, with five students, four sur-
veyors, who were increased in Siberia by four more,
an interpreter, an instrument-maker, two artists, and
a special escort of fourteen men. An engineer and
aroliitect named Frederick Stael was also attached to
the expedition for the construction of roads and har-
bors, but he died on his way to Siberia.

Muiler and GmeUn were both young men, the first
being twenty-eight and the other twenty-four. They
were learned and enthusiastic German scientists who
had come to Russia several years before, one as a
doctor of medicine and professor of chemistry and
natural history, the other as professor of history and
geography. Both attained distinction in the scientific
world. De L'Isle de la Croy^re was also well edu-
cated, though conspicuous rather as a lover of good
eating and drinking, than as a learned man."

Another scientific member of the expedition, who
joined it somewhat later, was George Wilhelm Steller.
He was born in Winsheim, Franconia, on the 10th
of March 1709. He studied theology and natural
science in the universities of Wittenberg, Leipsic, and
Jena, and settled in Halle, devoting himself chiefly
to anatomy, botany, and medicine. He proceeded to
Berlin and passed a brilliant examination, and in 1734
he joined the Russian army before Dantzic, doing
duty as staff-surgeon. In December he was sent to
St Petersburg with a ship-load of wounded soldiers.
Here he accepted the position of leib medicus, or body-
surgeon to the famous bishop of Novgorod, Theo-
phanos Prokopovich, a favorite of Peter the Great,
and with him he remained till his death, except when
serving in Siberia.

When Bering left St Petersburg to enter upon his

" According to Berg and Sokolof , Gmelin returned to his own country
shortly after returning from this expedition in the year 1749, having obtained
his final discharge from the Russian service. He died in 1755. Miiller was
appointed historian in the Academy of Science in 1747; from 1754 to 1705 he
was conference secretary of the academy; in 1705 he was appointed director
of the Foundling House of Moscow, nml in 1706 he was placed in charge of
the Moaoow archives of the foreign oilice. He died in 1783.

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

second expedition, Steller, then of the imperial acad-
emy, was ordered to join the expedition specially to
examine the natural hist-ory of Kamchatka. He
reached his new field in 1738. In 1740, after giving
ample proof of his ability and energy by making fre-
quent and valuable shipments of specimens for the
museum of the academy, he forwarded a petition to
the senate for permission to accompany Lieutenant
Spanberg on his voyage to Japan. While awaiting
an answer he was importuned by Bering to join his
expedition. Steller replied that in the absence of
orders he would draw upon himself the displeasure
of the authorities, but the commander said he would
assume all responsibility and provide him with an
official memorandum to that effect, and a regular ap-
pointment to take charge of the department of natural
science in his expedition. Steller finally consented,
and we are indebted to him for some of the most re-
liable information concerning the Bussian discoveries
on the American coast."

In consideration of distance and privations the
empress doubled every salary. The departure of the
expedition began in February 1733. Bering and
Chirikof were instructed to build at Okhotsk or in
Kamchatka, wherever it was most convenient, two
vessels of the class then called packet-boats, and then
to proceed, in accordance with the plans of Professor
De la Croyfere, without separating, to the exploration
of the American coast, which was supposed to lie but
a short distance from Kamchatka. After reaching
that shore they were to coast southward to the forty-
fifth parallel, and then return to the north, crossing

'* These scientista had a way of marrying, with the view of throwing some
part of their infelicities upon their wives. Steller tried it, as MQller and
Fisher had done, and as the rough old sea-captains used to do, but he found
his wife one too many for him. She was the widow of a certain Doctor Mes-
■erchmidt, and daughter of a Colonel Von Bochler, and did not at all object to
become the wife of the rising young scientist, but to go to Siberia, Kamchatka,
perhaps to the north pole, was quite a different matter. True, she promised
nim, but that was before marriage, which of course did not count. And the
sorrowful Steller was ut last obliged to go wifeless to his ice-fields, leaving his
spouse to flirt the weary hours away at the gay capital. Morskoi Sbomik, c. 145.

ACROSS SIBERU.

back to Asia at Bering Strait. If the season proved
too short they were authorized to go into winter-quar-
ters, and conclude the work the following season.
Captain Spanberg was to proceed from Okhotsk in
the direction of Japan with one ship and two sloops,
beginning his explorations at the Kurile Islands. In
order to facilitate the progress of the expedition the
local Siberian authorities were instructed to erect on
the banks of the principal rivers, and on the Arctic,
beacons to indicate the location of the magazines of
provisions and stores for the various detachments, and
also to inform all the nomadic natives of Siberia and
the promyshleniki, that they must assist the members
of the expedition as far as lay in their power.

One important purpose of the expedition was to
discover a new route to the Okhotsk Sea without
passing Yakutsk, by going through the southern dis-
tricts of Siberia, and striking the head-wavers of the
Yuda, which had been reported navigable. A warn-
ing was attached to the instructions against crossing
the Amoor, " in order not to awaken the suspicions of
the Chinese government." The academicians Gmelin
and Muller were intrusted with the exploration of
the interior of Siberia and Kamchatka, assisting each
other in their researches, and making a general geo-
graphical survey with the assistance of the cadet en-
gineers attached to their detachment. Croyfere, with
some of the students who had been in training at
the observatory of the academy for several years, was
to make astronomical observations along the route
of progress, and accompany Bering to the coast of
America. He was granted great liberty of action, and
furnished with ample means, the best instruments to
be obtained at that time, and a numerous escort of
soldiers and laborers.

It was an unknown country to which they were
all going, and for an unknown time. The admiralty
college had thought six years sufficient, but most
were going for sixteen years, and many forever. Be-

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

sides nearly all the officers, a number of the rank and
file were taking with them their wives and children.
Lieutenant Ovtzin and one naval officer were the first
to leave for Kazan in order to begin their prepara-
tions. Captain Spanberg with ten mechanics set out
next to erect temporary buildings along the road and
in the towns of Siberia, for the accommodation of the
expedition. In March 1733 other members took their
departure, followed by lengthy caravans loaded with
supplies from the storehouses of the admiralty. The
scientists from the academy tarried in St Petersburg
till August, and then proceeded to Kazan to join their
companions. At the beginning of winter the whole
force had advanced as far as Tobolsk, where they went
into winter-quarters In the spring of 1734 the ex-
pedition embarked on small vessels built during the
winter on the rivers Ob, Irtish, and Yenissei. The
main body arrived at Yakutsk in the summer of 1735,
after having wintered at some point beyond Irkutsk.
Bering himself had proceeded by land from Tobolsk
and reached Yakutsk in October 1734, in advance of
nearly all his assistants. Here the winter was again
utilized for the construction of boats, and in the spring
of 1735 the lieutenants Pronchishchef and Lassenius
proceeded northward down the Lena River, with the
intention of sailing eastward along the Arctic coast.
The transportation of men and stores to Okhotsk
was accomplished partly in boats, and partly on horse-
back over a rugged chain of mountains. This proved
to be the most laborious part of the journey. Captain
Spanberg had been the first to arrive at Okhotsk,
having travelled in advance of the expedition; but
on arrival he discovered, to his dismay, that nothing
had been done by the local commander to prepare for
the reception of so large a body. Not a building had
been erected, not a keel laid, and the only available
logs were still standing in the forest Spanberg went
to work at once with his force of mechanics, but lack
of provisions caused frequent interruptions as the men

.,.»f

YEARS OP PREPARATION AND TROUBLE.

were obliged to go fishing and hunting. After a
while the commander of the Okhotsk countrj^ Skor-
niakof Pisaref, made his appearance. He offered no
excuse and his presence did not mend matters. Pisa-
ref and Spanberg had both been invested with extra-
ordinary powers, independent of each other, and both
were stubborn and inclined to quarrel. The former
lived in a fort a short distance up the river, while
the latter had built a house for himself at the mouth
of the river, where he intended to establish the port.
Each had his separate command, and each called him-
self the senior officer, threatening his opponent with
swift annihilation. Each lorded it over his dependants
and exacted abject obedience, and we may well im-
agine that the subordinates led a wretched life.

Bering at Yakutsk encountered much the same
difficulties as Spanberg, but on a larger scale. His
supphes were scattered along the road from the fron-
tier of Asia to Yakutsk awaiting transportation, and
the most urgent appeals to the Siberian authorities
failed to secure the requisite means." It had been
the captain-commander's intention to facilitate his in-
tercourse with the natives of Kamchatka by means
of missionary labor. Immediately after his return
from the first expedition, he had petitioned the holy

" Sgibnef , in his History of Kamchatka, gives tlio reasona for the delay.
It would seem after all that government was none too rigorous in Siberia. It
appears that the quarrels between Spanberg and Piaaref were preceded by
petty altercations between the latter and the voivod in command at Yakutsk.
As early as 1732 Pisaref had been instructed to draw all necessary supplies
from Yakutsk, but the voivod Shadovski refused to give him anything.
Pisaref complained to the governor at Irkutsk and received an oukaz empow-
ering him to confine Shadovski in irons until he issued what was needed for
the prosecution of work at Okhotsk. Subsequently another oukaz came to
Tobolsk ordering Shadovski to arrest Pisaref, which was no sooner done than
the order was revoked. Meanwhile working parties were forwarded to
Okhotsk every year, but want of provisions forced them to desert before any-
thuig had been accomplished. Numbers of these workmen died of starvation
on the rood. Alorskoi Sboriiik, cv. 25-7. Under date of October 7, 1738, an
order was issued from the chancellery of Irkutsk providing for the preparation
of ' sea- stores ' for the Bering expedition in Kamchatka. The quantity was
determined to the pound, as well as the quality, and special instructions wera
given for the manufacture of liciuor from sarana, a kind of fern, and for its
preservation in casks. If necessary, the whole population of Kamchatka was
to bo employed in gathering this plant, and to be paid for their labor in
tobacco. Sgibnef, in Alorskoi Sbornik, ci. 137-40.

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

synod for missionaries to undertake the conversion of
the Kamchatkans. The senate promulgated a law
exempting all baptized natives of that country for ten
years from the payment of tribute to the government.
The first missionary selected for the new field was the
rilonk Filevski, a great preacher and pillar of the
church, but before reaching Kamchatka he was
arrested on the river Aldan, for assaulting and half
killing one of the monks of his suite, and for refusing
to hold divine services or to read the prayers for the
imperial family. Religion in Siberia had seemingly
run mad. After his arrival in Kamchatka he added
much to the general confusion by acts of violence and
a meddlesome spirit, which stirred up strife alike
among clergy and laity, Russians and natives.

The position of Bering was exceedingly trying; on
him must fall the odium attending the faults and
misfortunes of them all. Throughout the journey,
and afterward to the end, complamts were forwarded
to Irkutsk, Tobolsk, and St Petersburg, That he
was a foreigner made it none the less a pleasure for
the Russians to curse him. The senate and admiralty
college were exasperated by reason of the slow move-
ment, beinjj ignorant of the insurmountable obstacles.
First among the accusers was the infamous Pisaref,
who charged both Bering and Spanberg with licen-
tiousness and "excessive use of tobacco and brandy."
He reported that up to that time, 1737, nothing had
been accomplished for the objects of the expedition,
and nothing could be expected beyond loss to the
imperial treasury; that the leaders of the expedition
had come to Siberia only to fill their pockets, not
only Bering, but his wife, who was about to return to
Moscow; and that Bering had received valuable pres-
ents at Irkutsk from contractors for supplies. An-
other officer in exile, a captain-lieutenant of the navy,
named Kozantzof, represented that Bering's force was
in a state of anarchy, that all its operations were
carried on at a wasteful expenditure, and that in his

ATTITUDE OP AFFAIRS IN OKHOTSK. 59

opinion nothing would come of it all. Spanberg him-
self began to refuse obedience to Bering, complaining
bitterly of the delay in obtaining stores for his voy-
age to Japan. Bering's immediate assistant, Chirikof,
received instructions from St Petersburg to inquire
into some of these complaints. Another of the officers
of the expedition, Blunting, being dissatisfied with
Bering's non-interference in his quarrel with Pisaref,
insulted the former and was tried by court-martial
and sentenced to the ranks for two months. To re-
venge himself, the young lieutenant sent charges
to St Petersburg, reflecting on Bering's conduct, one
of which was illicit manufacture of brandy and the
expenditure of powder in making fireworks, as well as
the "employment of the drum corps for his own amuse-
ment, though there was nothing to rejoice over. "

The members of the academy also became dissatis-
fied and complained of abuse and ill-treatment on the
part of Bering, asking to be relieved from obedience
to him as commander. In 1738 the expense of the
expedition, which had not then left the sea-coast, was
over three hundred thousand rubles in cash paid from
the imperial treasury, without counting the great
quantities of supplies furnished by the various dis-
tricts in kind. At this rate Alaska would cost more
than it could be sold for a hundred years hence. The
empress issued an oukaz on the 15th of September
1738, instructing the senate and the admiralty col-
lege to review the accounts of the Kamchatka expe-
dition, and ascertain if it could not be carried on
without such a drain on the treasury. The senate
reported that the cost thus far made it necessary to
continue the work or all would be lost. Much time
was wasted in correspondence on these matters, and
only at the beginning of 1739 did the main body reach
Okhotsk. In July an oflScer named Tolbukhin arrived
with orders from the empress to investigate the "doings
of Bering." He was followed in September by Lari-
onof, another officer who had been ordered to assist

THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS.

him. The supply of provisions at Okhotsk was alto-
gether inadequate to the large number of men stationed
there. During the winter following the suffering
became so great that Bering was obliged to send large
detachments away to regions where they could support
themselves by hunting. At that time the whole force
consisted of 141 men at Okhotsk, 192 employed in the
magazines and in the transportation of stores, 70 at
Irkutsk, 39 in attendance upon the various officers

Plan or Okhotsk.

and scientists, and 141 on the three vessels already
built, in all 583 men. Under Spanberg's active super-
vision two vessels had been built, the brigantine,^rM-
angel Mikhail, and the double sloop, Nadeshda, or
Hope; and two old craft, the Fortuna, reconstructed
in some degree from the first of that name, and the
Gavril, had been repaired. Spanberg was ready to
go to sea in September, but lack of provisions detained
him." In October the sloop Fortuna was sent to Kam-

" According to Bering's report of November 29, 1737, the quantity of
provisions ou hand in all his magazines in Okhotsk and Kamchatka consisted
of 10.400 pounds of flour; 1,784 lbs. grits; 249 lbs. hard bread; 659 lbs. salt;
182 lbs. dried fish; 21 1 lbs. butter; 48 lbs. oil; and 083 buckets of brandy. At
the same tiine he forwarded a requisition for 1738 for: 1,912 lbs. flour; 2,6(}6

ALL READY.

chatka for a cargo of pitch for the ship-building at
Okhotsk. The mate Kodichef, and the survey >r
Svitunof, in charge, were instructed to carry the pro-
visions that had accumulated in the Kamchatkan
magazines to Bolsheretsk, as the most convenient

S)rt from which to transfer them to the vessels of
ering's expedition. The student Krashcnnikof also
went to Kamchatka in the Fortuna. On the 13th
of October, when about to enter the river at Bol-
sheretsk, the wretched craft was overtaken by a gale
and thrown upon the shore. The future historian of
Kamchatka, Krashennikof, reached the land "clad in
one garment only."

Despite the apparently insurmountable difficulties
resulting from want of transportation and lack of sup-
plies, Bering and Chirikof found themselves in readi-
ness to go to sea in the month of August 1740. At
that time the number of men at Okhotsk belonging
to the expedition was 166, with 80 engaged in the
transportation of stores over the mountain trails.
During the summer the astronomer Croy^re with
his suite had arrived at Okhotsk, accompanied by the
naturalist Steller. Toward the end of August an
event occurred that filled Bering and his officers with
joy. The great stumbling-block of the expedition and
its most persistent enemy, Pisaref, was relieved from
his official position by another exile, Antoino Devibre,
a former favorite of Peter the Great, and chief of
police of St Petersburg." According to Sgibnef,
Devibre was the first honorable and efficient com-

Ibs. meal; 2,369 lbs. hard bread; 1,026 lbs meat; 410 lbs. fish; 654 lbs. butter;
7o lbs. oil; and 320 buckets of brandy. For the year 1739 his re()ui8ition for
!iis own and for Spanberg's expedition was: 930 lbs. flour; 2,565 lbs. meal;
4,017 lbs. hard bread; 1,025 lbs. meat; 410 lbs. fish; 546 lbs. butter; 163 lbs.
salt, and 660 buckets of brandy. With the flour it was not only necessary
to mako kvass, but to bake hard bread ; the meal was oatmeal, which was
issued because pease and barley could not bo obtained. Zap. Jlydr,, ix. 337.
'■ It was in 1738 that Antoine Devi^re was chief of police of tlie Russian
capital, but falling into disgrace he was sent to Siberia. In 1741 he was
made commander of Okhotsk, and in 1742 recalled to St Petersburg by
Elizabeth, mode a count, and restored to his former position. He died in
1745. Monkoi Sbornik, cv. 31, 33.

« THE KAMCHATKA EXPEDITIONS

mander of Okhotsk. He sold the property which his
predecessors had dishonestly obtained, and with the
proceeds paid the arrears of salaries. Under his
active supervision buildings were erected, a school
established, and evervthing arranged for a quick
despatch of the American expedition."

'* It wu at the laffgeation of Bering that Deviire opened this the fint
school in Katncliatlui m 1741; it wu located at Bolsheretsk and began iti
operations with 20 pnpils. Monkoi Sbomik, oL 142.

CHAPTER IV.

DISOOVERY OF ALASKA.

1740-1741.

The Day of DBFABTimx — Arrival of Iktxrial Despatches— Tmrr Slt
Sail from Okhotsk— The ' Sv Petb' and the • Sv Pavel'— Bering's

AND CHIRIKOF'S RESPECTIVE ClOMHANDfl — ARRIVAL AT KAMCHATKA —

Wintering at Avatcha Bay — Embarkation — Ill-feelino between
Chirikof and Bekino — The Final Parting in Mid-ocean — Advxn>
TCR'-} of Chirikof— He Discovers the Mainland of America in
Latitude 65* 21' — The Magnificence of his Surroundings — A
Boat's Crew Sent Ashore — Another Sent to its Assistance — All
Lost! — Heart-sick, Chirikof Hovers about the Place — And ;s
FINALLY Driven Away by the Wind— He Discovers Unai.aska,
Adakh, and Attoo — ^The Presence of Sea-otters Noticed— Sick-
ness-Return TO Avatcha Bay— Death of CroyIrb— Illness of
Chirikof.

Six years the grand expedition had occupied in
crossing Siberia; no wonder subordinates swore and
the imperial treasurer groaned. But now the de-
voutly wished for hour had come, the happy consum-
mation was at hand. New islands and new seas should
pay the reckoning, while the natives of a new conti-
nent should be made to bleed for all this toil and
trouble.

The 15th of August 1740 had been fixed as the day
of departure, but just as they were about to -mbark
Captain Spanberg arrived from Yakutsk with the in-
telligence that an imperial courier was at hand with
despatches requiring answers. This delayed the ex-
pedition till the 1st of September, when the double
sloop with stores was despatched in advance. At the
mouth of the river she ran aground, and the transfer

DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

m ■

of cargo became necessary, after which she was again
made ready. On the 8th of September the expedition
finally embarked. Bering commanded the Sv Petr,
and Chirikof the Sv Pavel, the two companion vessels
having been named the St Peter and the St Paul.
Bering's second was Lieutenant Waxel, while with
Chirikof were lieutenants Chikhachef and Plunting,*
The double sloop was commanded by Master Khitrof
and the galiot by second mate Rtishchef. Passengers
on the double sloop were Croy^re, Steller, the sur-
veyor Krassilnikof, and the student Gorlanof. The
vessels were all fitted out with provisions for a year
and eight months, but the grounding of the double
sloop caused considerable loss in both provisions and
spare rigging.

In crossing the Okhotsk Sea the vessels parted com-
pany, but they all reached the harbor of Bolsheretsk
m safety about the middle of September. Here they
landed the two members of the academy for the pur-
pose of exploring the Kamchatka peninsula, and took
on board the mate Yelagin. The little fleet then
passed round the southern end of the peninsula to the
gulf of Avatcha, where the Sv Pavel arrived the 27th
of September, and the Sv Petr the 6th of October.
The sloop met with a series of disasters and was com-
pelled to return to Bolsheretsk on the 8th of October,
and to remain there for the winter. The galiot also
returned for the winter, unable to weather Cape Lo-
patka so late in the season, and this rendered it neces-
sary to transport supplies overland from Bolsheretsk

* With Waxel was a young son. The other ofBcers of the Sv Petr were
Eselberg, mate; Yushin, second mate; Lagunof, commissary; Khotiaintzof,
master; Janseu, boatswain; Ivanof, boatswain's mate; Rossilius, ship's con-
stable; Feich, surgeon; Betge, assistant surgeon; Plenisner, artist and corporal
of Cossacks ; and among the sailors the former Lieut. Ovtzin, who had oeen
reduced to the ranks. In Kamchatka the force was increased by Khitrof , the
marine, and Johann Synd, a son of Feich, the father returning to St Peters-
burg on account of ill-health. On the Sv Pavel were : Dementief , master;
Shiganof and Yurlof, second mates; Chaglokof, commissary; Korostlef,
niaster; Savelief, boatswain; Kachikof, ship^ constable; the monk Lau, who
also served as assistant surgeon; the force being further increased in Kan)-
chatka by Yelagin, mate, and the marine Yurlof. The second mate Shiganof,
i^ud Yurlof, were subsequently promoted in Kamchatka.

DE L'ISLE'S CHART.

to Avatcha during the winter, an operation attended
with great difficulties and loss.^ Bering approved of
the selection of Avatcha Bay as a harbor, by Yelagin,
it being the best on the coast. A few buildings had
been erected, and to these the commander proceeded
at once to add a church. The place was named Pe-
tropavlovsk.*

Beaching his vessels for the winter, Bering secured
the services of the natives for the transportation of
supplies from Bolsheretsk, and then distributed his
command in small detachments, requiring them to
live for the most part on such game and fish as they
could catch. Removed from the interference of local
authorities, which had been troublesome at Okhotsk,
Bering passed a quiet winter and concluded the final
preparations for sea in accordance with his plans.
Croy^re and Steller joined him in the spring; and
with the opening of navigation, in accordance with
instructions, on the 4th of May 1741 the commander
assembled his officers, including the astronomer, for
general consultation. Each present was to give his
views, and a majority was to decide. All were of
opinion that the unknown shore lay either due east
or north-east; but this sensible decision, the adoption
of which would have saved them much suffering and
disaster, was not permitted to prevail. Science in
Hussia was as despotic as government. The renowned
astronomer Dt; L Isle de la Croy^re had made a map
presented by the imperial academy to the senate.

* The sloop finally reached Avatcha the following summer but only after
two exploring vessels bad gone to sea. According to Steller a eupply-sbip
met the vessels of the expedition in the outer harbor, and the greater portioL.
of the cargo was transferred to the Sv Pctr. Stelkr, Beschreilmng von Kam-
tschotka,i. 112. The galiot returned to Okhotsk during the summer in charpe
of second mate Sbigonof , and cairying as passengers Krashennikof , with a valu-
able collection of notes as the result of his investigations. Zap. Hydr.,ix. 371.

' Accc ding to Miiller the church was dedicated to the apostles Peter unci
Paul, and the harbor derived its name therefrom; but subsequent investiga-
tions of the local archives by Sokolof and Polonski seemed to indicate that
the church, a small wooden structure, was erected in memory of the birth of
the virgin, and that the harbor was named after the two ships. Its nam*
occurs on the earliest pages of the journals of the expedition. Miiller, Samm-
luny rttuxischer (jeschiciUen^ i. 22; Sokolof, in Zap. IJydr., ix. 372,
2iaT. Alaska. S

FfJit

ill

M DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

That august body had forwarded it to Bering, and
the author's brother, present at the council, also had
with him a copy. No land was set down upon this
chart toward the east, but some distance south-east
of Avatcha Bay, between latitudes 46° and 47°, there
was a coast extending about 15° of longitude from west
to east. The land was drawn in such a manner as to
indicate that it had been sighted on the south side,
and the words Terres vties par dom Jean de Gama
were inscribed upon it. The absurdity of sending out
an expedition for discovery, requiring it to follow
mapped imagination, seems never to have occurred to
the Solons of St Petersburg, and this when they
knew well enough that the continents were not far
asunder toward the north.

The mariners thought it safer to go by the chart,
which after all must have some influence on the land,
the drawing having passed through such imperial
processes, and hence arrived at the fatal determination
to steer first south-east by east in search of the Land
of Gama, and after discovering it to take its northern
coast as a guide to the north-east or east; but if no
land was found in latitude 46°, then the course should
be altered to north-east by east till land was made.
The coast once found, it was to be followed to latitude
65°. The action of the several oflScers under every
conceivable emergency was determined by the council.
All were to return to Avatcha Bay by the end of
September.* Yet with all the care, when put into
practice, their plans were found to be exceedingly de-
fective. Steller went on the Sv Petr, while Croy^re
was attached to Chirikof's vessel. The crew of the

* It is not known who Juan de Gama was, nor when the pretended discov-
ery was made by him. In 1649 Texeira, cosmographer to the king of Portu-
cai, published a map on which 10 or 12 degrees north-east from Japan, in
latitude 44° and 45°, were represented a multitude of islands and a coast ex-
tending toward the east, labelled: 'Terre vue par Jean de Gama, Indien, en
allant de la Chine k la Nouvelle Espagne.' The situation of the 'Land of
Gama,' on Texeira's maps, seems to he the same &a the 'Company's Land*
diHcovered by the Kastrikotn under Martin Geritzin de Vries, in .043, or
perhaps earlier. Miilkr'a Voy., i. 37-8; Burney's Chronol. Hist., 102-3.

IN MID-OCEAN.

Sv Petr numbered seventy-seven, and that of the Sv
Pavel seventy-five. Both ships had still provisions
left for five and a half months, with one hundred
barrels of water, sixteen cords of wood, and two boats
each.

On the morning of the 4th of June 1741, after
solemn prayer, the tw^o ships sailed from Avatcha Bay
with a light southerly wind.' Noon of the second
day saw them thirty miles from Light House Point.
Chirikof, who was about five miles to w^indward of
Bering, noticed that the latter steered southward
of the course proposed. Signalling Bering that he
would speak with him, Chirikof proposed that they
should keep as near together as possible to avoid final
separation in a fog. He also spoke of the manifest
change from the agreed course, whereat Bering ap-
peared annoyed, and when later Chirikof signalled to
speak with him a second time the commander paid no
attention to it. As we proceed we shall find serious
defects in the character of both of these men. For a
commander-in-chief, Bering was becoming timid, and
perhaps too much bound to instructions; for a sub-
ordinate, Chirikof was dogmatic and obstinate. About
noon of the 6th of June Bering ordered Chirikof
to proceed in advance, trusting apparently more to
his skill and judgment than to his own. On the 7th
of June the windf changed to the north and increased.
In the course of the next few days the two ships
approached each other occasionally and exchanged
signals, but Chirikof remained in the lead. In the
afternoon of the 12th they found themselves in lati-
tude 46," and came to the conclusion ^hat there was
no Gama Land such as given in the chart, and at 3
o'clock they changed their course to east by north.
On the 14th the wind drew ahead, blowing strong

* Details of Bering's voyage in the ar-jhives of St Petersburg consist of
reports and jonmals by Waxol, Yuskin, an-i Khitrof, the first two in copies,
the latter in the original. Of Cliirikof's voyage there are copies of journals
by himself and by '^ "agin his mate. A few other details have been obtained
from Steller and M ' <ir. Zap. Hydr., passim.

»»,,:,!

68 DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

from the eastward, and compelling to a more north-
erly course for nearly two days, till they found them-
selves in latitude 48°, Bering keeping to the windward
of Chirikof on account of the better sailing qualities
of his vessel. Chirikof finally signalled for instruc-
tions, and asked how long the northerly course was
to be pursued. Bering's answer was to follow him
and he would see.

A few hours later the course was changed to the
southward. On the 15th the wind was a little more
to the south and the northerly course was resumed.
On the 18th, in the morning, Bering informed Chiri-
kof that as they were in latitude 49° they must turn
south, ^ut Chirikof said that with the prevailing wind a
change was impracticable, and it would be best to con-
tinue the course east by north. The following day in
latitude 49° 30' the wind increased, blowing violently
from the east, and sails were shortened during the night.
Next morning Chirikof sighted the Sv Petr about
three leagues to the north, but Bering did not see
him, and thinking himself to the windward shaped his
course to the north-west. This manoeuvre completed
the separation of the vessels forever. Bering made
every effort to find the consort ; he spent three days
between latitudes 50° and 51°, and finally sailed south-
east as far as 45°, but all in vain. Chirikof had taken
an easterly course and his subsequent movements were
entirely distinct from those of his commander.

First let us follow the fortunes of Chirikof, who
must ever be regarded as the hero of this expedition.

After losing sight of the Sv Petr, which he thought
was to the northward, Chirikof allowed the Sv Pavel
to drift a while, so that his commander might find
him. Then he steered south-east in search of him,
and after making two degrees of longitude to the
eastward, on the morning of the 23d of June he found
hiuiself in latitude 48°. A council of officers decided
that it was folly to waste time in search of Bering,

ADVENTURES OF CHIRIKOF.

and that they would prosecute the object of the voy-
age, which was to find land toward the east. Hence
with light, favorable winds, the Sv Pavel went for-
ward, occasionally shaping her course a little more to
the north, until on the 11th of July signs of land
were seen in drift-wood, seals, and gulls. Without
slacking his speed, but casting the lead constantly,
Chirikof proceeded, and during the night of the 15th
he sighted land in latitude 55° -^1/ Thus was the
great discovery achieved. The high wooded moun-
tains looming before the enraptured gaze of eyes long
accustomed to the tamer glories of Siberia, were at
once pronounced to belong to the continent of Amer-
ica."

Day broke calm and clear; the coast was visible in
distinct outlines at a distance of three or four miles;
the lead indicated sixty fathoms, and the ship was
surrounded by myriads of ducks and gulls. At noon
it was still calm, and an observation gave the latitude
as 55° 41'. A boat was lowered but failed to find a
landing-place. In the evening a light wind arose,
and the vessel stood north-westward along the shore
under short sails. Toward morning the wind increased
from the eastward with rain and fog, and the bright
grr 'a:.id which they had found was lost to them
aga.ii. At last, some time after daylight, high moun-
tains once more appeared above the clouds, and at
noon of the 17th the entrance to a great bay was
observed in latitude 57° 15'. The mate, Dementief,
was ordered to explore the entrance in the long-boat
manned with ten armed sailors.'

The Darty was furnished with provisions for several
days, with muskets, and other arms, including a small

• Sokolof declares emphatically that the point of land made was a slight
projection of the coast between capes Addington and Bartholomew of Van-
couver's map. Zap. llydr., ix. 399.

'The mate, Abrani Mikhailovich Dementief, is spoken of by Miiller in hi»
Letter of a liuHsian Naval Officer, as a man of good family, young, good-look-
inn:, kind-hearted, skilled in his profession, and anxious to serve liis country.
Solcolof in his history of the expedition liiuts at a love allair at Okhotsk,
which bad ended unhappily. Morskoi Sbornik, cv. 113; Zap. Uydr.,i\. -iOO-l.

lU;

DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

brass cannon. Chirikof issued instructions to meet
probable emergencies, and explained how they were to
communicate with the ship by signals. The boat was
seen to reach the shore and disappear behind a small
projection of land; a few minutes later the precon-
certed signals were observed, and it was concluded
that the boat had landed in safety." The day passed
without further information from the shore. During
the next and for several successive days, signals were
observed from time to time, which were interpreted
to mean that all was well with Dementief. At last,
as the party did not return, Chirikof began to fear
that the boat had suffered damage in landing, and on
the 23d Sidor Savelief, with some sailors, a carpenter
and a calker, was sent ashore to assist Dementief, and
repair his boat if necessary." .'he strictest injunctions
were issued that either one or both of the boats should
return immediately. Their movements were anxiously
watched from the ship. The small boat was seen to
land, but no preparation for a return could be observed.
A great smoke was seen rising from the point round
which the first crew had disappeared.

The night was passed in great anxiety; but every
heart was gladdened when next morning two boats
were seen to leave the coast. One was larger than
the other, and no one doubted that Dementief and
Savelief were at last returning. The captain ordered
all made ready for instant departure. During the
bustle which followed little attention was paid to the
approaching boats, but presently they were discovered
to be canoes filled with savages, who seemed to be as
much astonished as the Russians, and after a rapid
survey of the apparition they turned shoreward,
shouting Agail Agail Then dread fell on all, and

' Sokolof omits in his account the mention of Dementief'a signal after reach-
ing the land, but the fact is confirmed by Chirikof 's own journal in both the
original, and the translation in Sammluiig alter Reisheschr., xx. 372.

*Thi8 date is differently given by different authors; in the SamnUung
the date is the 2l8t; the number of Savelief 'a companions is also variously
placed at from three to six. MiilUr'a Voyaye, 41; Zap, Hydr., ix. 401.

TWO BOATS* CREWS LOST.

Chirikof cursed himself for permitting the sailors to
appear on deck in such numbers as to frighten away
the savages, and thus prevent their seizure and an
exchange of prisoners. Gradually the full force of
the calamity fell upon him. His men had all been
seized and murdered on the spot, or were still held
for a worse fate.

He was on an unknown and dangerous coast, with-
out boats, and his numbers greatly reduced. A
strong west wind just then sprang up and compelled
him to weigh anchor and run for the open sea. His
heart was very sore, for he was a humane man and
warmly attached to his comrades. He cruised about
the neighborhood for several days, loath to leave it,
though he had given up the shore parties all as lost,
and as soon as the wind permitted he again approached
the point which had proved so fatal to his undertak-
ing. But no trace of the lost sailors could be discov-
ered. A council of officers was then called to deter-
mine what next to do.*°

All agreed that further attempts at discovery
were out of the question, and that they should at
once make for Kamchatka. With his own hand
Chirikof added to the minutes of the council, " Were
it not for our extraordinary misfortunes there would
be ample time to prosecute the work." The Sv Pavel
was then headed for the north-west, keeping the coast
in sight. The want of boats prevented a landing for
water, which was now dealt out in rations; they tried
to catch rain and also to distil sea-water, in both of
which efforts, to a certain extent, they were success-
ful.

On the 31st of July, at a distance of about eighteen
miles to the north, huge mountains covered with snow
were seen extending apparently to the westward. The

" Sokolof gives the data of this council aa the 26th, 11 days after the dis-
covery of land. Chirikof and M&Uer, as well as the Sammlung, make ift
the 27th. AH accounts agree that the latitude observed on the day of the
council was 56° 21'. The quantity of water on hand was then 45 casks.
JUutler'n Voyaije, 42; Zap. Uydr., ix. 402.

!':

DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

Si
1 :

. T:.

wind increased and veered to the westward, with rain
and fog. The course was changed more to the south-
ward, and on the 2d of August they again sighted
land to the westward,^^ but it soon disappeared in
the fog.

. On the 4th of September in latitude 52° 30' they
discovered high land in a northerly direction, proba-
bly the island of Ur.alaska. Two days later, after
considerable westing with a favorable wind, land was
again sighted in latitude 51° 30'; and on the evening
of the 8th, while becalmed in a fog, they were alarmed
by the roar of breakers, while soundings showed
twenty-eight fathoms. Chirikof anchored with diffi-
culty owing to the hard rocky bottom, and the follow-
ing morning when the fog lifted he found himself in
a small shallow bay less than a mile in width and
surrounded by tremendous cliffs, probably Adakh
Island. The mountains were barren, with here and
there small patches of grass or moss. While await-
ing a favorable wind, they saw seven savages come
out in seven canoes, chanting invocations, and taking
no notice of the presents flung to them by the Rus-
sians." A few canoes finally approached the ship,
bringing fresh water in bladders, but the bearers re-
fused to mount to the deck. Chirikof in his journal
describes them as well built men resembling the Tar-
tars in features; not corpulent but healthy, with
scarcely any beard. On their heads they wore shades
made of thin boards ornamented with colors, and
feathers of aquatic birds. A few also had bone carv-
ings attached to their head-dress." Later in the day
the natives came in greater numbers, fourteen kyaks,
or small closed skin boats, surrounding the vessel,

*• Sokolof in Zap. Hydr., ix. 403, insists that this land was the point dis-
covered by BerinK 10 days before; but there can be but little doubt that it
was the island of Kadiak.

'■' Sokolof on the authority of Chikhachef asserts that these natives refused
beads, tobacco, pipes, and other trifles, asking only for knives, but how the
savages expressed this desire he does not explain, nor does he show how they
knew any tiling about iron implements. Zap. Jlyilr., ix. 404.

•' Chirikof 8 Journal, in Imperial Naval Archives, xvi.

whicl
refuse

f)in^
anc
the is
tian
saw
for w

SEVERE SUFFERINGS.

which they examined with great curiosity, but they
refused to go on board. Toward evening by slip-

})ing an anchor they got to sea, and on the 21st high
and was sighted again in latitude 52° 36'," probably
the island of Attoo, the westernmost of all the Aleu-
tian chain. Chirikof supposed that all the land he
saw hereabout was part of the American continent;
for when he pressed northward, indicotions of land
were everywhere present, but when he turned south-
ward, such indications ceased. The presence of sea-
otters was frequently remarked, though they could not
realize the important part this animal was to play in
shaping the destinies of man in this region. The 21st
of August orders were issued to cook the usual quan-
tity of rye meal once a day instead of twice, and to
decrease the allowance of water. As an offset an
extra drink of rum was allowed.^*

Despite the scurvy and general despondency disci-
pline was rigidly enforced, and finally, when the water
for cooking the rye meal could be spared but once a
week, no complaints were heard. Yet cold, excessive
moisture and hunger and thirst were making con-
stant and sure inroads. By the IGth Chirikof and
Chikhachef were both down with the scurvy, and one
man died the same day. Five days later the captain
was unable to leave his berth, but his mind remained
clear and he issued his orders with regularity and
precision. Midshipman Plunting was also unable to
appear on deck. The ship's constable, Kachikof, died
the 2Gth, and from that time one death followed
another in quick succession. On the 6th of October
Lieutenant Chikhachef and one sailor died, and on the
8th Plunting's sufferings were ended. The sails were

>• In his description of the expedition the astronomer, Croy6re, become-i
confixsed, sayin*,' that after losing sight of land on the 4th, no more was seen
till the '20th, when the ship came to anchor 200 fathoms from a mountainous
coast in latitude Til" 12', where 21 caroes appeared. Sammlutiij, xx. 395.

'^ From tjie journal of the mate Velagin wo learn that on the 14th there
remained only 12 casks of water, and tliat the vya mush was furnished once
a day, the other meals consisting of hard hread and butter. Salt beef was
boiled in sea-water. Naoal Archives, xvi.

^:»

DISCOVERY OP ALASKA.

falling in pieces owing to constant exposure to rain
and snow, and the enfeebled crew was unable to re-

f)air them. Slowly the ship moved westward with
ittle attempt at navigation. The last observation had
been made the 2d of October, but only the longitude
was found, indicating a distance of eleven degrees from
the Kamchatka shore. Fortune helping them, on the
morning of the 8th land appeared in the west, which
proved to be the coast of Kamchatka in the vicinity
of Avatcha Bay. A light contrary wind detained
them for two days, and having no boats they dis-
charged a cannon to bring help from the shore.

Of those who had left this harbor in the Sv Pavel
less than five months before, twenty-one were lost.
The pilot, Yelagin, alone of all the officers could appear
on deck, an he finally brought the ship into the har-
bor of Petropavlovsk, established by him the preced-
ing winter. The astronomer, Croy^re, who had for
weeks been confined to his berth, apparently keeping
alive by the constant use of strong liquor, asked to be
taken ashore at once, but as soon as he was exposed to
the air on deck he fell and presently expired. Chiri-
kof, very ill, was landed at noon the same day."

'* Sokolof with much national pride exults in the achievements of Chirikof,
a true Russian, as against Bering the Dane. ' And thus having discovered
the American coast 36 hours earlier than Bering,' ho writes, 'eleven degrees
of longitude farther to the east; having followed this coast three degrees
farther to the north; and after having left tlie coast five days later than
Bering, Chirikof returned to Kamchatka, eight degrees farther west than
Bering's landing-place, a whole month earlier; haying made on his route the
same discoveries of the Aleutian Islands. During this whole time the sails
were never taken in, and no supply of fresh water was obtained; they suffered
equally from storms, privations, disease, and mortality — the officers as well
as the men. How different were the results, and what proof do they not
furnish of the superiority of the Russians in scientific navigation ! ' So the
learner ia often apt to grow bold and impudent and despise the teacher. The
great Peter was not aoove learning navigation from Bering the Dane. Zap.
By dr., ix. 407-8.

CHAPTER V.

DEATH OF BERING.
1741-1742.

DreCOVERT BT RULK — ThR LaNO NOT WBEKX It OUOHT TO BK — THI

AvATCHA Council should Know — Bebino Ekcountebs tub Main-
land AT Mount St Elias — Claims for the PrioRiTY op Discovery of
North-western most America — Kyak Island — Scarcity of Water —
The Return Voyage — Illi.^ss of Bering — Longings for Home —
Kadiak — Ukamok — Sickness and Death — Intercourse with the
Natives — Waxel's Adventure — Vows of the Dane — Amchitka,

KiSBKA, SEMICHE, and OTHER ISLANDS SeEN — AT BeRINO IsLAND —

Wreck of the 'Sv Petr' — Death of Bering — Gathering Sea-otter
Skins— The Survivors Build a Small 'Sv Petr' from the Wreck —
Return to Kamchatka — Second Voyage of CumiKOF.

We will now return to the commander. Possibly
we might imagine Chirikof easily reconciled to a
separation from his superior, who, instead of striking
out intelligently for the achievement of a purpose,
allowed himself to be carried hither and thither by
omnipotent winds and imperial instructions. But not
so Bering. With the loss of Chirikof and the Sv
Pavel his right arm was gone. For a whole day he
drifted in a strong gale under reefed sails before he
would leave the spot to take the direction in which
he supposed Chirikof to be. Then he was obliged to
lie to again, and on the morning of the 22d, finding
himself twelve leagues south of the point of separa-
tion, it was concluded in a council of officers to aban-
don further search and resume their course, not the
last course of east by north as it should have been,
but to the southward till latitude 46° was reached,
where they had already been and seen nothing. It

(T6)

h«|l

'■i I,

,■1 ! 11

liHii

i! "--s

Tl DEATH OF BFniNQ.

was now evident that Bering ven'i biicoming incompe-
tent; that, deprived of the assistance of Chirikofs
stronger mind and sounder judgment, he intended to
follow strictly the resolutions of the Avatcha council.
He would steer south-east by east to latitude 46",
then change the course to east by north, and thus
waste in mid-ocean the brief days of the short
northern summer. The 24th saw Bering at the
southernmost point named, where numbers of birds
seemed to indicate land ahead, and tempted him to
continue to latitude 45° IG', when finding nothing,
and convinced for a second time of the inaccuracy of
Croy^re's chart, he again bent his course east by
north, which was changed the third day to north-
north-east to compensate for having gone below
latitude 46°. The wind changed repeatedly from
south-west to south-east, being always light and ac-
companied with clouds and fogs; but nothing special
occurred until the 9th of July, when a strong east-
erly wind compelled them to head more to the north
until they reached latitude 51° 30'. The wind then
changed, allowing them to steer north-east by east.
From time to time they were misled by land-floating
drift, and weeHs, and narine mammals, but the lead
indicated a depth of bei veen one hundred and ninety
and two hundred fathom .

The second month wat, ow at hand, and Bering
ordered a reduced allowance ' water. From the 12th
of July he was so firmly conv iced of the close prox-
imity of land that he hove to at ight lest he should run
aground. Five weeks had elapsed since the Sv Petr
had left Avatcha Bay and the ship's log showed that
forty-six degrees of longitude separated them from
their point of departure, and still the land remained
invisible. The wind became more favorable, blowing
from the west, and Bering concluded to change his
course to the northward in order to fall in the sooner
with the land.

-On the 13th, in latitude 54° 30', in a council of

w
9

ll'lililil

DURING THE SEARCH.

MfW Ml

DEATH OP BERING.

Ii:i

officers, another change to north-north-east was deter-
mined on. These frequent changes and the general
indecision in the management of the expedition proved
almost fatal; but about noon of the 16th, in latitude
58° 14', the lookout reported a towering peak and a
high chain of snow-covered mountains, without doubt
Mount St Elias, and the extending range. A north

Seale <n German MOet
IS to tKe degree

Kyak Island.

wind held them off from the point first seen, but on the
evening of the 20th they came upon an island in 59°
40V which was Kyak, but which they calle<^ St Elias
from the day.

* In hia calculation of latitude Bering was seven minutes in error, while
in longitude he was eight degrees out of the way. Such a difference may bo
accounted for on the ground that Bering's observations were based upon dead

THE FIRST DISCOVERER.

7ft

It will be remembered that Chirikof found land on
the night of the 15th while Bering saw Mount St
Elias at noon of the 16th, which would give the former
priority in the honor of discovery by say thirty-six
hours.^ Bu* even Chirikof, who amongst Russians
was the noblest and most chivalrous of them all, if
we may believe the story of Gvozdef, may not justly
set up the claim as first discoverer of north-western-
most America. True, Gvozdef saw only what any one
might see in sailing through the strait of Bering —
he says he saw or found himself on the land opposite
to Asia. Other Europeans had passed that way
before Gvozdef, and the savages had crossed and re-
crossed before ever Europeans were there; so we may
well enough leave out these two sides of the northern
strait, and call Chirikof the first discoverer of land
opposite Kamchatka, which it was the object of this
imperial expedition to find, and which he certainly was
the first to achieve.

After these years of preparation and weeks of
tempest-tossing we should expect to see the Dane de-
lighted on reaching the grand consummation of the
united ambitions of monarchs and mariners. But if

reckoning, without allowing for the ocean and tidal currents which in those
waters often cause a gain or loss of seven leagues a day. The identity of
Kyak is established by comparing Bering's with Cook's observations which
would be enough even if the chart appended to Khitrof's journal had not
been preserved. At first both Cook and Vancouver thought it Yakutat Bay,
which they named after Bering, but both changed their minds. As late as
1787 the Russian atlminilty college declared that the island of Tzukli (Mon-
tague of Vancouver) waa the point of Bering's discovery, but Admiral Sory-
clief, who examined the journals of the expedition, pointed at once to Kyak

Island as the only point to which the description of Bering and Steller could

. ^n^ . ... ... . -. „

po
Hijdr., ix. 383-4.

apply. Sarychef made one mistake in applying the name of Cape St Elias
to the nearest point of the mainland called Cape Suckling by Cook. Zap.

^ The date of Bering's discovery, or the day when land was first sighted
by his lookout, has been variously stnted. Mflller makes it the 20th of July,
and Steller the Ibvl;; the 16th is in accordance with Bering's journal, and
according to Boring's observation the latitude was 58° 2S'. 1 Ids date is con-
firmed by a manuscript chart compiled by Potrof and \Vaxel with the help
of the original log-books of both vessels. The claim set a^j by certain Spanisu
writers in favor of Francisco Gali as first discoverer of thiu region is based on
a misprint bi an early account of his voyage. For particulars see JIM, Cat,
i., this series.

W-'.^

DEATH OP BERING.

I » ■'ii

1 1|

P! 1

we ma;^ believe Steller, when his officers gathered
round with their congratulations Bering shrugged his
shoulders as he glanced at the rugged shore and said,
"A great discovery no doubt, and the accomplishment
of all our desires; but who knows where we are, when
we shall see Kussia, and what we shall have to eat in
the mean time?"'

Beating up with a light wind Bering succeeded in
gaining anchorage on a clay bottom under the lee
of the island in twenty-two fathoms. Two boats
were sent ashore, one under Khitrof to reconnoitre,
and another in which was Steller in search of water.
Khitrof found among the small islands in the gulf a
good harbor. He saw some rude deserted huts whose
owners had probably retreated on the approach of the
Russians. The habitations were constructed of logs
and rough planks, and were roofed with bark and dried
grass. A few semi-subterranean structures of sods
evidently served as storehouses. On entering, the
Russians picked up some rough cordage, a whetstone
on which copper implements had been sharpened, a
small box of poplar wood, a rattle made of baked clay,
several broken arrows, and articles of household fur-
niture.* In another place the men came upon a cellar
in which was a quantity of dried salmon. Of this
Khitrof took two bundles. There were several red
fcxes which seemed not at all frightened at the sight
of the Russians. To compensate the natives for the
fish taken, some trifles of Russian manufacture, tobacco
and clay pipes, were left.

Steller s party landed on another island and found
a cellar or subterranean storehouse with some red
salmon, and herbs dressed in a manner customary
with the Kamchatkans. He also found ropes made
of sea-weed, and various household utensils. Going
inland he came to a place where some savages had
been eating, and had left there an arrow and an in-

*8leller'8 Diary, 190.

'For full description of these people see Native Races, i., this seriea.

STELLER'S DISAPPOINTMENT.

strument for lighting fire by friction. Steller also
gathered plants to analyze on shipboard. He regretted
that no more time was granted him in which to ex-
amine the American coast, his whole stay covering
only six hours, while the sailors were filling the water-
casks.' The latter reported having found two fire-
places lately in use. They saw pieces of hewn wood,
and the tracks of a man in the grass; some smoked
fish was also brought on board and was found quite
palatable.

Early next morning, the 21st of July, contrary to
his custom Bering came on deck and ordered anchor
up. It was no use for the officers to call attention to
the yet unfilled water-casks, or beg to see something
of the country they had found. The Dane was deaf
alike to argument and entreaty. For once during
the voyage he was firm. He and a hundred others
had been working for the past eight years to the one
end of seeing that land; and now having seen it, that
was the end of it; he desired to go home. It would
have been as well for him had he tarried long enough
at least to fill his water-casks.

Dense clouds obscured the sky as Bering began his
return voyage, and rain fell incessantly. Dismal forces
were closing in round the Dane, to whom Russia was
very far away indeed. By soundings a westerly course
was shaped along a depth of from forty to fifty
fathoms, by which means he was enabled to avoid the
coast he could not see. On the 25th the general
opinion in council was that by steering to the south-

* Steller in vain begged the commander to let him have a small boat and a
few men with which to examine the place. I'tTi lied upon a steep rock tho
enthusiastic scientist was taking in as mucli as possible of America when the
crusty Dane ordered him aboard if he would not bo left. In his journal, edited
by Pallas, Steller describes the situation as follows: 'On ciesccnding the
mountain, covered with a vast forest without any trace of road or trail, I
found it inipossible to make my way through the thicket and consequently
reascended; looking mounifully at the limits of my observation I turned my
eves toward the continent which it woj not in my power to explore, and
observed at the distance of a few versts a smoke ascending from a wooded
eminence. Again receiving a positive order to Join the ship I returned mourn-
fully with my collection.' Pallas, Steller' a Journal, passim.
HiBT. Alaska. 6

II!

m I

Ik' ■<;!;j

mm
mm

iiU ,!

DEATH OF BERING.

west the coast of Kamchatka must be finally reached.
Easterly winds drove the vessel to within a short
distance of some shore invisible through the fog, and
the greatest caution had to be observed in keeping
away from the banks and shoals indicated by the
soundings. On the 26th land was made once more,
probably the coast of Kadiak, but an easterly wind
and shallow water prevented a landing. Too much
land now, to avoid which a more direct course south
was taken ; but progress was impeded by the numer-
ous islands which skirted the continent, hidden in im-
penetrable fog.

On the 30th an island was discovered which Bering
named Tumannoi, or Foggy Island, but no landing
was made.' Little progress was made among the
islands in August, owing to the thick mist and con-
trary winds. As the water gave out and scurvy came
the ship once more found itself among a labyrinth of
islands with high peaks looming in the distance. The
largest then in view was named Eudokia. A small
supply of water, consisting of a few casks only, was
obtained there, the heavy surf making the landing
dangt ous. At a new council held the 10th, in lati-
tude 53°, to which petty officers were admitted, it was
determined that as it had been decided to return to
Kamchatka at the end of September, and it was then
already near the middle of August, and the harbor of
Petropavlovsk was at least 1,600 miles distant, while
twenty-six of the company were ill, a further explora-
tion of the American coast had become impracticable,
and i^ was necessary to proceed to the parallel of
Petropavlovsk, and then sail westward to Kamchatka.

Now, it is very plain to one having a knowledge of
the currents that it was much easier to make such a
resolution than to carry it out. Further than this, all

" The charts of the imperial academy at St Petersburg, in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century, located this point variously as a portion of Kadiak
and as the island of Trinidad, of the Spanish discoverers. It is now known
that Foggy Island was Ukamok, named Chirikof Island by Vancouver, in
latitude 55° 43'.

ILLNESS OF THE COMMANDER.

attempts to proceed to the westward were baflBled by
the barrier of land. Then they must have water, and
so they anchored on tho 30th, at a group of islands
in latitude 54° 48'. Here the first death occurred — a
sailor named Shumagin succumbed to scurvy. His
name was given to the island, and a supply of brackish
water was obtained.^

The commander now fell ill, and was soon confined
to his cabin. The Sv Petr was at this place six days.
One night a fire had been observed on a small island
toward the north-east, and while the larger boats were
engaged in watering, Khitrof went there with five
men, but only, after a long pull, to find the people
gone. In attempting to return, a strong head-wind
threw them upon the beach of another island, and
kept them there till the 2d of September, when they
were relieved by the larger boat. During the next
two days several unsuccessful attempts were made
to proceed, for the ship's position was perilous. After
a violent storm, which lasted all night, loud voices
were heard on the nearest island on the morning of
the 5th. A fire was plainly visible, and to the great
joy of the discoverers two canoes, each containing a
native, advanced toward the ship. They stopped,
however, at a considerable distance displaying sticks
adorned with eagles' feathers; and with gestures in-
vited the Russians to come ashore. The latter, on
the other hand, threw presents to the savages, and
endeavored to induce them to approach the vessel,
but in vain. After gazing with mingled wonder and
dread for a time at the strange craft, the natives pad-
dled for the shore.

Lieutenant Waxel, accompanied by nine men well
armed, went to pay them a visit. They beckoned
them to come to the boat; the savages in return beck-
oned the strangers to disembark. At last Waxel

' Milller states that the name was applied to the group, while an officer
of the navy, with the expedition, in a letter published anonymously, says that
only the island which furnished the water was named after the deceased sailoc.

III

# DEATH OF BERING. *

ordered three men to land, among them the inter-
preter, while he moored the boat to a rock.®

Expressions of good-will were profuse on both
sides, the natives offering a repast of whale-meat.
Their presence on the island was evidently temporary,
as no women or children or habitation could be seen,
and for every man there was just one bidarka, or skin
canoe having two or three seats — the Russian term
for an improved kyak. No bows, arrows, spears, or
any other weapons which might have alarmed the
strangers, were visible, and the Russians went about
freely among the natives, taking care, in accordance
with strict injunctions of Waxel, not to lose sight of
the boat. Meanwhile one of the natives summoned
courage to visit Waxel in the boat. He seemed to
be an elder and a chief, and the lieutenant gave him
the most precious thing he had — brandy; the savage
began to drink, but immediately spat it out, crying to
his people that he was poisoned. All Waxel's efforts
to quiet him were unavailing; needles, glass beads, an
iron kettle, tobacco, and pipes were offered in vain.
He would accept nothing. He was allowed to go,
and at the same time Waxel recalled his men. The
natives made an attempt to detain them, but finally
allowed the two Russians to go, keeping hold of the
interpreter. Others ran to the rock to which the
boat was moored and seized the rope, which Waxel
thereupon ordered cut. The interpreter in the mean
time pleaded with the Russians not to abandon him,
but they could afford no aid. As a final effort to save
the interpreter two muskets were discharged, and as
xhe report echoed from the surrounding cliffs, the sav-
ages fell to the ground while the interpreter sprang
into the boat. As the ship was making ready to sail
next day seven of these savages came and exchanged
gifts. This was on the 6th of September. After a

■ The interpreters accompanviDg the expedition belonged to the Koriak
and Chukchi tribes, and were of no use in conversing with the natives, but
they were bold and inspired the islanders with coniidence, being in outward
appearance like themselves.

1.1 ' ''

'M.

EXTREME SUFFERINGS.

very storniy passage land was sighted again on the
24th, in latitude 51° 27'.' There was a coast with
islands and mountains, to the highest of which Bering
gave the name of St John, from the day.

The position of the ship was critical. Finally they
escaped the dangerous shore, only to bo driven by a
storm of seventeen days' duration down to latitude 48°.
Disease spread. Every day one or more died, until
there vere scarcely enough left to manage the ship.
" The most eloquent pen, ' said Steller, " would fail to
describe the misery of our condition." Opinion was
divided whether they should seek a harbor on the
American coast or sail directly to Kamchatka. Bering
was profuse in his promises to celestial powers, slight-
ing none, Catholic or Protestant, Greek or German.
He vowed to make ample donations to the Russian
church at Petropavlovsk and to the Lutheran church
at Viborg, Finland, where some of his relatives re-
sided.

A northerly course was kept until the 22d of Octo-
ber, when an easterly breeze made it possible to head
the unfortunate craft for Kamchatka. Only fifteen
casks of water remained, and the commander was so
reduced by sickness and despondency that the burden
of affairs fell almost wholly on Waxel. On the 25th
land was sighted in latitude 51° and named St Maka-
rius. This was the island of Amchitka. On the
28th another island in latitude 52° was named St
Stephen (Kishka). On the 29th in latitude 52° 30'
still another island was discovered and named St
Abram (Semichi Island). On the 30th two other
islands were sighted and mistaken by the bewildered
navigators as the first of the Kuriles. On the 1st
of November in latitude 54° they found themselves
within about sixteen miles of a high line of coast.

• The latitude of the land was variously reported by Waxel, and subse-
quently by Chirikof from his examination of journals, at 51° 27', 52° 30', and
61° 12'. It is safe to presume that the St .John's mountain of Bering wag
situated either on the island of Umnak or on one of tlie Four Peaks IslaudB.
Sokolof waa of the opinion that it wcb Atkha Island. Zap. Ilydr., Ix. 393.

!i'

*t '

DEATH OF BERING.

The condition of the explorers still continued critical.
Notwithstanding sickness and misery the decimated
crew was obliged to work night and day, in raij, snow,
and cold; the sails and rigging were so rotten that
it was dangerous to set much canvas, even if the crew
had been able.*" At last, on the 4th, the lookout sighted
land. It was distant; only the mountain tops appear-
ing above the horizon; and though the Sv Petr was
headed directly for the land all day, they could not
reach it. An observation at noon made the latitude

" It t^ould be impossible to describe," says Steller,
"the joy created by the sight of land; the dying
crawled upon deck to see with their own eyes what
they would not beiieve; even the feeble commander
was carried out of his cabin. To the astonishment
of all a small keg of brandy was taken from some
hiding-place and dealt out in celebration of the sup-
posed approach to the coast of Kamchatka."

On the morning of the 5th another misfortune was
discovered. All the shrouds on the starboard side
were broken, owing to contraction caused by frost.
Lieutenant Waxel at once reported to the commander,
who was confined in his berth, and from him received
orders convoking a council of officers to deliberate
upon the situation. It was well known that the fresh
water was almost exhausted, and that the ravages of
scorbutic disease were becoming more alarming every
day. The continuous wetting with spray and rain
became more dangerous and insupportable as the cold
increased, covering with a coat of ice the surface of
every object exposed to its action, animate or inani-

'" Miiller writes: ' The sickness was so dreadful that the two sailors who
used to be at the rudder were obliged to be led to it by two others who could
hardly walk, and when one could sit and steer no longer another in but little
better condition supplied his place. ' Miiller's Sammlung, 51 . The commander
was still confined to his cabin; the officers though scarcely able to walk, were
quarrelling among themselves; the crew were dying at tlio rate of one or two
every day; no hard bread, no spirits, and but very little water; dampness and
cold; and to all this was added the almost certainty of impending disaster.
Bokolqf, in Zap. llydr., ix. 3Qu.

SraPWRECK OF THE 'SV PETR.* fi

mate. Soon the council came to the conclusion that
it was necessary to seek relief at the nearest point of
land, be it island or continent." The wind was from
the north, and the soundings mdicated between thirty
and forty fathoms over sandy bottom. After steering
south-west for some time the soundings decreased to
twelve fathoms, and the vessel was found to be only
a short distance from the shore. Then at the com-
mand of Waxel, over the bows of the doomed ship,
down went the anchors of the Sv Petr for the last
time. It was 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The sea
began to rise, and in less than an hour a cable broke.
Then other cables were lost; and just as the despair-
ing mariners were about to bend the last one on board,
a huge wave lifted the vessel over a ledge of rocks
into smooth water of about four fathoms, but not
before seriously injuring the hull. This action of the
elements settled the fate of the expedition ; there was
no alternative but to remain for the winter on that
coast, ignorant of its extent and location as they
were. It was on a calm moonlit night that the stormy
voyage of over four months was thus suddenly ter-
minated."

All able to work were landed to prepare for disem-
barking the sick. A preliminary shelter was con-
structed by digging niches into the sandy banks of a
small stream and covering them with sails. Drift-
wood was found along the shore, but there was no
sign of any timber which might be made useful. No
trace of human occupation was visible. On the morn-

*• Steller maintains that Bering refused to give the necessary orders, sup-
posing that it would still be possible to reach Avatcha, and that he was
supported in his opinion by Ovtzin ; but the contrary opinion of Waxel and
Khitrof prevailed. Sokolqf, in Zap. Ilydr., ix. 397.

'■■'A letter of one of the officers says: 'In endeavoring to go to the west
we were cast on a desert isle where we had the prospect of remaining the
greater part of our days. Our vessel was broken up on one of the banks with
which the isle is surrounded. We failed not to save ourselves on shore, with
all such things as we thought we had need of; for by a marked kindness of
providence the wind and waves threw after us upon the shore the wreck and
the remains of our vessel, which we gathered together to put us in a state,
with the blessing of God, to quit this desolate abode.' Bumey's Chronol. Jlist.,
172-3. See also Sokotof, in Zap. JJydr., ix. 399.

>^1^^(■■

DEATH OF BERINQ.

1 1*" I

ing of the 8th preparations for landing the sick
were completed and the work began. Many of the
unfortunates drew their last breath as soon as they
come in contact with the fresh air, while others ex-
pired during the process of removal. During the day
following Commander Bering was carried ashore. He
had been daily growing weaker, and had evidently
made up his mind that he must die. Four men car-
ried him in a hand-barrow well secured against the
air. Shortly afterward the last remnant of the unfor-
tunate ship was torn from its single cable and came
upon the shore. Steller searched in vain for arti-
scorbutic herbs and plants under the deep snow, and
there was no game or wild-fowl at hand. The only
animals visible on land were the pestsi or Arctic foxes,
exceedingly bold and rapacious. They fell upon the
corpses and devoured them almost before the survivors
could make preparations for their burial. It seemed
to be impossible to frighten them away. The stock
of powder was small, and it would not do to waste
it on beasts; it must be kept for killing men. The
sea-otter was already known to the Russians from a
few specimens captured on the coast of Kamchatka,
and among the Kurile Islands. Soon the castaways
discovered the presence of these animals in tb*^ sur-
rounding waters. The flesh seemed to them most pal-
atable, and Steller even considered it as anti-scorbutic.
The skins were preserved by the survivors and subse-
quently led to the discovery of a wealth that Bering
and Chirikof had failed to see in their voyages of
observation."

Some relief in the way of provisions was afforded
by the carcass of a whale cast upon the beach. It

" At that time the Chmese merchants at Kiakhta paid from 80 to
100 rubles for sea-otter skins; 900 sea-otters were killed on the island by
the crew of the Sv Petr; the skins were divided equally among all, but
Steller was most fortunate. In his capacity of physician he received many
presents, and he bought many skins, the property of persons who in the uncer-
tainty of living held them in light esteem. His share alone is said to have
amounted to .SOO choice skins, which he carried with him to Kamchatka. Sttl-
ler's Journal, 172, 175, passim; Mulkr, Sammlung, 54-6.

one
was

trickli
been

' THE LAST HOUR. M

was not very delicate food, but proved of great ser-
vice when nothing better could be had. It afforded
also the material for feeding lamps during the long
dreary nights of winter. No distinction was made in
the division of food between officers and men; every
one had a fair and equal portion. Lieutenant Waxel
was now recognized as general manager, the com-
mander being beyond duty. Misfortune and misery
had toned down the rough aggressiveness of the lieu-
tenant, and nearly all of the wise regulations there-
after adopted must be credited to him, though he
frequently acted upon Steller's advice. Both did
their utmost to give occupation to all who were able
as the only remedy against their mortal enemy, the
scurvy.

Toward the end of November Khitrof and Waxel
also were prostrated by disease, and the prospect
before the castaways was indeed a gloomy one. The
excursions to different parts of the island in search
of food and fuel became more and more contracted,
and dull despair settled upon the whole comnmnity.

As for the commander, no wonder he had longed
to return; for it was now apparent to all, as it may
have been to him these many days, that he must die.
And we can pardon him the infirmities of age, dis-
ease, and temper; the labors of his life had been
severe and his death was honorable, though the con-
ditions were by no means pleasing. Toward the lasc
he became if pofssibie more timid, and exceedingly
suspicious. He could hardly endure even the pres-
ence of Steller, his friend and confidant, yet this
faithful companion praises his firm spirit and dignified
demeanor.

It was under such circumstances that Vitus Bering
died — on this cold forbidding isle, under the sky of
an Arctic winter, the 8th of December 1741, in a
miserable hut half covered by the sand which came
trickling down upon him through the boards that had
been placed to bar its progress. Thus passed from

H-t

)!i

DEATH OF BERINO.

earth, as nameless tens of thousands have done, tho
illustrious commander of the expeditions which had
disclosed the separation of the two worlds and dis-
covered north-westernmost America.

On the 10th of December the second mate, Kho-
tiaintzof, died, and a few days later three of the sailors.
On the 8th of January death demanded another vic-
tim, the commissary Lagunof, making thirty-one up
to this time."

At length the survivors began slowly to improve in
health. The ship's constable, Kossilius, with two men,
■was despatched northward to explore; but they learned
only that they were on an island. Later the sailor,
Anchugof, was ordered southward, and after an absence
of nearly four weeks he returned half-starved, with-
out information of any kind. Another was sent west,
but with the same result. It was only then that many
■would believe they were not on tho shore of Kam-
chatka, and that it depended upon their own exertions
whether they ever left their present dwellings, cer-
tainly not very attractive ones, these excavations in
the earth roofed over with sails.^^ The foreigners
formed a separate colony in one Urge cavity. Tliere
were five of these, Steller, iiossilius, Plenisner, Assist-
ant Surgeon Betge, and a S'/l.iI';r named Zand. Waxel
occupied a dwelling by himself and another private
domicile had been constructed by the two boatswains,
Ivanof and Alexeief. All the others lived together
in one large excavation.

The provisions were by no means abundant, but

'* A list of the effects of Bering and the petty officers, preserved in the
naval archives, contains: 3 quadrants, 1 chronometer, 1 compass, 1 spy-glass,
1 gold watch, 1 pair of pistols, 8 copper drinking-cuns, a few pipes, 11 books
on navigation, a bundle of charts, 2 bundles of calculations, 7 maps, and 8
dozen packs of playing-cards. With the exception of the playing-cards, all
were sold at auction in Kamchatka, and brought 1,000 rubles. Sokolof, in Zap.
Hydr.,ix 10, 11.

>o Nagaief, an assistant of Sokolof in the collection and digestion of docu-
ments concerning the expedition; states that he found original entries of Waxel
and Khitrof in the journal, to the effect that after Bering's death the only two
remaining officers declared their willingness to temporarily resign their rank
and put themselves on an equality with the men, but that the latter refused,
and continued to obey their superiors. Morakoi Sb</mik, cvi. 215.

:^'')k^\

A NEW CRAFT BUILT.

•1

great care was exercised in distributing them, keeping
always in view the possibility of a further sea-voyage
in search of Kamchatka. The principal food was the
meat of marine mammals killed about the shore, sea-
otters, seals, and sea-lions. Carcasses of whales were
cast ashore twice during the winter, and though in
an advanced state of putrefaction they yielded an
abundant supply to the unfortunates, who had ceased
to be very particular as to the quality of their diet.
In the spring the sea-cows made their appearance and
furnished the mariners with an abunclance of more
palatable meat. The only fuel was drift-wood, for
which they had to mine the deep snow for eight or
ten miles round. The winter was cold and stormy
throughout, and the approach of spring was heralded
by dense fogs hanging about the island for weeks
without lifting sufficiently to afford a glance at the
surrounding sea.

A council was now held and some proposed sending
the single remaining ship's boat for assistance ; others
were of the opinion that the ship itself, though half
broken up, might still be repaired; but finally it was
determined to take the wreck entirely to pieces and
out of them construct a new craft of a size sufficient
to hold the entire company. A singular question
here presented itself to these navigators, accustomed
as they were to the iron discipline of the imperial
service. Would they not be punished fcr taking to
pieces a government vessel? After some discussion
it dawned on their dim visions that perhaps after
all the punishment of their dread ruler might be
no worse than death on that island. Hence it was
solemnly resolved to begin at once; the wreck was
dismantled, and in May the keel was laid for the
new vessel.

The three ship's carpenters were dead, but a Cossack
who had once worked in the ship-yard at Okhotsk
wf^s chosen to superintend the construction, and he
prdved quite successful in drawing the plans and

« • DEATH OP BERING.

moulding the frames.^' The lack of material and
tools naturally delayed the work, and it was the 10th
of August before the vessel could be launched. She
was constructed almost wholly without iron, and meas-
ured thirty-six feet in length at the keel, and forty-
one feet on deck, with a beam of twelve feet and a
depth of hold of only five and a half feet. She was
still called the Sv Petr. The vessel had to be provi-
sioned wTiolly from the meat of sea-animals."

On the 16th of August,*^ after a stay of over
nine months on this island, to which they gave the
name of Bering, at the suggestion of Khitrof, and
after protracted prayers and devotions, this remnani.
of the commander's crew set sail from the scene of
suffering and disaster. On the third day out, as might
be expected from such construction, the vessel was
found to be leaking badly, and within half an hour
there were two feet of water in the hold. Some lead
and ammunition were thrown out, and the leak was
stopped. On the ninth day the hearts of the unhappy
crew were gladdened by a full view of the Kamchatka
shore, and on the following day, the 26th of August,
the juvenile Sv Petr was safely anchored in the bay
of Avatcha. The survivors were received by the few
inhabitants of Petropavlovsk with great rejoicing;
they had long since been given up as dead. They
remained at the landing-place to recuperate for
nearly a year, and finally proceeded to Okhotsk in
1743.'^"

" Ho succeeded bo well in hia undertaking that he received as reward from
the grateful empress the patent of nobilitv. Sammlung, xx. 3114.

"Zap. Hydr., ix. 413. The author of the Sammlumjen states that when
the sea-otters disappeared in March the Kussians had recourse to dogs, bcara,
and lions, meaning of course seals (seekund), fur-seal (aeebdr), and sea-lious.
Samriiluitfi. XX. 393.

'*SokoIof makes the date of departure the 12th. Zap. Hydr,, ix. 413;
obviously an error on the part of some one.

'•In tiio church of Petropavlovsk there is still preserved a memorial of
this event; a silver mounted image of the apostles Peter and Paul witli the
inscription, 'An offering in memory of our miraculous rescue from a barren
islaud, and our return to the coast of Kamchatka, by licatenant Dimitri
Ovtzin, and the whole company, August 1741.' Powrmki, Kamchatka Archives,
MS., vol. xiiL

K.t

*»^^^

CHIRIKOF'S SUBSEQUENT VOYAGE. 08

Before he had fairly recovered from the effects of
his last voyage, Chirikof made another effort to see
something more of the American coast which he had
found. He commanded the Sv Pavel again, but the
only oflficer of the former voyage now with him was
the pilot Yelagin.^" Sailing from Avatcha Bay the
25th of May 1742, he shaped his course due east.
His progress was slow, and on the 8th of June he
sighted the first land in latitude 52°. Only the snow-
covered tops of high mountains were visible above the
fog and clouds which enveloped the island called by
Chirikof, St Theodore, but which we know to-day as
Attoo. A series of souuh^^rly gales then set in which
carried the ship northward to latitude 54° 30'. On
the 16th of June, owing to the wretched condition of
the vessel, it was deemed best to return to Kamchatka.
On the way back the Sv Pavel passed within a short
distance of the island where at that moment Bering's
companions were still suffering. Chirikof sighted the
southern point of the island and named it St Julian.
The expedition reached Petropavlovsk the 1st of July.^*

'"Miiller, Voyage, 112, main talus that CJhirikof intended to search for
Bering; but Sokolof scouts the idf a upon the ground that lie could not hav-
had the faintest suspicion of hit- Nfhereabonts; it was then believed that Bering
and all hisi crew had perished. So/mIo/, in Zap. llydr., ix. 414.

" As this last attempt of Chirikof ends the operations of the expedition
■which accomplished the discovery of the American coast, the official list of
all those engaged in the enterprise in ita various branches, taken from Bering's
private journal, will not be out of ]'lace. The names are arranged according
to rank as follows: Captain-ooinnmnder, Vitus Bering; captains, Martin
Spanbcrg and Alexei' Chirikof; lieutenants, Dmitri Luptief, Yegor Endogurof,
William Walton, Peter Lassenius, Dmitri Ovtzin, Stepan Mnravicf, Mikhail
Pavlo^ ,'» epan Malygin, Alexei' Skuratof, Ivan Sukhotin, Hariton Laptief,
Ivan v" ■ .iiachfcf; midshipman, Alexei Schclting; mates, Sven Waxel, Vassili
Promchishchef, Mikhail Plunting, Andreian Eselberg, Lev Kazimeiof, Ivan
Kafchflcf, Fedor Minin, Sofron Khitiof, Abram Dementief; i:r<coad mahes,
Ivan Vereshchagin, Ivan \ clagin, Matvei Pctrof, Dmitri Steiiegof, Scir^en
Chcliuskin, Vassili Rtishchef, Vassili Andreief, Gavril E;ulni>f, I'etcv Pazni-
akof, Marko Golovic, Ivan Biref, Kharlam Yushin, Moisst^i Yiirii>f, Andrei
Shiganof; marines, Vassili Pcrenago, Joann Synd, Andreian Vurlof; naval
cadets, Mikhail Scherbinin, Vassili KhinetevRki, O'jsip Glaiof, Emilian
Rodichef, Andrei' Volikoiwlski, Eedor Kanishchct. Sergei' S[>iridof, Serge'i
Sunkof ; commissaries, Agafon Choglokof, B^edor Koly.hef, Stcpjij) Ivasiienin,
Ivan Lagunof; navigators, Ivan Belui, Mikhail Vosikof; as^.stant navigators,
Dmitri Korostlef, Nikita Khotiair.tzof; boatswains, Kiels Jansen, Sidor
Savolicf; boatswain's mate, Fedor Kozlof; boat-builders, Andrei Kozmin,
William Butzovski, Henrich Hovins, Caspar Feich; assistant surgeons,
Ivan Stupin, William Bercnsen, Peter Brauner, Sim Gren, Thomas Viuzen*

i ;{

DEATH OF BERING.

ii;?

In the August following, and before the survivors of
Bering's party could reach that port, Chirikof sailed
for Okhotsk.

dorf, Hcnrich Schaffer, Elias Giintber, Kiril Shemchushuykof, Moritz Ar-
menus, Andreas Heer, Ivan Paxin, Henrich Hebel, Mikhau Brant, Matthius
Betge, Johann Lau; academicians, Gerhard MflUer, Johann Gmelin, Louia
Croydre; Professor Johann Fischer; adjunct, George Wilhelm Steller; stu-
dents, Stepan Krashennikof, Fedor Popof, Luka Ivanof, AlexeK Tretiakof,
Aiexei Gorlonof; instrument-maker, Stiepon Ovsiannikof; painter, Johann
Berkban; draughtsman, Johann Lursenino; translator, Ilia Yakhontof; sur-
veyors, Amlrei Krassilnikof, Nikifor Cbekin, Mo'issel' Ousbakof, Alexander
Ivanof, Peter Skobeltzin, Dmitri Baskakof, Ivan Svistunof, Vassili Shetilof,
Vassili Selifontof, Ivan Kindiarof, Vassili Somof, Mikhail Gvozdef ; assistant
surveyors, Mikbaiil Vuikbodzef, Fedor Prianishnikof, Aiexei Makshel'ef,
Ivan Shavrigin; assayer, Simcu Gardebol; mineralogists, Dmitri Odiutzof,
Friedrich wieidel, Elias Schebl, Zakar Medvedef, Agapius Leskin, Ivan
Samoilof . There was also on? parish priest, with six subordinate members of
the clergy. The following is the naval roster of Bering's command as dis-
tributed among the various divisions of the expedition.

BOSTEB OF BEKINQ'S COMMAND IN 1740.

BANK.

On the Ship* of

On the Double
Sloops

Bering.

Chiri-
kof.

Span-
berg.

of
Span-
berg.

with
Arctic
Exped.

In the
White

Sea.

TotaL

Captain Commander.

Captains

i
1

2
2
1
2
1
6
1
1

12
3
3
3
3
1
1

24
1

"i
1

i
1

1
2
2

12
3
3
3
3
1
1

24
1

2
1

i
1

1
2
2

4
2
3
2

20
1

"i
1

2
2

4
4
6
4
2

3
3

■3

'3
3

"3
6
3

'2
2

"2
2

"4
4

4
S
4

Lieutenants

Midshipmen

Mates

Second Mates

Naval Cadets

Surgeons

Ass I Surgeons

Medical Cadets

Boatswains

Boatswain's Mates

Quartermasters

12
12

Commissaries

Buglers

Constables

Writers

Navigators

Sailors

Rope-makers

Sail-makers

Carpenters

Coojjers

Corporals

Privates

250

t ■

Total

147

>>'3

INFLUENCE OF THE OTTER.

Call it science, or patriotism, or progress, there is
this to be said about the first Kussian discoveries in
America — little would have been heard of them for
some time to come if ever, had it not been for the
beautiful furs brought back from Bering Island and

According to the ledgers of the admiralty college the expenditure in
behalf of the expedition up to the end of the year 1742 has been as follows:

Babies.

For pay and uniform

30,383

684

3,103

5,206

For provisions

At St Petersburg <

For transportation

67i

542

For scientific instruments

For various stores

Total

39,451

4,754

1,107

10,801

65i

At Kazan

Cash

At Arkhamrelsk

Rigging, lumber, and provisions.

25i
47i

Total

66,114

2,178

229,526

72,840

821

At I'lmak

Id v-iniProv ice of Siberia.

Cash, provisions, and stores

Sundry expenditure

794

Grand total

360,659

13i

Sokolqf, in 2^'p. Hydr., ix. 446-52.

Spanberg made a reconnoissance in the sea of Okhotsk in 1740. In Sep-
tember 1741 he crossed from Okhotsk to Kamchatka with the packet-boat
Sv loann, the brigantine Arkhangel Mikhail, the double sloop Nculeghda, and
the sloop Botsherelsk, this being the beginning of an oflicial expedition to
Japan. Although the squadron wm so pretentious, and had on board many
learned men who were to expound the mysteries of those parts, nothing of
hnportanco came from it. This was one branch of the explorations included
\y Ijbilnj's scheme. Another was a survey of the coast of Okhotsk Sea by
■ utenant Walton in 1741.

^xkjlorations were also carried on alongthe Kamchatka coast. In 1742Sur-
V •".. Ousliukof explored the coast from Bolshcretsk northward to Figil, and
f!\. . .0 Bay cf Avatcha to Cape Kronotzkoi. A portion of this work had
prt .ituaiy been attempted by tne pilot Yelagin in 1739, and maps prepared
l>y him are still preserved in the naval archives at St Petersburg, but for
some reason the later survey was adopted aa authority. Steller and Gorlanof
continued their investigations in Kamchatka until 1744. In accordance with
instructions they also experimente<l in agricultural pursuits, meeting with no
success in their attempts. When the combined commands of Chinkof,
Waxel, and Si>alding arrived at Okhotsk, they found orders awaiting them to
proceed to Yakutsk and remain there for further instructions. This order
virtuo,lly ended the expedition. The leaders claimed that all its objects
had been attained as far as possible. Moiiy of the officers and scientists

; I

i J

Fii''

DEATIv ■^B' BERING.

elsewhere. Siberia, was still sufficient to satisfy the
tsar for purposes of expatriation, and the Russians
were not such zealots 'is to undertake conquest for
the sake of ''jriversion, and to make religion a cloak

had already returi.> a accomplishing their task; others ■were still

detained by sickness a. ^r circumstances; others again had died and the

force still nt for duty oi / kind waa very much reduced. The provisions
amassed with such immense lahor and trouble had been expended, the rigging
and sails of ships were completely worn out, the ships themselves were unsea-
worthy, and the resources of all Siberia haa been nearly exhausted. The
native tribes and convict settlers had been crushed by the most oppressive re-
quisitions in labor and stores, and even the forests in the immediate vicinity
of settlements had been thinned out to an alarming extent for the require-
ments of the expedition. In 1743 a famine raged in eastern Siberia to such
an extent that m the month of September an imperial oukaz ordained the
immediate suspension of other operations. The force was divided into small
detachments and scattered here and there in the more fertile districts of
Siberia. The temporary suspension of the labors of the expedition was fol-
lowed by an entire abandonment of the work. The Siberian contingents
returned to their proper stations, the sailors and mechanics belonging to the
navy were ordered to Tomsk and Yenisseisk. Through intrigues at the
imperial court the commanders were long detained in the wilds of Siberia;
Chuikof and Spanberg until 1746, Waxel until 1749, and Rtishchef until
1754, when a new expedition was already on the tapis. The original charts
and journals of the expedition wsre forwarded to Irkutsk only in 1754, though
official copies had certainly been taken previous to that time. From Irkutsk
they were removed in 1759 to the city of Tobolsk, and again copied. No
reason was given for retaining the originals, but it is certain that they were
destroyed during a fire in Tobolsk in 1788. Zap. Hydr., v. 265. Record? "*
promotions conferred upon a few membera of the expedition have been pre-
served. Ovtzin and Laptief were made lieutenants on Waxel's recommenda-
tion in 1743; Alexei Ivanof and Yelagin were promoted to the same rank on
Chirikof's recommendation in 17*4. On the 20th of November 1749 an im-
perial oukaz bestowed a money reward upon all the survivors of Bering's
command on the Sv Petr, 'for having suflered many unlieard of hardsliips.'
Khitrof was made a lieutenant and finally captain of the first rank. Waxcl
was promoted to a captain of the second rank in 1744, while all his command
obtamed a reward in money from the admiralty college. In 1754 the force
of Lieutenant Rtishchef at Tomsk consisted of 42 men, and that of Lieutenant
Khenetevski at Okhotsk, of 46 men; the last two officers evidently remained
in Siberia, as they are mentioned again in the archives of Okhotsk as captains
in 1773.

The marine Synd, who undertook the unfortunate expedition to Bering
Straits, also remained in Siberia, promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and
died at Okhotsk in 1779. Siberian Archives; Midler, 9th ser.; Zap. Hydr., v.
268. The young widow of the astronomer De la Croytre in 1774 married
Captain Lebedcf, who was assigned to the command of Kamchatka. Sgibne/,
in Morakoi Sbomik, cii. 5, 55. The town of Okhotsk had received a great
impetus during the operations of the Bering expedition, for which it served
as tlie maritime base. A few rude vessels were constructed at Okhotsk
during the first decade of the eighteenth century, and official records arc still
in existence of all the shipping constructed at that port from the year 1714
to modem times. Up to the time when Bering's expedition left Okhotsk for
the interior of Siberia IS ve.ijsels were enumerated in this list. The first of
these vessels was a lodka, a craft with one most, half-decked over, 27 feet in
length, with 18 (!) feet beam, drawing with a full cargo only three feet and
a half of water. The keel waa laid at Okhotsk in May 1714, and she was

for th
each c
of AL

launched

vessel ha

for tlie ir

laid in I',

and rotte

in width;

rinof. T

fourth vei

ia 1720, a

and in i;

repaired i

fifth, a loi

want of m

Fortuna, 1

and launc!

worthy, h\

1737, and

list, the St

Nishekamc

tenant Spa

chatka, bul

up as unsef

the Vostoch

takof's exp

Gabriel was

(Lion) was ;

hostile Kor

ill 1729 is tl

an explorati

abandoned.

Okhotsk in

builders we

Tlie brigant:

on the list is

sails. Slie w

1737. This

';y one Naou

Spanberg in

declared to

list, was bui

repaired, ant

in which Be

She was wrei

seen. The v

sons in Okljc

almndoned as

Krestitd, or S

bergs expedii

:nand of Lieu

was built at (

repaired, and

Island out erf 1

chatka in \7o

^oiakoi Sliimi I

Utn

HISTORICAL VESSELS.

for their atrocities; hence, but for these costlj' skins,
each of which proclaimed in loudest strains the glories
of Alaska, the Great Land might long have rested

launched in May 1716. The builder was carpenter Kiril Plotnitzki(?). The
vessel had a brief existence, for she stranded in 17'21, and was finally ..arned
for the iron in 1727. The second vessel was of the same class. The keel was
laid in 1718 for the first Kamchatka expedition, but she was never finished,
and rotted on the stocks. The third was also a lodka, 54 feet in length by 18
in width; she was constructed at Gudsk, near Okhotsk; in 1719, by one Teta-
rinof. This craft also was never launched, and finally fell to pieces. The
fourth vessel, also a lodka, was begun by a carpenter named Kargopoltzof,
ia 1720, and launched in 1723. Bering caused her to be retimbered in 1727,
and in 17.34 the vessel was beached as unsea worthy, but she was finally
repaired in 1741 and wrecked on the Kurile Islands iu the same year. The
fifth, a lodka, was built near Okhotsk in 1724, but was never finished 'for
want of material. ' The si^ith vessel constructed at Okhotsk was the shitika
Fortuna, built in one year by a marine, Chaplin, probably an Englishman,
and launched in June 1727. In 1730 the Fortuna was hauled up as unsea-
worthy, but in 1731 she was repaired onco more and finally retimbered in
1737, and wrecked in the same year near Bolsheretsk. The seventh on the
list, the Sv Oavril, was constructed under Bering's immediate supervision at
Nishekamcbatsk in the y°ar 1728. In 1737 she was retimbered by Lieu-
tenant Spanberjj at Okhotsk. In 1738 she was wrecked on the coast of Kam-
chatka, but agam repaired in the following year, 1739. She \' ■■% finally broken
up as unseaworthy in 1755. The eighth vessel constructed at Okhotsk was
the VoHtochnui Gavril, or Eastern Gabriel, built in 1729 by Sphanef for Shes-
takof's expedition. After Gvozdef's voyage to Bering Strait the Eastern
Gabriel was wrecked in October 1739 by Fcdoref near Bolsheretsk. The Lev
(Lion) was also built by Sphanef at Okhotsk in 1729, but was burned by the
hostile Koriaks in September of the same year. A lodka built by Churckaief
iu 1729 is the tenth on the list. The navigator Moshknf ubed this craft for
an exploration of the Shantar Islands, but she proved unseaworthy and was
abandoned. Next on the list is the brigantii.o Arkhangel Mikhail, begun at
Okhotsk in 1735 and launched in 1737 for Bering's second expedition. The
builders were llogachcf and Kozmin, superintended by Spanberg himself.
The brigantine did good service, but was finally wrecked in 1753. The 12tli
on the list is the double sloop Nadeshda, with three masts (?) and gaff-top-
sails. She was begun by the same builders at Okhotsk in 1 735 and launched in
1737. This also proved a useful craft, but she was finally wrecked iu 1753
by one Naoumof on the Kurile Islands. The sloop Bolsheretsk was built by
Spanberg in 1739 of birch timber, and provided with 18 oars. She was
declared to bo unseaworthy in 1745. The galiot Okhotsk, the 14th on the
list, was built by Rogachef at Okhotsk in 1737. Ten years later she was
repaired, and wrecked the year after. The packet-boat So Pelr, the vessel
in which Bering sailed, was also built by Rogachef and Kozmin in 1741.
Slio was wrecked and rebuilt on Bering Island in the same year, as we have
seen. The vessel of Chirikof, the big Sv Pavel, was built by the same per-
sons in Okl.iotsk and launched in 1740, and only four yeai-s later she was
almndoned as unseaworthy. The next on the list is the packet-boat loan
Krestitd, or St John the Baptist, built in Okliotsk by Kozmin 1741, for Span-
berg's expedition, and wrecked near Bolsheretsk in October 1743, under coin-
:nand of Lieutenant Khmetovski. The sloop ElhavHa, the 18th on the list,
was built at Okhotsk by Kozmin, wrecked on the Kamchatka coast in 1745,
rtpaircd, an<l wrecked again in 1755. The small So Petr, built on Bering
Island out M the remains of the larger vessel, was sunk on the coast of Kam-
cliatka in 1753, but raised and beached in 1754. Okhotsk Archives; SijibiK^,
Aloiskoi Sbortiik, 1S5S, 12-210.
HiiT. Alaiha. T

I 1

DEATH OF BEBINQ.

undisturbed. Be that as it may, it was chiefly on the
voyages of Bering and Chirikof that Russia ever after
based her claim to the ownership of north-western-
most America.*'

i I: '

*' The voyages of Vitus Bering have furnished material for much learned
discussion. The French astronomer De L'Isle de la Croyfere advanced the
claim of having been largely instrumental in their accomplishment, more so per-
haps than he w.'.a justly entitled to, though it cannot be denied that he nad
much to say in tho organization of the second expedition under Bering. With
the honor of having planned the expedition, he should not attempt to escape
the odium of having lumisbed it with such villainous charts, to which may be
attributed mo!<v. of that suffering and loss of life which followed. Nor is he by
any means just tn Bering, seeking as he does in his account to deprive him of
any part in the discovery, claiming that Chirikof's party made the only dis-
covery worthy of mention. He does not even state that Bering touched upon
tiie Alnerican coast at all; according to his narrative Bering ' sailed from Kam-
chatka, but did not go far, having been compelled by a storm to anchor at a
desert island where he and most of his companions perished.' An author
makes nothing by such trickery. His attempted deceit is sure sooner or
later to fall back upon his own head. Nor will it do to pretend ignorance.
Professor MuUer, of the imperial academy of science, accompanied Bering
on his last voyage. At the time De L'Isle was writing his treatise Muller
was living in the same itreet in St Petersburg, and meeting as they must
have done daily, it would have been easy to ascertain the truth if he had
wished to know it. That such wretched maps as Croy^re's should have been

fivcn to the world by Russia, or in her name, is all the more to be deplored,
ecause the Russians, though they had then scarcely gained a place among
seafaring nations, had made the moot strenuous efiforte at discovery in waters
BO inhospitable that people less inured to the rigors of climate, and less de-
spotically governed, would never have thought of navigating them. Others
may have furnished the idea which the RnssiaoB alone, who to be sure would
reap the firat ^^nefits &om suoh diacoveriee, were poesesaed of power and
endurance to cairy out.

CHAPTER VI.

rHE SWAEMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

1743-1762.

EnrsoF of thb Di8c»v]srt in Siberia — Huntino Expeditions in Ssaboh
OF Sea-otters — ^Voyages of Bassof, Nevodohikof, and Yuoof —
BiCB Harvests of Sea-oitter and Fur-seal Skins from the Aleu-
tian Archipelago — ^Thb Cunning Promyshleniki and the Mild
Islanders — ^Thb Old Talb of Wrong and Atrocity — Bloodshed
ON Attoo Island— Early Monopolies — Chupbof's and Kholodilop's
Adventures — Russuns Defeated on Unalaska and Amlia— Yo-
oof's Unfortunate Speculation — Further Discovery — ^The Fate of
OoLODOF — Other Adventures.

One would think that, with full knowledge of the
sufferings and dangers encountered by Bering's and
Chirikofs expeditions, men would hesitate before risk-
ing their lives for otter-skins. But such was not the
case. When a small vessel was made ready to follow
the course of the Sv Petr and the Sv Pavel there was
no lack of men to join it, though some of them were
still scarcely able to crawl, from the effects of former
disaster. As the little sable had enticed the Cossack
from the Black Sea and the Volga across the Ural
Mountains and the vast plains of Siberia to the shores
of the Okhotsk Sea and the Pacific, so now the sea-
otter lures the same venturesome race out among the
islands, and ice, and fog-banks of ocean.

The first to engage in hunting sea-otters and other
fur-bearing animals, east of Kamchatka, was Emilian
Bassof, who embarked as early as 1743, if we may
believe Vassili Berg, our best authority on the sub-
ject.* Bassof was sergeant of the military company

' Berg, Khronologieheakaia Istoria Otlrytiy Aleutskikh Osirovakh, 2, 3, pas-

(»9I

100

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

i^'^

of lower Kamchatka, whose imagination had become
excited by the wealth brought home by Bering's crew.
Forming a partnership with a merchant from Moscow,
Andrei Serebrennikof, he built a small shitika^ which
he called the Kapiton, sailed to Bering Island, passed
the winter there, and returned to Kamchatka in the
following year/ A second voyage was made the fol-
lowing July,* with Nikofor Trapeznikof as partner,
the same vessel being employed. Besides Bering
Island, Bassof also visited Copper Island, and col-
lected 1,600 sea-otters, 2,000 fur-seals, and 2,000 blue
Arctic foxes. From this trip Bassof returned on the
31st of July 1746. A third voyage was undertaken
by Bassof in 1747, from which he returned in the
following year, and embarked for a last voyage in
1749.*^

m '

aim. Most authorities are silent concerning this expedition, but Sgibnef,
Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 74, states that Bassof sailed on his first voyage in 1743.

' The shitikas, from the Russian shi-it, to sew, were vessels made almost
without iron bolts, the planks being 'sewed' together or fastened with leather
or seal-skin thongs.

' From papers preserved in the chancellery of Bolsheretsk. See also Berg,
Khronolojicheskaia Istoria, 3, 4.

* The author of Neue Nachrkhten doubts the authenticity of these state-
ments. But, as Berg had access to all the archives, we may safely accept his
statement, though iu the chronological table appended to his work the expedi-
tion of the Kapiton is omitted. Iferff, Khronol, Istoria, Appendix. Sgibnef
states that Bassof formed a partnership with Trapeznikof in 1747 to undertake
'the second voyage,' from which they realized a return of 112,220 rubles.
Morakoi Sbornik, cii,-v. 74.

* A report to the commander of Okhotsk with reference to the third voy-
age was discovered by Prince Shakhovakoi in the archives of Okhotsk. From
this document Berg gives the following extracts: 'Most respectful report of
Sergeant Emflian Bassof to the councillor of the port of Okhotsk : — After hav-
ing set out with some Cossacks upon a sea-voyage last year (1747), iu searcli
of unknown islands, in the shitika Sv Petr, at our own expense, wo arrived
at a previously discovered small island,' Copper Island. 'On the beach about
CO pounds of native copper was gathered. On the south-eastern side of the
same island we found some unknown material, some ore or mineral, of which
we took <i pound or two. Our men picked up 205 pebbles on the beach great
and small, and among them were two yellow ones and one pink. Wo also
found a new kind of fish . . . We brought with us to the port of Nishekam-
cliatsk sea-otters male and female 970 skins, and the same number of tails,
and 1,520 blueioxes. These furs were all divided in shares among those who
were with me on the above-mentioned voyage ... Sergeant Emilian Bassof.'
Berg, Khronol. Istoria, 4. The ship Sv Petr, Captain Emilian Bassof, is like-
wise mentioned in Berg's tabular list of voyages under date of 1750. 'A for-
tunate event which occurred while I was engaged in collecting information
with regard to these voyages,' says Berg, 'placed me in possession of papers

' containing the names of owners of vessels and the furs shipped on the i> 'jcca-

VOYAGES Oi BASSOP.

101

All was still dark regarding lands and navigation
eastward. But when Bassof's reports reached the
imperial senate an oukaz was forwarded at once to
the admiralty college ordaining that any charts com-
piled from Bering's and Chirikof's journals, together
with their log-books and other papers, should be
sent to the senate for transmittal to the governor
general of Siberia. The admiralty college intrusted
the execution of this order to the eminent hydrog-
rapher Admiral Nagaief, who finally compiled a chart
for the guidance of hunters and traders navigating
along the Aleutian Islands.*

Bassof was scarcely back from his first voyage and
it was noised abroad that he had been successful, when
there were others laady to follow his example. A
larger venture was set on foot early in 1745, while
Bassof was still absent on his second voyage, under the
auspices of Lieutenant Lebedef, he who had married
Croyfere's widow. While in command at Bolsheretsk
he issued a permit for a voyage to the newly discov-
ered islands, on the 25th of February, to the mer-
chants Afanassi Chebaievskoi of Lalsk and Arkhip
Trapeznikof of Irkutsk. Their avowed purpose was
to hunt sea-otters and make discoveries eastward of
Kamchatka. Associated with them were Yakof Chu-

Bions: 1st, papers obtained from Court Counsellor Ivan Ossipovich Zelonski;
2(1, some incomplete data compiled by myself wbilo livuig at Kadiak from
verbal tradition and private letters; 3d, letters I found in Mr Shelikof'a
archives; and 4th, letters I received between the years 1700 and /85 from
the merchant Ivan Savich Lapin, of Solikamsk.' The dates given of Bassof 'a
four voyages are 1743, 1745, 1747, and 1749. Berg, Khronol. Isioria, 6.

'Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 11, 55. The editor of the Sibiralcy Vicstnik (Sibe-
rian Messenger), G. I. Spasski, in 1822, devoted four numbers of his pub-
lication to a minute description of Copper Island, accompanied by a cliart
indicating Bassof's occupation of the place, as on its northern side two baya
are named Bassofskaya and Petrofskaya respectively, after Bassof and one of
liis vcasels. From the description in the Vicstnik it is evident that Bassof
wintered on Copper Island in 1749, and obtained most of his furs there. A
cross which was preserved on the island for many years, bore an inscription
to the efifect that Yefim Kuznetzof, a new convert (probably a Kamchatka
native), was added to Bassof's command on the 7th of April 1 750. It is probable
that iho bciptism of this convert took place on the island, and that the name
of tiio man was added to Bassof's list only when he became a Christian.' Sih.
I'iestnik, IS'22, numbers 2 to C, passim. Bassof died in 1754, leaving a
daughter with whom the merchant, Lapin, one of Berg's authorities, was per-
sonally acquainted. Khronol, Intoria, passim.

102

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

iprof, Radion Yatof, Ivan Kholchevnikof, Pavel Kar-
abelnikof, Larion Beliaief, Nikolai Chuprof, Lazar
Karmanof, and Kiril Kozlof/ They built a large
shitika and named it the Yevdokia. As morekhod, or
navigator, they engaged a Tobolsk peasant named
Mikhail Nevodchikof, who had been with Bering, and
who was even credited by various authors with the
discovery of the Aleutian Islands.^ In these expedi-
tions the bold promyshleniki were ever the main-stay.
Nevodchikof was doubtless aware that Bassof had col-
lected his furs at Bering and Copper islands, but trust-
ing to his memory, or perhaps following the advice of
other companions of Bering, he passed by these isl-
ands, shaping his course south-east in search of the land
named by Bering Obmannui, or Delusive Islands. The
Yevdokia had sailed from the mouth of the Kam-
chatka on the 19th of September 1745,' and after a voy-
age of six days the adventurous promyshleniki sighted
the first of the Blishni group of the Aleutian isles.
Passing by the first, Attoo, Nevodchikof anchored near
the second, Agatoo, about noon of the 24th. Next
morninsf over a hundred armed natives assembled on
the beach and beckoned the Russians to land, but it
was not deemed safe in view of their number; so they
. >rew into the water a few trifling presents, and in
return the natives threw back some birds just killed.
On the 26th Chuprof landed with a few men armed
with muskets for water. They met some natives, to

' BolshereUk Archives; Neue Nachr., 9, 10.

' From the fact that Nevodchikof was called a peasant we must not infer
that ho was an agricultural laborer, but simply of the peasant class, one of
the numerous castes into which Russian society was divided. The so-called
'civil classes' of society outside of government officials were merchants,
hiptzui, again divided into first, second, and third guild; tradesmen, mesh-
cfianinui, and peasants, hreatianinui; but many of the latter class were
engaged in trade and commerce. Ivan Lapin told Ber^ that he knew Ne-
vodchikof personally, and that he had served with Bermg on his voyage to
America in 1741. Nevodchikof was a silversmith from Oustioug, and came
to Siberia in search of fortune. Meeting with no success he went on to Kam-
chatka, and there finding himself without a passport he was taken into the
government service. Lapin was in possession of a silver snuffbox, the work
of Nevodchikof. Khronol. latoria, 7.

*Neue Nachr., 10; Khroiiol. let., 7.

VIOLENCE AND BLOOD.

whc m they gave tobacco and pipes, and received a stick
ornamented with the head of a seal carved in bone.
Then the savages wanted one of the muskets, and
when refused they became angry and attempted to
capture the party by seizing their boat. Finally Chup-
rof ordered his men to fire, and for the first time the
thundering echoes of musketry resounded from the
hills of Agatoo. One bullet took efiect in the hand
of a native ; the crimson fluid gushed forth over the
white sand, and the long era of bloodshed, violence,
and rapine for the poor Aleuts was begun. ^^ As the
natives had no arms except bone-pointed spears, which
they vainly endeavored to thrust through the sides
of the boat, shedding of blood might easily have been
avoided. At all events the Russians could not now
winter there, so they worked the ship back to the
first island, and anchored for the night.

The following morning Chuprof, who seems to have
come to the front as leader, and one Shevyrin, landed
with several men. They saw tracks but encountered
no one. The ship then moved slowly along the coast,
and on the following day the Cossack Shekhurdin,
with six men, was sent ashore for water and to recon-
noitre. Toward night they came upon a party of five
natives with their wives and children, who immedi-
ately abandoned their huts and ran for the mountains.
In the morning Shekhurdin boarded the ship, which
was still moving along the shore in search of a suit-
able place for wintering, and returned again with a
larger force. On a bluff facing the sea they saw fif-
teen savages, one of whom they captured, together
with an old woman who insisted on following the
prisoner." The two natives, with a quantity of seal-

'" When the natives perceived the wound of their comrade they threw off
their garments, carried him into the eca, and endeavored to wash off the
blood. Khroiiol. Iiit.,8; NeueNachr., 13. See ^a<iyei?oce«, vol. i., this series.

" 'Es gelang ihren auch, ungeachtet der Gegeuiwehr, welche die Insulaner
mit ihren Kniichemen Spiesscn leisteten, selbige herunter zu jagen und einen
davon gefangen zu nehmen. der sogleich aufs Schiff gebracht ward. Sio
ergriflen auch ein altes Weile, welche sie bis zur Hfltte verfolgt hatten, und
brachten auch diese, mit dem zugleich erbeuteten Seehundafett und Fellen,
zum tschiff.' Neite NachricfUen, 14, 15.

104

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

;! i

blubber found in the hut, wore taken on board the
Yevdokia. A storm arose shortly after, during which
the ship was driven out to sea with the loss of an
anchor and a yawl.

From the 2d to the 9th of October the gale con-
tinued; then they approached the island and selected
a wintering-place for the ship. The natives were less
timid than at first, though they found in the hut the
bodies of two men who had evidently died from
wounds received during the scuffle on the bluff. The
old woman, who had been released, returned with
thirty-four of her people; they danced and sang to
the sound of bladder-drums^ and made presents of
colored clay, receiving in return handkerchiefs, needles,
and thimbles. After the first ceremonial visit both
parties separated on the most friendly terms. Before
the end of the month the same party came again
accompanied by the old woman and several children,
and bringing gifts of sea-fowl, seal-meat, and fish.
Dancing and singing were again indulged in.

On the 26th of October Shevyrin, Chuprof, and
Nevodchikof, with seven men, set out in search of
their new friends and found them encamped under a
cliff. On this occasion they purchased a hidar,^^ with
an extra covering of skin, for two cotton shirts. They
found stone axes and bone needles in use among the
natives, who seemed to subsist altogether upon the
flesh of sea-otters, seals, and sea-lions, and upon fish.

The reign of violence and bloodshed already inaug-
urated on the island of Agatoo was quickly established
on Attoo. Two days prior to his visit to the friendly
natives, Chuprof, anxious to acquire a more minute
knowledge of the island, sent out one of his subordi-
nates, Aiexei Beliaief, with ten men to explore. This
man discovered several habitations with whose

in-

"'Und fanden sie xinter einem Felsen {Utess), Kauften von ihnen ein
Baidar (ledernen Kahn) und eino Baidarenhaiit, wovor sio ihnen zwcy Hemden
gaben und zurukkehrten, ohnedie geringste Feindseligkcit erfahren zu haben.'
Neue Nachr., 15. The i)idar was an open skin boat, and the largest of the
class.

FURTHER OITTRAGES.

mates he managed to pick a quarrel, in the course of
which fifteen of the islanders were killed." Even the
Cossack Shekhurdin, who had accompanied Beliaief,
was shocked at such proceedings and went and told
Chuprof, who said nothing, but merely sent the
butchering party more powder and lead."

These and like outrages of the promyshleniki were
not known in Russia until after several years, and if
they had been it would have made little difference.^'
Their efforts were successful; but we ma} easily
believe that the interval between December 1745 and
the day when the Yevdokia departed, which was the
14th of September 1746, was not a time of rejoicing
to the people of Attoo. To this day the cruelties
committed by the first Russians are recited by the
poverty-stricken remnants of a once prosperous and
happy people.

The return voyage was not a fortunate one; for six
weeks the heavily laden craft battled with the waves,
and at hist, on the 30th of October, she was cast upon
a rocky coast with the loss of nearly all her valuable
cargo. Ignorant as to their situation the men made
their way into the interior, suffering from cold and
hunger, but finally they succeeded in finding some

"There is little doubt that this encounter was wilfully provoked, and
the male natives slaughtered for a purpose. Berg merely hints that womeu
were at the bottom of it, but in the A^eue Xachr. it is distinctly charged that
Beliaief caused the men to be shot in order to secure the women. Some dis-
pute! about an iron bolt that had disappeared, and which the natives could or
would not return, was seized upon as an excuse. Berg, Khronol. Int., 8, 9;
Nene Niichr., 16.

'*In the Neue Nackr., 16, Chuprof is accused of a plan for the destruc-
tion of a number of natives, by means of a porridge seasoned v ith corrosive
sublimate.

'••An islander, Temnak, was carried away to Kamchatka on the Yevdokia.
He chiimcd to be a native of At (Attoo?). In 1750 he was sent to Okhotsk
with Ncvodchikof, after having been baptized atKisIiekamchatsk by the mis-
sionary Osoip Khotunizcvskoi. lie was fitted out with clothing at the ex-
pense of the I oveiTiment and named Pavel Nevodchikof, the pilot having acted
as his goilfathcr, and finally adopting him. 'Schon am 24sten October hatte
Czjtiproif vchn Mann, unter Anfuiirung des Larion Deajew zu kundscbaften
luisgcsLliikt. Difser fand vcrschitdine lurten (Wohnungen), der Insulaner
und wtil cr ilintn fcindselig bcgcgncte -ind die wenigen Insulaner sich dahor
niit ihren Kn< thonien Lunzen zwi Wihrc sctz.tcn, so nahni er daher Gclcgen-
licit nllo Miinncr funfzthn an der Ziihl zu erschiessen, un die zwriikgebliebe-
nen Weiber zur Unzucht gebrauthtn zu Kiiunen.' Neue Aachr,, 11.

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

human habitations. On questioning the natives they
learned to their consternation that they were not on
the mainland, but on the island of Karaghinski off
the coast of Kamchatka. The Koriaks were already
tributary to the Russians, and treated their visitors
kindly until Beliaief made advances to the wife of the
yessaul, or chief, whose wrath was with difficulty as-
suaged. Finally in May 1747 a descent was made
on the island by an armed party of Olutonski, a war-
like tribe living near the mouth of the Olutorsk river
on the mainland.^'

In a bloody fight during which many natives and

'* The origin of the word aletit may perhaps be referred to these people.
The first mention of the Olutorski tribe was in a report of the Cossack Atlos-
Bof, the conqueror of Kamchatka, in 1700. He states that on the coast of
Kamchatka the Liutortzi are called strangers by the surrounding Koriaks,
whom they much resembled. Morthoi Sbortiik, cL 4-73. In 1714 Afanassi
Petrof, a nobleman, built on the Olutorsk river an ostrog of the same name;
he was freely assisted by the natives. In the following year Petrof forwarded
all the tribute he had collected, consisting of 141 bundles of sables, of 40 skins
eaci), 0,640 red foxes, 10 cross foxes, 137 sea-otters, two land-otters, and 22
ounces of gold taken from a wrecked Japanese junk. Subsequently the
natives revolted and killed Petrof and nearly all his followers. Morskoi
Sbomik, ci. 4-82, 296. It is probable that when the Russians first encoun-
tered the natives of the Aleutian Islands, being already acquainted with the
Olutorski, they applied tliat name, pronounced by them Aliutorski, to a race
that certainly resembles the latter. On the whole coast of Kamchatka these
Olutorski were the only whale-hunters, a pursuit followed also by Aleuts.
Russian authors generally derive the name from the Aleut word aUlk, What
dost thou want? If this phrase ever was in general use it has entirely dis-
appeared, and it certainly is no nearer the word Aleut, or Aleutski, as the
Russians pronounce it, than is Olutorski. Vhoria, pt. vii. 12. Engel, in Geo-
graphische und Krituche Nachrichten, i. v. 6, 7; vi.-vii., refers to an article
in the Leydever Zeitumj, Feb. 26, 1765, where it ia said that 'the traders
from the Kcvima (Kolima), sailed out of that river and were fortunate
enough to double the cape of the Chukchi in latitude 74°; tbey then sailed
southward and discovered some islands in latitude 64°, where they traded
with the natives and obtained some fine black foxes of which some speci-
mens were sent to the empress as a present. They named these islands
Aleyut, and I think that som ; of them adjoined America.' Engel then
goes on to say: 'These sailors culled th^se islands "Aleyut;" the word seems
to mo to be somewhat mutilated. MflUer says that tI<o island situated
half a day's journey from Chukchi land, is inhabited by p°opie nu.inf'd Ak-
hyukh-Alial, and it appears that these traders actually come to this islau^l.
or perhaps to another one also situated in that neighborhood, the people of
which MflUer calls Peckale ; he also speaks of a great country lying farther
to the east named Kitchin Aliat. I believe, therefore, that the said Aleyut
is nothing but the Aliat or Aeliat which forms the ending of both of the above-
mentioned namos.' It is evident th t Engel confounds the voyages of the
promyshleniki to the Aleutian Islands with the discovery of the Diomedo
Islands in Serine Straits. The Kitchin Aliat may bear some relation ta
either the Kutclim tribes of the American coast or more probably to the
Inuuit or Eskimos.

NEVODCHIKOF, SUPERINTENDENT.

107

several Russians were killed, the invaders were de-
feated, and as they left the island the Olutorski declared
their intention to return with reenforeements and to
exterminate the Russians and all who paid tribute to
them. The promyshleniki were anxious to be off,
and the islanders freely assisted them in constructiug
two large bidars. On the 27th of June they departed,
and arrived at the ostrog of Nishekamehatsk on the
21st of July with a little over three hundred L^.a.-
otter skins, the remnant of the valuable cargo of the
Yevdokia}'

Immediately upon receiving information of the dis-
covery of the Aleutian isles, Elizabeth issued as pecial
oukaz appointing Nevodchikof to their oversight with
the rank of a master in the imperial navy, in which
capacity he was retained in the government service
at Okhotsk, In accordance with the old laws which
exacted tribute from ail savage tribes, Cossacks were
to be detailed to make collections during the expedi-
tion that might be sent forth.

Meanwhile the several reports, and the rich cargoes
brought back by Bassof's vessels, had roused the
merchants of Siberia. ^^ In 1746 the Moscow mer-
chant Andrei Rybenskoi, through his agent, Andrei

" Some discrepancy exists in our authorities with regard to dates and de-
tails of the latter part of tliis expedition. Berg briefly states that Nevodchikof
sailed from Attoo Sept. 14, 174G, and that his vessel was wrecked the IlOlh
of Oct. on an island, where he was obliged to pass the winter. Khronol. 1st.,
10, 11. A few lines farther on we are told that the party returned to Kam-
chatka in July 1746, with 300 sea-otters and with but a small portion of the
original crew, having lost 52 men on the voyage. The same author states
that on the strength of a report of the outrages committed iipun natives, pre-
sented by the Cossack Shekhurdin, all the survivors were subjected to leg"!
process. To add to the confusion of dates and data, Berg subsequently te' 'a
ua that the value of the cargo brought back to Kamchatka by Xevo'lchikof
was 19,200 rubles (vnuch more than .300 sea-otters would bring n*- ll at time),
and that the Yevdokia was wrecked in 1754! Khrouol. ht., 11, 1'2. In the
A't'Me Narhr., 17, 18, the dates are less conflicting, and we are informed that
Nevodchikof 'a party returned in two bidais with 320 sea-otters, of which they
paid one tenth into the imperial tratisury. Tlie number of lives lost during
the voyage is hero placed at only 12 Russians and natives of Kamchatka.

'* Making duo allowance for the low prices of furs at that time, and the
comparatively high value of money, Bassof 's importations cannot be consid-
ered over-estimated at half a milliou dollars. JSertj, KhronoL 1st., 11.

108

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

Vsevidof, also Feodor Kholodilof of Totemsk, Nikofor
Trapeznikof, and Vassili Balin of Irkutsk, ^""isma
Nerstof of Totma, Mikhail Nikilinich of Novv. ansk,
and Feodor Shukof of Yaroslavl/" petitioned the cott>-
mander of Bolsheretsk for permission to hunt, and t\\ o
vessels were fitted out. The navigator selected for
Kholodilof's vessel was Andrei Tolstykh, a merchant
of the town of Selengisk, who was destined to play a
prominent part in the o-radual discovery of the Aleu-
tian chain. The two vessels sailed from the Kam-
chatka River within a few days of each other. One,
the Sv loann, commanded by Tolstykh, sailed the
20th of August manned by forty-six promyshleniki
and six Cossacks. They reached Bering, or Com-
mander, Island, and wintered there in accordance with
the wishes of Shukof, Nerstof, and other shareholders
in the enterprise. After a moderately successful hunt-
ing season l.'olstykh put to sea once more on the 31st
of May 1747. He shaped his course to the south in
search of the island reported by Steller on June 21,
1741,^ Failing in this he changed his course to tho
northward, and finally came to anchor in the road-
stead of Nishekamchatsk on the 14th of August.
During the voyage he had collected 683 sea-otters
and 1,481 blue foxes, and all from Bering Island.
Vsevidof sailed from Kamchatka the 26th of August
1746, and returned the 25th of July 1749, with a
cargo of over a thousand sea-otters and more than
two tliousand blue foxes.'"*^

^*Neue Narhr., 18, 19; Berg, Khronol. Int., 11, 12. These merchants do-
sired to build two vessels at their own expense ' to go in pursuit of marine
animals during the following year;' they also asked for permission to employ
Tiativc Kanicliatkans and Russian mariners and huutem, and to make tempo-
rary use of Bomc nautical instruments saved from a wreck. Neue A'acbr., '20.
This Trapeznikof was evidently the same who was in partnership with Bassof
the preceding year.

^"SU'ller'HJourTial, i. 47.

" Jicrij, Khronol. Int., app. It is probable that Vsevidof passed the winter
foUowiny his departure on Copper Island, as on the earliest charts a bay on
the nortli-ciistern side of that island is named Vsevidof s Ilavbor. \n a descrip-
tion of Copper Island, published in tho SibirsH Viexinik, it is stated tliat on
the 2d of March 1747 two promysldeniki named Yurlof and Vtoruikh fell
from A clilT and died of their injuries. These men could only have be-

longed to V
'■^tcplien Ty
sailed for tli
otters and 2
'J"t another

«?'-g. Pck„

«ith Bering

'"en of that

/'The car

cult to undc

value in a ve

stores of vari

'"'", an ordei

EFFORTS TOWARD MONOPOLY.

109

About this time a voyage was accomplished over
an entirely new route. Three traders in the north,
Ivan Shilkin of Solvichegodsk, Afanassi Bakof of
Oustioug, and one Novikof of Irkutsk, built a vessel
on the banks of the Anadir River and called it Pro-
hop i Zand.^^ They succeeded in making their way
down the river and through the Onemenskoi mouth
into the gulf of Anadir. From the 10th of July 1747
to the 15th of September these daring navigators
battled with contrary winds and currents along the
coast, and finally came to anchor on the coast of Be-
ring Island. On the 30th of October, when nearly the
whole crew was scattered over the island hunting and
trapping and gathering fuel, a storm arose and threw
the vessel upon a rocky reef, where she was soon demol-
ished. Bethinking themselves of Bering's ship, with
remnants of that and of their own, and some large
sticks of drift-wood, the castaways built a boat about
fifty feet long. In this cockle-shell, which was named
the Kapiton, they put to sea the following summer.
Despite their misfortune the spirit of adventure was
not quenched, and the promyshleniki boldly steered
north-eastward in search of new discoveries. They
obtained a distant view of land in that direction, and
almost reached the continent of America, but the
land disappeared in the fog, and they returned to
Commander Inlands. After a brief trip to Copper
Island they reached the coast of Kamchatka in Au-
gust 1749.^'

longed to Vsevidof 8 vessel. Berg saya that Ivan Rybinskoi of Moscow and
tStciilien Tyrin of Yaroslaf in 1747 despatched a vessel iiiimed lonvn, which
sailed for the nearest Aleutian Islands and returned in 1749 with 1,000 sea-
otters and 2,000 blue foxes, the cargo being sold for 5'2,0i)0 rubles, which is
but another account of Vsevidof's voyage. Khronol. IM., 14.

^'' Ueri/, Khtovol. 1st., IC. This name is given in the Russian edition of
Berg, Pcrkup % Zant. The latter will bo remembered as one of the sailors
with Bering's expedition, and the former is a common Russian name. The
men of that name were probably employed to build the vessel.

"Tlio cargo of the Kapiton was valued only at 4,780 rubles, and it is diffi-
cult to understand how tiiey could ciirry furs representing even this small
value in a vessel of that size. On account of the rigging, artillery, and shir's
stores of various kinds left by Bering's companions on tne island namr ' .'.fU-r
him, an order had been issued from Okhots'.i prohibiting traders from luud.'ug

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

■I I ;

If'

The first effort to obtain a monopoly of traflBc with
the newly discovered islands was made in February
1748, by an Irkutsk merchant named Emilian Yugof,
who obtained from the senate for himself and partners'"
an oukaz granting permission to fit out four vessels
for voyages to the islands "in the sea of Kamchatka,"
with the privilege that during their absence no other
parties should be allowed to equip vessels in pursuit
of sea-otters. In consideration of this privilege Yugof s
company agreed to pay into the imperial treasury one
third of the furs collected. A special order to this
effect was issued to Captain Lebedef, the commander
of Kamchatka, from the provincial chancellery at Ir-
kutsk under date of July 1748. Yugof himself how-
ever, did not arrive at Bolsheretsk till November 1749,
and instead of four ships he had but one small vessel
ready to sail by the 6th of October 1750. This boat,
named the Sv loann, with a crew of twenty-five men
and two Cossacks, was wrecked before leaving the coast
of Kamchatka. Over a year passed by before Yugof
was ready to sail again. He had received permission
to employ naval officers, but his associates were un-
willing to furnish money enough for an expedition on
a large scale. The second ship, also named the Sv
loann, sailed in October 1751. For three years noth-
ing was heard of this expedition, and upon the state-
ment of the comraanderof Okhotsk that the instructions
of the government had been disregarded by the firm,
an order was issued from Irkutsk, in 1753, for the con-
fiscation of Yugofs property on his return.^ Captain

there until the government property could be disposed of. The craft con-
structed by Baflsof and Sercbrennikot waa consequenlly seized by the govern-
ment authorities immediately after entering port. The confiscated vessel was
subsequently delivered to the merchant Ivan Shilkin, with permission to
make nuntiug and exploring voyages to the eastern islands. NeueNachr., .SO.
The prohibitory order concerning Bering Island was disregarded altogether
by the prorayshleniki, who made a constant practice of luidmg and wintering
there. Btrg, Khronol. 1st., 16.

»* These were Ignatiy Ivanof and MatveK Shchorbakof of St retcrsburg,
and Fetr Maltzof , Arkhip Trapeznikof, Feodor Solovief, and Dmitri Yagof
of Irkutsk. Neue Nachr., 20.

^ Kamchatka ArcMvtB, 115^.

NIKOFOR TRAPEZNIKOF.

Cheredof, who had succeeded Captain Lebedef in the
command of Kamchatka, was at the same time author-
ized to accept similar proposals from other firms, but
none were made. On the 22d of July 1754, the Sv
loann unexpectedly sailed into the harbor of Nishe-
kamchatsk with a rich cargo which was at once placed
under seal by the government officials. The leader of
the expedition did not return, but the mate Grigor
Nizovtzof presented a written report to the effect that
the whole cargo had been obtained from Bering and
Copper islands, and that Yugof had died at the latter
place. The cargo consisted of 790 sea-otters, 7,044
blue foxes, 2,212 fur-seals. **

It is evident that the authorities of Bolsheretsk did
not consider this first monopoly to extend beyond
Bering and Copper islands, as even before Yugof
sailed other companies were granted permission to fit
out sea-otter hunting expeditions to "such islands as
had not yet been made tributary." Andrei Tolstykh,
who had served as navigator under Kholodilof, obtained
permission from the chancellery of Bolsheretsk to fit
out a vessel, and sailed on the 19th of August 1749,
arriving at Bering Island the 6th of September. Here
he wintered, securing, however, only 47 sea-otters,
and in May of the following year he proceeded to the
Aleutian Islands, first visited by Nevodchikof Here
he met with better luck, and finally returned to Kam-
chatka the 3d of July 1752, with a cargo of 1,772 sea-
otters, 750 blue foxes, and 840 fur-seals.'^

The enterprising merchant Nikofor Trapeznikof of

*'The fun were subsequently reledsed on the payment of the stipulated
one third. NeueNachr., 33.

*' Tolstykh reported that he came to an island the inhabitants of which
had not previously paid tribute ; they seemed to be of Chukchi extraction, as
they tattooed their faces in a similar manner and also wore labrets or orna-
ments of walrus ivory in their cheeks. According to his statement these
'Aleuts' had killed two natives of Kamchatka without the least provocation.
On another island the natives voluntarily paid tribute in sea-otter skins. Neue
Nachi:, 26. It is difficult to determine from this report which island Tolstykh
visited; the description of the natives would point to St Lawrence Island,
but the tribute paid in sea-otter-skins can only have come from the Aleutian
chain. Probably he had sailed to the northward first and then changed his
course to the Aleutian Islands. See Native Races, voL i. this series.

Ml ''i

Hi '"'

112

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

Irkutsk also received permission to sail for the Aleu-
tian Islands in 1749 under promise of delivering to
the government not only the tribute collected from
the natives, but one tenth of the furs obtained. Tra-
peznikof built a ship, named it the Boris i Gleh, and
sailed in August. He passed four winters on vari-
ous islands, returning in 1''53 with a cargo valued at
105,736 rubles. The Cossack Sila Shevyrin acted
as tribute-gatherer on this adventure.^* During the
same year, 1749, the merchants Rybinskoi and Tyrin
sent out the shitika Sv loann to the Near Islands, the
vessel returning in August 1752 with 700 sea-otters
and 700 blue foxes.*

Late in 1749 Shilkin built the Sv Simeon i Anna
and manned her with fourteen Russians and twenty
natives of Kamchatka. The Cossack Alexei Vorobief,
or Morolief, served as navigator; Cossacks Ivan Mi-
tt ukhin and Alexei Baginef accompanied the ship as
tribute-gatherers. They left the coast of Kamchatka
the 5th of August 1750, but after sailing eastward
two weeks the vessel was wrecked on a small un-
known island. Here the party remained till the fol-
lowing autumn, during which time Vorobief succeeded
in constructing a small craft out of the wreck and
drift-wood. This vessel was named the Yeremy and
carried the castaways to Kamchatka in the autu.nn
of 1752, with a cargo of 820 sea-otters, 1,900 blue
foxes, and 7,000 fur-seals, all collected on the island
upon which they were wrecked.**

*' It seems that the island of Atkha was first discovered during the voyage
of Trapeznikof. Cook and La P<5rouso call it Atghha, and Holmberg I Acha.
Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 470. Shevyrin acknowledged that he had re-
ceived tribute to the amount of one sea-otter each from the following natives :
Igja, Oeknu, Ogogoetakh, Shalukinnkh, Alak, Tukun, Ononushon, Kotog-
sioKa, Gonashayupu, Lak, Yoreshugilaik, Ungalikan, Shati, and Chyipaks.
BolHheretiik Archives, 1754; Ncue Nachr. 24-5; Berg, Khronol. M., 18.

"She was a lucky craft, making continuous voyages till 1703, and bring-
ing over 5,000 sea-otters from the islands. lierg, Khronol. Int., 18, 19.

*'' Nfue Nachr., 19. Berg states that the Simeon t Anna carried a crew
of 14 HuBuian and 30 natives of Kamchatka, and that the party retunicd with
1,980 sea-otters, collected on one of the small islands adjoining Bering Island.
Khronol. Tst., 24. The fact that fur-seals formed a part of the cargo would
confirm the assumption that the locality of the wreck was ona of the group
of the CoBimander Islands.

THE BENEFITS OF DESPOTISM.

113

By this time the merchants of Siberia and Kam-
chatka had gathered confidence regarding the traffic,
and ship-building became the order of the day. Un-
fortunately, even the first principles of naval archi-
tecture were ill understood at Kamchatka, and so late
as 1760 the promyshleniki made exceeding dangerous
voyages in most ridiculous vessels — flatboats, shi-
tikas, and similar craft, usually built without iron
and often so weak as to fall to pieces in the first gale
that struck them. As long as the weather was calm
or nearly so, they might live, but let a storm catch
them any distance from land and they must sink. We
should naturally suppose that even in these reckless,
thoughtless promyshleniki, common instinct would
prompt greater care of life, but they seemed to flock
like sheep to the slaughter. We must say for them
that in this folly their courage was undaunted, and
their patience under privations and sufiering mar-
vellous. Despotism has its uses.

He who would adventure here in those days must
first collect the men. Then from the poor resources
at hand he would select the material for his vessel,
Avhich was usually built of green timber just from tlie
forest, and with no tool but the axe, the constant com-
panion of every Russian laborer or hunter. Rope for
the rigging and cables it was necessary to transport
on pack-horses from Irkutsk, whence they generally
arrived in a damaged condition, the long hawsers being
cut into many pieces on account of their weight.
Flour, meat, and other provisions were purchased at
Kirensk and Yakutsk at exorbitant prices. In such
crazy craft the promyshleniki were obliged to brave
the stormy waters of the Okhotsk Sea and navigate
along the chain of sunken rocks that lined the coast
of Kamciiatka."

" Mfiller says the price of iron in Okhotsk in 1746 waa half a ruble, or
aliout 40 cents, a pouncf. Voy., i. 82. The crews were obtained in the follow-
ing manner: The merchant would notify his agent, or correspondent, living at
Irkutsk, Yakutsk, or Kirensk, who would engage hunters and laborers; each
agent hiring a few men, providing them with clothing, and sending them tp

UUT. AliAIKA. 8

.^ r^r

'i ■

I Mil :

ptf-i

3E :.,

THE SWARMING OP THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

Nikofor Trapeznikof had been very fortunate in his
first venture with the Boris i Gleh, and therefore
conduded to continue. In 1752 he sent out the same
vessel in command of Alexei Drushinnin, a merchant
of Kursk. This navigator shaped his course for Ber-
ing Island, but wrecked his vessel on a sunken rock
when approaching his destination. No lives were lost
and enough of the wreck was saved to construct
another craft of somewhat smaller dimensions, which
they named the Abram. In this vessel they set
out once more in 1754, but after a few days' cruising
in the immediate vicinity another shipwreck confined
them again to the same island in a worse predicament
than before.

Meanwhile Trapeznikof had fitted out another
shitika, the Sv Nikolai, with the Cossack Radion
Durnef as commander, and the Cossack Shevyrin
as tribute-gatherer. Durnef called at Bering Island
and took from there the greater part of the crew
of the Boris i Gleh, leaving four men in charge of
surplus stores and the wreck of the Abram. The
Sv Nikolai proceeded eastward and made several
new discoveries. Durnef s party passed two winters
on some island not previously known to the promy-
shleniki, and finally they returned to Kamchatka in
1757 with a cargo valued at 187,268 rubles. This

Okhotsk. There they were first employed in building and equipping the
ship; and we may imagine what kind of ship-carpenters and sailors they
made. There was one l^nefit attending this method, however; as these men
had never seen a ship or the ocean they could not realize the danger of com-
mitting their lives to such vessels, though tlie navigators could not have been
ignorant of the risk to their own lives. Before sailing, an agreement with the
list of shares was drawn up and duly entered in the book. This each signed
or affixed his mark thereto. For example: If the vessel carried a crew of 40
men, including the navigator and the pertdovchik, or leader of hunters, acting
also as ship's clerk, the whole cargo, on the return of the vessel, was divided
into two equal shares, one half going to the owners, and the other half being
again divided into 45, 40, or perhaps 48 shares, of which each member of tho
ship's company received one, while of tho additional five or six shares three
went to the navigator, two to the peredovchick, and one or two to the church.
It sometimes happened that at the end of a forttmate voyatre the share of
each hunter amounted to between 2,000 and 3,000 rubles; but when tho
voyages were unsuccessful the unfortunate fellows were kept in perpetual
indebtedness to their employer.

ANOTHER SEARCH FOR THE CONTINENT.

lis

was the most successful venture of the kind under-
taken since the first discovery of the island.^^

In 1753 three vessels were despatched from
Okhotsk, the respective owners of which were An-
drei Serebrennikof of Moscow, Feodor Kholodilof of
Tomsk, and Simeon Krassilnikof of Tula. They ex-
pressed their intention to search for the Great Land,
as the American continent was then called by these
people. Serebrennikofs vessel was commanded by
Fetr Bashnakof, assisted by the Cossack Maxim
Lazaref, as tribute-collector, and carried a crew of
thirty-four promyshleniki. Serebrennikof sailed in
July 1753, shaping his course directly east from
Kamchatka, ancf arrived at some unknown islands
without touching any of those already discovered.
The ship was anchored in an open bight not far from
shore, when an easterly gale carried it out to sea.
During the storm four other islands were sighted, but
as no one on board was able to make astronomical
observations the land could not be located definitely
on the chart.'' For some time the heavy sea pre-
vented the navigators from landing, and the wind car-
ried them still farther to the east. At last three
islands suddenly appeared through the fog, and before
the sails could be lowered the ship was thrown upon
one of them. When the mariners reached the shore
they were met by armed natives, who threw spears
and arrows at them. A few discharges of fire-arms,
however, soon scattered the savages.'*

The wrecked hunters remained on the island till

"^eue Nachr., 31. The cargo was itemized as follows: 2,295 sea-otters
killed by the ship's company, and 732 sea-otters purchased of the natives for
articles of trifling value, making a formidable total of 3,027 sea-otters. The
immense quantity of these animals killed by the promyshleniki themselves,
is proof that the islands upon which they wintered had not been visited before.

"JVeuejyrotAr., 35-6.

'* According to Bashnakof this island was 70 versts in length and sur-
rounded by 12 smaller islands. This description is applicable to the island
of Tanaga, and on the strength of this circumstance Count Benyovski, the
Kamcliatkan conspirator, ascribes the discovery of the eastern Aleutian or
Fox Islands to Serebrennikof, one of the owners of the ship. Benyovaki'a
Memoirs and Travels, i. 83.

rmm

116

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

'i ^'

'iiSii

June 1754, and then sailed for Kamchatka in a small
boat built out of the remains of the other. The cargo
knded at Nishekamchatsk was of too little value to
be registered in the official lists of shipments.'"

Kholodilof's vessel sailed from Kamchatka in
August 1753, and according to the custom generally
adopted by the promyshleniki was hauled up on
Bering Island for the winter, in order to lay in a
supply of sea-cow meat. Nine men were lost here
by the upsetting of the bidar, and in June of the
following year the voyage was continued. A serious
leak was discovered when running before a westerly
gale, but an island was reached just in time to save
the crew. There they remained till July 1755.*' This
expedition returned to Kamchatka late in 1755 with
a cargo of sixteen hundred sea-otter skins.

The vessel fitted out by Krassilnikof did not sail
until the summer of 1754, immediately after Captain
Nilof assumed command of the military force at
Okhotsk, and temporary command of the district.®'
Bering Island was reached in October, and after lay-
ing in a stock of sea-cow meat and preparing the
vessel, Krassilnikof set out once more in August of
the following year. A stormy passage brought him
to an island that seemed densely populated, but he
did not deem it safe to land there; so he faced the
sea again, was tossed about by storms for weeks and
carried to the westward until at last Copper Island
came in sight again, on which a few days later the
ship was totally wrecked.*^ The crew was saved and

'* Bashnakof was wrecked again in 1764, when Tolstykh picked him up on
Attoo Island. Attoo, tlie westernmost of the Aleutian Islands. Holmberg,
1854, writes Attu, and near it another / Agattu. Varlog. Pac. Coant, MS., iii.
482; Jier<j, Khronol. 1st., 25-7; Neue Nachr., 35-0.

'"This ,nsthe island previously visited by Trapeznikof. In the spring,
before Kholodilof's party sailed, they were joined by a Koriak and a nativ(!
of Kamchatka, who stated that tliey had deserted from Trapeznikof's ship,
intending to live among the natives. There had been six deserters originsilly,
but four Lad been killed by the natives for trying to force their wives. The
other two had been more cnutious, and were provided with wives by their
hosts, and well treated. Ni'iie Nachr., 54; Berg, Khronol, Isl., 21,

" ilorskoi Shormk, cv. 11, 40.

*^ Neue Nachr. ,dl-%. '

VOYAGE OF TOLSTYKH.

117

a small quantity of provisions stored in a rudely con-
structed magazine. The ship's company was then
divided into several small hunting parties, five men
remaining near the scene of the wreck to guard the
provisions. Three of the men were drowned on the
15th of October.^* And as a crowning disaster a
tidal wave destroyed their storehouse, carrying all
that remained of their provisions into the sea. After
a winter passed in misery they packed up their furs
in the spring, a poor lot, consisting of 150 sea-otters
and 1,300 blue foxes, and managed to make the cross-
ing to Bering Island in two bidars, which they had
constructed of sea-lion skins. From Bering Island a
portion of the company returned to Kamchatka in
the small boat Abram, built by Trapeznikof s men.*"
In 1756 the merchants Trapeznikof, Shukof, and
Balin fitted out a vessel and engaged as its com-
mander the most famous navigator of the time,
Andrei Tolstykh. The ship was named after the com-
mander and his wife, who accompanied him, Andreian i
Natalia, almo'^t the first departure from the estab-
lished custom of bestowing saint's names upon ships.
Tolstykh sailed from the Kamchatka River in Sep-
tember, with a crew of thirty-eight Russians and
natives of Kamchatka, and the Cossack Venedict
Obiukhof as tribute-collector. The usual halt for the
winter was made on Bering Island, but though an
ample supply of meat was obtained not a single sea-
otter could be found. Fifteen years from the first
discovery of the island had sufficed to exterminate
the animal. Nine men of the Krassilnikof expedi-
tion were here added to the crew, and in June 1757
Tolstykh continued his voyage, reaching the nearest
Aleutian island in eleven days. They arrived at a

•»J5«r.7, Khronol. Ist., 29.

"Finding that the Ahram could not carry tne whole cargo of furs and
crew, 12 men were selected from the ship's company to return on that small
vessel, while 11 others were taken away by the ships of Serebrennikof and
Tolstykh. Two were engaged by the trader Shilkin for another voyage of
discovery. Neut Nachr., 35MO.

tf f

' ^ i

1i . '

^'» :

THE SW ARMING OP THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

favorable moment; Trapcznikofs ship, the Sv Nikolai,
was on the point of saiHng for Kamchatka and sev-
eral chiefs had assembled to bid their visitors farewell.
Satisfactory arrangements were at once entered into
for the collection of tribute and a continuation of
peaceful intercourse. The most influential chief, named
Tunulgasan, was received with due solemnity and pre-
sented with a copper kettle and a full suit of clothes
of Russian pattern. This magnificent gift induced
him to leave several boys in charge of the Russians,
for the avowed purpose of learning their language,
but really to serve as hostages.

In accordance with instructions froi i the Okhotsk
authorities Tolstykh endeavored to persuade the chief
of Attoo to visit Kamchatka in his vessel, but in this
he failed. After living on this island in peace with
the natives for over a year, Tolstykh departed with
5,360 sea-otters and 1,190 blue foxes, and reached
Kamchatka in the autumn of 1758."

An unfortunate voyage was made about this time
by a vessel belonging to the merchant Ivan Shilkin,
the Kapiton, which it will be remembered was built
out of a wreck by Bakof and Novikof*^ Ignaty
Studentzof was the Cossack accompanying this expe-
dition, and upon his report rests all the inform;) t ion
concerning it extant. They sailed from Okb '
September 1757, but were forced by stress of i

to make for the Kamchatka shore and pass tL win-
ter there, to repair a damage. Setting sail agaii in
1758 they touched at Bering Island, passed by Attoo

" Neue Nachr., 43; Berg, Khronol Ist., app.

" The Kapiton had been confiscatt'l by the government, but was finally
delivered to Shilkin to reimburse him for losses incurred. Berg mentions
especially that iron bolts were freely used in repairing this vessel. As early
as 1752 a trader named Glazachef established iron-works at Nishekamchatsk,
and being enabled to sell such iron as he could manufacture cheaper than it
could be imported, he made a fortune. Subsequently Behm, commander of
Kamchatka, persuaded him to transfer the works to the government, and
remain in charge at a fixed salary. Glazachef finally left the service, and his
successors not understanding the business, failed. The whole annual yield
of the works never exceeded one thousand pounds of metal, and under Behiii's
successor the enterprise was abandoned altogether. Morakoi Sbomik, ciii.
13,14.

ADVENTURES OF GLOTTOP.

119

whoro Tolstykh was then trading, and went on to the
eastward, finally bringing up near an unknown island.
A party sent ashore by Studentzof to reconnoitre were
beaten off by a band of natives, and iDimediately after-
v\ ard a sudden gale drove the ship from her anchorage
to sea/^ The marine."' were cast upon a rocky island
in the neighborhood, saving nothing but their lives,
a small quantity of provisions, and their fire-arms.
While still exhausted from battling with the icy waves
they beheld approaching a large bidar with natives.
There were only fifteen able to defend themselves, but
they put on what show of strength and courage they
could command and went to meet the enemy. One
of uiie men, Nikolai Chuprof, who had "been to the
islands" before and spoke the Aleut language, implored
the natives for assistance in their distressed condition,
but the answer was a shower of spears and arrows.**
A volley from the guns, however, killing two, put
them to flight as usual. Starvation followed, and
there were seven long months of it. Sea-weed and
the water-soaked skins of sea-otters washed ashore
from the sunken vessel were their only food. Seven-
teen died, and the remainder were saved only by the
putrid carcass of a whale cast ashore by the sea.
B msing themselves they built a boat out of drift-
wood and the remains of their wreck, killed 2'JO c^'a-
otters within a few days prior to their departure, and
succeeded in reaching the island where Serebrennikofs
vessel was then moored, and near which thoy anchored.
But a gale arising, their cables snapped, and the boat
went d< n with everything on board save the crew.
Only thirteen of this unfortunate company of thirty-
nine finally returned to Kamchatka on Serebrennikofs
vessel.** After an ab':ence of four years in search of
a fortu'o thej landed destitute oven of clothing.

** Berg, Khronol. Ist., 35-6.

** This was tlie brother of the notorious Yakof Chuprof who committed
the infamous outrages upon the natives during Nevodchikof's first voya're to
tlie islands; Nikolai accompanied his brother tlica. Berg, Khronol. lat., ;>7.

" Neue A'achr., 37-8; Berg, Khronol. Int., 46-6.

^s/r

ill

120

THE SWARMING OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

Thus from year to year the promyshleniki pushed
eastward step by stop. A merchant of Turinsk, Siapan
Glottof, was the first to visit and carry on peaceful
traffic with the inhabitants of Umnak and Unalaska.
He commanded the small craft Yulian, built at Nishe-
kamchatsk by Nikoforof, in which he sailed on the 2d
of September 1758, accompanied by the Cossack Savs
Ponomaref, who was instructed to persuade the Aleuta
to become Russian subjects and pay tribute. Niko-
forof intended the vessel to go at once in search of
new islands without stopping at any of those already
known to the promyshleniki; but long-continued con-
trary gales compelled Glottof to winter at Bering
Island, where he remained till the following August.
Thence he sailed eastward for thirty days and landed
on an unknown island.*^ There the hunters con-
cluded to spend the winter; but they found the na-
tives so friendly that three seasons passed before
Glottof thought of returning to Kamchatka. The
YuUan arrived at Bolsheretsk on the 31st of August
1762, with a large and valuable cargo containing be-
sides cross and red foxes the first black foxes from
the Aleutian Islands.*^

Two other vessels are said to have been despatched
to the islands in 1758, by the merchant Simeon
Krassilnikof, and Nikofor Trapeznikof, but only of
one of them, the Vladimir, have we any information.
The leaders of this expedition were the peredovchik,
Dmitri Paikof, and the Cossack Sava Shevyrin. They
put to sea from Nishekamchatsk on the 28th of Sep-

*• Umnak, according to Berg, Khronol. 1st., 36.

" In Berg's summary of fur shipments tlie cargo of the YvUan is itemized
as follows: Tribute to the government, II sea-otters and 26 black foxes;
cargo, 1,465 sea -otters, 280 sea-otter tails, 1,002 black foxes, 1,100 cross
foxes, 400 rcJ foxes, 22 walrus-tusks, and 58 blue foxes; the whole valued at
130,450 rubles. Khronol. 1st., Ajip. In the Neiie Nachr., no mention of this
voyage 'h made; Coxe also is silent on the subject. The fact of the presence
cf walrus-tusks shows that tl: jrc was traffic in the article between the Una-
laskans and tlie natives of the ^ iska peninsula, where fho hut,'c pcnnipeds
Btill abound. The Cossack I'oiKfiarcf sent to the authorities at Okhotsk
quite ii correct map of the Met' '.' xrchiprlago, indicating eight largo islands
north-east of Unabska. Icaiys .nat the merchant I'etcr Sliishkin assisted
Lim in compiling a cLarl. x/fj-j/ Khronol. Int. 37.

southv

Island

soutlier

tlie Km

ottei-s

tiiey

PAIKOF AND SHEVYRIN.

121

tember, with a crew of forty-five men, made the pas-
sage to Bering Island in twenty-four hours, and there
hauled up their vessel for the winter. On the 16th
of July 1759 Paikof set sail once more, taking at first
a southerly course.*^

It is not known how far Paikof pursued his south-
erly course, but he discovered no land and returned
to the north, arriving in the vicinity of Atkha Island
the 1st of September. Finding no convenient harbor
he went on to Umnak Island and made preparations
to pass the winter. The ship's company was divided
into three artels, or part^''^<s the first of which was
commanded by Alexei Drusnmnin and stationed on
the island of Sitkhin.*' The Cossack, Shevyrin, took
ten men to Atkha and the remainder of the crew
established their winter-quarters in the immediate
vicinity of the vessel under command of Simeon Pole-
voi. Paikof was evidently only navigator and had
no command on shore. The first season passed in
apparently peaceful intercourse with the natives.'^

•"A general impression prevailed among the promyshleniki of the time
that there was land to the southward of the Aleutian Isles. Ivan Savich
Lapin, from whom Berg obtained much information, stated that Gavril Push-
karef, a companion of Bering, who had surv'ived the terrible winter on
liering Island, always asserted positively that there mint \>.-, land to the
southward. The sea-otters and fur-seals, he aiid, though found about Bering
Island and its vicinity during the summer, invariably disappeared in a
southerly direction. It was known that thoy did not go to Kamchatka or to
tlie Kurile Islands, and though ignorant as to the actual wliereabouta of the
otters and seals, I'ushkaref frequently assured Lapin and Trapeznikof that
they could make their fortune by discovering the winter haunts of these
animals in tlie south. Derg, Khronol. Int., 38.

'° According to Cook, Sfetien; and La P<!rou8e, and Holnibcrg, Sitchin.
Carton. Par. Coa.il, MS., iii. 474. h\ Neue Xachr. it is spelled Sitkiu, while
lierg has Sigd-.ik. Khronol. 1st., lid; Umnak Islawl, south-west of Unalaska.
On Cook's AtlnH, 1778, written Umanak; La Pcirouse, 1780, Onmnak; Holm-
ber^, 1854, / Umnak. Curtog. Pac. Coa.it, MS., iii. 408; A'eue Nachr., 49.

""The cuutoni of the promyshleniki after establishing themselves on an
island, was to divide the command into small parties, euc'Ii of which was sta-
tioned in the immediate vicinity of a native villnge, whose cliicf w.is induced
by pr<>8cnts to assist in compelling his people to lumt, on tlie pretext perhaps
that tlie empress, wiio, although a woman, w.i ; the greatest and most l>enig-
naiit being on earth, required such service of them. When thcv returned
their catch was taken and a few trifling presents made them, such as beads
and tubucco-lcaf. Two objects were nt once .locuimplishcd by the cunning
promyslilcniki. While all the able-bodied men were thus away gathering
sUins for them, they were having their own way with the wonicti of the villages.
Actual trade or exchange of Ivussian manufactures for skins was carried oa

Iii

122

THE SWAEMINQ OP THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

At first the Russians believed the island of Amlia
to be uninhabited, but during a hunting expedition a
bo) of eight years was discovered hidden in the grass.
He was unable or unwilling to give any information,
but was taken to the Russian camp, baptized and
named Yermola, and instructed in the Russian lan-
guage. Subsequently a party of four men, two women,
and four children were discovered and were at once
employed by the promyshleniki to dig roots and gather
wood for them. In time other natives visited the
strangers in canoes, and exchanged seal-meat and fish
for needles, thread, and glass beads.'^

In the spring of the following year, when the de-
tached hunting parties came back to the ship, it was
found that only one Russian on Atkha Island had lost
his life at the hands of the natives, and that he met
his fate through his own fault. Polevoi was much
pleased with the quantity of furs obtained and con-
cluded to send the detachments again immediately to
the same localities. Shevyrin had only just returned
tc; Atkha with eleven men when the natives, who
doubtless had suffered at the hands of the Russians
during the winter, fell upon the party and killed them
all. Drushinnin heard of this through the natives on
Sitkhin Island and returned at once to the vessel at
Amlia, The crew of the Vladimir was now reduced
to such an extent that tho hunters felt serious appre-
hensions as to their safety, and consequently they
began to make the necessary preparations f jr return-
ing to Kamchatka at once. These preparations were
interrupted, however, by the unexpected arrival of
the Gavril, a vessel belonging to the merchant Be-
chevin.^'^

only where the natives refused to hunt for tho Russians without reward. All
kinds of outrages were constantly practised on tho timid ialuudurs by the ruf-
fianly taskmasters.

''AT' we Nachr., 50. Amluk accordiug to Cook, whilst Ilolinberg writes
I Amtja. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 400.

*'Bechevin, a rich merchant of Irkutsk, despatched in 1700 the largest
vessel hitherto sent to the Aleutian Islands. It is not known wIktc I ho
Qavril MOM built; her length was Q'2 feet, and she carried 40 Kuseiaus and '20

native
sergea
YaEof
dentii
Two I
1759.
Pawl,
had a r
ikof, tl
age is
Withou
callf-d
I*o8tnil<
^tepai:
and fift
8<'a-<)tte
"Ac
Jsles on
and ,Ser
■Narhi:,

between
"Th.

VOYAGE OP THE 'GAVRIL.'

123

The Gavril had passed through the Kurile Islands
in July and arrived at Atkha on the 25th of Sep-
tember.'® The fears entertained by the Vladimir's
weakened crew vanished at once, and a written agree-
ment was entered into by the members of the two
expeditions to hunt in partnership. Strong detach-
ments were sent out to the stations occupied during
the previous season, and also to the island of Signam,
north-east of Atkha. The result of the season's
work proved gratifying; about 900 sea-otters and 400
foxes of various kinds, and 432 pounds of walrus-
tusks were ready for shipment.^

A consultation was held in the following spring,
when it was concluded that the Vladimir should remain
at Amlia a little longer, and then return to Kamchatka
with as many of the furs as she could carry, while the
Gavril would proceed in search of new discoveries.
The joint force was equally divided between the two
vessels, and the Gavril set sail once more, taking an
easterly course and touching first at Umnak Island.
There they found a vessel belonging to Nikoforof^
engaged in hunting, and consequently they limited
their operations to mending the sails and replenishing

natives of Kamchatka. The authorities of Bolsheretsk placed on board a
sergeant of Cossacks, Gavril Pushkaref, and three men, Andrei Slulanof,
Yakof Sharipof, and Prokop Lobaskhef. IJechevin also sent two of his confi-
dential clerks, Nikofor Oolodof and Afanassiy Askolkof. Neue Kachr., 51.
Two other vessels were recorded by IJerjr as having sailed for the islands in
1759. Rybinskoi and his partners built a ship named the Sv Pttr i Sv
Pavel, and sent her out to search for land south of the Aleutian Isles. She
had a crew of 33 Russians and natives "f Kamchatka under Andrei Serebrenn-
ikof, the former partner of Sergeant l'd«sof. All that is known of this voy-
age is that the vessel returned in 1701, with a cargo of 2,000 sea-otters, but
■without having made any new discoveries. In the same year, 1759, a ship
called the Zakhar i Elizawta was fitted out by a company consisting of
Pustnikof of Shuysk, Krassilinikof of Tula, and Kulkof, a citizen of Vologda.
Stepaii ( herepanof was navigator. The vessel sailed from Nishekamchatsk,
and lifter r.n absence of three years arrived at Okhotsk in 17C2, with 1,750
Bi'a-otters and 530 blue foxes. Derq, Khronol. Int., 40-1.

^ Accoriling to the Neve A'af/ir. the (/.titiV touched at one of the Aleutian
Isles on the '24th of August, but finding the vessels of Postnikof, Trapeznikof,
and iSerebrennikof, at anchor there, they pushed on to the eastward. Neue
J^'arhr., 62. 4^ ''^

'* Herij, Khronol. /»<., App. Here was another evidence of constant traffic
between the islanders and the inhabitants of the Alaskan peninsula.

**Tlie Yulian, according to 2^'eue A'acAr., 03.

^hBG

I J Jt

WkWam

fiHwiSJ

*1I

^llli

y*^\

124

THE SWARMING OF THE PEOMYSHLENIKI.

their stock of wood and water. They then proceeded
to what they considered to be the island of " Alaksha,"
but whether this party actually wintered on the penin-
sula of Alaska is not quite clear. As soon as a suit-
able harbor had been found the ship was beached, and
the crew proceeded to erect winter-quarters on shore.
The inhabitants of the vicinity received the Russians
in a friendly manner; they traded honestly, and gave
their children as hostages.*^ However, this peace
and good-will were not of long duration. The lawless
promyshleniki of B3chevin's soon gave the natives
much trouble, fully justifying them in any retaliation.

In January 1762 Golodof and Pushkaref, with a
party of twenty hunters, coasted in bidars in search
of food, and landed upon an adjoining island.^^ While
indulging in their customary outrages they were sur-
prised by a body of natives who killed Golodof and
another Russian, and wounded three more. Shortly
afterward the Russian camp was attacked, four men
killed, as many wounded, and the huts reduced to
ashes. In May the Cossack Lobashkof and one of
the promyshleniki went to bathe in a hot spring
situated about five versts from the harbor, and were
killed by the natives.'^ In return the Russians put
seven of the hostages to death. The islanders again
attacked the Russian camp, but were repulsed.

As it was evident that the natives had determined

'" The Russians received nine children as hostages, and in addition they
engaged two men and three women to work for them. Ntue Nachr. , r>^i-4.

" It is impossible to determine which island this was. In AVue Nachr.
it is called Uniunga, a name not to be found on any chart. Berg calls it Ounga,
but there is no evidence to indicate that the men of Bechevin's exiKidition pro-
ceeded around the peninsula and north-eastward as far as the Shumagin Isl-
ands. Nettc Nachr., 54; ISer/j, Khronol. /"t., 43. The name of Ouniinguii,
applied to the Unnl.iska people by their western neighbors, according to Piniirt,
may throw some light upon this question; it is probable that the locality of
Goliidof's and Pushkaref 's exploits was not the peninsula at all, but Ai^un-
alaksh, the Aleut name of Unalaaka, which was subsequently abbreviated by
the Russians.

'^Neiie Nachr. , 55. This is another point in support of the theory that the
Gnrril landed on Unalasltj. Five versts (three and a half miles) from tlio
principal settlement on Unolaska Island are hot springs, aboriginally resorted
to for curing rheumatic and skin diseases. Hot springs exist also near tho
Bcttlcnient of Morshovoi on the soutli point of the peninsula, but they are
within less than half a mile from the shore.

PUSHKAREF'S CRUELTIES.

125

upon the destruction of the entire company, the out-
lying detachments were I'ecalled. The ship was then
repaired and the whole command returned to Umnak
Island. There they took on board two natives with
their families, who had promised to pilot them to other
islands ; but as soon as the vessel had gained the open
sea a violent gale from the eastward drove her before
it until on the 23d of September the mariners found
themselves near an unknown coast, without masts,
sails, or rudder, and with but little rigging. The land,
however, proved to be Kamchatka, and on the 25th
the helpless craft drifted into the bay of Kalatcheva,
seventy versts from Avatcha Bay. Bechevin landed
his cargo, consisting of 900 sea-otters and 350 foxes,
valued at 52,570 rubles.*' The cove where the landing
was effected subsequently received the name of Beche-
vinskaia.

Charges of gross brutalities, committed during this
voyage, have been made against Sergeant Pushkaref
On leaving the Aleutian Isles the crew of the Gavril,
with Pushkaref's consent, took with them twenty-five
young women under the pretext that they were to be
employed in picking berries and gathering roots for
the ship's company. When the coast of Kamchatka
was first sighted a boat was sent ashore with six men
and fourteen of these girls. The latter were then
ordered to pick berries. Two of them ran away and
were lost in the hills, and during the return of the
boat to the ship one of them was killed by a man
named Korelin.^" In a fit of despair the remaining
girls threw themselves into the sea and were drowned.
In order to rid himself of troublesome witnesses to
this outrage, Pushkaref had all the remaining islanders
thrown overboard, with the exception of one boy,
Moise, and Ivan, an interpreter who had been in
the service of Andrei Serebrennikof. Three of the

'•Z?fr.7, Khroiwl. Ixt., app.

""aVei/c Kachr., 5(5. i^rrg st^tca that it was Pushkaref himself who had
accompauicd the womcL. > the shore. Khronol, 1st., 45.

1^ ■

V^'V

126

THE SWARMINQ OP THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

women had died before leaving the islands. '^ An im-
perial oukaz issued from the chancellery at Okhotsk
to a company consisting of Orekhof, Lapm, and Shilof,
who asked permission to despatch an expedition to
the islands, enjoins on the promyshleniki the great-
est care and kindness in their intercouree with the
natives. The eleventh paragraph of the oukaz reads
as follows: "As it appears from reports forwarded by
Colonel Plenisner, who was charged with the inves-
tigation and final settlement of the affairs of the
Bechevin company, that that company during their
voyage to and from the Aleutian Islands on a hunt-
ing and trading expedition committed indescribable
outrages and abuses on the inhabitants, and even were
guilty of murder, inciting the natives to bloody re-
prisals, it is hereby enjoined upon the company about
to sail, and especially upon the master, Ismailof, and
the peredovchik, Lukanin, to see that no such barbar-
ities, plunder, and ravaging of women are committed
under any circumstances." The whole document is
of a similar tenor and goes far to prove that the au-
thorities were convinced that the outrages reported
to them had in truth been committed.*^

From this time forward the authorities of Siberia
evidently favored theformation of privileged companies,
and the Bechevin investigation may be considered as
the beginning of the end of free traffic in the Ameri-
can possessions of the Russian empire.

'^ Neue Nachr., 57; Berg, Khronol. let., 45.

^' Berg, Khronol. lat., 45-52. The oukaz is signed by Captain-lieutenant
Sava Zubof, and dated August 29, 1770. Berg found in some letters written
by the collegiate chancellor Anton Ivanovich Lassef, a civil engineer of the

fovemment at Irkutsk, a notice to the effect that Bechevin suffered much
uring a penal inquisition with torture, conducted against him in 1704 by
K*A*K.*, probably Knias (Prince) Alexander Korzakol, who is mentioned aa
hftving been detaile«^ on a government mission to Irkutsk about that time.

CHAPTER VII.

FUHTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

1760-1767.

Tolstykh's Votaoe — Movements op Vessels — St^hlin's Map— Wreck

OF THE 'AnDBEIAN I NaTALIA' — CATHERINE SpBAKS — A COMPANY

Formed— Collecting Tribute — The 'Neue Nachrichten' — Voyage

OF THE 'ZaKHAR I ELIZAVETA '—TERRIBLE ReTAUATION OF THE UnA-

LASKANS — Voyage of the 'Sv TroItska' — Great Sufferings- Fatal
Onslaught — Voyage of Glottof — Ship Nomenclature — Discovery
OF Kadiak — New Mode of Warfare — The Old Man's Tale— Solo-
vief's Infamies — The Okhotsk Government— More 'St Peters' and
'St Pauls' — Queen Catherine and the Merchant Nikoforof — End
OF Private Fur-hunting Expeditions.

The first vessel which sailed to the Aleutian Islands
under protection of a special imperial oukaz was the
Andreian i Natalia, owned and commanded by An-
drei Tolstykh, a man of courage and perseverance,
who during his three previous voyages had amassed
some fortune, and concluded to adventure it on this
turn.*

The Andreian i Natalia left Kamchatka the 27th
of September 1760. In two days Bering Island was
reached, when in accordance with custom the ship was
hauled up for the winter. In the June following Tol-
stykh again put to sea, steering at first southerly, then
northward, arriving at Attoo Island the 5th of August.^

' Tolstykh began his official report as follows: 'By virtue of an oukaz of
her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, issued through the
(vhanoeliery of Bolsheretsk in Kamchatka, on the 4th day of August 1760, and
in pursuance of an order deposited with Lieutenant Vassili Snmalef, I was
permitted to put to sea with the Cossacks Pctr Vaasiutinski and Maxim
Lazaref, detailed for this service.' Berg, Khronol. 1st., 58; Neue Narhr., 59j
S/wlikof, PuteghtMvie, 134; Qrewingk, Beitrag zur Kenntnias der nordweal-
kuste Amtrikan, 31 fi.

* He met a vessel retnming to Kamchatka, probably the Sv Peter i Sv

(137)

128 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

Three vessels were there trading, belonging respect-
ively to Chebaievski, Postnikof, and Trapeznikof,
Tolstykh had hoped to find the friendly chief Tunul-
gasan, whom he had met before, but the aboriginal
had died, and his successor, Bakutun, told the new-
comers that there were too many Russians on his
island already, and they might as well pass on, but
appeased with presents the monarch finally gave
Tolstykh some of his own relatives as hostages, who
were also to serve as interpreters and guides to other
islands. After a sojourn of two weeks the vessel con-
tinued to the eastward, and on the 28th of August
reached an island which was subsequently ascertamed
to be Adakh.'

■I 'W

Pavel, with over 2,500 eea-otters on board valued at 150,000 rubles. Neue
Nachr., 08-9; Khronol. 1st., app.; Grewiiigk, 314.

'In Neue Nachr., 61, the island is named AJHga or Kajachu, names not to
be found in any chart. Grewingk states that Tolstykh brought news of thu
islands Kanaga, Tchechina, Tagalak, Atchu, Amlag, and Atach. Gieichujl;
Beitrag, 315; Shelikof, Putenhextme, 135. There was necessarily great con-
fusion in the application of names to the newly discovered islands. On tho
map of Stiehliii, an offspring of Croy6re's abortion published in English in
1774, the new northern archipelago was laid down in the most remarkable
manner. By colorings tho islands were divideil into four groups, tho largest
of which was called Anadirsk group, and included Alaska, a large island cx-
tenr'.ng east and west in latitude 65°, and Unalaska, and Amchitla, Umnak,
Sannakh, Yunaska, and a number of other islands with imaguiary namt-s.
This group is placed in a wide passage between the continents of Asia and
America. To the south-west and extending from latitude 60" to 55°, we iind
the Aleutian group comprising Amlia, Atkha, Bulldir, 'Kadiak,'and 'Stller-
mogen.' To tlie north-west o? this group, in latitude 60°, Staelilin placed the
Olutorskoi Islands, containing Kanaga, Ayak (Adakh?), and Copper Island.
To tiie southward of the latter we find Bering Island, with two pretty largo
adjoining islands, and still farther south a group of imaginary discovei'ies to
which the names bestowed by Bering upon the nearest Aleutian islands were
applied. Stajhlin's introduction to this description of the archipelago is suffi-
ciently original to merit a place in these pages. He begins as follows : ' It
appears, from the accounts of our illiterate sea-faring men, that there is no
essential ditference, in any respect, between these several islands, and their
inhabitants; and that they seem to be pretty much alike. It is needless to
name every one of the islands which compose our new northern archipelago,
as they arc set down in the map hereto annexed, with their situation and size.
As to the absolute accuracy of the two first articles, namely, the true situa-
tion, as to geographical latitude and longitude, and their exact dimensions, I
would not be answerable for them, until tliey can be ascertained by astronom-
ical observations. Of these islands we know in general, and for certain, that
those which are situated between latitude 50th to the 55th degree, resemble
the islands of the Kurilei, with regard to the weather, the protluctiouR, ac also
in the figure, appearance, clothing, food, way of life, and manners. . .of the
inhaliitants, whereas those from the 55th to the 00th degree, which arc the
blands of Olutora and Aleuta, are in all these particulars very like Kam-
chatka. Those of the third division have a different aspect, and are situated

DISCOVERY OF ISLANDS.

129

There was every indication of multitudes of sea-
otters in this vicinity, and as soon as a convenient
harbor had been found all hands were set to work on
Adakh and the adjoining island of Kanaga. Parties
were also despatched to other islands as far eastward
as Atkha and Amlia, meeting everywhere a friendly
reception. After a stay on these islands, subse-
quently named after him the Andreianovski, of nearly
three years, Tolstykh collected quite a valuable cargo
of furs, and finally started homeward on the 14th of
June 1764. He stopped at Attoo Island to land his
interpreters and repair his vessel, which was leaking
badly. Some shipwrecked Russians were also taken
on board, and on the 27th of August the Andreian i
Natalia took her final departure for Kamchatka. On
the 4th day of September the coast was sighted, but
Tolstykh lost his vessel in attempting to weather the
cape of Kamchatka. He succeeded, however, in sav-
ing both crew and cargo.*

As Tolstykh and Vassiutkinski claimed to have pei-
suaded the inhabitants of six islands to become sub-
between the 60th and 67th degree of north latitude. The former, whicli are
like Kamlnchatka, are full of mountains and volcanoes, have no woods, and
but few plants. The more northern islands abound in woods and fields, and
consequently in wild beasts. As to the savage inhabitants of these newly
discovered islands, they are but one remove from brutes, and differ from the
inhabitants of the islands lately discovered in the. . .South Sea, being the
very reverse of the friendly and hospitable people of Otaheite.' StcBhlm's Nvw
North. Archl/ielago, 16-20. The author begins his description of the islands
with Ajak, which ho represents as 150 versts in circumference, with high
rocky mountjiins, valleys, dry slopes, plains, morass, turf, meadows, and
'romls,' adding astutclj', 'so that you may easily go over all the island.' Ho
also states that the inliabitonts of Ajak cannot be numbered, because they
move from island to island, crossing straits in bidars. In a note the rather
remarkable explanation is given that 'bidars are large boats m.ade of whales'
ribs.' III., 2,5. The account given by Stsehlin of K.adiak Island is evidently
based on Solovief's experience in 1702, but on the chart the island is altogether
out of place, being south of the Aleutian islands. The inhabitants are painted
in the blackest colors, in accordance witli Solovief's impressions. He every-
where displays tlio grossest ignorance. The word torbaaita, a Kamchatka
expression for fur-boots or skin-boots, Stajhlin applies to snow-shoes, and
kamish, signifying thread made of reindeer sinew, he defines as thread made
of tlie fibre of a reed.

* The reports of Tolstykh's voyage are conflicting; the Neue Xachr. gave
his catch as only 1,880 full grown sea-otters, 778 yearlings, and 372 pr.ps.
IJorg places it at 3.030 sea-otters, and 532 blue foxes, in addition to govern-
ment tribute of 100 sea-otters, and values the cargo at 120,000 rubles.
Kkronol. I'<t., 54, app.; Neue Nachr., 02.
Hist. Alaska. 9

!»

130 FURTHER ADVENTURES OP THE PROMYSHLENHtl.

jects of Russia and to pay tribute, the voyage was
duly reported to the empress, who subsequently re-
warded Tolstykh and the two Cossacks."

One vessel was despatched to the islands in 1760,
but our information concerning it is meagre. It was
built and fitted out under the auspices of the mer-
chant Terentiy Chebaievski, and under the immediate
superintendence of his clerk Vassili Popof. Berg
claims to have found a notice in the papers of Zelon-
ski to the effect that Chebaievski's vessel returned
in 17G3 with a cargo valued at 104,218 rubles."

A plan had been fornied by this combination of
wealthy merchants for making a thorough examina-
tion of the Aleutian chain and the adjoining con-
tinent, and then to decide upon the most favorable
locality for opening operations on a larger scale. The
object of the expedition was well conceived and de-
serving of success, but a chain of unfortunate circum-
stances combined to frustrate their designs. Three of
the ships fitted out by the partners were destroyed
with all on board, and the fourth returned without
even paying expenses.^ We have the names of only two
of the three vessels destroyed, the Zakhar i Elizaveta

' Berg states that among the papers of the former governor of eastern
Siberia, Dennis Ivanovich Checherin, he found a rescript of the empress
Catherine of which he gives the following copy: 'Dennis Ivanovich: Your
communication concerning the subjection into allegiance to Me of six hitherto
unknown islands, as well aa the copies of reports of Cossack Vassiutkinski and
his companions, I have read with satisfaction. Such enterprise pleases Ua
very much. It is to bo deplored that the papers giving a more detailed
description of the islands and their inhabitants have been lost during the
wreck of the vessel. The promise of reward from Me to the merchant Tol-
stykh, returning to liim the tenth part of proceeds accruing to Our treasury
from each sea-voyage, I fully approve, and hereby order you to carry out
this deaign. You will also promote the Cossacks Vassiutkinski and Lazarof for
their services to the rank of Nobles in your district. May God grant them
good success in their projected voyage next spring and a safe return at its
conclusion. You will impress upon the hunters that they must treat their
new brethren and countrymen, the inhabitants of Our newly acquired islands,
with the greatest kindness and without any oppression or abuse. March 2,
17CG. Catherine.' Berg, Khronol. ht., 66-7; Urewingh, Beilrag., 315.

* Kl.ronol. Int., app. ; Orewingk, Beilrag, 315. It was evident that Popof
did not sail with this expedition, for wo see him mentioned as an active partner
in the more extensive enterprises undertaken in 1 762 by Trapeznikof , Protassof ,
and Lapin, Berg's best and most frequently quoted authority of the history
of that period. See also D'Aukroche, Voyage en SiMrie, ii. 113; Antidote, i.

' Veniaminof, i. 118-131.

*Ve
ship cor
only re;
37, as
sliinnin'
tJio pere
"^et
Gorman
"o an the
have p
tainty.
StraJih":
arcliipel(|
translate
ume.
of iVewe ,
with the
year 177;
Allgemeiii
probable
•"itials m
that in SI
translatio
were subs
<'e In jsr,^

l''<irtJier t
"lentioneci
Imperial ;

lury
out
for
bcin
tits
heir
nils,
!h '2,

NEUE NACHBICHTEIT.

commanded by Drusliinnin, owned by Kulkof, and the
Sv Troitska, or Holy Trinity, commanded by Ivan
Korovin. The third is known to have been com-
manded by Medvedef, a master in the navy. The
fourth vessel was the property of Trapeznikof, but
who commanded her is not known. ^

The Zakhar i Elizaveta sailed from Okhotsk the
6th of September 1762, wintered at Avatcha Bay,
and proceeding the following July reached Attoo,
where seven of the shipwrecked crew of the Sv Petr i
Sv Pavel were taken on board. One of these was
Korelin, who alone survived this expedition and fur-
nished a re})(irt of it. From Attoo Drushinnin pro-
ceeded to Adakh, where another vessel, the Andreian
i Natalia was then anchored, but as the natives all
produced receipts for tribute signed by Tolstykh,
Drushinnin contented himself with filling his water-
casks and moved on.^

From Adakh the Zakhar i Elizaveta proceeded to
Umnak where a party of Glottof's men were then

* Vfniamino/, i. 118. The ship of Medvedef was lost at Umnak; the
ship commanded by Drushinnin was manned with 34 Russians of whom three
only returned. Among them was Bragin who is mentioned in Sarychef, ii.
37, as liaving wintered on Kadiak Island in 1765. Berg claims that Dru-'
shinnin's crew consisted of 8 natives of Kamchatka and 34 Russians, including
the peredovchik Miasnikh. Khronol. Int. , 58.

^ Neue Nachr., 72-3. The Neue Nachrichten is a small octavo printed in
German black letter and published in Hamburg and Leipsic in 1 770. It beai's
no authorship on the title-page but the initials J. L. S. Most bibliograpliere
have pronounced it anonymous, aa the authorship is involved in some uncer-
tainty. The library of congress has the work catalogued under Stiihlin or
Strahlin. M. J. Von Sttehlin published an account of the new northern
archipelago in the Petershurrjfr Geof/raphhcher Kulender in 1774. This was
translated into English in London, during the same year, in a small octavo vol-
ume. There is, however, no reason to believe that Stoehlin was the J. L. S.
of Keue Nachrkhten, as many of his statements in the other work do not agree
with the text of the latter. A man named A. L. Schlozer published in the
year 1771, at Halle, Germany, a quarto volume of over 400 jiages entitled
Alliiemeine O^schichte, Von dem Norden, treating on kindred subjects. It is
probable that in Mr Schlozer we find the original J. L. S., aa the lirst of the
initials might easily have been inadvertently changed. It is a signiticant fact
that in Shelikof's voyage we find whole passages and pages almost the vetbal
translation from the Kiifhrichten. Explanations and corrections of this volume
were subsequently published under the auspices of BufTon in the Stpt Epoqwa
fie In Notiire, Gr;wbi(jk., Beitrag and Pallas Norduche Bertrdrjc, i. '273.
]''nrther than this, in Acta Petropolitana, vi. 126, J. A. L. Von Schlozer is
mentioned as author of Neue Nachrkhten, and corresponding member of the
Imperial Academy of Sciences.

iif

life!

i^m

■ f

T I'l S-Jb ■ ?i r ■ i- Hi 4

132 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI. '

hunting. The percdovchik Miasnikh was sent out
with thirty-five men to explore the coast. They wont
to the north-eastern end of the island, and after meet-
ing everywhere with indications of the recent presence
of Russians, they returned to the ship about the mid-
dle of September. On the day of their return letters
were also received through native messengers from
the vessels commanded by Korovin and Medvedef,
who had lately located themselves on the islands of
Umnak and Unalaska. Drushinnin at once sent out
a reconnoitring party to the latter island, and in duo
time a favorable report was received inducing the
commander to move his craft to Unalaska, where he
anchored the 22d near the northern end of the island.
When the cargo had been landed and a foundation
had been laid for a winter habitation, two of the chiefs
of neighboring villages voluntarily opened friendly
intercourse by offering hostages. Others from more
distant settlements soon followed their example.

This friendly reception encouraged Drushinnin to
adhere to the old practice of dividing his force into
small parties for the winter in order to secure better
results both in hunting and in procuring subsistence.
The peredovchik accordingly sent out Petr Shekalef
with eleven nien; another party of eleven men under
^Mikhail Khudiakof, and a third of nine men under
Yefim Koshigin. The last named remained at the
harbor; Khudiakof located his party at Kalekhtak;
while Shekalef went to the little island of Inaluk,
about thirty versts distant from the ship. Drushinnin
accompanied the latter party. Stepan Korelin, who
subsequently alone survived to relate the occurrences
of that disastrous winter, was also a member of the
Inaluk party who had constructed a cabin in close
proximity to the native habitation, containing some
twenty inmates. The relations between the promysh-
Icniki and the natives appeared to be altogether
fri"!ndly, and no trouble was apprehended until the
beginning of December. On the .Ith a party of five

huffe
of°

■i.\eue

SLAUGHTER OF THE RUSSIANS.

men set out in the morning to look after the fox-
traps.^" Drushinnin, Shokalcf, and Shovyrin then paid
a visit to the native dwelHng. They had just entered
the low aperture when they were set upon by a num-
ber of armed men, who knocked down Shekalcf and
Drushinin with clubs and then finished them with the
knives they bought of them the day before. Shevyrin
had taken with him from the house an axe, and when
the excited savages tui ueu their attention to him ho
made such good use of his weapon that he succeeded
in regaining the Russian winter-quarters alive, though
severely wounded. Bragin and Korclin at once began
to fire upon the Aleuts with their muskets from
within, but Kokovin, who happened to be outside,
was quickly surrounded, thrown down, and assaulted
with knives and spears until Korelin, armed with a
huge bear-knife, made a gallant sortie, wounded tv,o
of the islanders, put the others to flight, and reset ed
his half-dead comrade."

A close siege of four days followed this sanguinary
onslaught. The fire-arms of the Russians prevented
a charge by the enemy, but it was unsafe to show
themselves outside the hut even for a moment, in
search of water or food. To add to their apprehensions,
the savages displayed in plain view the garments and
arms of their comrades who had gone to visit the fox-
traps, a sure indication that they were no longer among
the living. Under the shelter of night the Russians
launched a bidar and pulled away out of the harbor,
the natives watching their movements, but making no
attempt to pursue. Once out of sight of their en-
emies Korelin and the other fugitives landed, pulled

'" Berg states that Drushinnin sent out these men and then resolved to visit
the dwelling of the natives with the remainder of his men, Korelin, Bragin,
Shevyrin, Kokovin, and one other. In the iVeuc Nachrichlen we tind an
account of the occurrence differing considerably in its details. Dnishinnin'a
name is not mentioned, while the number remaining at home is given as five,
Shekalcf, Korelin, Bragin, Shevyrin, and Kokovin. There is every reason to
beliuve, however, that Berg was correct, as Drushinnin was with .'le party and
does not appear in any account of subsequent events. Khronol. 1st., 50; A'e««
jVacAr. , 75-fi.

".iVcfte Xachr., 77; Coxe's Rusnian Discoveries, i. 38; Veniamiiiqf, i. 22.

:ln.,.

'n-^m^

i-4

1 . ,i^'

nil

■iii

i r '1^

i 'r

134 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

their boat upon the beach, and set uat across the hills
to Kalekhtak, where they expected to find Khudiakof
and his detachment. It was after dark when they
reached the neighborhood. They fired signal-guns,
but receiving no reply they wisely kept at a distance.
Before long, however, they found thf-mselves pursued
by a horde of savages, and discovering an isolated, pre-
cipitous rock near the beach which could be defended
for a time, thev concluded to make a stand there. With
their fire-arms they finally beat off the pursuers and
resumed their retreat, this time with but little hope
of finding those alive who had remained with the ship.
Presently an object caught their eyes which confirmed
their worst apprehensions. It was the main-hatch
lying on the beach, having been washed up by the
waves. Without waiting further confirmation of their
fears the four men took to the mountains, hiding in
the ravines until nightfall. Under cover of darkness
they approached the anchorage, only to find the ship
broken up, and some stores with the dead bodies of
their comrades scattered on the beach. Gathering a
few packages of dried fish ard some empty leather
provision-bags they stole away into the hills, where a
temporary shelter was hastily constructed. Thence
they made occasional excursions at night to the scene
of disaster, which must have occurred simultaneously
with those of Inaluk and Kalekhtak, in search of
such needed articles as had been left by the savages.-'^
The leather provision-bags, though cut open, were
very acceptable as material for the construction of a
small bidar.

From the 9th of December 1763 until the 2d of

"Davidof tells a story of the manner iu which the Aleuts secured a simul-
taneous onslaught upon all three of the Russian detachments. According
to him, they resorted to the old device of distributing among the chiefs of
villages bundles of sticks, equal in number, one of which was to be buinud
each day till the last designated the day. Dotihratnoie Pulenhentoie, ii. 1C7.
Veniaminof ridicules the story and declares it to be an invention of Davidof,
as the Aleuts had numbers up to a thousand and could easily have appointecl
any day without the help of sticks. Venkcmino/, Zapixki, i. 118. No mention
of it is made in A'eue Nachrichten. Berg also ciuotea Davidof, '^' Jikof'g Voy-
aye, 97.

'^]]C

tions of

despatcl,

chatka.

A small

valued a

otiier vcs

also belo

expeditit

of intcre.'

eiitcrpn.s<

"f Ilia m

Trapoznil

t'l<l !ll,'0 V

'iL'fray tJn

KOROVIN'S EXPEDITION.

1«

107.
ilof,
itctl
tion

February 1764 these unfortunaies rem.'uned in hiding',
but on the latter date their bidar wc^/.-, successfully
launched, and before morning the part}'^ had emerged
from Kapiton Bay, coasting to the westward in search
of one of Trapeznikof s vessels commanded by Koro-
vin.^' Though travelling only at night and hiding
among the cliffs by day, they were soon discovered by
the natives, and in the vicini^v of Makushin village
they were compelled to susta'n a siege of five weeks
in a cave, exposed to constant attacks." During this
whole time they suffered intensely from hunger and
thirst, and would certainly have succumbed had it not
been for an ample supply of powder and lead which
prevented their enemies from engaging them at close
quarters. At last on the 30th of March the fugitives
succeeded in joining their countrymen under Korovin,
vvho were then stationed on the southern shore of
Makushin Bay. Shevyrin died at Unalaska during
the same year; the v ther three, Korelin, Kokovin,
and Bragin, recovered their strength, but only the
former finally reached Kamchatka with Solovief s ves-
sel, after passing thiough additional vicissitudes.

The ship Sv Troitska, which Korovin commanded,
was fitted out in 1762 by Nikofor Trapeznikof,^^ and

*' Veniaminof in relating this occurrence adds that a charitable n.itive
fonnd the fugitives during the winter, and not only failed to betray them, but
supplied them with provisions, paying them occasional stealthy visits at night.
Veniamiacf, Zap., i. 99.

^^Ber(i, Khronol. ht., 72; Dvukr. Put., ii. 113.

'•' Berg succeeded in collecting the following data concerning the transac-
tions of this enterprising citi/en of Irkutsk. In t le course of 25 years he
despatclied 10 vcsfcls upon voyages of discovery lo the eastwaid of Kam-
chatka. His sliitika IVikolai made three voyages between 170'2 and l'*M-
A small boat named the Fish returned in 1757 with an exceedingly rich cargo,
valued at 254,900 rubles. The Sv Troitxka, the tiv PHr i Sir Pavil, and one
other vessel which returned in 1703 with a cargo valued at 105,730 rubles,
also belonged to Trapeznikof. The sea-otter-skins alone brought by tliese
expeditions numbered over 10,000. Berg concludes as follows: ' It would be
of interest to know how much wealth Trapeznikof realized out of all these
enterprises. Ivan Savich Lapin told me that tlirough losses sustained in some
of his undertakings, and through the bankruptcy of some of his del)!©!*,
Trapeznikof suddeidy found himself reduced from wealth to poverty.' Hia
old age was passed in stmitened circumstances, and ho left barely enough to
defray the expenses of hia burial. Khronol. Jut., 02-3, App.

rfS.

'•' m

IW'

,.:■!]

s^.|i'*-'

136 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI,

sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka River on
the 15th of September, with a crew of thirty-eight
Russians and six Kamchatkans. They passed the
winter on Bering Island, remaining until the 1st of
August of the following year. The ship fitted out
by Protassof and commanded by Medvedef had also
wintered there, and before sailing the two commanders
made some exchanges in their crews. After sustain-
ing some loss by death, Korovin had at the time of
his departure from Bering Island thirty-seven men
and Medvedef forty-nine. Both vessels made a short
run to the Aleutian Islands, reaching the straits be-
tween Umnak and Unalaska on the 1 5th of August.
Medvedef concluded to remain on Umnak Island
while Korovin selected an anchorage on the Unalaska
shore. The native villages on the coast appeared to
be deserted, but a short distance inland soiaae inhabited
dwellings were found. The chief of the n^ttlement
offered several small boys as hostages, and produced
tribute receipts signed by the Cussaek P>nomaref
Korovin evidently was satisfied with his reception, as
ho returned immediati ly to the ship, landed kis whole
cargo, erected a larps hut of drii't-wood, and built
several bidars for his hunting parties.''^

In a few weeks all the arrangements for the \» inter
were made, and Korovin set out with two boats
manned by nine men each, one of them commanded
by Barnashef, who had visited the island previously
with Glottof They visited three villages in succes-
sion, meeting everywhere with a friendly rec j.tion on
the part of the chiefs, but nearly all the adult males
appeared to be absent from home. After the safe
return of this party anoth(3r expedition was sent out
to the east side of the i.sland whence they also re-
turn- hJ unmolested accompanied by .some hostages,
havmg met during their journey with some men of
Dmshinnin's party. Feeling now ;-; , K<»rovin sent
out a Imntiiig party of twenty -three under Barnashef,

'"y-'oiZflw, Nordiscke Bait rage, i. '274.

and k(

''^e vent A
(lies of"
leiiilvi o
ten of t
TJio ,sa\
and tl);i
thviv ill
n% Ii.ii
the ji(,n

^^■\m

FURTHER HOSTILITIES.

137

in two bidars, to the west end of the island. Each
boat carried eight musliets and every man had a pistol
and a lance; provisions had been prepared for the
winter.

At various times during the season letters were
received from the detached parties reporting their
safety, but about the middle of December Korovin
received warning that a large force of natives was
marching toward the ship with hostile designs. The
Russian commander at once called his men under arms

169'

I SCENE OF THE CONFUCT

BETW ' N

JPROMYSHLENIK & NATIVES

>> . Illlt lULANn uv

UMNAK J. UNALASKA

"FroB'

liii;i-ns«.

Prom natM oollwti^l on thf ipot
li> I Ptlr.il ill lh7H

x^ ^Clieriioibki"

-'^

LEQENU
\.UrusIiini>iu'i firMMiununmt »n Uuin«k I'll.

11. " " " IB UA^Kia lljlll«f.

11 K.WkhU'ilUKo. Kl. 'diMkoritwuou.

njnjluuk *ilUg»,Koiuiiu'ikUiiaii.

K. Itar..^* of K'lr liu'a t>an| in tha hill<.

U. Kxruiin'it winlat anvhurtg*. -Uur ouiontV^ <^f

ll.KuTu«ii?« nnl Wiiifoo JuaUtkA.
I.S<.«a«xrK<>(r..iii'i wrtt'k.
K.UIiiit>ir« )ia»ili)uart«ri Mul •erua of maaM-

L Wii,t»r qaatUnof KoraTlaan«ruhi'«n«ck
A Naiit«Vin.»«a

tlOf-

^J^

Scene of Conflict.

and kept a strict watch. The following day about
seventy savages made their appearance carrying bun-
dles of soa-otter skins in order to throw the promysh-
leniki oli' their guard; but Korovin would allow only
ten of them to approach his house at the same time.
The savages perceiving that their design was known,
and that tsuiprise had bocomu impossible, disposed of
their furs (juietly and retreated. On the same even-
ing, ]i(twever, three natives of Kamchatka came to
the house in a great fright, reporting that tney be-

iki:

'f: f

,f?':«.

::v:w^?S^f-'i-" '■

138 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

J ijji'

m !

^!i«ii;

!isi,|!J

longed to Kulkofs ship, that is to say Drushinnin's
party, and that the vessel had been destroyed and all
their comrades killed.

The promyshleniki, now thoroughly alarmed, pre-
pared for defence. After remaining unmolested for
two days, a large force attacked and besieged them
closely for four days, during which time two Russians
were killed with arrows, and five natives were counted
dead on the field. On the fifth day the enemy re-
treated to a cave near by, keeping up, however, a
vigilant blockade, and making it dangerous to proceed
any distance from the house. Worn out with con-
stant watching and firing, Korovin at last concluded
to bury his iron, the article most coveted by the
savages, and his stores of blubber and oil under the
house, and to retreat to the ship. His plan was car-
ried out, and the ship anchored within a short distance
of the shore. The danger of sudden attack was thus
lessened, but hunger and the scurvy were there as
relentless as the savages. At length, on the 2Gth of
April, reenforced by the three fugitives from Dru-
shinnin's command, Korovin put to sea, but so reduced
was his crew that the ship could scarcely be worked.
During a gale on the 28th the unfortunate promy-
shleniki were wrecked in a cove on Umnak Island.
Several of the sick died or were drowned, and eight
of ^^le hostages made their escape. The arms, am-
munition, some sails, and a few sea-lion skins wore all
that could be saved. A temporary shelter and fortifi-
cation was constructed of empty casks, sails, and skins,
where the remaining sixteen, including three disabled
by scurvy, the three hostages, and the faithful inter-
preter, Kashmak, hoped to secure some rest before
beginning a new struggle. Their hope was in vain.
During the first night a large party of savages ap-
proac^ied stealthily from the sea and when within a
few 3 rds of the miserable encampment discharged
their spears and arrows with terrible effect, piercing
the tent and the barricade of sea-lioti skins in many

♦a

■Aieutians.

■£■1 ^

THE RUSSIANS CLOSELY PRESSED.

139

places. Two of the Russians and the three hostages
were killed, and all the other Russians severely
wounded."

The onslaught was so sudden that there w^as no
time to get ready the fire-arms, but Korovin with four
of the least disabled seized their lances and made a
sortie, killing two of the savages and driving away
the remainder. Covered with wounds, the five brave
men returned to their comrades, now thoroughly dis-
heartened. In the mean time the gale had continued
unabated, breaking up the stranded vessel and scat-
tering the cargo upon the beach. Soon after day-
light the natives returned to resume the work of
plunder, the Russians being too feeble to interfere.
They carried off what booty they could and remained
away two days, during which time such of the wounded
promyshleniki as were still able to move about picked
up what fragments of provisions and furs the savages
bad left, also a small quantity of iron.^^ On the 29th
died one of the wounded men, who was also suffer-
ing from scurvy. Three daj^s afterward one hundred
and fifty islanders approached from the east and tired
at the Russians with muskets, but the bullets fell wide
of the mark.^* They then set fire to the dry grass in
order to burn out the fugitives. A constant firing
of the Russians, however, foiled their efforts, and at
last the savages retired. The victors found themselves
iii such a state of prostration that they remained on
the same spot until the 21st of July, when the few
survivors, twelve in number, six of whom were natives
of Kamchatka, embarked in a roughly constructed
bidar in stctrch c^" Modvedef's party. After ten days
of coasting the sufferers arrived at a place where the
cliarred remains of a burned vessel, of torn garments,
siiils and rigging, gave evidence of another disaster.

?i:!i

ft- 1,

[•STcd

»> Vmiami^, ^af., i. 1:K-4; San/chef, Ptitr.-,h., ii. 30.

* A portMNi of 'is •mn was sot asi(lo aa iiii offering to the ehrine of the
B«..iit whose assi- iplorcd in tluii distress. AVw Narkr., 93— t.

'•This is tlv ; - . .il: ^-jo rt'ci'' 'iwa of the use of fire-orms by the aative
Aleutiatu. Xmw <VMkr^ ^ SgHmtJ, in Morskoi Sk^tntik, c. 46.

140 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

Filled with alarm the fugitives landed and hastened
up to a house which had escaped destruction. It was
empty, but in an adjoining bath-house twenty dead
bodies were found, among them that of the commander
Medvedef There was some indication of the corpses
having been dragged to the spot with straps and belts
tied around their necks, but no further details of the
catastrophe could be obtained, and not a soul sur-
vivad to tell the tale.^° Necessity compelled Korovin
to remain at this ghastly spot, and preparations were
made to repair the house for the approaching winter,
when Stepan Glottof, who in the mean time had ar-
rived on the other side of Umnak Island, made his
appearance with eight men. The so lately despairing
promyshleniki were wild with jo;y, and forgetting on
the instant their hunger and diseases, they planned
further ventures, agreeing with Glottof to hunt and
trade on joint account.

The voyage of Glottof, covering the four years
from 17G2 to 17G5 inclusive, was by far the most
important of the earlier expeditions to the islands,
and constitutes an epoch in the swarming of the pro-
myshleniki.

A new vessel to which was given the old name of
Andreian i Natalia'^ was built in the Kamchatka River
by Terentiy Chobaicvski, Vassili and Ivan Popof, and
Ivan Lapin, and p aled on the 1st of October 17G2,
under command of Glottof, wintering at Copper Isl-
and.2«

*• X^'Ul' Nachr., 105; Veniaminof, Zap., i. 98; Bfnj, Khrvwol. Ixt, 70.

*' Ship nomenclature in Ahiskan waters at this time is cumtusing. St Potcr
•nil St Paul were the favoriti-'s, but there were other namtis ciwitinucd fr^nn
one ship to ftn<>ther, and the same name was e\r»i given to two sliips ufloat at
the same t'nsA

*''S(inj<fi(j\ Pittesh., ii. 37. Durinj;! the Mintt-r Yakof Malevinskoi, witli 13
nw«, was sent to Bering Islaiitl in a biilar with instructions to gather up what
useful material still remained of Bering's vessel, which soems tv> have Wn a
magazine of naval stores for the promyshleniki for nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury. Malevinakoi, who died hhortly after his voyago to Bering Island, was
very suceesuful in his mission. lie secuivd l)etwecn eight and nine hwidred
pounda of old iron, 40() pounds of rigging and cnlilo, some load, several thou-
eanii strings of beads, and some copper. X(u^ Sdchr,, lOo. For a time tlie

authorities
1,^'and, und
there. In i
to investign
luul been re
"I width, pil
'i"t diacovei
further out i
•'"lee, but ('
adzes. At
smoothed !i\
'""ell copp,
^f-ijcJiquantiii
I* lie autlior, 1
''••'d greatly ,
7"ld be foiii
"lilt copper
I'^'scatfld evf

i?*il|W;'

VOYAGE OF GLOTTOP.

141

On the 26th of July 17G3 Glottof again put to sea,
and after a tedious and stormy voyage sighted Um-
nak on the 24th of August. Having previously
visited this island and Unalaska, whence he brought
the first black foxes to Kamchatka, the commander
concluded not to loiter there, but to sail on in search
of new discoveries. Passing eight large islands and
a multitude of smaller ones, Glottof finally anchored
on the 8 th of September off the coast of a large and
mountainous island, called Kikhtak by the natives,
but now known as Kadia! ,. The first meeting of the
Russians with the inhabitants of this isle was not
promising. A few of the savages approached the
ship in their kyaks, but the Aleut interpreter, Ivan
Glottof, a godchild of the commander, could not con-
verse with them, and when on landing some habita-
tions were discovered, they were found to be deserted.
A few days later a party came to the Russian camp
with an Aleutian boy who had been captured several
years befi^-e during a hostile descent of the Kadiak
people upon the island of Sannakh, and through him
intercourse was held. Glottof endeavored to per-
suade the savages to pay tribute to the imperial gov-
ernment and to furnish hostages, but they refused.
The natives here were of fiercer aspect, more intelli-
gent and manly, and of finer physique than those of

authorities at Kamchatka had forbidden the promyshleniki to visit Copper
Island, under the impression that valuable deposits of copper wei-e located
there. In 17");") I'eter Yako\lef, a mining engineer, was ordered to the island
to investigate the matter. On the north-west point, where the native copper
liiid been rejiortcd to exist, was a narrow reef of rocks some 'JO or ^0 fathoms
in width, partially covered at flood tide, but Yakovlef suited that he could
not discover any indication of copper there. On anotiicr reef, running still
further out into the sea, he noticed two veins of reddish and greenish appear-
ance, but the metal had lonf iinoe been removed with the aid of picks an<l
adzes. At the foot of this reti, liowevor, he found pieces of copper evidently
smoothed by the action ot tlie sea. Caiitain Krenitzin in 17G8 reported that
much copper was found on the island, that it was washed up by the sea in
Piich quantities that ships could be loaded with it. Pallan, Xonl. li'ilr., i. '2,')3.
The author, however, remarks that at tlm time of his writing, !7S0. tlie copper
li.id greatly diminisiied in quantity and but few pieces '..rger than a bean
Could be found. Zaikof, another navigator, reported about the same time
tliut copper was washed >ipon the boaeh, luit that one of the promontories
presented every appearance of a copper-mine.

"t,;

•1 J

142 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.

; -

nil I

the more western isles. At first thev would not even
allow the interpreter to remain temporarily with the
Russians, but a few days later the boy made his
appearance in the Russian camp, and subsequently
proved of great service to his new patrons. '^^ Under
such circumstances Glottof deemed it best not to dis-
charge the cargo, but to keep the ship moored in a
bay near the mouth of a creek, where she floated at
every high tide. A strict watch was kept night and
day. Early one morning a large body of armed
islanders crept up to the anchorage unobserved, and
sent a shower of arrows upon the Russian sentinels
hidden behind the bulwarks on the deck. The guards
discharged their muskets, and the deafening sound
sent the savages scattering. In their wild alarm they
left on the ground rude ladders, packages of sulphur,
dried moss, and birch bark, a proof of their intention
to fire the ship, and also of the fact that the Kadiak
people were a race more warlike and more dangerous
to deal with than the Aleuts. They were certainly
fertile in both offensive and defensive devices; for
only four days after the first attack, previous to which
they had been unacquainted with fire-arms, they
again made their appearance in large force, and pro-
vided with ingeniously contrived shields of wood and
wicker-work intended to ward off" the Russian's bullets.
The islanders, however, had not had an opportunity
of estimating the force of missiles propelled by powder,
for the Russians had purposely fired high during their
attack, and another rout was the result of a second
charge.

The defeated enemy allowed three weeks to pass by
without molesting the intruders, but on the 26th of
October there was yet another attack. The elaborate
preparations now made showed wonderful ability for
savages. Seven large portable breastworks, conceal-

*' This boy was subsequently taken to Kamchatka and baptized under
the name of Alexander Popof. Nme Nachr., IOC; Veniaminof, Zap., i. 102.
For manners and customs of the aborigines see Native Races, vols. i. and iii. ,
this series.

people

THE RUSSIANS AT KADIAK.

143

ing from thirty to forty warriors each, were seen ap-
proaching the vessel early one morning, and when
near enough spears and arrows began to drop like hail
upon the deck. The promyshleniki replied with vol-
ley after volley of musketry, but this time the shields
appeared to be bullet-proof and the enemy kept on
advancing until, as a last resort, Glottof landed a
body of men and made a furious charge upon the
islanders, who were growing more bold and defiant
every moment. This unexpected attack had the
desired effect, and after a brief struggle the savages
dropped their shields and sought safety in flight.
The result of this third battle caused the natives to
despair of driving off the Russians, and to withdraw
from the neighborhood.'^*

Deeming it dangerous to send out hunting parties,
Glottof employed his men in constructing a house of
drift-wood and in securing a good supply of such fish
as could be obtained from a creek and a lagoon in the
immediate vicinity of the anchorage. Late in Decem-
ber two natives made their appearance at the Russian
camp. They held a long parley with the interpreter
from a safe distance, and finally came up to the house.
Kind treatment and persuasion seemed to have no
effect; nor did presents even; instinctively these most
intellectual of savages felt that they had met their
ftite. They went away with some trifling gifts, and
not another native was seen by the disappointed Glot-
tof till April of the following year. Four men then
came to the encampment and were persuaded to sell
some fox-skins, taking glass beads in payment. Ah,
the vanity of humanit}'! Cotton and woollen goods
had no attractions. Ornament before dress. They
appeared at last to believe in Glottof 's professions of
friendship, and went away promising to persuade their
people to come and trade with the Russians. Shortly

"A'^eMf JVacAr., 109-10; Berg,Khronol. Ist.,6G. The point at which Glottof
made liis first landing was near the southern end of the island, probably near
the present village of Aiakhtalik.

!*»*!■'* 'ail

■l l

144 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI. '

afterward a party brought fox and sea-otter skins,
accepting glass beads; and friendly intercourse ensued
until Glottof was ready to sail from the locality, where
his party had suffered greatly from disease without
deriving much commercial advantage.''^

Glottof felt satisfied, however, that he was near to
the American continent, because he noticed that the
natives made use of deer-skins for dress. In the im-
mediate vicinity of the Russian encampment there was
no timber, but the natives said that large forests grew
in the northern part of the island.''^

Through Plolmberg's researches in Kadiak we pos-
.less the deposition of a native of the island, which
evidently refers to Glottofs sojourn on Kadiak.
Holmberg states that he passed two days in a hut
on the south side of the island, and that he there
listened to the tales of an old man named Arsenti
Aminak, whom he designates as the "only speaking
monument of pagan times on Kadiak." A creole
named Panfilof served as interpreter, and Holmberg
took down his translation, word for word, as follows:
" I was a boy of nine or ten years, for I was already
set to paddle in a bidarka, when the first Russian ship
with two masts appeared near t^ape Aliulik. Before
that time we had never seen a ship; we had inter-
course with the Aglegnutes of Aliaska peninsula, with
the Tnaianas of the Kenai peninsula, and with the
Koloshes; and some wise men even knew something
of the Californias; but ships and white men we did
not know at all. When we espied the ship at a dis-
tance we thought it was an immense whale, and were
curious to have a better look at it. We went out to
sea in our bidarkas, but soon discovered that it was no
whale, but another unknown monster of which we were

" During the ■winter the scurvy broke out among the crew and nine Rus-
(iansdicd. S'eiieAaclir., 11] ; Jlfrr/, Khronol. Int., C(J; Sanjihef, Putfah., ii. ."JS.

'■'"On the Ibih of April Glottof sent Luka Vtorushiu, with 11 men, in
search of material to moLkc hocpa for water-casks; he returned the following
day ■with a supply, and reported groves of alder and willow at a distance ol
abo"*. 30 miles. Neue Nachr., i\T).

afra
sick,
clotl
fish,
and 1
We di
isJanc
south
situat
Tri nic
ored a
'ind ai
^ecomi
to appj
brave \
feared
the shij
red shii
said the
our sea
other ri
statemei
tJie kash,
ness the
shore, th
we can d
"Our
Island pe
once mat
among o
parents,
f^ave, but
wought j
^ler PJioo,
taken hoi
ship whic.

^ large 1
^"'■"cils and f

Aa,

'^''^, vol. i.,
Hist.

AMINAK'S STORY.

14»

afraid, and the smoll of which (tar probably) made us
sick. The people on the ship had buttons on their
clothes, and at first we thought they must be cuttle-
fish, but when we saw them put fire into their mouth
and blow out smoke we knew they must be devils, as
we did not know tobacco then. The ship sailed by the
island of Aiakhtalik, one of the Goose Islands at the
south end of Kadiak, where then a large village was
situated, and then passed by the Cape AliuHk (Cape
Trinidad) into Kaniat (Alitak) Bay, where it anch-
ored and lowered the boats. We followed full of fear,
T-nd at the same time curious to see what would
become of the strange apparition, but we did not dare
to approach the ship. Among our people there was a
brave warrior named Ishinik, who was so bold that he
feared nothing in the world; he undertook to visit
the ship and came back with presents in his hand, a
red shirt, an Aleut hood, and some glass beads. He
said there was nothing to fear, ' they only wish to buy
our sea-otter skins and to give us glass beads and
other riches for them.' We did not fully believe his
statement. The old and wise people held a council in
the kashima,^'' and some said : * Who knows what sick-
ness they may bring us; let us await them on the
shore, then if they give us a good price for our skins
we can do business afterward.'

" Our people formerly were at war with the Fox
Island people, whom we called Tayaoot. My father
once made a raid upon Unalaska and brought back
among other booty a little girl left by her fleeing
parents. As a prisoner taken in war she was our
slave, but my father treated her like a daughter, and
brought her up with his other children. We called
her Plioo, which means ashes, because she had been
taken from the ashes of her house. On the Russian
ship which came from Unalaska there were many

r f

mi' •■ iili

Et.i«"

lit

" A large building where the men work in the winter, and also used for
coimcils and festivities. For a full description of these people see 2^'cUive
liacts, vol. i., this scries.
Hist. Alaska. 10

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

^ .5^;^.

1.0

I.I

1.25

^m m

120

U 11116

Hiotographic

Sdences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 873-4503

^^^\

•(*

L4>

146 FURTHER! ADVENTURES OF THE PEOMYSHLENIKI.

fl''^

Aleuts and among them the father of our slave. He
came to my father's house, and when he saw that his
daughter ^vas not kept like a slave but was well
cared for, he told him confidentially, out of gratitude,
that the Russians would take the sea-otter skins with-
out payment if they could. This warning saved my
father, who, though not fully believing the Aleut,
acted cautiously. The Russians came ashore together
with the Aleuts and the latter persuaded our people
to trade, saying: 'Why are you afraid of the Rus-
sians? Look at us, we live with them and they do us
no harm.' Our people, dazzled by the sight of such
quantities of goods, left their weapons in the bidar
and went to the Russians with their sea-otter skins.
While they were busy trading, the Aleuts, who car-
ried arms concealed about them, at a signal from the
Russians fell upon our people, killing about thirty and
taking away their sea-otter skins. A few men had
cautiously watched the result of the first intercourse
from a distance, among them my father. These at-
tempted to escape in their bidarkas, but they were
overtaken by the Aleuts and killed. My father alone
was saved by the father of his slave, who gave him
his bidarka when my father's own had been pierced
with arrows and was sinking. In this bidarka he fled
to Akhiok. My father's name was Penashigak. The
time of the arrival of this ship was the month of
August, as the whales were coming into the bays and
the berries were ripe. The Russians remained for
the winter, but could not find sufficient food in Kaniat
Bay. They were compelled to leave the ship in charge
of a few watchmen and moved into a bay opposite
Aiakhtalik Island. Here was a lake full of herrings
and a kind of smelt. They lived in tents here througli
the winter. The brave Ishinik, who first dored to
visit the ship, was liked by the Russians and acted
as a mediator. When the fish decreased in the lake
during the winter the Russians moved about from
village to village. Whenever we saw a boat coming at

«. "This
Glcttof's ^
'ng, J)ut i(
possibJoto
re/era to t
tl>e latter'i
'atter is ct

*a'ity anjoi
tlio aotua]
Si-kzen; Sa
"Jierg,

DEPARTURE FROM KADIAE.

iecl
'he

of
land

for

liat
irgc
|)sito

[ugh
to
Ictetl
llako
from
igat

a distance we fled to the hills, and when we returned
no yuhala (dried fish) could be found in the houses.
In the lake near the Kussian camp there was a poison-
ous kind of starfish; we knew it very well, but said
nothing about it to the Russians. "We never ate
them, and even the gulls would not touch them;
many Russians died from eating them. But we in-
jured them also in other ways. They put up fox-
traps and we removed them for the sake of obtaining
the iron material. When the Russians had examined
our coast they left our island during the following
year."««

On the 24th of May Glottof finally left Kadiak,
and passing through the numerous islands lining the
south coast of the Alaska peninsula made a landing
on Umnak with the intention to hunt and trade in
the same locality which he had previously visited.
When the ship entered the well known bay the houses
erected by the promyshleniki were still standing, but
no sign of life was visible. The commander hastened
to the shore and soon found signs of death and de-
struction. The body of an unknown Russian was
there; Glottof 's own house had been destroyed, and
another building erected near by.'®

On the 5th of July an exploring party of sixteen
discovered the remains of Medvedef's ship, and the
still unburied bodies of its crew. Upon consultation
it was decided to take steps at once to ascertain
whether any survivors of the disaster were to be
found on the island. On the 7th of July some natives

"This narrative of which we have given above only the portion relating to
Glcttof's visit, coming as it does from tn j mouth of an eye-witness, ia interest-
ing, but it is somewhat difficult to determine its historical value, as it is im-
possible to locate or identify all the various incidents. Tiio first part evidently
refers to the landing of Glottof, though there is a wide discrepancy between
the latter's account and that of Arscnti Aminak; in his estimate of time the
latter is certainly mistaken and he does not mention the hostile encounters
between natives and Russians related by Glottof. He also ascribes the mor-
tality among the invaders to the consumption of poisonous fish instead of to
the actual cause, the ravages of scorbutic disease. Jlolmberg, EthttographUch*
Skkzen; San/chef, Puteah., ii. 42-S; Orewingk Beitr., 316.

"Berg, Khronol. Isl., IC-, Pallas, Nord. Beit.., i. 276.

\i. ,tj

148 FURTHER ADVENTURES OP THE PROMYSHLENIKL

approached the vessel and endeavored to persuade
Glottof to land with only two men, for the purpose
of trading, displaying at the same time a large number
of sea-otter skins on the beach. When they found
that their devices did not succeed, they retreated to
a distance and began to fire with muskets at the ship,
without, however, doing any damage. Later in the
day a few natives came off in their canoes and pad-
dled round the ship. As Glottof was desirous of ob-
taining information concerning the recent occurrences
on the island, the bold natives were not molested, and
finally one of them ventured on board the ship, par-
taking of food, and told freely all that had happened
since Glottof's visit, hinting also at the existence of
Korovin's small party in some part of the island.
He acknowledged that it had been the intention of
the natives to kill Glottof after enticing him to land,
imagining that they would have no difficulty in deal-
ing with the crew after the leader was despatched.
After a vain attempt to find Korovin's camp, some
natives advised the Russians to cross the island to
the opposite side, where they would find their country-
men engaged in building a house beside a brook. The
information proved correct, and the hearts of Korovin
and his men were soon gladdened by the appearance
of their countrymen.

Glottof evidently did not intend to feed the addi-
tional members in idleness. In a few days he sent
out Korovin with twenty men in a bidar to reconnoi-
tre the coast of Umnak and search for fugitive Rus-
sians who might have survived the various massacres.
For a long time he could find no living soul, Russian
or native; but at last, in September, he fell in with
some parties of the latter. They greeted the Rus-
sians with musket-shots, and would not listen to
overtures. At various places where Korovin at-
tempted to stop to hunt the natives opposed his
landing, and engagements ensued. At the place of
the massacre of Barnashef and his crew, his bidar

'The

KOnOVm AND GLOTTOP.

149

and the remains of his cargo were found, and a few
women and boys who lingered about the place were
taken prisoners and questioned as to the details of
the bloody episode.

Later in the winter Korovin was sent out again
with a party of men and the Aleut interpreter, Ivan
Glottof They proceeded to the western end of Un-
alaska and there learned from the natives that a Rus-
sian vessel coipmanded by Solovief was anchored in
one of the harbors of that island. Korovin at once
shaped his course for the point, but reached it only
after several sharp engagements with the natives,
inflicting severe loss upon them. He remained with
Solofief three days and then returned to the scene of
his last encounter with the natives, who seemed to
have benefited by the lesson administered by Korovin,
being quite tractable and willing to trade and assist
in hunting. Before the end of the year the deep-
rooted hatred of the Russian intruders again came to
the surface, and the hunters concluded to return to
the ship. On the passage from Uualaska to Umnak
they had two engagements and were finally wrecked
upon the latter island. As it was midv/inter they
were forced to remain there till the 6th of April fol-
lowing, subject .to the greatest privations. After
another tedious voyage along the coast the party at
last rejoined Glottof with a small quantity of furs
as the result of the season's work. On account of
Korovin's failures in hunting, Glottof and his part-
ners declared the agreement with them void. The
brave leader, whose indomitable courage alone had car-
ried his companions through an appalling succession of
disasters, certainly deserved better treatment. The
Kamchatkans belonging to his former crew entered
Glottof s service ; but five Russians concluded to cast
their lots with him. In June they found Solovief,
who willingly received them into his company, and in
his vessel they finally reached Kamchatka.*'

'"The vessel conunanded by Solovief was owned by Ouledovtki, a mer*

130 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

f
' if

Solovicf had been fortunate in his voyage from
Kamchatka to Umnak, passing along the Aleutian
isles with as much safety and despatch as a trained
sea-captain could have aone, provided with all the
instruments of modern nautical science. In less than
a month, a remarkably quick passage for those days,
he sighted the island of Umnak, but finding no con-
venient anchorage he went to Unalaska.

A few natives who still remembered Solovief from
his former visit, came to greet the new arrivals and
informed them of the cruel fate that had befallen
Medvedef and his companions. The Cossack Kore-
nef was ordered to reconnoitre the northern coast of
tho island with a detachment of twenty men. He
reported on his return that he had found only three
vacant habitations of the natives, but some fragments
of Kussian arms and clothing led him to suspect that
some of his countrymen had suffered at the hands of
the savages in that vicinity. In the course of time
Solovief managed to obtain from the natives detailed
accounts of the various massacres. The recital of
cruelties committed inflamed his passions, and he
resolved to avenge the murder of his countrymen.
His first care, however, was to establish himself firmly
on the island and to introduce order and discipline
among his men. He adhered to his designs with
great persistency and unnecessary cruelty.'^

chant of Irkutsk. It was the 8v Petr i Sv Pavel which we have so often
met ; it had sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka river on the 24th of
Aucust 1764. Berij, Khronol. Int., 73.

*i Bercr, while faithfully relating the cruelties perpetrated by Solovief,
seems to have been inclined to palliate his crimes. He says: ' A quiet citizen
and friend of mankind reading of these doings will perhaps execrate tlio
terrible Solovief and call him a barbarous destrover of men, but he would
change his opinion on learning that after this period of terrible punishment
the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands never again dared to make another
attack upon the Russians. Would he not acknowledge that such measures
were necessary for the safety of future voyagers? Curious to know how
Solovief succeeded in his enterprise, and how he was situated subsequently,
I questioned Ivan Savicli Lapin concerning his fate, and received the follow-
ing answer: His many fortunate voyages brought him great profits, but as
he was a shiftless man md rather dissipated in uis habits, he expended dur-
ing every winter passe d at Okhotsk or in Kamchatka the earnings of three
years of hardships, sett'ng out upon every new voyage with nothing but debts

Cl(

SOLOVIEF*S PROCEEDINGS.

151

Solovief had not quite finished hl» preparations
when the savage islanders, made bold by frequent
victories, attempted the first attack, an unfortunate
one for the Aleuts. The promyshleniki, who were
ready for the fray at any moment, on this occasion
destroyed a hundred of their assailants on the spot,
and broke up their bidars and temporary habitations.
With this victory Solovief contented himself until
he was reenforced by Korovin, Kokovin, and a few
others, when he divided his force, leaving half to
guard the ship while with the others he set out in
search of the "blood-thirsty natives," who had de-
stroyed Drushinnin and Medvedef.

The bloodshed perpetrated by this band of avengers
was appalling. A majority of all the natives con-
nected with the previous attacks on the Russians paid
with their lives for presuming to defend their homes
against invaders. Being informed that three hundred
of the natives had assembled in a fortified village,
Solovief marched his force to the spot. At first the
Russians were greeted with showers of arrows from
every aperture, but when the natives discovered that
bullets came flying in as fast as arrows went out, they
closed the openings, took down the notched posts
serving as ladders, and sat down to await their fate.
Unwilling to charge upon the dwellings, and seeing
that he could not do much injury to the enemy as
long as they remained within, Solovief managed to
place bladders filled with powder under the log foun-
dation of the structure, which was soon blown into the
air. Many of the inmates survived the explosion only
to be despatched by the promyshleniki with muskets
and sabres.''

behind him. He lo8t his life in the moet miseniible manner at Okhotsk.'
Bern, Khronol. Int., 75-6. Among his companions Solovief acquired the
nickname of 'Oushasnui Soloviy,' tne 'terrible nightingale,' a play upon hit
name, Solovey being the Russian for nightingale. Boer and Wrangell, Bunaisclie
BeKiltungen, 192.

" Davidof states that Solovief put to death 3,000 Aleuts (?) during this
campaign. Dvttkr. Purtaih. , ii. 108. Berg writes on the authority of Lapin that
'only' 200 were killed. Khrotiol. Int., 75. Veniaminof discusses the deeds
of Solovief and his companions in a dispascionate way, relying mainly on

1S2 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE FROMYSHLENIKL '

At the end of his crusade, Solovief, having suc-
ceeded in subjugating the natives, estabHshed ' friendly
intercourse' with them. A few of the chiefs of Una-
laska tendered their submission. During the winter
his men suffered from scurvy, and many died." Ob-
serving which the savages regained courage and be-
gan to revolt. The people of Makushin village were
the most determined, but Solovief managed to en-
trap the chief, who confessed that he had intended
to overpower the Russians and burn their ship. In
June two more of the scurvy-stricken crew died, and
Solovief was only too glad to accept of the offer of
Korovin and his companions, who had only just ar-
rived, to join his expedition. The Cossack Shevyrin
died on the third of August and another • Russian in
September.**

Late in the autumn Solovief again despatched
Korenef with a detachment of promyshleniki to the
northern part of the island, He did not return until
the 30th of January 1766, and was immediately or-
dered out again to explore the west coast. During
the first days of February a young Aleut named
Kyginik, a son of the chief, came voluntarily into the
Russian camp and requested to be baptized, and to be
permitted to remain with the promyshleniki. His
wish was willingly complied with, and if the promysh-
leniki claimed a miracle as the cause of the action, I
should acquiesce. Nothing but the mighty power of

what he heard by word of mouth from Aleut eye-witnesseB of the various
transactions. He accused Ber^ of attempting to make Solovief's career
appear less criminal and repulsive, and declares that ' nearly a century has
elapsed since that period of terror, and there is no reason for concealing what
was done by the first promyshleniki, or for palliating or glorifying their cruel
outrages upon the Aleuts. ' He had no desire to enlarge upon the great crimes
committed by ignorant and unrestrained men, especially when they were his
countrymen; but his work would not be done if he failed to tell wliat people
had seen of the doings of Solovief and his companions. Veniarainof stated
on what he calls good authority, that Solovief experimented on the penetra-
tive power of musket-balls by tying 12 Aleutians together and discharging his
rifle at them at short range; report has it that the bullets lodged in the ninth
man. Zap., ii. 101.

" One died in February, five in March and April, and six in May; all these
were Ilussians with the exception of one, a Kalnchatkau. Ntut Nachr,, 141.

** Newt Naehr., \4&.

MIRACULOUS CONVERSION.

153

God could have sanctified the heart of this benighted
one under these bright examples of Christianity. In
May Solovief began his preparations for departure, col-
lecting and packing his furs for the voyage and repair-
ing his vessel. He sailed the 1st of June and reached
Kamchatka the 5th of July."

At Okhotsk there was great disorder, amounting
almost to anarchy, under the administration of Cap-
tain Zybin, up to 1754, when the latter was relieved
by Captain Nilof, who subsequently became known
and lost his life during the famous convict revolt of
Kamchatka under the leadership of Benyovski.** In
1761 Major Plenisner was appomted to the command
of Kamchatka for five years; he held this position until
relieved by Nilof."

In 1765 a new company was formed by Lapin,
Shilof, and Orekhof, the latter a gunsmith from Tula.
They built two vessels at Okhotsk, naming them after
those excessively honored apostles the Sv Petr and the
Sv Pavel, and crossed over to Bolsheretsk, where they
remained till August.*^ The So Petr was commanded
by Tolstykh and carried a crew of forty-nine Rus-
sians, twelve natives of Kamchatka, and two Aleuts.
Acting under the old delusion that there must be land
somewhere to the southward, Tolstykh steered in that
direction, but after a fruitless cruise of two months
he concluded to make the port of Petropavlovsk to
winter; but on the 2d of October in attempting to
anchor near Cape Skipunskoi, in a gale, the vessel was
cast upon the rocks and broken in pieces."

" The cargo collected during this murderous expedition consisted of 600
black foxes and 500 sea-otters, a portion of the latter having been brought
into the joint company by Koroyin and his companions. Neue Nachr., 146.

**Mor>ikoi Shomik, cv. 40; Sgibnff, in Id., en. 76.

" Plenisner was to receive double pay while in command, and he was in*
structcd to send out the navnl lieutenant Synd with two ships to explore the
American coast, and also to send another expedition to explore the Kurils
Islands. Sgib]ief, in Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 37-8.

" The authorities of Bolsheretsk asserted that the party sailed only after all
the liquor obtained for the voyage had been drank. Berg, Klironol. lat., 70-7.

'• iVeue Nwhr. , 49. Berg mentions that in this wreck only three out of a
urcw of G3 were saved, but he does not state whether Tobtylih was among
the survivors.

184 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKL

The Sv Pavel was commanded by Master Afanassiy
Ocheredin, and carried a crew of sixty men. Sailing
from Bolsheretsk the 1st of August they steered for
the farther Aleutian Isles, and went into winter-
quarters the 1st of September in a bay of Umnak.
At first the natives were friendly, but as soon as
tribute was demanded intercourse ceased for the win-
ter, and the Russians suffered greatly from hunger
and disease. Scarcely had the promyshleniki begun
to overcome the dread disease in the spring, with the
help of anti-scorbutic plants, when Ocheredm sent out
detachments to demand tribute of the natives. In
August 1767 a peredovchik named Poloskof, was
despatched with twenty-eight men in two boats to
hunt. Having heard of the massacre of Medvedef
and Korovin, he passed by Unalaska and estab-
lished himself at Akutan, distributing small detach-
ments of hunters over the neighboring islands. In
the following January he was attacked and four of his
men killed. Onslaughts were made by the natives at
the same time upon Ocheredin's vessel and another
craft commanded by Popof, who was then trading at
Unalaska. In August Poloskof rejoined Ocheredin,
and their operations were continued until 1770.*'^

Ocheredin's share of the proceeds was GOO sea-
otters, 756 black foxes, 1,230 red foxes; and with this
rich cargo he arrived at Okhotsk on the 24th of
July 1770." The partners in this enterprise received
in addition to a large return on their investment
gracious acknowledgments from the imperial govern-
ment. In 1764, when the first black fox-skins had

**> In the month of September 1768 Ocheredin was notified by Captain
Levaahef, of the Krenitzin expedition, to transfer to him (Levashef) all the
tribute collected. With an armed vessel anchored in Kapiton Bay, Popof
and Ocheredin met with no further opposition from the natives. Unalad-a
to the south-west of the Alaska peninsula. On (Jook's atlas, 1778, written
Oonalaska; La P^rouse, 1736, Omuilaska; SuiU y Mtx., Viage, J. Unalaska;
Holmberg, /. Unalaschka. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 454.

*^Berij, Khronol. 1st., app. Two natives of the island, Alexeii Solovief
and Boris Ocheredin, were taken to Okhotsk on the Sv Pavel with the inten-
tion of sending them to St Petersburg, but both died of consumption on their
Journey through Siberia. New Nachr., 162-3.

Ithia
of
lived

lent
rern-

liad

olovief
linten-
hn their

OTHER VESSELS.

158

Leen forwarded to the empress, gold medals were
awarded to the merchants Orekhof, Kulkof, Shapkin,
Panof, and Nikoforof. Desirous of obtaining a more
detailed account of the doings of her suWects m the far
east, Catherine ordered to be sent to St Petersburg one
of the traders, promising to pay his expenses. When
this order reached Okhotsk only one merchant engaged
in the island trade could be found, Vassili Shilof He
was duly despatched to the imperial court, and on
arriving at St Petersburg was at once granted an
interview by the empress, who questioned him closely
upon the locality of the new discoveries, and the mode
of conducting the traffic. The empress was much
pleased with the intelligent answers of Shilof, who
exhibited a map of his own making, representing the
Aleutian Islands from Bering to Amlia- This the
empress ordered to be deposited in the admiralty
college."

Three other vessels were despatched in 1766-7, but
of their movements we have but indefinite records.
The Vladimir, owned bv Krassilnikof and commanded
by Soposhnikof, sailed m 1766, and returned from the
Near Islands with 1,400 sea-otters, 2,000 fur-seals,
and 1,050 blue foxes. In the following year the Sv

'*In the Shurrud Admiralttieatv KoUegiy, under date of Feb. 5, 1767, the
following entry can be found: ' The Oustioushk merchant, Shilof, laid before
the college, in illustration of his voyages to the Kamchatka Islands, a cliart
on which tl)cir location as far as known is laid down. He also gave satisfoc-
toiy verbal explanations concerning their inhabitants and resources. The
college having inspected and examined this chart and compared it with the
one compiled by Captain Chirikof, at the wish and will expressed by Hor
Imperial Majesty, and upon careful consideration, present most respectfully
the following report: The college deems the report of Shilof concernuig navi-
gation and trade insufficient for official consideration, and in many respects
contradictory; especially the chart, which does not agree in many important
points with other charts in the hands of the college; and moreover it could
not be expected to be correct, being compiled by a person knowing nothing
of the science and rales of navigation. On the other hand, as far as this
document is concerned we must commend the spirit which instigated its con-
ception and induced the author to undergo hardships and dangers in extend-
ing the navi^tion and trade of Russia. And we find in it the base upon
which to build further investigation and discoveries of unknown countries,
which well deserves the approbation of our most Gracious Imperial Majesty.'
Two imperial oukazes were issued, dated respectively April 19 and April 20,
1767, granting Shilof and Lapin exemption from military duty and conferring
upon each a gold medal for services rendered. Berg, Khronol. I»t., 70-2.

156 FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENTKL

Petr i Sv Pavel, owned by the brothers Panof, sailed,
and returned after a cruise of three years with a very
rich cargo composed of 5,000 sea-otters and 1,100 bluo
foxes. The loann Oustioushh' , owned by Ivan Popof,
made two voyages between 17G7 and 1770, returning
the second time with 3,000 sea-otters, 1,6G3 black
foxes, 230 cross foxos, 1,025 red foxes, and 1,1()2 bluo
foxes.** The merchants Poloponissof and Popof also
sent out a ship in 17G7, the Joann Prediccha, which
returned after an absence of five years with 60 sea-
otters, 6,300 fur-seals, and 1,280 blue foxes.** This
ends the list i>f private enterprises prior to the resump-
tion of exploration by the imperial government.

** The cargo as given by Berg seema extraordiuarily large, and it is prolwble
that the Fanof expedition consisted of two vessels, for Sgibuef states that a
ship-buihler named Uubnof constructed in 1707 two vessels, the galiot So
Parel, ftO feet long, at a cost of 5,737 rubles; and the galiot Sv Petr, of the
same Icuuth, 19 feet beam and feet depth of hold, at a cost of 6,033 rubles.
The ri{,'ging for these ships was brought from Tobolsk, and 500 pounds of
iron were carried all .e way from Arkhangel, being two years en route.
Sijibnef, in Mor»koi tjK^mik, cv. 47-8. According to Capt. Shmalef the loann
OualioHnk^ki made a tliird prosperous trip from whicli she returned in 1 77*2 with
a cargo yielding a ne'j pront of 1,000 nibles to each share. Berg, Khronol. Int.,
83; Pallas, Nord. lieitraoe, I 270; Sarychtf Puleth., ii. 37.

**£ery, KhronoL Int., app.; Orewinyk, Beitrage, 315.

m^.

CHAPTER VIII.

IMPERIAL "SFFORTS AND PAILUIIES.

1764-1779.

Stnd's Voyaok in Beuinq Strait— STiE&UN's PKOuuAii Repobt— Tbi
Grand Government Expedition — Promotions and Rewards on the
Strength of Prospective Achievements— <'atherine is Sure of Di-
vine Favor— Vert Secret Instbcctionb— Heavy Cost of the ExrE-
DiTioN — The Lomo Journey to Kamchatka — Dire MurouTUNES
There— Results of the Effort — Death of the Commander— Jour-
nals and Reports— Mors Mercantile Voyages— The Ships 'Sv
NikolaY,' 'Sv AndreT,* 'Sv Prokop,' akd Others— The Free and
Easy ZaTkof— His Luck.

I WILL briefly mention here a voyage by a lieuten-
ant of the imperial navy named Synd, or Syndo,
though there is no proof of his having touched any
part of Alaska. TJnder orders of Saimonof, then
governor of Siberia, Lieutenant Synd, who had been
one of the youngest companions of Bering, sailed from
Okhotsk in 17G4, upon a voyage of discovery in the
direction of Bering Strait, in a vessel called by v/ay of
variety the Sv Pavel. During the first season Synd
did not get beyond the mouth of the Kharinzof River
on the west coast of Kamchai^:a in the vicinity of
Tigil. His craft proved unseaworthy; and after win-
tering at his first anchorage he sailed again in June
1765, in the ship Sv Ekaterina, and wintered at the
Ouka River a little to the southward of Karagin
Island.^ He sailed northward the following year,
reached the vicinity of Bering Strait within a month,
dotting down upon his chart as he moved along a

^ Zap. Ilydr., X. 70-3.

(IST)

168

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

multitude of imaginary islands extending up to lati-
tude 64° 59', and reported a mountainous coast not far
from the land of the Chukchi," between latitude 64°
and 66", which he conjectured to be the American
continent. On the 2d of September he began his
return voyage, following the coast down to Nishe-
kamchatsk, but not until 1768 did his expedition
return to Okhotsk."

i', t

Another and far more important expedition under
the immediate auspices of the imperial government
was organized by Chicherin, governor of Siberia,
under instructions of the admiralty college. As early
as 1763 Chicherin had reported to the imperial gov-
ernment the latest discoveries among the Aleutian
Isles by Siberian traders, pointing at the same time
to the necessity of having these discoveries verified
by officers of the navy, who might be appointed as

* Stsehlin in his Account of the New Northern Archipelago, 12-15, gives a
strangel}' garbled report of this expedition, as follows: 'The empress. . .erect-
ing a commercial company composed of Russian merchants for trading with
the new islands, and to further promote this end, the admiralty otfaco at
Okhotskoi, on the eea of Pensliinsk, had orders from her Majesty to assist this
trading company of Kamchatka in the prosecution of their undertaking; to
provide them with convoys, and to endeavor to prc^cure all possible informa-
tion relative to the islands and coast they intended to visit to the north and
north-east beyond Kamchatka. In the year 1764 these traders accordingly
sailed from the harbor of Ochotskoi with some two- masted galiots, and single-
masted vessels of the kind in Siberia called doslchennikof (covered barges),
under a convoy from the aforesaid admiralty office, commanded by Lieutenant
Syndo. They passed the sea of Ochotskoi, went round the southern cape of
Kamchatka into the Pacific Ocean, steering along the eastern coast, keepinc;
northward, and at la^t came to an anchor in the harbor of Peter- Paul, and
wkitered in the ostrog or palisaded village. The next year they pursued tlieir
voyage farther northward, and in that and the following year, 1765 and 1766,
they discovered by degrees the whole archipelago of islands of different sizes,
which increased upon them the farther they went between the 66th and 67th
degrees of north latitude, and they returned safely in the same year. Tlie
reports they made to the government chancellery at Irkutsk, and from thence
sent to the directing senate, together with the maps and charts thereto
annexed, made a considerable alteratfon in the regions of the sea of Anadir
and in the situation of the opposite coast of America, and gave them ^uite a
different appearance from that in the above-mentioned map engraved m the
year 1758. This difference is made apparent by comparing it with the amended
map published last year, 1773, by t"e academy of sciences, b".! is made still
more visible by the accurate little map of tne newly discovered northern
archipelago, iiereto annexed, which is drawn up from original accounts.' The
'accurate little map' referred to is perhaps the most preposterous piece of im-
aginary geography in existence; a worthy companion of the charts of C'roy6re.

Btill
,hcrn
The
im-

y6re.

EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS.

189

commanders of the trading vessels and instructed to
keep correct journala of their exploring voyages.
This report was duly considered by the empress and
resulted ia the organization of the Krenitzin expedi-
tion.'

The empress issued a special oukaz instructing the
admiralty college to detail a number of officers of the
navy, intrusting the command to the most experienced
among them versed in the science of navigation and
kindred branches of knowledge.*

The expedition, having been recommended to the
special attention of the admiralty college with instruc-
tions to keep its destination secret, was at once set on
foot. The command was given to Captain-lieutenant
Petr Kumich Krenitzin, who was to select his com-
panions.^ All were placed under the immediate com-
mand of the governor of Siberia, and were to proceed
to the newly discovered islands on the vessels of
traders, one on each, without assuming any command,
turning their attention solely to taking astronomical
observations and to noting all they saw. At the same

' The results of this expedition were published by Coxe in 1780. He ob-
tained hia information principally from the hiatorian Kobertson, who had been
granted access to the archives of the navy aepartment by the cmpreas. Pallaa
translated Coxe's account into his Nordiache Beitrage, published in 1781; and
in tlie some year a Russian translation appeared in the Acadrmic Monthly and
was republished in the selections from the monthly, Robertson, however,
had no opportunity to look into the details of the organization and manage-
ment of tue expedition, and confined himself to results; consequently the
actual details of the enterprise remained unknown until Sokolof investigated
the subject, having access to the original journals and charts. Zap. Hydr. ,
X. 17-71.

* A portion of the oukaz reads as follows: ' We promise our imperi.il good-
will not only to the commander of the expedition but to all his subordinates,
and assure them that upon their safe return from their voyage every participant
shall be advanced one step in rank and be entitled to a life pension in propor-
tion to the salaiy received during the voyage. On account of the distance to
bo traversed and the hardships to be encountered, I grant to each member of
the expedition double pay and allowance of subsistence from the time of de-
parture to the day of return; this extra allowance to continue for a period of
two years.' Sokolof, Irkutsk Archives. With the final instructions the gra-
cious sovereign forwarded to Governor Chicherin a gold watch for each of the
oificers in command.

' In order to mislead the public with regard to the objects of the expedi-
tion the admiralty college gave it the official name of ' An Expedition for the
Exploration of the Forests on the rivers Kama and Brela. Sokolqf, Zap.
Hydr., 75.

j'iiiN:

■ ! h

W,: f

IGO

IMPERIAL EFFOBIS AND FAILURES.

time the governor was informed that if he deemed it
better to employ government vessels, he might engage
ships of the promyshleniki, or build new crafts, and
despatch Krenitzin and his chief assistant on two of
the latter, independent of the trader's fleet.'

Krenitzin was promoted to captain of the second
rank, and Lieutenant Mikhail Levashef, whom the
commander had chosen for his chief assistant, to be
captain-lieutenant. All the subalterns were advanced
one step in rank, as had been promised them. Tho
command took its departure from St Petersburg the
1st of July 1764, arriving in Tobolsk the 17th of Sep-
tember.' At this place the expedition was reenforced
by ten cadets from the local school of navigation, and
also provided with additional supplies and stores. They
left Tobolsk at the beginning of March 1765, arriving
at Yakutsk in July and at Okhotsk in October, after
a difficult journey over the tundra and mountains in-
tervening between Yakutsk and the sea.**

•The instructions of the governor began with these words: 'Fully aware
of your knowledge and your zeal for the glory of her Imperial Majesty, and
the benefit of your country, the admiralty college expects you to employ all
your ardor and perseverance in the prosecution of this enterprise. ' There was
also a ' secret addition' to these instructions. Believing that the expedition
about to be despatched along the Arctic coast of Siberia under command of
Chichagof , to search for the north-east passage, would finally reach Kamchatka
and meet there the vessels of the Krenitzin expedition, tlie admiralty college
thought it necessary to establish a code of signals known to the commanders
of both squadrons. These signals consisted of an extraordinary arrangement
of the sails, frequent lowering and hoisting of flags, and discharges of canuou.
In their endeavors to provide for all contingencies the framers of these instruc-
tionsalso suggested that in times of fog, and in theabsence of (ire-armsorammu-
nition, tlie vessels shouVd approach each other as nearly as possible, when the
command was to shout three times ' aga'il' in a manner similar to the shout of
' hurrah ! ' by troops, and if the other vessel should answer with the same
cry, three times re; eated, the crew of the first was again to shout, * Boshe
pomogi ! ' God help you, also three times, and await from the other vessel the
reply, ' Da, pomoshet i nam 1' yes, he will help us. Then when all these sig-
nals had been correctly answered tiie crew of the first vessel was to shout,
' Umnak Island!' three times, and await an answer from the other crew of
' Onnekotan Island ! ' three times repeated. Irkutsk Archives; Sokolof, Zap.
Hydr., x. 76-7. Sokolof also mentions that the expedition was fitted out
with 12 quadrants and the cbarts of Bering, of the merchant Shishkin, and of
Vertlugof; those of the last two covering respectively the Aleutian Islands
and north-eastern Siberia and Japan.

^ The subaltern oificers consisted of seven mates, Dudin 1st, Dudin 2d,
Shebanof, Krasheninnikof, Chineuoi, Stepauof, and Sralef; one corporal, and
four quartermasters. Zap, Hydr., x. 77-8.

' At Yakutsk Krenitzin received another batch of instructions from the

THE ROYAL BENEDICTIOX.

181

Upon the receipt of full reports of the expedition,
the thrice gracious and benignant Catherine ex-
pressed her thanks to Governor Chicherin for all his
arrangements in a special rescript, hoping for com-
plete success of the undertaking. The empress also
thanked the governor for " framing such wise instruc-
tions." In alluding to the departure of Krenitzin
for the coast from Yakutsk she wrote : '* May the
Almighty bless his journey. I am sure that you will
not slacken your zeal in promoting the enterprise,
and whatever occurs during the journey worthy of
note you will report to me at once. I am now wait-
ing with impatience news of his farther progress."'

When Krenitzin arrived at Okhotsk he found to
his great disappointment that the vessels intended for
his use were not ready, the keels only having bee
laid and a few timbers selected for the frames. Al
labor had been suspended for lack of timber. When
Chicherin was informed of this he instructed Kre-
nitzin to temporarily supersede Captain Rtishchef,
second in command of Okhotsk, and to superintend
ill person the construction of his vessels. If he should
find it impossible to complete the ships, he was au-
thorized to engage others from the traders. Through
Colonel Plenisner, Krentzin also encountered obstacles
to his progress.^"

prolificpenof Chicherin, ftdvisine the commander toobtainfrom the merchants
who had already visited the Aleutian Isles, a detailed description of their
discoveries, and to locate them on his charts; to turn his special attention to
the large and populous island of Kadiak, which should be circumnavigated if
Ijossiblo and thoroughly explored in order to ascertain whether it was an
island or mainland. Irkutsk Archivts; Sokolqf, x. 78-9; Sarych^', ii. 37; Pal-
hia, Nord. Beitr., i. 282.

*The imperial rescripts are in Trkulnk Archives; Zapiahi Hydr., dated Oct.
11, 1764; April 11, July II, and Oct. 12, 1705.

'" Col. rieuisner, who commanded the military station at Okhotsk, quar.
relied with Krenitzin and sent complaints to Irkutsk. The governor wrote to
Krenitzin, instead of replying to the accuser, aa follows: ' Perhaps Plenisner
will cause you trouble. Brom my knowledge of you, and I had the honor of
knowing you for some f.me at Tobolsk, I conclude that you will give him no
provocation; but I do not know Plenisner personally. It seems to me that
there is something in the air of Okhotsk that causes all officers stationed there
to -^uarrel.' After assuring Krenitzin of his sincere friendship, the governor
' • sed him to avoid all petty quaiTels in order not to didplcase the empress,
aiiU concluded af. follows: ' If Plenisner seriously interferes with your arrangv •
HiBT. Almka. 11

162

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

At last, in August 1766, the ships were completed
and launched, a brigantine called the Sv Ekaterina
and a hooker, the Sv Pavel; two others, old vessels,
had also been fitted out, the galiot Sv Pavel and the
Gavriiy^ The squadron sailed from Okhotsk the 10th
of October. The third day out, at a distance of only
ten leagues from Okhotsk, all the vessels became sep-
arated from each other. On the I7th Krenitzin first
sighted land in latitude 53° 45', and the following day
the brigantine was discovered to be leaking badly,
rendering it necessary to run for the land. A gale
arose, and the result was a total wreck twenty-five
versts north of Bolsheretsk, near the small river Ontok,
the crew reaching the shore in safetv the 24th. Lev-
ashef, on the hooker Sv Pavel, sighted the coast of
Kamchatka on the 18th, and on the 22d approached
the harbor of Bolsheretsk, but waited to take advan-
tage of a spring tide to cross the bar. On the follow-
ing day a storm came up, causing the vessel to break
from her cables. Levashef attempted to put to sea,
but failing he finally ran the ship ashore on the 24th,
about seven versts from Bolsheretsk River. The
crew and the greater part of the cargo were landed.
The Sv Gavril succeeded in entering Bolsheretsk
harbor, but was overtaken by the same storm and cast
upon the beach. The galiot Sv Pavel drifted out oi"
her course into the Pacific, and after more than two
months of agony the thirteen survivors, among whom
was the commander, found themselves on one of the

ments, I give yoti permission to report directly to her Imperial Majesty, and
to the admiralty college, but I hope that God will not let it come to that,
and that He will give you peace and good -will. Such is my sincere wish.'
Jrkufsh Archives; Zap. Ilydr., %. 80; Morskoi Sbomik, cv. 49-50.

"The expeditionary force was distributed aa follows: the Sv Ekaterina,
commanded oy Krenitein, carried 72 men; the hooker »5j; Pavel, commanded
by Levashef, 52; the galiot Sv Pavel, commanded by Dudin 2d, 43; and the
Sv Qavril, commanded by Dudin 1st, 21. The cost of fitting out the expedi-
tion reached the sum of 100,837 rubles, then a large amount of money. The
empress wrote Chicherin on the subject of expense under date of May 28,
I7G4: ' Perhaps the execution of my plans will involve some expendittire of
money, and therefore I authorize you to employ for the purpose the first funds
coming into vour treasury, sending a strict account of expenditure to the
admiralty college.' Zap. ilydr., x. 81.

Hard

flour. .

Gf routs.

Salt.

liutter

Meat . .

E>ried fii

Salt fish

Brandj

Casks c

Wood,

Powder ,

, ,T''e ad

lalconeta

iikiusk

THE SQUADRON SCATTEEED.

163

Kurile Islands with their vessel a wreck. Such was
the beginning, and might as well have been the end,
of the empress' grand scientific expedition.

The shipwrecked crews passed the winter at Bol-
sheretsk, where they were joined during the following
summer by mate Dudin 2d, and the survivors of the
crew of the wrecked galiot. The hooker Sv Pavel and
the Sv Gavril were repaired, Levashef taking com-
mand of the former with a crew of fifty-eight, while
Krenitzin sailed in the latter with a crew of sixty-
six. Each vessel was provided with a lai^e bidar.
Sailing from Bolsheretsk the 17th of August 1767,
the expedition arrived at Nishekamchatsk on the 6th
of September. Here another winter must be passed.
The Sv Gavril was unfit for navigation, and Kren-
itzin concluded to take the galiot Sv Ekaterina, Synd,
commander, just returned." Chichagof, about the
meeting with whom the admiralty college had been

" For a description of bidars and bidarkaa see NcUive Races, vol. i., this
series. The galiot Sv Ekaterina had 3 mates, 1 second mate, 3 cadets, 1
boatswain, 1 boatswain's mate, 2 quartermasters, 1 clerk, 1 surgeon, 1 ship's
corporal, 1 blacksmith, 1 carpenter, I boat-builder, 1 sail-maker, 1 infantry
soldier, 41 Cossacks, 9 sailors, and 2 Aleuts — a total of 72. The hooker Sv
Pavel, carried 4 mates, 4 cadets, 4 quartermasters, 1 surgeon, 1 ship's corporal,

1 locksmith, 1 carpenter, 1 turner, 1 soldier, 38 Cossacks, 5 promyshleniki,

2 Aleuts, and 1 volunteer, a Siberian nobleman. The provisions were dis-
tributed as follows:

Galiot, St EkaleriHa.

Hard bread

Flour

Groats

Salt

Butter

Meat

Dried fish, bundles of.

Salt fish, barrels

Brandy, buckets

Casks of water.

Wood, fathoms

Powder

Pound''..

476

134

286

Hooker, St Pavd.

Flour

Groats

Salt

Butter

Meat

Dried fish, bundles of,

Salt fish, barrels

Brandy, buckets

Casks of water

Wood, fathoms

Powder

Pound*.

604

168

103

100

201

The armament consisted of 2 copper half-pound falconets, 2 small iron
falconets and 1 large iron cannon, 39 muskets, 6 musketoons, and 13 rifles.
Irkutsk Archivts; Zap. Hydr., ix. 68-9.

164

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

SO anxious, had in the mean time already accomplished
two journeys, 1765-6, also attended by misfortune.
The winter was passed by the men in boiling sea-
water for salt, and in making tar out of spruce. They
also constructed two large bidars and some water-
casks, and in the spring all hands were busy fishing.
By the first of April the ice began to disappear from
the river, and on the 1st of July both vessels were
ready for sea. The Krenitzin expedition was not
only unlucky, but it seemed to carry a curse with it.
One of the crew of the Sv Pavel, a Cossack named
Taborukin, landed in Kamchatka not quite cured of
an attack of small-pox and infected the whole neigh-
borhood. In two years the population was more than
decimated."

On the 21st of June the ships were towed out of
the mouth of the Kamchatka River, and on the 22d
they spread their sails, steering an easterly course and
stopping at Bering Island for w^ater. Owing to con-
trary winds their progress was slow, and on the 11th
of August, in latitude 54° 33', the two ships became
separated during a strong south-south-west gale and
thick weather. On the 14th of August Krenitzin
sighted the islands of Signam and Amukhta; on the
20th of the same month he reached the strait between
Umnak and Unalaska, called by him Oonalaksha.
Here he met with the first Aleuts, whom he was to
know only too well in the future. These natives were
evidently acquainted with Russians, for on approach-
ing the vessel they cried "zdorovol" good health;
they also asked, "Why do you come? Will you live
quietly and peacefully with our people?" They were
assured that the new arrivals would not only live in
peace but make many presents. This was the 1st
of November, and the Aleuts returned to Unalaska.
On the 22d Levashef's craft also appeared and both
vessels proceeded together to a bay on the north side
of Unalaska, Captain Harbor. Here they laid in a

" Sgibn^, in Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 46-7.

been dis
and Pus
above th
Island,
'ng to C
nak; Ho
'*Lev
inner ba'
and noar'
can still
being sti
gr.".«£e8 i

THE RUSSIANS AT UNALASKA.

166

supply of fresh water with the assistance of the na-
tives. On the following day an Aleut reported that
the inhabitants of Akutan and Unalga had killed
fifteen of Lapin's crew who had wintered on Unga.
Without investigating the report both commanders
hoisted their anchors and proceeded northward. On
the 30th of August they entered the strait between
Uniraak and the peninsula. The hooker grounded,
but was released next day without damage, aad the
search for a wintering harbor was continued."

On the 5th of Septembei* the two ships separated
not to meet again until the following spring. On the
18th of September Krenitzin succeeded in finding a
beach adapted to haul up his vessel for the winter on
the island of Unimak, while Levashef proceeded to
Unalaska and anchored on the 16th of September in
the innermost cove of Captain Harbor, still known by
his name.^

About the middle of October, before Krenitzin had
succeeded in erecting winter-quarters of drift-wood,
the only material at hand, two large bidars appeared
filled with natives who demanded presents. They
received some trifles with a promise of additional gifts
if they would come to the ship. In the mean time
the strange ts had questioned the interpreter, anxious
to discover the strength of Krenitzin's crew, when
suddenly one of the natives threw his spear at the
Russians. Nobody was injured and the savages
retreated under a severe fire of muskets and cannon
from ship and shore. Fortunately the cannonade

** Krenitziu's iBStructions contained a statement that a good harbor had
been discovered in that locality by Bechevin's vessel commanded by Golodof
and Pushkaref in 1762. Neue JVaehr., 52. It has already been intimated
above that Bcchevin did not actually reach the peninsula, then called Alaksha
Island, but wintered on Unalaska, which abounds in good harbors. Accord-
ing to Ck)ok, Oonemak; La, P^rouse, Ouinnak; Sutil y MfX., Viage, Isla Uni-
mak; Holmberg, /. Unimak. Carlog. Pac. Coant, MS., iii. 450.

" Levashef chose for his wintering place an anchorage at the head of the
inner bay of lUiuliuk, sheltered by two little islands from the north wind,
and near the mouth of two excellent trout-streams. The location of his camp
can still be traood, the ground-plan of four great subteri-anean winter-huts
Ixiing still plainly visible, though now covered with a luxuriant growth of
gnisees and shrubs • . ■ . . ^-.. ,

166

IMPEKIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

proved as harmless as the spear-throwing. Insignifi-
cant as was this encounter, it proved the oeginning of
bitter strife. All the subsequent meetings with the
natives were of a hostile character. While exploring
the peninsula shore two Cossacks were wounded by
spears thrown by hidden savages, and one night a
native crawled up stealthily to within a few yards of
the Russian huts, but was discovered, and fled.*"

In the month of December scurvy appeared, the
first victim being a Cossack who had been wounded
by the savages. In January 1769 the number of
sick had reached twenty-two, and in April only twelve
of the company were free from disease, and those were
much weakened by hunger. The whole number of
deaths during the winter was thirty-six. During
December and January the savages kept away, but
in February they once more made their appearance,
and a few traded furs, whale-meat, and seal-blubber
for beads." On the 10th of May some natives brought
letters from Levashef, and the messengers received
a liberal compensation. On the 24th the galiot was
launched once more, and on the 6th of June Levashef
joined Krenitzin's party.

Levashef had also met with misfortune during the
winter. It is true that the natives did not attack
him because the promyshleniki who had passed the
preceding winter at Unalaska had left in his hands
thirty-three hostages, the children of chiefs, but rumors
were constantly afloat of intended attacks, making it

'^Krenitzin's journal states that during the night numerous voices were
beard on the strait, and guns were twice discharged in the direction of the
camp, while signals could bo distingnished imitating the cry of the sea-lion.
On account of the impending danger five sentries were posted. Irkutek Ar-
chives; Zap. Hydr., ix. 91.

'^ The tutily journal of Krenitzin contains an entry to the effect that on the
night of the 11th of April several bidars were discovered in the strait, and
that they were fired upon twice by the Russians with canister. Such treat-
ment certainly did not serve to pacify the natives. It seems that during the
whole winter it had been the practice to fire from time to time during the
night in order to 'prevent any savages skulking abont from attempting an
attack. ' Three times during the winter severe shocks of eartliqu^e wore
felt — on January 15th, February 20th, and March 16th. KremtaiVB Journal;
Irkutsk Archives; Znp. Ilydr., x. 01-2. ...j,. ., ;. -_.■ . .

END OP THE GRAND UNDERTAKINQ.

on the
it, and

treat-
ing the
ing the
ting an

e were
ournoi;

necessary to exercise vigilance. Lack of food and fuel
caused great suffering among the crew; it was impos-
sible to live comfortably on board the ship, and the
huts constructed of drift-wood were frequently thrown
down by the furious gales of winter. The weather
was very boisterous throughout the season, and in
May the number of sick had reached twenty-seven."
Obviously they must return; so on thfe 23d of June
both vessels left their anchorage. During the voyage
they became separated, Krenitzin arriving at Kam-
chatka the 29th of July, and Levashef on the 24th
of August.*'

The winter was passed by the expedition at Nishe-
kamchatsk, but as there were little provisions and
no money the suffering was great. The only avail-
able source of supply was the dried fish of the natives,
which had to be purchased at exorbitant prices.** On
the 4th of July both vessels were ready for sea, when
Captain Krenitzin attempting to cross the river in a
dug-out, the frail craft capsized and he was drowned.
Levashef assumed command, and having assigned
Dudin 2d to the galiot he sailed from Kamchatka
the 8th, arriving at Okhotsk the 3d of August. Le-
vashef returned to St Petersburg, arriving there the
22d of October 1771; seven years and four months
from his departure. The expedition was a praise-
worthy effort, but miserably carried out.

Meanwhile, fresh information had reached St Peters-
burg of the successes of the Russian promyshleniki
on the Aleutian Islands, telling the empress and her

>* Levaahers journal under date of December 16th contains the following:
'Nearly all the men say that we are doomed to perish, that we have been
abandoned by God ; we have bad food, and but little of that, and we can find
no shelter from the snow-storms and rain.' L«oashef» Journal; Irkutsk
Archives; Zap. Hydr., x. 93.

'•Zap. Hydr., x. 94; Coxe's Russian Lis., 300; Pallas, Nord. Beitr., i.
279.

'"' An entry in Krenitzin's journal states that 200 pounds of flour were
sent from Bolsheretsk to his relief, but it spoiled in transmittal. Nineteen
barrels of salt fiah were also transported overland across the peninsula. On
the 28th of September 1769, and on the 4th of May 1770, heavy earthquakes
occurred, and on the latter date the Kluchevskaia volcano was in eruption.
Krenitzin's Journal; Zap. Hydr., X. 9i. ,

!■■

168

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

learned society a hundredfold more of Alaska than
they were ever to learn from their special messengers.
Tolstykh reported that during a cruise among the
islands in ^is ship Andreian i Natalia, 1760 to 1764,
he subjugated six islands and named them the
Andreienof group, as we have seen. Another re-
port stated that four vessels of one company had
been despatched in 1762 to Unalaska and Umnak.
Glottof reported that he had wintered at Kadiak in
1763. In 1766, as already stated, the merchant Shilof
arrived at St Petersburg and was presented to the
empress."

An important change of government policy now took
place in the treatment of the Aleuts. Upon Krenit-
zin's representations the collection of tribute by the
promyshleniki and Cossacks was prohibited by an

" The information furnished by Levashef's journal was divided into four
heads: A description of the island of Unalaska; the inhabitants; tribute;
traiSc. The description was superficial, adding scarcely anything to previous
accounts. In regard to tribute Levashef stated that it was paid only by those
who had given their children as hostages. The promyshleniki's mode of car-
rying on trade is described as follows: 'The Russians have for some years
Ct been accustomed to repair to these islands in quest of furs of which they
e imposed a tax upon the inhabitants. They go in the autumn to Bering
and Copper islands, and there pass tlie winter employing themselves in killing
fur -seals and sea-lions. The flesh of the latter is prepared for food, and is
esteemed a great delicacy. The skins of the sea-lions are carried to the eustem
islands. The followiug summer they sail eastward to the Fox Islands and
again haul up their ships for the winter. They then endeavor to procure by
force, or by persuasion, children as hostages, generally the sons of chiefs;
this accomplished they deliver fox-trapa to the inhabitants and also sea-lion
skins for the manufacture of bidarkas, for which they expect in return furs
and provisions during the winter. After obtaining from the savages a certain
quantity of furs as tribute or tax, foi which they give receipts, the promysh-
leniki pay for the remainder in beads, corals, woollen cloth, copper kettles,
hatchets, etc. In the spring they get back their traps and deliver the hostages.
They dare not hunt alone or in small numbers. These people could not com-
prehend for some time for what purpose the Russians imposed a tribute of
skins which they did not keep themselves, for their own chiefs had no revenue;
nor could they be made to believe that there were any more Russians in
existence than those who came among them, for in their own country all the
men of an island go out together.' The most important part of Levashef's
report is the description of the inhabitants, which furnishes some valuable
ethnological information. See Native Races, passim, this series. The hydro-
graphic results of the expedition were meagre. The navigators of this costly
enterprise had no means of ascertaining the longitude, and consequently their
observations were very unsatisfactory. They located Unimak, Unalaska, and
Umnak between latitudes 53° 29' and 54° 38'. Special charts were made of
Unimak, the northern coast of Unalaska, and the harbor of St Paul, now
known as Captain Harbor. Levashef's Journal; Irkutsk Archives; Zap. Hydr,,
X. 97-203; Coxe's Russian Di*., 220-2.

SUBSEQUENT EXPEDITIONS.

1G9

imperial oukaz.^ Tiie business of fitting-out trading
expeditions for the Aleutian Isles continued about as
usual, notwithstanding the terrible risks and misfor-
tunes. Of hunting expeditions to discovered islands it
is not necessary to give full details.

In the year 1768 a company of three merchants,
Zassypkin, Orekhof, and Moukhin, despatched the
ship Sv Nikolai to the islands, meeting with great
success; the vessel returned in 1773 with a cargo con-
sisting of 2,450 sea-otters and 1,127 blue foxes.*" The
Sv Andrei — Sv Adrian according to Berg — belonging
to Poloponissof and Popof, sailed from Kamchatka in
1769. in 1773 she was wrecked on the return voy-
age in tne vicinity of Ouda River. The cargo, con-
sisting of 1,200 sea-otters, 996 black foxes, 1,419 cross
foxes, and 593 red foxes, was saved.^ The same year
sailed from Okhotsk the Sv Prokop, owned by the
merchants Okoshinikof and Protodiakonof. She re-
turned after four years with an insignificant cargo of
250 sea-otters, 20 black and 40 cross foxes.^' In 1770
the ship Sv Alexandr Nevski, the property of the mer-
chant Serebrennikof, sailed for the islands and returned
after a four years' voyage with 2,340 sea-otters and
1,130 blue foxes.*" Shilof, Orekhof, and Lapin, in July
of the same year, fitted out once more the old ship Sv
Pavel at Okhotsk, and despatched her to the islands
under command of the notorious Solovief. By this
time the Aleuts were evidently thoroughly subjugated,

"Berg claims that this ookaz was not issued until 1779, 10 years af^^r
Krenitzin returned. Khronol. 1st., 80, Berg's statements concerning the
Krenitzin expedition are brief and vague. The best authority on the subject
now extant is Sokolof, who had access to the archives of Irkutsk, and who
published the results of his investigation in volume x. of Zap. Ilydr. The
description of Krenitzin's voyage in Coxe'a Rusxian Dis., 221 et seq., is based
to a certain extent on questionable authority, but it was translated verbally
by Pallas in his Nord. Beitr., i. 249-72. The same account was copied in
German in Duarhhvfa Majazine, vol. xvi., and strangely enough retranslated
into Russian by Sarychef.

^ lierg, Khronol. 1st., app.; Grewinrjh, Beitr., 317.

"Berg, Khronol. Int., 04-0, app. The nature of the cargo proves that the
voyage extended at least to Unalaska.

"* Ilerg, Khronol. 1st., G7. No reason for the ill-success of this venture has
been transmitted.

**Bt'rg, Khronol. 1st., SO.

I'iWi

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILUREa

as the man who had slaughtered their brethren by
hundreds during his former visit passed four addi-
tional years in safety among them, and then returned
with an exceedingly valuable cargo of 1,900 sea-otters,
1,493 black, 2,115 cross, and 1,275 red foxes. Ho
claims to have reached the Alaska neninsula, and de-
scribes Unimak and adjoining islanas."

The next voyage on record is that of Potap Zaikof,
a master in the navy, who entered the service of the
Shilof and Lapin company, and sailed from Okhotsk
on the 22d of September 1772, in the ship Sv Vladi-
mir. Zaikof had with him a peredovchik named Sho-
ehin and a crew of sixty-nine men.^ At the outset
this expedition was attended with misfortune. Driven
north, the mariners were obliged to winter there,
then after tempest-tossings south they finally reached
Copper Ibland, where they spent the second winter.

Zaikof made a careful survey of the island, the first
on record, though promyshlemki had visited the spot
annually for over twenty-five years. Almost a year
elapsed before Zaikof set sail again on the 2d of July
17 < 4, and for some unexplained reason twenty-three
dayh. were consumed in reaching Attoo, only seventy
leagi distant. Having achieved this remarkablo
feat h. remained there till the 4th of July follow-
ing. Th progress of Zaikof on his eastward course
was so sli V that it becomes necessary to look after a
few other expeditions which had set out since his de-
parture.

The ship ArJchangel Sv Mikhail, the property of
Kholodilof, was fitted out in 1772, and sailed from Bol-
sheretsk on the 8th of September with Master Dmitri
Polutof as commander, and a crew of sixty-three men.
This vessel also was beached by a storm on the coast

^PcdUu, Nord. Beitr., viii. 320-34; St Peteraburger Zeiting, 1782— an ex-
tract from Solovief's ioumal. Another Sv Pavel, despatched in 1774 by a
Tobolsk trader named Ossokin, was wrecked immediately after setting sail
from Okhotsk. Cfrewingk, Beitr., 310.

*'Berg, Khronol. lat., 87 J Pallas, Nord. Beitr., iii. 274-88; Grewinqk,
Beitr., ilL 18.

PCLUTOP AND ZAiKOP.

ol-

itri

len.

)ast

,n ex-

by ft
g sail

fi«(/i»

of Kamchatka; after which, passing the tardy Zaikof,
Polutof went to Unalaska, where ho remained two
years, trading peaceably,and then proceeded toKadiak.
On this last trip he set out on the 15th of Juno 177G,
taking with him some Aleutian hunters and inter-
preters. After a voyage of nine days the Sv Mikhail
anchored in a capacious bay on the east coast of the
island, probably the bay of Oojak on the shores of
which the Orlova settlement was subsequently founded.
The natives kept away from the vicinity of the harbor
for some time, and a month elapsed before they ventured
to approach the Russians. They were heavily armed,
extremely cautious in their movements, and evidently
but little inclined to listen to friendly overtures.
Polutof perceived that it was useless to remain under
such circumstances. He finally wintered at Atkha,
and the following year returned, landing at Nishekam-
chatsk. The total yield of this adventure was 3,720
sea-otters, 488 black, 431 cross, 204 red, 901 blue foxes,
and 143 fur-seals.*

Thus Polutof accomplished an extended and profit-
able voyage, while the trained navigator Zaikof was
yet taking preparatory steps, moving from island to
island, at the rate of one hundred miles per annum.**
The latter had on the 4th of July 1775 sailed from
Attoo, leaving ten men behind to hunt during his
absence. On the 19th the Sv Vladimir reached Um-
nak, where another vessel, the Sv Yei^l, or St Jewell,
owned by the merchant Burenin, and despatched in
1773 from Nishekamshatsk, was already anchored.
Aware of the bloody scenes but lately acted there-
about, Zaikof induced the commander of the Sv Yepvl

* Bn-g, Khronol. I»t., app.

*" From papers furnished him by TimofeVf Shmalef, Berg heard of another
vessel belongug to the merchants Grigor and Fetr Panof, which sailed for
the islands in 1 772. Khronol. 1st. , 96-7 ; Oretvingk, Beitr. ,.319. Another voyage
iindertnkcu in 1772 is described by Pallas in Nord. Beitr., ii. 308-24, under
the following L'.tle: 'Des Peredofschik's Dimitry Bragin Bericht von einer in»
Jahre 1772 angctretencn einjiihrigcn Scereise zu den zwischen Kamtschatka
und Amerika gelegenen Inseln.' Since Grewingk describes this voyage as oc-
cupying the four years from 1772 to 1776, it is rather doubtful whether the
description applies to the one year voyage of Bragin.

f'^IM

'r ll

;ii

172

IMPERIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

Bkagin's Map.

»» VVit

owners of
otiier
Ill's nu

;l;ilil

GREAT HARVEST OF FURS.

173

to hunt on joint account.'^ The agreement was that
the Sv Yevpl should remain at Umnak with thirty-
five men, while the Sv Vladimir, with sixty men
and fully provisioned, was to set out in search of
new discoveries. On rejoining, the furs obtained by
the two parties were to be divided. Zaikof sailed
eastward on the 3d of August, and in three weeks
reached the harbor where Krenitzin wintered with
the Sv Ekaterina. Here the commander of the expe-
dition considered himself entitled to a prolonged rest,
and consequently he remained stationary for three
years, making surveys of the neighborhood while his
crew attended to the business of hunting and trap-
ping.*^

On the 27th of May 1778 the Sv Vladimir put to
sea once more, steering for the bay where the com-
panion ship was anchored. Upon this brief passage,
which at that time of the year can easily be accom-
pHshed in three days, Zaikof managed to spend fifty-
throe days. At last, however, the juncture of the two
sliips was efiected and the furs were duly divided, but
after attending to these arduous duties the captain
concluded to wait another year before taking his final
departurt> for Okhotsk. Not until the 9th of May
1779 did Zaikof sail from Umnak, and after brief
stoppages at Attoo and Bering islands the Sv Vladi-
mir found herself safely anchored in the harbor of
Okhotsk on the Gth of September.^

*' The Sv Yevpl sailed for the islands in 1773, and returned in 1779. lu
the cargo wore &A land-otters, the first shipped by the promysldeniki, and
proving that this vessel must have readied the continent. Ber<j, Khronol, 1st. ,
07, app. A comparison of this cargo with the furs carried back by the Sv Vla-
dimir would indicate that Zaikof must have taken the lion's share on closing
the paio^iership.

"' Berg thought it improbable tliat Zaikof should have known anything of
a.stronomical observations (he was a master in the navy!), but he acknowl-
edged that Zaikof did discover an error committed by Captain Krenitzin in
placing Ilia anchorage five degrees too far to the westward. Khronol. ht,, 08.

°' With all his apparently unnecessary delays, Zaikof in his report to the
owners of tlie vessel made a very goid showing compared with the results ot
other voyages. During an absence of more than 7 years he lost but 12 out of
his numerous crew, and his cargo consisted of 4,.37'2 sea-otters, 3,049 foxes of
different kinds, 92 li^nd-otters, 1 wolverene and 3 wolves — the first brought
from America — 18 minks, 1,725 fur-seals, and 350 pounds of walrus ivory, the

^1, !' 1

-'.t

i?S

174

mPEBIAL EFFORTS AND FAILURES.

' Two of the owners of the Sv Vladimir, Orekhof and
Lapin, proceeded to St Petersburg with a present of
three hundred choice black foxes for the empress.
The gift was graciously received ; the donors were en-
tertained at the imperial palace, decorated with gold
medals, and admitted to an interview with Ca.tberine,
who made the most minute inquiries into tha opera-
tions of her subjects in the easternmost conf.nes of her
territory. The indebtedness of the firm to the gov-
ernment for nautical instruments and supplies, timber,
and taxes, was also remitted."

It has been elsewhere mentioned that the promy-
shleniki and traders occasionally ventured upon voy-
ages from the coast of Kamchatka to the eastward
islands in open boats or bidars. Two of these expe-
ditions took place in 1772, under the auspices of a
merchant named Ivan Novikof. The voyage of over
a thousand miles from Bolsheretsk around the south-
ern extremity of Kamchatka to the islands was twice
safely performed, the whole enterprise netting the
owners 15,600 rubles. Considering the higher value
of money in those times and the insignificant outlay
required in this instance, the enterprise met with en-
couraging success.

From this time to the visit of Captain Cook, single
traders and small companies continued the traffic with
the islands in much the same manner as before, though
a general tendency to consolidation was perceptible.

whole valued at 300,416 rubles. Berg declares that at the prices established
by the Rnssion-American Company at the time of his writing, 1812, the same
furs would have bten worth 1,603,588 rubles. Khronol. 1st., 91-3.

'* Berg also states that this present was mode after the return of the i9i;
Vladimir from the islands, but he speaks of the journey of Orekhof and Lapin
as having taken place in 1776. The discrepancy may be owing to a typo-
granhioalerror. Khronol. Jut., 93-4.

"In 1774 the merchants Protodiakonof and Okoshinikof fitted out the
ship 8v Prokop for the second 'Ime, but on her return from a fourth cruise
the owners refused to engage again in such enterprises, having barely covered
expenses during a period of eight years.

t the
jruise
vereil

CHAPTER IX.

EXPLORATION AND TRADB.

1770-1787.

PoLiTiOAL Changes at St PETEBSBnBo — Exiles to Siberia — The Lono
WEABr Wat to Kamchatka — The Bentovski Conspiracy— The Au-
thor Bad enough, but not so Bad as He would like to Appear —
Exile Regulations — Forqery, Treachery, Robbery, and Murder —
Escape of the Exiles — Bghh Appointed to Succeed Nilof as Com-
mandant OF Kamchatica— Further Hunting Voyages— First Trad-
ing Expedition to the Mainland— Potop ZaIkof — Prince Willum
Sound— Ascent of Copper River — Treacherous Chugaches — Plight
OF the Russians — Home op the Fur-heals — Its Discovery by Oerah-
SIM Pribylof — Jealousy of Rival Companies.

It was a time of rapid and sweeping political changes
at the imperial court. All along the road to Siberia,
to Yakutsk, and even to Okhotsk and Kamchatka, one
batch of exiles followed another, political castaways,
prisoners of war, or victims of too deep diplomacy,
as much out of place in this broad, bleak penitentiary
as would be promyshleniki and otters in St Peters-
burg. In one of these illustrious bands was a Polish
count, Augustine Benyovski by name,* who had
played somewhat too recklessly at conspiracy. Nor
was Siberia to deprive him of this pastime. Long
before he reached Yakutsk he had plotted and organ-
ized a secret society of exiles with himself as chief.
The more prominent of the other members were a
Doctor Hoffman, a resident of Yakutsk, Major Wind-
blath. Captain Panof, Captain Hipolite Stepanof,
Colonel Baturin, and Sopronof, the secretary of the

' Sgibnef states that Benyovski did not call himself count or baron in
Kamcnatka, but simply beinoek or beinak. Morekoi Sbomik, cii. 51.

("6)

I -4:

«l.r|

S'HiPi

. ^ j,.

176

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

r'- ii

society.' The object of this association very naturally
was to get its members out of limbo; or in other words
mutual assistance on the part of the members in
making their escape from Siberia. The chief exacted
from each his signature to a written agreement, done
in the vicinity of Yakutsk, and dated the 27th of
August 1770. After a month of tedious progresc
through the wastes of eastern Siberia, the count's
party was overtaken by a courier from Yakutsk who
claimed to have important despatches for the com-
mander of Okhotsk; at the same time he reported
that Dr Hoffman was dead. The suspicions of iJen-
yovski and his companions were aroused. Persuad-
mg the tired courier that he needed a little rest, they
feasted him well, and after nightfall while he slept
they ransacked his satchel, and took therefrom a
formidable-looking document which proved to contain
an exposd of their plans, obtained from Hoffman's
papers. Benyovski was equal to the emergency. He
wrote another letter upon official paper, with which
he had provided himself at Yakutsk, full of the most
sober recommendations of the exiles to the commander
of Okhotsk. This document was inserted into the
pilfered envelope, and carried forward to its destina-
tion by the unsuspecting messenger.'

The forged letter did its work. When Benyovski
and his companions arrived at Okhotsk they were
received with the greatest kindness by Colonel Plen-
isner,* the commandant, who regarded them as unfor-
tunate gentlemen, like himself, not for a moment to
be placed in the category of criminals. Hence he
granted them every privilege, and supplied them freely
with food, clothing, and even arras. Being a man of
little education and of dissipated habits, Plenisner was

' * BenyovahVa Memoirs and TrawJs, i. 67.

• BtmjovsWa Memoirs and Travels, i. 72; Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 97.

* This man was probably the same mentioned in connection with the second
expedition of Bering (>nd Shestakof's campaign in the Chukchi country, and
wlio was appointed to the command of Kamchatka in January 1701, for a
term of five years. Sgibn^^, in Morskoi Shorn ik, cii. 37-8.

i. 79-8(
«Be:
that til
<lnmkei
mand i
sail am,
on boar
the bottf
quently
8ion. "
Jshiga,
successjoi
already I
i"g failc
to ad van
yal exj
'11 failure
following
Ist. Tlie
«'ith food
ence. 2d
pound of ;
with whit
location ^^
eminent
Payments
i-ach exil(
"iiil they
'loiira with
treasury o
i^^nuiiiea an

THE BOASTFUL BENYOVSKl.

easily deceived by the plausible tongue of the courtly
Pole, who quickly perceived that he had made an
egregiius mistake in framing his forged letter. He
saw that residence at Okhotsk promised favorable
opportunity for escape in view of the confidence re-
posed in him by the commander, though he had
thought that Kamchatka oflfered the best facilities,
and had urged in the letter early transportation of
the exiles to that locality. Though willing to oblige
his new friends, in every possible maimer, Colonel
Plenisner did not dare to act in direct opposition to
his orders, and in October a detachment of exiles,
embracing all the conspirators, was sent by the ship
Sv Petr i Sv Pavel to Bolsheretsk, Kamchatka,'
where they were transferred to the charge of Captain
Nilof, commandant of the district.'

tecon(\
and
for a

'^BenyoTski describes this craft as of 200 tons burden, armed with 8 can-
nons, and manned with a crew of 43, commanded by Yesuriu and Korostilof.
The vessel was laden with flour and brandy. Benyovaki'a Memoirs and Travelx,
i. 79-80.

* Benyovski claims that the passage was an exceedingly stormy one, and
that the ship was on the verge of destruction, owing to the incapacity and
drunkenness of both officers and men, when he, a prisoner in irons, took com-
mand and by his ' superior knowledge of navigation succeeded in shortening
sail and bringing the vessel into its proper course, thus saving the lives of aU
on board.' As the passage was a short one we may doubt the statement of
the boastful Benyovski. The count also claimed that the privileges subse-
quently granted him by Nilof were based upon his heroic action on this occa-
sion. Nilof had formerly been the commandant of the Cossack ostrog of
Ishiga, but Zubritski when recalled to St Petersburg summoned him as his
successor in 17G0. He was given to drink, and easily deceived, and had
already been victimized by an exiled official named Ryshkof. The latter hav-
ing failed in various attempts to trade with the natives, prevailed upon Nilof
to advance sums from the public funds for the purpose of engaging in agricult-
ural experiments. Of course the money was lost and the experiments resulted
ill failure. S<jihnef, in Morskoi Sbomik, cii. 5I-G9. Shortly after their arrival the
following regulations concerning the exiles were promulgated at Bolsheretsk:
1st. The captives were to be liberated from close restriction and furnished
with food for three days; after which they were to provide their own subsist-
ence. 2d. The chancellery was to furnish each exile with a gun and lance, one
pound of powder, four pounds of lead, an axe, some knives, and other utensils
with which to build themselves a house. They were at liberty to select a
location within half a league of the town ; each man was to pay to the gov-
ernment 100 rubles during the first year in consideration of the advance,
payments to be made in money or skins at the option of the exiles. 3d.
I'kch exile was bound to labor one day of each week for the government,
and they were not allowed to absent tliemselves from their location over 24
lioura without permission of the commandant. Each was also to furnish the
treasury of Bolsheretsk with 6 sables, 2 foxes, 50 gray squirrels, and 24
ermines annually.

HiBT. Alaska. 12

178

EXPLORATION Am) TRADE.

». '

We may as well take it for granted before proceed-
ing further that three fourths of all that Benyovski
says of himself are lies; with this understanding I
will continue his story, building it for the most part
on what others say of him.

In Kamchatka as in Okhotsk through his superior
social qualifications the count was enabled to gam the
confidence and good-will of t^e commander, so that the
hardships of his position were greatly alleviated. He
was not obliged to join his companions in the toilsome
and dangerous chase of fur-bearing animals, finding
more congenial employment in Captain Nilofs office
and residence.^ The count accompanied his patron on
various official tours of inspection, in which he came
in contact with his numerous fellow-exiles scattered
through the interior in small settlements. His origi-
nal plan of escape from the Russian domains was ever
present in his mind and he neglected no opportunity
to enlarge the membership of his secret society. In
order to ingratiate himself still more with Nilof he re-
sorted to his old trick of forgery, and revealed to the
credulous commander an imaginary plot to poison him
and the officers of his staff". He claimed in his memoirs
that in consideration of this service Nilof formally re-
voked his sentence of exile.®

While still travelling with Nilof in the beginning of
1771, Benyovski intercepted a letter directed to the
former by one of the conspirators betraying the plot.®

^ Benyovski goes out of the way to prove himself a great raacal. He ex-
plains how he ingratiated himself with Nilof and his family, claiming that lie
was employed as tutor to several young girls and boys, and that in nis capa-
city of clerk to the father he forged reports to the imperial government, prais-
ing the conduct of the exiles. He also states that he made use of his fascinatious
to work upon the feelings of one of the young daughters, and to gain control
of her heart and mind. Sgibnef, however, a careful and industrious inves-
tigator, says, first, that the count did not play upon the aflFections of Nilof a
daughter, and secondly that Nilof never had a daughter. BenyovakVs Memoirs
and Travels, i. 150-2; Morakoi Shornik, cii. 51-69.

^ Benyovski's Memoira and Travels, i. 135-7. Sgibnef, however, states
that no amnesty or special privileges were granted to Benyovski. Momkoi
Sbomik, cii. 69.

•Benyovski cives the following list of members of the secret socijty of
exiles: Benyovski, Panof, Baturin, Stepanof Solmanof, Windblath, Krusticf,
and VassLi, Benyovski's servant. Later a large number was added, among them

REVOLT OF THE EXILES.

179

Dceed-
rovski
ling I
it part

aperior
■ain the
hat the
jd. He
ioilsome
finding
f s office
atron on
he came
scattered
ais origi-
; was ever
portunity

jiety. In
'ilof he rc-
led to the
)olson hini
memoirs

,rmally re-
ginning of
ted to the
the plot.

rascal. He ex-
laimingtbathe

hatinhiscaP.*-
,ernment,prais-
"his fascinations
to gain control
dustrio«8inve«^
ctions of Nilof 9

Ihowever. states
'Jovski. Morskox

Uecret socijty of
Ulath.KrustK.
Ided, among tbcm

The traitor, whose name was Leontief, was killed by
order of the court. The plan settled upon for final
action was to overcome the garrison of Bolsheretsk,
imprison the commander, plunder the pubHc treasury
and storehouses, and sail for Japan or some of the
islands of the Pacific with as many of the conspirators
as desired to go.^"

Benyovski's statement of his exploits at Kamchatka,
for unblushing impudence in the telling, borders the
sublime. Arriving at Bolsheretsk on the 1st of De-
cember a half-starved prisoner clothed in rags, he was
advanced to the position of confidant of the acting
governor before two weeks had elapsed, being also the
accepted suitor for the hand of his daughter. During
the same time he had succeeded in rousing the spirit
of revolt not only in the breasts of his fellow-exiles,
but among the free merchants and government offi-
cials, who he claimed were ready to rise at a moment's
warning and overthrow their rulers. Within a few
days, or weeks at the most, this grand conspiracy had
not only been called into existence but had survived
spasms of internal dissensions and attempted treason,
all suppressed by the strength and presence of mind
of one man — Benyovski. Then he tells how he
cheated the commander and others in games and sold
his influence for presents of furs and costly garments.
On the 1st of January 1771 a fSte took place at the
house of Captain Nilof Benyovski claims that it

many who were not exiles: Dumitri Kuznetzof, a free merchant, Afanassiy
Kumen, a Cossack captain; Ivan Siba'ief, captain of infantry; Alexei' Proto-
pop, archdeacon of the church, free; Leonti Popof, captain of infantry, free;
Ivan Churin, merchant, free; Magnus Meder, surgeon-general of the admi-
ralty, exiled for 20 years; Ivan Volkof, hunter, free; Kasimir Bielski, Polish
exile; Gricor Lobchof, colonel ol infantry, exile; Prince Heraclius Zadskoi,
exiled; Julicn Brandorp, exiled Swede; Nikolai Serebrennikof, captain of the
^ards, exile; Andrei Biatzinin, exile. All the members of the Russian church
joining the conspiracy were obliged first to confess and receive the sacrament
in order to make their oath more binding. Benyovski's Memoirt and Travels,
I 108-9.

"At that time the province was estimated to contain over 16,000 inhabit-
ants classified in the onicial returns as follows: 22 infantry officers; 422 Rus-
sian riflemen; 1,500 Cossacks and officers; 26 civil officers; 82 Russian
merchants; 700 descendants of exiles (200 females), free; 1,600 exiles; 8,000
nialcs and .3,000 female natives of Kamchatka; 40 Russian men. Benyovski's
Mtmoira and Travels, i. 301; AJorskoi Sbornik, ciii. 81.

180

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

had been arranged to celebrpte his betrothal to Afan-
assia Nilof, to whom he had promised marriage,
though already possessed of a wife in Poland. In
his diary he states at length how he suppressed
another counter-conspiracy a few moments before pro-
ceeding to the festive scene, and sentenced two of his
former companions to death. Meanwhile Benyovski's
cruel and arbitrary treatment of his associates had
made him many enemies, and reports of his designs
reached the authorities. He succeeded repeatedly in
dispersing the growing suspicion, but finally the dan-
ger became so threatening that he concluded to pre-
cipitate the execution of his plot.

On the 26th of April Captain Nilof sent an officer
with two Cossacks to Benyovski's residence with
orders to summon him to the chancellery, there to
give an account of his intentions. The summons of
the chief conspirator brought to the spot about a
dozen of his associates, who bound and gagged the
captain's messengers. Then hoisting the signal of
general revolt, which called all the members of the
society together, he proceeded to Nilof's quarters,
where the feeble show of resistance made by the
trembling drunkard ond his family furnished sufficient
excuse for a general charge upon the premises. During
the m^lde the commander was killed. The murder was
premeditated, as the best means of preventing partici-
pants from turning back.

Before resolving upon the final attack, Benyovski
had secured the services of the commander of the
only vessel then in port, the Sv Petr i Sv Pavel,
and as soon as the momentary success of the enter-
prise was assured his whole force was set to work to
repair and fit out this craft. The magazines and
storehouses were ransacked, and not satisfied with
the quantity of powder on hand, he shipped a supply
of sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal necessary for the
manufacture of that article."

"Beuyovski's own inventory of the 'axmament' of the Sv Petr i Sv

BENYOVSKrS JOURNEV.

181

The interval between Benyovski's accession to
power and his departure to Bolsheretsk was filled
with brief trials and severe punishments of recreant
members of his band who endeavored to open the
way for their own pardon by the old authorities
by betraying the new. The knout was freely used,
and the sentence of death imposed almost daily. At
last on the 12th of May the Sv Petr i Sv Pavel sailed
out of the harbor of Bolsheretsk midst the firing
of salvos, the ringing of bells, and the solemn te
deum on the quarter-deck. The voyage is involved
in mystery, caused chiefly by the contradictory re-
ports of Benyovski himself He says he anchored
in a bay of Bering Island on the 19th of May, after a
passage of seven days, took on board twenty-six bar-
rels of water, and sailed again, after a brief sojourn
on the island, during which he claimed to have fallen
in with a Captain Okhotin of the ship Elizaveta,
whom Benyovski describes as an exiled Saxon noble-

man.

On the 7th of June he claims to have communi-
cated with the Chukchi in latitude 64°, and only
three days later, on the 10th of June, he landed
on the island of Kadiak, over 1,000 miles away.
Another entry in the count's diary describes his
arrival on the island of Amchitka, one of the Andrian-
ovski group, on the 21st of June, and two days later
the arrival of the ship at Ourumusir, one of the
Kurile Islands, is noted. In explanation of this re-
markable feat he gives the speed of his vessel at ten
and a half knots an hour, which might be true, driven
by a gale. The only part of this journey susceptible

Pavel was slb follows: '96 men, 9 of them females; 8 cannon; 2 howitzers; 2
mortars; 120 muskets with bayonets; 80 sabres; 60 pistols; 1,600 pounds of
powder; 2,000 pounds of load; 800 pounds of salt meat; 1,200 pounds of salt
tish; 3,000 pounds of dried fish; 1,400 pounds of whale-oil; 200 pounds of
sugar; 500 pounds of tea; 4,000 pounds of spoiled flour; 40 pounds of butter;
113 pounds uf cheese; 6,000 pounds of iron; 120 hand-grenfules; 900 cannon-
balls; 50 pounds of sulphur; 200 pounds of saltpetre; several barrels of cliar-
coal; 36 barrels of water; 138 barrels of brandy; 126 cases of furs; 14 anchors;
sails and cordage; one boat and on^ skiff.' Memoirs and Travels, i. 271.

tat

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

r .

of proof is the arrival of the survivors in the harbor
of Macao on the Chinese coast."

The successor of the murdered Nilof was Major
Magnus Carl von BeLra, who was appointed to the
full command of Kamchatka by an imperial oukaz
dated April 30, 1772, but he did not assume charge
of his district until the 1 5th of October of the follow-
ing year, having met with detention in his progress
through Siberia."*

In 1776 the name of Grigor Ivanovich Shelikof
is first mentioned among the merchants engaged in
operations on the islands and coast of north-west
America. This man, who has justly been called the
founder of the Russian colonies on this continent, first
came to Okhotsk from Kiakhta on the Chinese fron-
tier and formed a partnership with Lebedef-Lash-
tochkin for the purpose of hunting and trading on
the Kurile Islands. This field, however, was not
large enough for Shelikof s ambition, and forming
another partnership with one Luka Alin, he built a

"Sgibnef states that Benvovski vaz informed after his departure from
Bering Island that a party of his ass{>ciates had laid plans to detain the vessel
and return to Kamchatka. Several of the accused were punished by flogging,
while Ismailof and Paranchin, with the latter's wife, were put ashore on an
island of the Kurile group, whence they were brought back by Protodiakonof ,
a trader, in 1772. This would explain the circumstance that Cook could not
obtain any definite information concerning Benyovski's voyage from Ismalilof
when he met the latter at Unalaska in 1778. Sgibn^, in 3Iorskoi Sbomik, c.
ii. 62-3. From Macao Benyovski managed to reach the French colony on
Madagascar Island, and finally he proceeded to Paris with the object of ob-
taining the assistance of the French govemment in subjugating the natives
of Madagascar. Here he met with only partial success, but definite informa-
tion is extant to the effect that on the 14tn of April 1774 Benyovski embarked
for Maryland on the ship Robert and Anne. He was accompanied by his
family and arrived at Baltimore on July 8th the same year, with a cargo of
merchandise for Madagascar valued at £4,000. In Baltimore he succeeded
in obtaining assistance from resident merchants, who chartered for him a
vessel of about 450 tons, the Intrepid, armed with 20 guns, and with this craft
he sailed from Baltimore on October 25, 1784. The last letter received from
the count was dated from the coast of Brazil. A few months later he reached
his destination and at once organized a conspiracy for the purpose of setting
up an independent government on the island of Madagascar, but in an action
with French colonial troops he was killed on the 23d of May 1786.

•^ Major Behm's salary was fixed at 600 rubles per annum, and his jurisdic-
tion was subsequently extended over the Aleutian Islands by an oukaz of the
governor general of b-kutsk. Sgibnef, in Morskoi Sbomik, iil 7.

ADVENTURES OP THE SIBERIAN TRADERS.

18S

vessel at Nishekamchatsik, named it of course the Sv
Pavel, and despatched it to the islands." Another
vessel of the same name was fitted out by the most
fortunate of all the Siberian adventurers, Orekhof,
Lapin, and Shilof The command was given to Master
Gerassim Grigorovich Ismailof, a man who subse-
quently figures prominently in explorations of Alaska,
and of whom Cook speaks in terms of high commenda-
tion.^*

Leaving the discussion of the voyages of English
and French explorers, which took place about this
time, to another chapter, we shall follow the move-
ments of Siberian traders and promyshleniki up to
the point of final amalgamation into a few power-
ful companies. In 1777 Shelikof, Solovief, and the
Panof brothers fitted out a vessel named the Bar-
folomei i Varnabas, which sailed from Nishekam-
chatsk and returned after an absence of four years with
a small cargo valued at 58,000 rubles.^' In the same
year another trader, who was to play a prominent
part in the development of the Russian colonies in
the Pacific, first appears upon the scene. Ivan Lari-

'* It waa commanded by Sapochnikof , of whom Cook speaks in terms of
praise. Tliis vessel returned in 1780 with a cargo valued at 75,240 rubles.
Bern, Khronol. ht., 101, app.

'*Cook spells his name Erasim GregorieofF Sin Ismyloff. Cook's Voy., ii.
497. Oregorief Sin is an obsolete form of Grigorovich, both signifying ' son
of C rigor.' Ismailof was considered one of the most successful navigators
among the Russian pioneers. Much of this reputation he doubtless owed to
the information received from Cook, who speaks of his intelligence and acute-
ncss of observation. Concerning bis escape from Benyovski, see note 12.
The name of Ismailof's vessel, the Sv Pavel, led Corporal Ledyord, of Cook's
marine guard, and subsequently a self-styled American colonel, into the mis-
take of reporting that he saw at IJnalaska the very vessel in which Bering mad*
his voyage of discovery, the corporal being unaware that that craft had been
destroyed. L\fe •/ Ledyard, 86; Pinkertou's Voy., xvi. 781-2; Cook's Third
Vuy., ii. 494, 523. Berg states that he could find uo accounts of the present
voyage beyond a brief notice of Ismailof's return in 1781 with a very rich
cargo valued at 172,000 rubles. Khronol. ht., 101. His peredovchik waa
Ivan Lukanin. He commanded the Trekh Sviatiteli in 1783, the vessel un
which Shelikof himself embarked, the Simeon in 1793, on which occasion he
met Vancouver's oflScers, without telling them of his intercourse with Cook,
and the Akxandr in 1795. Berg, Kronol. Ist., Table ii., app.

'*Berg, Khronol 1st., mentions the despatch of the hhv^ Alexand Nevski
by the brothers Panof in 1776, and its return in 1779, but gives no details of
the voyage. This is probably an error. See p. 169.

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

novich Golikof, a merchant of the town of Kursk,
who held the office of collector of the spirits tax in
the province of Irkutsk," formed a partnership with
Shelikof. At joint expense they built a ship named
Sv Andrei Pervosvannui, that is to say St Andrew
the First-called, which sailed from Petropavlovsk for
the Aleutian Islands, This vessel was subsequently
wrecked, but the whole cargo, valued at 133,450 rubles,
was saved.^* Another ship, the Zossima i Savatia,
was despatched in the same year by Yakof Protas-
Bof, but after remaining four years on the nearest
Aleutian isles, the expedition returned with a small
cargo valued at less than 50,000 rubles. In 1778
the two Panof brothers associated themselves with
Arsenius Kuznetzof, also one of the former com-
panions of Benyovski,^* and constructed a vessel
named the Sv Nikolai, which sailed from Petropav-
lovsk. This craft was absent seven years and finally
rewarded the patience of the owners with a rich cargo
consisting of 2,521 sea-otters, 230 land-otters, and
3,300 foxes <i various kinds.** The same firm de-
spatched 'nother vessel in the same year, the Klimeni,
which returned in 1785 with a cargo of 1,118 sea-
otters, 500 land-otters, and 830 foxes. The com-
mander of this expedition was Ocheredin.^^

"fierj;. Khronol. 1st., 102.

^^ Berg, Khronol. ht., app. ; Grew'mqh, Beitr., 321.

"fi'-rfiT, Khronol. lat., 103; Syn Olechestva, 1S21, No. 27.

'" Berg, Khronol. ht., 105. The nature of the cargo would indicate that at
least a portion of the cruise was spent in the vicinity of the mainland of
Alaska.

" Though Polutof appears to have brought it home. Berg during his
Bojoum at Kadiak had an opportunity to converse with a hunter named
Tuyurskoi, who had been one of Ocheredin's crew. This man stated that
the expedition had passed the winter of 1779 at Kadiak, and that they had
with them 60 Aleuts for the purpose of hunting sea-otters. The Kadiaks,
however, would not allow these men to hunt, scarcely pennitting them to land
even. During the whole winter, which was passed under constant appre-
hension of attacks, only 100 sea-otters were secured, and 20 of the crew died
of scurvy. In the spring the proniyshleniki made all haste to proceed to
Unalaska. Berg, Khronol. ht., 104-7. Berg also states that another ',fcftof
the same name, .^f Nikolai, the property of Shelikof and Kozitzir, saild i for
the islands in 1778, but he could find no details concerning the voyage ii tiie
archives beyond tlio statement that the same vessel made three successive
voyages in the same direction. Kadiak, east of the Alaska peninsula. On

'The ship ^

runner, beJoj

from Petropj

years without

Islands, finalJ

little value. J

iittad out onc(

wrecked on }

chatka, but tl

saved and broi

With the fu

of the Sv Pavel

with the intern

the islands. T

SKoi, St John of

in 1780.23

The Sv Prok
ralef and Kriv
wrecked on the
"ig Okhotsk. ]

\{^l,theSvPa

ohelikof and A

nierchant Popo

the firm of Or

Georgiy^ fitted o

kof, wherein Pril

of the Fur Seal

Cook's Atku,, 1778 p^ .

Kodmc; Vancouver, 17

Ho .nherg. Kadjak. Car

tlf/Jf' K^hr.mol.ht.

Alter an absence oj

tl'c coast of Kanicliatka

ovcrl8,C00fu. ,,,l8 wa

'"'^, of these skins. Be

.^•>,000 rubles; the.SV^/,

not w.tl. great success:

t ) the KunJc Islands „n,

fe'' ""<'«'• the comma,
ii/i\cyearswitl.a rich
l^h-ono U., S07-9. So,

-,iM bca-ottcrs, 31.100

MOVEMENTS OF VESSELS.

• The ship Sv loann Predtecha, or St John the Fore-
runner, belonging to Shelikof and Golikof, sailed
from Petropavlovsk in 1779, and remained absent six
years without proceeding beyond the nearest Aleutian
Islands, finally returning to Okhotsk with a cargo of
little value. In the following year the brothers Panof
fitt(^«i out once more the Sv Yevpl. This old craft was
wrecked on her return voyage not far from Kam-
chatka, but the cargo, valued at 70,000 rubles, was
saved and brought into port by another vessel.^"

With the funds realized from the sale of the cargo
of the Sv Pavel Shelikof had constructed another craft,
with the intention of extending his operations among
the islands. The vessel was named the Sv loann Ryl-
skoi, St John of Rylsk, and sailed from Petropavlovsk
in 1780.=^

The Sv Prokop, fitted out by the merchants Shu-
ralef and Krivorotof, also sailed in 1780, but was
wrecked on the coast of Kamchatka soon after leav-
ing Okhotsk. Four vessels sailed for the islands in
1781, the Sv Pavel, despatched for the second time by
Shelikof and Alin; the Sv Alexe'i, despatched by the
merchant Popof; the Alexandr Nevski, belongmg to
the firm of Orekhof, Lapin, and Shilof;'" and Sv
Georgiy, fitted out by Lebedef-Lastochkin and Sheli-
kof, wherein Pribylof made the all-important discovery
of the Fur Seal Islands in 1786,^ which will be duly

Cook's Atkut, 1778, P<' Kadjac; Ia Pdrouae, 1786, /. Kkhtak; Dixon, 1789,
Kodiac; Vancouver, 1790-95, Kodiak; Stitil y Me.x., Viwje, Ida Kadiac;
Hohnberg, Kadjak. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 434.

'- Ber;;, Khnmol. 1st., 107; Grewingk, Beitr., 323.

'^ After an absence of six years this vessel returned, but was wrecked on
the coast of Kamchatka. The cargo, liowever, comprising 900 sea-otters and
over 18,000 fill oals, was saved. Shelikof seems to nave Ijeen the first among
the traders to deal more extensively in fur-seals. Un to 1780 he had imported
70,000 of these skins. Berg, Khronol. ht., \0&-l.

^'Thc Sv Pard returned after a five years' cruise with a cargo valued at
.S."),000 rubles; the tiv Alexe'i also returned after an absence of five years and
mot with great success; the Alexandr Nevski, which hud just made a cruise
to tliu Kurilc Islands under the command of the Greek, Eustrate Delarof, wa.9
plai'cd under tlie command of Stepan Zai'kof for this expedition, and returned
ill live years with a rich assortment of furs, valued at 283,000 rubles, Berg,
Kliroiio'. /.vY., S07-9. See note 19.

'•'■' After an eight years' cruise Pribylof returned to Okhotsk with a cargo of
2,720 sea-otters, 31,100 fur-seals, nearly 8,000 foxes, and a large quantity

'^•:.:r

.•''i!l

■ it.<

m¥^-

186

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

Ir'

m %

discussed in its chronological order. For 1782 only
one departure of a trading-vessel for the islands haa
been recorde<l. This vessel was fitted out by Yakov
Protassof at Nishekamchatsk."* Lebedef-Lastochkin
organized a special company in 1783 for the purpose
of extending his operations on the islands. The capital
of this enterprise was divided into sixty-five shares,
most of them being in Lebedef's hands.^

In 1783 the first direct attempt was made by the
Russian traders to extend their operations to the main-
land of America, to the northward and eastward of
Kadiak. The fur-bearing animals had for some years
been rapidly disappearing from the Aleutian Islands
and the lower peninsula, and despairing of further
success on the old hunting-grounds the commanders
of three vessels then anchored at Unalaska came to
the conclusion that it was best to embark on new dis-
coveries. They met and agreed to submit themselves
to the leadership of Potap Zaikof, a navigator of some

of walrus ivory and whalebone. Bny, Khronol. JsL, 107; Veniaminof, i. 131-2;
Sauer'ti Astron. and Otog. Exped., 240; Grewinyk, Beitr., 323.

^^ Protftssof's Teasel returned in 1786, and according to Berg his cargo con-
eif-.tcd chiefly of fur-seals. Berg, Khronol. Int., 111. As the discovery of the
Seal Islands occurred iu that year the skins must have been obtained at the
Commander Islands.

*' Bei'g furnishes a full list of the share-holders, which may serve to demon-
strate how sucli affairs were managed iu those early times. The Gj shaves
were divided as follows: The merchant Leliedef Laatochkiii, 34 sliarcs; Ye-
fim Popof, 1 share; Grigor Deshurinskoi, 1 share; Elias Zavialof, 1 share;
Ivan Korotaicf, 1 bbare; vasstli Neviashin, 1 share; Miklmil Issaief, 1 share;
Vassili Shapkin, 2 shares; Vaosili Kulof, 1 share; Mikhui'l Tubiiiskui, 1 share;
Foodor Nikulinskoi, 2 .shares; Arscni Kuznetzof, 1 share; Vassili Krivishiu,
1 share; Mikhail Dush<ikof, 2 shares; Ivan Lanin, 2 shares; Alcxci I'olr

1 share; Ivan Bolsheretsk, 2 shares; Dmitri Lorokiu, 1 share; the manu-
facturer, Ivan Savelief, 5 shares; the citizen, Ssava Chcbykin, llsliaic; the
citizen, Spiridon Burakof, 1 share; and Court Counsellor Peter Budislichcf,

2 sluires : total, 05.

In tiie division of profits there were to be added to tins number 1 share
for the church, and the orphans in the school of Okhotsk; 1 share to the
peredovchik, Petr Kolomin, 1 share to the boatswain, Durygui, 1 slxare to
the navigator, Potap Zaikof, and 2 sliares to such of the crew as distinguialie J
themselves during tne voyage by industry, bravery, or otherwise, making the
value of 1 share at the division of profits one seventy-first of the whole pro-
ceeds. Berg, Khronol, Ist., 109, 211; Ortwinyk, Beitr., 324; Pallaa, Nor<l.
Beiir., vi. 1C5, 1"5. At the end of the cruise the first vessel sent by this
company was wrecked on the island of St Paul. The cargo was saved, but
proved barely sufficient to cover expenses.

Cooki

i. 113.

and pro
«^Tau
Kyak w
of game
waid, at
conclude
nal, ia ^

ilcmon-

Bhavca
cs; Ve-

share;

vishin.

olr - ,

inaiiv."
are; tho
lishchcf,

1 share
to tho
share to
iiguLsheil
.king tho
lole pro-
, Nonl.
by this
lived, but

ZAIKOF, DELAROP, AND POLUTOF.

187

reputation, and leave to him the selection of new hunt-
ing-grounds. These vessels were the Sv Aleocel, com-
manded by Eustrate Delarof ; the Sv Mikhail, under
Polutof, and the Alexandr Nevski, commanded by
Zaikof. The latter had learned from Captain Cook
and his companions during their sojourn in Kam-
chatka that they had discovered a vast gulf on the
coast of America and named it Prince William Sound."^
To this point he concluded to shape his course.

On the 27th of July the three ships were towed to
anchorage in a small cove, probably on the north side
of Kaye Island, which, as they subsequently discov-
ered, was named Kyak by the natives. Boats and
bidarkas Avti-e sent out at once in various directions
in search of game and of inhabitants — the few natives
observed on entering the bay having fled to the hills
at sight of the Russians. On the third day one of
the detached parties succeeded in bringing to the
ships a girl and two small children, but it was not
until the middle of August that anything like friendly
intercourse could be established, and the natives in-
duced to trade peltries.**

On the 18th the bidarchik Nagaief returned to the
anchtrage with quite a number of s( a-otter skins, all
made into garments, and reported the discovery of a
large river — the Atnah, or Copper — which he had
ascendoJ for some distance. He had met with a large
body of natives in a bidar and traded with them, both
parties landing on the beach at a distance of six
hundred fathoms from each other and then meeting
half-way. These people informed him that at their
home was a safe harbor for ships, referring of course

*' Zaikof had obtained rough tfacin(2[8 of some of tho charts compiled by
Cook in exchange for favors ext«ndi-d -o tho English discoverer. Ti%hmeneJ\
i. 113. It is 8ui)poBed that the Sv }< pi., 1773-79, reached the continent,
and probably Lho av Nikolai and other?, but this was accidental.

'■'•Two natives who were kept as hooluges on Zai'kof'a vessel stated that
Kyak was not a permanent place c' thidouce, but was visited only in search
of game by tlie people seen by tho Itussians, their homes being to the west-
ward, at the distance of 'two days' paddling,' from which statement we may
conclude tliat they were from Nucheli cr Hinchinbrook Island. Zuiko/'ii Jour-
nal, ia SUku Archives, MS., iv.; Tik/imeju/, 1st. Oboa., ii., app. 3.

'■\- /m

:1i !,

;

188

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

to Nuchek, where both EngHsh and Spanish ships
had already called. Many days were spent by Zaikof
in futile attempts to secure a native guide to the safe
harbor mentioned as having already been visited by
ships, but bribes and promises proved of no avail,
and at last he set out in the direction oi" th' island
of Khta-aluk (Nuchek), plainly visible to ' ■. Avest-
ward. The commanders of the two ot'itr .sluj/s must
have sailed before him and cruised about I 'rinco Will-
iam Sound — named gulf of Chugach by the Russians
— in search of hunting-grounds, and this scattering of
forces beyond the bounds of proper control proved
dangerous, for the Chugatsches were not only fiercer
than the Aleuts, but they seemed to entertain posi-
tive ideas of proprietary rights.

The combined crews of the three vessels, number-
ing over three hundred, including Aleut hunters,
would surely have been able to withstand any attaolc
of the poorly armed Chugatsches and to protect thei;
hunting parties, but they wandered about in small <](>
tachments, committing outrages whenever they eirne
upon a village with unprotected women ard chi dj- n.
The Russians, who had for some time been j»v,'ciis
tomed to overcome all opj)osition on the rart of vhc
natives with comparative ease, imagined that their
superior arms would give them the same advantage
here. They soon discovered their mistake. The Chu-
gatsches, as well as their allies from Cook Inlet, and
even from Kadiak, summoned by fleet messengers for
the occasion, showed little fear of Russian g\v s, and
used their own spears and arrows to such aa. it.agc
that the invaders were themselves beaten in . " nrai
eiigagements.

In the harbor of Nuchok N^ngaief met tvv'enty-
eight men from the Pa"-;' company's ship, the Alexc'i,
fourteen of whom had been v. ()i nded by the Chu-
gatsches during a nighc attack. They had Icit their
ships on the 15th of August, a month previous, in
search of this bay, numbering thirty-seven men, be-

•"The
timt it \va
which is I
t'aUitious

I'cnty-
[k'xc'i,
Cbu-
tboir
|us, iu
In. be-

THE PANOF COMPANY.

189

sides peredovchik Lazaref, who was in command, but
had searched in vain. One dark night, while encamped
on an island, their sentries had been surprised, nine
men killed, and half of the remainder wounded. With
the greatest difficulty only had they succeeded at last
in beating off with their fire-arms their assailants
armed merely with spears, bows and arrows, and clubs.
Other encounters took place. On the 18th of Septem-
ber one of the parties of Russians surprised a native
village on a small island; the men fled to the moun-
tains, leaving women, children, and stores of provisions.
The considerate promyshleniki seized " only half" the
females — probably not the oldest — and some of the
food. During the next night, however, the men of
the village, with reenforcements from the neighbor-
hood, attacked the Russian camp, killing three Rus-
sians and a female interpreter from Unalaska, and
wounding nine men. During the struggle all the hos-
tages thus far obtained by capture escaped, with the
exception of four women and two small boys. The
Russians now proceeded to the harbor selected as
winter-quarters,*' and active operations ceased for
the time.

The favorable season had been so foolishly wasted
in roaming about and quarrelling with the natives,
who took good care not to reveal to their unwel-
come visitors the best fishing and hunting grounds,
that food became scarce early in the winter. Be-
sides this it was found necessary to keep one tliird
of the force continually under arms to guard against
sudden assaults; and this hostility naturally inter-
fered with the search for the necessary supplies of
iish, game, fuel, and water. The result was that scurvy
of a very malignant type broke out among the crews,
and nearly one half of the men died before spring re-
leased them and enabled Zaikof to refit his vessel and

'" The description of this harbor is not very clear, but the probability is
that it was one of the bays on the north end of Montagu, or Sulcluk, Island,
which is named Zaikof Harbor on Russian maps. This is also contii-med by
traditions of the natives collected on the spot by Mr Pctrof in 1881.

?r.

'%\

'mi9

100

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

!■»*.

soil for the Aleutian isles, after an experience fully as
dismal as that encountered a few years later, in nearly
the same locality, by Captain Meares, who might have
saved himself much misfortune had he known of Zai-
kof's attempt and its disastrous result.

Thus unfortunately ended the attempt of the Rus-
sians to gain a foothold upon the continental coast of
America'^

The only subordinate commander of this expedition
who seems to have actually explored and intelligently

** Eustraie Delarof snbsequently gave Captain Billings the following ac-
count of this expedition: ' On arriving at Prince William Sound a number of
canoes surrounded the vessel and on one of them they displayed some kind of
a flag. I hoisted ours, when the natives paddled three times around the ship,
one man standing up waving his hands and chanting. They came on board
and I obtained fourteen sea-otter skins in exchange for some glass beads; they
would accept no shirts or any kind of clothing; they conducted themselves
in a friendly manner, and we ate, drank, and slept too^ether in the greatest
harmony. They said that two ships had been there some years previously,
aud that they had obtained beads and other articles from them. According to
their description these vessels must have been English (they referred of courae
to Cook's expedition) ; the natives had knives and copper kettles which they
said they obtained by making a 14 days' journey up a large river and trading
with other natives who brought these goods from some locality still farther
inland (a Hudson's Bay Company post?) — Suddenly, on theStU of September,
the natives changed their attitude, making a furious attack on my people.
I knew of no cause for this change until one of my boats returned, when I
learned that there had been quarrelling and fighting between the boat's crew
and the natives. I have no doubt that my people were the aggressors.
Polutof 's vessel was at that time in the vicinity and I left him there. ' Salter's
Geoq. and Astron. Exped., 197. Martin Sauer, the secretary of Captain Joseph
Billings, states that while at Prince William Sound in 1790 he fell in with a
woman who had been forcibly detained by Polutof and had subsequently
become acquainted with Zaikof. She. praised the latter as a just man and
related how her people revenged themselves on Polutof for his ill-treatment.
A wood-cutting party had been sent aahore from each vessel and had pitchud
their tents a short distance from each other. It was very dark and only one
man was on the watch near a fire on the beach. The natives crawled up
unnoticed by the sentry, killed him, and then stealing into Polutof's tent
massacred him and his companions without molesting Zaikof 's tent or any of
his people. Bitter complaints were made by the Chugatscho people of the do-
ings of Polutof who had seized their furs without paying for them and had
carried off by force many of the women. Sauer's Oeog. and Astron. Exped., i.
187, 190; Orewivgk, Beitr., 323; Pallai>, Nord. Beilr., i. 212. In the historical
review attached by Mr Dall to his Alaska and Us Resourees, the author haa
committed blunders which can be ascribed only to his inability to understand
the Russian authorities. Under date of 1781 he remarks tha^ 'Zaikof ex-
plored in detail Chug^ch Gulf and wintered on Bering Icland...A vessel,
called the StAexius, conunanded by Alexeief Popof, was attacked by natives
in Prince William Sound. Zaikof explored Captain's Uarbor, Unaloska, July
1-13, 1783. ' Id., 307. Mr Dall's ZaUcof expedition of 1781 is, of course, the
same with that of 1783, when he wintered on >^' itagu (no\ \ering) Islaud, in
a bay still bearing his name. Hho Alexe'i, as we have seen above, was com-
manded by DelarcS.

selves
the K
land 1
Yulli
the
and 51
boats,
rect at
pushet
t'oriect
upper i
skins,
"'/, /»
resourc
rect.
positivi
iiim or
»'T1
in two
having
same vc
with an
"A
]ii6Li, ii,

FUR-SEALS AND OTTERS.

191

described these unknown regions, was Nagaief, tlio
discoverer of Copper River. Nearly all the valuable
information contained in Zaikof s journal came from
this man.*^

This failure to extend their field of operations seri-
ously checked the spirit of enterprise which had hith-
erto manifested itself among the Siberian merchants,
and for some time only one small vessel was despatched
from Siberia for the Aleutian Islands.^

The year 1786, as already mentioned, witnessed the
discovery of the Fur Seal Islands, the breeding-ground
of the seals, and therefore of the highest importance.
The Russian prorayshleniki who first visited the Fox
Islands soon began to surmise the existence of some
islands in the north by observing the annual migra-
tion of the fur-seals through the passes between cer-
tain of the islands — northward in the spring and
southward in the autumn, when they were accom-
panied by their young. This surmise was confirmed
by an Aleut tradition to the efiect that a young chief-
tain of Unimak had once been cast away on a group
of islands in the north, which they called Amik.** The

'' Nagaief told Zaikof that the natives he had encoantered called them-
selves Cliugatches, and that they met in war and trade five other tribes: 1st,
tlie Koniagas, or people of Kadiak; 2d, a tribe living on a gulf of the main
Innd between Kadiak and the Chugatache country, named the Kinaias; 3d, the
Yullits, living on the large river discovered by Nagaief; 4th, a tribe living on
the coast of the mainland from Kyak Island eastward, called Lakhamii;
and 5th, beyond these again the Kaljush, a warlike tribe with large wooden
boats. This description of the tribes and their location was doubtless cor-
rect at the time, though the 'Lakhamite' (tho Aglegmutes) have since been
pushed eastward of Kyak Island by the Kaljushes, or Thlinkeets. Nagaief also
conectly stated that the Yullits, or Copper River natives, lived only on the
upper river, but traded copper and land-furs with the coast people for seal-
skins, dried fish, and oil. Zdiko/'s Jmimal, MS.; Sithi Archives, iv.; Tiktne-
nef, 1st., Obosr., ii., app., 7, 8. Zaikof 's own description of the country, its
resources, its people, and the manners and customs, is both minute and cor-
rect. His manuscript journal is still in existence, and it furnishes proof
positive that his visit to Prince William Sound in 1783 was the first made by
Iiim or any other Russian in n sea-going vessel.

" The Sv Oeorgiy left Nishekamchatsk on Panof 's account, and returned
in two years with a little over 1,000 fur-seals and leoj than 200 blue foxes,
liaviug evidently confined its operations to the Commander Islands. The
same vessel made another voyage in 1787, remaining absent six years, but
with an equally unsatisfactory result. Bi-rg, Khronol. 1st., 114-15.

"A term and incident commemorated in a native song. Veniaminqf, Za-
liuLi, ii. 2G9; i. 17; Sarych^f, Putesh., i. 28.

If! I

•

EXPLORATION AND TRADE.

liigh peaks of his native place had guided him back
after a short stay. While furs remained abundant on
the groups already known, none chose to expose him-
self in frail boats to seek new lands; but in and after
1781 the rapid depletion of the hunting-grounds led
to many a search for Amik; yet while it lay within
two days' sail from the southern isles, a friendly
mist long hid the home of the fur-seals from the
hunters.

In 1786 this search was joined by Master Gerassim
Pribylof,'' who for five years had been hunting and
trading with little profit on the islands, in the Sv
Georgiy, fitted out by Lebedof-Lastochkin and his
partners. Although reputed a skillful navigator, he
cruised for over three weeks around the Amik group
without finding them, though constantly meeting with
unmistakable evidence of the close proximity of land.
At last, in the first days of June, fate favored the
persistent explorer; the mantle of fog was lifted and
before him loomed the high coast of the eastern end
of the most southern island. The discovery was
named St George, after Pribylof's vessel; but finding
no anchorage the commander ordered the peredovchik
Popof and all the hunters to land, with a supply of
provisions for the winter, while he stood away again
for the Aleutian Islands, there to spread such reports
as to keep others from following his path.

The shores of St George literally swarmed with
sea-otters, which undisturbed so far by human beings
could be killed as easily as those of Bering Island
during the first winter after its discovery. Large
numbers of walrus were secured on the ice and upon
the adjoining small islands ; arctic foxes could be caught
by hand, and with the approach of summer the fur-
seals made their appearance by thousands.^

**His name was (Gerassim Gavrilovich Pribylof. Veniaminof gives his
name as Gavrilo on one occasion. Zapiski, ii. 271. He was a master in the
navy, connected with the port of Okhotsk, but entered the employ of Lebedef-
Lastochkin and his partners in 1778. fd.

*°Shelikof in a letter to Delarof, dated Okhotsk, 1789, stated that during

(

atn:

firsi

norj

onct

part

nam

The

popu

was J

fitted
held ,
on th(
rivals
time, 1
at once
compai
that h(
rivalry
matter
He waj
actual

the first y
fw-Beal ski
more whal<
lot having
Tikhmen)'?,
.. "Owing
the less elei
'atter are fr
, "Thecl
doubt by tl
round the br
afire. The
St Paul. Ve
nearly every
fnbylof'8 pr
J<«. Onerea
met Pribylof

Hit]

THE LEBEDEP-LASTOCHKIN COMPANY.

193

On the 29th of June, 1787, an unusually clear
atmosphere enabled the promyshleniki to see for the
first time the island of St Paul, thirty miles to the
northward; and the sea being smooth a bidar was at
once despatched to examine the new discovery. The
party landed upon the other island the same day, and
named it St Peter and St Paul, the saints of the day.'^
The first half of the name, however, was soon lost in
popular usage and only St Paul retained. The group
was known as the Pribylof.*

While Shelikof was one of the partners who had
fitted out the Sv Georgiy, ho does not appear to have
held a large interest and looked with no little envy
on the success achieved by what must be regarded as
rivals to his own company. He did not waste much
time, however, in unpleasant sentiments, but set about
at once to secretly buy up more shares in the Lebedef
company. In this undertaking he succeeded so well
that he could look with equanimity upon the fierce
rivalry growing up between the two large firms; no
matter which side gained an advantage, he felt secure.
He was certainly the first who fully understood the
actual and prospective value of Pribylof's discovery.

the first year the hnnters obtained on the newly discovered islands 40,000
fur-seal skins, 2,000 sea-otters, 400 pounds (14,400 lbs.) of walrus ivory, and
more whalebone than the ship could cariy. Shelikof upbraided Delarof for
not having anticipated this discovery, with two good ships at his command.
TikhmeneJ, Jut. Obozr., ii. app. 21.

"Owing to the constant fog and murky atmosphere that envelop the islands,
the less elevated St Paul is rarely seen from St George, while the hills of the
latter are frequently visible from St Paul.

" The claim of Pribylof to their first European discovery was thrown into
doubt by the report that the Russians on reaching the island of St Paul
found the brass hilt and trimming of a sword, a clay pipe, and the remiiiiis of
a tire. The statement was confirmed by all who effected the first landing on
St Paul. Veniamiiiqf, Zapiski, ii. 268. Berg, who has traced the course of
nearly every other vessel in these waters, states that nothing was known of
Pribylof's present voyage beyond his return with a rich cargo. Khronol, 1st.,
104. One reason for this was the secrecy observed for some time. La F^rousa
met Pribylof shortly after his return, but learned nothing.

tUwt. AUkBKJL. IS

mP^

CHAPTER X.

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.
1773-1779.

RirSSIAN StTFREMAOT IN THE FaBTHEST NoBTH-WZSX— ThB OtHER EtTROFEAN
POMTEBS WOULD KmOW WHAT IT MSAKS — PEREZ LOOKS AT ALASKA FOK

Spain — The 'Santlaoo' at Dixon Entbancs— Ccadba Advances to
Cboss Sound — Cook iob England Examines the Coast as var as Ict
Cafe — Names Given to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet-
Revelations AND Mistakes — Ledtard's .Tourney — Again Spain
Sends to the North Arteaga, who Takes Possession at Latitude
59° 8'— Bat ov La SantIsima Cruz — Results Attaineik

The gradual establishment of Russian supremacy
in north-westernmost America upon a permanent basis
had not escaped the attention of Spanish statesmen.
Within a few years after the disastrous failure of the
Russian exploring expeditions under Krenitzin and
Levashef, a succinct account of all that had been ac-
complished by the joint eflforts of the promyshleniki
and the naval officers, under the auspices of the
imperial government, had been transmitted to the
court of Spain by its accredited and secret agents at
St Petersburg.^

Alarmed by tidings of numerous and important
discoveries along the extension of her own South Seo
coast line, Spain ordered an expedition for exploring

' The conununications concerning Rasoia's plans of conquest in Asia and
America, forwarded to the court of Spain from St Petersburg, make mention
of an expedition organized in 1764. Two captains, named Cweliacow and
Ponobaeevtr in the document, were to sail from Arkhangel in the White Sea,
and meet Captain Krenitzin, who was to sail from Kamchatka. This is a
somewhat mixed account of the Kt'? .itzin and Levashef expedition, wliich
did not finally sail till 1768, but % ?xpected to fall in with lieutenants
Chichagof and Ponomaref, who were iikstructed to coast eastward along Siberia
and to pass through Bering Strait.

( IM )

ill

SECRET INSTRUCTIONS.

106

and seizing the coast to the northward of California.
In 1773 accordingly the viceroy of Mexico, Revilla
Gigedo, assigned for this purpose the new transport
Santiago, commanded by Juan Perez, who was asked
to prepare a plan of operations. In this he expressed
his intention to reach the Northwest Coast in latitude
45° or 50°; but his orders to attain a higher latitude
were peremptory, and it is solely owing to this that the
voyage falls within the scope of the present volume.
Minute directions were furnished for the ceremonies
of claiming and taking possession. The wording of
the written declaration, to be deposited in convenient
and prominent places, was prescribed. The commander
was instr jted to keep the object of his voyage secret,
but to strike the coast well to north, in latitude 60°
if possible, and to take possession above any settle-
ments he might find, without, however, disturbing
the Russians. Appended to his instructions was a
full translation of Stsehlin's Account of tJie New
Northern Archipelago, together with the fanciful map
accompanying that volume. Each island of the Aleu-
tian group was described in detail, besides many
others, the product of the fertile imagination of such
men as Stsehlin and De I'lsle de la Croyfere. Even
the island of Kadiak, which had then only been twice
visited by promyshleniki, was included in the list.

The Santiago sailed from San Bias January 24,
1774, with eighty-eight men, iacluding two mission-
aries and a surgeon. The incidents of nearly the
whole of this voyage occurred south of the territory
embraced by this volume; but between the 15th and
17th of July Perez and his companions sighted two
capes, the southernmost of which he thought was in
latitude 55°, and the other about eight leagues to the
north. These points were named Santa Margarita
and Santa Magdalena, respectively.*

* The latitude given by Perez, if correct, would make it difiScult to locate
these capea so as to agree with the minute and circumstantial description of
the contours of the coast; but allowing for an error which might easily arise

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

1:
1^

1 .1

■1

These capes, the southernmost point of Prince of
Wales Island, and the north point of Queen Charlotte
Island, lie on both sides of the present boundary of
Alaska, but Perez and his men had intercourse with
the inhabitants of the latter cape only. The mere
sighting of one of the southern capes of Alaska, and
its location by rough estimate, would scarcely justify
a discussion of the voyage of Juan Perez in the annals
of Alaska, were it not for an apparently trifling incident
mentioned in the various diarios of this expedition. In
the hands of the natives were seen an old bayonet and
pieces of other iron implements, which the pilot con-
jectured must have belonged to the boats' crews lost
from Chirikof s vessel somewhere in these latitudes in
1741." In the absence of all knowledge of any civ-
ilized visitor to that section during the interval be-
tween Chirikof 8 and Perez' voyages we cannot well
criticise the conclusion arrived at. It could scarcely
be presumed that at that early date a Russian bayo-
net should have passed from hand to hand or from
tribe to tribe, around the coast from the Aleutian
Islands, or perhaps Kadiak, a distance of from eight
hundred to one thousand miles. It appears highly
probable that Chirikof's mishap occurred in this vicin-
ity, the Prince of Wales or Queen Charlotte Islands,
and in that case the present boundary of Alaska
would be very nearly identical with the northern
limit of the territorial claims of Spain as based upon
the right of discovery. The avowed objects of this
voyage had not been obtained by Perez; he did not
ascend to the latitude of 60°; he did not ascertain the
existence of permanent Russian establishments, and
he made no discoveries of available sea-ports. His
intercourse with the Alaskan natives, if such they

from the imperfect instrnments of the times, we must come to the conchision
tliat Perez discovered Dixon Sound. The allusion to an island situated to
tlio west of the northernmost cape, the Santa Christina or Catalina of the re-
corders of the voyage, can scarcely refer to any point but the Forrester Island
of our modem maps.

' Maurelle, Compendia de Noticiaa, MS., 169.

vicin-
ilands,
Aaska
•them
upon
,f tbis
,id not
an the
iS, and

they

conclusion
lituatcd to
Tof the re-
nter Island

SECOND SPANISH EXPEDITION.

were, was carried on without anchoring. The details
of the expedition of Perez, so far as they relate to
incidents that occurred south of the line of 54° 40',
are discussed in my History of the Northwest Coast*

The second Spanish expedition which extended its
operations to Alaskan waters was organized in the
following year, 1775. The command was intrusted
to Bruno Heceta, a lieutenant and acting captain,
who selected the Santiago as his flag-ship. Juan
Perez sailed with Heceta as pilot and second in com-
mand. The small schooner Sonora, or Felicidad,
accompanied the larger craft as consort, commanded
by Lieutenant Juan Francisco de Bodega y Cuadra,
with Antonio Maurelle as pilot."

The expedition sailed from San Bias March 16th.
After going far out to sea and returning to the coast
again in latitude 48° on the 14th of July, taking pos-
session of the country, and after a disastrous encounter
with the savages of that region, the two vessels be-
came separated during a northerly gale on the 30th
of July."

The Sonora alone made discoveries within +' -i^ pres-
ent boundaries of Alaska. After the sepai . ' i the
little craft, only 36 feet in length, was boldly headed

* Not less than fonr journals or diaries of the voyage are extant. Two of
these were kept by the missionaries or chaplains of the expedition, Crespi
and Pefla; the first has been printed in Paiou, Notician, i. 6'.i4-S8, and the
other was copied from the manuscript Viagea al Norle de. Caiybrnia, etc., in
the Spanish Archives. The third journal, entitled Perez, Belacion del Viage,
etc., 1774< is contained in the Mayer manuscripts and also in Maurelle, Com-
jtervlio de Noliciaa, MS., 159--75. The fourth journal is also a manuscript
under the title, Perez, Tabla Diaria, etc., contained in Maurelle, Compendio,
179-85. Brief mention of this voyage can also be found in Navarrete, Sntil y
Mex., Viage, 92-3; Humboldt, Essai Pol., 331-2; Mo/ran, Explor., i.; Navar-
rete, Viagea Apdc, 53-4; Oreenhow's Mem., 69; Id., Or. and Cal., 114-17;
'J'tdss' liist. Or., 65-6; Id., Or. Qtiestion, 66-7; Falconer^ Or. QneaHon, 19;
Id., DUicov. Mi-aa., 62; BuHtamante, in Cavo, Trea Siglos, iii. 119; Palou,
Vida, 160-2; Farbea' IJixt. Cat., 114-16; Calvo, Col. Trot., i. 338; Nicolay'a
Oregon Ter., 30-2; Findlay's Directoi-ji, i. 349-50; Poussin, QtieMion de I'Ore-
tion, 38-9; MacGregor'a I'rog. Amer., i. 635; Tikhvienef, later. Oboar., i.
preface; Baranof, in Sitka Archivea, MS., i. Nos. 5 and 6.

"See I list. Northtoeat Coast, i. 158, this series.

° The outward and homeward voyage of the Santiago has been fully re-
lated in Hiat. Northwest Coast, i., this series.

108

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

r i:i

'■W

!. i ;»■■■■!

Cuadra's Voyaob.

CUADRA TAKES POSSESSION. Hi

seaward and kept upon a general north-westerly course.
On the 13th of August indications of land were ob-
served, though the only chart in their possession, that
of Bellin, based upon Russian discoveries and to a
great extent upon imagination, placed them at a dis-
tance of one hundred and sixty leagues from the con-
tinental coast. Cuadra's latitude, oy observation, on
that day was 55° 40'. During- 'he next two days the
signs of land became stronger and more frequent, and
the navigators, in the belief that they were approach-
ing the Tumannoi or Foggy Islands of Chirikof, ob-
served the greatest caution.

At last, on the 16th, came in view a mountainous
coast among whose many peaks was one they called
San Jacinto, and the prominent cape jutting from it
the Cabo de Engafio. Their description of both cape
and mountain is so clear as to leave no doubt of their
identity with the Mount Edgecumbe of Cook and the
cape of the same name. That the original nomencla-
ture has not been preserved is owing to Spain's neglect
in not publishing the achievements of her explorers.

On the following day the goleta put to sea again,
weathering Cape Engano and following the coast in a
north-westerly direction until another wide estuary was
discovered and named the bay of Guadalupe, subse-
quently known as Shelikof Bay or Port Mary. Here
Cuadra anchored for the day, observing the wooded
shores rising at an acute angle from the sea. In the
morning of the 18th two cauoes, containing two men
and two women, emerged from the head of the bay,
but at the sight of the vessel they hurriedly landed
and fled. The explorers then put to sea again and
proceeded in a northerly direction until a good anchor-
age was found in latitude 57° 20', with a good sandy
beach and convenient watering-places.

A landing was effected at the mouth of a stream,
near a deserted hut and a stockaded enclosure, proba-
bly used for defence by the natives. The instructions
of the viceroy, concerning the forms of taking possea-

100

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

•m

Bion, were carried out so far as circumstances would
permit.^

During the ceremonies no natives were in sight,
but after returning to their vessel the Spaniards saw
the savages take up the cross which they had planted
and place it before their hut, as if to say "this is the
better place."

On the 19th another landing was made, when the
natives emerged from the forest waving a white cloth
attached to a pole in token of peaceful intentions. The
signal was answered by the Spaniards and the savages
advanced slowly to the opposite bank of the stream.
They were unarmed and accompanied by women and
children. A few trifling presents were offered and
received by one of the natives who waded into the
middle of the stream. This friendly intercourst. was,
however, suddenly interrupted when the SpiUiiards
began to fill their water-casks. The women and chil-
dren were at once sent away and the men assumed a
threatening attitude. The Spaniards prepared for
defence while preserving an unconcerned air, and
finally the savages retreated.

The place of this first landing of Spanish explorers
upon Alaskan soil was called the anchorage "de los
Remedies" and can be nothing else than the entrance
to Klokachef Sound between Kruzof and Chichagof
islands.®

^ The entry in the journal referring to this event waa as follows: 'El mismo
dia bajaron & tierra con los preparativos que ofrecia su poco tripulacion y ar-
rcglados d la instruccion tomaron posesion, dejnndo los documentos y la cruz
coTocados con la seguridad posible, habiendo arbolado en aquel pues!: > las ban-
deras ■ el Rey nuestro Seflor.' Viajea al Norte, MS., 25.

* III the journal of this voyage contained in the Viaje» al Norte, the country
is described as full of mountsiiia, their base covered with pines like those at
Trinidad, but barren or co\ ?rcd v.'ith snow toward the summit. The ' Yn-
dios,' said to resemble those met with in latitude 11°.. were clothed chiefly
in furs. The latitudes as observed by Cuadra at Cape EngaOo, Guadalupe
Bay, and the Entrada do los Remedios, agrees with our positions for Cape
Edgecumbe, Shelilcof Bay, and the southern shore of Klotachcf Sound, but
the Spanish explorer places the longitude of the last nnch.^iage some twelve
miles to the ,vestwara of Cabo de Kngafio. This wo"ld leatl to the conclusion
that the ceremony of taking possession took place just inside of Sea-lion
Point, a very exposed position, while the description of the country coincides
better with Kalinin cove, a few miles to the eastward. See Karta Vkluxiov
Novo Arkliangelskomu Porta, etc., 1809, 1833, and 1848.

TRACK OF THE 'SONORA.*

20J

The weather was cold and threatening during the
sojourn of the Sonora in this bay, and both officers
and the poorly clothed and sheltered cr-^w began to
suffer from scurvy. They took a west-north-westerly
direction on the 21st, in order to ascertain whether
their discovery was located on the west or east shore
of the Pacific, a doubt engendered by the great differ-
ence in longitude between the Russian discoveries as
indicated on Bellin's chart and their own ; and having
by that time reached a latitude of 57° 58', or the
vicinity of Cross Sound, they changed their course
to the southward to examine carefully all the inlets
of the coast.

On the 24th of August, in latitude 55° 14', the ex-
plorers entered a magnificent sound extending far to
the northward and abounding in sheltered anchorages.
Cuadra was ill, but he ordered the j^Hoto to take pos-
session in the name of Spain, and for the second time
the royal banner of Castile waved over Alaska. The
sound was called Bucareli, a name still preserved on
many maps. It is located on the west coast of the
island subsequently named after the prince of Wales.^

After a careful inspection of the bay, during which
not an aboriginal was to be seen, the Sonora once
more stood out to sea, sighting six leagues from the
harbor an island which was named San Bias, the
same seen in 1774 by Juan Perez from Cape Santa
Margarita, and named by him Santa Cristina. It is
now known as Forrester Island. A landing was
effected and water obtained, while the south point of
Prince of Wales Island, named Santa Magdalena by
Perez, was plainly in view.^" Contrary winds kept
the little craft beating about until the navigators suc-
ceeded in again makmg the ^-oast in latitude 55° 50',

• The piloto expressed the opinion that this bay was the scene of Chirikof 'a
'landfall, 'and the place where his boat's crew perished was one of the northern
nrnis of the bay in the latitude named jy the Russian discoverer. The Span-
iard dill not seem to take longitude into the account at all. Viajes al Norte,

M.S., .m

*" Viajes al Norte, MS., 31. Cuadra named it Cabo de San Agustin.

(T-

202

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

where a deep indentation was observed, with its western
point in latitude 56" 3'. Tb i a high mountainous
coast was seen extending u th-westerly to a point
marking the southern limit of the broad estuary
bounded by Cabo de Engafio in the north."

From the 28th of August to the Ist of September
the winds compelled the navigators to hug the shore
in the vicinity of latitude 56° 30'. The crew, weak-
ened Vy scurvy, were unable to combat the adverse
winds. The vessel was swept by tremendous seas;
spars and portions of the rigging were carried away;
and when at last a steady strong north-wester began
to blow, both commander and pilots concluded that
further efforts to gain the desired latitude were use-
less. The prow of the Sonora was turned southward
and the swelling sails soon carried her far away from
Alaska."

Orders for another Spanish expedition to the north
coast were issued in 1776, but preparations were not
completed till 1779, or until after Cook's important
English explorations in this quarter.

The voyage of Captain Cook with the ships Reso-
lution and Discovery has been discussed at length in
an earlier volume, with reference to discoveries on the
Northwest Coast south of the present boundary of
Alaska. It is only necessary here to repeat briefly a few
paragraphs from Cook's secret instructions from the ad-
miralty and to take up the thread of narrative where
I dropped it in the historic precincts of Nootka."

*• The description furnished by the journal of these discoverius is not clear,
but the ensenada may probably be identified with Christian Sound, or Clarence
Sound, on our modem maps.

" The log of the Sonora as copied in the Viajes al Norte places the expedi-
tion in latitude 55° 4' on the 14th of Avigust, and from that date till the 8th
of September Cuadra's operations were confined to present Alaskan waters.
The highest latitude, 57° 67', was reached the 22d, in the vicinity of Capo
Cross, or the south point of Yacobi Island. I'injen al Norte, MS., 50-8. Ac-
counts of this voyage can also be found in Ilecela, Snjunda Explorarion;
Maurelle, Diai-io del Viane de la Sonora, 1715, No. .3 of Viayen al Norte;
Maurelle'» Journal of a Voyage in 1775, London, 1781, in Darriwjton's Mincel-
lanien. See also //M. Northwest Coant, vol. i., this series. Juan Pero:;
Cuadra's pilot died before reachinc Han Bias.

" The instructions were signed by the ' Commissioners for executing the

>':.iii'-

MORE SECRET INSTRUCTIONS.

208

After ordering the commander to go from New
Zealand to New Albion and avoid touching Spanish
territory, the document goes on to say: "And if, in
your farther progress to the northward, as hereafter
directed, you find any subjects of any European prince
or state upon any part of the coast you may think
proper to visit, you are not to disturb them, or to give
them any just cause of offence, but on the contrary to
treat them with civility and friendship. Upon your
arrival on the coast of New Albion you are to put
into the first convenient port to recruit your wood
and water, and procure refreshments, and then to
proceed northward along the coast, as far as the lati-
tude of 65," or farther, if you are not obstructed by
lands or ice; taking care not to lose any time in
exploring rivers or inlets, or upon any other account,
until you get into the before-mentioned latitude of
65°." After being enjoined at length to make a
thorough search for a navigable passage into Hudson
or Baffin bays, Cook is further instructed as follows :
"You are also, with the consent of the natives, to
take possession, in the name of the King of Great
Britain, of convenient situations in such countries as
you may discover, that have not already been discov-
ered or visited by any other European power . . . but
if you find the countries so discovered are uninhabited,
you are to take possession of them for his Majesty, by
setting up proper marks and inscriptions, as first dis-
coverers and possessors." During the discussion of
Cook's progress in viewing the coasts of Alaska I
shall have occasion to refer to these instructions."

On the 26th of April 1778 the expedition sailed
out of Nootka Bay on its northward course, but vio-
lent gales drove it from the land which was not made
again until the evening of May 1st in latitude 55°

Office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britian and Ireland, etc., Sandwich,
C. Spencer, and H. Palliser, tlirough their Berretary, Ph. Stephens, on the 6tb
of July 1770,' Cook's Voy., i. introd. xyiv.- .oucv.
^* Cook's Voy., i. introd. xxxii.-xxxv.

204

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

20', in the vicinity of Port Bucareli, discovered by
Cuadra < hree years before.

On the 2d and 3d of May Cook passed along the
coast included in Cuadra's discoveries of 1775, giving
to Mount San Jacinto and the Cabo de Engano the
name of Edgecumbe. Puerto de los Remedios was
named bay of Islands, and Cook correctly surmised
its connection with the bay lying eastward of Cape
Edgecumbe. In the morning of the 3d the two sloops
had reached the highest latitude attained by Cuadra;
a high mountain in the north and a wide inlet ^vere
called Mount Fairweather and Cross Sound respec-
tively, by which names both are known to this day."
Cape Fairweather has since been named Cape Spencer.
On the 5th Mount St Elias was sighted above the
northern horizon, one hundred and twenty miles away,
and the following day the broad opening of Yakutat,
or Bering, Bay was observed."

Proceeding slowly along the coast with baffling
winds, he on the 10th gave the name of Cape Suck-
ling to the cape forming the southern extremity of
Comptroller Bay, but owing to 'thick' weather Kyak
Island, named Kaye by Cook, was not discovered until
two days later." At the foot of a tree on the south
point of Kaye Island a bottle was deposited containing
a paper with the names of the ships and date of 'dis-
covery,* and a few coins. For some reason the cere-
mony of taking possession was omitted, though Cook
must have believed in the existence of all the condi-
tions mentioned in his instructions and relating to
* uninhabited' discoveries.^®

The name of Comptroller Bay was also applied to
the indentation bearing that designation to-day. The

"The 3d of Mavis marked in the calendars as 'Finding of the Cross;'
hence the name applied to the sound.

•• Cook (lisousscs at length the identity of this with Ikring's landing. lie
does not, however, advance any very cogent reasons for his belief.

" In another chapter of this volume I have stated my reasons for believing
this to have been the scene of Bering's disnovery and atelier's brief explora-
tion of the country in 1741.

''Cook's Voy.,il 351-3.

MS.

gaged

Cook'i

nativ<

sidere

BayC

few ar

found

Inlet

COOK'S VOYAGE.

205

sight of the south point of Nuchek Island, named by
him Cape Hinchinbrook, led Cook to indulge in hopes
of finding a passage to the north beyond it, the tower-
ing heights that border Prince William Sound not
being visible at the time. A leak in the Resolution
induced the commander to seek shelter, and the ships
were anchored in one of the coves of Nuchek Bay,
the Port Etches of later maps. A boat's crew sent
out to hunt met with a number of natives in two skin
canoes, who followed them to the immediate vicinity
of the ships, but would not go on board." On the
following day, the 13th, Cook sailed again in search
of a safer anchorage, without discovering the land-
locked cove on the north side of the bay subsequently
selected by the Russians for their first permanent
establishment in this region. The next anchorage
was found some eight leagues to the northward at
Snug Corner Cove, still known by that name. Here
considerable intercourse with the natives took place.
They were bold, inclined to thievery, and apparently
unacquainted with fire-arms.^"

After several vain attempts to find a northern pas-
sage the two ships turned southward, and the largest
island in the sound was discovered and named Mon-

11''

'• The natives made the same sign of friendship described by the Spanish
explorers in connection with the Alexander Archipelago, displaying a white
rarment or skin, and extending their arms. The people were evidently of
Innuifc extraction, but had adopted some of the practices of their Thlinkeet
neighbors in the east, such as powdering the hair with down, etc. Comp-
troller Bay, at the mouth of the Atnah or Copper River, so .ailed by Cook
in his Atlas, 1778, and also by Dixon and Vancouver; La P«5rouse, 1736,
/Je dn Covlrole; SiUil y Mex., Viage, li. Controlleur. Cartog. Pac. Coast,
MS., iii. 304.

'•"• These natives not only attempted to take away a boat from the ship's
side, but upon the report of one of their number, who had examined the
Discovery, that only a man or two were visible on her decks, the whole band
of visitors hastily paddled over to the other vessel with the evident intention
of taking possession of her. The appearance of the crew, who had been en-
gaged on some duty in the hold, caused the savages to change their mind.
Cook's Voy., ii. 359. Cook here also noticed for the first time that these
natives had a few glass beads of light blue, a circumstance he wrongly con-
sidered as an indication of intercourse with other tribes visiting the Hudson's
Bay Company's posts in the far north-west. Blue gloss beads were among the
few articles of trade in the hands of the Russian promyshleniki, and doubtless
found their way to Prince William Sound from Kadiak by way of Cook
Inlet

900

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

'{.m

tagu, the Sukluk of the natives. The natne of Prince
William Sound was then applied to the whole inlet.

On the 21st Cape Elizabeth, the south-eastern point
of Cook Inlet, was first sighted and named; and as
the western shore of that great estuary was not vis-
ible, the hopes of finding an open passage to the
northwaia were once more revived. A gale, how-
ever, prevented the explorers from rounding the cape,
and necessitated a southerly course, which brought
into view the point of land named Cape St Hermo-
genes by Bering — the eastern cape of Marmot Island.
Thence the course was northward, which opened be-
fore the eyes of the explorer the broad estuary still
bearing the name of the commander. Believing that
Kadiak and Afognak islands, with Point Banks, formed
but a part of the mountainous coast to the westward,
with Cape Douglas in the foreground, Cook entered
the inlet full of hope. Was not the Aliaska of Rus-
sian maps represented as an island ? And must not
this wide passage lead the navigator into the Arctic
Ocean between this island and the continent ? The
discovery of an extension of the high mountains to
the north of Cape Douglas did not discourage him."
On the same day, however, the 27th of May, these
high hopes were crushed, as far .s Cook himself was
concerned. The haze hanging over the land in the
west suddenly disappeared, and what had been taken
for a chain of islands stood revealed as the summits
of a mountain range, connected everywhere and show-
ing every characteristic of a continent..

Though fully convinced of the futility of the attempt
Cook continued to beat his vessels up the inlet.'*^
The strong ebb-tides, running at a velocity of four
or five knots, greatly retarded their progress, and as

" ' As it was Bupposed to be wholly unconnected with the land of Cape
Elizabeth,' says Cook; ' for, in a N. N. E. direction, the sight waa unlimited
by everything but the horizon.' Cook's Voy., ii. 386; Juvenal, Jour., MS.,
31-2.

'* 'I was DOW fully persuaded that I should find no passage by this inlet;
and my persevering in the search of it here, waa more to satiny other people,
than to confirm my own opinion.' Cook's Voy., ii. 386.

' i *■:

)mpt
let.''^
four
id as

if Cape
limited
MS.,

,8 inlet ;
people,

AT COOK INLET.

907

the winds were either light or unfavorable, it became
necessary to anchor the vessels every time the tide
turned against them. The muddy water and the large
quantities of floating trees led Cook to believe him-
self within the mouth of a large river, and without
fully ascertaining the fact, he sailed away from his
new discovery unchanged in his opinion.^

The first natives were encountered on the 30th, and
a larger party, including women and children, visited
the ships the following day. The scene of this meeting
was in the vicinity of West Foreland, or the present
village of Kustatan. These savages were described by
Cook as resembling the natives of Prince William
Sound, speaking the same language and using the
same kind of skin-covered canoes. From this fact
we must infer that the Innuit in those days occu-
pied more of the coast of Cook Inlet than they do
to-day. It is probable, however, that these people
were not permanent residents, but engaged in a hunt-
ing expedition away from their home.^* Blue beads
and long iron knives were found in the possession of
all these peoples. We know that these articles came
from the Russians, but Cook was loath to acknowl-
edge the presence of another European power. ^^

On the first of June the boats sent out to explore
returned after having entered the Turn-again arm of
the inlet and the mouth of the Kinik River, and in

**The coast of Cook Inlet rests upon a base of blue clay washed by the
tides, and this fact contributed more to the discoloration of the water than the
few rivers emptying into the iulut.

^' Still hisher up the inlet Cook saw a native propel his kyak with a double-
bladed paddle, and as this implement is used only by the natives of the Aleu-
tian Islands, and occasionally by those of the northern shores of Bering Sea,
it becomes all tlie more probable that the advance of the Kussians to Kadiak,
and their presence amonc the Shunmgin Islands, had already instigated the
sea-otter hunters to undertake long journeys in search of their quarry.
Cook's Voy. , ii. 389-92. On the other hand, the natives encountered on the
Kenai Peninsula, on the occasion of taking possession of the country, were
evidently Tinnehs, or Keuai proper, to judge from the description of their
ornaments, clothes, and weapons, and from the fact that they had dogs and
were apparently without canoes.

'*Cook mentions that the natives called iron goone. Now chugun, or
rather chugooii, is Russian for cast-iron, though also used for all iron articles
by the ignorant classes. Cook's Voy., ii. 392.

208

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

n\\if::

the afternoon Lieutenant King was despatched to
take possession of the point at which the above-
mentioned arm branches off to the eastward. Some
lords aboriginal were present, but it is nowhere written
that King asked their permission to take possession
of the country, as the admiralty had ordered.

On the 4th of June the latitude of the Iliamna
volcano was ascertained, but the mountain was not
named.^" On the 5th of June the two ships emerged
from the inlet that had been entered with such flatter-
ing hopes, and proceeded southward along the coast
of the continent in search of an opening to the west-
ward and northward. The season was fast advancing
and much remained to be done, so they hastened
forward. Shuiak Island, Afognak, and Kadiak were
placed on their chart as one continuous coast and part
of the continent, while names were given only to the
prominent headlands.'" On the 16th Foggy Island,
the Tumannoi of Bering, was made, and on the 19th
the two ships were passing through the Shumagin
group, the largest island of which Cook erroneously
put down as Kadiak on his chart. In this vicinity
the Discovei^ was approached by several canoes and
a letter enclosed in a case was delivered by one of
the natives, who bowed and took off his cap in good
European fashion. The document was written in
Russian and dated 1778.^ Unable to understand

"•The only local names about the inlet which we can trace to Cook arc:
Cape Douglas, Mt St Augustine (Chernobira Island), Turn-again River, Point
Possession, Anchor Point, Point Bede, Cape Elizabeth, Barren Islands. Tho
inlet was named Cook River by order of Lord Sandwich, the explorer having
left a blank in his journal. Cook's Voy., ii. 396.

" The north point of Shuiak was named Point Banks; the easterly point
of Afognak, Cape \Vhitsunday, and the entrance to the strait between tho
latter island and Kadiak, Whitsuntide Bay. The description of this locality
does not, however, agree with the published sketch. Cook's roy.,ii. 404, and
Chart of Cook River, 353. Cape Chiniatsk was named Cape Greville and is
still thus indicated on English and American sailing-charts. Cape Barnabas
and Two-headed Cape correspond with the east point of Sitklialidak Island
and Nazigak Island at the entrance of Kaguiak Bay. The island Sitkhinak
was named Trinity on the 14th of June, and subsequently the south point of
Kadiak obtained tne same desiccation. Cook's Voy., ii. 407-9.

^^ In the body of the note there was also a reference to the year 1776, the
date of a Russian expedition to Kadiak. Cook's Voy., ii. 414.

till tl

them,
Cook'i
of Jut
^ewej
Kuskc
WitI
Oook
to his
from

"Cook,

Datives of]

jacket and!

, '"Here)

Obtain a vl

possession!
w'lole benJ
^°!/; ii. 4i

NO STRAIT THERE.

200

its contents, Cook paid no attention to it. These
natives as well as those subsequently met with at
Halibut (Sannakh) Island used the double-bladed
paddle, a certain indication that they were Aleuts,
hunting for the Russians.**

Passing Unimak with its smoking volcanoes and
failing to notice the best pass into Bering Sea, be-
tween Unimak and Akun, the explorers at last man-
aged to cross into the narrowest and most dangerous
of all these passes, between Unalga and Unalaska.
After a long search for an anchorage the vessels were
safely moored in Samghanooda Bay, opening into
Unalga Strait. Intercourse with the natives was at
once opened, and one of them delivered another Rus-
sian note. The principal object in seeking this anch-
orage was water, and hence the stay there was brief;
but from the manners of the people and articles in
their possession. Cook felt assured at last that he was
3n ground occupied by the Russians. The necessary
business was quickly despatched, and on the 2d of
July the two ships stood out to sea again with every
prospect of an open field of exploration in the north.
The north coast of the Alaska peninsula was followed
till the north shore of Bristol Bay loomed before
them, and made another change of course necessary.
Cook's disappointment was great. Not until the i6th
of July was hope again revived by the sight of Cape
Newenham, the southern point of the estuary of the
Kuskokvim.**

Without imagining himself in the mouth of a river.
Cook pushed forward until stopped by shoals, which
to his dismay extended in every direction but that
from which he had come. After a brief interview

'*Cook also mentions that they did not understand the language of the
natives of Prince William Sound, and that one of them wore a bl»;k cloth
jacket and green breeches. Cook's Voy.,\i, 417.

'" Here Lieutenant Williamson was sent ashore to ascend a mountain and
obtain a view. He saw no land, except in the north, and after ta'<^i^ j formal
possession returned to the ship. Cook gave the name Bristol Bay to the
wliole bend of the coast betwen Unimak uland and the cape just discovered.
Yoy., ii. 430-4.

UlBT. AI.ASKA. li

210

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

m,:

,'ii.,i ;

iy'.^:

with some natives, who also were found in posses-
sion of iron knives, all haste was made to extricate the
vessel from the network of shoals. At last, on the
28th, the soundings made a westerly course possible,
which was on the following day changed to the north-
ward, and on the 3d of August land was made again,
and the ships anchored between an island and the
main. The former was named Sledge Island, from a
wooden sledge with bone runners found upon it. The
next discovery, named King Island, was made on the
7th, and at last, on the 9th, the western extremity
of the American continent lay clearly before them,
the coast beyond receding so far to the eastward as
to leave no room for doubt.^*

After a brisk run across to the coast of Asia the
ships returned to the Alaskan shore and located Icy
Cape, the eastern limit of the arctic cruise. Cape Mul-
grave, and Cape Lisburne, but ice barred further prog-
ress on the American coast as well as on that of
Asia. On the 29th Cook named Cape North and
concluded to return southward, postponing a further
examination of the Polar Sea for another season —
which never came for him. On the evening of the 2d
of September the ships passed East Cape. The fol-
lowing day St Lawrence Bay was revisited and ex-
amined,*^ and on the 5th the ships were again headed
for the American coast. During the following day
Norton Sound was entered and names were applied
to Cape Derby, at the entrance of Goloni Bay, and
Cape Denbigh.

Cook remained in this sound until the 17th of Sep-
tember in order to fully ascertain the fact of his being
then on the coast of the American continent and
not on the fabulous island of " Alaschka" represented

"'Cook's Voy.,n. 444.

''' The editor of Cook's Voyage, in vol. ii. 473, commenta upon the curious
coincidence that Bering passed between St Lawrence Bay and St Lawrence
Island on Augurt 10, 1728, and 50 years later, on August 10, 1778, Cook
passed the same spot, naming the bay after the patron saint of that da;^ iu tlio
calendar. Due allowance for the dill'erence between dates in the Julian and
Gregorian calendars, however, spoils this nice little 'coincidence.'

JOHN LEDYARD IN ALASKA.

211

Bay in ^"1
ulian aud

upon Stsehlin's map of the New Northern Archipelago.
Captain King had been intrusted with the examina-
tion of Norton Bay, the only point where the existence
of a channel was at all probable."

On leaving Norton Sound it was Cook's intention
to steer directly south in order to survey the coast inter-
vening between his last discovery and the point he had
named Shoalness on the Kuskokvim ; but the shallow-
ness of that part of Bering Sea compelled him to run
far to the westward, and prevented him from seeing
anything of the Yukon mouth, and the low country
between that river and the Kuskokvim, and the island
of Nunivak." After obtaining another sight of St
Lawrence Island, which he named Clark, Cook steered
south-south-west and on the 23d sighted St Matthew
Island, which he named Gore."

On the 2d of October Unalaska was sighted, and
passing Kalekhtah Bay, called Egoochshac by Cook,
the two ships anchored in Samghanooda Bay on the
3d of October. Both vessels were at once overhauled
by the carpenters for necessary repairs, and a portion
of the cargo was landed for the purpose of restowing."

^^CooVa Voy., ii. 482-3. I find that Captain Cook makes mention of the
fact that one of the natives inquired for him by the title of 'capitane,' which
he considers a case of misunderstanding. It is, however, not at all improbable
that the Russian word kapitan had been preserved among the natives of the
vicinity of Bering Strait since Bering's and Gvozdef 's time.

"'Ciook supposed, however, the existence of a large river in that vicinity,
as the water was comparatively fresh and very muddy. Cook's Voy., ii. 491.

•^Cook claims to have seen sea-otters here, but was probably mistaken,
for this animal was never found there by subsequent visitois, and the place
being uninhabited, there was nothing to drive them away. The Pribylof group
were the northernmost point from which sea-otters were ever procured, and
there they became quickly exterminated.

" During a visit of Mr Ivan Petrof to Samghanooda Bay on the 3d of
October 1878, the 100th anniversary of Cook's landing, he obtained from the
natives a few traditions relative to Cook's visit. One old chief stated that
his father had told him of two English ships that had anchored in Samgha-
nooda, which is now known as 'English Bukhta.' The time of their stay had
been somewhat lengthened in transmittal from father to son, for it was
claimed that the ships wintered there, that the people caught fisli and killed
seals for the visitors, and that several of them 'kept native women with them.'
See Cook^s Voy., ii. 521. The old chief also stated that the 'English' had
built houses and pointed out a spot where an excavation had evidently been
made long years ago. This last report referred of course only to some tem-
iwrnry shelter for protecting the landed cargo. The same man pointed out
to Mr Petrof the position in which the ships had been moored, according

•12

OmCTAL EXPLORATIONS.

1 X-\

While the ship's companies were engaged in water-?
ing, repairing, nshing, and gathering berries as aa
anti-scorbutic, a messenger arrived on the 8th with .^
note written in Russian for the commander of eacK
vessel, and a gift, consisting of a salmon pie, baked of
rye-meal. There was no one able to read the notes,
but, being now sure that some Russians resided in the
immediate vicinity, Cook caused a suitable return to
be made in the shape of sundry bottles of liquor. Cor^
poral John Ledyard was sent with the returning
messenger to find tht Russians, invite them to thu
anchorage, and obtain all available information con-
cerning their discoveries in American waters.*'

Ledyard's experience on this occasion has been de-
scribed by himself and transmitted to posterity by his
biographer. He succeeded in his mission, passed a
few days at the settlement of Illiuliuk, and brought
back three Russian hunters, who were well received,
and who freely imparted such information as could be
conveyed by signs and numerals.*^ They promised to

' sent Ledyard, but in
lunteered and thereby

.icer for such a 'mgerous'
luce with an ani i. Kussiau
lit tor V arrivals in a town,
. ish f ' it the recipient might

to the recollection of hia father, a position which agreed exactly with that
indicated on Cook's chart of Samghanooda, which tbo oluef '-rtainly never
had seen.

" Cook's Vol/., ii. 495. Cook merely p"^
Sparks' TAfe of Ledyard, 79-80, itia claim
i-elieved Ct>ok from the dilemma of Belecti.
expedition. The present of bread was in :
custom, still obserN'ed, of presenting bread 1.1.
dwelling, or neighborhood, emblematic of the ,

never wai.<t for the necessaries of life. Among the ealthy the most elabo-
rate coufecvionery and silver or gold receptacles ttko the place of bread and
salt on such orcasious.

"'Ledyard s narrative of this excursion w.( bb to me somewhat highly col-
ored, though evidently written in good fait'^ The man was ' sensational ' by
nature. His native guides evidently did riot take him to his destination by
the shortest route. There is and was at that time an easy path only 12 miles
in length from the head of Samghanooda. Bay to Captain Harbor, where lay the
Russian settlement. Ledyard was marLe to walk * 15 miles into the interior ' on
the first day, to a native village, wheri he passed the night, and where 'ayounjj
woman seemed very busy to please ' him, and on the following day he again
walked until three hours before da .k ere reaching Captain Harbor, which ho
called ' four leagues over.' It is r bout five miles. The distance he claims tu
have walked after this was measured by 'tired and swollen feet,' but finally ho
was carried across to the settlemunt, squeezed into the ' hole ' of a two-hatch
bidarka. He was hospitably entertained after due exchange of civilities and
delivery of Cook's presents. The next morning the repellent odors of a
matutinal meal composed of ' whale, sea-horse, and bear ' upset Ledyard's
utomach, though bears and walruses are unknown in Unalaska. The weather

the
that]
deep
returnc

Behm,
that tw
(fsnuii
Water,
of the
pWdent
•ties in
*ay,Be
cojiditio
general
yovski
public
conp-dtir
*— iners
the garr
the strai
plies we
price We
''eved in
'■eenforce
ti^ismitf
0/ tuivlno

INtERCOURSE WITH RUSSIANS.

213

bring a map showing all the Russian discoveries. On
the 14th the comnuinder of the Russian expedition in
this quarter arrived from a journey and landed near
Saivfljhanooda. His name was Gerassim Grigorovich
Ismailof"

The usual civilities were exchanged and Cook had
every opportunity of questioning his visitor, but it is
evident that the advantage was with the Russian, who
learned from the Englishman what was of the utmost
importance to the Siberian merchants, while he told
what he chose, holding back much information in his
possession, for instance the visit of Polutof to Kadiak
m 1776 and the long residence at Unimak Strait of

being bad he remained another day and examined the settlement, countioff
thirty Russians and seventy Kamchatkans. He also visited a small sloop ol
30 tons, lying near the village, and thus describes his feelings on that occa-
sion: ' It is natural to an ingenuous mind, when it enters a town, a liouso, or
ship, tliat has been rendered famous by any particular event, to feel the
full force of that pleasure, which results from gratifying a noble curiosity. I
Wtis no sooner informed that this sloop was the same in which the famous
liering had performed those discoveries which did hiui so much honor, and his
country so nmch service, than I was determined to go on board of her and
indulge in the generous feelings the occasion inspired.' Ho remained an hour,
enjoymg himself, I trust, without the slightest suspicion of the fact that
the craft he had in his mind had been broken up on Bering Island, and
that the sloop constructed from the remains was at that time lying fathoms
deep under the surface on the Asiatic shore. The sentimental Yankee
returned to the ships in less than one day. S/n^rh' L\fe of Ledyard, 85-90.

"The report given by Isma'ilof of {;ook's vitit was received by Major
Bchm, commander of Kamchatka in Af/ril 1779. Thb document simply stated
that two English ships had anchored cm the north side of Unalaska; that he
(Isma'ilof) had rendered the visitors every assistance in obtaining food and
water, and that they liad commimi jated by signs only, owing to his ignorance
of the English language. 8gih:.f, in Morskot Sbornik, ciii. 7, 21. Isma'ilof
evidently took a more senclble view of Cook's expedition than did the author-
ities in Kamchatka. At the time of the presence of the two ships in Avatcha
Bay, Behm was on the point of leaving for Irkutsk, but in view of the ' critical
condition of the country' ho consented to remain at the head of affairs. The
general impression wai, that the vessels had come at the instigation of Ben-
yovski with hostile in'«nt. A deputation of men not connected with the
public ..ervice was firs; sent to meet the strangers, probably to 'draw fire,'
conp'dting of Behm's 'lervant, a merchant, and a clerk. At the same time
r-...mers and messengirs were despatched to all the forts and ostrogs io put
the garrisons upoT-, cheir guard. The subsequent friendly intercourae with
the strangers was carried on under constant apprehension. The desired sup-
plies were furnished free of charge, because, as Shmalef wrote, 'the high
price we must have asked Vvould nave incensed them.' Shmalef never be-
lieved in the scientific objects of the expedition and urged the forwarding of
reenforcements. The presents of curiosities made to Behm were all by liim
transmitted to the imperial academy, in order to purge himself of all suspicion
of iiuving been bribed by the enemy. Syibn^, in Morskoi Sbornik, ciii. 7, 22-G.

'5? '»in

214

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

"i^:<

*?;-

Zaikof, who was even then at Umnak, close by. The
corrected map of the islands shown to Cook was
probably the work of this same Potap Zaikof*' The
most important correction he received for his own
work was the existence of the island of Unimak,
which had been laid down on Cook's chart as part of
the continent. Ismailof remained near Saraghanooda
until the 21st of October, and on his departure was
intrusted with despatches for the lords commissioners
of the British admiralty which he promised to for-
ward the following spring to OkhotsK and thence to
St Petersburg by way of Siberia.

Another intelligent Russian whom Cook mentioned
in his journal was Yakof Ivanovich Saposhnikof, in
command of a vessel then lying at Unga."

The accompanying reproduction of the chart show-
ing Cook's discoveries and surveys as far as they fall
within the scope of this volume will convey an ade-
quate idea of how much we owe to this eminent navi-
gator.

On the 26th of October, after a sojourn of twenty-
three days, the Resolution and Discovery sailed from
Saraghanooda Harbor for the Hawaiian Islands,
where the gallant commander was to end his explora-
tion and his life.

In the following year the expedition returned to
Kamchatka under command of Captain Clarke, next
to Cook in rank, and thence proceeded to explore
beyond Bering Strait for a north-east passage to
the Atlantic. After reaching latitude 70° 33' near
the American coast the vessels were obliged by ice
to turn back. The conclusion arrived at was that no
passage existed south of latitude 65°, and that it must

'"With reference to a Rnssian note received on board the Diseovfry in tho
virin'^y of the Shumagin Islands, Cook understood Ismailof to say that it
bad 1 '^n written at Umnak, but it is safe to assume that he said the writer
was tL.u at Umnak, and tir.t Zaikof had extended his explorations to tho
Shu HH "n. Cook't Voy., ii. 490.

*' y 1% mentions the sloop named Pavd, or St Paul, commanded by tlio
:nai,roKs (sailor) Saposhnikof, which returned to Okhotsk in 1780. Khronol.
2»i., Table i.

i.fy'i'

near

ice

at no

must

■y in tilt)
that it
e writer

to till*

THE CHART.

Cook's Voyage — Soptukkn Section.

■ 1 •rI' ! ■ "a

'm*^'

216

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS,

■J I 31

be sought north of Bering Strait, beyond Icy Cape,
leading probably to Baffin Bay; yet it would be mad-
ness to attempt the passage during the short time the
route might be free from ice. Hardly less hopeful
appeared the prospect for sailing westward along the
northern coast of Siberia. The sea nearer the pole
would probably be less obstructed by ice. Clarke

< Cape

Point Shallow.
water

Cook's Voyage — Northern Section.

died August 22d, as the vessels approached Petro-
pavlovsk, and here he was buried. Captain Gore
took the expedition home by way of Japan, China,
and Cape of Good Hope. While in China several
small lots of sea-otter skins were disposed of by men
and officers at prices which seemed I'abulous, and the

ANOTHER SPANISH EXPEDITION.

217

excitement created by this success resulted in quite a
rush of vessels to the Northwest Coast, and a brisk
competition sprang up with Russians in the purchase
of furs there and in their sale in China.**

In 1776 orders were issued in Spain to fit out
another expedition to the north, to continue and com-
plete the discoveries of Cuadra made iVie previous
year, but the execution of the plan was delayed, and
not until February 11, 1779, did two vessels, the
Princesa and the Favorita, sail from San Bias, with
Lieutenant Ignacio Arteaga in command, and Cuadra
as second.**

On the 28th of April the expedition, which had
orders to attain a latitude of 70°, found itself in lati-
tude 54" 45', and on the 2d of May the vessels entered
Bucareli Sound, Arteaga anchoring in a sheltered
bay on the south side, which he named Santa Cruz,
and Cuadra exploring the north side of the sound,
but finally joining his commander in the Puerto de
Santa Cruz on the 5th. As soon as Cuadra had re-
ported to Arteaga for orders, it was resolved to fit
out an expedition of two boats for a thorough explora-
tion of the interior of the sound. The crews of both
vessels were constantly employed in preparing the
boats, supplying wood and water, and assisting the
officers in their astronomical observations. On tlie
13th a solemn mass was celebrated on shore, with
accompaniment of music and artillery, a cross was

" Captain King, who wrote the last volume of Coolc's Voyage, pointed out
the advantages of this tiude, and suggested methods to be observed therein.
Cook'H Voy., iii. 430-8.

♦'See lliat. Northwest Coast, passim, tliis scries. Also, Arteaga, Tercera
explorociiin herha el ai'io 1779 con las Fraijaias del rey, ' la Princcxa,' mandnda
]ior el leiiientc de iiavio don Ignacio A rtenga, y la ' Favorita ' pur el de la misma
close don Juan Francisco de In Bodeijn y Ctiwlra, dcsde el piierto de San lilas
hasta los scsfiitii ynn yrmlosdc lalilitd, in Viaijes al Norte de Cal., MS., No. 4;
Manrellc, Nuwijm ion hecha jmr el Alfrrez de Fruijala de la lieul Armaila Don
Friutciscn Antonio ulaureUf destinado de aeijitndo capitan de la Fntijata ' Favo-
rita,' Id., MS., No. 5. liodc'/a y Cnadra, Seiinnda galida hasta losb'l gradoa
ill- la Invjala ' Nuestra SeTwra de los Henudios,' alius la 'Favorita,' Aiiode
1170, MS., id., No. Ci; liod'ija y Cuadra, Navegacion y disruhrimientos herhos
dc ordin de S. M. en la Costa eepteutrional de Calil'ornia, 1770, in Mayer,
J/&b'.,No. 13.

*■',,

.1 ^.m^

1-7'

218

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

erected in a prominent place, and under waving of
flags and salvos of musketry the country was talcen
possession of in the name of the king, the savages
gazing stolidly at this insanity of civilization.

On the 18th the two boats sailed from the bahla
de la Santlsima Cruz, with a complement of five offi-
cers, four soldiers, and twenty-four sailors. They
were provisioned for eighteen days. The result of
the expedition was the earliest and best survey ever
made of the most important harbor of Prince of Wales
Island.**

During the absence of the boats on this errand
the natives gathered in numbers about the ships in
the bahia de la Santisima Cruz. The strict orders of
the commander to avoid a conflict, and to ignore small
thefts, soon worked its evil efiect upon these children
of nature, who could not understand leniency or un-
willingness to punish robbery and to recover losses,
unless it was based upon weakness or lack of courage.
Working parties on the shore were molested to such
an extent that it became necessary to surround them
with a cordon of sentries only five paces apart, and
sailors were robbed of their clothes while washing
them. Under these circumstances the return of the
lanchas with their crews was hailed with joy; but by
by this time over eighty canoes manned by a thousand
savages were in the bay and great caution was neces-
sary to avoid hostilities. Even the firing of cannon
did not seem to frighten the Indians, and when a

**The officers were Francisco Maurelle, Josd Camacho, Jean Bantisti
Aguirre, Juan Pantojo, and Juau Garcia. The armament consisted of 8 fal-
conets and 20 muskets, with 25 rounds of ammunition for each. They pro-
ceeded first to the sou tli -western point, San Bartolom6, of the entrance to tlie
sound, and then around the western shore, carefully sounding and locating
Itays, islets, and points. The names applied were very numerous, the most
important beinc as follows; puerto de San Antonio, puerto de la Asuncion;
the islands San Ignacio and Santa Rita; puerto de la Ileal Marina; canal ile
Portillo; bahia de Esquivcl; canal de San Crist6bal; the islands of San Fer-
nando and San Juau Bautista; boca del Almirante; bahla de San Alberto;
puerto del Bagial; puerto de San Nicol^; the caflos del Trocadero; thu
island of Madrc de Dios; puerto do la Caldcra; puerto de la Estrella; puerto
del Refugio— which was subsequently found to be a passage — and the puerto
de los Dolores.

'iiRjiHiat

NEW NAMINGS.

219

canoe was struck by a ball and the inmates fell, the
effect was only temporary. Arteaga seized a chief in
order to obtain the return of two sailors who had been
reported as held captive in the native village, but it
was found that the Spaniards had voluntarily joined
the savages with the intention to desert.*'

During the last days of June the two ships were
moved across the sound to the bay of San Antonio,
and thence they finally sailed the 1st of July, taking
a north-westerly course along the coast. Mount St
Elias was sighted on the 9th,** and a few days later
Kaye, or Kyak, Island was na'.aed Cdrmen. The
next anchorage, probably Nuchek Bay, was named
Puerto de Santiago, and a boat expedition went to
ascertain whether the land was connected with the
continent. The oflScer in charge reported that he had
convinced himself that it was an island.*^ The usual
forms of taking possession were observed, being the
third ceremony of the kind performed upon nearly
the same ground within a year — by Cook in 1778, by
a party of Zaikof's men, who had been despatched in
a bidar from Cook Inlet, in June 1779, and again by
Arteaga. Cuadra, in his journal, expressed the con-
viction that a large river must enter the sea between
Cdrmen Island and the harbor of Santiago, thus cor-
rectly locating Copper River, which both Cook and
Vancouver failed to observe.*^

** With the avowed object of 'gaining a better knowledge of the people
and their customs,' Arteaga sanctioned the purchase of five children. Two
girls, aged respectively seven and eight years, were taken on board the
J'riiicesa, and the boys, between five and ten, on the Favoi-ita. Tercera Explo-
radon, in Ftajes al Norte, MS., etc.. 111.

''Alluded to as Cape St Elias in the journal, 'Ycualmcnte tenian d la
vista cl elevado promontorio de San Elias sobre las nuoes, prcsentundose en
forma de un pan de azdcar ;' but it L doubtful what point or mountain this
was, for the ships were at a great distance from the shore. Tercera Expl. , in
Viaf/en al Xorte, MS., etc. 113.

*'' If this was really Nuchek, or Hinchinbrook Island, the Spaniards antici-
pated Vancouver's discovery of the fact by 14 years. Tercera Expl,, iu I'iages
III Norte, MS., 110-17- During this boat expedition many canoes of the natives
were seen, and on one of them a ilag was displayed showing the colors red,
white, and blue.

** Arteaga, while at this anchorage, convened a junta of officers for the pur-
. )0se of considering the advisability of returning at once to San Bias, His

^.i ,.

220

OFFICIAL EXPLORATIONS.

On the 28th the ships put to sea once more, taking
a south-westerly course, without attempting to find a
passage at the head of Prince WilHam Sound as Cook
had done in the preceding year, and on the Ist of
August they found an anchorage formed by several
islands in latitude 59° 8'. Fonnal possession was
again taken and the largest island of the group named
Isla do la Regla. This was the Cape Elizabeth of
Cook, who had failed to notice its separation from the
continent. The Iliamna volcano on the west shore
of Cook Inlet was sighted from this point and named
Miranda.*"

After a short stay at this anchorage, Arteaga
concluded to give up further explorations and to
sail direct for Cape Mendocino. The departure took
place on the 7th of August, and thus ended, so far as
relates to Alaska, an expedition which would have
been of the greatest importance had it not been for
the English explorations of the year preceding. Ar-
teaga and his officers could know nothing of Cook's
investigations and believed themselves the first to ex-
plore the region already visited by the liesolution and
Discovery between Cross Sound and Cape Elizabeth,
but even after deducting from the result of their work

own timidity conld not prevail against the ambitious courage of Maurelle and
Cuadra, who insisted that some further discoveries must be attempted before
relinquishingsocostly an expedition. TerceraErpl.,iaViage»alNorte,'M.S., 117.
**In the journals this mountain was described as bearing a striking resem-
blance to the Orizaba of Mexico and the peak of Teneriffe. TiayM al Norte,
MS., 120. A map of the anchorage is still in cxi8tence,_pasted in at the end
of the manuscript entitled Azanza, Yiixtrucclon, etc. This map represents
tho islands of the Cape Elizabeth group — Tzukli of the Russiaas — and tlie
adjoining coast of tiic Kcnai peninsula, but, though correct in its contours,
with the exception of representing the mainland as islands — Ysla de Mau-
rplle in the north and Ysla do San Bruno in the east— it does not r-orrespond
in its details with the narrative contained in I'iagen al Nortr. There is a dis-
crepancy even between ^he map and tho legend, the latter stating that Mia-
viendose tornado segdo posesion en la Ysla de San Antonio,' but no sucii
island is on the chart. The projecting points of the mainland are named as
stated above; the island containing Cape Elizabeth was named Ysla de San
Aniceto, and the smaller islands and rocks el Sombrero, de Ayala, de San
Angel, do Arriaga, la Monja, los Frailcs. Tho point where possession waa
taken is marked with a cross on tho N. w. point of Son Aniceto. The open-
ing between tho latter and tlio mainland is named enscnada de Nuestra
Seflora de la Regla. The latitude m correctly given as 69° 8', the long. 49° 11'
W. of San Bias. Aianza, Ytutruccioii, etc.

ARTBAGA'S ACHIEVEMENTS.

221

all that may be affected by Cook's prior discovery,
the careful survey of Bucareli Sound, in connection
with Heceta's and Cuadra's prior explorations, presents
a basis for Spain's claims to the coast region to lati-
tude 58" so far as relative right of discovery is con-
cerned, attended by the ceremony of taking possession.
A little more energy or ambition on Arteaga's part
would have led to a meeting with the Russians and
made the subsequent expedition of Martinez and Haro
unnecessary.**

The viceroy of Mexico declared himself highly
pleased with the results of the voyage, and advanced
one step the rank of all the officers on both vessels.
At the same time he stated that no further discoveries
in a northerly direction would be undertaken for the
present."

'"The sloop Kliment, belonging to the Panof Company, yn* crnising about
Kadiak at the very time of Art^wa's presence at La Reglxk Berg, Khronot. I«l.,
104.

^> Carttu de los ExcdentirimoB Sret Virtyn don Antonio BueartU, don Mar'
tin de ilayorga, etc., in Viageaai NorU, MS., etc., 126-7.

1 .
! \

CHAPTEE XI.

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADB.

1783-1787.

FiBST Atteufted Settleuent of the Russians in Aiiebioa— Votaoe or
Obioob Shiueof — ^Pebhanent Establishment of the Russians at
Kadiak — ^Retubn of Sbeukof — His Instbuctions to Samoilof, Col-
onial CoMMANDBB— The Histobio Sable and Otteb— Skins as Cub-
benct — Tbappino and Tbibute-collectino — Method of Conductinq
THE Hunt — Regulations of thh Pebedovchiki — God's Sables and
Man's— Review of the Fub-tbade on the Coasts of Asia and Ameb-
iCA — Pebnicious System Intboduced by the Pbomyshleniki — The
China Mabket — Fobeion Rfvals and tbkib Method — Abuse of
Natives — Cook's and Vancouveb's Opinions of Competition with
THE Russians — Extibpation of Animau.

We enter here a new epoch of Alaska history.
Hitherto all has been discovery, exploration, and the
hunting of fur-bearing animals, with little thought of
permanent settlement. But now Grigor Ivanovich
Shelikof comes to the front as the father and founder
of Russian colonies in America.*

' One of the chief authorities for this period of Alaska history, and indeed
the only full account of Shelikof 's visit to America, is a work written by him-
self and published after his death. It is entitled Origoria Shelikhova Slran-
stvovanie, etc., or Grigor Shelikofs Joumeys/rom 1783 to 17S7, from Okhotsk
to the Eastern Ocean and the Coast of Ameriea, with a jwodohhenie, or contin-
uation. Printed at St Petersburg in 1792-3, 12mo, with maps. In 1793
both of these books were translated by one J. J. Logan into English and pub-
lished in one Svo volume at St Petersburg. Pallas printed a German trans-
lation, chiefly remarkable for inaccuracies, in his Aorrf. Beitr., vi. 165-249.
And still another German translation appeared in Buste's Journal fur Huks-
laiid, 1794, i- Shelikofs first volume contains voluminous descriptions of tho
Aleutian Islands, with whole passages, and even pages, identical in every
respect with corresponding passages in the anonymous German Neue Nach
richlen, the authorship of which I ascribe to J. L. Schlozer. It is safe to
assume that Shelikof had access to this work published some 20 years before
his own, and used it in writing his own volume. Shelikofs book was repub-
lished in one volume, without maps, in 1812, under title of Puteaheatvie (!■
Shelikhova 1783-1790. It seems that the directors of the Russian Americou

(322)

QRIGORIA SHELIKHOVA STRANSVOVANIE.

223

ontin-
1793
pub-

trans-

i5-249.
Jims-
of the
every
Nach-

safe to
beforo
repub-

ivie ''•
lericiui

In 1 783 the company of Siberian merchants of which
Shehkof and Ivan Gohkof were the principal share-
holders, finished three ships at Okhotsk for operating
on a larger scale in the region then designated as the
ostrova, or the islands. The ships were the Trekh
Sviatiteli, Three Saints, the Sv Simeon, and the Sv
Mikhail. On the 16th of August they sailed with one
hundred and ninety-two men in all, the largest force
which had hitherto left the Siberian coast at one time.
Shelikof and his wife,^ who accompanied her husband
in all his travels, were on the Trekh Sviatiteli, com-
manded by Ismailof The first part of the voyage
was stormy, the wind contrary, and the ships were
unable to leave the sea of Okhotsk, but on the 2d of
September the squadron anchored near the second
Kurile island, for the purpose of watering, and then
passed safely into the Pacific. On the 12th a gale
separated the vessels, and after prolonged and futile
efforts to find the Sv Mikhail, Shelikof concluded to
pass the winter on Bering Island with the two other
vessels. Thanks to the enforcement of wise regula-
tions framed by Shelikof, the crews suffered but little
from scurvy, and in June of the following year the
expedition steered once more to the eastward. A few
stoppages were made on Copper, Atkha, and other
islands, with a longer stay at Unalaska, where the two
ships were repaired, and refitted with water and pro-
Company resented the publication of the book. In the 'Secret Instructions'
forwarded to Baranof in 1802 occurs the following reference to this subject:
'You must send your communications to the chief administration direct, and
not to Okhotsk, since the company has very little to do with provincial
authorities, and also because the government at present has many views con-
cerning America that must be kept a profound secret, being confided only to
you as chief manager. Therefore it is not proper to forward such information
through the government authorities at Irkutsk, where no secret could be
preserved. Aa a proof of this may serve you the endorsed book of Grigor
Sheliko.rs Travels. It is nothing but his journals transmitted to governor
general Jacobi, on whose retirement it was stolen from the chancellery by
Mr Piel, and printed against the will of the deceased. Consequently secrets
of state were exposed. I refer to the location of tablets claimbig possession
of the country for Russia.' Sitka Archives, MS., Con. I., 1-21.

*SMikqf, Putesh., i. 2. Natalia Shelikof was possessed of great energy
and business capacity. After her husband's death she managed fo^ many
years not only her own but the company's business. Tikhmeji^, Jstor. Obos.,
ii., app. 108-13.

flic

mm- ■■* ■

224

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

i^yiiiii

visions. The Simeon had been separated from her
consort during the voyage along the Aleutian chain,
but she made her appearance in the harbor a few days
after the arrival of the Sviatiteli. Shelikof obtained
two interpreters and ten Aleutian hunters, and leaving
instructions for the guidance of the Sv Mikhail he
shaped his course for the island of Kikhtak, subse-
quently named Kadiak." The voyage was devoid of
incident, and on the 3d of August 1784 the two ships
entered a capacious bay on the south-east coast of the
island, between cape Barnabas and the two-headed
cape of Cook, and anchored in its westernmost branch,
naming it after the ship Trekh Sviatiteli, Three Saints.*
Armed parties of promyshleniki were sent out in
boats and bidars to search for natives, but only one
succeeded, and brought news that a large body of
aboriginals had been found. They had avoided a
meeting, however, and it was not until the following
day that another exploring party returned with one
of the natives. Shelikof treated the captive kindly,
loaded him with presents, and allowed him to return
to his people. On the 5th there was an eclipse of the
sun which lasted an hour and a half, and caused much
uneasiness among the natives, who naturally con-
nected the phenomenon with the appearance of the
Russians.'

'Shelikof, Putesh,, i. 36. Kikhtah, or Kikhtomk, is the Innuit word for
island. At the present day the natives of the peninsula speak of the Kadiak
people simply as Kikhtagamitten, islanders. The tribal name appears to have
been Kaniag and the Russian appellation now in use was probably derived
from both. Glottof first landed and wintered on the island in 1763, after
which it was several times visited.

*The shores of Three Saints Harbor are generally steep and rocky, but
about a mile from its entrance a gravelly bar or spit ftom the southern side
forms a horseshoe, opening into the interior of the bay. Such locations
were peculiarly adapted to the requirements of the Russians at that time.
The small land-locked basin formed by the spit was deep enough for such
vessels as they had ; the shelving shore enabled them to beach their vessels
during winter and to utilize them as dwellings or fortifications, while the
level sandbar afforded convenient building sites. The adjoining hills and
mountains being devoid of timber, there was no danger of surprise from the
land, and water enclosed three sides of the settlement.

^Shelikof, PtUesh., i. 51. It has bjen hinted that Shelikof used this little
incident in imitation of the Sppnish discoverer of America, to impress tho
savages with his occult powers. The one who had been so kindly received

W? official I

toncied in jJ
drpn «. 1

SHELIKOP'S VISIT.

290

t)rd for
[.adiak
Ito have
ierived
after

ky, but
Ern side
bcationa
it time,
for Buch
: vessels
Jhile the
lills and
|rom the

lis Uttlo
fcress tho
Ireceived

Another exploring party was sent out on the 7th
with instructions to select hunting-grounds, and if
possible to circumnavigate the island and observe its
coasts. After two days, when about ten leagues from
the anchorage, this expedition fell in with a large party
of savages who had taken up a position on a kekour,*'
or detached cliff, near the shore, surrounded by water.
An interpreter was at once sent forward to open
friendly intercourse, but the islanders told the mes-
senger to inform the Russians that if they wished to
escape with their lives they should leave the island at
once. The natives could not be persuaded to abandon
this hostile attitude, and the exploring party returned
to the harbor to report.

Shelikof at once proceeded to the spot with all the
men that could be spared from the encampment, but
when he reached the scene he found the savages in
formidable numbers and full of courage. Peaceful
overtures were still continued,' but were wholly lost
on the savages. Arrows began to fly, and the Rus-
sians retired to the ships to prepare for defence. Not
long afterward the Koniagas stole upon the Russian
camp one dark night, and began a desperate fight
which lasted till daylight, when the savages took to
flight.* But this was by no means the end of it.
From his Koniaga friend Shelikof learned that his
people were only awaiting reenforcements to renew
the attack. He accordingly determined to anticipate
them by possessing himself at once of their strong-
returned voluntarily in a few days and did not leave Shelikof again as long
as the latter remained on the island.

*Such places, to which the Russians applied the Kamchatka name of
hekour, were often used by the natives as natural fortifiuationB and places
of refuge. War parties or hunting expeditions would leave their women and
children upon such cliffs for safe-keeping till their return.

' In Shelikof's journal, which was published after his death, the number
of natives was given at 4,000, but one tenth would be nearer the truth. In
his official report to the governor of eastern Siberia no figures are given.
Tikhmenef, htor. Obos., i. 8; S/ielikof, Putesh., i. 10, 11. Lissianski was in-
formed in 1804 by a native eye-witness that only 400 men, women, and chil-
dren were on the hekour. Liss. Voy., 180.

" Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 9; Slmlikof, Putesh., i. 113-18. Shelikof reports
this affair as having occurred on the 12th of August.
Hisx. Alajka. is

iik^

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

",*■ i

hold on the rocky islet. A small force of picked pro-
myshleniki approached the enemy in boats. A heavy
shower of spears fell on them; but the havoc made
by a few discharges of grape from the falconet aimed
at the huts caused great consternation, and a general
stampede followed, during which many were killed,
while a large number lost their lives by jumping over
the precipice, and as Shelikof claims, over one thou-
sand were taken prisoners." The casualties on the
side of the Russians were confined to a few severe
and many trifling wounds. Shelikof claims that he
retained four hundred of the prisoners, allowing the
remainder to go to their homes, and they were held
not as regular captives, but in a kind of temporary
subjection. "At their own desire," as Shelikof puts
it, "they were located fifty versts away from the har-
bor without any Russian guards, simply furnishing
hostages as a guarantee of good faith and good be-
havior." The hostages consisted of children who were
to be educated by the Russians.^"

Nor was this second battle the end of native efforts
for life and liberty. Attacks still occurred from time
to time, generally upon detached hunting or explora-
tion parties, but in each case the savages were re-
pulsed with loss. The promptness with which they
were met evidently destroyed their confidence in
themselves, arising from their easy victory over the
first Russian visitors.

Meanwhile no time was lost in pushing prepara-

* Shelikof, Puteah., i. 18. Says Shelikof in his journal: 'I do not boast
of the shedding of blood, but I am sure that "we killed some of our assailants.
I endeavored to find out the number, but failed because thev carried tlioir
dead -with them and threw them into the sea.' Ck)mpare Tcnitchino/'a Ad-
ventures, MS., 36-7; Sokolofs Markofs Voy., MS., 7-9.

•" Tikkmen^, Istor. Obos., i. 10. Shelikof writes: 'I retained 400 pris-
oners, furnished them with provisions and all necessary appliances for trap-
ping and hunting, and placed them in charge of a native named Koakak.'
Putcsh., i. IS, 19. The same name of Kaskak occurs in the narrative of a
native of Kadiak collected by Holmberg, relating to the first landing of Rus-
sians on Kadiak Island, 20 years prior to Shehkof's arrival. Sauer writes
eight years later that SKX) young females were then kept as hostages. A
party of women had once been captured and retained, though wives were
exchanged for daughters. He places the population of the island at 3,500.
mUinga' Voy., 171.

ing

,, "ShJ
hccome \
planted |
ciiltivat
Tikhnen
'• 170.

EDUCATION AITO RELIGION.

227

tions for permanent occupancy of the island. In a
few weeks dwelling-houses and fortifications were
erected by the expert Russian axemen, and Shelikof
took care to furnish his own residence with all the
comforts and a few of the luxuries of civilization, such
as he could collect from the two vessels, in order to
inspire the savage breast with respect for superior
culture. And, indeed, as time passed by, the chasm
dividing savage and civilized was filled, the Koniagas
ascending in some respects and the Russians descend-
ing. The natives watched with the greatest curiosity
the construction of houses and fortifications after
the Russian fashion, until thyy voluntarily offered
to assist. A school was conducted by Shelikof in
person; he endeavored to teach both children and
adults the Russian language and arithmetic, and to
sow the seeds of Christianity. According to his
account he turned forty heathens into Christians dur-
ing his sojourn on Kadiak ; but we may presume that
their knowledge of the faith did not extend beyond
the sign of the cross, and perhaps repeating a few
words of the creed without the slightest understand-
ing of its meaning. So that when the pious colonist
asserts that the converts began at once to spread the
new religion among their countrymen we may con-
clude that he is exaggerating."

As soon as possible SheliKof turned his attention
once more to the exploration of the island. A party
of fifty-two promyshleniki and eleven Aleuts from
the Fox Islands went to the north and north-east in
four large bidars, accompanied by one hundred and ten
Koniagas in their own bidarkas. This was in May
1785, The object of the expedition was to make
the acquaintance of the inhabitants of the adjoining

" Shelikof dwells at length upon his efforts to induce the Koniagas to
become subjecta of Russia, and claims to have met with success. He also
planted vegetables, but could not prevail upon the Kadiak people to eat or
cultivate tliem. Train-oil and fish pleased them better. Putesh, i. .30-2;
Tikhmen^, Istor. Obos., i. 11; Grewingk, Beitr., 323; Pallas, Nord. Beitr.,
i. 170.

^iMlt

I ill!

Wii

228

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

islands and the mainland. After a cruise in Prince
William Sound and Cook Inlet, the party returned
in August with a small quantity of furs, yet report-
ing a not unfriendly reception, and bringing twenty
hostages from the latter place. If we consider the
hostile attitude assumed by the pame people two years
before toward Zaikof, we must credit Shelikof with
good management. On their return all proceeded
for the winter to Karluk, where salmon abounded.^'^
From this point and from the original encampment
on Three Saints Bay, detachments of promyshleniki
explored the coast in all directions during the winter,
notably along the Alaska peninsula, learning of Ili-
amna Lake and of the different portage routes to the
west side.

Despite all precautions the scurvy broke out in the
Russian camps and carried off numbers, but instead
of taking advantage of the weakened condition of the
Russians, the natives willingly assisted in obtaining
fresh provisions, One exception to this good under-
standing occurred on the island of Shuiak, situated
north of Afognak. A. quantity of goods had been in-
trusted by one of Shelikof's agents to the chief of
Shuiak, to purchase furs during the winter. When
asked for a settlement he not only refused but killed
the messengers. An expedition was sent in the spring
which succeeded in bringing the recreant chief to
terms, and in establishing fortified stations on Cook
Inlet and Afognak. ^^

On the 25th of February 1786 Shelikof received a
letter from Eustrate Delarof, who was then at Uiia-
laska, stating that the ship >Sv Mikhail, which had
been separated from Shelikof's squadron in a gale,
had arrived at that place the previous May. She

" Karluk, situated on the west coast of Kadiak, is a settlement upon tho
river of the same name, which furnishes a larger quantity of salmon than an;,
otlier stream of its size in Alaska. See Cartog. Pac. States, MS., iii. passim.

" A war party of 1,000 men of the ChuKatschcs and Kenais which had hxn
summoned by the Shniak chief c attempt the destruction of Shelikof's iset-
tlement, also dispersed before ., ai lully organized. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obod.,
i. 12, 13; Shelikof, Putesh., i. "*-:•; Failaa, Nord. BeUr., vi. 186-6.

>I ••«

EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS.

229

Vhcn
illed
)ring

red a.
TTua
bad
gale,

upon til'
than any
. passim,
bad l'««n
kof's ^^^

<x^, ObOS;

reached the port minus one mast and otherwise dam-
aged, and repairs to fje, vessel occupied nearly the
whole summer. Whe-t at last ready for sea she was
cast upon the rocks and injured to such an extent as
to require additional repairs. Despairing of getting
off the Sv Mikhail that season, Delarof despatched
thirteen men divided into several detachments as
messengers to Kadiak in search of assistance. Six of
them succumbed to cold and hunger during a deten-
tion of many \,'eeks on the Alaska peninsula, and five
more died after reaching Kadiak. Soon after this
the craft arrived at Three Saints, and the commander,
Assistant Master Olessof, who had been three years
making the voyage from Okhotsk to Kadiak, was de-
posed and the peredovchik Samoilof invested with the
control of both vessels, one of which was to cruise
northward and eastward from Kadiak and the other
westward and northward, if possible as far as Bering
Strait.

Eaiij' in March Shelikof despatched an exploring
party eastward with orders to proceed to Bering's
Cape St Elias, and to erect a fort as the beginning
of a settlement. He resolved to abandon the fort on
Cook Inlet as too far removed from his base of opera-
tion, and to enlarge the fortified station on Afognak
Island, besides establishing several others." These
and other arrangements made, Shelikof prepared to
return to Okhotsk, and the peredovchik, Samoilof,
formerly a merchant in Siberia, was appointed to the
command of the infant colony. Plis instructions de-
manded above all tie extension of Russian control
and establishments eastward and south, and the ex-
clusion of rival traders.**

^^ Shelikof, Ptdeah., i. 67; PaiUu, Nord. Beitr., vi. 186. See JuvmaVs

Jour., MS.. 27-8.

"■These inetructioija dated May 4, 1786, were printed in the original crude
form, in the appendix to Tikhmencf, htorkheskaia Ohosramr, ii. The ilocu-
nuut contains much that is highly iiitoresting. The small number of Russians
Rssi^iiedto eaoh isolated station makes it evident chat Shelikof wn^ not appre-
hensive of renewed hostilities on the part of the natives, and continns the suspi-
cion tliat his previous reports of their number, bravery, and fierce dispositiou

:;^f

1 .'^'

■■

ii HI

230'

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

Shelikof took his departure in May, accompanied
by a number of native adults and children, some to
be retained and educated, others to be merely im-

f)ressed with a view of Russian life and power. He
anded at Bolsheretsk on the 8 th of August, and
thence proceeded to Petropavlovsk,^* and overland to

were exaggerated. Of 113 Russians then in the new colony, luid 50 others ex-
pected from Unalaska, heordered the following disposition to be made. 40 mea
at the harbor of Three Saints; 11 at the bay of Ugak (Orlova); 30 on the islands
of Shuiak and Afognak; lOor 11 at either Uganak, Chiniak, or AiaVhtalsk; 30
at Karluk; 20 at Katmak (Katmai), and 11 at a station between I ..'a and
Kamuishak Bay. These trading-posts were separated from each Oi • •.•- s. long
distances of land and water, and extended over hundreds of nill^^ The
instructions further specify that ' immediately upon the arrival of reenforce-
ments from Okhotsk, stations should be established in the Kenai and Chu-
gatsch countries,' and 'with all puesible despatch farther and farther along
the coast of the American continent, and in a southerly direction to Califor-
nia, establishing every where marks of Russian possession.' If expec'ed reou
forcemeats failed to arrive, only three stations were to be maintained — at tlie
harbor, Afognak, and Karluk. Paragraph 7 of the instructions announced
that Sfaalikof would take with Ihb to Okhotsk forty natives — adults and chil-
dren of both sexes — 'some in aMiafaction of their own desire,' and others,
' prisoners from various settlemens- ' One third of these natives were to bo
returned by the same ship, after aocing the fatherland and observing our
domestic life;' another third were ■» be forwarded to the court of her imperial
Majesty; while the remainder, ccaaurting chiefly of children, were to be edu-
cateti in Okhotsk or Irkutsk ' to eBMifie them in the future to exercise a ci\ il-
izing influence iMnong their connitirpmen. ' Other paragraphs relate to the
manntenance of the strictest diaeipiBM MMong the Ru<<sians ; the employment
of spies among the iiati<'us; to es^orations and voyages of discovery south-
ward to latitude 40°; the constmction of buildings and fortified block-houses;
the purchase of articles of native maaufactare — garments, utensils, etc.; the
•allectiou of minerals, ores, and ahella £oi transmission to 8t Pcterslxirg; sau-
tery regulations to prevent •cur'^; tbe coiiection of boys from ' latitude CAf
m California, northward to Alia8iLa,'to be educated in the Russian language;
the exclusion of other trading firms ja this the country then occupied, 'hy
peaceable means, if possible;' the expulsion of worthless and vicious men from
the company ; the maintenance of a ■ciwol at Three Saints, and other business
detailu. The drtcument furnishes ■In^gvndence of Shelikof 's far-sightuducN.s,
energy, amlition, and executive aMIfy. After holding Samoilof responsible
for the strict observance of theae iistructions, the writer signed himself:
' Grigor Shelikof, member of the company of Sea-voyagers in the Northern
Ocean.' Three supplementary paragraphs contain directions for a 'minute
survey ' by Bocharof of the island Kuiktak, the American coast from Katmak
to the gulfs of KcnaYand Chugacluiik, and 'if possible ' around Kadiek [prob-
ably Kyak, or Kayes, Island], This is the first mention of the term Kadiek
or Kadiak, subsequently applied to the island Kuiktak, and to this mistuke
of Shelikof the origin of th»^ present name may be traced.

" When Shelikof wa« on the point of leaving Bolsheretsk for Okhotsk ho
wa« infoniied that an EnK'ish vessel had arrived at Petropavlovsk. The vessel
proved to be the Lark and belonge<l to the Blast In(lia Company. Froi.i
reters, the captain, Shelikof purchased a large amount of goods, reselling
them to merchants of T(»tma h"ii<I to egents of the Panof company at a profit
of 50 per cent. Capt. Fetors brought r. letter from ths directors of his coin-
pany to the commander of Kamchatka asking pel-mission to exchange the
pro<!ucts of their respective territories. A Baron Stungei or Stangel, prob-

! i

'Ml I, ,„,

CURRENCY AND TRIBUTE.

231

Okhotsk and Irkutsk, where he arrived in April 1787,
after suiSering great hardships on his journey. There
he lost no time in taking initiatory steps with the
view of obtaining for his company the exclusive right
to trade in the new colony and other privileges, the
results of which belong to another chapter.

We have seen how the Cossacks were enticed from
the Caspian and Black seas, drawn over the Ural
Mountains, and lured onward in their century-march
through Siberia to Kamchatka, and all for the skin
of the little sable. And when they had reached the
Pacific they were ready as ever to brave new dangers
on the treacherous northern waters, for the coveted
Siberian quadruped was here supplanted by the still
more valuable amphibious otter. As furs were the
currency of the empire, the occupation of the trapper,
in the national economy, was equivalent to that in
other quarters of the gold-miner, assayer, and coiner
combined. In those times all the valuable skins ob-
tained by the advancing Cossacks were immediately
transported to Russia over the routes just opened.

The custom was to exact tribute from all natives
who were conquered e7i passant by the Cossacks, as a
diversion from the tamer pursuit of sable-hunting.
Ah early as 1598 the tribute collected in the district
of Pelymsk, just east of the Ural Mountains, amounted
to sixty-eight bundles of sables of forty skins each."
In 1609 this tribute was reduced from ten to seven

ably an exile, who waa in command at that time, consented under certain
conditions. Shelikof , who was well received on board of tlio Lark and ' treated
to various liquors,' describes the vessel aa two-masted, with 12 cannon, and
can-ying a large crew consisting of Englishmen, Hindoos, Arabs, and China-
men. Of the four ofEcera one was a Portuguese. Putesh., i. 60-4. Tlie Lark
waa subsequently wrecked on Copper Island with the loss of all on board but
two. The survivors were forwarded to St Petersburg overland. Viai/es al
Korte, MS., .310. Upon finishing his business with Capt. Peters, Shelikof at
once set out for Irkutak.

" Isloria Sib. , vi. 23. In the same year Botcha Murza, a Tunguse chief who
liad been made a prince by tlio Russians, presented forty sables to the gov-
enimcnt, and forty additional skins on the occasion of hia mairiage, pi oniisiug
til repeat the gift every year. An oukaz issued the same year exempted the
aged, the feeble, and the sick from payiug tribute.

I" ii

282

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE,

ifi

jiijri !

it;'

■m

sables per adult male, but there seemed to be no de-
crease in the number collected.^^ Nine years later,
however, the animal seems to have been nearly exter-
minated, as the boyar Ivan Semenovich Kurakin
was instructed to settle free peasant families in the
district. After this the principal Cossack advance
was into the Tunguse country. In the tribute-books
of 1620-1 the latter tribe is entered as tributary at
the rate of forty-five sables for every six adult males.
In 1622 nine Tunguse paid as high as ninety-four
sables.'' Whenever a breach occurred in the flow of
sable-skins into Moscow the Cossacks were instructed
to move on, though the deficiency was not always
owing to exhaustion of the supply.**

Thus the authorized fur-gatherers advanced from
one region to another across the whole north of Asia,
followed, and in some instances even preceded, by
the promyshleniki or professional hunters. _ The lat-
ter formed themselves into organized companies, hunt-
ing on shares, like the sea-faring promyshleniki of
later times, and like them they allowed the business
to fall gradually into the hands of a few wealthy mer-
chants. The customs adopted by these hunters go far
toward elucidating much that seems strange in the
proceedings of the promyshleniki on gaining a foot-
hold upon the islands of the Pacific. A brief descrip-
tion will therefore not be amiss.

The hunting-grounds were generally about the head-
waters and tributaries of the large rivers, and the
journey thence was made in boats. Three or four
hunters combined in building the boat, which was
covered, and so served as shelter. Provisions, arms,

"In that year the total tribute amounted to 66 bundles, of 40 skins eacK,
and 39 sables. In 1610 it increased to 75 bundles and 12 sables, hi. Sib., - \.
26-7.

'» [»(. Sih. , vi. 218. A force of 40 Cossacks was sufficient to ooMmI Iribut*
and preserve order among the Tunguse.

""In Ui07 complaints reached the tsar that traders from Pusto/ersk wwild
go Hinong the natives of th'- lierezof district before tribute had been collect*- '.
making it diilicult to obtain the goveramcnt's quota. Int. Sib., \ i. 36.

in K,

■W^'

ON THE HUNTING-GROUND.

233

bedding, and a few articles of winter clothing made up
the cargo. A jar of yeast or sour dough for the
manufacture of kvass, to keep down the scurvy, was
considered of the highest importance. Material for
the construction of sleds and a few dogs were also
essential, and when all these had been collected and
duly stowed, each party of three or four set out upon
their journey to a place previously appointed. As
soon as the whole force had assembled at the rendez-
vous election was made of a peredovchik, or foreman,
a man of experience, and commanding respect, to
whom all promised implicit obedience. The peredov-
chik then divided his men into chunitzi, or parties,
appointing a leader for each, and assigning them their
respective hunting-grounds. This division was always
made ; even if the ai^tel, or station, consisted of only
six men they must not all hunt together on the same
ground.^^ Until settled in winter-quarters all their
belongings were carried in leather bags. Before the
first snow fell a general hunt was ordered by the pe-
redovchik to kill deer, elks, and bears for a winter's
supply of meat, after which the first traps were set
for foxes, wolves, and lynx. With the first snow fall,
before the rivers were frozen, the whole party hunted
sables in the immediate vicinity of the general winter-
quarters, with dogs and nets. The peredovchik and
the leaders were in the mean time engaged in making
sleds and snow-shoes for their respective chunitzis.
When the snow was on the ground the whole artel
was assembled at the winter-quarters and prayers were
held, after which the peredovchik despatched the
small parties to the sable grounds with final instruc-
tions to the leaders. The latter preceded their men
by a day in order to prepare the station selected ; the
same practice prevailed in moving stations during the
winter. The first station was named after some church
in Russia, and subsequent stations after patron saunts
of indivuluid hunters. The first sables caught w«re

" U Sobotnuie /^roHfiM&i, 20-42.

iBa

234

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

!H ;l:

always donated to some church or saint, and were
called God's sables. The instructions of leaders were
mainly to the effect that they should look well after
their men, watch carefully their method of setting
traps, and see that they did not gorge themselves in
secret from the common store of provisions.^^

During the height of the season stations were fre-
quently changed every day, for it was thought that
prolonged camping at any one place would drive away
the sables. When the season closed the small parties
returned to head-quarters, where the leaders rendered
their accounts to the peredovchik, and at the came
time reported all infractions of rules by the men.
The accused were then heard, and punished by the
peredovchik if found guilty.'^ When all arrange-
ments for returning to the settlement were completed
the peredovchik would make the rounds of all the sta-
tions to see that every trap was closed or removed, so
that no sable could get into them during the summer.

In Alaska the methods of the hunters underwent
many changes, owing to the different physical features
of the field and the peculiarities of the natives. The
men engaged for these expeditions were of a very
mixed class; few had ever seen the ocean, and many
were wholly untrained for their vocation. They were
engaged for a certain time and paid in shares taken
from one half of the proceeds of the hunt, the other

** The inatmctiona contained tiao an admonition to observe certain super-
fltitious customs, traces of whicK: c-ould be fouiul nearly a century later among
the servants of the Russian Araerican Company. For instance, certain ani-
mals must not be Rpoken of by then- right names at the stations, for fear of
frightening the Mitka away The ruven, the snake, and the wild-cat Mere
talx)oe(l. They wwr* cailea respectivtjly the ' upper,' or ' high one,' the ' bad
one, ' and the ' jumper ' In the early times this rule extended toquitc a nuniter
of persons, anuua.s, and even inruimate objects, but the three I have men-
tioned survived till mixlern times. <> Sobolnuit Promynxla, 29-42.

" The promyshleniki were treated much like children by their leaders.
Some offenders were made to stand on stun'ps for a time, and fast while their
comrades were feasting, while others were lined for the benefit of the church.
Thieves were cruefly beaten, and forfeited a portion of their uakiiia, or divi-
dend (literally supi^er), as it was held that their crime must have brought
bad luck and decreased the total catcfc. Sobolnuie tromysala, 56-7.

leaders.

Ihile their

le church.

I, or (iivi-

bruught

HUNTING m ALAf lA. S8B

half of the cargo going to the outfitter or owner. If
the crew consisted of forty men, including navigator
and peredovchik, their share of the cargo was usually
divided into about forty-six shares, of which each
member received one, the navigator three, the fore-
man two, and the church one or two. In case of
success the hunters realized quite a small fortune, as
we have seen, but often the yield was so small as to
keep the men in servitude from indebtedness to their
employer. The vesseP* was provided with but a small
stock of provisions, consisting of a few hams, a little
rancid butter, a few bags of rye and wheat flour for
holidays, and a quantity of dried and salted salmon.
The main stock had to be obtained by fishing and
hunting, and to this end were provided fire-arms and
other implements serving also for defence. Since furs
in this new region were obtained chiefly through the
natives, articles of trade formed the important part of
the cargo, such as tobacco, glass beads, hatchets and
knives of very bad quality, tin and copper vessels, and
cloth. A large number of kleptsi, or traps, were alHo
carried. Thus provided the vessel sets sail with boz/ie
pomoshtch — God's help.

Mere trade soon gave way to a more effective
method of obtaining furs. Natives were impressed
to hunt for the Russians, who, as a rule, found it both
needless and dangerous for themselves to disperse in
small parties to catch furs. Either by force or by
agreement with chiefs the Aleuts and others were
obliged to give hostages, generally women and children,
to ensure the safety of their visitors, or performance
of contract. They were thereupon given traps and
ent forth to hunt for the season, while the Russians
lived in indolent repose at the village, basking in the

'*' Their galliots are constructed at Okhotsk or Nishnekamchatak, and
goveminent, with a view of encouraging trade, has ordered the commandants
of thosi3 places to afl'ord as much a.s8istance as possible to the adventurers,
besides which, tlie materials of the very frequently wrecked transport vessels,
though lost to government, are found the chief means of fitting out such aa
enterprise, and greatly lessen the exponae.' Salter's Qeog. and Aatron. Exped.,
275.

if ii

'1 41,

H -mw

■'m

23«

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

smiles of the wives and daughters, and using them
also as purveyors and servants. When the hunters
returned they surrendered traps and furs in exchange
for goods, and the task-mastei-s departed for another
island to repeat their operation.

The custom of interchanging hostages while engaged
in traffic was carried eastward by the Russians and
forced upon the English, Americans, and Spaniards
long after the entire submission of Aleuts, Kenai,
and Chugatsches had obviated the necessity of such
a course in the west. Portlock was compelled to con-
form to the custom at various places before he could
obtain any trade, but as a rule four or five natives
were demanded for one or two sailors from the ship.^^
On Cross Sound, Sitka Bay, and Prince of Wales
Island the hostages were not always given in good
faith; they would suddenly disappear and hostilities
begin. As soon as they ascertained, however, that
their visitors were watchful and strong enough to re-
sist, they would resume business.

Meares observes, among other things relating to
Russian management, that wherever the latter settled
the natives were forbidden to keep canoes of a larger
size than would carry two persons. This applied, of
course, only to the bidarka region, Kadiak, Cook
Inlet, and portions of Prince William Sound. The
bidars, or large canoes, were then as now very scarce,
being made of the largest sea-lion skins, and used
only for war or the removal of whole families or
villages. The Russians found them superior to their
own clumsy boats for trading purposes, and acquired
them, by purchase and probably often by seizure under
some pretext, as fast as the natives could build them.
In their opinion the savages had no business to devote
themselves to anything but hunting.

A portion of the catch was claimed as tribute,
although the crown received a very small share, often
Tribute-gathering was a convenient mantle to

the
Thi
the
the
trac

none.

^Portlock' 8 Voy., 269.

THE ALEUT HUNTERS,

of
)ok
:he

cover all kinds of demands on the natives, and there
can be no doubt that in early times at least half the
trade was collected in the form of tribute, by means
of force or threats, while at the same time the author-
ities at home were being petitioned to relinquish its
collection, "because it created discontent" among the
natives.

The tribute collected by the earlier traders was
never correctly recorded. The merchants frequently
obtained permission from the Kamchatka authorities
to dispense with the services of Cossack tribute-
gatherers, and gradually, as the abuses perpetrated
under pretext of its collection came to the ears of the
home government, the custom was abandoned alto-
gether. Subsequently the Russian American Com-
pany obtained a right to the services of the Aleuts on
the plea that it should be in lieu of tribute formerly
paid to the government. At the same time it was
ordained that those natives who rendered no regular
services to the company should pay a tribute. The
latter portion of the programme was, however, never
carried out. The Chugatsches and the more northerly
villages of Kenai never furnished any hunters for the
company unless with some private end in view, and
no tribute paid by them ever reached the imperial
treasury.

Another method of obtaining furs, outside of the
regular channels of trade, was in furnishing supplies in
times of periodical famine caused by the improvidence
of the simple Aleuts. A little assistance of this kind
was always considered as a lien upon whatever furs
the person might collect during the following season.
This pernicious system, unauthorized as it was by
the management, survived all through the regime of
the Russian American Company, and one encounters
traces of it here and there to the present day.

At the time of the first advance of Russians along
the coast in a south-easterly direction native auxili-

V !i

:iti

H "'*•

m COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

aries, usually Aleuts, were taken for protection as
well as for the purpose of killing sea-otters. Soon
the plan was extended to taking Aleut hunters to
regions where trade had been made unprofitable by
unlimited competition. This was first adopted on a
larger scale by Shelikof and brought to perfection
under the management of Delarof and Baranof. From
a business point of view alone it was a wise measure,
since it obviated the ruinous raising of prices by sav-
ages made impudent by sudden prosperity, and at the
same time placed a partial check on the indiscriminate
slaughter of fur-bearing animals. Yet it opened the
door to abuse and oppression of the natives at the
hands of unscrupulous individuals, and in the case of
the docile and long since thoroughly subdued Aleuts it
led to something akin to slavery. It was also attended
with much loss of life, owing to ignorance, careless-
ness, and foolhardiness of the leaders of parties. It
certainly must have been exceedingly annoying to
the natives of the coast thus visited to see the ani-
mals exterminated which brought to them the ships of
foreigners loaded with untold treasures. The Kaljush
hunters could not fail to perceive that the unwelcome
rivals from the west, though inferior in strength, stat-
ure, and courage, were infinitely superior in skill,
and indefatigable in pursuit of the much coveted sea-
otter.

It was but natural that in a brief period the very
name of Aleut became hateful to the Kaljush and Chu-
gatsches, who allowed no opportunity to escape them
for revenge on the despised race, not thinking that
the poor fellows were but helpless tools of the Rus-
sians. Numerous massacres attested the strong feel-
ing, but this by no means prevented the Russians
from pursuing a policy which, to a certain extent, has
been justified by the result. As the minds at the head
of affairs became more enlightened, measures for the
protection of valuable animals were adopted, the ex-
ecution of which was possible with the docile Aleut

INTER TRIBAL TRAFFIC.

2S9

hunters, while it would have been out of the question
with the stubborn and ungovernable Kaljush.

As long as operations were confined to Prince Will-
iam Sound, with the inhabitants of which the Aleuts,
and especially the Kadiak people, had previously meas-
ured their strength in hostile encounters, the plan
worked well enough. Subsequently, however, contact
with the fierce Thlinkeets of Comptroller Bay, Yaku-
tat, and Ltua inspired the western intruders with dis-
may, rendering them unfit even to follow their peaceful
pursuits without an escort of four or five armed Rus-
sians to several hundred hunters. On several occa-
sions a panic occurred in hunting parties, caused merely
by fright, but seriously interfermg with trading opera-
tions. Vancouver mentions instances of that kind,
when Lieutenant Puget and Captain Brown at Yak-
utat Bay successively assisted Purtof, who commanded
a large party of Aleuts sent out by Baranof.'^^

The reports of these occurrences by Purtof and his
companions corroborate the statements of Puget and
Brown, but naturally the former do not dwell as much
upon the assistance received as upon services rendered.
With regard to Captain Brown's action, however, the
Russian report differs somewhat.^

Previous to the arrival of the Russians a consider-
able interchange of products was carried on by certain
of the more enterprising tribes; the furs of one section
being sold to the inhabitants of another. The long-
haired skins of the wolverene were valued highly for
trimming by tribes of the north who hunted the rein-
deer; and the parkas or shirts made from the skins of the
diminutive speckled ground-squirrel (Spermophilus) of
Alaska, which occurs only on a few islands of the coast,
were much sought by the inhabitants of nearly all re-
gions where the little animal does not exist. The new-
comers were not slow to recognize the advantages to

*Vancouver'ii Voy., iii. 233-5.

" For Purtof 's report, see Tikhmen^, IbIoj

!! irir:! ^j!:

Oboa,, ii. app. 66-7.

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240

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADK

be gained by absorbing the traffic. Within a few
years it was taken from the natives alons the coast as
far north as Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound,
but beyond that and in the interior a far-reaching
commerce, including the coasts of Arctic Asia in its
ramifications, has existed for ages and has never been
greatly interfered with by the Russians, who fre-
quently found articles of home manufacture, originally
sold by traders in Siberia, in the hands of the trib^
who had the least intercourse with themselves.

Captain Cook indulged in profound speculations
with regard to the channels through which some of
the na+ives he met with on the Northwest Coast had
acquired their evident acquaintance with iron knives
and other implements, but this, the most probable
source, was unknown to him. Later navigators found
evidence of the coast tribes assuming the r61e of mid-
dlemen between the inhabitants of the interior and
the visitors from unknown parts. In August 1786
Dixon was informed by natives on Cook Inlet that
they had sold out every marketable skin, but that
they would soon obtain additional supplies from tribes
living away from the sea-shore.

A century of intercourse with the Caucasian races
has failed to eradicate the custom of roaming from
one continent to another for the sake of exchanging a
few articles of trifling value. The astuteness dis-
played by these natives in trade and barter was cer-
tainly one of the reasons which caused the Russians
to devise means of getting at the furs without being
obliged to cope with their equals in bartering.

As far as the region contained within the present
boundaries of Alaska is concerned, the fur-trade to-
ward the end of the last century was beginning to fall
into regular grooves, which have never been essentially
departed from except in the case of the Kaljush, who,
relying on their constant intercourse with English and
American traders, persistently refused to be reduced

[H 111 I
1 1 i;l!

THE CHINA MARKET.

itt^

to routine and system, and maintained an independent
and frequently a defiant attitude toward the Kussians.
Under the rule of the Kussian American Company
the prices paid to natives for furs were equal in all
parts of the col(»nies with the exception of Sitka and
the so-called Kdiuah sounds, where a special and
much higher tariff was in force.*

A more gradual change began also to affect the
share system of the Russians, embracing two kinds
of share-holders, those who with invested capital had
a voice in the management and their half of the gross
receipts, and another class, laboring in various capaci-
ties for such compensation as fell to their lot when
the settlements were made at stated times and after
every other claim had been satisfied. The disadvan-
tages of this system were obvious. On one hand the
laborer was entirely dependent upon the agents or
managers of his immediate station or district, who
were sometimes honest, but far oftener rascals, while
on the other hand the hunters and trappers and those
in charge of native hunting-parties had every induce-
ment to indulge in indiscriminate slaughter of fur-
bearing animals without regard to consequences.

By the time Kamchatka was discovered and con-
quered the number of private traders had greatly
increased, and another market for costly furs had been
opened on the borders of China, a market of such im-

** The introdnction of a well-defined business system as well as regula-
tions to check the threatened extermination of fur-bearins animals came only
with the establishment of a monopoly, and this involved both time and in-
trigue. The founder of the so-called colonies as well as his successors in the
management had but one object In view, to control the fur-traile of Russia in
Europe and Asia. Shelikof was shrewd enough to undeiistand that in order
to obtain special privileges or protection from the government, it was noces-
sarv to make a display of some more permanent business than the fur- trade;
and with the sole view of furthering this end projects of colonization and
ship-building were launched in rajpid succession, but there can be no doubt
that Shelikof himself had no faith in these undertakings, for with his sanc-
tion the convicts, mechanics, and fanners sent from Siberia by the authorities
^^erc at once dis^buted among the trading posts and vesMls of the Shelikof
and Uolikof Company. Petrq/", Ruu. Am. Co., MS., 2-4.

UUT. Al&ssa. 16

242

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

portance that not only the carrying of skins to Russia
was curtailed, but large shipments of furs were made
from Russia to the Chmese frontier, principally beavers
and land-otters from Canada, these skins being carried
almost around the world at a profit.*

No attempt was made by Russians during the
eighteenth century to send furs to China by water.
That route was opened by English traders to the
Northwest Coast as soon as it became generally known
that furs had been disposed of in China to great ad-
vantage by the ships of Captain Cook's last two expe-
ditions. The sea-otter and sable shipments from the
Aleutian Isles and Kamchatka were still consigned
to Irkutsk, where a careful assortment was made.
The inferior and light-colored sables, the foxes of the
Aleutian Isles, the second grade of sea and land
otter, etc., were set aside for the Chinese market.
Defective skins were sent to the annual fair at Irbit,
for sale among the Tartars, and only the very best
quality was forwarded to Moscow and Makaria, where
Armenians and Greeks figured among the ready pvi-
chasers.**

The first large shipment of sea-otters was brought
to China by Captain Hanna, who with a brig of sixty
tons collected in six weeks, on King George Sound,
five hundred whole sea-otter skins, and a number of
pieces amounting to about sixty more. He sailed
from China in April 1785 and returned in December,
making the voyage exceedingly profitable.'^ Hanna

** The following ihipmento of this kind are recorded by Coxe, from the
Hudson Bay territory to London and St Petoraburg and thence overland to
Kiakhta: in 1775, 46,460 beavera and 7,143 ottora; in 1776, 27,700 beavers
and 12,080 otters; in 1777, 27,316 beavera and 10,703 ottora. The skins
brought at St Petoraburg from 7 to 9 rubles for beavera, and from 6 to 10
rubles for ottora; while at Kiakhta the beaver sold at from 7 to 20 rubles, and
the ottor from 6 to 35 rubles. Coxe' a Hum. Disc, 337-8.

"The Chinese at that time understood the art of coloring sables and other
fun Bo perfectly that the deception was not observable. Consequently tliey
preferred to purchase a low-priced and inferior article. Sauers Oeog. and
Astron. Expect,, 15.

" Skins of the firat grade brought $60 each. Hanna had 140 of these, 175
of the second grade, worth $40; W of the third, worth (if^O; 55 of the fourth
at $15, and 50 of the fifth at tlO. The pieces were also sold at the rato of |10

ENGLISH AND FRENCH.

sailed a^ain on the same venture in 1786, but though
he remained absent until the following year, his cargo
did not brin^ over $8,000. Two other vessels, the
Captain Cook and the Experirmnt, left Bombay in
January 1786, and after visiting in both King George
and Prince William sounds returned with 604 sea-
otters, which sold for $24,000, an average of $40 a
skin.

La F^rouse, who visited the coast in the same year,
forwarded an extensive report to his government con-
cerning the fur-trade of the Northwest Coast. He
states that during a period not exceeding ten days he
purchased a thousand skins of sea-otters at Fort des
Fran^ais, or Ltua Bay; but only few of them were
entire, the greater part consisting of made-up gar-
ments, robes, and pieces more or less ragged and
filthy. He thought, however, that perfect skins could
easily be obtained if the French government should
conclude to favor a regular traffic of its subjects with
that region. La F^rouse entertained some doubts as
to whether the French would be able to compete prof-
itably with the Russians and Spaniards already in the
field, though he declared that there was an interval
of coast between the southern limits of the Russian
and the northern line of Spanish operations which
would not be closed for several centuries, and was conse-
quently open to the enterprise of any nation." Among
other suggestions he recommended that only vessels
of 500 or 600 tons should be employed, and that the

f)rincipal article of trade should be bar-iron, cut into
engths of three or four inches. The value of the
3,231 pieces of sea-otter skin collected at Fort des
Franyais is estimated in the report at 41,063 Spanish
piastres."

per whole ikiii. Huma realixed #20,000 out of thia short cmiae. Dixon**
Voy., 31ft-22.

**LaPtrovH, Voy., iv. 182-72.

'*A peculiarly French idea U advanced by La P^ronie in a note to hia
report on the fur-trade of the north-weat. He and his offices refused to
derive any profit from the experimental mercantile transactions during the
expedition. It was aettled that such sums as were realized from the sale ol

: mil

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.

After duly weighing the question in all its aspects
the French commander came to the conclusion that
it would not be advisable to establish at onoe a French
fectory at Port des Fran9ais, but to encourage and
sabsidize three private expeditions irom some French
seaport, to sail at intervals of two years.

From Dixon we learn that La P^rouse's expecta-
tions, as far as the value of his skins was concerned,
were not realized. He reports that the French ships
Agtrolabe and Bonissok brought to Canton about 600
sea-otters of poor quality, which they disposed of for
♦10,000.**

In January 1788 the furs collected by Bixon and
Portlock in the King George and Queen Charlotte were
sold as follows: The bulk of the cargo, consisting of
2,552 sea-otters, 434 pups, and 84 foxes, sold for
$50,000, and at private sale 1,080 sea-otter tails
brought ^2,160, and 110 fur-seals $550. According
to Bei^ the number of sea-otters shipped from the
Northwest Coast to Canton previous to January 1,
1788, was 6,643, which sold at something over $200,000
in the aggregate.

After this shipments increased rapidly with the
larger number of vessels engaging in this trade, as I
have shown in my History of the Northwest Coast.*^
A large proportion of them were EngUsh, though they
labored under many disadvantages, and as the Eng-
lish captains who came to Canton were not allowed

tfw tldiia in China shoald be diatribnted among the orew. The eommander
ingenioualy reasons that the share of each sailor will be sufficient to enable
the whole crew to get married on their return and to raise families in com-
fortable circumstances, who, ' in course of time, will be of the greatest benefit
to the navy.' La Pirouse, Vou., iv. 167.

** Dixon's Voy., 315-22. In the same place the result of the Bengal Fur
Society's experiment with the Nootka, Capt. Meares, is given as follows: 267
■ea-otters, 97 pieces and tails, 48 laud-otters, and 41 beavers and martens were
•old at Macau for $9,602. Fiftv prime sea-otters 8«>ld at Canton for $91
each, bringing $4,650. Nearly the whole cargo had Veen obtained at Prince
1\'iUiam Hound. About the same time the cai^o of th.e Imperial Eagle, Capt.
Barclay, obtained chiefly from Vancouver Island, soil for $30,000. See JJM.
Northwest Coast, vol. i. 353, this series.

'^In l''&2 there weru at least 28 vessels on the ciast, more than half of
tiiem engaged in fur- trade. Hist. Northtoeat Coast, i. 25o et seq., this series.

RUSSIAN htfluencb.

24S

to trade in their own or their owners' name, but were
obliged to transact their business through the agents
of the English East India Company, they did not take
very kindly to the trade. The merchants of other
nations held the advantage to the extent that, even if
forced to dispose of their furs at low prices, they could
realize one hundred per cent profit on the Chinesa
goods they brought home, while the English, on ac-
count of the privil^es granted the East India Com-
pan^r, could not carry such goods to England. The
British merchants, however, knew how to evade thesd
regulations by sending to Canton, where tiie ships of
all nations were free to come, vessels under the flags
of Austria, Hamburg, Bremen, and others. Thus
Captain Barclay, or Berkeley, who sailed from Ostend
in the Imperial Eagle under the Austrian flag, was an
Englishman.

On the other hand, Bussian influence was contin-
ually at work on the Chinese frontier and even at
Peking, to counteract the influx of furs by water into
the Celestial empire. When Marchand arrived at
Macao from the Northwest Coast he found a tempo-
rary interdict on the traffic.** This benefited the
Russian only to a certain Extent, for new hunting-
grounds were discovered by the now roused traders^
and the immense influx of fur-seal skins from the
Falkland Islands, Terra del Fuego, New Georgia^,
South Shetland, and the coast of Chile to China
caused a general depreciation in this article toward
the end of the last century. "^

The jealousy of foreign visitors on the part of
Russians was but natural in view of the mischief they
created. Along the whole coast from Cook Inlet

** When the Solide arrived at Macao, Marchand was much disappointed on
Wmiiig that strict orders had been issued from Peking to purcliase no more
(ui-8 from the north-west coastof America. This compelled bim to take what
furs lie had to Europe. Marchand, Voy., iL 368-0.

" Three and a half millions of skins were taken from Masa Fuero to Can*
ton between 1703 and 1807. J>all'$ Alaska, 402.

246

COLONIZATION AND THE FX7B-TRADE.

down to Sitka and Queen Charlotte Sound, when-
ever English and subsequently American competition
entered the field, the prices of sea-otter skins experi-
enced a steady rise till the temptation to kill the ani-
mal indiscriminately became so great as to overcome
what little idea the natives had of husbanding their
resources. On the other hand the most prolific sea-
otter grounds, the southern end of the Alaska penin-
sula and the Aleutian Islands, exempt from the visits
of mercantile rovers, have continued to yield their
precious furs to the present day.

These foreigners had an additional variety of ^oods
with which to tempt the untutored son of the wilder-
ness, and were not scrupulous about selling even de-
structive weapons. The demand for certain articles
of trade by the natives, especially among the Thlin-
keets, was subject to continuous changes. When
Marchand arrived in Norfolk Sound he found the

savages disposed to drive hard bargains, and skins
could not be obtained for trifles. Tin and copper ves-
sels and cooking utensils were in request, as well as
lances and sabres, but prime sea-otters could be pur-
chased only with European clothing of good quality,
and Marchand was obliged to sacrifice all his extra
supplies of clothing for the crew. The natives seemed
at that time, 1791, to have plenty of European goods,
mostly of English manufacture. Favorite articles
were toes of iron, three or four inches in length, and
light-blue beads. Two Massachusetts coins were
worn by a young Indian aa ear-rings. They were
nearly all dressed in European clothing and mmiliar
with fire-arms. Hammers, saws, and axes they valued
but little."

The rules with regard to traflSc on individual account
on board of these independent traders were quite as

**In 10 days Marchand obtained in trade 100 sea^ttera of prime quality,
mostly fresh; 250 young sea-otters, I'ght colored; 36 whole bear-skins, and
13 half skins; 37 fur-se^; 60 beavers; a sack of squirrel-skins and sea-otter
tails; a marmot robe, and a robe of marmot and bear. MarchaTid, Voy., iL
a-12.

UNSOEUPULOUS FNGLISHMEN.

947

stringent as those subsequently enforced by the Rus-
sian American company. Among the instructions
furnished Captain Meares by the merchant proprie-
tors we find the following: "As every person on board
you is bound by the articles of agreement not to trade
even for the most trifling articles, we expect the full-
est compliance with this condition, and we shall most
assuredly avail ourselves of the penalty a breach of
it will incur. But as notwithstanding, the seamen
may have laid in iron and other articles for trade,
thinking to escape your notice and vigilance, we direct
that, at a proper time, before you make the land of
America, you search the vessel carefully, and take
into your possession every article that can serve for
trade, allowing the owner its full value.""

A few years sufficed to transform the naturally
shrewd and overbearing Thlinkleets into the most
exacting and unscrupulous traders. Prices rose to
such an extent that no profit could be made except'
by deceiving them as to the value of the goods given
in barter. Some of the less scrupulous captains en-
gaged in this traffic even resorted to violence and
downright robbery in order to make a showing.
Guns, of course, brought high prices, but in many
instances, where the trader intended to make but a
brief stay, a worthless article was palmed off upon
the native, who, in his turn, sought to retaliate by
imposing upon or stealing from the next trader.**

Nor did the foreigners hesitate to commit brutali-
ties when it suitea their interest or passion, not-
withstanding Meares' prating about "humane British
commerce." The English captain certainly had noth-
ing to boast of so far as his own conduct was concerned
in the way of morality, honesty, and humanity. Cer-
tain subjects of Spain and Russia were exceedingly

''Meant, Voy., app.

"' One of the natives of Tchinkitand (Sitka) complained to Marchand of a
gun he had purchased of an English captain and broken in aneer because it
would 'only go crick, but never poobool' Harchand's Voy., li. 69. Mar-
chand and Rocquefeuille both claim that the natives of the mrthweat Coast
prefer French guns to any other.

248

COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADR

cruel to the natives of America, but for innate wick-
edness and cold-blooded barbarities in the treatment
of savage or half-civilized nations no people on earth
during the past century have excelled men of Anglo-
Saxon origin. Such was the conduct of the critical
Meares toward the Chugatsches that they would prob-
ably have killed him but for the timely warning of
a young woman whom he had "purchased for the
winter.'

Instances of difficulties arising between English
traders and natives of Prince William Sound are too
numerous to mention in detail in this place, but it is
certain that as soon as the former withdrew and the
Russians were enabled to manage affairs in their own
way, a peaceful and regular traffic was carried on.
These captains were too ready to attribute cruelty to
their rivals, and at times on mistaken grounds.

Captain Douglas, who visited Cook Inlet in the
Iphigenia, oheerved what he called "tickets or pass-
ports for good usage" in the hands of the natives.
Meares offers an explanation of this incident, saying
that "these tickets are purchased by the Indians from
the Russian traders at very dear rates, under a pre-
tence that they will secure them from ill-treatment
of any strangers who may visit the coast; and as they
take care to exercise great cruelty upon such of the
natives as are not provided with these instruments of
safety, the poor people are only too happy to purchase
them on any terms. ' Meares then adds with charm-
ing self-complacency: "Such is the degrading system
of the Russian trade in these parts; and forms a
striking contrast to the liberal and humane spirit of
British commerce."*^ It is scarcely necessary to say
that these papers were receipts for tribute paid by
these natives, who had for several years been consid-
sidered and declared subjects of the ruler of all the
Russias."

"Metres' Voy., ii. 129, cd. 1791.

"An explanation of the bittemesa displayed in Captain MeaneB* utterance

RUSSIAN POUCY.

949

Qoent

aartli

n^lo-

•itical

prob-

ng of

>r the

Inglish
ire too
ut it is
tnd the
jir own
led on.
lelty to

J in the
or i^ass-
nativcB.
t, saying
Btns from
er a pre-
reatment
1 as they
;h of the
iments of
purchase
,h charm-
»g system
forms a
spirit of
^ry to say
paid by
en consid-
of all the

The cause for these insinuations must bo looked for
in the greater success of the Muscovites, who could
be met with everywhere, and as thev did not pur-
chase the skins, but had the animals killed by natives
in their service, competition was out of the question.
At Prince William Sound Portlock discovered that
the natives did not like the goods he had to offer;
only when he obtained others from Captain Meares
did trade improve. The English traders frequently
complained in their journals of the Russians as having
absorbed the whole traffic, yet Portlock himself ac-
knowledges that during the summer of 1787 he sent
his long-boat repeatedly to Cook Inlet, and that each
time the party met with moderate success and friendly
treatment on the part of Russians and natives in their
service.**

Vancouver, who as far as the Russians are con-
cerned may be accepted as an impartial observer,
expresses the opinion that "the Russians were more
likely than any other nation to succeed in procur-
ing furs and other valuable commodities from those
shores." He based his opinion partly upon informa-
tion received from Ismailof at Unalaska, but prin-
cipally upon his own observations on the general
conduct of the Russians toward the natives in the
several localties where he found the latter under Rus-
sian control and direction. The English explorer
reasons as follows : " Had the natives about the Rus-
sian establishments in Cook's Inlet and Prince Will-
iam's sound been oppressed, dealt hardly by, or treated
by the Russians as a conquered people, some uneasi-
ness among them would have been perceived, some
desire for emancipation would have been discovered;
but no such disposition appeared — they seemed to be

on the subject of Rusaian traders can be found in a passage of his journal in
which he complains that wherever he M-ent iu the Noolka, from Unalaska to
tlio head of C'oolc Inlet, he found that the Kussians already monopolized the
trude, and the natives had nothing left to offer in exchange for English goods.
A lx)at sent up the Inlet was constantly watched by two Russian bidan.
JUfurrn' Villi. , xi.

" Pori:(Kii'ii Voy., 242-3.

.1. ' ■!

260

COLONIZATION AND THE FURTRADE.

held in no restraint, nor did they seem to wish, on
any occasion whatever, to elude the vigilance of their
directors." The Indians beyond Cross Sound were
less tractable and the Russians evidently became sat-
isfied to remain to the westward of that region.^

Notwithstanding all the abuses to which the Aleuts
had to submit at the hands of the early traders and
the Russian company, it is safe to assume that a peo-
ple which has absolutely no other resource to fall back
upon would have lon^ since been blotted out of exist-
ence with the extermmation of the sea-otter, had they
been exposed to the effects of reckless and unscrupu-
lous competition like their more savage and powerful
brethren in the east. As it is, they are iucfebted to
former oppression for their very existence at the pres-
ent day.

There can be no doubt that in their hands alone
would the wealth of the coast regi i be husbanded,
for their interests now began to demand an economic
management, and their influence by far exceeded that
of any other nation with whom the natives had come
in contact. Long before the universal sway of the
Russian American Company had been introduced wo
find unmistakable signs of this predilection in favor of
those among all their visitors who apparently treated
them with the greatest harshness while driving the
hardest bargains. The explanation lies in the fact
that the Russians were not in reality as cruel as
the others, and, above all, that they assimilated more
closely with the aborigines than did other traders.
At all outlying stations they lived together with and
in the manner of the natives, taking quite naturally
to filth, privations, and hardships, and on the other
hand dividing with their savage friends all the little

** Vaneouver'$ Vov., iiL 600. Portlock, some yean earlier, claimed that
the natives informedhim they had recently had a fight with the Russians in
which the latter were beaten; and also that he was requested to assist tlie
natives uainst tho Russians, but refused. PorllocVi Vog., 115-22. Juvenai'$
/our., MS., 30 etseq.

BAUD DECLINE. 1g^

comforts of rude civilization which by chance fell to
their lot.

Cook and Vancouver expressed their astonishment
at the miserable circumstances in which they found
the Russian promyshleniki, and both navigators agre'^
as to the amicable and even afiectionate relations e v-
isting between the rr-tives of the far north-west of this
contment and then first Caucasian visit Drs from the
eastern n ♦^^h. Captains "ir'ortlock and Dixon eveu
complained of this good understanding as an injury
to the interests of others with equal rights to the
advantages of traflfic with the savages. The traffic
then carried on throughout that region is scarcely
worthy of the name of trade; it was a struggle to
seize upon the largest quantity of the most valuable
furs in the shortest time and at the least expense,
without regard for consequences.

When Portlock and Dixon visited Cook Inlet and
Prince William Sound in 1786 the trade in those
localities seemed to be already on the decline. In the
former place a few days were sufficient to drain the
country of marketable furs.

How much the fur-trade had deteriorated on Cook
Inlet at the beginning of the last decade of the eigh-
teenth century is made evident by such reports of
managers as have been preserved. The total catch
for several years, during which time two phips well
manned and hundreds of natives were empiov'ed, did
not exceed 500 sea-otters and a comparatively small
number of other furs. This was certainly a great
falling-off, but it may be partly ascribed to the wran-
gling of rival companies whose retainers used every
means to interfere with each other. Large quantities
of furs were destroyed, houses and boats were broken
up, and blood was sometimes shed. The decline of
trade during this p'jriod was not arrested till the
country had been for years subjected to the arbitrary
rule of the Russian American Company, though of

262

COLONIZATION AND THE FUE-TRADE.

course the fur business never recovered its former
prosperity.

Traces of populous settlements abound on the shores
of the inlet, and it is evident that the numerous vil-
lages were abandoned to desolation at about the same
time. The age of trees now growing over former
dwellings enables the observer to fix the date of de-
population within a few years, long before any of the
epidemics which subsequently swept the country.

With the unrestrained introduction of fire-arms
along the coast southward from Prince William Sound
the sea-otters were doomed to gradual extermination
throughout that region, though the country sufl'ered
no less from imported Aleuts, who far surpassed the
native sea-otter hunters in skill, and had no interest
in husbanding production. Long before American
traders took a prominent part in these operations the
golden days of the sea-otter traffic had passed away.

In 1792 Martin Sauer predicted that in fifteen
years from that time the sea-otter would no longer
exist in the waters of north-western America, and he
had not seen the devastation on the coast south of
Yakutat. The organization of the Russian American
Company alone prevented the fulfilment of his proph-
ecy as far as concerns the section which ca.me under
his observation.

This state of aflFairs the traders had not failed to
reveal to the government long before this, coupled
with no little complaint and exaggeration. Officials
in Siberia aided in the outcry, and the empress was
actually moved to order war vessels to the coast,
but various circumstances interfered with their de-
parture." Nevertheless, from the rivalry of English

''Shelikof complamed that, 'the advantages which rightfully belong to
the subjects of Russia alone are converted to the benefit of other nations who
have no claim upon the country and no riRht to the products cf its wattra.'
Lieutenant-general Iv..n Bartholomcievicn Jacobi, who then filled tiie ollico
of governor general of Irkutsk and Kolivansk, reported to the empress
that it was necessary to protect without delay the Russian possesHions on the
coast of America with armed vesseld, in order to prevent foreigners from
interfering with the Russian fur-trade. In reply Catherine ordered five war-

DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS.

293

•mer

lorea
3 vii-
same
»rmer
)f de-
)f the

j-arms
Sound
nation
iiffered
ted the
nterest
nerican
ons the
1 away,
fifteen
p longer
, and he
louth of
merican
proph-
le under

failed to
coupled
Officials
)ress was
le coast,
their de-
English

lly belong to
ir nations who
,)f it8 waters.
lied the olUco
the cmpvesa
—jeBsionaou the
Bivigners from
lered 6ve war-

and American traders, the Shelikof and Golikof Com-
pany does not appear to have suffered to any great
extent, if we may judge from a list of cargoes im-
ported by that firm during a term of nine years.
Their vessels during the time numbered six; one, the
Trekh Sviatiteli, making two trips. The total value
of these shipments between the years 1788 and 1797
was 1,500,000 roubles — equal then to three times the
amount at the present day.**

This result was due partly to more wide-spread
and thorough operations than hitherto practised, and
pai'tly to the compensation offered by a varied assort-
ment of furs. Thus, while the most valuable fur-
bearing animal, the sea-otters, were becoming scarce
in the gulf of Kena'i, large quantities of beavers,
martens, and foxes were obtained there.

The distribution of fur-bearing animals during the
last century was of course very much the same as
now, with the exception that foxes of all kinds came
almost exclusively from the islands. The stone foxes
— blue, white, and gray — were most numerous on the
western islands of the Aleutian chain and on the Pri-
bylof group. Black and silver-gray foxes, then very
valuable, were first obtained from Unalaska by the
Shilof and Lapin Company and at once brought into
fashion at St Petersburg by means of a judicious pres-
entation to the empiess. Shipments of martens and
minks from a few localities on the mainland were in-
significant, and the same may be said of bears and
wolverenes. The sea-otter's range was not much
more extended than at present; but on the south-
eastern coast they were ten times more numerous
than now. They were never found north of the

Tesacls to be fitted out to sail in 1788, under command of Captain Mulovskoi,
with the rank of brigadier. The war with Sweden probably interfered with
thia expedition. Berg, Khronol. lat., 158. It must be remembered, however,
that the Billings expedition was under way at that time.

••The details are given by Bergh as follows : In 1786 the Sviatitdi brought
furs valued at 66,000 rubles; in 1789 the Sviatiteli, 300,000; in 1702 the
Mikhail, 370,000; in 1793 the St; Simeon, 128,000; in 1795 the Phoenix,
321,1.38; in 1705 the Alexandr, 276,650; in 1796 the Orel, 21,012; total rbls.,
1.479,600. KhroTwl. I»t., 160.

854

COLONIZATION AND THE rUR-TRADB.

Aleutian isles and the southern extremity of the
Alaska peninsula.

The fur-seal frequented the same breeding-grounds
as now and many were killed on the Aleutian and Com-
mander islands while on their annual migration to and
from the rookeries. The value of the skins was small
and the market easily overstocked, often necessitating
the destruction of those on hand. Beavers and land-
otters were obtained only in Cook Inlet, as the vast
basin of the Yukon had not then been tapped. The
skins of this class for the overland trade with China,
as has been stated, were purchased in England of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and carried nearly around
the globe. Black bears were occasionally purchased,
but rarely appeared in the market, being considered
as most suitable presents to officisJs and persons of
high rank whose good-will might serve the interest
of individual traders or companies. Lynx and marmot
skins found only a local demand in the form of gar-
ments and trimmings.

CHAPTER XII.

FOREIGN VISITOBS.

1786-17M.

FBBNOB InTSBBST tS THX NOBTH-WEST— La PiBocss'a ExAHnrATIOW —
DlSCOVXBT OF POBT DES FBAN9AIS— A DiSAaTBOUS StTBVXT — EnOLISH

V18ITOB8— Meabes is CAtTGHT IN Pbikce William Soond — Tebbiblk

StBUOOLES with the ScUBVT — POBTLOCK AND DiXON COME TO THE

Rescue — Thbib Two Yeabs of Tbadino and Ezflobino — IsmaTlof

AND BOOHABOF SeT FOBTH TO SeOUBE THE ClAIHS OF RuSSIA — ^A TbEACH-

OBons Chief — Yakutat Bat Expmbed — Tbaces of Fokeion Visitobs

JsALOnSLT SCFFBESSED — SfAIN ReSOLVES TO ASSEBT HeBSELF — MAB-
TINEZ AND HaBO's TOUB OF INVESTIGATION— FiDAIiQO, MABOHAND, AND
CAAHAilO — VaNOODVEB'S EXPEDITION.

The activity displayed by different nationalities in
the exploration of the Northwest Coast, together
with allurements of trade and of the interoeeanie
problem, called to this region also the attention of the
French government; and when in August 1785 La
P^rouse was despatched from Brest with two frigates,
the Astrolabe and Boussole, the latter commanded by
De Langle, on a scientific exploring tour round the
world, he received instructions to extend it to the
farthest north-west, and report also on trade pros-
pects. After a tedious voyage round Cape Horn, the
coast of Alaska was sighted on the 23d of June 1786
near latitude 60°, where the gigantic outline of Mount
St Elias rose above the clouds. The impression made
upon the natives of sunny France by the gloomy
aspect of this coast was not more favorable than that
conceived by the earlier Spanish and English visitors.
The contrast was to great between the palm-groves
and taro-fields of Hawaii so lately witnessed, and

(368>

256

FOREIGN VISITOBS.

liiii

■I'l l' »,

these snowy mountains of this northern mainland
with their thin blackish fringe of sombre spruce-
forest. At any rate, contrary to his instructions,
which were to explore the Aleutian Islands, La P6-
rouse with wisdom shaped his course south-eastward
along the coast.*

For some time no landing could be effected, the
vessels not approaching near enough to the shore
to distinguish bays and headlands. In two instances
boats were lowered to reconnoitre, but the reports of
oflScers in charge were not favorable. The wide open-
ing of Yakutat or Bering Bay was thus passed un-
awares, but a little to the southward La Pdrouse
observed what he considered certain indications of the
discharge of a large river into the sea.^

On the 2d of August an inlet was sighted a short
distance below Cape Fairweather, and on the following
day the two frigates succeeded in gaining an anchor-
age. The navigator felt exultant over this discovery
of a new harbor, and expressed himself in his journal
to the effect " that if the French government had en-
tertained ideas of establishing factories in this part
of the American coast, no other nation could pretend
to the smallest right of opposing the project.' ' The

' Indeed the illuatriotis French navigator had deviated from his instruc-
tiona ever since leaving Madeira. He made the northern coast in the month
designated, but a year earlier than liad been contemplated, having deferred
hia explorations in the south Pacific. The instructions prescribed, t)mt ho
should 'particularly endeavor to explore those parts which have not been
examined by Captain Cook, and of which the relations of Russian and Spanifih
navigators have given no idea. He will observe whether in those parts not
yet known some river may not be found, some confined gulf, which may, by
means of the interior lakes, open a communication with some part of Huclson
Bay. He will push his inquiries to Behring's Bay and to Mount St Kliaa
and will inspect the ports Bucarelli and Los Remedios. Prince William Land
and Cook river having been sufficiently explored, he will, aftur making Mount
St Elias, steer a course for the Shumagin Islands, near the peninsula of Alaska.
He will afterward examine the Aleutian Islands,' etc. La Pirouse, Voy., i.
70-75.

' One indentation of the coast was named De Monti Bay; and La P(5rou8e's
French edition asserts that this was Bering Bay with ihe anchorage of Tort
Mulgrave named by Dixon in the following year. Dixon's position of Port
Mulgrave was lat. 59° 33' and long. 140° w. of Greenwich, wliile La P(5rouso
located the bay De Monti at 50° 43' and 140° 20*. Both longitudes were in-
correct in regard to Port Mulgrave.

* The editor of the journal of La P^rouse, in his effort to establish the

LA PEROUSE'S EXPEDITION.

287

instruc-
„ month
deferred
t!mt lio
not been
Spanish
parts not
may, l>y
Hudson
St Eliaa
iam Land
ng Mount
)f Alaska.
Voy., i-

Pdrouse's
roof I'ort
n of I'ovt
, Pdrouso
8 were in-

ablish the

newly discovered port, called Ltua by the natives, was
named rightly and modestly Port des Franjais, which
gave no undue personal prominence to any one. Ex-
ploring and surveying parties in boats were sent out
at once, while the remainder of the crews were em-
ployed in watering the ships and re-stowing cargo in
order to mount six cannons that had thus far been
carried in the hold.*

The bay of Ltua represents in its contours the let-
ter T, the foot forming its outlet into the sea. The
cross-bar consists of a deep basin terminating in
glaciers. La P^rouse alludes to it as " perhaps the
most extraordinary place in the world," and describes
the upper part as " a basin of water of a depth in the
middle that could not be fathomed, bordered by peaked
mountains of an excessive height covered with snow . . w
I never saw a breath of air ruffle the surface of this
water; it is never troubled but by the fall of immense
blocks of ice, which continually detach themselves from
fine glaciers, and which in falling make a noise that
resounds far through the mountains. The air is so
calm that the voice may be heard half a league away,
as well as the noipe of the sea bi: ds that lay their eggs
in the caviti. " these rocks." Though charmed with
the weird grandeur of the scenery, the explorers were
disappointed in their expectation of finding a river or
channel oflTering a passage to the Canadian l':<,kes or
Hudson Bay.

Intercourse with the natives began with the first

French discoTerer's claim to priority on this part of the coaat, ignores Cook
as having been 'too far irom the shore,' but carefully traces the movements
of Dixon whom he seems to have looked upon as the commander of the ex-

Cdition, consisting of the Kin;/ Oeorge and Queen Charlotte, and shows that
k P6rouse sighted Monnt St Elias and other points far earlier. The editor
Bccms to make a fine distinction between Prince WilKam Sound and the
'northwest coast' of America. Le Pdrouse himself gives so careful and un-
biassed a description of what he saw on the Alaskan coast as to impress the
render with a feeling of confidence not generally derived from a perusal of
tiic narratives of his English and other predecessors and successors in the
field of exploration.

* Tliis was done, according to the editor of the journal, not from fear of
Indiiins on the spot, but with a view of defence against pirates in the Gbiiia
Bcaa they were so soon to visit.
Hut. kuMLA., 17

nil

■i-Vi

it .i*ri*':

!!'''' ■'' >'
IS': J h

ill

m ^

FOBEIGN VKITOES.

day, and soon they came in large numbers, allured
from a distance it was supposed. Contrary to his
expectations La Pdrouse found the savages in posses-
sion of knives, hatchets, iron, aud beads, from which,
with clearer discrimination than Cook, he concluded
these natives to have indirect communication with the
Russians, while the latter navigator ascribed such
indications to inter-tribal traffic originating with Hud-
son Bay posts.* It was convenient for the English-
man thus to ignore the presence of any rival in these
parts. Traffic was carried on with moderate success,
the chief article of barter being iron, and some six
hundred sea-otter skins and a number of other furs
were obtained. To so inexperienced a trader the
business transacted appeared immense, leading the
commander to the opinion that a trading-post could
easily collect twenty thousand skins per annum, yet
be leaned rather to occasional private trading expedi-
tions than to the fixed establishment. The thieving
propensities of the natives annoyed the French very
much, and in the hope of keeping the robbers a'.vay
La Pdrouse purchased of the chief an island in the
bay, where he had established his astronomical sta-
tion; but though a high price was paid for the worth-
less ground there was no abatement of thefts. The
savages would glide through the dense spruce thicket
at night and steal articles from under the very heads
of sleepers without alarming the guards.

On July 13th a terrible misfortune befell the ex-
pedition. Three boats had been sent out to make
final soundings for a chart, including the passage lead-
ing out to sea. As the undertaking was looked upon
in the light of a pleasure excursion, aftbrding an oppor-
tunity for hunting, the number of officers accompany-
ing the party was larger than the duty required, seven

* We have no evidence of the advance of lemali'lof 'b boats to the point pre-
▼iona to the arrival of the French frigates. The seal-skiu covering of a large
caoooi or bidar discovered here would point to visits of Agleginutes or Cliu-
patsches. The natives stated that of seven similar boats, six had been lost
in the attempt to stem the fearful tidc>rip at the entrance to the bay.

TERRTBT.E ACCTDENT.

in all, while the crews consisted of eighteen of the best
men from both vessels. On approaching the narrow
channel at the entrance of the bay, two of the boats
were drawn into the resistless current and engulfed in
the breakers almost before their inmates were aware of
their danger. The third boat, the smallest, narrowly
escaped a like fate. Not a man of the first two was
saved, not even a single body was washed ashore.* A
monument to the drowned party was erected on the
point of island purchased of the chief, and it was
named L'Isle du C^notaphe.^ Weighing anchor July
80th the squadron sailed along the coast without mak-
ing any observations, but on the 6th of August the
weather cleared, enabling La Pdrouse to determine his
position in the vicinity of Norfolk Sound.* Puerto de
13ucareli and Cape Kaiga,n were passed by, and unfav-
orable weather toiled the attempt to run into Dixon
Entrance, whereupon the expedition p^sed beyond
Alaska limits." Superficial as were his observations,
La Pi^rouse came to the coiiclusion that the whole
coast from Cross Sound to Cape Hector, the south
point of Queen Charlotte Island, was one archipelago.^"

During the year 1786 mijch progress was made in
the exploration of the Alaskan coast between Dixou

• The victims were: from the Boussole, d'Escures, de Pierrevert, de Mon-
tornal (officers), and 8 men; from the AstroU^, de U Borde Ijtiirchainvillc, de
la Borde Boutervilliers, Flaasan (officers), and 7 men. Tne two de la Borde
were brothers.

' The monument bore an inscription, and at its foot a bottle was buried
containing a brief narrative of the melanclioly occurrence.

' He recognized tlie Cabo de Engaflo and Mount Son Jacinto of the Span-
Lirds without alludfug to Cook's nomenclature of Mount and Cape Edgecombe.
Ue looked into Korfolk Sound from tho group of islands at its southern en-
trance, and named two bays to the southward, of which he saw only the mouths,
Port Neiker and Port Guibert (probably Port Banks and Whale Bay). On tho
following day he named Cape Ommaney (Cape Chirikof ) and Christian Sound
(Cliirikof Bay). The Hazy Islands he renamed Isles de la Croy^re. La Pi-
rome, Toy., IL 165-7.

'The details of La P^rouse's explorations and observations south of this
point can be found in Hi»t. Northwest Coast, i., and Hist. Cal., i., this series.

'"In the following year the Astrolabe and Boussole reached the coast of
Kaincliatka; but though the French officers met a number of individuals
itlentificd with the history of Alaska, the circumstances of their sojourn in
tho harbor of Petropavlovsk have no immediate connection with tbu nana-
tive.

"900

FOREIGN VISITORS.

M-::a

Entrance and the Alaska Peninsula. The Captain
Cook and the Experiment, under captains Lowry and
Guise, sailed in June from Nootka for Prince Will-
iam Land, where they obtained a small lot of furs.
More extensive are the experiences recorded of John
Meares." He sailed from Malacca in the Nootka May
29, 1786. A companion ship, the Sea Otter, also
fitted out in Bengal, had sailed before him with the
intention of meetmg in Prince William Sound, but
was nev» r heard of. Amlia and Atkha, of the Aleu-
tian group, were sighted the 1st of August, and after
passing unawares to the northward of the islands
during a fog he was on the 5th piloted into Beaver
Bay by a Russian. While taking in water, Meares
and his oflBcers were hospitably entertained by the
Russians on Unalaska under Delarof, yet the English-
man delights none the less to sneer at their poverty
while extolling the 'generous' and 'magnanimous' con-
duct of the British trader, as represented in himself.
On arriving at the mouth of Cook Inlet soon after,
he heard that two vessels had already visited that
part of the coast that summer, and seeing indications
of Russians everywhere he passed on to Prince Will-
iam Sound, imagining himself first on the ground.
Qn his way he gave the name of Petrie to Shelik(jf
Strait. In his eagerness to gather all the sea-otter
skins possible, Meares allowed the season to slip by
till too late for a passage to China and no choice
remained but to winter in the sound. He first tried
the anchorage of Snug Corner Cove, discovered by
Cook, but subsequently moved his vessel to a sheltered
nook nearer the mainland, in the vicinity of the pres-
ent village of Tatikhlek.

" Voyarjes made in the years 1788 and 1789 from China to the North-imi
Coast of America, to which ia prefixed an Introductory Narrative of a Voynrjt
petformed in 1786, from Bengal in the ship Nootka, by John Meares, L'-iq.,
London, 1790. Of this work several editions have been published. The i;ii-

Eression created by a perusal of Meares' narrative, especially in the light of
is later transactions at Nootka, is that he was an insincere and unscrupulous
man, and that he was so regarded by Portlock is evident from the manner in
which the latter bound him to the fulfilment of his promises.

"ad be
plies;

MEAHES' DISTRESS.

261

The vessel was but ill-supplied with the provisions
necessary for a long winter in the far north, but the
best arrangements possible under the circumstances
were made. The ship was covered. Spruce beer
was brewed; but the crew preferring the spirituous
liquor which was served out too freely for men on
short allowance of food, and the supply of fresh fish
meanwhile being stopped, scurvy broke out. Among
the first victims was the surgeon. Funerals became
frequent. At first, attempts were made to dig a shal-
low grave under the snow; but as the survivors be-
came few and lost their strength, the bodies were
dropped through cracks in the ice, to become food for
fishes long before returning spring opened their crys-
tal vault. At last the strength of the decimated crew
was barely sufficient to drag the daily supply of fuel
from the forest a few hundred yards away. The sav-
ages, who kept themselves well informed, grew inso-
lout as they waited impatiently for the last man to
die.

In April some natives from a distant part of the
sound visited the vessel. A girl purchased by Meares
at the beginning of the winter for an axe and some
beads, and who had served as interpreter, declared
them to be her own people and went away with them —
a rat leaving a doomed ship.

The depth of despondency had been reached when
Meares heard of the arrival of two ships in the sound.
Without a seaworthy boat or a crew ho was obliged
to await a chance visit from the new-comers. A Tet-
ter intrusted to some natives failed to reach its des-
tination. In the evening of the 8th of May, however,
Captain Dixon of the Queen Charlotte arrived in a
whaleboat and boarded the Nootka, which was still fast
in the ice. Learning of Meares' distress he promised
all necessary assistance.^''

" Mcarea complained that Dixon would make no promise until the matter
had been submitted to Portlock, and that he would holdout no hope for sup-
plies; but Dixon writes: ' I had. . .satisfaction in assuring him that ho should
06 furnished with evety necessary we could possibly spaie. As Cuptoia

FOREIGN VISlTOHS.

Meai-es now had one of his boats repail-ed, and pro-
ceeded to Portlock's vessels, on the north side of
Montague Island, where relief -"as obtained. Port-
lock insisted, however, that Meares should cease at
once to trade with the natives and leave the field to
him, and the latter yielded, though he complained
bitterly." A month after the departure of the Queen
Charlotte in search of furs tiie Nootka left the scene
of so much misery and disaster, her commander bid-
ding a reluctant farewell to the coast of Alaska in
conformance with his promise to Catptain Portlock.

This was the econd visit to Alaska of Portlock and
Dixon. They had sailed from England in August 1785
in the ship King George and Queen Charlotte, and first
Approached the vicinity of Cook Inlet on the 16th of
July 1786. Less dismayed than Meares at the presence
of Russians, they moved past them up to the head of
Cook Inlet, and there met with considerable success
in trading."

After a sojourn of nearly a month the King George

Meares' people were now getting better, he desired me not to take the trouble
of sending any refreshments to him, as he would come on board of ns very
shortly in his own boat.' Dixon's Voy., 155.

" Meares gives his readers the impression of a strong bias in this matter,
And one inclines to credit the two naval oificers, whose narratives boar tiie
stamp of truth. Further than this the wild statements, if not deliberate false-
hoods, of Meares in connection wit*t the Nootka controversy are well known.
Dixon states the cose as follows: ' Lti the forenoon of the Uth Captain Meares
and Mr Ross left us. They were supplied with what flour, sugar, molasses,
brandy, etc., we could possibly spare; and in order to render them every
lissistanoe in our power, Captain Portlock spared Captain Meares two senmon
to assist in carrymg his vessel to the Sandwich Islands, where he proposed
goine OS soon as the weather permitted.' Id., 158.

'* On the 10th of Jnly the ships had stood into a capacious opening on the
east side near the entrance of the inlet. The place was named Graham Bay,
And a cove on the north side near the ^ntra^ce was called Coal Harbor, sev-
eral scams of that mideral being visible along the bluffs. A paH^ of Kussians
with a number of native hunters were encamped near a lagoon, the site of tho
later trading-post of Alexandrovsk. Seeing no prospect of trade here, Portlock
concluded to proceed up the inlet or river as he presumed it to be. The
highest point reached by him was Trading Bay, in the vicinity of the present
village of Toyonok, just east of North Fbreland. Here some tradine was
done, evidentlv with Kadiak or Chugatsch hunting parties; for they all used
the kyak, or skin cano6, and had no i)crmatient villages on the shore. Port-
lock assumed from the signs of these natives that they asked his assistance
Against the Russians, but m this he w<i8 probably mistaken. Dtxon't Voy. , 60*
tS; PorUock'a Voy., 102-17

PORTLOCK AND DIXON.

269

and Queen Charlotte left the inlet on the 13th of Au-
gust, with the intention to examine Prince William
Sound. A succession of contrary winds and thick
weather interfered with this plan. For over a month
the vessels kept near the coast, sighting many points
previously determined by Spanish and English ex-
plorers, but finding it impossible to make a landing,
until finally, on the 28th of September, when in the
vicinity of Nootka Sound, Captain Portlock gave up
all hopes of further trade that season and headed for
the Hawaiian Islands.

After wintering there Portlock sailed once more
for the Alaskan coast, and sig ited Montague Island
on the 23d of April. Natives who visited the ships
on the west side of the island were without furs, but
pointed to the head of the sound, repeating the word
'Nootka,' which puzzled Captains Portlock and Dixon
not a little, until the latter finally fell in with Meares
as before stated. The Queen Charlotte stood down
the coast, while Portlock moved to Nuchek Harbor
to await the long-boat of the King George which had
been despatched for Cook Inlet on the 12th of May,
with orders to return by the 20th of June.'* The
boat returned on the 11th, reporting such success that
she was fitted out anew and despatched upon a second
trip with positive orders to return by the 20th of
July. .

Portlock's prolonged stay at Nuchek enabled him
to form a very good chart of the bay, which he named
Port Etches, while a cove on the west side was
called Brook Cove." Trade was not very active,
and boats sent to various parts of the sound did not

'* The boat was commanded by Hayward, third mate.

'* A mnoke-hoaBe was erected for the purpose of curing salmon; an abun-
dance of sprace beer was brewe<l and a number of spars were secured from
the virgin forest lining the shores of the bay. At the head of one of the
coves an inscription was discovered npon a tree, which Portlock believed to
be Greek, made by a man living among the natives, but which of course was
Russian. Portlock left a wooden vane and inscription on Garden Island to
the south side of Nuchek Harbor. Garden strawberries are now found on
this and other points of Nuchek Island — probably the result of Portlock'a
experiment. Voy., 232, 243.

Ill TOREION VISITORS.

meet with much success, some of them being robbefl
not only of trading goods and provisions, but of
clothes and arms belonging to the men. The whale-
boat and yawl were left high ashore by the ebb-tide
to the eastward of Nuchek Island, and in that help-
less condition the crews were surrounded by two hun-
dred natives and completely stripped, the only result
of the expedition being the discovery that Nuchek
was an island, a fact already ascertained by the
Spaniards.

On the 22d of July the long-boat returned from
her second and less remunerative voyage to Cook
Inlet, and three days later the King George sailed out
of Port Etches, passing round the west side of Mon-
tague Island. Portlock sighted Mount Fairweather,
but failed to find Cross Sound, which he had looked
for in vain the preceding season. On the 5th of
August he found a harbor, which was named after
himself, about twelve leagues to the southward of
Cape Cross as located by Cook." Here the King
George anchored once more and the boats were sent
out in search of inhabitan ' s and trade. Only a few
natives visited the ships, fo. no permanent settlement
existed thereabout. The lo ^-boat, however, under
Hayward, made a quite suc^ ^sful trip to Norfolk
Sound, passing on the return vc ige through Klokat-
chef Sound Cook Bay of Islam »." On the 23d of
August the King George set sai.; left the coast of
Alaska for the Hawaiian Islands, the next rendezvous
appointed with Dixon.

" The latitude of the ship's position in this harbor is given as 57° 46', but
while Portlock's sketch seems plain enough, no later navigator has confinncd
the contours of the bay. On the latest chart issued by the United States
Hjrdrographic Office a simple break in the coast line under the latitude given
is indicated as Portlock Harbor. It must exist somewhere on the west coaot
of Chichagof Island.

"The inhabitants of Norfolk Sound had shown some disposition to hos-
tility toward the crew of the long-boat, but alwut the ship they confined
themselves merely to stealing. Dixon, in his narrative, spoke of having seen
liere a white linen shirt worn by an Indian, which he believeil to be of Span-
ish make, but it is much more probable that the garment had found its way
there from some point of the coast where the Aelrolaht and Bouasole hud
touched.

A RUSSIAN EXPLORATION. f||

Dixon had in tho mean time sailed eastward along
the coast, and more fortunate than Portlock he did not
overlook the wide entrance of Yakutat Bay, which
he entered the 23d of May. He discovered and sur-
veyed a fine harbor on the south side, which he named
Port Mulgrave. Hero the Queen Cliarlotte remained
nearly two weeks, meeting at first with some success
in trading, though the natives were in possession of
Kussian beads and ironware. An exploration of the
neighborhood in boats convinced Dixon that the shores
of the bay were thinly peopled."

On the 4th of June he proceeded eastward in search
of some port where better trade might be found.
Owing to his distarce from the roast he failed to
observe Cross Sound, but on the 11th he sighted
Mount Edgecombe, and the following day entered and
named Norfolk Sound.*" i^. survey was made which
resulted in a very fair chart. Natives made their
appearance as the ship was passing into the bay and
for three days trade was brisk.

On the 24th of June the Queen Cliarlotte left Nor-
folk Sound, and on the following day another harbor
was observed and named Port Banks, probably the
present Whale Bay, in latitude 56' 35'. The wind
not being favorable no attempt was made to enter,
and about the 1st of July Dixon left the coast of
Alaska to meet with his first marked success in trading
at Clark Bay on the north-western extremity of
Queen Charlotte Islands. The events of his voyage
below this point are told in another volume.^

'• Dixon estimated a population of only 70, including women and children,
M'liich is much too low. His description of the natives is not very accurate.
See Native Itaces, i. passim, this series.

'" Tho natives seemed to Dixon more easy to deal with than those at Port
Mulgrave. During an exploration of tho bay in boats some inconvenience
M'QH experienced from their thieving propensities. I'he astronomical position
of Ilia anchorage on tho east shore of Kruzof Island was lat. 79° 3', long. 135*
^'H'. Hu applied the name of White Point to the Beach Cape uf the Ilussians.
Tliu \\ hole estuary was named after the duke of Norfolk.

^'y/^^^ Northwest Coant, i., this series. All our information concerning tho
visits of tho Kiiiij (Itorge and Quern Charlotte to the Alaskan coast is derived
fiuiu the nariotivcs of Dixon and Portlock, and to a limited extent from that
of iMcares. Portlock's narrative was published in London in 1799 under the

\m^<^^^

28«

FOREIGN VISITORS.

\r (i!

«i ■ f 'lit

The next exploration of Prince William Sound and
the coast east of it took place during the second voy-
age of the Trekh Sviatiteli, in connection with Sheli-
kofs plans for the developoient and extension of hia
colony. This vessel had arrived at Kadiak from
Okhotsk in April 1788 and was at once despatched
upon a trading and exploiing voyage to the eastward,
under Ismailof and Bocharof, both holding the rank of
masters in the imperial navy with special instructions
furnished by Jacobi, then governor general of Siberia,
and supplemented by orders of Eustfate Delarof who
had succeeded Samoilof in the command of the colony.
The crew consisted of forty Kussians and four natives
of Kadiak who were to serve as interpreters. In ad-
dition to as full an armament and equipment as cir-
cumstances would allow the expedition was supplied
with a number of painted posts and boards, copper

title of A Voyage round the WorJd, but more pariicidarly to tfie North • Wfnt Con-it
of America: performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, awl 1788, 4to. The volume bears
es'idence of the honest and careful investigations by a strict disciplinarian
■who left the commercial part of his enterprise to others. It is profuf«i;ly
illustrated with maps and sketches of scenery, etc. The latter, ma<'e chielly
by an apprentice named Woodcock, have evidently Buffered at tlie hand of
the engraver, for it is scarcely probable that tho young man should have
originally represented Alaska with groves of palms and other tropical trees,
to 8:iy nothing of three-story houses. Another remarkable feature ia that,
though the special charts and sketches are generally correct, the gcncr.al chart
of the coast from Norfolk Sound to Kadiak is full of glaring maocui'acius.
lieginning in the east, fortlock Harbor in dimensions is represented out of
all proportion to those of the special chart and the text. The next discrep-
ancy occurs at Nuchek Island, called Rose Island on the chart, which is dravn
at least four times too large, and its contours as well as those of I'ort Etches
are not in corformity with the special chart and the text. Montague Island
is also represented too large, three very deep and conspicuous bays on its
north-eastern end are omitted, though tho vessel's track is laid down within
a mile of tho shore, and tho harbors on the west coast are not laid in to agreo
with special charts and text. In Cook Inlet, Graham Harbor is made at
least uix times too large, but Cape Elizabeth is doni'^ted for the fii-st timo
correctly as an island. iShclikof Strait, though known *o the Kussians fur
several years, and named Petrie by Meare", is still closed on this chart nnd
its upper portion, just south of Capo Douglas, retains the name of Smoky Bay,
given by Cook. The strait between Kadiak and Afognak is duly indicatol,
but the former island is i«presented as part of the continent, while Afognak
and Shuiak are made one island and named Kodiac. The coast of tne Kuiiai

Eeninsula between Cape Elizabeth and Piince William Sound was evidently
lid down from Vancouver's chart, but its corrections in Prince William
Sound have been entirely ignored. The compilation of the general chart must
have been entrusted to incompetent hands, without being revised by any une
familiar with Portlock's notes and surveys.

ind and
nd voy-
h Shell-
n of bia
ik from
gpatched
astward,
e rank of
tructions
f Siberia,
iarof wbo
le colony,
ur natives
3. In ad-
int as cir-
s supplied
•ds, copper

ae volume bears
■t disciplinariiin
It is profuf"-ly
er, ma<'e chicUv
at the hand ot
an BhouUl have
■r tropical trees,
feature is thiit,
;l,o general chart
nff inaceui-acies.
presented out of
le next discrcp-

t, which is ara^^"
s'e of Tort Etches

Montague Isiaml
=„ou8 Lays on >t«
laid down withui
ot laid in to agree

arbor is inade at
'or iho first time
the Russians tor
on this chart ana
meof Smoky Bay.
ia duly indical»>i,
nt, while Afotfnak
cokBtoftueKcn.1
«nd was cvuleiuiy
TrSo William
general chart must
revised by any oue

THE <TREKH SVIATITEU' AGAIN.

267

plates and medals, "to mark the extent of Russia's
domain."^

On the 2d of May the ship put to sea, and three
days later made Cape Clear, the southernmost point
of Montague Island." No safe anchorage was found
until the 10th, when the Trekh Sviatiteli entered the
capacious harbor of Nuchek or Hinchinbrook Island.
On the same day an exploring party was sent out in
boats, and on the northern side of the island a wooden
cross was erected with an inscription claiming the
country as Russian territory.'*

The events of 1787-8 must have been puzzling to the
natives of Prince William Sound. Englishmen under
the English flag, Englishmen under the Portuguese
flag, Spaniards and Russians, were cruising about,
often within a few miles of each other, taking posses-
sion, for one nation or the other, of all the land in
sight. The Prir.cesa from Mexico appears to have
left Nuchek two days before the Russians arrived
there; the Prince of Wales, (Japtain Hutchins, must
have been at anchor in Sipring Corner Cove about
the same time, and shortly after the Iphigenia, Cap-
tain Douglas, entf^red the same cove,''' while Portlock
left traces near by two months later. Douglas touched
the southern part of Alaska also in the following
year, and sought to acquire fame by renaming Dixon
Entrance after himself

Bocharof carefully surveyed the inner harbor, the
Brook Cove of Portlock, and named it St Constantino
and St Helena, after the day of arrival. On the 27th
of May the Trekh Sviatiteli returned to the coast of
Montague Island. Some trading was done here de-

" Sheia-of, Puttsh., ii. 2 3.

" The two navigators deciarcd that this was the Cape St Elias of Bering,
without any apparent basiu for their opinion and without conaidTing that in
such a case the Uussian discoverer could never have been within tiiirty miles
of the American continent.

'* A* its fort a copper plate was bnriod, proclaiming the same. IJ., ii. 7.

'■"The latter found the following inscriptions cut into the bark of two
ticoj: 'Z. Etches of the Prince of Wales, May 9, 1788,' and 'John Ilutchina.'
Alearea' I'oy., 316.

J'Jfc

U '■J '

^iP f 111

\r '♦,

!i':' ' ■ 4

■5: !,i

FOREIGN VISITORS.

y H

i^^'ii

spite the presence of the Enghsh who paid such prices
as the Russians never dreamed of.^

By advice of a native Ismailof proceeded to Achakoo
Island,'^^ some distance to the southward, which was
dascribed as abounding in sea-otters. Not finding a
harbor he landed in a boat with seventeen men and a
Chugatsch pilot. After trading amicably for some
time the commander sent off a party of eight men to
gather eggs on the cliffs, but they soon came back
reporting that several bidars filled with Chugatsches
were approaching. This aroused suspicion among the
promyshleniki, and their alarm was increased by the
discovery that the Chugatsch guide had disappeared.
The chief in command of the native hunting party
professed to have no knowledge of the deserter, and
offered to go in search of him with five Russians in a
bidar. Four of these men the cunning savage sent
into the interior upon a false trail, and then drawing
a spear from under his parka he attacked the remain-
ing Russian with great fury. One of the other men
returned to assist his comrade, but both had a severe
struggle with the savage, who was at last despatched
with a musket ball.^ As soon as the others returned
the party hurried on board, the anchor was raised,
and all speed was made to depart.

On the 1st of June the Trekh Sviatiteli arrived at
the island of Kyak,** which was uninhabited, though
the natives from the mainland came at times to hunt
sea-otters and foxes. The adjoining coast was thor-
oughly explored, but the inhabitants fled in alarm,
abandoning their huts and canoes whenever the clumsy
boats of the Russians came in sight. After a slow
advance easterly, the large bay of Yakutat was reached
on the 11th of June. Here the chief of the Thlin-

'* They found the chiefs rather diffident in accepting one of the Russian
medals sent out by Govenior Jacobi. The presence of a Spanish frcujata on
the otiicr side of the Island may have had something to do with it.

'■" Oclick of Russian charts and Middleton Island of Vancouver.

•"^Shelikof, I'vt,'»h., ii. 29-31.

" Koriak in Ismailof 's Journal; Kaye of Cook. Pallas, Neue Nordkehe
Jieilrayc, v. 211.

RUSSIAN RETICENCE.

269

hunt

tlior-

alarm,

;luuisy

slow

cached

Thliu-

keet nation marie his appearance, having travelled up
the coast from his winter residence at Chilkaht with a
retinue of over two hundred warriors including two
of his sons. Intercourse was carried on with great
caution, but in trading Ismailof was much more suc-
cessful than Dixon. In addition to his purchases he
obtained a large number of skins from his Kadiak
hunters, who in their bidarkas could go far out to sea,
where the open wooden canoes of the Thlinkeets did
not dare to follow. In order to draw attention from
this rivalry ceremonious visits and exchange of pres-
ents were kept up. The Russian commander could
not have failed to hear of Dixon's visit, but not a
word about it can be found in his journal. In this
he probably obeyed instructions, for even business
letters from the islands to Siberia were in those
days frequently tampered with by the authorities of
Okhotsk and Kamchatka, and it was the interest of
Shelikof and his partners to have English claims to
prior occupation ignored.

Ismailof dwells much upon his efforts to induce the
Thlinkeet chiefs to place themselves under the pro-
tection of Russia, and before leaving he presented to
Chief Ilkhak the portrait of Tsarovich Paul " at his
earnest request," and decorated him with one of the
medals sent out by the governor general of Siberia.
Copper plates inscribed " Possession of the Russian
Empire" were also buried on two points on the bay.^"
Two enslaved boys of the Chugatsch and Chilkaht
tribes were purchased, who proved of great service
as interpreters, and in giving information concerning
the coast southward and eastward.

From Yakutat the Trekh Sviatiteli proceeded east-
ward in search of another harbor. The Chugatsch boj''
acted as pilot and pointed out the mouths of several
rivers, but no landing-place was discovered until the

Ifordlsche

'"Two years later not a trace could be found of portraits, medal, or cop-
per plates, which makes it appear tliat Ilkhak's respect for the Russian impe-
rial family was not as great aa represented. Ivmdilqfs Jotintal, 14-15.

270

FOREIGN VISITORS.

m'r ' ir

third day, when the vessel entered Ltua Bay or Port
des Franyais. Trade was quite active here for some
days, and in the mean time Ismailof carried out his
secret instructions by establishing marks of Kussian
occupation at various points, and perhaps destroying
the monument left by La P^rouse."

The results of Ismailofs explorations during the
summer of 1788 were of sufficient importance to stimu-
late Delarof to further attempts in the same direc-
tion, but before following these it is necessary to turn
our attention to a visit of the Spaniards in the same
year.

Roused by the reports of La Pdrouse and others
concerning the spread of Russian settlements in the
far north, and the influx of English and other trad-
ing vessels, the Spanish government in 1787 or-
dered the viceroy of Mexico to despatch at once an
expedition to verify these accounts and examine the
north-western coast for places that might be desirable
of occupai'on in anticipation of foreign designs. On
March 8, 1788, accordingly the fragata Princesa and
the paquebot San Cdrlos, under Alf^rez Est^van Josd
Martinez and the pilot Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, set
sail from San Bias, with the additional instructions to
ascend to latitude 61" and examine the coast down to
Monterey ; to avoid all trouble with the Russians, and
to conciliate native chiefs with gifts and promises.*"

" No refercsnce is made in his journal to the tablets and monument placed
by the Fren>. h, though he was informed by the natives of the visit of two largo
ships to the harbor and saw many tools and implements marked with tho
royal fleur de lis. A small anchor similarly marlied was secured. The re-
ports of Isma'ilof and Bocbarof have been preserved in their original bud
spelling and grammar, not easy to imitate, and we must therefore presume
that they were written in the unsatisfactory and fragmentary shape iu which
we find them.

" A man should, if possible, be obtained from each tribe speaking a dis-
tinct tongue, as interpreter; frequent landings must be made for explora-
ting and taking possession; Russian establishments must be closely inspected
to ascertain their strength, object, etc. ' No deberdn emjjenar lance nlguno
con los buauos rusos 6 de otra nacion.' Provisions were taken for 15 months.
It was at nrst proposed to send tlie fragatns Concepcion and Famrita, under
Teniente Camacho and Alf^rez Maurclle, but sickness and delays caused the
change to be mode. For details of instructions, etc. , see Ctiarta cxjiloracion dt

MARllNEZ AND HARO.

271

'ort
ome
: his
isian
ying

the

bimu-

lirec-

) turn

same

others
in the
r trad-
87 or-
mce an
ine the
esirable
k. On
'sa and
an Jos6
aro, set
tions to
down to
lans, and
lises.^

Without touching any intermediate point they ar-
rived before Prince William Sound May 17th, anchor-
ing eleven days later on the north side of Montague
Island in a good harbor, which was named Puerto de
Flores. Here they took possession and remained till
the 15th of June in friendly intercourse with the
natives, while the boats were sent out to explore in
the vicinity.** Without further effort to examine che
sound, Martinez turned south-eastward, sighting the
Miranda volcano on the 24th of June, and anchoring
at the east point of Trinity Island three days later.
Shelikof Strait was named Canal de Flores." Mean-
while Haro, who had lost sight of the consort vessel,
sailed close along the east coast of Kadiak, and noti-
fied by a native of the Russian colony at Three Saints
he visited it, and entertained the officers in return.

Delarof, the chief of the colony, understood the
object of the Spaniards, and took the opportunity to
impress upon them that the tsar had firmly established
his domam in this quarter as far as latitude 52° by
means of six settlements with over four hundred men,
who controlled six coast vessels and were regularly
supplied and visited by three others. It was also pro-
posed to found a station at Nootka in the following
year." In the interest of ruler and employers this

descubrimietUoa de la conta eetentrional de California hanta los 61 grados. . .
}>or. . .Josi Martinez. . .1788, in Viages al Norte, MS., No. vii.

*^ No Russians were met; yet a log-house was found in a bay near the
north end of the island, probably a reUc of Zaikof's wintering four yeara
before. Martinez long persisted in declaring that the entrance here did not
lead to Prince William Mound.

^* The east point of Trinity was called Florida Blanca. A taciturn Russian
who had lived the'^ for nine years, came on board and ofifered to care for the
cross erected by the Spaniards.

>^ Delarof hsxi 60 Russians and 2 galeotas at his place; at Cabo de Rada
were 37 men; at Cape Elizabeth, 40 men; on a small island in Canal de Flores,
latitude 68°, 40 men; a reenfurcement of 70 men had sailed for Cook Inlet to
sustain the establishment there; in latitude 52° 20* on the continent were 65
incu and one galcota; at Uualaska, 120 men with two galeotas. Total, six
establishments with six galeotas and 422 men, besides a galeota with 40 men,
which annually sailed on the coast as far as Nootka, gathering furs and stor-
ing them in two magazines at Prince William Sound. Every other year two
fragatas came from Siberia with men and supplies, going as for as Nootka and
rcplncing the men whose term of service had expired. Guarta Exvlor., in
Viuje» (U Norte, MS., pt. vii. 300-10. Dekrof's stories were readily believed

»' r

■■'■■,11

i:: I?

■ '' 1!

|:.;' t

t»

FOREIGN VISITORS.

exaggeration of facts seemed perfectly proper, and it
assisted no doubt to reconcile the Spanish government
to Russian occupation in the extreme north, but the
hint about a projected establishment at Nootka assisted
greatly to precipitate active measures by Spain, which
resulted only in a humiliating withdrawal on her part
in favor of a stronger and more determined power,
which effectually checked the advance of Russia. Tl j
wily Gieek overreached himself

Haro now rejoined his leader, and both vessels left
on July 5th for Unalaska.*^ While anchoring off its
northern point, Martinez on July 21st took possession
in the name of Spain, and was shortly after visited by
Russians from the station on the eastern side of the
island, to which the vessels now proceeded."^ Here
they remained till August 18th, caring for the sick
and taking in supplies, with the kind assistance of
Potap Zaikof, the commandant. Martinez considered
the season too far advanced to explore the coast east-
ward, or even to seek Nootka, and all speed was there-
upon made for the south, the Princesa stopping at
Monterey, in California, to recruit, while Haro lin-
gered for a time round the islands with half an inten-
tion to do something more toward the fulfilment of
the orders from Mexico, and then hurried straight to
San Bias to cover faintheartedness and neglect under
the plea probably that the knowledge obtained from
Russians of their doings and intentions, and of the
frequency of foreign visits, made coast exploration less
needful under the circumstances, while it was above
all urgent to impart the news to the governor.^

by Haro, whose liking for the commandant was greatly influenced by the
similarity of his name, in its original Greek form, to hisown.

•* Lighting a group called del Fuegos, the Shumagin Islands, and ' el cabo
donde dijerou los rusos de Kodiac que habia vn establecimiento de 65 indivi-
duoa y una galeota sobrc la costa firme en 52° 20'.' Id., 312; but this must i)0
a misunderstanding. On the Ilth they anchored off an island recorded iis
Kodiac, and on the IGth they sight the active volcano on Unimak.

"The Prince-ta entered en July 28th; the San Carlos, again separated,
rejoined her a week later. There were 120 men at this place.

"On reporting the dr^patch of the present expedition, Viceroy Flores
expressed himself to the king as if he expected that Russians would have to

■■ !!!:

PIDALGO'S SURVEY.

27t^

dit
aent
, tbe
isted

part
ower,

Is left
off its
session

ited by

of the

Here

,he sicU

,ance of

nsidered

ast cast-
as there-

pping at

laro lin-

an inten-

Ument of

Jraight to
ect under
tned fron^

nd of t^^^
-ation less
ras above
.or.''

Lnced by tlie

Land'elcabo
t^'de65in(l>Y-

Ind recorded iw

■mak. .1

Igain Bcparatt'i,

1 Viceroy •F^";^
' , would have to

The indiscreet hint of Delarof was not lost at
Mexico, for Viceroy Flores resolved at once to send
back Martinez and Haro to secure Nootka, at least,'
from Russian and other intruders, and thence to ex-
tend Spanish settlement if the king should so direct.
This expedition, and the momentous question to which
it gave rise, have been fully considered in my History
of the Northwest Coast.

While in occupation of Nootka the Spaniards made
several exploring tours, and one of these, under Lieu-
tenant Salvador Fidaigo, was directed to complete
what Martinez had lei't undone by examining thei
coast from latitude 60° southward. He was pro-
vided with Russian and English interpreters. He
set sail from Nootka on May 4, 1790, in the paque-
bot Filipino, and antered Prince William Sound on
the 23d, taking the vessel into the nearest large bay
on the eastern side, which was named Menendez.
After exploring its shores till June 9th he proceeded
northward, naming successively the bays of Gravina,
Bivella Gigedo,'" Mazarredo, and Vald^s. After more
than one detention from fogs and gales Fidaigo passed
round to Cook Inlet in the begining of July, and
was piloted into Coal Harbor which he chose to name
Puerto de Revilla Gigedo.*"

Learning of the arrival of Billings' expedition at
Kadiak the Spanish commander hastened forth on
August 8th to meet it, but came too late. After a
short interview with Delarof he turned eastward with
a view to reach the continental coast and explore it as

be ousted by force. Id., 291. Bustamante oaaumea that the strength of the
Russians alone kept the Spaniards back. Cavo, TreaSiglos, iii. 148-9.

^* At the head of this bay the movements of glaciers waa attributed to an
active volcano which received the name of Fidaigo; the isle at tho entrance to
the bay was called del Conde. On the western side Port Santiago waa entered.
The north end of the sound is placed in 61° IC. The Indians proved very
friendly, assisting both with provisions and labor.

*" Without paying attention to the reports of previous Spanish explorers
Fidaljjo caused the Cape Elizabeth of Cook to be explored anew, and linding
it an isle, with a harbor to the northeast, he applied fresh names. Two points
to tlie west and north in the inlet were called Gaaton and Cuadra. iielow
Cape Elizabeth was observed Gamacbo Island. ,

Hut. ALiAUU. 18

i:J

II \l

ill

wm.

!i|i:;t

1^: lij ;

?' ^. . t ■

174

FOREION VISITOES.

far as Nootka, but ttie wind proved unfavorable and
Fidalgo became fainthearted. No less eager than
he to return home, the council of oflBcers came to re-
lieve his conscience by declaring that the coast in this
latitude could not be followed cfter the middle of
August, owing to gales and dark weather. The course
was thereupon changed for Nootka, but a storm com-
ing upon them off this place tbey passed on to Mon-
terey and thence to San Blas/'^

At this time M. Buache of Paris had undertaken
to defend the existence of the interoceanic passage of
Maldonado,*' and impressed by so eminent authority
the Spanish government resolved to investigate the
matter. The commission was entrusted to Alejandro
Malaspina, who about the time of Fidalgo's return
happened to arrive at Acapulco in command of the
corvettes Descuhierta and Atrevida, on a scientific ex-
ploring tour round the world. He accordingly set sail
on May 1, 1791, and on June 23d sighted land near
Cape Edgecumbe, entering shortly after Port Mul-
grave, thence to explore in boats for Maldonado's pas-
sage, and to take possession. The search proved
fruitless,*" and on July 5th he proceeded northward
past Kyak Island to Prince William Sound. After
a few observations in this quarter he turned southward
again; contented himself with a mere glance at Cross
Sound and the inlets below, and entered Nootka to
expend his main efforts on a recalculation of its lati-

" The report of this expedition, including descriptions of country, natives,
and settlers, is given in Vtajea al Norte, MS., No. 8, under the title of Viape
delpaquebot 'Filipino' mandadoporelttnienUdt navio D. Salvador Fidalgo del
puerto de Nootka. . .para los reconocimieTitot del Principe QuilUrmoy rio de
Cook, 343-82. Also Tabla que manifeata, in the same collection. No. 10;
Hn-illa Oigedo, Informe, 140-1; Navarrete, Viatjes Aj)6c,, 64-6; Id., in Sudly
Mexlcana, Viage, cix.-xii.; Cava, TreaSiglos, iii. 140.

''For a consideration of this extraordinary topic, see HisL Northwest
Coast, i., this series.

** The bay was named las Bancas, the port Desengafio, and the interior
island Haenke. A very alluring description is given of the scenery and also
of natives, despite the inconveniencfl aufifered m>m their thieving propensi-
ties.

ind
lan
re-
bhis
I of
urse
jom-
Aon-

taken
ige of

tiority

te the

jandro

return

of the

iific ex-
set sail

nd near

rt Mul-

lo's pas-
proved

xthward
After

[uthward
at Cross

lootka to
its lati-

Intry, natives,

lor Fidaigo del

Won, ^o• I";
Id.,iaSunlV

\itL Northwal

Ld the interio'
enery and also
u^ingpropensi-

MALASPmA AND MARCHAND.

276

tude and longitude, whereupon he turned toward New
Spain.**

Malaspina's report, together with those obtained
from Kussian and other navigators, was deemed suffi-
cient to dissipate the belief in a passage north of Fort
Bucareli; but from this point down a careful examina-
tion appeared to be advisable, particularly with a view
to test the claim for Admiral Fonte's discovery,
which was now eclipsing that of Maldonado. A new
expedition accordingly departed in 1792 from San
Bias, under Lieutenant Jacinto Caamano, command-
ing the fragata Aranzctzu. After leaving at Nootka
certain supplies he proceeded on June 13th '^o Fort
Bucareli, exploring iu that vicinity for nearly a month
without arriving at any solution of his problem, and
then turning southward to examine with no better
result Dixon Strait and the eastern coast of the
channel dividing Queen Charlotte Island from the
main. The strait he sought very properly to name
after its discoverer, Perez.**

Before this, in 1791, the French were again repre-
sented on the Northwest Coast in the person of
Etienne Marchand, captain of the Solide, who had
left Marseilles at the close of the previous year on a
voyage for trade and circumnavigation. He first
sighted the coast at Cape Edgecumbe on August 7th,
and shortly after entered Norfolk Sound.** He found
the natives abundantly supplied with European goods,
and inclined to drive hard bargains for the small stock
of fm*8 left in their hands, so that bartering was not
very successful. On the 21st he proceeded to Queen

** Jlalaspma, Viage 1791, in Navarrete, VUigea Apdc, 96-8, 268-320;
NaMrrete, inSutily JUex., Viarjt, cxii.-xxiii.

^ The main features of this exploration have been considered in Tliat.
Northioest Coast, i., this series. Navarrete and others are at fault concern-
ing the dates of Caamado's movements. The exploration of Bucareli oc-
cupied him from June 25th. On July 20th he anchored at the entrance to
Dixon Strait. A short distance north of this he had examined and named the
harbor of Baylio Bazan. Caatnaiio, Exped., Aranzasu, in Col. Doc. Iiiid., xv.
S.;3-63; Navarrete, ia Sutil p Mex., Viage, cxxiii.-xxxi.; BevUla Gigedo, In-
form, ISde AbiU, 1793, 144; Cavo, Tre» Sighs, iii. 144.

"• For these places the Spanish names are used. The Indiana called the
Bound TchinkttAn*. ... .

Ml-

FOREIGN ^^s^^0Ils.

i/H

Charlotte Island, where his most valuable explora-
tions were made during a vain effort to find better
trade.*'^ Several other traders visited the southern
shores of Alaska during these and following years,
but the few records left of their movementt, concern
chiefly my History of the Northwest Coast, to which I
refer the reader for text as well as maps.

The result of the Nootka controversy, brought
about by hasty action of the Spaniards, as well as the
belief in an interoceanic passage, revived by Buache
and others, and supported by the revelation of numer-
ous channels all along the Northwest Coast, deter-
mined the English government to send an expedition
to this region. The explorations of Cook west and
north of latitude 60° were deemed conclusive, but be-
low this point they required to be completed and veri-
fied. This commission was entrusted to George
Vancouver, who departed from England in April
1791 in the sloop Discovery of twenty guns, accom-
panied by the tender CJiatham of ten guns, under
Lieutenant W. R. Broughton. The year 1792 was
spent in explorations south of the Alaska line, but in
July 1793 the expedition reached the entrance ot' Port-
land Inlet and sent boats to examine its two branches.
The dawning hope of here finding Fonte's passage was
quickly dissipated, and the boats proceeded north-
ward through Behm Canal. On descending its south-
western turn along Revilla Gigedo Island, as it was
now shown to be, Vancouver had a narrow escape
from a party of natives who attacked his boat with
muskets and other weapons. The prompt appearance
of the second boat changed the turn of affairs. The
party now passed into Duke of Clarence Strait — named
by Caamano after Admiral Fonte — and returned to
the ships.**

" As related in Hist. Northwest Ccxist, i., this series. Marchand, Voyage nu-
tour du Monde, i. 288-92; ii. 1 et seq. The natives of Norfolk Sound are spoken
of as extremely immoral.

''The names applied on the map along this tour are Portland Inlet and ita

VANCOUVER'S VOYAGE.

ora-

jtter

kiern

ears,

icern

icbl

ougW
as the
luache
luiner-

deter-
edition
est and
but be-
nd veri-

George

a April
accom-
3^ under
792 was
e, but in
ot Port-
ranches,
sage was
^<1 nortb-
its soutb-
as it was
VST escape
oat witb
.rjpearance
^!?8. The
t — named
turned to

oundarespoKcn

These proceeded August 17th up the last named
strait to Fort Protection on the north end of Prince
of Wales Island, which was reached September 8th,
after an intermediate stay at Port Stewart. The
boats meanwhile explored past Cape Caamafio, the
highest point reached by the Spanish explorer of this
name, and up Prince Ernest Sound round Duke of
York Island, which later discoveries dissolved into a
group. The mouth of the Stikeen was observed, but
not as the outlet of a large stream.*" The season
now well advanced, it was resolved to terminate the
extensive surveys for the season and seek a well earned
rest in sunnier latitudes.

Vancouver congratulated himself that " there would
no longer remain a doubt as to the extent or the fal-
lacy of the pretended discoveries said to have been
made by De Fuca and De Fonte." He had demon-
strated that the continent, with a range of mountains
broken by rivers alone, extended from Columbia River
to beyond the northern extreme of Prince of Wales
Island. To the part of the main below Pitt Archi-
pelago he applied the names of New Hanover and
New Georgia; thence to the northern line of the
present survey, New Cornwall.

On the 21st of September the vessels left Port
Protection, and passed Port Bucareli, southward by
way of Nootka and California to the Hawaiian Islands,
there to winter. On March 15, 1794, sails were again

two branches, Portland Canal and Observatory Inlet, the latter examlaed
shortly before by Mr Brown of the BtUUrworth; Bocas de Quadra; Behm
Canal, in honor of the Kamchatkan governor who showed attention to Cook's
expedition in 1779; the points at its entrance were called Sykes and Alava,
the latter ufter the commandant at Nootka. Along this canal: New Eddy-
stone rock — resembling a lighthouse — Walker Cove, Burrough Bay, Traitor
Cove— to commemorate the attack by natives — Port Stewart and Beaton
Island; Point Vallenar, the north end of Gravina Island, and Cape Northum-
berland, its south point, besides a number of intermediate promontories.

" Along the east side of Prince of Wales Island and its adjoining parts
are markea Moira Sound, Wedge Island, Cholmondeley Sound, Port Grin-
dall. The entrance to Prince Ernest Sound is marked by points Onslow and
I* Mesurier, and along its course are Bradfield Canal, and Duncan CanaL
Along the western extension of Duke of Clarence Strait, Point Baker fonninB
the north end of Prince of Wales Island, Conclusion Island, and AiilecS
Canal; below lie Coronation and Warren Islands, the latter facing Cape Pole.

f^ . ■ "'i

I ''

FOREIGN VISITORS. '

net for the north, and on April 5th Trinity Island was
sighted.'® Seven days later the Discovery entered
Cook Inlet and proceeded northward to its very head.
Finding that it was not the mouth of a large river as
Cook had supposed, a fact well known to the Kussians,
Vancouver changed the name to its present form.
The Chatham having arrived, both vessels ' isited the
factory half way up the inlet in charge of Zaikof,"
and rounded Cape Elizabeth May 14th, en route for
Prince William Sound, where anchor was cast in Port
Chalmers on the west side of Montague Island. Boats
were now sent out to examine the sonnd and adjoining
lands, and the Chatham proceeded to survey the main
coast to Yakutat Bay, there to await the Discovery.
The survey of the sound resulted in a number of
corrections, notably on the maps of Cook, yet Spanish
and other existing nomenclature was as a rule main-
tained. Aid was also obtained from Russian material
from which source the configuration of Kadiak Island
and the region westward had to b-^i adopted.** The
Russians under Baranof, who reaicle'l on Kadiak and
controlled chiefly establishments ''lovig the sea border,
observed greater reticence, as i»"Uced in connection
with Ismailof's exploration; but those of the other
company, occupying Cook Inlet and Hinchinbrook
Island, were more communicative. They admitted
that the easternmost factory was on this island,
though trading expeditions roamed beyond toward
Nootka. The total force employed was about four
hundred, independent of native employes. The abo-

"* On the 3d Akamok Island was sighted and named after Chirikof.

'* A smaller factory existed higher up on the opposite western side. Alex-
androTsk escaped observation. Names were applied to several points alons
the coasts and at the head, and the harbor at Cape Elizabeth was renamea
Port Chatham. The portage from Turn-again Arm to Prince William Sound
was noticed.

*' Among the names added to the Sound chart, were Port Bainbridge,
Passage Canal, and Port Wells, where the supposed volcano of the Spanish
expedition is referred to merely as a moving glacier. One of the inlets re-
ceived the name of Fidalgo, to commemorate his exploration. The island
north-east of Hinchinbrook was called Hawkins. Copper River received no
place on the chart. The waters of the sonnd were found to have encroached
lapidly on the shore line during the past decade.

SEARCH FOR A STRAIT.

271

riginal population appeared exceedingly scanty, espe-
cially on the sound. Vancouver "clearly understood
that the Russian government had little to do with
these settlements; that they were solely under the
direction and support of independent mercantile com-
panies," whose members appeared to live highly con-
tented among the natives, exercising over them an
influence due not to fear but to affection, and fostered
by training the children in the Russian language and
customs."

The Discovery left the sound June 20th to join the
consort vessel," which was observed in Yakutat Bay
and instructed to follow. This bay was named after
Bering "from a conviction of its being the place that
Beering had visited."^' A Russian party under Pur-
tof, with nearly a thousand natives from Kadiak and
Cook Inlet, hunted here at the time, though amidst
many apprehensions, owing to the rather unfriendly
attitude of the inhabitants. Near by appeared the
Jackall, Captain Brown, cruising along this coast for
the third consecutive season.''*

Cross Sound was entered on July 7th, and anchor
cast in Port Althorp, on the north end of Chichagof
Island, called after King George by Vancouver. From
here a boat explored Lynn CanaP^ which almost
touches the headwaters of the mighty Yukon, and

" Vanrouvfr's Voy., iii. 199-201. The natives of the soiind were noteo
docile, yet hardly less tmated by the Russians. This aasimilation of the tiro
peoples must give the Russians a decided 'advantage over all other civilixed
nations' for controlling trade.

**Cape St Elia« of Kyak Island was renamed Cape Hamond; and laWtt
on the coast names were applied to several points.

" The Bering Bay as located by Cook was voted a mistake. While apply-
ing this name to Yakntat, jilnlgrave was retaine<' for the harbor on its south
sliore. The points at the entrance to the bay received the names Monby and
Phipps. Port des Fran^ais was missed. As the Chatham was leaving Kyak
Island a letter came from Shields, the English shipbuilder employed by Shell-
kof, offering his services. It was too Iftte to turn back for an interview with
him.

•* Brown h»^ sent the ButterwortH, his leading vessel, to England in 1798,
coming to thLi c )ast in thfl tenders Jackall and Prince le Boo. He now turned
for Cross dound with whose inlets he was well acquainted. Id., 207.

*' So named kfter Vanconver's birth-place in Norfolk. Bemers Bay, Hood
Bay, Port Frederick, and a number of capes were named, notably capes Spen^
cer and Cross at the entrance of Cross Sound.

,:j<:

r. , t^

i''l

fii

i^l im

S80

FOREIGN VISITOBS.

theiice Chatham Strait for a distance, but the large
Glacier Bay escaped observation, although it almost
faces the anchorage. The Arthur, Captain Barber,
from Bengal, appeared here at the time, and out of
consideration for the trader Vancouver stopped all
dealing in furs by his own men. On August 1st
the vessels anchored in Port Conclusion, inside Cape
Ommandy at the south end of Baranof Island," thence
to complete the survey to the line of the preceding
season. Lieutenant Whidbey passed up Stephens
Passage, which encloses Admiralty Island, and then
down into the southern arm of Prince Frederick
Sound, where he met Master Johnstone, the other
boat explorer, who had examined Koo and Kuprianof
Island. Amid rousing cheers the combined crews cele-
brated the conclusion of their task, the exploration of
the Northwest Coast for a passage.®

Vancouver had achieved a veritable triumph. He
h-ftd left England on the 1st of April, as he observes,
on a fool's errand, to search for an interoceanic passage
south of latitude 60°. The explorations and inter-
course of the Russians with the natives had long since
made them regard the passage as a myth, and the
expedition was by them invested almost wholly with
political aims.*

Failing in his quest, Vancouver at any rate was
able to "remove every doubt, and set aside every
opinion of a north-west passage, or any water com-
munication navigable for shipping, existing within the
north Pacific, and the interior of the American conti-

^ Comprised by Vancouver in King Qoorge m. Archipelago, the shore
line of which was not closely marked.

"Much valuable information was obtained from Captain Brown of the
Jackall, who had navigated these inlets for some time. He reported the aea-
otter skins of this quarter to be exceedingly fine. Among the places named
on this route are Seymor Canal, Douglas Island, ports Snettisham and Hougli-
tpn, Holkham Bay, ports Camden and Malmesbury. Kuprianof Island was
classed as a peninsula owing to certain shallows which seemed to counoct it
with the main.

-"The exploration being a pretext for taking possession, as Zaikof expresses
it. Journal, in SUka ArMvea, MS., vi. See also 7'ikhmenq/, Jstor., ii., and
Jiordiache Beitrwje.

ten of the
the sea-
lea nameil
la Hough-
Island wiia
Icouncct it

NOMENCLATURK

281

nent, within the limits of our researches.""* In taking
possession for England he stretched the line only to
Cape Spencer, in Cross Sound, a moderation which
the Russians could scarcely have expected.''' This
additional territory, north of New Cornwall, was called
New Norfolk, after his native county. It is to be
observed that he generally respected the names ap-
plied by traders or foreign officials, while adding a
mass of new ones, and the nomenclature in his charts
has even in Alaska met with considerable attention.
On August 24, 1794, the expedition left Christian
Sound for Nootka, and thcuue by way of California
and Cape Horn for England, where it arrived in Sep-
tember the following year."

'* To this end he had ms de sarvevs far more thorongh than were demanded
in his instructions, yet he felt confident that they would be approved. Fan-
eowxr'a Voy., passim.

*'' For tiie onicers at the factories left him the impression that ' the Amer-
ican continent and adjacent islands, as far to the eastward at the meridian of
Kayes Island, belonged exclusively to the Russian empire.' /(/., iii. 115, 285.
Ho evidently believed that they claimed beyond that, however, and the gov-
ernment certainly did, as will be seen. Vcnc-ouver found that tlie cross
erected by Fidalgo on Hinchinbrook Island wlien taking, possession had becu
respected, notwithstanding the royal name ir.-oribed. Id., 171. The marks
left by King in Cook Inlet could not bu found.

•* During the five years' voyage the u'i>covery lost only 6 men by accidents
and one from disease, out of 100 men, while the consort lost not a single man.
a result for which tho commanders cannot be too highly praised. For bibli-
ography and other featnrns in connection vith this expedition, see Hiat.
Northwest Coatt, L this series.

I.I

CHAPTER XIII.

l' m

„., .:.}!

THE BnUNOS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
1785-1703.

FLATriEsnro Pbospsci's — Costlt Ocnrr— The Usual Tears or Prkpaba-
TiON — Air ExPBOTAirr World to bb Exuobtxked — Qathebino ot
TEE Expedition at Kahobatka — Divers Wuttebinos and Suip-build-
XKo — Pbelihinart Sitbvets North akv Socth — At Unalasea and
Kadiak— Russian Rewards — Periodic Prohotioh or Billinos— At
St Lawrence Island— Billings* Land Journey — Wretched Condi-
tion or Russian Hunters — End or the Tribute System — Result

' or the Expedition— SARTCHEr's Survets— SHEUKor's DupuaTT—

PRIESTLT PERrOBUANOl.

The most promising of all scientific exploring expe-
ditions undertaken by the Russiar government for
the acquisition of a more perfect knowledge of its
new possessions in Asia ana America was that com-
mancfed by Captain Joseph Billings, an Englishman
who had served under Cook. The enterprise was
stimulated by the report of La Pdrouse's departure
upon a similar errand. The empress issued an oukaz
on the 8th of August 1785, appointing Billings to
the command of "A Secret Astronomical and Geo-
graphical Expedition for navigating the Frozen Sea,
describing its Coasts, and ascertaining the Situation
of the Islands in the Seas between the two Continents
of Asia and America."*

The senate and admiralty college confirmed and
supplemented the appointments, and in Sep"^ jn.ber
Lieutenant Sarychef of the navy was despatched to
the port of Okhotsk with a party of ship-l uildc s,
under orders to construct two vessels in accordance

^Sauar's Geog. and Aitrm. Exped., 1.

(983)

PERSOITXEL.

28S

with plans furnished by another Englishman, Mr
Lamb Yeames. The governor general of Irkutsk
and Kolivansk had received instructions to furnish
the necessary material.

Captain Billings set out upon his journey a few
«sM -lifci later, accompanied by Lieutenant Hall, Sur-
geon Robeck, Master Batakof of the navy, and Mar-
Ln Sauer, secretary of the expedition.*

The party did not leave Irkutsk until the 9th of
May 1786. Two medical officers and naturalists
were added at the last moment — a German, Dr.
Merck, with an English assistant, John Main.

On the 29th the expedition arrived at Yakutsk,
where the necessary arrangements had been made for
supplies of provisions and stores and the required
means of transportation for the different divisions to
the mouth of the Kovima or Kolima river and to
Okhotsk, j^ioiitcnaiit Hall was in command of the
latter anc Lnu tenant Bering of the former. Lieuten-
j^v.sion arrived at Okhotsk soon after Bil-
\ fV w^ attendants had reached that seaport
on tbci '^d of Juiv, As it was found that more time
would be coi.'^^nied in building the ships than had
been expected, Billings took some steps with a view
of visitmg the Chukchi country first, and to that
end placed himself in communication with Captain
Shmalef who was much respected by both Kamchat-
kans and Cliukchi. On the 3d of August all the
officer , with the exception of Lieutenant Hall, set

' S? .<: 53 'iM the penoimel of the expedition, as it departed from St Peters-
burg, as i" : Joaeph Billings, commander; lieutenants, Robert Hall, Gavril
Sarycbef, . . i L'hrisriiin Bering, a nephe^v of Vitus Bering; Master Afanaasia
Bakof, rigger and store-keeper; mp^ters Anion Batkhof and Sergei Bronnikof;
surgeons, Michael Robeck and Peter Allcgretti; draughtsman, Luka Vcronin;
one mechanician, two ship-builders, two surgeon's mates, one ma8tei''s mate;
one boatswair.; three 'court hunters' for stutiing birds, etc. ; eight pettj' officers,
seven soldiers, riflemen, and Martin Sauer as private oecrctary and journalist.
At Irkutsk the following additions were made: two Russian liook-kcepers and
accountants, Vassily Diakonof and Foodor Karpof ; Lieutenant Polossof of the
army, who was acquaiated with the Chukchi language; six petty officers from
the school of navigation at Irkutsk; three men who understood the construc-
tion of skin boats; one turner, one locksmith; 6fty Cossacks commanded by
a sotnik; two drummers — in all 09 men in addition to the 36 from St Petera.
burg. Id., 12, 13.

ant Hrii ^
linga f. id

^r\*V]n

mr #

Wr'^

li'O

: i4[

'*i.

THE BILLINGS SCIEirriFIC EXPEDITION.

out for the I^ovima River, the last named taking the
place of Lieutenanc Sarychef in superintending the
construction of th j"-'^- Toward the end of Sep-
tember Billings and party arrived at Verkhnoi
Koviraa, but only to in. . that winter had already set
in with great severity, and to meet with almost insur-
mountable difficulties in obtaining shelter and sup-
plies. The sufferings during the winter were very
great on account of the extreme cold as well as the
scarcity of provisions; but better times came with
spring.

The work of preparing for the northward trip was
never relaxed, and on the 25th of May 1787 the main
body of the expedition set out on two vessels which
had been constructed during the winter, the Palhs
and the Yasatchnoi. Near the mouth of the river
Captain Shmalef was found awaiting them with some
guides and interpreters and a large quantity of dried
reindeer meat. The ostrog Nishnekovima v/as '•cached
on the 17th of June. There more deer-meat was pro-
cared and then the expedition passed on into the
Arctic'

They steered eastward and on the 21st o*' June
reached the place where Shalanrof had perished in
1762. A cross marked the spot, and another was
found near the remains of huts erected by Laptief
and his party in 1739. Their progress was continued
with many interruptions until the 25th of July, when
an observation showed latitude 69° 35' 56", longitude,
168° 54', and Billings concluded to give up all further
attempts and return to Nishnekovima.*

When the party arrived at Yakutsk it was found

* In accordance with the imperial oukaz Billing!! here assumed the rank of
a fleet captain of the second class, the necessary oath being administered by
a priest brought for that T'r.rpobo Id. , 09-70.

* Sauer and many of the officers were of the opinion that everything looliod
favoral)lo for a passage into the Pocilic. Captain Sarychef even ollered to
undertake the enterprise in an open bidar, witn six men, intending to cump
on the beach every night, but Billings was deaf to all entreaties and con-
tented himself with inducing a majoiitv of his officers to sign a statemcut
that it would be wiser to return to the Kovinia. Jd,, 77-8.

I ll\i:\

EMBARKATION.

that a large quantity of the most important stores
was still awaiting transportation at Irkutsk, necessi-
tating a journey to that city on the part of Billings
and several of his officers. This little excursion
delayed the expedition till September 1788, when the
greater part of the command was once more assembled
at Okhotsk. The first and largest of the two vessels
destined for the voyage was not launched until the
following July. She was named the Slava Eossie,
Glory of Russia. The second ship, the Dohraia Na-
merenia, Good Intent, was launched in August, but
was wrecked while attempting to cross the bar at
Okhotsk. In order to get quickly at the iron work
with which to build a new vessel the hull of the
Namerenia was burned.' On the 19th of September
the Slava Rossie sailed at last and arrived at Petro-
pavlovsk on the 1st of October. Here the ship was
unrigged and the whole party went into winter-
quarters to await the arrival of a store-ship with
supplies in the spring.

Early in March 1790 additional news ai rived,
warning Billings of the presence of a Swedish cruiser,
the Mercunj, Captain Coxe, with sixteen guns, in the
waters he was about to navigate." The Slava Rossie
mounted sixteen brass guns, but they were only
three-pounders. Despite the apprehension created,
no change was made in the plans.

On the 1st of May the whole expedition embarked
and stood out to sea on an easterly course. The voy-
age was tedious, no land being sighted till the 22d,
when the island of Amchitka appeared in the north.
On the 1st of June the island of Unalaska was

' On the 14th of September a courier arrived from Russia with intelligence
which almost put an end to further progress of tlie expedition. War lia<l
broken out with Sweden, and the Russian govemnieut was much in wont of
money and naval officers. Id., 143.

° Pribylof reported that the Swedish cniiser mentioned in Billings' instnio-
tions hud actually visited the Aleutian Islands during the summer, hut in view
of the abject misery and privations in which he found the Russian traders living,
tho humane Captain Coxe abstained from hostilities and even made I'ribyloT,
vliom lie luul nuestioned concerning the Russian establishments, very accept-
able presents of bread, brandy, some clothing, and a quadrant. Id., 212.

:i*Jj.i

«^:r^J':

28S

THE BILLINGS SCIENTITIC EXPEDITION.

k": 'w

ti.

made, and on the 3d some natives came on board,
followed in the afternoon by a Kussian in an eight-
oar bidar. The latter conducted the vessel into Bob-
rovoi (Beaver) Bay. Here a supply of water and
ballast was procured and on the 13th of June the
expedition sailed again to the north-east and north.^

In a few days Sannakh and the Shumagin Island
were reached,' \s here the Slava Rossie was visited by
a large party of Aleuts who were hunting for the
Panof company under superintendence of a Russian.
On the 26th of June a Hussian boarded the ship; he
was accompanied by two hundred natives and came
from Shelikof s establishment on Kadiak Island. On
the 29th the expedition arrived in Trekh Sviatiteli, or
Three Saints Harbor, the site of the first permanent
settlement on the island. Eustrate Ivanovich Delarof
was then in command of the colony. He told Sauer
that he had despatched that year six hundred double
bidarkas, each manned by two or three natives, to
hunt sea-otters, sea-lions, and fur-seal; they were
divided into six parties, each in charge of a Russian
peredovchik."

The establishment at that time consisted of about
fifty Russians, including oflScers of the company and
Master Ismailof, the same whom Cook met at Una-
laska in 1778. He was stationed at Three Saints
to look after the interests of the government. The
buildings numbered five of Russian construction, the
barracks, offices, and counting-house, besides store-
houses, blacksmith, carpenter, and cooper shops, and
a ropewalk. Two vessels of about eighty tons each

' Saner states that the Bussians then on that part of the island belonged
to Cherepanof 's company, who had resided there eight years and expected to
be relieved that season by a party from Okhotsk. The author dwells upon
the cmel treatment of the Aleuts at the hands of the ignorant and overbear-
ing promyshleniki. Id.,\5f^\.

* Though writing soon after Bering's and Steller's reports were published,
^ner states that these islands received their name from the 'discoverer, a
Ruasian sailor of Bering's expedition. ' The poor fellow did nothing beyond
dying of scurvy in that neig.liborhood.

• Juvenal'H Jmir. , MS. , 1 e«; sen . Sauer bestows the highest praise upon the
strict justice and humanity with which Delarof managed the affairs of the
colony. Sauer'a Oeog. and Atlron. Exptd., 170-1.

b Una-
Saints
The
on, the
store-
)p8, and
ns each

SCIENCE AND RELIGION.

287

stood upon the beach, armed and well guarded, serv-
ing as a place of refuge in case of attack. Several
gardens planted with cabbage and potatoes, and some
cows and goats, added to the comfort of the settlers.*"

In the report of Billings' visit to Kadiak mention
is made of the water-route across the Alaska peninsula
by way of Iliamna Lake. The natives persisted in
calling the peninsula an island, kikhtak, because they
could pass in their canoes, without portage, from She-
likof Strait into Bristol Bay, their mam source for
supplies of walrus ivory for spear-heads, fish-hooks,
and various implements.

The astronomical tent, and another constituting a
portable church, had been pitched as soon as the ex-
pedition arrived, and remained standing till the 6th
of July, when the Slava Eossie once more set sail.
Delarof accompanied Billings for the purpose of visit-
ing a Spanish frigate reported by the natives to be
cruising at the mouth of Cook Inlet." The com-
mander of the expedition also intended to visit the
Spanish ship, but the wind was unfavorable, and by
the 8th of July they had only reached the island of
Alognak where a settlement had already existed. On
the 12th of July, in the neighborhood of Barren
Islands, Delarof left the Slava Rossie in a canoe,
giving up all hope of reaching Cook's Inlet with the
ship. He was intrusted with messages for the Span-
iards and the vessel was headed for Prince William
Sound.

On the 19th of July the Slava Eossie was anchored

"* During the stay of the Slava Rossie at Three Saints Bay one of the ofScers
of the company applied to the priest accomjpanying the expedition to baptize »
native woman with whom he had been living several years and had children;
they were then formally married, and Sauer speaks with much satisfaction of
tlie excellent manner in which their household a£Fairs were managed. From
the promyshleniki and sailors in employ of the company much complaiut
Mas heard of the high prices they were obliged to pay the company for the
very nocessaries of life, making it almost impossible to live without becoming
indebted to their employers. Id., 173.

" On this occasion Sauer makes an evidently erroneous statement to the
eflfect that he wa« informed the Spaniards were in the habit of visiting the
Russian settlements annually, exchanging provisions and sea-otter skins iof
hardware and linen. Id., 184; JuvenaVa Jour., MS., 60 et seq.

,ii^^i

iir

■■■' m
hf -■►•IB

THE BILLINGS SCIENTinC EXPEDITION.

"K'H

'*!, '^

in the same bay of Montague or Tzaklie Island where
Cook passed some time in 1778. The astronomical
tent was at once erected on shore under a suflScient
guard, while boat parties set out to explore. The
natives were quite peaceable in view of the formidable
armament of the Slava Rossie, but they made bitter
complaints against Russian traders who had formerly
visited them, especially the party under Polutof in
1783. They were assured that they need not appre-
hend any ill-treatment from government vessels car-
rying the same flag as the Slava Rossie. It was found
necessary, however, to exercise the greatest vigilance
to prevent them from stealing."

While at this anchorage, Captain Billings, who
thought he had reached the Cape St Elias discovered
by Bering, assumed, in accordance with his instruc-
tions, an additional rank, the customary oath being
administered by the priest attached to the expedition.
Sauer ridiculed this theory and located Cape St FUas
to his own satisfaction on Kaye Island.

Lieutenant Sarychef went out with a boat's crew,
and during an absence of three days he met several
parties of natives and saw the cross erected by Zaikof
under Shelikof's order. On one occasion the crafty
natives endeavored to entice him into a shallow chan-
nel where his boat would be left grounded by the tide
and his party exposed to attack. The device did not
succeed, however, and Sarychef heard of the danger
he had escaped only after his return to Okhotsk, from
the Aleut mterpreter. After Sarychef's return to
the ship a very old native came on board and stated
that his home was on Kaye Island which he plainly
described. With regard to the number and nation-

" Sauer states that on one occasion, when Billings entertained some of the
natives in his tent ou shore, the servant set down a tray in such a manner
that a comer of it, containing some spoons, protruded from under the canvas.
One of the natives attempted to appropriate the spoons, but a water-fpaniel
lying in the tent sprang at him, seized the hand holding the plunder, aud held
the thief until ordered to relinquish his hold — a circumstance which, in Sau' ■
opinion, thereafter 'kept them (the natives) honest afterwards in the di i^ j
presence.' Sauer'a Geog. and Asttvn. Exj>ed., 188.

A QUIXOTIC PLAN.

!£»

ality of ships that had visited his people, he was hot
positive, but remembered well that when he was a
boy a ship had approached Kaye Island for the first
time. When a boat was sent ashore the natives fled
into the interior, returning only after their visitors
had departed. They found their domiciles despoiled
of many articles and some provisions, while some
beads, tobacco, and iron kettles had been deposited in
their place. As this account corresponds altogether
with Steller's report of Khitrof's landing in 1741,,
Sauer and Sarychef came at once to the conclusion
that Kaye Island must be the locality of Bering's
discovery.

Sauer conceived a wild plan of remaining alone
among the natives of Prince William Sound to carry
on explorations, with a faint hope of discovering the
long sought for passage into the northern Atlantic,
Billings very properly refused to sanction the plan,
much to the chagrin of his Quixotic secretary.

A few good spars were secured for the ship and a
small supply of fresh fish, and on the 1st of August a
council of oflBcers came to the conclusion that it was
best to return to Kamchatka, The stock of provi-
sions was not suflficient to maintain the whole com-
pany during the winter in a country apparently with-
out any reliable natural resources; the season was far
advanced and it appeared scarcely safe to continue
the work of surveying in an almost unknown region
with a single vessel. A south-westerly course was
adopted, but the winds were adverse, and by the
beginning of September the Slava Rossie was still
tossing about in unknown seas, unable to obtain any
correct observations. A squall carried away the fore-
mast and other spars and it was found impossible to
touch at Unalaska to replenish the water-casks and
land the Aleut interpreters. On the 24th of Sep-
tember one of the latter attempted suicide by cut-
ting his throat, despairing of ever seeing his country
again. The supply of water and provisions was almost

Hl*T. Al«MKA. 19

iff

THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

exhausted and they had reasons to believe themselves
still many hundred miles from the coast of Kam-
chatka; but in spite of the many evils threatening
him on every side Billings continued upon his course,
and at last, on the 14th of October, the Slava Rossie
entered the Bay of Avatcha, with a large part of her
crew suffering from scurvy.

The remainder of the expedition had arrived from
Okhotsk during the summer, bringing the iron and
other material saved from the wrecked Dohraia Na-
merenia, and the first thing to be done was to build
another ship. The ship-carpenters and a force of men
were at once despatched to Nishnekamchatsk, where
suitable timber was more abundant, and the work
progressed vigorously under superintendence of Cap-
tain Hall. The other officers passed most of their
time at Bolsheretsk in the enjoyment of social inter-
course with the families of government officers and
merchants.

One of the navigators attached to the expedition,
named Bronnikof, having died during the summer,
Billings engaged in his stead Gerassim Pribylof, who
in the service of the Lebedef-Lastochkin company had
recently discovered the islands of St George and St
Paul, the annual retreat of the fur-seals.

Early in April 1791 the members of the expedition
once more assembled at Petropavlovsk, and orders
were forwarded to Captain Hall, who was to command
the new vessel, to meet the Slava Rossie at Bering
Island between the 25th and 30th of May. In case
of failure to meet, a second rendezvous was appointed
at Unalaska.

On the 19 th of May the ships sailed out of Avatcha
Bay after a long detention by baffling winds. On the
28th Bering Island was made, but the weather being
boisterous it was concluded not to wait for the con-
sort, but to go on to Unalaska. The first landing was
made on the island of Tanaga, where they found a
village inhabited by women and a few old men, who

ves
Mil-
ling
irse,
jssie
her

from

and
,Na-
build
f men
^vhere

work

■ Cap-

■ their
inter-

rs and

edition,
iimmer,
of, who
any had
and St

)edition
; orders
ommand
i Bering
In case
ppointed

XMPEBIAL REWARDS. rfQ

explained that all the able-bodied hunters had been
carried off to the eastward by Lukanin and his com-
pany. The people complained that this party had
also taken with them many women. The Aleuts car-
ried to Kamchatka against their will, during the last
voyage, were here set ashore with no other compensa-
tion than a few articles of clothing, a little tobacco,
and a brief document exempting them from compul-
sory services with the trading companies.

On the 25th of June the harbor of Illiuliuk on
Unalaska Island was reached, but nothing had been
heard of Hall and his vessel. Billings at once de-
clared that he would give up his former intention to
make a thorough exploration of Cook Inlet and vicin-
ity, and proceed at once to St Lawrence Bay, in the
Chukchi country, after depositing at Unalaska some
provisions for Captain Hall with a few men to guard
them." Instructions were also left for the consort to
immediately follow the Slava Rossie to St Lawrence
Bay. The officers, especially Sarychef and Sauer,
were greatly disappointed at this change of plans,
and the latter in his journal expressed the opinion
that too rapid promotion had an evil effect on Captain
Billings, who seemed to have lost all ambition to make
discoveries, and haughtily refused advice from the
most experienced of his companions."

After landing the men and provisions for Hall, the

" The men left there were Surgeon AUegretti, Ensign Ivan Alexeief and
one sailor. Id., 229. Juvenal, Jour., MS., 27 et seq., refers to the doings Of
the Lcbedef-Lastochkin Company.

'* Sauer uses the following strong language: 'Nothing in the world could
have afforded me less satisfaction than this resolution, which I regarded as
the conclusion of an expedition that was set on foot with unbounded liber-
ality by the most magnanimous sovereign in the world; which had raised the
expectation of all nations to the highest pitch, and induced mankind to an-
ticipate the satisfaction of obtaining the most complete knowledge of the
geography of this unknown part of the globe, together with a conviction of
tlic existence or non-existence of a north-west passage. But, alas! after so
many years of danger and fatigue; after putting the government to such an
extraordinary expense; after having advanced so far in the attempt, even at
tlie very time when we were in hourly expectation of our comfort, and, as
appeared to me, being just entering upon the grand part of the undertak-
ing, thus to abandon it was the most unaccountable and unjustifiable uf ap-
tious.' Sauer's Oeog. and Astron. Exped., 230. ,

-•'U

THE BILUNGS SCIENTIHC EXPEDITION.

Slava Rossie put to sea on the 8th of July. Passing
through the Pribylof and St Matthew islands, they
made land on the 20th of July, which turned out to
be Gierke Island (St Lawrence). Billings landed in
person; the natives who had been discerned walking
on the b*)ach disappeared as soon as the boat ap-
proached the shore. The party returned in the
evening, having visited some abandoned habitations
and met some domesticated dogs, A party of natives
crossing a lake in the direction of the ocean beach
was frightened back by a musket-shot fired to warn
Billings, who had strayed some distance by himself

On the 27th of July the explorers at last caught
sight of the American continent, in the vicinity of
Cape Rodney. Billings, with the naturalist, draughts-
man, and two other officers were landed in boats.
The party made a fire of drift-wood on the beach and
then dispersed in search of inhabitants. A few were
found, and friendly intercourse was established by
means of an Anadir Cossack who spoke the Chuk-
chi language. The natives conducted their visitors
to a temporary dwelling and treated them hospitably.
The following day some trading was carried on and
the explorers returned to the ship with considerable
difficulty owing to stormy weather. ^^

On the 2d of August the expedition reached its
highest latitude, 65° 23' 50", sighting the islands in
mid-channel of Bering Strait, and the following day
the Slava Rossie anchored in St Lawrence Bay. From
this point Billings proposed to set out overland, with
a small party, in the direction of the Kovima, while
Sarychef was to take the vessel back to Unalaska.
Two guides and interpreters, Kobelef and Dauerkin,
had been on the coast ever since 1787, awaiting the

'* A bidar, purchased from the natives, with four sailors, did rot reach
the ship till the .31st. The men reported that they had been cast ashore, and
at daylight found themselves surrounded by a number of natives, with whom
they traded, though giving them a hiA character. Sauer remarks on this
occasion: ' I cannot guess what articles of trade they had; but they obtained
several skins of black and red foxes, martens, etc. I hope that the natives
had not the greater reason to complain.' Id., 247.

AN OVERLAND JOURNEY. 909

expedition, and Billings lost no time in perfecting
preparations for his dangerous journey, taking his finai
departure on the 13th of August.'*

The commander appeared confident of his purpose,
but those he left on the ship bv no means shared that
feeling. They considered the large quantity of goods
carried as presents an additional danger, which proved
true according to the report of the journey. As soon
as they left the coast they found themselves com-

tely in the power of the Chukchi who were tq
nnpany them across the country. They were led
u , er a roundabout route and systematically robbed at
every opportunity. As their store of goods decreased
the insolence of the natives increased and on more
than one occasion they narrowly escaped slaughter.

On the day after Billings' departure Sarychef sailed
for Unalaska. The Slava Rossie was now but ill pro-
vided with food, water, and firewood, but anxiety ou
account of Hall with the consort made it necessary
to steer for the Aleutian isles instead of proceedin<T
to Petropavlovsk for supplies. The passage was com-
paratively short, however, and on the 28th of August
thev anchored once more in Illiuliuk harbor. Captain
Hall had arrived there a few days after Billings'
departure and sailed for St Lawrence Bay in accord-
ance with instructions: thence he returned, arriving
three days later.

The anchorage chosen for the two vessels during
the winter was a longitudinal cove on the west sido
of Illiuliuk Bay, protected by a low island, now con-
nected with the adjoining shore by a narrow neck.
Some shops and huts for officers were erected, but the
greater part of the crews remained on board of the
Slava Rossie and the Chernui Orel, or Black Eagle,
as Captain Hall's vessel had been named. Sauer
intimates that the principal reason of the sailors for

. " Tho company numbered 12 — Capt. Billings, Dr Merck the naturalist unrl
his assistant Mr Main, Masters Batakof and Gileicf of the navy; Vaioniii,
tile ilrauglitsman, and Lcman, surgeon's mate; tho two interpreters, Kobelef
and Uauerkin, and two soldiers and a boy attending ou the captain. Id., 2o^

<;! f^i % *■*

294

THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

remaining on board was, that while on the ships they
were entitled to a daily allowance of brandy which
could not have been issued to them on shore. The
officers doomed to pass a wretched winter in this
desolate place were captains Robert Hall and Gavril
Sarychef, Lieutenant Christian Bering, Surgeon-
major Robeck, Surgeon Allegretti, and Bakof, Baku-
lin, Erling, Pribylof, and Sauer. Billings' orders had
been to collect tribute from the Aleutian isles, and
Hall took the necessary steps to notify the natives of
his purpose. The Aleuts came voluntarily with con-
tributions of fox and sea-otter skins, especially after
it became known that the government officers gen-
erally returned the full value of the skins in trinkets.
In the expectation that at least one of his ships
would winter at Unalaska, Billings had given orders
that stores of dried fish should be prepared, and this
order had been generally obeyed by the natives; but
with all that the crews of the two vessels were but
poorly provided for the long, cold winter. The knowl-
edge of the dreadful sufferings of their predecessors
in that harbor, Captain Levashef and his crew, of
the Krenitzin expedition, in 1768, may have hastened
the coming of the scurvy; at all events, a montli
had not passed before several men were attacked with
it, end before the end of the year one victim was
buried. With the new year the disease became more
violent, and toward the end of February 1792 they
buried as many as three In one day. In March a
change for the better set in, after seventeen of the
best men had found their graves. With the greatest
difficulty the two ships were brought into conditioii
to undertake the return voyage to Petropavlovsk, but
the task was at last accomplished on the 16th of May.
During the winter tribute had been collected from
about five hundred natives, amounting to a dozen sea-
otter skins and six hundred foxes of different kinds,
and in return for these all the trinkets and tobacco,
quite a large quantity, had been distributed. A party

they
rhich
The
this
ravril
geon-
3aku-
•s had
s, and
ves of
ti con-
y after
-s gen-
inkets.
s ships
orders
,nd this
es; but
ere but
, knowl-
ecessors
;rew, of
lastened
, month
ied with
tim was
me more
r92 they
March a
n of tbe
, greatest
condition
ovsk, but
. of May.
cted from
lozen sea-
ent kinds,
(1 tobacco,
A party

IMPUDENT CHUKCHL

20St

consisting of some Russians from Shelikofs establish-
ment at Kadiak and some natives had paid a visit to
the winter-quarters of the expedition in search of
syphilitic remedies, brandy, and tobacco. The former
they obtained from the surgeons together with proper
directions for using them. The natives with this
party made many complaints of ill-treament at the
hands of Russian promyshleniki, which Sauer con-
sidered well founded."

The return from Unalaska was accomplished with
better despatch than might have been expected from
the miserable condition of the vessels. On the 7th
of June the Slava Rossie lost sight of the Chernui
Orel, and on the 16th the former vessel entered
Ava 1 cha Bay. An English ship, the Halcyon, Cap-
tain Barclay, was in the harbor, with a cargo of iron-
ware and ship-chandlery much needed on the coast,
but the stupid port authorities would not allow the
captain to dispose of any of his goods.

The explorers were anxious to proceed to Okhotsk,
but deeming it impracticable to enter that port with
the Slava Rossie it was concluded to despatch the
Chernui Orel, with as many members of the expedi-
tion as she could carry, while the remainder awaited
the arrival of the annual transport vessel from
Okhotsk. Shortly after the sailing of the first de-
tachment news was received from Captain Billings and
his party. They had undergone the greatest suffer-
ings, but were then, in February 1792, on the river
Angarka within a few days' march of the Kovima.
The object of the dangerous journey had to a great
extent been frustrated by the restrictions imposed
upon the helpless explorers by the impudent Chukchi.

"He also Bays: 'Shelikhof has formed a project to obtain the sole piiv-
'lege of carrying on this traile without a rival, and he will probably, one day
ur other, succeed; but not before the scarcity of furs lessens tlie value of this
trade nnd renders fresh capital necessary for makins new excursions ( o dis-
cover other sources of commerce, or rather of wealth; tiicn the directors of
tlic present concern will explore the regions of Amercia, and if nothing
nilvautageous occurs, they will doubtless retire from the concern, secure in
tlit'ir possessions, and leave the new members to pursue the undertakiiig. '

i '■ ': '■ *i!|

'i.: !;'•■",(:

si'";ris^

.;' i

THE BILLINGS SaENTTPIC EXPEDITION.

They had destroyed the surveying outfit and would
not allow any notes to be taken or calculations to •
made. Captain Billings communicated his intentiou
of proceeding to Yakutsk with all possible speed and
desired Sauer to join him there as soon as practi-
cable."

Letters from St Petersburg were received about the
same time, announcing thu* a French vessel, under
the flag of the republic, had sailed for Petropavlovsk,
and ordering that every facility of trade should be
afforded to the supercargo, a M. Torckler. A few
days later the ship arrived and was found to be the
La Flavia — also heard of on the American coast —
with a crew of sixty men besides the officers. Her
cargo consisted chiefly of brandy. One cannot but
note the difference in oflicial action with regard to
the useful cargo of iron-ware brought by Barclay the
same year, and that of the La Flavia, consisting of
th' chief element of destruction and ruin among the
hall-savage inhabitants of that region. The French
ship remained during the whole winter, retailing the
cargo, for nobody in Petropavlovsk had the means to
buy it in bulk. She sailed June 1, 1793, for Canton.

< Thus can)e to an end, as far as concerns the Russian
possessions in America, an expedition inaugurated on
a truly magnificent scale after long years of prepara-
tion. The geographical results may be set down at
next to nothing, with the exception of the thorough
surveys of Captain Bay in Illiuliuk Harbor on Una-
liaska Island. Every other part of the work had
already been done by Cook. The knowledge obtained
by Billings during his march from St Lawrence Bay
to the Kovima proved of no great importance, based
as it was to a great extent on hearsay from tlio
treacherous Chukchi, who would not allow any mem-

"The members of the expedition still at Petropavlovsk were Capt. Bering,
Masters Buliof and Bakulin, Mr Sauer, and Surgeon-general Rol>ecK. Major
Slimaluf was in command of the province. Id., 285.

Loll
ind
cti-

the
ider
ivsk,
i be

few
B the
ast —

Her
t but
,rd to
ly the
ing of
ng the
7rencU
hg the
jans to
Canton.

Russian
ated on
irepara-
own at
orough
n XJ na-
rk had
.btained
ceBay
e, based
om the
y mcm-

bapt. Bering,
eck. M*Jo'

RESULTS.

297

bar of the band to make personal observations. An
important feature, however, was the preliminary ex-
perience gained by Sarychef, who subsequently pub-
lished the most complete and reliablo charts of the
Aleutian Islands, a work upon which, as far as '.he
territory included in Sarychef's own observations is
concerned, even Tebenkof could make few if any im-
provements. Their reliability stands acknowledged
to the present day. But few corrections have been
made in his special charts of harbors by modern sur-
veys. As far as it is possible to judge now, it seems
that Martin Sauer's estimate of his commander was
nearly correct, and we may concur in his opinion that
the failure of the expedition in its chief objects was
due to the leader's incapacity and false pride, which
prevented him from accepting the advice of others
well qualified and willing to give it; but there were
also other reasons, as we shall see. It was almost a
miracle that he did not furnish a tragic finale to a
series of blunders by losing his life during his fool-
hardy journey through the country of the Chukchi.

The principal benefit derived from this costly
undertaking was the ventilation of abuses practised
by unscrupulous traders upon helpless natives. The
authorities in Siberia and St Petersburg became at
last convinced that an end must be put to the bar-
barous rule of the promyshleniki. The cheapest and
easiest way to accomplish this was to grant control of
the whole business with American coasts and islands
to one strong company that might be held responsible
to the government for its conduct. Those members
of the Billings expedition who revealed the unsatis-
factory state of affairs in these outlying possessions
of Russia did not intend to aid Shelikof and his part-
ners in tlieir ambitious schemes, but such was the
effect of their reports. Another result was to abolish
the custom of collecting tribute from the Aleuts ; the
method introduced by Sar^'chef — to return the full
^akie in tobacco and trinkets for skins tendered as

r-- ' -If ■

THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

tribute — would have eflPectually prevented the govern-
ment from deriving any benefit from that source.

If the expedition revealed abuses it also gave rise
to others. Many private individuals enriched them-
selves by contracts for supplying the expedition at the
different stages of its progress, especially at Irkutsk,
Yakutsk, and Okhotsk. Sauer mentions in his jour-
nal that on his return voyage he found the officials at
Yakutsk, whom he had left in comparative poverty,
in much improved circumstances, bordering upon
affluence, and he ascribes the change to the fact that
these people had been engaged in furnishing horses
for the transportation of stores to the Kovima and to
Okhotsk.

The experience gained in the way of navigation and
management of similar expeditions was of some value;
and in this connection it is rather a significant fact that
during the first voyage of the Slava Rossie, under the
immediate command of Billings, the scurvy was suc-
cessfully combated," yet in the following year the
two ships had been anchored in Illiuliuk harbor but
a few weeks when the dreaded disease broke out with
such violence that the combined efforts of Sarychef
and Hall, two medical men, and Martin Sauer failed
to arrest its ravages.

With regard to the supplementary instructions rel-
ative to the Swedish cruiser Mercury, nothing was done
by Billings, though the vessel did visit the Aleutian
Islands according to the report of Pribylof The ap-
prehensions on this account seem to have been great.
A set of minute instructions was furnished to traders
on the islands, to regulate their conduct in cLse the
privateer appeared, but in Pribylof's intercourse with

"Billings, formerly of Cook's expedition, had evidently learned somotliing
of that navigator's effective methotl of combating the scurvy. The surgeuii's
journal contains the following remarks: ' It was on'y toward the end of tlie
voyage, when our bread was out and we were reduced to a short allowance of
water, that the scurvy made its appearance. At this time pease and grits,
boiled to a thick consistency in a small quantity of water, and buttered,
were substituted for salted provisions. The primary aymptoms of scurvy
then appeared, but on arriving at Pctropavlovsk a treatment of bleeding, thin
drink, and fresh fish restored all hands in a very short time.' /(/., '20H-9.

3rn-

rise
leni-
bthe
utsk,
jour-
ais at
/erty,
upon
t that
horses
and to

INCEPTION OF MONOPOLY.

209

Captain Coxe, the former did not use any of the pre-
cautions enjoined.*"

The hand of the future monopolists can be dis-
cerned, shaping events, from a period preceding that
of BiUings' expedition, though perhaps Martin Sauer
was not able to see it. Notwithstanding his belief to
the contrary, the members of the Shelikof Company,
already in virtual possession of their exclusive privi-
leges of trade, were then making strenuous efforts
to extend operations instead of drawing out of the
business. Shelikof, Baranof, and Delarof knew far
better than Billings' sanguine secretary what wealth
was in the country. Where he saw nothing but indi-
cations of quick decline, energetic preparations were
in progress for a healthy revival of business. For
many years after the period set by Sauer even the
vessels of small opposition companies continued to
visit the islands and portions of the mainland.

One proof of the confidence of Shelikof in the
stability of the business for many years to come is
furnished by his efforts to establish a settlement in

'" The instructiouB issued in 1790 to the Shelikof-Golikof Company con-
tained the following: ' Necessary measures will be taken in accordance with
secret instructions, [)y order of the empress, to protect the establishments of
tlie company and its stores of goods and furs against the attacks of pirates,
which have been sent out for that purpose by the Swedish government, under
the command of English captains, and all possible means will be employed to
avert this danger, threatening the hunters as well as the company's property.
If, in spite of all precaivtions, these privateers enter any Russian harbor or
laud parties of men, efforts must be made to repulse them, and, if possible, to
capture and detain them. lu such a case a party of natives will bo formed, in
hidarkas, decorated wit:h beads and paint; they will approach the vessel with
signs of admiration and friendship, beckoning to the people on board to land,
(liaplaying sea-otter skins, and presenting them with a few. Having in this
Way induced as many as possible of the crew to land, the natives will meet
tlicm with their customary dances and all signs of satisfaction, in the mean
time endeavoring to decoy the vessel into some dangerous place. During all
tliis time not one Russian must show himself, but they must all be hidden in
convenient places prepared for that purpose, and when the deluded party
approaches some defile or ambush, the hidden Russians will emerge at a given
signal to attack both the vessel and the men on shore, endeavoring to capture
the leaders, etc. ' In case of fortune favoring the hostile visitors the instnic-
tions direct that, ' if possible, the most important among the Russians or
natives must endeavor to escape in bidars or bidarkos by passages where the
siii)) coimot follow, while others may approach the vessel at night and attempt
to scuttle it or cause it to leak.' Tikhmen^, htor. Obosr., i. 33-4.

Ihl'ii

aoo

THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

ill

the vicinity of Cape St Elias and to begin ship-build-
ing there. "I have made representations to the
government," he wrote to Baranof, "with regard to
ship-building and agriculture at Cape St Elias. Dur-
ing my sojourn at Kadiak it was known to me that
the mainland of America from ^^nga Island to the
regions inhabited by the Kenai enjoys better climatic
conditions than the island of Kadiak. The soil is fit
for cultivation, timber is plentiful," etc. Baranof
wrote in reply that he entertained no hope of suc-
ceeding in agricultural experiments at Yakutat, espe-
cially near the coast, as the place was situated between
59° and 60* north latitude. He also stated that the
shores of the gulf of Chugachuik and portions round
Kenai were composed of very high and rugged moun-
tains.

The peculiar search for agricultural lands outside of
Kadiak shows plainly that the wily traders were not
in earnest in their search. Kadiak is the spot most
favored by nature as far as climate and soil are con-
cerned. No other place in all that vast region can
furnish feed for cattle or boast of rich fisheries, useful
timber, and fertile vegetable-gardens in close prox-
imity to each other. But all this was carefully hidden
from the knowledge of the government and attention
was drawn toward a region where failure was a cer-
tainty, in order to obtain the services of such laborers
and mechanics as might be forwarded from Siberia
in conformity with Shelikof's representations to the
imperial court. It was a wily scheme and proved
successful with regard to the mtroduction of skilled
labor into the colonies without much expense to the
company, who obtained the privilege of selecting useful
men among Siberian exiles and convicts. The best of
these picked men, as we shall see in a succeeding chap-
ter, never reached the proposed settlement at Yakutat,
and the few who did perished or were captured durin;^
the sacking of the place by the Thlinkects.

It is safe to presume, also, that Billings had reasons

yi'i

8UC-

nde of

>re not

t most

re con-

311 can

useful

prox-

hidden

tention
a cer-
borers

Siberia
to the
proved
skilled
to tlio
^ useful
best of
g chap-
akutat,
during

SAUER'S REPORT.

for not doing anything against the men who were
preparing to assume supreme control over the Russian
possessions in America, despite a little episode with
his Russian secretary at Petropavlovsk, who was sent
back to Okhotsk in irons, because he had revealed
some of the secret instructions of his commander to
members of the Shelikof Company." His strange
apathy in the matter of making new discoveries or
surveys in the vicinity of Cook Inlet and Prince Will-
iam Sound may have been due to influence brought
to bear from that direction, and not, as Sauer inti-
mates, to mere superciliousness and pride engendered
by rapid promotion.

In the case of subsequent government expeditions
and inspectors visiting the colonies the same influence
became more perceptible and undeniable, a circum-
stance which justifies us, to a certain extent, in view-
ing in a similar light the results of this expedition
and the events recorded in this chapter.

An enterprise that objected to general competition,
and especially one with unscrupulous men at its head,
was sure to bring about the employment of question-
able means in its furtherance. Bribery was the easiest
and perhaps the most innocent means employed to
secure immunity from interference by either govern-
ment or rival traders, and there is ground for suspicion
that it was brought into play during the cruise of the
iSlava Rossie.

The subordinate members of the expedition, cap-
tains Sarychef and Hall, the medical men and Sauer,
appear to have taken the side of the suffering natives
against the grasping traders, but in the oflicial reports
to the government these men had no voice. Billings'
report has never been published, and we can only
conjecture its tenor. The journal and notes of Martin
Sauer were published nearly ten years later, and could
in no way have influenced the Russian government.

reasons

^'/rf.,213.

■I'tJ

802

THE BILLINQS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

That the traders did not like the presence of gov-
ernment officers among them was but natural. The
officers belonged to a class far above any of the trad-
ers in social standing as well as rank, and they took
no pains to conceal their contempt for the semi-bar-
barous plebeians. Individuals of some education, like
Delarof, met with a certain degree of consideration,
but all others were treated like dogs. Even Baranof,
after he had been in supreme command of the colonies
for many years, was snubbed by lieutenants and mid-
shipmen of the navy, and it was found necessary to
obtain for him a civil rank in order to insure even
common respect from government officials. Under
such circumstances the merchants considered them-
selves justified in resorting to any means by which
officers might be disgusted with the country and ex-
ploring expeditions made to appear unnecessary to the
government.

In the case of Sarychef, Hall, and Sauer, who
passed a winter on Unalaska Island, this plan seems
to have worked satisfactorily, as not one of them had
anything good to say of a country where they suffered
intensely from scurvy and lack of provisions. The fact
that a party of Russians and natives from Kadiak
visited the expedition in its winter-quarters demon-
strates the possibility of carrying on the work of
exploration and surveying on Unalaska and neigh-
boring islands during the winter, but no such attempt
was made, though the whole company suffered from
the effects of inactivity. With the example before
them of the Kadiak party, already referred to in the
earlier pages of this chapter, strengthened by that
of Martin Sauer, who almost alone retained compara-
tively good health by constantly moving about, it is
difficult to find any valid reason for the apathy shown
by the officials in command. The work actually ac-
complished by Sarychef must have been completed
before the appearance of the scurvy. Sauer's original
ambition, which caused him to make the foolhardy

MISSIONARY EFFORTS,

303

proposition of remaining alone among theChugatsches,
seems to have cooled, and after returning to Kamt-
chatka he confined his visionary plans to the explor-
ation of the Kurile Islands and perhaps Japan or
China. We have no record, however, that any of his
plans reached the stage of execution.

In support of his schemes Shelikof had been the
prime mover in the request to have a missionary
establishment appointed for the colonies, and in his
reports he claimed to have converted large numbers
of natives to Christianity. It is safe to presume, how-
ever, that his success as a religious teacher was not
sufficient to prepare the field for the priest attached
to Billings* expeditions, who evidently considered that
his whole duty consisted in holding services for his
companions once a week, and in administering the
customary oath to Captain Billings whenever the
latter assumed an additional rank in accordance with
the imperial oukaz containing his instructions. On the
second voyage from Petropavlovsk the commander did
not expect further promotion, and we find no mention
of the priest. He was probably left behind as one
whose earthly work was done. Sauer gave him a bad
character and called him half-savage.

The stay of the Slava Rossie was besides too short
at any one place during the first voyage to allow of
missionary work on the part of the priest, though a
portable church — a large tent — was set up at every
anchorage. Shelikof had not hesitated to perform a
primitive rite of baptism, but he could not legally
marry people, and the ceremony performed on Kadiak
Island, as before mentioned, was consequently the first
that ever took place in the country. The wife of
Shelikof had accompanied him on his visit to America,
but from that solitary example the natives could not
have acquired much knowledge of the institution of
Christian marriage.

Shelikof's application for missionaries had great

J'
It

L^km

304

THE BILLINGS SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

tiir

"i,

|i Mr*"

v^eight with the commission intrusted to consider the
demand of his company for exclusive privileges, but
the first members of the clergy who landed upon the
islands of the American coast in response to the call
did not meet with the hearty cooperation they may
have expected at the hands of the traders. Taking
time and circumstances into consideration, this was
but natural. All the Kussians, from the chief trader
down, were laboring 'on shares,* and shared alike in
the scanty provisions furnished at very irregular inter-
vals, while every man was expected to eke out addi-
tional supplies by hunting and fishing whenever he
could obtain a few days from other pursuits. The
clergymen, who had certainly every reason to look for
supplies of food to the traders who had desired their
presence, were, therefore, considered as an undesirable
element by lawless individuals, long removed from all
association with even the forms of civilization. Idlers
were not wanted in the camps of the promyshleniki,
where scant fare was the rule, and for some years after
their arrival among the race with whose language they
were unacquainted, the missionaries could do little.
Complaints of shortcomings and even ill-treatment
were at first quite numerous, and by some priests it
was alleged that the commanders of stations, where
they had taken up their residence, made them work
for their living. This may well have been the case
in instances where agents were compelled to give way
to popular demand; the semi-barbarous hunters per-
haps had another ground for harboring ill-feeling
toward their clerical guests — the latter interfered to
a certain extent with the more than free use made of
native women by the promyshleniki. Still, the ark-
Iiemandrit, or prior, loassaf, sent out to superintend
the missions, was treated with respect, as the man-
agers of the companies recognized the necessity of
restraining their subordinates in his case. A man in
his position could and did do good service in settling
difficulties between rival firms and individuals.

■T

sr the
}, but
•n the
le call
T may
'aking
IS was
trader
like in
• inter-
t addi-
iver he
. The
ook for
id their
Bsirablo
from all

Idlers
shleniki,
irs after
Lge they
o little,
eatment
►riests it
8, where
jm work
the case
rive way
ters pcr-
ll-feeling
rfered to

made of

the a'"^-
jerintcnd
the man-
;essity of
^ man in
n settling
Is.

CHAPTER XIV.

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

1787-1796.

Shelikof's Grand Concbption— Govkrnoe-oenebal Jacobi Won to thb

SOBEHB — ShEUKOF'S MoDEST REQUEST— ALASKA LaID UNDER MoNO?-

OLY — Stipulations of the Empress — Humane Orders of Kozlof-
UoRENiN — Public Instructions and Secret Injunctions — Delarop's
Administration — Sheukof Induces Baranof to Enter the Ser-
TICK OF HIS Company — Career and Traits or the New Manager —
Shipwreck of Baranof on Unalaska — Condition of the Colony —
Rivalry and Other Troubles — Plans and Recommendations— £n-
oaokhent with the Kaljushes — Ship-buildino— The Enoushman
Shields— Launch and Tribulations of the 'Phixnix.'

The idea of a subsidized monopoly of trade and
industry, to embrace all Russian discoveries and col-
onies on the shores of the north Pacific, first arose in
the fertile brain of Grigor Shelikof, whose original
establishment on Kadiak Island has been the subject
of a preceding chapter. Once seized with this con-
ception, Shelikof hastened forward the execution of
it with all the ardor of his nature. He hurried from
Kamchatka to Okhotsk and Irkutsk, travelling with-
out intermission in the dead of winter until he reached
the capital of eastern Siberia and delivered to Gen-
eral Jacobi, the governor general, a detailed account,
with maps, of the countries he had visited, and plans
of the fortifications erected. He then asked of the
governor general instructions for the management of
the people thus added to the Russian empire, and
aid toward obtaining from the empress a recognition
of his labors.*

' I will quote here a few concluding lines of the lengthy document pre-
sented to Jacobi by Shelikof: 'Without the approval of our monarch my
Hira. Ai^KA. 20 (SOS)

* i

106

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

Unlike his predecessors, Shelikof was not satisfied
with a single hunting season on the island of Kadiak,
but, as we have seen, proceeded at once to the estab-
lishment of permanent settlements. After the pre-
sentation of his report to General Jacobi, the clever
trader asked permission to send a few ships to Chinese
ports, in case of an interruption to the overland trade
with Kiakhta. The permission was not granted at
that time. Meanwhile Golikof, Shelikofs partner,
had profited by a temporary sojourn of the empress

labors would b« altogether nnsatisfactory to me and of but litt j account to
the world, since the principal object ot all my undertakings has been to incor-
i>orato the newly discovered seas, countries, and islands into our empire
before other powers could occupy and claim them, and to inaugurate enter-
prises which will add to the glory of our wise empress and secure profits to
her and to onr countrymen. I trust that my hopes of seeing wise measures
adopted for the government and protection of the distant regions discovcroJ
by me are not without foundation, and that we shall be enabled to establish
these discoveries to the best possible general advantage.' Tikhmenef, l4or.
Obos., i. 15. Captain Golovnin, who inspected the colonies in 1818, in a letter
to the imperial navy differs from Shelikof as to the merits of the colo-
nizer. Ho states that ' Shelikof' a Voyage was printed at St Petersburg in
1701. Aside from the barbarous stylo of the book and tho stupidif-voxhibitcil
on every page, we cannot fail to notice some intentional falsehoods, showing
how crafty and far-seeing this man was. In the first place he appropriates to
himself without any conscientious scruples the discovcnr of Kadiak and
Afognak, when it is well known that Bering sighted thoso islands and nainoil
a point Cape Hermogen, and Cook, live years before Shelikofs voyage, ascer-
tained that the cape was only a small island. Cape Goviatskoi on Kadiak
Island was named Cape GrevUle by Cook, and furthermore, a Russian galiot
wintered at Kadiak as early as 17C3, its commander being a certain Glott '
while Shelikof arrived there only in 1781, but what is more stupid than ii
thing else is, that on tho title-page of his Look he claims to be the discov<
of the island he calls Kuikhtak, forgettir.g that on page 20 of his book
acknowledges that in 17GI a Russian vessel stopped at that island. WLci
was the discovery? What place did he find that Cook did not see? Later
Shelikof asserts that he found CO,U0O inhabitants on the ish>.nd, and that in
a fight he with a force of 130 attacked 4,000 men, fortified upon a high rock,
taking 1,000 prisoners. According to Captair. Lissianski's inquiries Shelikof
fell upon 400 people, including women and cliildren; but 50,000 inhabitants
never existed upon the island— the number now being 3,000, and even if we
suppose that tho company succeeded in destroying tour fifths, the original
population could have ueen only 15,000. Now, the question is, What induced
Shelikof to lie thus boldly and impudently? He answers this question liim-
sclf, in his book, when he asserts that, without knowing tho language of tlie
inhabitants, he succeeded in one winter in converting a large number of them
to the sacred doctrines of our religion, and that by simply telling them of the
wisdom, humanity, and kindness of the empress of Russia, he made such an
impression upon their minds that the natives were fiiled with love and
admiration for her Majesty, and at once voluntarily submitted to her sceptre.
Now, it is clear that Shelikof wished to make the government believe that he
had discovered a new country and added 50,000 bona iide subjects to Kussia.^
He did not fail in his calculations, as he received very flattering rewards.
Golovnin, Zapiski, in Maierialui, i. 52-3.

8HELIK0F AND GOUKOP AT COURT.

807

led

ak,

,ab-

>re-

5vcr

icse

rado

dat

tncr,

press

junt to
) incor-
empiio
) enter-
pofita to
jcasurcs
icovcrod
•stablish
./, l4or.
I a letter
the colo-
Bburg in
jxbibitcil
Bhowing
priates to
diak oiul
ad namfiil
rre, asccr-
S K-adiak
lion galiot
n Glott' f
than ai
discov
i3 book

ee? Later
ml that m
liigh rock,
C8 Shelikol
jjliabitants
even i£ ^6
,bo origina
tiat iniluced
estion luf
uage of the
iberoftUcm
them of the
,ade such an
th love and
her sceptre,
lievethathe

tatoKussia-
ng rewarils.

at Kursk, and had presented to her a chart of Sheli-
kof 8 voyage. Her Majesty inquired into the com-
pany's » ohievements, and finally granted Shelikof
{)errai88ion to come to St Petersburg and present
limself at court with Golikof.

Shortly after this the empress asked Jacobi his
opinion as to the best means of establishing the Rus-
sian dominion on the islands of the eastern ocean, and
on the coast of America, and also as to the best mode
of governing the savage tribes and ameliorating their
condition. In answer Jacobi forwarded a lengthy
report in v.nich he approved the proposed despatch
of a fleet from the Baltic" to protect navigation in
the Pacific, and mentioned that he had forwarded to
the regions in question thirty copper shields, bearing
the imperial coat of arms and the inscription, "Country
iii possession of Russia," intended, as he says, "for
the better assertion of Russia's rights, founded upon
discovery." The shields were intrusted to navigators
of the Shelikof and Golikof Company. Jacobi also
recommended that the collection of tribute from the
natives should be abolished and replaced by a volun-
t tax. He pointed out the disadvantages to both
traders and natives resulting from the tribute system,
and 'c^gested that by impressing the savages with a
sense of the power of the empress and her tender '.;are
for all, even her most distant subjects, and by allow-
ing them to deliver to government agents a voluntary
contribution or ix, much good might be accomplished.
According to Jacobi's opinion, the collection of tribute
hastened the extermination of fur-bearing animals.

With regard to the proposed amelioration Jacobi
said that the ' couii be no doubt of the truth of

* The empress intended to afford safer navigation and trafiSc by sending
war-vessels from the Baltic under command of Captain Mulovski. Mulovski's
vessels were to separate upon arrival in the northern Pacific, one division to
go to the American coast, under his own command, and tiie other to proceed
to the Kurilc Islands, but on account of the war with Sweden the squadron
did not sail. Lieutenant Trevenen, who had sailed under Cook, was engaged
to join for diacovery purposes. J1»W».;:r,»</", Intor. Obo»., i. 16; Burney's Chron.
Hist. Voy.

■t fl

'f' '15

308

OnaANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.

Shelikofs report, and that it would be but a just
recognition of what the Shelikof Company had done
for the commerce of Russia, and for the country at
large, to grant them the exclusive right of hunting
and trading in the islands and territories discovered
by their vessels.' He even added that it would be
unfair to allow new-comers to enjoy the present peace
to which Shelikof had reduced Kadiak. Without
regard for the claims of any who had preceded them,
they alone should be rewarded, because they had a
larger force and conquered without exterminating.*

He further argued that unless the Shelikof Com-
pany was afforded special privileges the successes
gained by the founders of the first settlement on the
islands would be neutralized by the unrestrained ac-
tions of lawless adventurers. Cruelty would increase,
and the natives would submit to no such infliction after
the enjoyment of peaceful intercourse with Shelikof.
In conclusion Jacobi implored his imperial mistress
to intrust the management of the latest additions to
her domain to a man who "was known to have many
times set aside his love of gain in the interest of
humanity." What Jacobi himself was to receive in
case of Shelikofs success the governor general does
not say. The hundreds who bad done more and suf-
fered more than these who would now have it all i'i
themselves, to them he denied every right or rev.ard.

The empress ordered the imperial college of com-
merce, through its president. Count Chernyshef, to
examine in detail all questions connected with tho
fur-trade in those parts, and the means of advancing
the interests of Russia in the eastern ocean. Tiie

'The limit:! of these 'discoveries' Jacobi, with reckless liberality, placed
at from latitude 49° to 60" and from eastern longitude 63° to 63° from Okhotsk.
Tikhmenef, Istor. Ohot., i. 20.

* Jacobi advanced the idea that t, far 'as known nobodv <»l8e was then
engaged in business where Shelikof ' <vd succeeded in establishing tlio do-
minion of Russia, thoiijh sorie % .. had been in the neighborhood in
1701, 1707, and 1780 but thfiy rea jhta only a promontory of Kadiak named
Aiekhtatik, and the hun^'^rs of t" os- %essol8 were held in check by the natives
and prevented from hunticg. t " .tju their number was large enough to resist
attack.' Tikhmen^, Istor. Obos., i. '22.

just
done
ry at
nting
vered
Id be
peace
ithout
them,
had a
ating*
■ Com-
ccesses
on the
ned ac-
icrease,
on after
ihelikof.
mistress
itions to
ife many
©rest of
jceive w

;ral doc*^
and sui-
it all t<;
• rev.ard.
^ of coni-
lyshcf, to
with the
idvancing
:an. The

nlse was then

^shing thc^lo-

icbl)orbw)'i 11

iCadiak iiinn^''^
bytbeualivca

nough to resist

AN IMPERIAL CUKAS ISSUED.

committee appointed in pursuance of this order pre-
sented a long report in March 1788/ which seemed to
have been wholly impressed with the ideas of Jacobi.
After reviewing the apparent merits of the case and
the policy of the proposed measure, the committee
finally recommended that the request of Shelikof and
Golikof for exclusive privileges be granted, and that
the enterprise be subsidized with a loan of two hun-
dred thousand rubles from the public treasury, with-
out interest, for a period of twenty years, the capital
to be returned in instalments. The outlay, it was
added, would likewise be repaid u^: ^ild in the form
of taxes and import and export duties.

In pursuance of this report an imperial oukaz was
issued September 28, 1788, granting the company
exclusive control over th3 region actually occupied by
them, but no further, thus leaving rival traders free
sway in adjoining parts. Assistance from the public
treasury was refused because of foreign wars. The
empress was made to say: "As a reward for services
rendered to the country by the merchants Shelikof
and Golikof by discovering unknown countries and
nations, and establishing commerce and industries
there, wo most graciously confer upon them both
swords and gold medals, the latter to be worn around
the neck, with our portrait on one side, and on the
reverse an explanatory inscription that they have
been conferred by order of the governing senate for
services rendered to humanity by their noble and bold
deeds."® By the same oukaz all former laws for the
collection of tribute from the Aleuts were revoked.

'Report of committee on commerce, March 1788. Tikhmfiipf, Istor. Otxis.,
i. 2.17. It dwelt at length upon the sacrifices of Shelikof, and pointed to
the fact that owing to tlio failure of a regular supply of valual)le furs from
fSilicria and the islands the overland trade with China ^^ as interrupted, to the
great loss of Russian merchantii who had large sums in. csted iu goods salable
(inly in the Chinese market; while the articles previously imported from
China directly into Russia and Poland, such as teas, silks, and nankeens,
cmilil be obtained only through foreign maritime nations at a great increase
of cost.

*A special letter of acknov/ledgement was issued by the sovereign on
Octol>er 11th, which is printed in TikhmeiK-f, htor. Ol>08,, i., app., 1.

I ,

JitO

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

■.!!■■'

J a

While this was but a half-way measure toward his
ambitious schemes Shelikof had to content himself
for a time. He returned to Irtkutsk, there to fit out
two vessels, one for the Aleutian isles, and one for
the Kuriles, and to plan for a more complete victory,
by which to become master of all Alaska.

Two important documents were issued in 1787 by
the commander of Okhotsk, which indicate that the
authorities by no means placed implicit faith in the
humanity of the Shelikof Company or its servants.
Both papers bear the same date, June 15th; and one
is directed to navigators and traders, while the other
is intended as a reassuring proclamation to the native
chiefs as representatives of their people. The first
sets forth that in view of many complaints of ill-treat-
ment of Aleuts having reached Okhotsk, traders and
navigators are enjoined to treat with the utmost kind-
ness all Aleuts who have acknowledged themselves
Russ'an subjects, and not to carry them away from
home without their free consent. The document
concludes as follows: "The highest authorities have
already been informed of all your former outrages
committed upon the islanders, but they must cease
henceforth, and you must endeavor to act in conform-
ity with the wishes of our most gracious empress,
who is anxious to give protection to every inhabitant
of her dominions. Do not believe or flatter your-
selves that your former deeds will escape punishment,
but be convinced that sooner or later every transgres-
sion of the laws of God or our monarch will meet
with its due reward. I trust that these prescriptions
will be observed at once, and you must not forget that
it is the first duty of every faithful Russian subject
to report any transgression of the laws which comes
under hii observation. To this I append my own
signature and the seals of the province of Okhotsk
and of the district of Nishekamchatsk, this 15tli day
of June 1787. Grigor Kozlof-Ugrenin, colonel and
commander of the province of Okhotsk."

PROCLAMATIONS OP THE OKHOTSK GOVERNOR.

311

The second document is at once characteristic of
the empress and important in itself. I reproduce it
in full in a note/

^ ' To the Chiefs and People iuhabiting the Aleutian lelands in the North-
eastern Ocean, subjects of toe Russian Empire: The Mother of her country,
the great and wise Empress of the Imperial throne of All the Russias, Eka-
teiina Alexeievna, having always at heart the welfare of her faithful subjects,
extends her especial protection and attention to those nations who have but
lately become subjects of the Russian Empire, and has deigned to instruct
the present Governor-general of Irkutsk, Major-general and Cavalier Klichke,
to send to our islands, by way of Kamchatka, and tc the Kurile Islands,
Russian medals, which have been forwarded to you. They were sent to you
as proof of the motherly care of the Empress; and it was ordered that these
medals should be given to those islanders who are already under control of
the Russian crown, while at the same time it was intended to issue them also
to such as wished to enter the Russian Empire hereafter. These medals will
be distributed at every place where the Russian trading-vessels can land ia
safety, and tiius they will protect you against ill-treatment not only by Rus-
sian hunters, but at the hand of our allied powers who may visit your shores.
From the latter you may leel entirely safe, for even if any foreign vessel
should attempt to appropriate your islands to its owu country, the sight of
these medals of the Russian Empire would disperse all such thoughts, and if
any disputes should arise they will be settled by friendly negotiations with
these powers. As far as the Russian vessels are concerned that visit your
islands for the purpose of trade and hunting the fur-bearing aniinals, I have
already received through the bands of my officials at Kamchatka and Okhotsk
several complaints, the first through Sergeant Alexei Buynof, the second from
the son of the chief of the Andreianof Islands, Izossim Polutof, and the
third from the Aleut of the Lissievski Islands, Toukoutan Ayougnin; from
wliich complaints I have learned to my sorrow of the inhumanities inflicted
upon you by our Russian trading-ships, of which the government up to this
time had received no information; it was thought that no actual violation
of the laws had taken place in those distant regions. But now your peti-
tious have been forwarded by me to tlie highest authorities and I trust that
ou will before long receive full satisfaction. In the mean time I ask you to
iO content and not to doubt the kindness and justice of the great Empress
of All the Russias who is sure to dtfeud and jirotect you, knowing your sin-
cere submission to her sceptre. You must show tliis order to all Russian ves-
sels that visit you and it will protect you in so far that every inhabitant of
your inlands may remain in his village, and cannot bo compelled to go to any
other island unknown to him. But if one of you goes abroad with liis free
consent, he will be provided with food and cIc(olng until the time of his re-
turn, and the food shall be such as he has been accustomed to. If you believe
that you have been ill-treated by any jieople belonging to the Russian Em-
pire, or if you Imve suffered compulsion or uijury at their hands, I advise you
to take notice of their name and that of their ship, and what company of
niLTchants they belong to, and in due time you can forward your complaints
upon the matter, ami upon satisfactory proof such men M'iil be punished
according to their offences and you will get satisfaction. Information lias also
reached me to the effect tliat the hunters receive from you furs of good qual-
ity as tribute, but change them and forward po<.r skins to the Empress;
therefore I advise you to mark such skins with special signs and tokens, mak-
ing cuts or brands which cannot be easily changed, and if it is done iu spite
of these precautions the ofl'enders will be punished very severely. Further-
more 1 assure you of the continued protection and care of all the inhabitants
of your islands by her most gracious Imperial Majesty and her suprenic gov-
ernment, OS well as of the best wishes of the Commander of the Province of

i J 11

i /■■#■'.

'':! m

'■ " II

SIS

OEGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

The new order of things established by Kozlof did
not cause any immediate change in the demeanor of
the Russian promyshleniki, and it is douotful whether
the humane document addressed to the natives was
ever read or translated to one of them. Accord-
ing to the testimony of Sarychef and Sauer, matters
had not improved much when they visited the country
several years later. Yet upon the few individuals
who were then planning for a monopoly of the fur-
trade in the Russian possessions on the American
coast, the hints contained in the documents quoted
were not lost. They recognized the fact that such
boons as they craved from the government could
be obtained only by the adoption of a policy of hu-
manity and obedience to the laws, wholly different
from the ruthless transactions of private traders.
Shelikof, the shrewdest of all the plotters, had, as we
have shown, originated this policy, and he lived long
enough to see that so far as his plans were concerned
it worked to perfection. His instructions to Samoilof,
to whom he left the command of his colony on return-
ing to Okhotsk, were admirably calculated to impress
the reader with a sense of the wisdom, humanity, and

Okhotsk and the district and township of Nishnekamtchatsk. Signed the
15th day of June 1787, by Grigor Kozlot-Ugrcnin.'

Three copies still extant of the original document bear the following sig-
natures: ' Have read the original. Master Gavril Pribylof.' 'Have read tlie
copy. Master Potap Zaikof.' 'Have read the copy. Foreman Leontiy Na-
gaief.'

When Kozlof-Ugrenin issued his two manifestoes he had not met La P6-
rouse and the other officers of the French north-western expedition, for the
JiouMsole and Atitrolabc did not reach the bay of Avatcha until September,
1787. La PtSrouse and M. do Lesscps, his Russian interpreter, testify to the
excellent character of Ugreniu, who appears to have been actuated by a
sincere desire to improve the condition of all the inhabitants, Kussians and
savages, of the vast province under his command. At that time the govern-
ment of that region was organized as follows: Since Cook's visit to Kamchatka
tlie country had been attached to the province of Okhotsk, undei one gov-
ernor. Colonel Kozlof-Ugrenin; under him Captain SLmalef was supcrLriteiiil-
ent of the native Kamchatkans; Lieutenant Kaborof commanded at I'ctro-
pavlovsk, with one sergeant and 40 Cossacks; at Nishnekamtchatsk thcic
was a Major Eieonof, wuiilo at Bolsheretzk and Vcrkluicikamchatsk only blm-
gsants were in command. The income derived from Kamchatka liy the g()\-
emmeiit was out of all proportion to the expenditure involved. In 1787 tlio
tribute collected from tlio natives amounted to 300 sable-skins, 200 gray aiul
i-ed foxes, and a few sca-ottors, while nearly 400 soldiers and many oUicers
were maintained in the country. La I'croiuc, I'oy., ill. 1G7-0, 20*2.

SHELIKOF'S INSTRUCTIONS TO SAMOILOF.

313

disinterestedness of the writer,* ordering as they did
the good treatment of the natives, their instruction
in Russian laws, customs, and religion, the establish-
ment of schools for the young, and the promotion
of discipline and morality among the Russians as an
example to the aborigines. Much of this was in-
tended chiefly for the sake of effect, since the com-
pany by no means intended to expend any particular
efforts for the advancement of the natives. The
secret instructions to the same agent, though mainly
verbal, contained clauses which indicated how far
philanthropj'^ was supposed to further the predomi-
nant aim, the advancement of the company. For a

' This remarkable document, of which I have given Bpecimens, was dated
the 14th of May 1786, and has been printed in full by Tikbmenef in the
appendix to his second volume. iSpeaking of the natives of Kadiak and the
Cliugatsches, Shelikof says: *Iu pacifying the inliabitants you should explain
to them the beueiits resulting from our laws rnd institutions, and tell them
that people who become faithtul and permanent subjects of the empress will be
protected, while evil-disposed people shall feel the strength of her arm. When
visiting the different stations you must investigate complaints against your
subordinates by first hearing each party separately and then together. . . You
will instruct them in building good houses, and in habits of economy and
industry . . .The school I have established for the instruction of native children
in reading and writing llussian must be enlarged. . .As soon as possible the
sacred books and doctrines of our church should be translated into their
language by capable translators. . . I take with me to Siberia 40 natives, males
and females, old and young. Some of these I will send back on the same
ship, after showing them some of our villages, and the way we live at home,
while a small number will bo forwarded to the court of her imperial Majesty;
the remaining children I will take with me to be instructed in the schools of
Okhotsk and Irkutsk, and through them their families and tribes will acquire
a better knowledge of our country and the laws and good order reigning
there . . . With regard to the oiQccrs and men connected with the three vessels
left in your care you will maintain good order and discipline among all classes,
and strictly enforce obedience, as we cannot expect the natives to accept rules
yhich we do not obey ourselves. . .Traflic with the Aleuts must be carried on
in an honest manner, and cheating must be punislied. Qua^Tcls and disputes
nmst be settled by arbitration . . . Hostages and native employO.^ must be well
treated, but should not be taken into our houses without your special permis-
sion; sen-ing-womcn nmst not be taken into our houses, unless for the pnrpose
of sewing and similar work. . .Stores of provisions for at least two years must
be kept at every station to enable you to assist tlie natives in times of famine.
. . .At all the forts warm and comfortable (luarters must be erected for the
Aleuts, and also stables for the cattle I liave ordered to be shipped fiom
Okhotsk. . .My (godson Nikolai, who has always faithfully served the com-
lany and whom 1 have fed and clothed at my own expense, I recommend to
your special care, and hope that he will have no cause to complain of the
coni|i;iny'8 treatment in return for his faithful services, and also that this god-
eon of uiiue may receive further i' tiuctiou and be taught to respect God and
tile emperor, und tho laws of God. dof the country.' TikhmeneJ', Jalor, Obos.,
ii.,app.,8-19.

*..

314

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

time rival traders must be tolerated, but as soon as
sufficient strength was acquired they should be ex-
cluded from the districts occupied by the Shelikof
men.*

Limited as were the plans with regard to actual
execution, Samoilof lacked the qualifications to carry
them out, or to grasp the real object of their framer,
and Shelikof knew it. As soon as he returned from
Kadiak, therefore, he began to look about for a proper
person, and his choice fell on Alexander Baranof, a
merchant then engaged in trade on the Anadir River.
Shelikof 's first proposals to Baranof were declined
principally because his own business was moderately
prosperous and he preferred independence. One of
the partners of the company, Eustrate Delarof, a
Greek,"* was then selected to manage afiairs in the
colony, but his powers were more local and confined

r U

i-m

'Article 24. 'If any other company sends out one or two ships and
people to engage in the same trade with us, you must treat them in a friendly
manner an<I assist them to do their business quickly and to leave again, giving
them to understand at the same time at what an immense sacrifice wo liave
established our stations and what risks we have run in pacifying the Amei i-
cans, cautioning them not excite tlie natives by ill-treatment or cheating,
which would cause little danger to them who ure here only temporarily, but
might easily cause the destruction of our establishments, extended all over
this region at great risk and expense and to the greatest beuefit of the
country in general. But when I have sent out two more vessels well nianncil,
in addition to the three now at your disposal, you must take a more resolute
stand, drive off all intruders, and declare the Uussian sovereignty overall tlie
country on tlie American continent and California, down to the 40lh degree
of north latitude.' Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii., app., 10. Shelikof liiinseif
acted up to his ideas on the subject. In 178G the snip Sv Pavel, belonging to
the Lebedcf-Lastochkin Company, came to Kadiak with 35 men, commanded
by PeredoTchik Kolomin. They were advised to move on, and told that
there was an abundance of sea-otters in Cook Inlet. Kolomin followed the
advice, and established the first permanent station on the mainland, a fact
to which Slielikof took good care never to give any prominence before the
government or the public. Tikhmenef, Lstor. Obos., i. 30. Saucr writes in
reference to this policy: 'Ever since Shelikof formed his establishment nt
Kadiak no other companies have dared to venture to the eastward of the
Shumagin Islands. I am inclined to think that Lukhanin's vessel will l>o
the last that will attempt to visit these islands for furs, and probably ho will
obtain hardly any other than foxes.' Geo;/, and Astion. Ex[)ed., 27G.

'* Eustrate Ivanovich Delarof, a native of the Peloponese, established him-
■elf as a merchant in Moscow and subsequently became a partner in fitina
trading with America. He was in command of many vessels, stations, aiid
•xpeditions. He finally became a director of the Russian American conipauy,
and was honored by the government with the rank, of commercial councillur.
KhleLnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 14.

DELAROF AT KADIAK.

315

than those Shelikof had intended to confer upon
Baranof. Delarofs administration at Kadiak won
him the good-will of all under his command, both
Kussians and natives, and he received well merited
praise from all visitors, Spanish, English, and Rus-
sian. In all reports concerning Delarof, prominence
is given to his justice to all, and his kindness to the
natives; but just and amiable men are not usually
of the kind chosen to manage a monopoly. In this
instance Delarof was too lenient to suit his avaricious
and unscrupulous partners. Shelikof never lost sight
of Baranof, and when the treacherous Chukchi with
whom he was trading robbed him of his goods and
reduced him to poverty, it did not require much per-
suasion to induce him to enter the service of the
Shelikof Company at a compensation of ten shares,
equivalent to about one sixth of the net proceeds.
A mutual agreement was drawn up between the com-
pany and Baranof on the 18th of August 1790," and
the instructions already issued to Samoilof and De-
larof were in the main confirmed. Operations must
be extended also along the coast southward, and steps
might be taken to obtain supplies from other quarters
besides Siberia

Alexandr Andreievich Baranof was born in Kar-
gopol, eastern Russia, in 1747. At an early age he
went to Moscow, and was engaged as clerk in retail
shops until he established himself in business in 1771.

" The contract, in addition to instructions with regard to the treatment of
natives, contained some outlines of what the company expected to accomplish
uudcr Baranof 's management. He was to seek a harbor on tlie left (north)
6i(lu of the Alaska peninsula and thence a communication with Cook Inlet
by means of a short portage, reported by the natives. Of this he was to
niako use ia case of attiack by hostile cruisers. In addition he was furnished
with ample instructions how to act in case of such attacks upon the ditl'ereut
stations. A shin accompanied by a fleet of canoes was to go to Capo St Elias
and thence to Nootka, to ascertain whether any foreign nations had tstab-
lislicd themselves on the coast between the Russians and Spaniards, llaranof
was also to enter into communication with the English merchant Mcintosh,
engaged in the East India and China trade, in oiiler to make arrangements
for supplying the Russian settlements with goods and provisions. TikUmen^',
hior. Ohos., i. 32-4.

4 ^'

316

ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.

1)1 H

111-4

Not meeting with success he emigrated to Siberia in
1780, and undertook the management of a glass
factory at Irkutsk. He also interested himself in
other industries, and on account of several commu-
nications to the Civil Economical Society on the
subject of manufactures he was in 1789 elected a
member of the society. It was a humdrum life of
which he soon tired, and after acquainting himself with
the resources and possibilities of the country, he set
out eastward with an assortment of goods and liquors
which he sold to the savages of Kamchatka and the
adjoining country. At first his operations were suc-
cessful,^'^ but when in 1789 two of his caravans were
captured by Chukchi he found himself bankrupt, and
yielded to Shelikof's importunate offers to go to
America. He had a wife and children at his home in
Kargopol, Russia, but during his subsequent residence
of almost thirty years in the colonies he never saw his
family again though he provided amply for them.

Alexander Baranof was no ordinary man, and never
throughout his whole career did Shelikof display
clearer discrimination and foresight than in the selec-
tion of this agent. He was a man of broad experience,
liberal-minded and energetic, politic enough to please
at once the governnient and the company, not suffi-
ciently just or humane to interfere with the interests
of the company, yet having care enough, at what he
decreed the proper time, for the conventionalities of
the world to avoid bringing discredit on himself or
his office. Notwithstanding what certain Russian
priests and English navigators have said, he was not
the lazy, licentious sot they would have us believe.
That he was not burdened with religion, was loose in
morals, sometimes drunk, and would lie officially
without scruple, there is no doubt; yet in all this lie
was conspicuous over his accusers in that his indul-

"He eftablished trading posts in Kamchatka and on the Anadir. Kli^'h-
vikof, Shizn. liaranova, .3-5. See also Uo/ovnin, in Matcriahn, i. 0-10; I'd' of,
Bush. Am. Co., MS., 10; Irviiii/'n Agtoria, 4Gi); Hid. Northivfst ('oaxl,u. '-!-,
this sei'ies; and the rather ininiicul vcnsion of Juvenal, Jour., MS., 18-1'J.

ALEXANDR ANDRElEVICH BARANOP.

gences were periodical rather than continuous, and not
carried on under veil of that conventional grace and
gravity which cover a multitude of sins.

He was frequently seized with fits of melancholy,
duo partly to uncongenial surroundings,*' and would
at other times break out in passionate rage, during
which even women were not safe from his blows.
This exhibition, however, was invariably followed by
contrite generosity, displayed in presents to the suf-
ferers and in a banquet or convivial drinking bout
with singing and merriment, so that his fits came to
be welcomed as forerunners to good things. His hos-
pitality was also extended to foreigners, though with
them he observed prudent reticence. The poor could
always rely upon his aid, and this benevolence was
coupled with an integrity and disinterestedness at
least far above the usual standard among his associ-
ates."

Compare him with Grigor Shelikof, who certainly
did not lack broad vision and activity, and Baranof
was the abler man. Both belonged to the shrewd
yet uncultured and somewhat coarse class which then
formed the main element even among the rich men
in Siberia. In vital deeds Baranof the agent rises
superior to Shelikof the principal, belongs more to
history, as one who in executing difficult plans shows
himself often a greater man than he who conceived
them. Indeed, if for the next two or three decades
Baranof, his acts and his influence, were absent, Rus-
sian American history for that period would be but a
blank. Among all those who came from Russia, he
alone was able to stem the tide of encroachment by
roving traders from the United States and Great
Britain. He was any day, drunk or sober, a match
for the navigator who came to spy out his secrets.

" To disgust at his low companions, says Davidof, but he was not much
more refined himself. Dvulr. Putcsh., i. 19-.

'' Of this Davidof has no doubt, for 'he is not accumulating wealth though
having every opportunity to do so.' Id., Juvenal, Jour., MS., 19-20.

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

As for the natives his influence over them was un-
bounded, chiefly through the respect with which his
indomitable courage and constant presence of mind
impressed them." And yet the savage who came
perhaps from afar expressly to behold the famed
leader, was not a little disappointed in his insignifi-
cant appearance as compared with his fierce and bushy
bearded associates. Below the medium height, thin
and sallow of complexion, with scanty red-tinged
flaxen hair fringing a bald crown, he seemed but an
imp among giants. The later habit of wearing a short
black wig tied to his head with a black handkerchief,
added to his grotesque appearance.^*

On the 10th of August 1790, Baranof sailed from
Okhotsk on the ship Trekh Sviatiteli, commanded by
Master Bocharof, who was then considered the most
skilful navigator in those waters." When only a few
days from port it was discovered that the water-casks
were leaking. The ship's company was placed on short
allowance, but disease made its appearance, and it was
thought impossible to sail direct to the settlement at
Kadiak as had been the intention. On the 28th of
September the vessel was turned into the bay of Kos-
higin, Unalaska, to obtain a supply of fresh water, but
on the 30th, when about to leave again, a storm threw
the ship upon the rocky shore. The men escaped
with belongings, but only a small part of the cargo
was saved. Within five days the wreck broke in
pieces, and a messenger was sent to Xadiak to report
the loss, but failed to reach that place. ^*

''Davidof was deeplv impressed with this leader of men who controlled not
only the hostile savage but tlie vicious and unruly Russian, and rose supreme
to every hardship and danger in advancing affairs in this kcmote comer.

*'/(/., 194; Tchitchinof, Adv., 2-4; Markqf, Ruskie no Vostotchnom, 52.

" Bocharof was at Okhotsk in 1771, at the time of the insurrection headed
by the Polish exile, Count Beny vovski. The latter compelled Bocharof to go
with him, and finally took him to France. Thence he was returned to St
Petersburg by the Russian embassador at Paris, and the empress ordered liim
to resume nis duties at Okliotsk. To this involuntary circumnavigation <if the
world Bocliarof was indebted for much of his proficiency in nautical science.
Khlehnikof, Shlzn. Daranova, 5.

"A man named Alexander Molef was sent upon this errand with a iium-

vith a uuro-

BABANOF IN ALASKA. ,.|||

Thrown upon his own resources, Baranof distributed
his men, fifty-two in number, over the island to shoot
seals and sea-lions and dig edible roots, the only food
the island afforded during the winter. The leader
labored with the men and lived with them in the un-
derground huts which they constructed. The dried
salmon and halibut obtained occasionally from the
Aleuts were a luxury, and on holidays a soup was
made of rye flour of which a small quantity had been
saved. The winter was not wholly lost to Baranof,
who seized this opportunity to study the people, both
Russians and natives, with whom he had thrown his
lot for so many years to come, and whom he was to
rule without a shadow of actual or apparent support
from the government. It was here that he formed
plans which were afterward of great service to the
company.**

Spring coming, three large bidars were made in
which to push on to Kadiak, with two of which
Bocharof was to explore and hunt along the northern
coast of the Alaska peninsula. Twenty-six men were
assigned to this expedition while Baranof took a crew
of sixteen in the third boat, leaving five at Unalaska
to guard what had been saved from the cargo and
rigging of the wrecked ship. Toward the end of
April 1791 the threo bidars put to sea, and on the

ber of Aleuts. When only a hundred miles from Kadiak the party waa
attacked by the natives of the Alaska peninsula, on which occasion five of the
Aleuts were killed. Molef, though severely wounded, managed to launch
his bidarka and make his way to Unga, where he remained until picked up
by Baranof the following year. Id., 7.

'* Baranof 's letter written at this time presents a vivid picture of life there.
' I passed the winter in great hardships, ' he says, ' especially when the weather
was bad. Sometimes two months passed by without a possibility of going
any distance, but I made use of every clear day to go out with my gun in
Bearcli of some a<ldition to our larder. On one of these excursions I fell into
one of the traps set for foxes and was slightly wounded. . .1 boiled salt of very
good quality, as white as snow, and used it for salting fish, and seal, and sea-
lion meat. As far as cooking with oil is concerned we were fasting all tlie
timo, and the week before Easter we were compelled to fast altogether, but
on Easter Monday a dead whale was cast ashore and furnished us a feast. In
the same week we killed three sea-lions, and the famine was at an end. I
had become accustomed to think no more of flour or bread.' Khlebnikof, Shizn.
liaranova, 8. Only three men die-' of scurvy.

«>

'I"! 11

320

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

10th of May they separated in Issanakh Strait, at the
southern end of the peninsula. After an absence of
five months Bocharof rejoined his comrades at Ka
diak by a portage route across the peninsula, bringing
not only furs but a number of good charts.** During
his whole journey Baranof was prostrate with fever;
nevertheless he insisted that the party should not
only advance but explore, being unwilling to lose the
calm weather so essential for a safe passagd from island
to island or from cape to cape along the coast of the
mainland. He arrived at Three Saints, Kadiak, tho
27th of June.

Baranof at once assumed command of all the estab-
lishments of the Shelikof-Golikof Company, relieving
Eustrate Delarof " At this time the company was
in actual possession of Kadiak and a few of tho
smaller adjacent isles; the principal settlement being
still at the bay of Three Saints. The superficial
pacification of the natives by Shelikof had been com-
pleted by Delarof so far as Kadiak and vicinity were
concerned, though they remained in their primitive
condition. The opinion of all but Delarof was that
they could be held in subjection only by force of arms
or fear, and that upon the first sign of weakness or
relaxation of vigilance on the part of the Russians
they would rise and destroy them. As much system
had been secured as lay in the power of one right-
minded, intelligent man, surrounded by an unruly
band of individuals but little if any above the crim-
inal class. I have said of Delarof that he was strict
in his sense of justice and of fair administrative
ability. The contemplation of this amiable Greek's

'"Bocharof intended to extend his explorations to the coast of tho
Aglegmutvs, but his skin boats were found to be waterlogged from incessant
use, and it was concluded to make a portage across a narrow part of the
peninsula. This was accomplished in three days. The bidars were tlieii
repaired and the party crossed to Kadiak, reaching Three Saints on the I'^ih
of September.

" Delarof remained manager of the company imtil July 1791. I'Uhmeiiff,
htor. Obos., L 27, 28. ,

the
3 of
Ka

ring
)ver;
not
3 the
slantl
f the
t. tho

estab-
ieving
\y was
3f the
, bein^
lerficial
ill coni-
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imitivo
as that
of arms
ncss or
Russians

system
rigbt-

unruly
le criui-
as strict

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I were t'"-'"

, on the I'^ili

Tikhmd'ff'

CHARACTER OF DELAROP.

SSI

character affords a pleasant relief from the ordinary
conduct of the Russians in America. Had there been
more such men, I should have less to record of out-
rage, cruelty, and criminal neglect; had Delarof been
bad enough to please his directors Baranof might have
remained at home.

From his head-quarters at Kadiak, Delarof had de-
spatched expeditions to the mamland, at the entrance
of Cook Inlet, or the gulf of Kenai, as the Russians
always persisted in calling it, and there he had estab-
lished a permanent station which he named Alexan-
drovsk. Otherwise the whole of this inlet was occu-
pied by Lebedef-Lastochkin, who also held the islands
discoxered by Pribylof. The people of the Alaska
peninsula had not yet permitted any Russians to settle
among them, and were held to be hostile. The ad-
joining Prince William Sound was also occupied, and
on the Aleutian isles three private trading companies
were still doing business, under the management of
Orekof, Panof, and Kisselef respectively.

Thus on every side rival establishments and traders
were draining the country of the valuable staple upon '
which rested the very existence of the scheme of
colonization. To the cast and north there were Rus-
sains, but to the south-east the ships of Englishmen,
Americans, and Frenchmen were already traversing
the tortuous channels of the Alexander archipelago,
reaping rich harvests of sea-otter skins, in the very
region where Baranof had decided to extend Russian
dominion in connection with company sway. Al-
though they could not expect to succeed so well
further north, here these traders had every advantage.
They enjoyed comparatively easy communication with
home points; they were skilled navigators, and came
in large well equipped vessels laden with goods far
superior to anything the Russians could afford to
bring by sled or on the backs of horses across Siberia.
They could also be more lavish with their low-priced
articles since they were under no expense in maiu-

Hln. Ai.A*XA. 21

»►

(

!f ^V

ill''

1 ? i yjf-^

H «'

8»

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

taining permanent forts or establishments or a large
retinue of servants. As occasional visitors only, with-
out permanent interests in the land, they could deal
out iire-water, risk occasional cheatings and open acts
of violence, while Baranof, with his few men of per-
manent residence, among warlike tribes, must be con-
stantly on his guard against acts provocative of
hostilities.

It was necessary that he should bestir himself to
widen the operations of the company ere the field
was exhausted, and this had been his determination,
but he did not as yet possess the necessary vessels,
men, and supplies to do much. The loss of the Trekh
Sviatiteli was indeed a formidable hindrance; skin
boatu alone could well be used, and to these the men
had more than one objection, the risks of sea voyages,
and the disadvantages in point of defence, carrying
capacity, and convenience. These objections were
the more serious in view of the greater stubbornness
and hostility of the mainlai d tribes as compared
with the docile Aleuts. Another trouble was that
for several yeard no supply-sliips had arrive! from
Siberia, and the Russian hunters and laborers were
reduced to the necessitj'' of sharing the scanty sub-
sistence of the natives. Dissatisfaction was there-
fore general among the employes, including the na-
tives, and this together with the sight of want among
the conquering rcvce served to rouse the insolence and
hostility of tribes around.

Some of these troubles Baranof managed to over-
come by his own energy and strength of will; for
others he must obtain the cooperation of the com-
pany. Among other measures he urged Shelikof
most eloquently to labor for a consolidation of the
various trading companies, and thereby to secure to
the new corporation the large number of valuable sea-
otter skins then scattered throughout the small ri^al
establishments of the mainland. At the sac "• iiine
lie approved of a suggestion made before his dej>i.ature

BARANOF? LETTERS.

323

to build ships in America, and urged that i)c delay
be allowed in forwarding material to him froL'i Kam-
chatka. He saw the advantage to the company of
exhibiting vessels built in their colony and the neces-
sity of making himself independent of the vessels for-
warded at long and irregular intervals from the
Asiatic ports. This would ensure not only supplies
but the means of cruising down the coast.

Without having seen or met any oc the English or
American traders then operating in the Sitka region
he conceived the plan of obtaining from them not
only provisions but trading goods, and asked Shelikof
for authority to do so; he knew that in the Pribylof
Islands, then recently discovered, he had a treasury
from which he might draw the means to purchase
whatever he wanted of the foreign traders, and that
he would thus be enabled to buy from them with one
class of furs the means of battling with them on their
own ground for the purchase >f sea-otter skins, then
the most valuable fur in the market. This plan of
»:)peration, though ttaiporarily delayed, was finally
adopted and successfully carried out under Baranof's
supervision.

Knowing that his letters in some form would fall
under the eye of the government, Baranof worded his
communications with great care, and with respect to
the well seeming plan to introduce missionaries he
wrote to the directors of the company: " Send me a
well informed priest, one who is of a peaceable dis-
position, not superstitions, and no hypocrite." With
the same view of impressing upon the authorities the
humane disposition of the company's traders, he re-
quested Shelikof to send him numerous articles not
included in the invoices of the firm, but suitable as
gifts to the natives, at the same time explaining that
he wished to conquer the savages with kindness. He
asked to have the articles purchased and forwarded
at liis own expense so that " should he give them all
away, the company would suffer no loss, while, on

li-i

ll«L| .

ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.

i ; "'I

the other hand, any profit made on the consignment
should be transferred to the firm." **

During the autumn and winter of 1791 Baranof
made himself thoroughly acquainted with the wants
and capabilities of his new domain under the intelli-
gent guidance and instruction of Delarof, who returned
to Okhotsk in 1792, and at the same time severed his
connection with colonial matters. The latter took
passage in the ship Sv Mikhail, which ^lad been in the
colonies ever since Shelikof's first arrival, taking with
him Bocharof as navigator, many of the promyshleniki
whose term of contract had expired, and all the furs
collected by him during his adriinistration.

The new manager soon recognized the desirability
of removing the principal settlement of the company
from Three Saints to JPavlovsk harbor, on the north
side of Kadiak, in latitude 57° 3G' according to Cap-
tain Lissianski's observations. The reasons lay partly
iin the better harbor, and chiefly in the abundance of
forests at the latter place, facilitating the erection of
necessary buildings and fortifications.^

In the spring of 1792, however, Baranof was grati-
fied by the appearance of a chief from the northern
side of the peninsula, whom Bocharof during his
voyage of exploration the preceding year, had pre-
sented with a medal bearing the Russian coat of arms.
The savage dignitary, who was at the head of one «»f
the most populous tribes of the peninsula, brouuiit
with him quite a largo following, including six h«>.st-

" • Snch are my plans,' he wrote, ' but their execution tlepemls upon prov-
idence. My first steps into these regions wen; attended witli misfortUD*', Ivjt
pcriiaps I sliall lie T»erniitte<l to conquer in the oud. I will either vancjuish a
cruel tiiiae or fall rmder its repeated blows. Want and hardships I can boar
with patience and trust in provulcnce, especially when the ■a cri lim ia made
for the Bake of true friendship.' Khlfbnikof, Shizn. Boranoea; !•.

" In 1880 only one dilapidated l(j;i-houso and one native senn snbterrancan
hut inarkeil the sit* of the «p.rlieet permanent location of th'- Kussian*, "iiJ
these l)uikiim:» are perched upon the liillside, overlooking the twjid .ipit, tioin
which floods .and tidal wavefc have long siuct^ eradicated all traces of former
occupancy. A representotion of the settlement aa it appeared in 1700 lias
been (ireaerved in Sauer' (Jcog. and Aatmi. Exped., and in yarycUef s de-
i «C:ttKMBne ezptnlition.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE NATIVES.

32S

ages. He absured Baranof that his people desired to
live in friendship with the Russians. In return he
asked the latter to protect him against certain tribes
living farther north in the interior of the country.
As a proof of his sincerity, the chief offered to locate
himself and all his family in the immediate vicinity
of one of the compan3'''s establisliments. The proposi-
tion was evidently the result of fear of his neighbors
rati (ban good feeling toward the Russians, never-
thei . ;t was cheerfully accepted as the !l:'st indica-
tion of the possibility of a better understanding with
the independent natives of the peninsula. An alli-
ance of this kind was especially desirable on account
of the importance at that time placed on the posses-
sion of the portage across the narrow neck of land
separating the waters of Iliamna Lake from the
Koiychak River, and with Russians so few in num-
ber and scattered over so broad a region, peaceable
relations were essential.

Advantage was at once taken of the proposal to
extend operations in this quarter, and other expedi-
tions were also despatched, one under Ismailof in the
only large vessel left to them, the Sr Simeon, chiefly for
seeking new fields.^ Baranof himself proceeded to the
gulf of Chugatschuik, Prince William Sound, with
two well manned bidurs in order to become acquainted
with the inhabitants of that region. Dreading the
Russians and a possible state of dependence, the for-
bidding Chugatsches concealed themselves from Bar-
anof at every point. At last he succeeded in meeting
a few of the tribes and obtained from them seven
hostages. Hereabout he fell in with the sliip Phoenix,
Captain Moore, from the East Indies, and obtained
iiiibrmation on foreign traffic in the Alexander archi-
pelago, which served liim greatly in forming plans for
future operations. He conceived quite a friendship

.mf

■"Baranof wrote concerning Ismailof 'a acliievetncnts thnt 'he went out ti
nialip (liKcovcrios, but iliscovei'cd nothing beyond doubtful indicutiouii of hfid.'
Tiklimtn^', Istor. Obosr., ii. app.,30.

$»

ORGANIZATION OP MONOPOLY.

for the commander, from whom he received as a 'pres-
ent' a native of Bengal.*^

Soon after his meeting with Moore, Baranof pro-
ceeded to Nuchek Island, near the mouth of Copper
River, and encamped within a short distance of the
cove where subsequently the Konstantinovsk redoubt
was built. Finding the supply of fish limited, he
concluded to send a bidar manned by Russians and a
part of the Aleut hunters to Sukli (Montagu) Island
in search of better fishing-grounds, capable of furnish-
ing a winter's supply for his party. On the 20th of
June this expedition set out, and Baranof remained
on Nuchek Island with only sixteen Russians. He
had heard rumors of hostile intentions on the part of
the savages, but placed little faith in them. To avoid
unnecessary risks, however, he intended to remove his
little force to a small island in the bay, on the day fol-
lowing the departure of his exploring party. In the
middle of the night, which was very dark and stormy,
the sentries gave the alarm. Five of the sixteen
men had been placed on guard, but the darkness was
so dense that a numerous body of armed natives had
advanced to within ten paces of the encampment with-
out being seen. In a moment the Russians had seized

*" Baranof "ives an interesting account of this meeting in one of liis letters
to Shelikof: .icing about to establis)i a station for the winter, I fell in with
im English vessel, which had com© from the East Indies, by way of Canton
and Manila to America in the vicinity of Nootka, and from there he had fol-
lowed the coast to Chugatsch, trading with many tribes and collecting a liivise
quantity of furs. He had lost a mast in a gale and replaced it at Chugatsdi
and for that reason he had concluded to return direct to Canton. Tiic uliip,
named the Phanix, was 7o feet long and had two masts. The captain is an
Englisliman, of Irish extraction, named Moore. lie met first with my bidai kn
fleet, and then came to my anchorage, where \w lay fivi; days during stnsa
of weather. I was on board nearly all the time and was entertained at the
captain's table. We conversed a great deal on various subjects, and thouu'li
wi; did not understand each other very well, we managed to make use uf tlio
German language which I had imperfectly learned as a boy, but almost for-
gotten since. The captain made me a present of one [East] Indian, wlio is
my private attt Unt durmg the winter, but in the summer ho serves in the
capacity of an ;i',,i'' seaman. He understands English well and I have t.iiij;lit
him considerable Russuin. I did not make any present in return bcyoiul a
few fox-skins and some himtakan of AU'-ut workmanship and some other trillos.
I also lieard news of Cant. Coxe from him. He died at Canton We were ou
very friendly terms anct Capt. Moore visited me several tlmea uu shore in iny
tent' Tikhinenff, Ijt. Obonr., li., app., 36.

BATTLE AT NUCHEK.

9Sft

their arms and were firing on the savajjes. Accord-
ing to Ba! anof their fire was for a long time without
any visible effect, owing to the wooden armor and
shields and helmets of the savages, which were of
sufficient thickness to stop a bullet fired at some dis-
tance. The movements of the enemy seemed to be
guided by one commander, and by shouting to each
other they preserved unity of action in the darkness.
Their flint and copper-headed arrows and spears fell
thick and fast, wounding several of the Russians and
many of the Aleuts, several of them fatally. The
latter did not even make a show of resistance, but
seemed possessed cf the one idea of escaping by water
in their bidarkas. As the assailants had several large
war-canoes not many of these attempts were success-
ful. One small cannon, a one-and-a-half-pounder fal-
conet, was at last brought into position, and did some
execution, at the same time encouraging the Aleuts
to rally around the Russians in their encampment.
Fortunately Ismailof 's vessel happened to be at anchor
not far off, and a few of those who fled in their canoes
at the beginning of the affray, had in the mean time
reached it, and obtained a bidar full of armed men for
the relief of Baranof The appearance of this boat
caused six large wooden war-canoes to beat a hasty
retreat. One explanation, though not very plausible,
of this unexpected attack was that the Yakutat tribe
of Kaljushes had combined with the Aglegrnutes to
avenge themselves for injuries received at the hands
of the Chugatscl H.>« during the preceding year. Know-
ing that the Sv Sktriecm was anchored four versts away,
and ignorant of Bar»»of's presence, they had mistaken
the Russian encampment for a Chugatsch village and
attacked it m the dark. When the mistake was dis-
covered, the savtgeswen} induced to persevere in their
efforts >v hopes of rich booty, onlv to pay dearly for
the attempt and to retreat det^pl}' demoralized."

WhlLMm^rfM

'*Uaranof wrfl*» »»■ xh^jknf «. ♦> lows- 'We iom>' M kiUwl on thr spot;
the wouuded kfe.;. lN»u caMu-->4 uii, but a woke of blood was visile a ve

to ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.

This affair caused Brranof to change his plans.
Instead of wintering in Prince Wilham Sound aa
had been his intention, he turned to the gulf of Kenai*
by the shortest route. He strengthened his outlying
stations there and hastened the work of fortification
and then proceeded to Kadiak. On his arrival at
Pavlovsk harbor, he found that the ship Orel, that is
Eagle, had arrived from Okhotsk, commanded by the
Englishman Shields, and laden partly with material
for new ships, though by no means of the descrip-
tion most essential for opening operations. Although
despatched in the autumn of 1791, vessels had been
compelled to winter in Kam-^hatka. Shields had
learned the art of ship-building in England, but had
subsequently entered the Russian military service and
obtained the rank of sub-lieutenant."

At the same time came orders to proceed at once
with ship-building. This placed Baranof in an em-

or two behind their canoes. At the very first onset they killed on our
•ide a man named Kotovchikof from Bamaiil, and Paspelof from Tuniensk
died two weeks later. Of the heathen — the Aleuts — 9 were killed and 15
wounded. As for myself, God protected me, though my shirt was torn by a

3 (ear and the arrows fell thickly around me. Being aroused from a deep
eep I had no time to dress, but rushed out as I woe to encourage the men
and to see tliat our only cannon was moved to wherever the danger was
greatest. Great praise is due to the fearless demeanor of my men, many of
■whom were new recruit.". I mention among them Feodor Ostrogin and Zakh-
milin. One of the Chugatsch lnv«tage3 brouglit us lour men who had been cap-
tnred by the Chugatsch ^a. ^>lc. Frof these we learned that our assailants
had expected 10 canoes full of warriors from the Copper River and that they
intended to proceed to the gulf of Kenai after annihilating the Chugatsch
tribe.' Tikhmene/, Istor. OboKr., ii. app. 37-8. Khlebnikol, in his life of Bar-
anof, relates this incident in a somewhat dilFerent manner as to details, and,
strange to say, he cjuotes 8^ his authority a letter from Baranof to Shelikot.
They retreated in canoes while they had arrived in 0. Shizn. Baranom, 16-17.
Yet they carried off 4 captives. Tikhmtnef, Istor. Obos., i. 38-9, 04-0.

"Sh'-likof wrote to Baranof on this occasion: 'We send you now iron,
roft, and sail-cloth for \v)\c ship which, with the assistance of Sliields, you
wil be able to fit out, and if you succeed you may lay the keel for two or
Alte other vessels of various dimensions. You should endeavor to push thcif
WitimitHm far cnou^rh ahead to enable you to complete them without further
MHalMMe uf a shipwrij^ht. Everything you need for this ehuU be sent by
the Bcxt opportunity. You should toach the Americans to pick oakum, make
M|iM, sew at the sails, aud help the blacksmiths.' Id., i. .39-40. Tlie irou
«|)f)cars to have been forgotten. ShicMs liad fonncily served as licutcniint
m a Vekateriiiburg regiment, but as he was both sLip-builder and navigator )iy
profcasion. Shelikof cngagcil him for sen ice in the n..-,v colonies. Tliu lirst
ppnot" of hi!« proliciency in liis business was the packet-boat Orel, which lie
1 at Okhotsk. K/debiiikof, Sfdzn. lirrauova, 18.

HOW iron,
hielilB, ymi
for two (u'
pusli theiv
lOut Jurtlu'V
be Bent l>y
kuni, inaUe
The iiou
lieu ti'Uii lit
avif!atorl)y
■^ 'Vlu; lii'st
:, which he

SHIPBUILDING.

8S9

barrassing position, for he had not yet completed the
transfer of the principal settlement from Three Saints
to Pavlovsk harbor and there was urgent necessity to
erect at once a number of buildings at the latter place,
to shelter both men and stores during the winter. He
was, however, determined to obey, and while pushing
the work at Pavlovsk as much as possible, he lost no
time in selecting a suitable place for ship-building.
On Kadiak and Afognak islands the trees were neither
abundant nor large enough, and it was found neces-
sary to look to some more distant region. During his
recent stay in Prince William Sound he had observed
to the west of it a well protected bay, which seemed
in every way suitable for his undertaking. The place
was called Voskressenski, or Sunday harbor, also
known as Blying Sound, and not only furnished ex-
cellent timber, but a considerable rise and fall of the
tide afforded exceptional facilities for building, launch-
ing, and repairing vessels. Shelikof's orders had been
to send Shields back to Okhotsk after consulting him
concerning the work on hand, but Baranof found it
necessary to detain him in order to obtain serviceable
plans for his vessel. He wrote to Shelikof that his
complement of men capable of doing any work on the
vessel was so exceedingly small that he could not
afford to send away his most valuable assistant, but
would retain him during that and the following season,
lioping in the mean time to receive further shipments
of stores and material.''**

The necessary buildings, quarters for the men, and
storehouses were at once erected at Voskressenski
liurbor, and all tb-it winter the mountains of Kenai
]H^ninsula echoed ihe vigorous blows of axemen and
ili^^ orash of falling trees. Nearly all the planks were
li' w 11 out of the whole log, a wante of time and ma-

■•""We have,' wrote Bjiranof, 'only linlf a kop of tar, three kegs of pitch,
not ii |ioiui(l of oiikuin, not a single nail, and vry little iron for so large a
vi ssct. What little canvas you sent us we have been conijielled to >ise for
hul.uka sails and tent.s, for Hioh'j we had were entirely worn out by long
iis!i-t.' Tikhmi-iicf, htor. <jbuf., ii., app. 39.

" f

hi H*

'! ^'

ORGANIZATION OF MONOPOLY.

terial made necessary by the absence of large saws.
The iron needed iu the construction had been collected
from pieces of wreck in all parts of the colonies, and
though rust-eaten and of poor quality, it was made to
Berve. Steel for axes had to be prepared from the
same material. In his anxiety to puRh the work Bar-
anof even attempted to extract iron from some ore
his men had picKed up. He had seen iron-furnaces
during his life in Siberia, but found himself unable to
obtain the coveted metal by any such rude processes
as he could devise.* For tar he devised a poor mix-
ture of spruce gum and oil. The English ship-buildor
regarded with wonder and contempt the primitive
dock-yard, and without a purveyor possessed of tlio
indomitable determination and activity of Baranof, he
could never have earned the reputation of construct-
ing the first ship on the north-westernmost coast of
America.

To obtain provisions was difficult. The men could
not be allowed to hunt or fish, and no other station
was prepared to furnish supplies. Heavy requisitions
were made upon the yukola, or dried fish, of the na-
tives, entailing want and hardships upon them, while
the ship-builders were reduced to the scantiest allow-
ance to sustain them in their arduous task.

The lack of canvas was another serious incon-
venience. Without a proper suit of sails the first
American ship could never reach the coast of Siberia
or Kamchatka and impress the authorities with the
reality of all the Shelikof Company claimed to have
done in the way of improvements and industrial en-
terprise in the colonics. It is astonishing to wliat
expense and infinite trouble the company was wilhiiif
to go for the sole purpose of effect. A far better
ship could have been built without any serious diili-
culty and at much less cost either in Kamchatka or at
Okhotsk. The problem of sup})lying the necessary

•• Madame Shelikof indicatea that the smelting of iron ore promisnd ^\d\
enough to waiTant the engagement of an experienced man. Letler, in /</.

LAUNCHING OF THE 'PHCENIX.'

S81

canvas was made more difficult by the circumstance
that the native hunters, who had until then been paid
for their season's work with a few beads and glass
corals, refused to accept that currency any longer, and
almost unanimously demanded to be paid in garments
made of canvas.

April 1793 saw the new craft far enough advanced
to make Shields' constant superintendence unneces-
sary. Baranof, who had no great liking for the for-
eigner, seized the opportunity of giving him additional
work by ordering him upon a voyage of discovery in
the Orel. Rumors of the existence of unknown isl-
ands, rich in seals and sea-otters, in various parts of
the new possessions had been afloat for some time.
Baranof never expressed any belief in these reports, but
in Older to get Shields and his four English sailors out
of the way for the summer, he promised the former two
shares of the furs obtained from any island discovered
by him, for two years, and to the sailors twenty sea-
otters each. With grim satisfaction the crafty old
manager noted the fact that the premiums offered
were never earned, and that the Orel was tossed
about by storms and finally reached Voskressenski
harbor in a much damaged condition. In the mean
time the Sv Simeon had arrived with more laborers,
provisions, and tools, and work was resumed with
renewed vigor.

At last in August 1794 the great work was achieved
as the first vessel built in north-western America glided
from the stocks into the waters of the Pacific, under
the name of Phccnix.^ While not so important or dif-
ficult a performance as those of Vasco Nunez and
Cortds, it was one of which Baranof might justly feel
I)roud. He had made the first practical use of the
timber of what was then termed "the vast deserts of

'"No explanation is given by my authorities why Baranof selected this
name, but we may conclude that it was suggested to him by the English
vessel which visited those waters in 1792.

tt- ■(■■■J. • ' '

332

ORGANIZATIOJf OP MONOPOLY.

America," and had used it for a purpose that might
be expected to benefit not only his employers, but his
country.

Most of the men who assisted Shields had seen only
the nondescript vessels of Siberian traders, many of
them half decked, and built usually without an iron
bolt or brace, the planks being lashed together with
raw-hide thongs. The present result was therefore
all the more gratifying, crude as it was. The vessel
was built of spruce timber, and measured 73 feet in
length, the upper deck being 79 feet, with a beam of
23 feet and a depth of 13^ feet. Notwithstanding the
size, the capacity being only about one hundred tons,
it was provided with two decks and three masts, in
order to present an imposing appearance and do credit
to its projectors.^V The calking above the water-line
was done with moss; and for paint, tar and whale-oil
were used."^ The sails consisted of pieces and scraps
of canvas for which the warehouses and magazines of
the company in Kamchatka and in the colonies had
been ransacked. The result was a number of sheets
of diiferent qualities and color, presenting the most
grotesque appearance.'^

By the 4th of September the PJusmx was despatched
upon her first voyage to Kadiak, where Baranof hoped
to improve upon the outfit. On tht! way the flimsy
rigging snapped before the first breeze, and the vessel
entered Pavlovsk not with swelling sails, but towed
by boats. She was also badly ballasted, and presented
on the whole an appearance far from imposing. Nev-

»' Tikhmenef calls it 180 tons. Intor. Oboa., i. 57-8.

'^IJoiled at various times in small quantities the paint waa unequal in
color, giving the hull a strange, spotted appearance. This, liowcver, ex-
tended only a little above the water-line, as they did not have enough even of
such paint to color the whole.

'' 'i'liese sails, some spars, and a quantity of iron work for the new vessel
prepared by mechanics in Kadiak svere transported to the ship-yard early in
April, l)eforc the sea-going vessels had completed their necessai-y I'epairs, .--o
that the conveyance had to bo made in If.rge skin Iwats or bidars, whitli
crept cautiously to Cook Inlet. From here the material was carried ovi r
daugeroua glaciers and mouutaius to Voskressienski hai'bor. JJuiaiio/, Hhizii.,
152.

OTHER SHIPS nUILT.

neqnal in

wevor, cx-

fh even of

ertheless joy reigned in the settlement, and the event
was celebrated by solemn mass and merry feasting.'**

A few weeks were spent in refitting and rigging
the Phoenix, and on the 20th day of April this first-
born of the Alaskan forests set out upon the voyage
to the shores of Asia, commanded by Shields, the
builder. The voyage was made in about a month, a
speed unprecedented in the annals of Russian navi-
gation in the north Pacific. At Okhotsk the Phainix
was received with volleys of artillery, the ringing of
bells, and the celebration of mass. The ghost of the
great Peter is gratified; for in the flesh the monarch
never dreamed of so early and so significant an
achievement resulting from the royal pupilage.

All the servants of the Shelikof Company then
awaiting transportation from this port, and the soldiers
stationed at the ostrog were at once called into requi-
sition to assist in finishing Baranof's wonderful three-
master. She had made her first voyage without cabin
or deck houses, and these were now added, together
with the necessary polishing and painting, and new
sails and rigging. From this time forth until her loss
during a dark stormy November night, in the gulf
of Alaska, the Phccnix made regular trips between
Okhotsk and the colonies. Shelikof and his partners
did not fail to dwell forcibly and pointedly in their
petitions and reports upon the fact that their com-
pany maintained communication between the colonies
and the mother country by means of a "frigate" of
their own construction, built with American timber
and launched in American waters.

This success Baranof followed up by laying the
keels of two other vessels, of smaller size, forty and
thirty-five feet in length respectively, which wore
launched in 1795, and named Delphin and Olga.^'"

'* The leaders tried their teeth on the only ram left of the sheep consign-
ment, and then sought relief from the struggle in copious draughts of cheering
liqiior. Baranof, Shizn., 155-C. Baranof attended the launching, but came
hai;k in a bidarka, as if distrusting Sliields and his work,

" i'iknvienef, Istor. Obos., i. 40.

n. I

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MI-3)

.<;'

.^"^ 4^ J^ ^

1.0

I.I

1.25

■ 50 "^~

2.5

2.2

2.0

1.8

u mil 1.6

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

■^

■ ^

^9)

^.Is

'■«!^

■^

Ua
%

CHAPTER XV.

STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.
1791-1794.

TRB LEBEDEr Ck>MPANT OoCCFIEfl CoOK ImLIT— QUARBEU BBTWXKN THE

Lebedef and Shelikov Companies — Hostilities in Cook Inlet-
Complaints OF KOLOMIH AOAINST KoNOVALOF — WaR UPON RnsSIA.NS

AND Indians Alike— Lipb op tbe MABAUDEBa— Pauipio Attititdk or
Babanop— His Patience Exhadsted — Platiko the Actochat— Ah-

REST op the RiNOLBADERa— EpPBCT ON TBB NATIVES— BaK A NOP's

Speech to uis Hunters — Expedition to Yakdtat — Meeting with
Vancodver — Thb Lebedef Company Circumvented — Troubles witu
Kaljushes— Purtof's Resolute Conduot— ZaIlrof's Expedition.

Like the Spaniards in Central America and Mex-
ico, no sooner had the Russians possession of their
part of America than they fell to fighting amons,'
themselves. In 1786 the Sv Pavl, of the Lebedei-
Lastochkin Company, had come to Kadiak with
thirty-eight men, commanded by Peredovchik Kolo-
min. Jealous of intrusion on their recently acquired
hunting-ground, the Shelikof party gave the new-
comers a hint to move on, and incautiously pointed to
Cook Inlet or the gulf of Kenai as a profitable region.
The result was a permanent establishment in Alaska,
on Kassilof River in that inlet. It consisted of two
log buildings protected by a stockade, and bore tlio
name of St George.*

The Shelikof Company already possessed, near the
entrance of the inlet, a fort named Alexandrovsk,
which had a more pretentious appearance. It forniod

' It was situated on a bluff, and presented to the wondering savages quite
a formidable aspect. JwxntU, Jour., MS., 30.

KONOVALOF'S EXPEDITION.

835

a square with poorly built bastions at two corners,
and displayed the imperial arms over the entrance,
which was protected by two guns. Within were
dwelling ancf store houses, one ot them provided with
a sentry-box on the roof.^ The situation of the other
fort higher up the inlet, near the richer fur region,
gave it the advantage in huating; yet, for a time,
friendly relations continued to exist between the rivals
as well as with the natives.

In August 1791 the ship St George, also belong-
ing to the Lebedef-Lastochkin Company, arrived in
the inlet. The commander of this second expedition
was one Grigor Konovalof, and his advent seems to
have been the signal for strife and disorder. His pro-
ceedings were strange from the beginning; he did not
land at the mouth of the Kassilof Kiver, where Kolo-
juin was already established, but went about twenty
miles farther, to the ICaknu, landed his crew of sixty-
two Russians, discharged his cargo, beached his ves-
sel, and began to erect winter quarters and fortifications
surrounded with a stockade and defended by guns.
This fort waa named St Nicholas." All this time he
neglected to communicate in any manner with the
other party of the same company. Kolomin at last

' Smithy, room for boiling oil, and other conveniences existed. F'dalgo,
ill Viijfs <U Norte, MS.. 358-9. See also Humboldt, Essai Pot., ii. .343.

' 'rikhtncncf, in speaking of this episo<le, commits sonio errors from instiflS-
cinnt auquuiutimco with tho various Idealities. Uo writes of Kassiluf and St
Nicholas as thesame place, while in reality tho latter is thirty miles to tlio north-
>vur(l of the former. In claiming that Konovalof, by erecting fortifications at
Kassilof, or St Nicholas, seinid upon settlements founded by Shelikof in 1785,
Tikhmcnef makes another mistake. Tho only lodgment made by Shclikof on
CiKik Inlet was near its mouth, and was subsequently named Aloxandrovsk.
Fiirlliurmore, •Sholikof waa a partner in Lebcdef-Lastochkin'n enterprise, oa
a^ well as in tho company formed under si>ecml protection of tho govcmtneut
Tikhinenef, f»tor. Obon., i. 30; Juvenal, four., MS , 6 et fcoq. When Vancouver
ancliored off tiie mouth of the Kena'i or Kaknu river in 1704 he was saluted by
two guns from a building on tho high bank, from which also floated tho Russian
fl'ig. A miserable path led up the steep ascent through mosses of filth and
oH'ai. The establisnment occupied a space of about 120 yards square, cu-
cliisud with a stunt paling of pine logs, 12 feet high. Tho largest building,
•3 ) yards long, served as barracks, consisting of one largo room with sleeping,
benches on the sides, divided into stalls. Tlie commander, at that time
Stc'pun Zaikof, lived in a smaller bouse by himself. There were over twenty
other small buildings. The 70-ton slooo belonging to the station, armed
with two guns, was lu a dibpidated condition. Vancouver's Voy., iii. 140-1.

!Jr!H

336

STIUFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

ventured to inquire to what company they belonged.
The answer was brief and insolent, Konovalof claim-
ing that he had been invested with supreme command,
and instructed to seize everything m the hands of
Kolomin, who must henceforth report to him. While
ready to believe that such authority had been con-
ferred/ the latter did not choose to surrender either
his men or his furs; but as his term was about ended,
he prepared to close his affairs and transfer the com-
pany's business to his successor after the winter, iu
the expectation of sailing for Okhotsk in the spring.
While thus engaged, Kolomin's party was surprised
by the arrival of a large bidar sent by Konovalof, and
commanded by Amos Balushin. Without making
any excuse or explanation, Balushin proceeded a shoit
distance up the Kassilof River, to where Kolomin's
winter supply of dried fish was stored, and carrieJ
all away.'

Shortly afterward a party of natives, en route to
St George, were intercepted on the Kaknu by Ko-
novalof s men and robbed of all their effects. This
outrage was repeated on a party from Toyunok, a
village on the upper part of the inlet, no compensa-
tion whatever being tendered for the furs taken.
Being anxious to come to some understanding, Kolo-
min went out to meet his rival, but tlio iriterviow
was brought to an end by Konovalof firing off \ui
pistol, without injury, however, to any one. After
this Kolomin considered the country in a state cf
war, kept constant watch, and posted sentries. Moru-
over, there was fear that the savages, who could not
fail to notice the quarrels between the Russians,
might attack the weaker with a view to capturin,:,''
the furs gathered by Kolomin during his residenco of

• ' I had only twenty-seven men left of my orew, and as wo were waiting to
be called back we thought tliat Konovalof spoke the truti), an.l congratiilati^l
ourselves on liaving n new commander.' Tikhnwnef, htor. Obos., ii. upp. part
ii. 51. The So P<ivl \\w\ l>een sent homo in 1780 with u cargo of his furs, aud
sinoe then nearly 2,000 more skins had been collected.

* A demand tor explauutiou elicited only threats. Id.

ipensa-
aken.
Kolo-

ence o

I waiting to
ngratulati'-'l

lis furs, ^u'l

OUTRAGES AT COOK DTLBT.

337

four years amon^ them. Kono^alof aggravated the
situation by sending men to press some of Kolomin's
kayurs, or native servants, into his own service, and
the former on meeting with objections threatened to
fire on the other partv.' The ease with which this out-
rage was perpetrated encouraged another attack with
a larger force, during which the remaining servants
and the hostages were carried off, so that Kolomin
had to send both for fresh recruits and for provisions.
Even in this effort he met with trouble, tor Lossef,
the faithful lieutenant of Konovalof, dogged his foot-
steps, intercepted most of the levy, and maltreated
the messengers.^

Kolomin had already complained to the Shelikof
Company of this persecution, and as soon as the ice
broke up on the inlet he proceeded to Kadiak, to con-
firm his previous report and urge Baranof to occupy
the whole gulf. He advanced the opinion that, unless
some responsible power interfered at once, all which he
and his men had accomplished toward pacifying the
natives and building up a profitable trade would be
lost. Baranof by no means felt inclined to interfere
between rival agents, particularly since the aggressive
party would evidently not hesitate at sheddmg the
olood even of their own countrymen; not that he
lacked the courage, but he feared to risk his compan v's
interests and meii in fratricidal war, which might also
arouse the natives. Moreover, his patron Shelikof
possessed shares in the other company, and he pre-
ferred to report to him so that the matter might be
settled by the principals. At the same time, how-
ever, he sent a warning to the St Nicholas people that

*The men were actuaUy ordered to fire, but hesitated. Lossef, their
leader, upbraided them, saying: 'It is not your business; we have already
killed four Buasians.' 'Wait until spring,' he exclaimed to Kolomin's party,
'and we will come to your station with fifty men and take away all the host-
ages you have.' Tikhmeii^, Istor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 62-3. A converted
native of Kailiak was robbed of bis young wife and unmercifully l)eaten.

' Three men were deprived of their weapons and placed in the stoclia for
two days. Drushinin, an elder among the hunters, who came to expostulate,
*M put in irons.

Hnx. AiiMXA. aa

lib,'

r;:

lit

,1i

f..t «iv.t|

aft ■ STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

he, as representative of one of the partners in the Le-
bedef Company, could not allow any aggressive meas-
ures that might be prejudicial to trade. This had the
effect of greatlv tempering the feeling of the St Nich-
olas party agamst Kolomm'smenasof theirown com-
pany, but directed their hostility against the rival
company. They declared that the whole territory
bordering upon the gulf of Kenai belonged exclusively
to the Lebedef Company, ignoring all previous arrange-
ments between their acknowledged head and Shelikof.
They certainly controlled nearly all the trade, and to
this end tbey had erected another station higher up
the inlet, on the western shore, and placed there a
score of Russians."

Kobbery and brutal outrages continued to be the
order of the day, though now committed chiefly for
the purpose of obtaining sole control of the inlet, to
the neglect of legitimate pursuits. Meanwhile Kolo-
min's men managed to hold their own, and, as the per-
secution of the Konovalof party gradually relaxed,
their sympathies actually turned toward the latter in
their effort to oust the Shelikof men from the field.

Thus the history of Cook Inlet during the last dec-
ade of the eighteenth century is replete with romantic
incidents — midnight raids, ambuscades, and open war-
fare — resembling the doings of medisBval rauhntters,
rather than the exploits of peaceable traders. The
leaders lived in rude comfort at the fortified stations,
surrounded by a dusky harem containing contributions
from the various native villages within the peredovt-
chik's jurisdiction. Offences against the dignity of
the latter were punished quickly and effectually with
the lash or confinement in irons or the stocks, if the
offender had not too mt my friends among the Russian
promyshleniki, and with extreme severity, verging
upon cruelty, in cases Adhere the culprit belonged to the

* It coniiited of one Iwgo hooss Mbont 60 feet long and 24 feet wide. Ya^
«out«r'« Voy., ill. 122.

, 'Shi
'»<l the!
enterpr
M)mnaii
'"Va

LEBEDEF AND SHELIEOF.

S9)

unfortunate class of kavurs. The Russians did little
work beyond the regular guard duty, and even that
was sometimes left to trusted individuals among the
native workmen and hangers-on of the station.

All manual labor was performed by natives, espe-
cially by the female 'hostages,' and children of chiefs
from distant villages left at the stations by their
parents to be instructed in Russian life and manners.
The training which they were forced to undergo, far
from exercismg any civilizing influence, resulted only
in making them deceitful, cunning, and more vicious
than they had been before. Every Russian there was
a monarch, who if he wanted ease took it, or if spoils,
the word was given to prepare for an expedition. Then
food was prepared by the servants, and the boats made
ready, while the masters attended to their arms and
equipments. The women and children were intrusted
to the care of a few superannuated hunters left to guard
the station, and the brave little band would set out
upon its depredations, caring little whether they were
Indians or Russians who should become their victims.
The strangest part of it all was, that the booty secured
was duly accounted for among the earnings of the
company."

Affairs were assuming a serious aspect. Not only
were the Shelikof men excluded from the greater part
of the inlet, but they were opposed in their advance
round Prince William Sound, which was also claimed
by the Lebedef faction, though the Orekhof and other
companies were hunting there. The station which
the Lebedef men made their base of operations was
situated on Nuchek Island, at Port Etches, and con-
sisted of the usual stockade, enclosing dwelling and
store bouses.*" In support of his claims, Konovalof

* Shelikof, who held sharet in both hiaownand the Lebedef Company,
had the advantage of not only recovering what he lost by these plundering
snterpriaes, but receiving his proportionate share of the losses in tho Sheliktn
Company.

'"Vancouver, Voy., iii. 172, found one side of it formed by an armed
vessel of 70 tons, hauled on shore.

rMO

STRIFE BETWEEN BIVAL OOMPANIES.

declared that he possessed government credentials
granting to his company exclusive right to all the

■ mainland region. Yet he refused to exhibit even
copies of such documents. Finding the Sbelikof
men disposed to yield, the others began to en-
croach also on the limited district round the Shelikof
settlement, near the entrance to Cook Inlet, by erect-
ing a post on Kuchekmak Bay, and the natives were

• forbidden, under pain of death, from trading with
their rivals. From this post they watched the movc-

r ments of the Shelikof men with a view to circumvent
them. Forty bidarkas under Kotelnikof were inter-
cepted, and although a number escaped, a portion of
the crew, including the leader, was captured. An-
other party under Galaktianof, on the way from Prince
William Sound, was chased by a large force, and efforts
were made to attack Baranof himself. It was not
proposed to keep the Russians prisoners, but merely
to seize the furs and enslave all natives employed by
Shelikof in the interdicted region. Fortunately Bar-
anof had left the sound before the raiders arrived,
and they passed on to the eastern shore, there to en-
croach on the trade established with the Yakutat
Kaljushes by the Shelikof men, who held hostages
from three of the villages. Not long after came Ba-
lushin with a stronger force; and one day, when the
chief of one of the villages had set out upon a hunt
with nearly all the grown males, the Russians entered
it and carried off the women and children to a neigh-
boring island." They also mode inroads on the north-
ern part of the Alaskan peninsula which had h<ion
brought into friendly relations through Bocharof.
Out of four friendly villages in Ilyamna and Nusha-
gak, they plundered two and carried the people into
captivity.

Their success was due partly to the personal bravery

^' Balnshin had destroyed the coat-of-arma bestowed npon the chief by
order of the governor-general of Irkutsk, telling him that it was but a child '<
toy. Tikhmen^, Ixtor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 43.

BARAN0F8 POLICY.

S4I^'

ials
tbc
!veu
likof

eu-
Ukof
irect-
werc

with
novo-
uvcnt
inter-
ion of
An-
Prince
efforts
/as not
merely

.yed l>y
jly Bar-
arrived,
e to en-
takutat
ostages
me Ba-
hen tlie
n a bunt
entered
a neigb-
e north-
ad b<3on
ocharof.
ii:Nuslia-
oplc into

il bravery

the chief by
laa but ft child'

And superior dash of the men. Baranof freely ac-
knowledged in later years that, individually, the pro^
myshleniki of the Lebedef Company were superior
to those under his command at the beginning of his
administration; and according to Berg, he ventured to
assert that, had he commanded such men as Lebe-
defs vessels brought to the shores of Cook Inlet and ■
Prince William Sound, he would have conquered tlie
whole north-western coast of America.

Toward the end of 1793 Baranof had received a
small reenforcement with the Orel, so that after
deducting the loss by drowning and other casualties,
one hundred and fifty-two men were left to him. The .
number of the Lebedef men is not recorded, but it-
cannot have been much inferior, for reenforcements
had come in the Sv Ivan. The latter occupied an
admirable strategic position, with control of two great
navigable estuaries and other places offering easy
communication and access to supplies. They were
also better provided with goods and ship-stores than
Shelikof 's company."

It was not so much these advantages of his assail-
ants, however, that kept Baranof from energetic
measures against them, but rather a consideration for
the different interests of his patron, and for the lives'
of his countrymen. He was awaiting an answer to his
reports from Siberia. This forbearance served only'
to encourage the other party, as we have seen, till at:
last Baranofs patience was exhausted. With the
report of a fray between the rival posts on the inlet-
came the rumor that the ship-yard at Voskressenski-
Harbor was to be taken, and this appeared probable
froui the special animosity shown to the Englishmen
there engaged. When not absolutely needed at the
yard, they were sent to explore; and on several of

" Baranof reported, late in 1793, that he owed many bales of rope and four
pouda of tobacco to the Lebedef Company, but, in view of the depredations
committed by men belonging to the latter, lie * did not intend to return the
foods until some ootiou was taken upon his complaints to tlie authorities at
Okhotsk.*

* 'S.

STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

these occafiiona they had been set upon, robbed, and
ill-treated, sometimes narrowly escaping with their
lives."

Baranof now hastened to the spot, and observing
the need for interference, assumed the peremptory
tone of one invested with authority. He sent a let-
ter to Konovalof, then at his stockade at St Nicholas
on the Kaknu River, with a summons to appear at
once before him, stating that he had been authorized
by the governor of Siberia to settle all disputes be-
tween rival traders. He expected soon to be invested
with such powers, in answer to the urgent petitions
of Shelikof and his partners, and thought that he
might exercise the privilege in advance. This had
its effect. Without suspecting that the order had
no more foundation than his own boasted rights to
possession, the conscience-stricken man hastened to
obey what was supposed to be an official summons.
He appeared before Baranof and offered apologies for
his conduct, but the latter would listen to no expla-
nation; he placed him in irons, and kept him under
dose guarcl until Ismailof arrived with his vessels,
when not only the ringleader but seven of his com-
panions who had also tendered their submission were
taken to Kadiak and placed in confinement.

Finally Konovalof was made to answer at Okhotsk,
but before a lenient committee, so that he readily
managed to clear himself, and was restored to a com-
mand in Alaska. Meanwhile Stepan Zaikof had
succeeded him as chief at St Nicholas. Kolomin still
held his command and Balushin controlled the estab-
lishment on Nuchek.^*

** The prevailing starvation at the ship-yard was chiefly due t^ the inter-
ference of the Lebedef men with supplies.

"One reason for this clemency appears in a letter addressed by Lebedef
MidShelikof jointly, to the archimandrite loossof, requesting him to investigate
the charges against Konovalof and others, yet expressing the hope thut tiie
accused will not be found * too guilty to be allowed to work off, iii one com-
pany or the other, their indebtedness to their employers, and thus enve
the shareholders from loss.' If, however, Konovalof should be found too
deeply invohed to admit of his further employment, he was ' to be set »t

FALL OP LEBEDEP.

343

While Baranof's firmness served to check the per-
petration of extreme abuses, a certain hostility contin-
ued to be exhibited for some time. The evil was too
deeply rooted to be eradicated all at once, but har-
mony was gradually restored, partly through the in-
fluential mediation of Archimamlrite loassoT, who ar-
rived soon after as loader of a missionary party. At
the same time came a large reenforcement for Baranof,
with authority to form settlements in any part of
Alaska, and right to claim the country for five hun-
dred versts round such settlements, within which
limits no other company could set foot. Against such
power the Lebedef faction could not possibly prevail,
particularly since Shelikof positively mstructed Bar-
anof to use both force and cunning to remove the ri-
vals. Reverses also overtook them, and a few years
later they abandoned the field."

It was indeed time that Baranof should assert him-
self, for the insolence and outrages of the aggressors
had created general discontent among the tribes.
Those of Lake Skilakh were actually plotting the de-
struction of all Russians on the Kenai peninsula, and
to this end they endeavored to bridge over the old
feud between them and the Chugatsches of Prince
William Sound; receiving also encouragement from
the treacherous tribes on the other side of the inlet,
from Katma'i northward, who had successfully op-
posed all attempts to form Russian settlements in
their midst. The measures now taken by Baranof
to maintain better order and reassure the natives, as
well as the coup de main with Konovalof, which added

liberty to shift for himself.' Id., ii. app. part ii. 67-8. loassof, indeed, did
nut report him to be so bad as Baranof desired. Amoug the accused wasSte-
pn Kosmovicli Za'ikof, a brother of Potap Zalkof, a man of considerable abil-
ity and knowle<lge. Ivan Koch, commander of Okhotsk, in a letter up-
braids iiis dear friend Stepan Kuzmitch, and threatens him with the severest
punishment if found guilty.

■^ ■ You must declare iu your reports,' wrote Shelikof, ' that the outrages
upon the Kenaltze were of the most disgraceful character, but that it is in
your power to plant your settlements wherever you please, even on the golf
of Kenai.' Id., 09.

■r'

Hi STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL (JOMPANIES.

not a little to advance his influence, served to check
the threatened uprising. His asserti ii of authority
was equally necessary among his own suhordinutcs,
whose loyalty had been corrupted by the insinuations
of emissaries from the other camp, and whose tv-
spect for their chief had begun to wane under his
forbearance toward the rivals, whereby numerous
hardships were entailed upon them through loss of
trade and curtailment of rations." He assembled
the men, represented to them the obligations to
which they had voluntarily subscribed when engaged,
and showed the evil they were inflicting also on them-
selves by discontent, want of harmony, and refusal to
do the required work. He had full power to arrest
those who refused implicit obedience, and he would
use that power. Those who had complaints should
present them, and he would seek to redress their
wrongs." This firm speech, together with a liberal
distribution of liquor, hp a wonderful effect, and thus
by means of a little determined self-assertion Baranof
established for himself an undisputed authority, with
a reputation as a leader of men.'^

The party war ended, Baranof breathed freely once
more, and 1794 witnessed a decided impulse to his dif-
ferent enterprises. The most notable of these was the
one intrusted to Purtof and Kulikatof for operatin<,'
in Yakutat Bay, of which a preceding visit had brought
most encouraging reports." Preparations were made

''They appear to have received lew compensation than the other com-
pany emploj'cca. Of the latter, Fidalgo reports: 'Sus aueldos llegaban los
mayores 4 caatro pesos: aue los jefes subalternos gozaban 500 al anc' ISiit
he eviilentlv ignores the snare systecn. For each employee the company i)ai>l
a tribute of two dollars a year. Salida, etc., in Viajes id Norte, MS., .309.

"This characteristic address is given in full in J'ikhmeni/, /xtor. Ohon., ii.
app. part ii. 47-0. It contains several allusions to historic anecdotcii on
the value of unity, and dwells on the absurd pretensions to better comfuiU
by men who at home in Siberia were content to live as pigs.

" .Some time before this he ha<l interfered between rival traders of tlie
companies Orckhof, Panof, and Kisselef, located on Prince William iSouii'1,
and after patching up a temporary peace between them he had seized tlio
greater part of their furs, under the pretext of taking them to Kadiak fur taio
keening.

"Tdchmenef refers confusedly to an expedition in 1793 of 170 bidarkos,

P-

esciirtoJ
i. 40-1 \

YAKUTAT EXPEDITION.

»48

on a large scalo. The station on Cook Inlet Iiad
been appointed as a rendezvous, and on tlie 7th of
May a fleet of five hundred bidarkau asseinbli ; thcce,
bringing natives from Kadiak, Kena'i, the ^^ iaskan

Keninsula, and the nearest Chugatsch vilb^'is. More
oats and men were to be collected at P iCo \Villiar>\
Sound, where Baranof had gone in person t«- levy
force . All these wore ar^'anged in sub livi;iion3,
each in charge cf a Russian.

At Voskrossenski Bay the Yakutat expeditio.* was
furnished with additional trading goods and some guns
and ammunition. After being delayed at Grekof
Island till the 22d of May,Purtof set out with his whole
fleet for the mouth of Copper River, intending to pass
by Nuchek Island, where the Lebedef Company was
then established. At the eastern point of Montague
Island they were intercepted by some Lebedof hunt-
ers in bidarkas, who presented a letter froni Balu-
shin and Kolomin. This document warned Purtof
not to encroach upon any territory already occupied
by the other company. The messengers were in-
structed to add, that they had established an artel of
twenty Russians at Tatitliatzk village on the gulf of
Chugatsch, and also at the mouth of Copper River, and
that the Shelikof hunters must not advance in that
direction. Without allowing himself to bo intimidated,
Purtof informed the messengers that he was on his
way to the American continent in pursuance of secret
orders from the government. Ii. hunting sea-otters
he would not touch upon any ground occupied by
others.

The following evening, while preparing to camp for
the night on a small island adjoining Nuchek, ho dis-
covered a party of eight Lebedef hunters near by and
invited them to supper, after which the time passed
in friendly exchange of news. Early in the morning,
however, before the Lebedef men were stirring, Pur-

escdrtod by Shields, which brought back 2,000 sea-otter skins. Islor. Obot.,
i. 4l)-l.

\^:

346

STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

tof moved silently away with his force and made a
quick passage to the second mouth of Copper River,
and there fell in with Chugatsches who had oeen trad-
ing with the Lebedef men at Nuchek. Finding that
no station or regular hunting party of the Lebedef
Company existed here, he took his party to Kaniak
Island, near the river, purposing to lay in a supply of
halibut as provisions, and to hunt sea-otters. Over a
hundred skins were obtained the first day, but the
second day's hunt proved entirely futile and the expedi-
tion moved northward along the coast of the mainland.'*'
On the 31st of May the whole party encamped on
the beach, and within a short distance of a large Agleg-
mute village, though without being aware of the fact.
During the night some of the hunters became alarmed
at the sound of numerous voices proceeding from the
woods. An armed detachment composed of the most
courageous ventured to penetrate into the forest, and,
guided by the smell of smoke and the cries of children,
made their way to the village, which was situated on
the opposite side of a river. During the confusion
occasioned by their unexpected arrival, they succeeded
in capturing the chief and his brother, and then made
good their retreat to the camp. One of their number,
however, a Kadiak interpreter, was intercepted and
killed by the natives. The chief and his brother were
taken to the camp, treated to food and drink, and piled
with presents, until they promised to call together
their people the following day to negotiate with the
Russians, The brother was commissioned to arrange
the matter, and by the 3d of June all of the Aglogrnute
tribe dwelling in that vicinity came to the camp.
With the help of a judicious distribution of presents,
Purtof succeeded in prevailing upon the savages to

five seven hostages, including two natives of Yakutat
I

*" During a brief halt on the beach a native hut was discovered, but the
inhabitants had fled, leaving all their effects. A little food was taken by the
Aleuts, in return for which Purtof deposited some coral beads.

" lu aooordance with orders from the govemuieut, the savages were qucs*

DEALINGS WITH THE NATIVES.

As soon as the weather permitted, Purtof pro-
ceeded to Icy Bay, called Natchik by the natives,
and by the 10th of June his hunters had secured
four hundred sea-otter skins, all that could be ob-
tained. The party then moved on to Yakutat Bay,
accompanied by the Aglegmute chief of the tribe,
and a Kadiak native who spoke the Kaljush lan-
guage. These two were sent in advance to assure
the people of the peaceful character of the expedi-
tion.** The chief soon returned from the Yakutat
village with the son of the Kaljush chieftain and
three others as hostages, profusely ornamented with
beads, furs, and feathers. The interpreter had been
detained as hostage on the other side, but it was
found necessary to surrender also a Russian ere con-
fidence could be established. Accompanied by fif-
teen of his best warriors, the Kaljush chief then pro-
ceeded in state to the camp, and after the usual
ceremonies negotiations began in earnest. Purtof
declared that the Russians desired to live in friend-
ship with them, and the chief, who probably had
been plied with strong drink, made a formal present
to his new allies of the southern portion of the bay
and the small islands situated therem. The feelings of
the latter underwent a change, however, when he
came to reflect on the advantage gained by his visitors,
and found that they also hunted on their own account,
venturing far out to sea where the clumsier canoes of
the Kaljuah dared not follow. He and his followers
A^'ere ready to trade, but they objected to see their
stock of fur seals exhausted by strangers without any
benefit to themselves. **

tir -icd whether they or any of the neighboring tribes held in their poss'^ssion
any European prisoners, but this they positively denied. It was thou^^ht that
some of La P<Srouse's men might liave escaped drowning only to fall mto the
hands of the savage inhabitants of the vicinity.

" At the southern point of Yakutat Bay a hunt wa8 organized, but only
ten sea-otters could bo found. In making a landing through the surf, two
natives of Kadiak wore drowned.

^ Tho chief made a long speech before Lieutenant Puget, which he under-
stood to convey this meaning. Vancouver's Voy., ii. 234.

I !

m ^

iff"

848

STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

III

Trouble appeared, indeed, to be brewing, but the
arrival of the Chatham of Vancouver's expedition,
under Lieutenant Puget, served to prevent any dis-
turbance. Purtof maintained a most friendly inter-
course with the English, to vi^hom he also tendered
provisions, and received in acknowledgment letters
of commendation. Through some of the sailors it
was understood that English war-vessels might appear
within two years to take possession of Cook Inlet and
other places, and, unworthy of credit as this report
was, it failed not to be transmitted to the government
by the somewhat agitated fur traders. Vancouver
himself held a much higher opinion, both of their
territorial rights and control of trade, than a clearer
view of affairs might have conveyed, for he was
ignorant of their dissensions, and regarded all as
united in one common interest; while the sight of
the large native fleets controlled by Purtof must
have exalted the idea of their influence and of their
ability to distance competitors. The departure of
Vancouver's expedition was no doubt a great relief to
Baranof at least, who appears to have been afraid of
his coming across the English shipwrights, and luring
them away** ere he could dispense with their ser-

vices.

While the Chatham remained, Purtof 's command
occupied a position near the anchorage. Other par-
ties of natives arrived from the interior of the bay
and from Ltua, giving occasion for further feasting,
presents, and exchange of hostages. The large num-
oer of guns, and the abundance of lead and powder in
the possession of these new arrivals, pointed to visits
from European trading vessels, and at this very time
the Jctc'Z;a^/, Captain Brown, entered the bay in quest
of i'urs, to the deep chagrin of Purtof.

" The letters given to Purtof were CTcn suspected fur a while to bo docU'
tnents iutunded to support English claims. See letter of Mmo Sliulikuf, in
Tikhmeupf, Intor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 108 et seq.

** Of this fear Vancouver knew nothing, for tlie Russians leaders were
profuse iu ofTera of services, even to the use of the ship-yard.

land
par-
bay
sting,
nuni-
er in
visits
time
quest

PllESENGE OF ENGLISHMEN.

349

As soon as the war-vessel departed, the treacherous
Kaljushes assumed a threatening attitude, and delayed
from day to day the promised dehvery of additional
hostages under various pretexts. At the same time
the interpreters left with the savages at the beginnin^j
of the negotiations were held under strict surveill-
ance, and not allowed to communicate with their
countrymen. At last Purtof decided upon a display
of force to support his demands for the surrender of
his own men at least, and approached the village in
bidarkas with all the armed men at his command.
The squadron was reenforced by a boat with six armed
men from the Jackall.^

The presence of the Englishmen had no doubt an
effect, for the interview resulted in the surrender of a
chief from Afognak Island, with a promise to deliver
up the remaining hostages.

On the following day came eight men in a large
bidar, bringing three more natives of Kadiak, but two
were still detained. Fearing that foul play was
intended, Purtof detained some relatives of the Yaku-
tat chief, and carried the hostages whom he held from
the Aglegmutes on board the Jackall for safe keep-
ing. This reprisal proved effectual; the necessary
exchange of hostages was made, and, after expressing
his thanks to Captain Brown, Purtof took his party
out of the bay of Yakutat with five hundred and fif-
teen sea-otter skins obtained in a little over two
weeks.

On the return voyage, while the expeditionary force
was encamped on an island nea'^ Nuchek,'*' Purtof
despatched a letter to Repin, of the Lebedcf Com-
pany, informing him that he had explored the coast
of the continent and pacified the natives of several
villages by exchanging hostages. He offered to verify

"Captftin Erown's statement, as given by Vancouver, would make it
appehr that ^ rtof asked for assistance, but the latter states that the English
joined of t). own accord, ' though we tried to dissuade them from doing
this, and did not require thtir assistance.' This was on July 1st.

'' Purtof persisted in calling this island Aglitzkoi, that ia to say, English.

■ .1

1 , , ■T'.

iW ?t

350

STRIFE BETWEEN RIVAL COMPANIES.

iP5;:

this statement, and on the appearance of Samoilof, the
navigator of the Lebedef Company, allowed him to talk
freely with the interpreters, and to copy a list of the
villages and chiefs from whom he had obtained host-
ages. This would seem to be a strange proceeding
in view of tjie hostility between the two parties, but
it was of the greatest importance for the Shelikof
Company, at that juncture, to make good their claim of
precedence on the continent, in view of the impending
grant of exclusive imperial privileges.

The success of Purtof, who brought with him a
promise from the Thlinkeet chief of a large supply of
sea-otter skins for the next visit, resulted in the de-
spatch of another expedition the following year, under
Zaikof, who commanded a sea-going vessel.** The
chief failed to fulfil his promise, and the Russians had
to content themselves with the sea-otters captured by
their native hunters on the bay. Four hundred skins
were secured, and the hunters prepared to follow up
their success, regardless of the manifest ill-feeling of the
bay people, which threatened to become more bitter
than during the former visit. What the result may
have been is diflBcult to say, for just then two Aleuts
were seized with small-pox, and panic-stricken the
party hastened away.* Zaikof now steered in search
of islands reported to exist between Kadiak and the
continent to the east. He ranged for over a month
to the southward and again to the north, until, sight-
ing the snow-clad peaks of the Chugatsch alps and the
Kenai mountains, he was forced to admit the futility
of his quest.

** Seyenteen Rnsauuu, besides natives, accompanied him.

**!« Pdrouse noticed signs of the disease among the coast tribes, and
Portlock assumes that they mnst have caught it from some vessel which h&d
touched near Cape Edgecombe. No person younger thsm 14 years bore the
marks. PorOoeVa Fby., 272; Manhand, Foy.,iL62-3.

CHAPTER XVI.

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
1794-1796.

MbOHANICS Ain> MiSSIONABIES AbBITB at PaVLOVSK — AMBITIOrS SCHXUIS

OF Colonization — Aobioultdral Settlement Founded on Yakdtat
Bat — SaiPWBBCK, Famine, and Sickness— Oolotnin's Report on thi
Aftairs of the Sheukof Coupant — Discontent of the Mission-
ABIES — Complaints of the Archimandrite— Fatheb Makab in Una-

LASKA— FaTHEB JuVENAL IN KaDIAK — DiTINE SERVICE AT ThBEB

Saints— Juvenal's Votaoe to Iltamna— His Reception and Mission-
ary Labobs — He Attempts to Abolish Poltoamt— And Falls a
VioriM to an Iltamna Damsel— He is Butohebed bt the Natives.

Notwithstanding the quarrels between rival trad-
ing companies and occasional emeutes among the na-
tives, caused in almost every instance by the greed of
"' :> Bussians, colonization in Alaska had thus far been
attended with fair success. The Russian seal-hunters
had sr£fered no such hardships as did the Spanish
settlers in Central America, the early colonists of
New England, or the convict band that ten years after
Captain Cook sailed from Nootka in quest of a north-
east passage to Hudson's Bay founded on Port Jack-
son the first city in Australasia. Apart from the seal
fisheries, however, the resources of the country were as
yet undeveloped. On the island of Kadiak was raised
a scant crop of vegetables; at Voskressenski, as we
have seen, was built the first vessel ever launched into
the waters of the North Pacific; but throughout the
settlements was felt a sore need of skilled labor, and
in some of them, as Shelikof would have us believe,
of missionaries to educate the natives and instruct

(381)

•I

352

CX)LONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

them in the true faith. Application was therefore
made for clergymen and for exiles trained to handi-
craft.^ The request was granted, and in August 1794
the Irekh Sviatiteli and the Ekaterina, two of the
Shelikof Company's vessels,* arrived at Pavlovsk with
provisions, stores, implements, seeds, cattle, and a hun-
dred and ninety-two persons on board, among whom
were fifty-two craftsmen and agriculturists, and eigh-
teen clergymen and lay servitors in charge of the
archimandrite loassaf.^ " I present you," writes Sheli-
kof to Baranof, "with some guests who have been se-
lected by order of the empress to spread the word
of God in America. I know that you will feel aa
great a satisfaction as I do that the country where I
labored before you, and where you are laboring now
for the glory of our country, sees in the arrival of
these guests a hopeful prophecy of future prosperity."
Shelikof's merits as teacher and pastor have already
been related;* the treatment which the missionaries
received from his dram-drinking colleague will be
mentioned later. Priests were not wanted among the
promyshleniki, and if they sojourned in their midst
must earn their daily bread as did the rest of the
community. They might serve, however, to bring
into more thorough subjection the docile Aleuts.

By the Ekatenna, Baranof received a lengthy coid-
munication from Shelikof and from Polevoi Golikof s
representative, relating to the establishment of an ag-
ricultural colony near Cape St Elias on Yakutat Bay.
The instructions on this matter were to take the place

:::

'Shelikof ana Qolikof requested that clerc^en be appointed for mis-
. sionarv work in the Aleutian Islands and onered to defray all expenses.
By oukaz of June 30, 1793, Catherine II. ordered the petition cranted. At
' the same time Shelikof asked the governor of Irkutsk to use uia influence
with the crown to procure the despatch of a certain number of exiles, skilled
as blacksmiths, locKsiniths, and foundrymen, and of ten families trained to
agriculture. The request was granted by oukaz cf December 31, 1793.
TikhtMiuf, lator. Obos., i. 42-3.

*Both built at Okhotsk. The former, though only 63 feet in length, boi
on board 260 tons of cargo, besides 120 casks of water.
'There were also 121 hunters, 4 clerks, and 5 Aleuts.
♦This voL, p. 227.

^LAKS FOR A TOWN.

of all that had previously been sent." Accompanying
them was a document touching only on the private
affairs of the company. Thanking Baranof for his
exhaustive reports, Shelikof concludes: "And now it
only remains for us to hope that, having selected on
the mainland a suitable place, you will lay out the set-
tlement with some taste, and with due regard for
beauty of construction, in order that when visits are
made by foreign ships, as can not fail to happen, it
may appear more like a town than a village, and that
the Russians in America may live in a neat and or-
derly way, and not, as in Okhotsk, in squalor and misery
caused by the absence of nearly everything necessary
to civilization. Use taste as well as practical judg-
ment in locating the settlement. Look to beauty as
well as to convenience of material and supplies. On
the plans as well as in reality leave room for spacious
squares for public assemblies. Make the streets not
too long, but wide, and let them radiate from the
squares. If the site is wooded, let trees enough stand
to line the streets and to fill the gardens, in order
to beautify the place and preserve a healthy atmos-
phere. Build the houses along the streets, but at
some distance from each other, in order to increase the
extent of the town. The roofs should be of equal
height, and the architecture as uniform as possible.
The gardens should be of equal size, and provided with
good fences along the streets. Thanks be to God
that you will at least have no lack of timber. Make
the plan as full as possible, and add views of the sur-

'The letter was dated from Okhotsk on the 0th of August, 1794. Orders
ha<l been received from the governor of Irkutsk that the agriculturists, in-
cluding ten families, should be forwarded to the spot near Cape St Elius
where Shelikof had promised to establisli the first agricultural settlement on
the north-west coast of America; but it was claimed that a clause in the in-
structions permitted the site of this colouy to be changol, if a more 8uital)lo
location could be found, and finally the exiled agricultiirists were scattered
throughout the settlement and employed in various kinds of labor. Most uf
tlie exiles of whatever occupation arrived in the Catherine after much delay,
caused by a stay at Unalaska, and by a violent gale in Akutan Pass, during
wiiich several head of cattle were lost. Khlebnikof, Shitii. Barnnovd, 24-5,
itates tiiat the remainder of the live-stock reached Kadiak in safety.
HiR. AiiiUEA. 33

r:i: ''

J^^ ^ — ^

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

roundings. Your work will bo viewed and discussed
at the imperial court." In another part of this letter
Baranof is reproached for exchanging visits with cap-
tains of English vessels, and warned that he might be
carried off to Nootka or California, or some other des-
olate place.

The latter portion of this epistle appears to have
been written for the purpose of deceiving the empress,
to whom the plans of the proposed settlement were to
be shown, though we cannot but admire the compre-
hensive scope of Shelikof's imagination when he thus
conceives the idea of building a well ordered city in
the American wilderness. Although such an under-
taking would require all the means and men at the dis-
Eosal of the Shelikof-Golikof Company, he was engaged,
esides other ventures, in forming a second association
under the name of the North American Company, for
the purpose of making permanent settlements on the
mainland, and in building ships for yet a third enterprise
of which he was the leading man — the Predtecha
Company, then holding temporary possession of the
Pribylof Islands, but left without means of carrying
away their seal-skins by the loss of their only vessel.
The estimated complement for the North American
Company was a hundred and twenty men, of whom
seventy were despatched in July 1794, and about
thirty in 1795. Its main object was to aid in sup-
planting foreigners in the trade with the natives, to
extend this traffic from Unalaska to the Arctic Ocean,
and to enter into commercial intercourse with the
people living on the American coast, opposite Cape
Tehcukotsk. Moreover, Shelikof cherished in secret
the hope of making some new discovery on the Amer-
ican continent, leading to the long-sought-for passage
into Baffin's Bay.

As soon as Shelikof had despatched his vessels from
Okhotsk, he returned in 1794 to Irkutsk for the pur-
pose of organizing there a central office for the man-
agement of his many enterprises, thus preparing for the

SHELIKOF'S PROJECTS.

356

led

ter

ap-

ibe

ies-

future consolidation of all the Russian companies in
America. This was the inception of the great Russian
American Company, which was to be fully organized
only after its originator's death. Meanwhile Baranof
could do, and knew that he was expected to do, but
little toward carrying out his superior's brilliant
schemes of colonization. On all the principal islands
of the Aleutian group, and at some pomts on the main-
land, the best locations for agriculture and cattle-rais-
ing had been selected and fortified several years before ;
additional hunting grounds and a few harbors had also
been chosen, and sites marked out at the mouths of
rivers for trading posts with the natives. But the
time was not yet ripe for establishing new settlements,
and meanwhile in accordance with private instructions
Shelikof kept the exiles busily employed, some of them
at Kadiak, and the mechanics probably at Voskres-
senski, where, it will be remembered, the Delphin and
Olga were launched in 1795.*

The Trekh Sviatitelei had arrived a few weeks before
these vessels were completed, after a two years' voy-
age from Kamchatka, with her cargo of stores and
provisions in good order and intact — a rare occurrence
ill the early history of the Russian colonies. Several
days were now devoted to feasting and rejoicing, in
which traders, priests, and servants alike participated.
The colonists were, however, no longer in fear of want,
for experiments made in the planting of several kinds
of vegetables and occasionally of cereals had been
fairly successful, and, though they possessed few im-
plements, they had seed in abundance for either pur-
pose.^ Thus, with a never failing supply of fish, an
abundance of food was, as they thought, assured,

'Four of the exiled families selected for the company were detained by
Shelikof at Okhotsk, to serve as a nucleus for a proposed settlement on one
of the Kurile Islands.

' Father Simeon and one of the lay brothers of the mission, named Philip,
mado some experiments in sowing; turnips and potatoes which succeeded well.
Tlie archimandrite mentions a man named Saposhnikof, who planted a pound
of barley in a sheltered nook and harvested 60 pounds. Tikkmenef, Istor.
Obos., ii. app. part ii. 102. With this exception, nothing appears to have

fi it

3se

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

In December of this year Baranof set forth on a
journey round Kadiak, his purpose being to make
arrangements for t- ^ hunting season, and to ascertain
the population of the island, which was found to con-
sist of 6,206 persons, the sexes being about equally
divided.' About seven hundred bidarkas, each hold-
ing two men, could be assembled at the different sta-
tions.

Though the archimandrite had previously described
Baranof as a man who "continually sat in his houso
hatching mischief," and, in a letter to Shelikof, had
declared that he could see no sign that any of his
scl' mes of colonization were likely to be carried out,
the chief manager certainly took some steps toward
establishing the much-talked-of settlement near Capo
St Elias. Intrusting the management of affairs at
Kadiak to his assistant Kuskof,* he sailed for Yakutat
in the transport Olga,^^ and arrived at the village near
Cape St Elias on the 15th of July, 1796, finding there
the 7'/rMASWrt<<fe/«i, which had reached the new settle-
ment on the 25th of June. The few men left at the
Elace the previous autumn were found in good health,
ut complained of having been frequently in want of
food during the winter. Baranof himself remained
here two months, superintending the erection of build-
ings; and after taking hostages from the natives and
leaving a garrison of fifty men, returned to Kadiak.

Meanwhile the Ekaterina, with a portion of the
exiles on board, and the transport Orel, under com-
mand of Shields, had sailed for Cape St Elias, the latter
convoying four hundred and fifty bidarkas bound for

been done with the imported seed of rye and oats, as the only implements for
breaking up the gronnd were forked sticks.

* There were 3,221 males and 2,985 females.

* Ivan Alexandrovioh Kiukuf, a merchant of Totma, came to America
with Baranof, in the capacity of clerk. Uewas soon appointed assistant, and
as we shall see intrusted with important commands. He loft the service of
the company in 1821, returned to Russia by way of Okhotsk in 1822, and
died at Totna in 1823. Khlehnikof, Shizn. Baranova, passim.

I" It was intended that Pribylof, the discoverer of the fur-seal inlands,
should take command, but his decease occurred before the departure of tiie
expedition.

COLONIAL DISASTERS.

857

Ltua Bay," where in a few days 1,800 sea otter skins
were secured.

Thus, at length, the settlement on Yakutat Bay
was fairly started with every prospect of success; but
this, the first convict colony established in the far
north, like the one sent forth two years later to people
the desert wastes of Australia, was doomed to suffer
many disasters. During the very first winter news
reached Kadiak that the village was in Janger of
being abandoned for want of provisions." The Trekh
Sviatitelei, which left the settlement on her return
voyage a few days before Baranof's departure, was
driven by heavy ga' 3s into Kamuishatzk Bay. There
a large force of men was sent early in the following
spring to repair the vessel, but she was found to
be so badly damaged that her hull was set on fire, and
only her iron- work was saved. At Voskressenski Bay
Baranof was met by a messenger from Yakutat, who
reported that twenty laborers and several women had
perished of scurvy at the settlement during the past
winter.

While hastening to the relief of the distressed set-
tlers, the chief manager found time to visit Fort
Konstantine on Nuchek Island, where the Lebedef-
Lastochkin Company had hitherto maintained their
principal depot. For several years no supplies had
been forwarded to this place, and in consequence great
dissatisfaction existed among the employees of the
firm. Baranof found no great difficulty in inducing a
majority of the Lebedef men to enter the service of the
Shelikof Company, and the remainder were promised
a passage to Okhotsk. At the same time the Chu-
gatsches formally submitted to Baranof and furnished

" Two other bidarka fleets muBterine 257 boats assembled duriiiB the
same year at the village of Karluk, and after obtaining supplies of drieil fish
M'crc despatched in the same direction. Each bidarka carried from 100 to
1-5 lish, but this food was used only in case of actual necessity. As a rule,
fi'usli (isli were caught and birds killed at every halting place. Khlebnikof,
Hhizn. Baranom, 34-5.

' ^ The news was brought by one Badionof , who arrived at Kadiak from Cap«
Bt Eliaa in a bidar.

' i t«

I v^ \ i

?;;, if

(]

II!

1*1

1'3

||iv;:r
I''

li'' ■•■>

368

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

an additional quota of a hundred bidarkas to reSnforce
his hunting parties, thus relieving him of all apprehen-
sions of a native uprising west of Yakutat, and enabling
him to turn his undivided attention to the wants of
the new colony.

After relieving the existing distress and establish-
ing order among the settlen*, Baranof returned toKa-
diak, arriving there on the first of October. Shields,
who commanded the Orel, hud in the mean time pro-
ceeded south-west from Ltua Bay with his fleet of
four hundred and fifty bidarkas, and succeeded in
reaching Norfolk Sound, where he soon collected two
thousand sea-otter skins.

We shall have occasion to refer later to the prog-
ress of the convict colony at Yakutat. Shelikof
and his colleagues, when petitioning the empress that
a band of exiles should oe sent to Alaska to aid in
developing the resources of Russian America, and a
party of clergymen to convert and educate the natives,
assured the government "that their wishes tended only
to add new possessions to Russia and new parishes to
the church. "But," says Golovnin, who was in-
structed by th government to investigate the affairs
of the colony, the clergy and the poor mechanics
had hardly arriv*. ' at Kadiak, when the former were
set to earn their read by the sweat of their brow,
and the latter wer distributed over different locali-
ties, wherever furs could be got to swell the profits
of the Shelikof Company. Between 1794 and 1818
the missions received from the company neither bibles
nor new testaments, nor any other religious books,
not even spelling-books to teach the children, while
wax candles, wine, etc., necessary for the performance
of sacred ceremonies, could, not be obtained from them.
But of the thirty-five families of mechanics only three
men and one woman remained in 1818." The re-

'* About the ^ear 1870 Ivan Petrof states that there are at Niniltchik,
on Cook Inlet, six families, including some forty souls, claiming to be de<
■cendants of these exiles.

DECEIVED SETTLERS.

mainder were killed or died from want and hardship,
while hunting for the company. For all this I am
in possession of written proofs. And thus Shelikof
showed to the world that between traders on a large
or small icale there is no difference. As the shopmafi
in the market makes the sign of the cross and calls
God to witness in order to sell his goods a few copoks
dearer, so Shelikof used the name of Christ and this
sacred faith to deceive the government and entice
thirty-five unfortunate families to the savage shores
of America, where they fell victims to his avarice and
that of his successors.* "

All this is sufficiently bitter, and if any further
proof be wanted that Golovnin was somewhat biased,
his mention of Baranof, whom he describes as "a
man who became famous un account of his long resi-
dence among the savages, ani still more so because
he, while enlightening thv^m, grew wild himself and
sunk to a degree below the savage, ' is further evi-
dence." It is but due to the memory of Shelikof,
whose decease occurred in July 1795, to quote a few
lines from the letter of his widow, addressed on
November 22d of that year to the governor of
Tauris: "The administration of the colony has made
arrangementii tliat these settlers shall not be ham-
pered in their work of constructing the new village
uy anxiety with regard to producmg the necessary
provisions during the first year, and has provided
ample supplies of food to last them until they can
provide for themselves, as well as tools, etc., all of
which have been purchased at Okhotsk by ray late
husband at his own expense. At the same time an
agent was appointed to attend to the issue of these
supplies, according to the wants of the people. But
finally they got up a conspiracy, and threatened to
take the agent's life unless he gave them guns and
ammunition to protect themselves against the sav-

lif

r^il

" Materialui lator, Sim., L 54.
» Id., 63.

•Hi

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

ages when they would reach the mainland, and that
they would take possession of the ship and sail for
the Kurile Islands, selecting one of their men as
navigator. They had three great guns with ammuni-
tion, all ready for use, but the chief agent of the com-
pany discovered their conspiracy, and three of the
ringleaders were, in accordance with the instructions
of the commanding officer at Okhotsk, punished by
flogging, and separated among the hunters at various
stations.""

Knowing how he had compromised himself in his
dealings with the turbulent traders on Cook Inlet by
assuming official authority which did not belong to
him, Baranof had to exert all his ingenuity, and prob-
ably resorted to threats and violence, in order to keep
the knowledge of his proceedings from the priests, who
were only too ready to meddle with the concerns of the
Shelikof Company." Though outwardly professing
the veneration of an orthodox member of the Russian
church for its ordained representatives, Baranof con-
sidered them as enemies and acted accordingly. He
knew that in the pursuit of his business the full con-
trol of the natives was essential to his success, and he
believed that every one of the missionaries would
strive to obtain such control for himself in the name
of the holy synod. In order to lessen the number of
his enemies, he urged upon loassaf the necessity of
sending out missionaries to the savage tribes of the
mainland, from whom the light of Christianity was still
entirely hidden. The chief of the mission expressed
his full understanding of this necessity, but winter

'* Tikhmenef, lator, Oboa., ii. app. part ii. lOO.

" The following is a list of members of tliia first mission: Archimandrite
lodssaf, drowned on the Feniks in 1790; Icromonukh Juvenal, killed by the
•avagcs in northern America, af will bo afterward related; luromnnakh Mukur,
returned voluntarily to Okhotsk; Affanaasic, returned to Irkutsk in IS'J.'i;
Itirodiakon Stefan, drowned in the suite of the bishop; Nektar, sent to Irkutsk
by Father Gideon in 1807; Monk German, still among the living in 1S.'1.'>;
Monk loassaf, who died at Kadiak in 1823; and ten church servitors not be-
longing to the priesthood.

that
il for
en as
muni-
3Com-
)f the
ictions
led by
rarious

in his
nlet by
long to
id prob-
to keep
5ts, who
IS of the
ofessing
Russian
hof con-
ly. He
ull con-
and he
would
tit name
iraber of
essity of
of the
was still

jxpressea
it winter

rchimandnte

killed by the

nakh Makur.

tsk i« l^-l'
enttoIrkuUH

I'ing i» 1^;"''
•vitora not w-

COMPLAINTS OP THE PRIEST3.

861

was then approaching fast and the journey to the con-
tinent was becoming dangerous. Thus Baranof was
obliged to face his adversaries during the whole of a
long arctic winter, and to counteract their intrigues
as best he might.

The attitude assumed by the first apostles of Chris-
tianity in Alaska from the very beginning of their res-
idence in America was decidedly hostile to all who
managed and carried on business enterprises in the
colonies. Previous to reaching their destination the
members of this mission were detained for a whole
winter in the wretched sea-port towns of eastern
Siberia and Kamchatka, where they met with numbers
of the former servants of the various trading com-
panies, who were full of discontent and resentment,
and painted to them in the blackest colors the condi-
tion of the country and the people inhabiting it. The
result was that the priests finally sailed for the Amer-
ican coast imibued with a prejudice against everything
and everybody belonging to the colonies. Being thus
prepared to see nothing but evil, priestly ingenuity
and craft succeeded in finding much more than had
been discovered by their ignorant informers. In the
correspondence transmitted by members of the mission
to Shelikof, and to dignitaries of the synod, during
this firat period of their missionary work, they make
the worst of everything.

The archimandrite was especially bitter in his de-
nunciations of the chief manager, but there is little
doubt that many of his accusations were unfounded."

" Tliough the tor • of his letters and reports is decidedly hostile to Btiranof,
the latter seemsi to have succeeded in concealing from the inquisitive clergy
liis wro'.igful assumption of authority in Cook Inlet, which would have exposed
liiiii to the most severe pnnishment by the authorities. I make the following
extract fro>n the letter of the archimandrite to Shelikof, written in May 1795:
'We liavo ni. j)ropcr church as yel, and though I personally urged Alex-
ander And.-eicvitch [Baranof] to build a small i Iiurch at this place as soon
ns possible, and ofrcrc<l a plan for a chapel ot.iy four fathoms long by a
fiithdui and a half in widtli, the timber for it all remains uncut. Since
my iurival at this harbor I have seen nothing but what seems to bo in
iluLct opposition to your kind intentions. Tlio only thing which gives
niu s.Uisfaction is the fact that the natives flock in from everywhere to
become christionized, but tlio Eussiana not only make no effort to help

'€

362

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

.^fa

:'if

It must be admitted, however, that the ecclesiastics
suffered many privations through the neglect of Bar-
anof and the traders, who regarded them simply as
intermeddlers, of whom they must rid themselves as
speedily as possible. During their first winter the
missionaries were without sufficient food and shelter;''
uo encouragement was afforded them in their work
and it was not until July 1796 that the first church
was built in Kadiak, at Three Saints, though before
that time it was claimed that twelve thousand natives
had been baptized.

While maljing his report to Shelikof, the archiman-

in the work of enlightenment, but use every means to discourage them,
and the cause of this is the vicious lives they have been leading from the tirst
with American [native] women. I have barely succeeded in persuading a few
hunters to get married, but the others will not even listen to such a proposal.
Thus far I have not been enabled to discover whether it is Mr Baranof or his
assistants who are endeavoring to cause ill-feeling against us and you. All
I can say is that the hunters are incensed against you. All do their beat to
evade compliance with the written clauses of their contracts with you. Ships
and other property of the company are neglected, and many say that the
company's wtcrests are opposed to those of the settlers, and try to persuailo
others to think the same. Tikhmentf, htor. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 101-2.

'•'About the domestic arrangements,' continues loassaf, 'nothing good
can be said. Since our arrival there has been a famine during the whole win-
ter. Yukola [dried salmon] three years old is all that is offered us, and
though wo do not like dried fish, we are compelled to cat it. The lalxircrs
do notliing tow.ird providing food. The nets were left on the ground iic;ir
the beach all winter, being thoroughly spoiled. The dogs have eaten up two
of the calves which we brought witli us, and of the two slieep which remained
to us on our arrival, one was dcvoureil by dogs. The goats all perished. In
accordance with your instructions, I was to accustom my clergymen to tlie
food of the country, and to employ them at various kinds of labor, but tliis
would have been done without your instructions. We are not troubled witli
an abundance of provisions, keeping our table upon the beach, picking up miiii-
scls, clams, and crabs. In addition to this, we have a little bread, and that will
soon Ijc exhausted. Baranof and his favorites do not suffer; for him they shoot
birds, sea-lions, and seals. From the Alaskan peninsula they bring him reindeer
meat. Milk tie has always, even iu the winter, two cows being reserved fci* his
use alone. They used to give us jnilk enough for our tea, but at the present
time, when ten cows have calved, we get only one tea-cupful a day, exclusive
of fast-days. Our light is miserable, as we get nothing but whale-oil for tliat
purpose. Then the winter was very cold, the roofs leaky, and the windows
very bad ; thus we passed the wiiole winter. I have never felt comfoi-tablo
since my arrival here. I bore with our miserable accommodations na lon;^ as
I could, and sent the brothers to the barrac':s where the working people live;
but it would not do for me to go there in the position of dignity I hold lierc;
and the barracks were full antl even crowded. They ha<l frequ jnt asscnib'ics
and games there, and often whole nights wore passed in singing and dancing.
They kept it up every Sunday and holiday, and sometimes even on work-
days. On Ash Wednesday they came to me and asked me to postpone tlie
confession until evening, when they would have finished their games.' LI-,
102-4.

lOASSAF AGAINST BAEANOP.

ast

istics

Bar-

)ly as

es as

r the

Iter;"

work

;hurch

before

latives

himan-

■ago them,
m the first
,iUng a few
a proposal,
•anof or his
you. All
leir best to
you. Shirs
ly that the
to persuailo
ii. 101-'2. ,
otliing gooil
[o whole Nviu-

jred ws. f^"'
The lalxDrcrs

grounil w::i^f
^aten up two
ich rcmainwl
lerishcil. l>»
ATinen to t\ie
bor, but tins
roiiblcil wUU
;kingupm'is-
auiUhatwiU
ini they shoot
ihimrcimlcor
Wvedfoi-his
at the present
lay, exclusive
ilc-oil for that
1 the winih)«;s
It comfortalilo

ions .18 Ion;; t^*
njr people uvc;
•ylhoUhcre;
[jnt asscmh'ics
ft anil <lancing-
even on wmk-
postpone tue
games.' i^-'

drite states that he could fill a book with the evii
doings and atrocities that came under his observation,
but that out of consideration for him he would not
lodge a formal complaint with the supreme church
authorities. He felt that even if Baranof knew that
he was writing the truth to the head of the company,
he would be prevented from making any further
progress in his work, and perhaps even endanger his
life. He expressed his firm belief that no admonition
of the managers by his superiors could do any good,
and that removal alone could remedy the evil. Should
that be considered impracticable, he would suffer in
silence, doing all the good that was possible under
such unfavorable circumstances, and patiently await-
ing the time when providence would carry him and
his much-abused brethren back to Russia, beyond the
control of their 'untiring persecutor.' The reverend
correspondent likewise throws out hints of misman-
agement and peculation iii business affairs.**

On the other hand, the letters of Baranof and his
chief assistants, written during the same period, dis-
play a marked forbearance in speaking of the mis-
sionaries and their doings. ^^ The difficulties of Bar-
anof's position during this winter of close companion-
ship with inquisitive, suspicious priests, rebellious
servants, and discontented natives cannot well be

'"loassaf wrote: He (Baranof) lias sold his tobacco at 400 roubles per
pnud (40 lbs.) and more, though lie had on hand over 20pouda belonging to
tlie company. /(/., 105.

^' Tills must of course bo partly ascribed to policy on their part, but a
perusal of these documents impresses ui)on the reader the conviction that the
part which the traders were obliged to play in this controversy was more
(iiiliciilt than that of the priests, and that the former were perfectly honest in
nltcmpting to avoid all complications. The charges advanced by mission-
aries, of being starved and forced to pick up their food on the beach while
liar.inof and las favorites feasted upon the fat of the land, is not sustained by
siicli crudiblo witnesses as lieutenants Khvostof and Davidof and other naval
olliccrs tlien entering the employ of the Russian-American Company, wiio
all testified to the fact that liariinof and his favored leaders shared all nriva-
tions with their subordinates. At the very time when loassaf complained
ill Ills letter of Baranof 's delay in erecting a church or chapel, tliu latter,
though lacking time, men, and means to employ in church building just then,
donated 1,500 roubles from his own salary for the purpose. Id., i. 50, and ii.
•pp. 150-1.

■1

■%.t

'«!■

I 1:

Mi COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

exaggerated. No supplies of provisions had arrived
with the missionaries, who, to a certain extent, were
responsible for their own privations, having fep.sted
and lived in too great abundance during their deten-
tion on the coast of Siberia and on the sea voyage.

In the spring of 1795 the missionaries, with one
exception, proceeded to the mainland, there to labor
with but indifferent success among the native tribes
not previously approached by the pioneers of Mus-
covite civilization.

At Unalaska and the neighboring islands Father
Makar, though meeting with little opposition from the
few promyshleniki remaining there,labored with appar-
ent success.^ The natives were now thoroughly sub-
dued, and hundreds of them had been carried away to
join the hunting parties of Baranof. Their territory
no longer afforded sites for profitable stations, and tliey
were left almost to themselves. An indifference bor-
dering on apathy had succeeded to the former warlike
spirit of the Aleuts, who in earlier days had wreaked
dire vengeance upon their Russian oppressors when-
ever opportunity offered. It is impossible to ascer-
tain whether Makar was really an eloquent preacher
of the gospel, or whether his success was solely due to
circumstances; but success he certainly had. In a few
years nearly all the inhabitants of the Aleutian Isles
were baptized and duly reported to the holy synod as
voluntary converts and good Christians. The circum-
stance that no attempt was made to translate the con-
fession of faith, or any portion of the scripture or
ritual, into the native language at that early time, sug-
gests serious doubts as to the agency of eloquence
and argument in this wholesale conversion. When
Veniaminof entered upon his missionary career on the

" Tlie father appears to have been a Bomewhat meddlesome ecclesiastic.
In a copy of an imperial rescript issued a few yeare later, we read : ' Tlio im 'iik
Makar, who Ima exceeded the bounds of Ida dutiea and meddled with atlaira
that did not concern him, is hereby informed that though wo pardon him tliia
time for absenting himself wilfully from his appointed post of duty, be imist
not repeat the od'enco, and nmst allow complaints mode by the Aleutiaui to
go through their proper chaunel.' Id., 173.

ved

vere
sted
iten-

one
labor
,ribe3

Mus-

'ather

.m the

appar-

,y sub-

wray to

rritory

id they

ce bor-

warliUo

i^reakcd
wbeii-
ascei-

(reacber
due to
n a few

an Isles

ynod as
circuiu-
tbo cou-
ture or
me, sug-
lloqucuce
Wbou
r on the

ecclpsiiistio.
, 'Thoiiii'ii''
■ with nll:.";3
[ulon l«i"' I'"'
l"ty. !'.« '""^'
Alcutuiut to

AN UNLUCKY BISHOP.

365

islands twenty years later, he found the people Chris-
tians by name, but was compelled to begin from the
foundation the work of enlightenment and explanation
of the creed in which they had been baptized by
Makar.

With the death of Shelikof the missionaries lost
their principal support, and no further attempt was
made to extend their operations until the archiman-
drite loassaf was recalled to Irkutsk by order of the
synod, in order to be consecrated as bishop. He
started upon his journey full of ambitious plans, and
with the determination to make use of his new dij;-
nity in overcoming all opposition, real or imaginary, on
the part of his persecutors. Visions of building up
an ecclesiastical empire in Russian America may have
gladdened his soul after years of suffering and humil-
iation; but whatever his ambitious dreams may have
been, they must have lost much in scope and vivid-
ness long before he emlparked in the Feniks a second
time, not to return in splendor to the scene of former
misery, but to find a watery grave at some unknown
point within a few days' sail of his destination.

Prominent among the missionaries who accompa-
nied the archimandrite was Father Juvenal, who in
1795 was sent to Yakutat Bay, probably to draw
plans for Baranof, and on his return commenced to
labor at Kadiak as a priest and teacher. "With the
help of God," he writes from Three Saints Har-
bor on June 19, 1796, "a school was opened to-day
at this place, the first since the attempt of the late
Mr Shelikof to instruct the natives of this neighbor-
hood. Eleven boys and several grown men were in
attendance. When I read prayers they seemed very
attentive, and were evidently deeply impressed, though
they did not understand the language." On the fol-
lowing day two more youths were placed under his
charge, and "when school was closed," continues the
father, "I went to the river with my boys, and with

bi h

"\*

■f

■

ifc .> i

D *"

!lS

r> ri

'?^'

. '^'

¥^

966

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

the help of God we caught one hundred and three sal-
mon of large size, which some of the women assisted
us in cutting up ready for drying." ^ Other scholars
were quickly enrolled, and though the pupils had an
unpleasant trick of running off without ceremony to
trade furs whenever opportunity offered, all went well
until the 12th of July, when Baranof arrived at the
settlement, with instructions from vhe bishop of
Irkutsk that Juvenal should proceed to Ilyamna sta-
tion.

On the following sabbath the priest celebrated
divine service for the last time at Three Saints. A
brief description of the ceremony may not be without
interest: "We had a very solemn and impressive
service this morning. Mr Baranof and officers and
sailors from the ship attended, and also a large num-
ber of natives. We had fine singing, and a congrega-
tion with great outward appearance of devotion. I
could not help but marvel at Alexander Alexandre-
ievitch [Baranof], who stood there and listened and
crossed nimself, gave the responses at the proper time,
and joined in the singing with the same hoarse voice
with which he was shouting obscene songs the night
before, when I saw him in the midst of a drunken
carousal with a woman seated in his lap. I dispensed
with services in the afternoon, because the traders
were drunk again, and might have disturbed us and
disgusted the natives."

The next day Juvenal repaired to Baranof 's tent to
inquire what disposition was to be made of the pupils
under his charge. The reply was that they were to
be removed to Pavlovsk, where Father German had
arrived and opened a school for girls; he would doubt-
less be willing to take the boys also.

^Jour., MS., 1-2. Of the visit of some strangera who came from Tugi-
dak Island to trade, he relates the following: ' They asked me if I could cure
a man when he was very sick, and I answered that with the help of God I
miffht. At this they shrugged their shoulders, and one man said: " We liaye
a slmman at home who once brougiit a dead man back to life; and he did it
all alone."' Id., 9.

sal-
isted
olara
id an
[ly to
) well
it the
)p of
a sta-

tjrated

;s. A
ithout
ressive
rs and
e num-
agrega-

ion. I
xandre-
led and
er time,
je voice
le night
drunken
ispensecl
traders
us and

8 tent to
pupils
were to
Iman bad
doubt-

,0 from Tiigi-
f I coul'l cure
help of Goel 1
■j. •' We lia'''*
and ho di^i'

JUVENAL'S TROUBLES.

367

After blessing his flock and taking leave of them
one by one, the priest embarked for Pavlovsk on the
16th of July on board the brigantine Catherine, where,
he tells us, the cabin being taken up by Baranof and
his party, he was shown a small space in the hold
between some bales of goods and a pile of dried fish.
In this dark and noisome berth, by the light of a
wretched lantern, he wrote a portion of his journal,
often disturbed by the ribald songs which the chief
manager's attendants sang for his amusement. On
the second day of the voyage a strong head wind set
in, accompanied with a heavy chopping sea. Baranof,
being out of humor, sent for the father and asked him
whether h;) had blessed the ship. On being told that
he had done so, he was ordered with many curses to
light a taper before an image of Nikolai Ugodnik,
which hung in the cabin. Juvenal compHed without
a word, and then retired to his berth, which, foul as it
was, he preferred to the company of the chief man-
ager. The gale continued over night, and at daybreak
the vessel was out of sight of land, whereupon in pres-
ence of the sailors and passengers Baranof spoke of
the priest as a second Jonah, and observed that there
were plenty of whales about. All this time the lat-
ter was unable to partake of food, and, as he says,
was buried under a heap of dried fish whenever the
vessel rolled heavily.

At Pavlovsk, Juvenal noticed the great activity in
building, which w^as not even interrupted on the sab-
bath. On the fourth day after his arrival he took
his leave of Baranof, who promised him a passage in
his fleet of bidarkas as far as St George on the gulf
of Kenai, but told him that afterward he must depend
on the Lebedef Company, whose traders, he added
with a malicious grin, "were little better than robbers
and murderers."'^*

" During his stay at Pavlovsk Juvenal was lodged in a half-finished hut
intended for a salt-liouae, where swarms of mosquitoes deprived him of rest.
Before his departure he had an interview with Father German, who, he says,
woa ou the hest terms with Baranof. When asked whether he had any ma-

'^il

368

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

After a tedious passage from island to island, some-
times meeting with long delays, the priest reached
the Kaknu or Kena'i River, where was the nearest
station of the Lebedef Company, on the 11th of
August. Here, notwithstanding Baranof's warning,
he met with the first signs of religious observance
by promyshleniki during his travels in the colonies.-*
During his stay of about a fortnight he married sev-
eral couples, baptized a number of infants and adults,
and at intervals held divine service, which was well
attended.'^'

Soon, however, the religious ardor cooled, and so
little interest did the natives take in the missionary
that, when ready to depart, he found it difficult to ob-
tain men and bidarkas to take him across the inlet to
his destination. At last one morning after service bo
appealed to the natives for men to assist him across
the water, telling them that he must go to the Ily-
amna country to preach the new word to the people,
who had never yet heard it. Thereupon an old man
arose and remarked that he ought not to go; that the
Kenaitze people had been the friends of the Russians
for long years, and had a better right to have a priest
among them than the Ilyaninas, who were very batl.
The missionary, in his journal, confessed that he was
puzzled for a fitting reply to this argument. On the
25th, however, he set out from the station, accom-
panied by two men from Chekituk village.

A delay was again occasioned by his guides indulg-
ing in a seal-hunt on Kalgin I land, situated midway

tron in charge of his school for girls, German laughed and sold there was no
need of one. 'I intended,' writos Juvenal, 'to recommend my boya nt Tlirt'o
Saints Harbor to the special attention of Father German, but his repulsive
manner caused me to change my intention, and now I pray that tlie poor little
fellows may never be intrusted to his care.' Id., 24-5.

"* Juvenal writes: 'Stepan Laduiguin is the trader for the Lebedef-Las-
tochkia Com]>any, and ho has with him four other Russians and nearly a liiin-
dred Kenaitze, who are all Christians. Ignatiy Terentief, one of the Russians,
reads prayers on the sabbath, but no priest has visited the place since tiio
archimandrite's arbitration. ' Id., 40.

''" During this time several shocks of earthclunke occurred, and a stabbing
affray between two natives, which was punished by flogging both offendura
leverely.

a se

him I

Fine

sian;

forni

the

and

27 1

away fl
minglel
SJiakml
has thiT

IP !<

MISSIONARY WORK.

ne-
Lied

rest
1 of

ing.
inco

les.

sev-
lults,

well

nd so
onary
to ob-
ilet to
vice be
across

he 11 y-
peoplo,
)ld niau
,hat tbe

ussians

a priest

jry bad.
he was
On the

^ accoui-

indulg-
midNvay

Lere was no
toysatTlirco
Via repulsive
the poor Uttlo

iLebedef-Las-

Incarlyft!'""-
lthoIl"8suui3.
■ace since tlio

Ld a stabbing
otli offenders

^6(^

in the inlet, and the western shore was not reached
till the 29th. On the 30th he writes: "This morning
two natives came out of the forest and shouted to my
companions. Two of the latter went out to meet
them. There was a great deal of talking before the
strangers concluded to come to our tents. When they
came at last, and I was pointed out to them as the
man who was to live among them, they wished to see
my goods. I encountered some difficulty in making
them understand that I am not here to trade and bar-
ter, and have nothing for sale. Finally, when they
were told that I had come among them to make better
men of them, one of them, named Katlewah, the
brother of a chief, said he was glad of that, as they
had many bad men among the Ilyamna people, espe-
cially his brother. The two savages have agreed to
carry my chattels for me to their village, but, to sat-
isfy Katlewah, I was compelled to open every bundle
and show him the contents. I did not like the greedy
glitter in his eye when he saw and felt of my vest-
ments."

On the 3d of September the party reached Il-
yamna village, after a fatiguing journey over the
mountains and a canoe voyage on the lake. Shakmut,
the chief, received the missionary with friendly words,
interpreted by a boy named Nikita, who had been a
hostage with the Russians. He invited him to his
own house, and on the priest's expressing a wish for
a separate residence, promised to have one built for
him, and allowed him to retain Nikita in his service..
Finding that the latter, though living with the Rus-
sians for years, had not been baptized, Juvenal per-
formed that ceremony at the first opportunity, befortj
the astonished natives, who regarded it as sorcery,
and one asked whether Nikita would live many days.^'

'" Under date of September 6th, Juvenal writes: ' It will be a relief to get
away from the crowded house of the chief, where persons of all ages and sexes
mingle without any regard to decency or morals. To my utter astonishment
Shakmut asked mo last night to share the couch of one of his wives. He
has three or four. I suppose such abomination is the custom of the couu;
Hmt. Alaska. M

;: I!:

I '1

<70

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

Juvenal's success was not remarkable, to judge
from his diary. One voung woman asked to be bap-
tized like the boy Nikita, expressing the hope that
then she could also live in the new house with the
missionary. An old woman brought two boys, stat-
ing that they were orphans who had nobody to care
for them, and that she would like to see them baptized,
"to change their luck." The chief Shakmut also
promised to consider the question of embracing Chris-
tianity, and for some reason he did so promise in the
presence of the whole tribe, and amidst great feastincj
and rejoicing. Two servants and one of his wives
were included in the ceremony, the priest not daring
to refuse them on the ground that they had received
no instructions, for fear of losing the advantage which
the chief's example might give him in his future
work.*^

The conversion of the chief had not, however, the
desired effect; it only led to dissensions among the
people, and when the priest began to tell the converts

try, and he intended no insult God gave me grace to overcome my indigna-
tion, and decline the offer in a friendly and dignified manner. My first duty,
when I have somewhat mastered the language, shall be to preach against sucii
wicked practices, but I could not touch upon such duLjecta through a boy iu-
terpreter.' /t/.,65-6.

^Juvenal evidently had no faith in his convert, as evinced in the follow-
ing extracts from his journal, p. 64-7: ' Shakmut comes regularly for instruc-
tion, but I have my doubts of nis sincerity. In order to give more solemnity
to the occasion, he has concluded to have two of his servants or slaves baptized
also. They only come at his command, of course, but I must bear with a
great deal until this conversion has become an accomplished fact. Katlewah,
the chief 's brother, called upon me to-day, and repeated that he was glad
that Shakmut was to be baptized, for he was very bad, and if I made him a

food man, he and all the Ilyamna people would rejoice and be baptized also.
do not like this way of testing tne efficacy of Christianity; only a miracle
of God could effect such a sudden change in Shakmut's heart.' It was mak-
ing altogether too practical and literal a matter of conversion to suit the good
Juvenal. On September 21st he writes: ' The great step which is to lay the
foundation of future success in my labors has been taken. The chief of tlie
Ilyamnas has been baptized, with two of hia slaves and one of his wives. Tho
latter came forward at the last moment, but I dared not refuse her for fear of
stopping the whole ceremony. Shakmut was gorgeously arrayed in deer-
skin robes nearly covered with costly beads. Katlewah asked me if his
brother would be allowed to wear such clothes as a Russian, and when I re-
plied in the affirmative the fellow seemed disappointed. I do not like citlier
of the brothers; it is difficult to say whether the new Christian or the pagan
is the worse. I gave the name of Alexander to the chief, telling him that it
was the name of nis majesty, the emperor, at which he seemed to feel flattered '

idgo

bap-

tbat

1 the

stat-
) care
itized,
b also
Chris-
in the
jastinc;

wives
daring
eceived
3 which

future

ver, the
ong the
converts

my indigna-
y first duty,
against such
.gliaboyiu-

YIELDING TO TEMPTATION.

•m

that they must put away their secondary wives, the
chief and others began to plot his downfall. It had
been a marvel to the savages that a man should put
a bridle upon his passions and live in celibacy, but
their wonder was mingled with feelings of respect.
To overcome the influence which the missionary was
gaining over some of his people, Shakraut, or Alex-
ander as he was now christened, plotted to throw
temptation in his way, and alas for Juvenal I whose
priestly wrath had been so lately roused by the im-
morality of Baranof and his godless crew of promy-
shleniki, it must be related that he fell. In the dead
of night, according to his own confession, an Ilyamna
damsel captured him by storm.**

On the day after this incident, the outraged ecclesi-
astic received a visit from Katlewah, who expressed
a wish to be baptized on the following sabbath. "I
can tell by his manner," writes the priest on Septem-
ber 26th, "that he knows of my disgrace, though he
did not say anything. When I walked to the forest
to-day to cut some wood, I heard two girls laughing
at me, behind my back; and in the morning, when I
was making a wooden bolt for the door of my sleep-
ing-room, a woman looked in and laughed right into
my face. She may be the one who caused my fall,
for it was dark and I never saw her countenance.
Alexander visited me, also, and insisted upon having

" I quote from the journal, p. 69-70, the father's own account of the
matter: 'September 25th. With a trembling hand I write the sad occur-
rences of the past day and night. Much rather I would leave the disgraceful
story untold, but I must overcome my own shame and mortification, and
write it down as a, warning to other missionaries who may come after me. Last
night I retired at my usual hour, after prayer with the boys who sleep in
another room. In the middle of the night I awoke to find myself in the
anna of a woman whose fiery embraces excited me to such an extent that
I fell a victim to lust, and a grievous sin was committed before I could extii-
cate myself. As soon as I regained my senses I drove the woman out, but I
felt too guilty to be very harsli with her. What a terrible blow this is to all
my recent hopes! How can I hold up my head among the people, who, of
course, will hear of this afifair ? I am not sure, even, that the boys in tha
adjoining room were not awakened by the noise. Grod is my witness that I
have get down the truth here in the face of anything that may be said about
it hereafter. I have kept myself secluded to-day from everybody. I have
not yet the strength to face the world.'

"*■

372

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

his wives baptized next Sunday. I had no .spirit loft
to contest the matter with him, and consented; but I
shall not shrink from my duty to make him relinquish
all but one wife when the proper time arrives. If I
wink at polygamy now, I shall be forever unable to
combat it. Perhaps it is only imagination, but I
think I can discover a lack of respect in Nikita's be-
havior toward me since yesterday." Continuing his
journal on the 27th, he adds: "My disgrace has be-
come public already, and I am laughed at wherever I
go, especially by the women. Of course they do not
understand the sin, but rather look upon it as a good
joke. It will require great firuiuess on my part t )
regain what respect I have lost for myself as well as
on behalf of the church. I have vowed to burn no
fuel in my bedroom during the whole winter, in order
to chastise my body — a mild punishment, indeed,
compared to the blackness of my sin."

The next day was Sunday. " With a heavy
heart," says Juvenal, ' but with a firm purpose, I bap-
tized Katlewah and his family, the three wives of
the chief, seven ch Id'-en, and one aged couple. Un-
der any other circu instances such a rich harvest woull
have filled me with joy, but I am filled with gloom."
In the evening he called on Alexander and found liiui
and his wives carousing together. Notwithstanding,'
his recent downfall, the priest's wrath was kindled, ami
through Nikita he informed the chief that he must
marry one of his wives according to the rites of the
church, and put away the rest, or be forever danmcd.
Alexander now became angry m his turn and bade him
leave the house. On his way home he met Katlewali,^^
who rated him soundly, declaring that he had lied to
them all, for "his brother was as bad as ever, and no
good had come of any of his baptisms."

The career of Father Juvenal was now ended, and
the little that remains to be said is best told in his own

"* Baptized under the name of Oregon

ing
Oona
he <

13C01

latioi
as Jia
Jiikof
of wl]
convi
tliau ,
and

lllclicri

leave f
ser\ai|

left
»utl

If I

)lo to
>ut I
t's 1)0-
,g his
as bc-
Bvcr I
io tK)t

a good
part t )
well an
3urn n<»
n order
indeed,

, I bap-

vives of

,e. Uu-
stwouVl

gloom."
)und h'w\
standiiv-;
died, and
he must
3S of the
damned,
bade \n\n
ttlewaU/^
d lied 1:0
r, and no

Inded, and
in his own

MURDER OF FATHER JUVENAL.

fit

words : " September 29th.

liave both been here this morning and

The chief and his brother
abused nio
shamefully. Their language I could not understand,
but they spat in my face, and what was worse, upon
the sacred images on the walls. Katlowah seized my
vestments and carried them off, and I was left bleed-
ing from a bloH' struck with an ivory club'* by the
chief. Nikita has bandaged and washed my wounds ;
but from his anxious manner I can see that I am still
in danger. The other boys have run away. My
wound pains me so that I can scarcely — " Here the
ii.anuscript journal breaks off, and probably the mo-
ment after the last line was penned his assassins en-
tered and completed their work by stabbing him to
the heart. ^'^ This at least was his fate, as represented

*' Such as are used to kill salmon and seals.

" Khlcbnikof, tlio biographer of Baranof, simply states that Juvenal went
among the Aglcgmutcs aloue, and that it is not definitely known when or
vlicro he was killed by the savages. Veniaminof says: 'The cause of jiis
death was not so much tliat ho prohibited polygamy, as the fact that the
ciiicts and prominent natives, Imvmg given him their children to be educated
at Kadiak, repented of their action, and failing to recover them, turned
(^'ainst him and finally slew him as a deceiver. They declare that, durin^j
the attack of the savages, Juvenal never thought of flight or self-defence, but
surrendered himself into their handswithout resistance, asking only for mercy
for his companions. The natives relate that the missionary, after being killed,
rose up and followed his murderers, asking, Why do you do this? riiereupon
tae savages, thinking ho was still alive, fell upon and beat him: but he again
arose and approached them. Tliis happened several times. Finally tliey cut
liim in pieces, in order to get rid of him, and then the preacher of the word
of Udd, who may be called a martyr, was silent. But the same natives tell
us that, from the place where his remains lay, a column of smoke arose, reach-
ing to hb.:ven. How long this apparition lasted is not known.' Zapiski,
Oonalaahk, 155-6. Other Russian writers, as Berg and Davidof, affirm that
he was killed near Lake Ilyamna, because he preached too vigorously agaiust
polygamy, Dall, Alaska, 317, whose work, so far as the historical part of it
13 concerned, is L/ut a brief compendium carelessly compiled, says that lie was
killed while in the act of preaching to the natives. I have before me a trans-
lation of Juvenal's own journal, from June 19, 1796, to the time of his death,
as handed by the boy Nikita to Veniaminof, and by him to Innokentius Shas-
nikof, the priest at Unaloska. 'liio tenor of this document, the authenticity
of whicli I have no reason to doubt, is such as to impress on the reu.(ier the
conviction that Juvenal, with all his failings, was a man of higher character
than his companions. He appears, however, to have been of weak intellect,
&nd his blind trust in providence and the saints sometimes stands out in
ludicrous contrast with his pitiful lack of success and self-command. When
visiting Baranof to inquire as to tlie disposition of the scholars whom he must
leave behind atThreo Saints, he finds him seated in front of his tent while his
Bcrvaut was preparing tea. ' He did not oak mo to be seated or to partake of
tea,' writes the priest, 'though it was nearly a year since I had tasted any.
Ue only asked me gruflly what I wanted so early in the morning.' After

'M'r^

''■ b

"^l

I-'

£%''■■

t74

COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.

by the boy Nikita, who escaped with the diary and
other papers to a Russian settlement, and delivered
them into the hands of Father Veniaminof on his first
visit to the Nushegak villages.

stating that the boys were to be intrusted to the charge of Father (3erman,who
had opened a girls' school at Pavlovsk, Baranof indulged in some obscene
jokes, 'which put him into such good humor that he finally offered me some
tea. I felt that I ought to refuse under the circumstances, but mv longing
for the beverage was too strong. I degraded myself before Gk>d and man for
the sake of a drink of tea. Refreshed, but ashamed of myself, I left the
wicked man to pray in my humble retreat for strength and pnde in the sanc-
tity of my calling.' p. 18-20. Nevertheless Juvenal's expressions are far
niore elevated in tone, temper, and diction thao those of the archimandrite,
a few of whose letters are still extant.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY. '

1796-1799. j

TsasATKNiD EzHACsnoN '>T THE Skal-fishbbiea— Sfecui. FBiviueaB

GlVBN TO StBEEIAN MeBCHANTS — ShEUKOF PETITIONS FOR A ObANT Of

THE Entire North-west — He is Sdfported bt Rezanof — Muilni-
kof's Enterprise— The United American Cobipant— Its Act of Con^
soudation Confirmed bt Imperial Oukaz — And its Name Ghanobd
to the Russian American Company— Text of the Ocxaz— Obupa<
tions of the Compant. ,

It will be remembered that after Bering and Chi-
rikof had discovered the Aleutian Islands and the
adjacent coast in 1741, their wealth in fur-bearing
animals was soon niade known to Europe and north-
ern Asia. Trai'Ing, or, as they were termed, 'contri-
bution' companies were quickly formed; some of the
first vessels despatched from Okhotsk returned with
cargoes that enriched their owners by a single voyage;
and it was believed that in the far north a never-fail-
ing source of riches had been discovered, greater and
' ore certain than the mines of Espanola, which yielded
their millions in the time, of Bobadilla, or those of
Castilla del Oro, whcro lay, as the jirreat navigator
believed, the veritable Ophir of the days of Solomon.
Of course many of the fur-hunters fo',".nd only a grave
where they had gone in quest of wealth; but, like the
Spaniards who followed Cori^s and Pedro de Alva-
rado, they set little value on their lives or on those
of others. Moreover, the faint-hearted Aleuts offered
no such resistance as was encountered by the con-
querors of Mexico and Guatemala. The promyshleniki

(878)

THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.

i^.1

4 ■!'*"*

r If.

is i

'I.!

could easily take by force what they had not the
money to buy, or what the natives did not care to
sell. They had no fear of punishment. Robbery,
rape, and even murder could be committed with im-
punity, for, to use their own phrase, "God was; h gii
above, and the tzar was far away."

Thus for many years matters were allowed to .aire
their course; but toward the end of the eighteentli
century the threatened exhaustion of the known
sources of supply caused much uneasiness among the
Siberian merchants engaged in the fur trade, and
some of them endeavored to remedy the evil by solic-
iting special privileges from the government for the
exclusive right to certain islands, with the under-
standing that a fixed percentage of the gross yield —
usually one tenth — was to be paid into the public
treasury. Such privileges were granted freely enough,
but it was another matter to make the numerous
half-piratical traders, who roamed Bering Sea and
the North Pacific, respect or even pay the least atten-
tion to them.

The encounters which took place between rival com-
panies have already been related, and now only two
remained — the Shelikof-Golikof and the Lebedef-
Lastochkin. The former had established itself in
Kadiak by force of arms, and Shelikof, by greatly
exaggerating the importance of his conquest, and rep-
resenting that he had added fifty thousand subjects
to the Russian empire* and as many converts to the
Greek church, had so worked upon the authorities at
St Petersburg that his petition for exclusive privileges
for his company was favorably received. These priv-
ileges amounted in fact to a grant of all the Russian
discoveries in north-western A'.icica, raul of the
islands that lay between them and the c* nv of Asia,

' There never were 50,000 natives at Kadicic at ar / per!u<l subsequent to
its conquest. Golovnin estimates tlie number at the time of (Shelikof 's land-
ing at 15,000. See p. .306, note, this vol. W hile the cenfius taken by Barau-
of s order, in the winter of 1705-fl, showed only 0,2UG natives. Tikhintwf,
lator. Obos., i. 01.

W Hi

t the
ire to
Dbery,
,li ini-

,0 hake
teent'.!
known
)ng the
le, and

y solic-

for the
under-
yield —
3 pubhc
enough,
umerous
Sea and
,st atten-

ival com-

nly two

Lebedef-

itself in
greatly
and rep-
subjects
is to the
orities at
privileges

ese priv-
Bussiau
d of the
of Asia,

subsequent to
IheVikof'slii'Hl-
ken by Bavun-
ea. Tilhinemj,

¥i

REZANOF'S PLANS.

«77

including also the Kurilo Islands and the coast of
Kamchatka.

Nikolai Rezanof, of whom mention has already
been made, and who later becomes a prominent fig-
ure in the history of the colonies, making Shelikof's
acquaintance at St Petersburg, was somewhat im-
pressed with the scope of his plans. A man of parts
and ambition, of noble birth but scant patrimony, he
solicited the hand of Shelikof's daughter and was
accepted. But the plans of Shelikof, bold as they
seemed to many, were thrown into the shade by
those of his son-in-law, who purposed to obtain for
himself and his partners in America rights similar
to those granted by the English government to the
East India Company. Matters prospered for a time.
Shares in the association were taken by members of
the nobility, and after much astute intrigue had been
brought to bear, Catherine II. was on the point of
., aijting a charter, when her decease occurred in

Meanwhile Shelikof had returned to Irkutsk,
i'hci'o he died, as will be remembered, in 1795.
^J'k.l' this event, Lis wife Natalia, who had accom-
panied her husband in all his travels in the wilds of
Siberia and even to Kadiak, and had always success-
fully conducted her husband's business during his ab-
sence, at once undertook the management of affairs,
v.'ith Rezanof as chief adviser.

During the year 1797 an Irkutsk merchant named
Muilnikof organized a company, with a capital of
r2'J. 000 roubles, for the purpose of engaging in the
fur trade; but fearing that his capital was inadequate,
and that complications might ensue from the fact that
Shelikof's widow, who was to share in the enterprise,
^vas interested in other associations already perma-
nently established, Muilnikof proposed to join himself
^vith the Shelikof Company. The offer was accepted,
an agreement made which included all the partners,
and on the 3d of August, 1798, an association, includ-

«,: f

■ • I

THIi RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.

ing two smaller concerns, and known as the United
Ah v'>- w Compi^ny, was organized at Irkutsk," with
a Cb\ of 724,000 roubles, divided into 724 shares
of 1,0*-; oubles each. All hunters, or 'small traders'
as they were more frequently called, in Russian
America were invited to become partners in tho
company, on the same conditions as had been granted
to other members, and were forbidden to hunt or
trade in the territory claimed by the company with-
out their permission.

If we can believe the report of the committee on
the organization of the Russian American colonies,
made by royal permission and extending back to the
time of the earliest discoveries, the need of such an
institution as the United American Company was
greatly felt by the government. "Having received
information from all sides," says this report, "of dis-
orders, outrages, and oppressions of the natives, caused
in the colonies by parties of Russian hunters, as well
as of groundless claims advanced by foreign naviga-
tors to lands discovered by Russians, it had some rea-
son to hope that placing the business of that distant
region in the hands of one strong company would
serve on the one hand to perpetuate Russian suprem-
acy there, and on the other would prevent many dis-
orders and preserve the fur trade, the principal wealth
of the country, affording protection to the natives
against violence and abuse, and tending toward a gen-
eral improvement of their condition."

Nevertheless it was at first feared that the decease
of Catherine II. would be a death-blow to the ambi-
tious schemes of the Shelikof party, for it was known
that her successor, Paul I., was opposed to them. But
Rezanof never for a moment lost heart, and with th'^
versatility of a true courtier, quickly adapted himself
to the change of circumstances. He had been a

*The aasociation included, besides tho Shelikof, Oolii"-f, aad Muilnikof
oomponies, the American and North-eastern and the >lorthem and Kurile
companies. Report on Ru»b. Amer. Colonial, MS., vL 13. The full text of
the act of oonaolidation is given in Qolomin, Makrialui, i. 05-63.

h >r

IMPERIAL OUKAZ.

S79

faithful servant to the pleasure-loving empress, and
he now became a constant companion and attendant
upon the feeble-minded man who wore the crown.
So successful were his efforts, that on the 11th of
August, 1799, the act of consolidation of the United
American Company was confirmed by imperial oukaz,
and the association then received the name of the
Russian American Company. "By the same oukaz,"'
continues the report above quoted, "the company

* The following ia a literal translation of the oukaz f^ranted by Paul I. to the
Russian American Company, taken from Golovnin, in McUerialui, i. 77-80:

'By the grace of a merciful God, wc, Paul the First, emperor and autocrat
of all the Ilussias, etc. To the Russian American Company under our highest
protection. The benefits and advantages resulting to our empire from the
hunting and trading carried on by our loyal subjects in the north-eastern sea.t
and along the coasts of America have attracted our royai attention and con-
sideration ; therei'ore, having taken under our immediate protection a company
organized for the above-named purpose of carrying on hunting and trading,
■we allow it to assume the appellation of " Russian American Company under
our highest protection;" and for the purpose of aiding the company in its en-
terprises, we allow the commanders of our land and sea forces to employ said
forces in the company's aid if occasion requires it, while for further relief and
assistance of said company, and having examined their rules and regulations,
we liereby declare it to be our highest imperial will to grant to this company
for a period of 20 years the following rights and privileges:

'I. Uy the right of discovery in past times, by Russian navigators of the
north-eastern, part of America, beginning from the 5dth de^ee of north lati-
tude Olid of the chain of islands extending from Kamchatka to the north to
America, and southward to Japan, and by right of possession of the same by
Russia, we most graciously permit the company to have the use of all hunting-
grounds and establishments now existing on the north-e&stern [nic, this blun-
der is made all through the document] coast of America, from the above
mentioned 55th degree to Bering Strait, and on the same also on the Aleu-
tian, Kurile, and other islands situated in the north-eastern ocean.

' II. To make new discoveries not only north of the 55th degree of north
latitude, but farther to the south, and to occupy the new lands discovered,
as Russian possessions, according to prescribed rules, if they have not been
previously occupied by any other nation, or been dependent on another nation.

'III. To use and profit by everything which has been or shall b« dis-
covered in those localities, on the surface and in the bosom of the earth, with-
out any competition by others.

' IV. We most graciously permit this company to establish settlements in
future times, wherever they are wanted, according to their best knowledge
and belief, and fortify them to insure the safety of the inhabitants, and to
send ships to those shores with goods and hunters, without any obstacles on
the part of the government.

' v. To extend their navigation to all adjoining nations and hold business
intercourse with all surrounding powers, upon obtaining their free consent for
the purpose, and under our liighest protection, to enalde them to prosecute
tliuir enterprises with greater torce and advantage.

• VI. To employ for navigation, hunting, and all other business, free and
unsuspected people, having no illegal views or intentions. In consideration
of the distance of the localities where they will be sent, the provincial author-
ities will grant to all persons sent out as settlers, hunters, and in other c»-

K i

)' !>if

380 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY.

was granted full privileges, for a period of twenty-
years, on the coast of north-western America, be-
ginning from latitude 55° north, and including the

pacities, passports for seven years. Serfs apd house-servants will only be
cinpldvcd by the company with the consent of their landholders, and govern-
ment taxes will be paid for all serfs thus employed.

'VII. Though it is forbidden by our highest order to cut government
timber Anywhere without the permission of the college of admiralty, this com-
pany is hernhy permitted, on account of the distance of the admiralty from
0!:hot3k, when it needs timber for repairs, and occasionally for tlic construc-
tion of new ships, to use freely such timber as is required.

' VIII. For shooting animals, for marine signals, and on all unexpected
emergencies on the mainland of America and on the islands, the company is
permitted to buy for cash, at cost price, from the government artillery niag-
a::ine at Irkutsk yearly 40 or 50 pouds of powder, and from the Nertchinsk
mine 200 pouds of lead.

' IX. If one of the partners of the company becomes indebted to the gov-
ernment or to private persons, and is not in a condition to pay them from any
o-hcr property except what he holds in the company, such property cannot
be seized for '.he satisfaction of such debts, but the debtor shall not be per-
mitted to use anything but the interest or dividends of such property until
the term of tlie company's privileges expires, when it will be at his or his
creditors' disposal.

' X. The exclusive right most graciously granted to the company for a
peril id of 20 years, to u&e and enjoy, in the abpve-described extent of country
and islands, all profits and advantages derived from hunting, trade, indiis-
tri-^s, fin<l discovery of new lands, prohibiting the enjoyment of these profits
and advantages not only to those who would wish to sail to those countries
on their own account, but to all former hunters and trappers who have been
cuga^'cd in this trade, and have their vessels and furs at those places; and
o'.lier companies which may have been formed will not be allowed to con-
tinue tlieir business unless they unite with the present company with their
free consent; but such privr.te companies or traders as have tlieir vessels in
those regions can cither sell tlieir property, or, with the company's consent,
remain until they have obtained a cargo, but no longer than is required for
the loading and return of their vessel; and after that nobody will have any
privileges but this one company, which will be protected in the enjoyment of
all the advantages mentioned.

'XI. Under our highest protection, the Russian American Company will
have full control over all above-mentioned localities, and exercise juilicial
powers in minor cases. The company will also be permitted to use .ill local
facilities for fortifications in the defence of the country under their control
against foreign attacks. Only partners of the company shall be employed in
tiio administration of the new possessions in charge of the company.

'In conclusion of this our most gracious order for the benefit of the l!tis-
sian American Company under highest protection, we enjoin all our mili-
tary and civil authorites in the above-mentioned localities not only not to
prevent them from enjoying to the fullest extent the privileges granted liy
us, but in case of need to protect them with all their power from loss or
injury, and to render them, upon application of the company's authorities, all
necessary aid, assistance, and protection. To give eft'cct to this our must
cracious order, wo subscribe it with our own hand and give orders to conlirm
It with our imperial seal. Given at St Petersburg, in the year after the birth
of Cli.-ist 1799, the 27th day of December, in the fourth year of our reijn.

•I'am."

Then r'ollows a copy of the company's rules and regulations, for wiiicli the
emjicrov's nnproval was solicited before the oukaz was granted. At the
beginning of them is written in the emperor's own handwriting, <Be it thus.'

ORGANIZATION.

881

chain of islands extending from Kamchatka north-
ward to America and southward to Japan ; the exclu-
sive right to all enterprises, whether hunting, trading,
or building, and to new discoveries, with strict prohi-
bition from profiting by any of these pursuits, not
only to all parties who might engage in them on their
own responsibility, but also to those who formerly
had ships and establishments there, except those who
have united with the new company." All who refused
to join the company, and had capital invested in fur
adventures, were allowed to carry on their business
only until their vessels returned to port.*

In addition to the original capital, a further issue of
one thousand shares was authorized; but it was for-
bidden that foreigners should be allowed to invest in
the enterprise. Subscriptions flowed in rapidly, and
the entire amount was quickly absorbed, most of it
probably in St Petersburg; for by oukaz of October
19, 1800, it was ordered that the headquarters of the
company, which had formerly been at Irkutsk, should
be transferred to that city. Two years later, the em-
peror, empress, and Grand Duke Constantino each sub-
scribed for twenty shares, giving directions that the

* All the private trading and hunting parties in existence at the end of the
eighteenth century were merged into the Russian American Company, and
80 far as is known, with little difficulty. Politoffsky differs materially in his
description of the privileges granted by Paul I. to the Russiau American
Company. First of all, he says they were conferred on the 8th of July, 1790,
while Dall, who follows Tikhmenef closely, though with frequent blunders,
gives Juno 8, 1799, as the date. According to tlie fonntr authority, 'the
company was empowered to make discoveries not only above latitude 5.")°
north, but also south of that parallel, and to incorporate the lands thus dis-
covered with the Russian possessions, provided that iio other power had prc-
> iously seized them or established a claim to them. It was empowered to
establish settlements wherever it was most convenient for its business, or
most advantageous to the country at large, and also to erect fortifications for
the protection of the inhabitants, and to make voyages to all neighboring
lands and nations, and maintain commercial intercourse with all surrounding
powers, with their free consent and under permissiim of the emperor. All
the locations selected as sites for settlements by the general administration
for business purposes were to be respected as such. In conclusion, all mili-
tary or civil authorities stationed at those places were enjoined, not only to
throw no obstacle in the way of enjoyment of all the rights and privileges
granted, but also to endeavor, as far as was in their power, to protect tlio
eonipany against loss or injury, and to offer in this intercourse with tlie coni-
^ny's officers every assistance, protection, and means of defence.' Itlor. Oboa.,
no«s. Amerik Kom., 4-8.

882

THE RUSSIAU AMERICAN COMPANY.

dividends be devoted to charity. The company was
allowed to engage all classes of free labor, and to em-
ploy serfs with the consent of their masters;' but
nothing was mentioned in the text of the oukaz of
1799 as to the obligations of the company in relation
to the native inhabitants. The only regulations on
this subject are contained in the first paragraph of the
act of consolidation, in which "the company binds
itself," to quote the words of the report once more,
"to maintam a mission of the Grseco-Catholic church
in America, members of which were to accompany all
trading and hunting expeditions, and voyages of dis-
covery which were likely to bring them in contact
with known or unknown tribes, and to use every en-
deavor to christianize them and encourage their alle-
giance to Russia. They were to use efforts to promote
ship-building and domestic industries on the part of
Russian settlers who might take possession of unin-
habited lands, as well as to encourage the introduc-
tion of agriculture and cattle-breeding on the American
islands and continent. They were also to keep con-
stantly in view the maintenance of friendly relations
with the Americans and islanders, employing them at
their establishments and engaging in trade with thera."
Thus was the famous Russian American Company
established on a firm basis, and little did Shelikof
dream, when representing an obscure company of Si-
berian merchants he founded on the island of Kadiak
the village of Three Saints, that he was laying the basis
of a monopoly which was destined, as we shall see later,
to hold sway over a territory almost as vast as was
then the European domain of the tzar.' As yet, how-

' After Shelikofs deceaae, his widow, being possesaed of a small estate in
Russia, petitioned Count Zubof, one of the emperor's ministers, for permission
to transfer the serfs upon her estate to Alaska, to form there the nucleus of
au agricultural settlement. At the same time she entered into correspond-
ence with the metropolitans of Moscow and Novgorod, »>nd other church dig-
nitaries, on the subject of missionary enterprise in the new colonies, and thus
secured their assistance in furthering the plans of th» -lompany. Count Zu-
bof not only granted the request, but offered to senc' ) additional force of a
hundred serfs from crown lands in Siberia for the saui:^ purpose.

* In 1821, when the charter of the company was renewed, a^ will be men-

T was
:) em-
» but
:az of
lation
ms on
of the

binds

more,
shurch
any all
of' dis-
contact
ery en-
eir allc-
)romoto
part of
of unin-
itrodue-
.merican

jep con-
relations

them at
htheni."
Company
Shelikof
ly of Si-
' Kadiak

the basis

see later,
it as was

yet, how-

mall estate in
[or permission
lie nucleus of
,0 correspoDd-
er church dig-
miea, and thus

J, Count i^u-
onal force of »

SUBJECTION OF THE NATIVES. 383

ever, the boundaries of this territory were not clearly
defined, and its inhabitants were for the most part un-
subdued. The Aleuts were indeed held in subjection,
but none of the warlike tribes that peopled the penin-
sula and the adjoining continent had yet been con-
quered. The Russian colonies at Yakutat and else-
where on the mainland were constantly threatened,
and, as will presently be described, a settlement that
was founded about this time near the site where now
stands the capital of Alaska was attacked and de-
stroyed by savages.

tioiied in its place, the emperor issued a onkaz, in which the whole north west
coast of America north of 61* v'as declared Bussiaa territory.

■^^ ;

4 ,.

I ;f 'f

»/:««.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE FOUNDING OP SITKA.

1798-1801.

Basaitot's DnrricnLTiKS and Despondenot — Sick and Hopeless — Arrival
OF THE ' Elizaveta' — An Expedition Saii^ for Norfolk Sound—
Loss of Canoes — The Party Attacked by Kolosh— Treaty with tub
SiTKANs — Yankee Visitors — A Fort Erected — The Yakutat Bay
Settlement — Baranof Desires to be Relieved — His Official Tour
of the Colonies — The Chief Manager's Piety — His Complaints op
Foreign Encroachments — British Aggressiveness.

The news of the final organization of the Russian
American Company, the granting of its privileges
by the emperor, and of his own appointment as chief
manager, reached Baranof at a time when he was
plunged in despondency. Nearly every undertakin;^
of the preceding seasons had failed. He had lost
numbers of men, both Russians and natives, during,'
the long voyages to distant hunting-grounds. A
spirit of revolt was still alive, especially among those
who had transferred their allegiance from former o\)-
pressors. At every point eastward of Kadiak wheie
he had endeavored to open trade he had found iiini-
self forestalled by English and American ships, which
had raised the prices of skins almost beyond his lim-
ited means. In his attempts to hunt with his Aleuts,
he had also been unfortunate, whole parties having
been surprised and slaughtered by the warlike Thhii-
keets. One of his sloops built at Voskressenski Bay
foundered during her first voyage, while others had
been injured on the shoals lining the mouth of Cojiper
River, and he had just returned to Pavlovsk, in tlie

HARD TIMES AND RELIEF. 380

damaged sloop Olga, intending to repair the vessels
as best he might, in order to carry out during the fol-
lowing spring his cherished plan of locating a perma,-
ent settlement in the vicinity of Norfolk Sound. ^

He landed, suffering the agonies of inflammatory
rheumatism and depressed in spirit, only to meet with
upbraidings and complaints on the part of his subor-
dinates, who were on short rations, owing to the non-
arrival of the supply-ship. Certain leaders of the
malecontents openly refused obedience unless provis-
ions were first given them. Sick and dejected, he
was unable to address them as he was wont to do,
and retired to his wretched little cabin and to bed,
when a little later the cry was heard, "A ship in
the offing!" Once more inspired with life and hope,
the sick man rose from his couch and climbed thp
mountain overlooking the settlement of St Paul. It
was true; a large vessel, the brigantine Elizaveta,
commanded by Bocharof, was standing in under full
sail, and soon was lying at anchor in the roadstead,
with Baranof on board. She had sailed from Okhotsk
the preceding autumn, and had wintered on one of
the westernmost Aleutian Isles, where the passen-
gers and crew had lived on what they could gather ;
80 that the cargo remained intact, and plenty reigned
once more in the half-famished settlement. Fifty-
two laborers and mechanics were now added to Baii"-
anof's force; and though the season was far advance^,
a small party was at once despatched to Prince Will-
iam Sound to complete another sloop.

The winter of 1798-9 was passed by the colonists
at Kadiak in cheerful content, for they were busy in
preparing for the great movement to the eastward in
the following spring, and the letters written by Bar-

' The immediate causes for the founding of this settlement were the de-
crease in fur-bearing animals on the islands to the west, and the discovery of
large numbers of sea-otter on the straits and sounds adjoining the nuiinland.
Moreover, to incorporate with Russia the whole of north-western Ameiica,
snd to prevent other nations from establishing a trade with the natives, waa
tlio unvarying policy of Baranof. Liiike, in MatericUui, iv. 149.
Hist. Alaika. 26

I:'

l>*i

a;i

I.—

SS6

THE FOUNDING OP SITKA.

anof at this juncture bear evidence of his confidence.
Early in March the new sloop Konstantin arrived
at Kadiak from Prince William Sound, and was suj)-
plied with sails and rigging from the stores brought
By Bocharof On the 10th of April, Baranof set sail
with the two vessels, manned by twenty-two Russians
and accompanied by a fleet of nearly two hundred
canoes. The course was along the coast of the Kenai
peninsula to Prince William Sound, where the exnc-
dition was joined by Baranofs most trusted assis*-
Kuskof, with one hundred and fifty additional a
which had wintered on Nuchek Island.

Misfortune attended Baranofs enterprise from its
inception. On the 2d of May, while weathering Capo
Suckling on the coast opposite Kayak, thirty of the
canoes, containing two men each, were swallowed by
the heavy seas into which even a moderate breeze
raises these shallow waters. In a letter to his friend
Delarof, Baranof tells of his further troubles : " While
we were still mourning the loss of our hunters, night
came on, and as I saw further indications of storm, I
ordered all the canoes to make for the shore, accom-
panying them in person in my own bidarka. In tlic
darkness we underestimated the distance, and wlien
at last we reached the sandy beach, exhausted from
continued paddling, we threw ourselves upon the sand
overshadowed by dense forests. No sooner had we
closed our eyes, than the dreaded war-cry of the Ko-
losh brought us again to our feet. The greatest con-
sternation prevailed among the naturally timid Aleuts,
who were filled with such dread of the well-known
enemy as to think it useless to make any resistance.
Many of them rushed into the forest, into the very
hands of their assailants, instead of launching tlicir
canoes and putting to sea. I had only two Russians
with me, and we fired our guns into the darkness
wherever the cries of the Kolosh were loudest; but
when our ammunition was expended, we did not know
what execution we had done. A few of the native

A nOHT WITH THE K0L08H.

387

from it3

ig Cape

r of the

)W'ed by

e breeze

118 friend
'« While

jrs, nigbt

I storm, I

e, accom-
In the

and wiien
jted frow
1 the sand
er had we
)f the Ko-
•atest con-
lid Aleuts,
yell-known
resistance.
o the very
•hing their
o Bussians
e darkness
,udest; but
1 not know
the native

hunters who had been presented with fowling-pieces
also made a feeble show of resistance; but what saved
us from total destruction was the intervening darkness,
which prevented our assailants from distinguishing
friends from enemies. After an unequal contest, last-
ing over an hour, the Kolosh retired to the woods,
while I and my assistants endeavored to rally our
scattered men. By shouting to them in tl ; Aleutian
tongue, we succeeded in gathering the survivors, still
hidden in the woods and among the driftwood lining
the shore, and before morning departed from the in-
hospitable beach, leaving thirteen canoes, the owners
of which had been killed or carried into captivity.
The rising sun showed us the sloops in the offing, and
we lost no time in seeking their welcome protection."

This attack by the natives, added to the loss at sea,
had so reduced the force, that Kuskof advised a return
to Prince William Sound; but Baranof was not to be
thus thwarted. He pressed forward, travelling along
the coast, chiefly by night, and daring to camp only
on prominent points, where there was least danger of
surprise. At last, on the 25th, the expedition en-
tered the sheltered basin of Norfolk, or Sitka Sound.
The towering heights were still covered with snow,
almost to the water's edge, and the weather was
stormy; rain, snow, and sleet alternating with furious
gusts of wind. The landing was accomplished at a
point still known as Old Sitka, about six miles north
of the present town of that name. A large crowd of
natives had assembled to watch the movements of the
new-comers. A Sitkan chief, Katleut, or Katlean
whom Kuskof had met during his hunting expedition
of the preceding summer, approached Baranof and
demanded to know his intentions, telling him at the
same time that a Boston ship was anchored a short
distance to the southward, and that her captain had
purchased many skins.

Baranof replied in a lengthy harangue, reciting the
long-stereotyped European falsehood, that the em-

liWll

--J,

Wi'^'^

<t88

THE FOUNDING OF SITKA.

peror of all the Russias, who was the lord of that
country, had sent him to establish a settlement for
trade, and to assure his new subjects of his fatherly
care and protection. At the same time he asked for
the grant of a small piece of ground for the erection
of buildings, and for which he offered to pay in beads
and other trading goods. The barter was concluded,
and Katleut even asserted that he could force the
other chiefs into the agreement. A few hours after-
ward the sound of Russian axes was heard in the
virgin forest, the crash of failing timber was echoed
from the sides of Verstovoi, and all was bustle and
high determination. The site bordered a shallow
stream alive with salmon. One half of the company
were employed in building, while the remainder were
sent to hunt sea-otter in the vicinity. On the follow-
ing day the chief manager received a visit from the
Boston ship, which proved to be the Caroline, in
charge of Captain Cleveland, who stated that he had
only ten men before the mast, and that on account of
the fierce character of the natives he had found it
necessar}'^ to take great precautions. He had placed
a screen of hides round the ship with the exception of
the stern, whence trade was carried on with the na-
tives,^ who could not see the deck, or know how few
men he had. Two pieces of cannon were placed in
position and on the taffrail was a pair of blunderbusses
•on swivels.

The savages who then inhabited the neighborhood
of Norfolk Sound were among the most treacherous
and repulsive of all the AJaskan tribes. "A more
hideous set of beings in the form of men and women,"

* Cleveland states that on the first day he bought 100 skins at the cheap
fate of two yards of broadcloth per skin. On the second day he ri'.-oliascil
200. During his Hta- at Norfolk Sound the natives made several attempts to
capture the vessel. Voy., i. 92-5 (Boston ed., 1850). On one occasion a na-
tive dressed in a bear-skin came down to the beach, on all fours, iinittitiDg
the movements of the animal, in order to decoy the crew on shore, wliile an
•nned party lay in ambush close by. A boat was lowered to tako pomo of
the men in pursuitof the bear, butone of the ambushed party exposed himself,
and that gave the alarm. Id., i. 105.

Frar
Russi

little

Three

now

"Trui

arise, I

much I

hand.sl

cover [

Se^

inif

'Bard

View to 1

•easoii

' FEARS OF SPAIN.

writes the captain, "I had never before seen. The
fantastic manner in which many of the faces of the
men were painted was probably intended to give^
them a ferocious appearance ; and some groups looked
really as if they had escaped from the dominions
of Satan himself. One had a perpendicular line
dividing the two sides of the face, one side of
which was painted red, the other black; with the hair
daubed with grease and red ochre, and filled with the,
down of birds. Another had the face divided with a
horizontal line in the middle, and painted black and
white. The visage of a third was painted in checkers,
etc. Most of them had little mirrors; before the ac-
quisition of which they must have been dependent
on each other for those correct touches of the pencil
wliich are so much in vogue, and which daily require
more time than the toilet of a Parisian belle." '

From the ship Enterprise, which arrived at Kadiak
from New York' on the 24th of April, 1800, the chief
manager heard that hostilities had broken out in
Europe, that Spain had formed an alliance with
France, and that a Spanish frigate was to be sent to
Russian America. The news was received with no
little anxiety. At this time all the storehouses at
Three Saints were full of choice furs, which Baranof
now caused to be concealed in the adjacent islands.;
"Truly," he writes, "if the terrible emergency should
arise, and the enemy come upon us, they cannot take
much more than our lives, and these are in God's
hands. It would take more than mortal eyes to dis-
cover where our precious skins are concealed."*

Several other American vessels, among them the
brig Eliza, under Captain Rowan, visited the bay dur-
ing the summer, and absorbed the trade, while thei

• Baranof purchased from her captain a quantity of goods, partly with a
vic'.y to prevent him from trading with the natives, and partly because tho
Ffiiiki being now >{iven up for lost, no supplies could be expected for that
•eason. Khkbiiikof, Shizn. Daranova, 03-4. ,

5:-T15^

i; w

^^11

''MH §■

'-':'«i^H 1^1

'I^^BI

i.-!(^l ^1

MM^^H ^^1

'it:'',]^^H ^KM

390

THE FOUNDING OP SITKA.

RussianiS wete preparing to occupr ' 3 field in the
future. During the preceding win ' the relations
between the colonista and the natives had h^en peace-
able, but there was much suffering on account of
insufficient food and shelter. A fort was erected, and
named after the archangel Michael,^ in "the hope that
the great champion of the Lord would protect the
promyshleniki ," nevertheless, soon after the estab-
fishiiient of the settlement misfortune again reduced
Baranof 's force. On the 18th of July, he received
news from an Aleutian party which had camped for
the night on the tortuous passage connecting Norfolk
Sound with Chatham Strait, that a number of the
men had died from eating poisonous mussels. The
passage was thereafter named Pogibshie, or Destruc-
tion Strait, which name has subsequently been changed
by Americans to Peril Strait.

While Baranof was thus engaged in establishing his
new colony, a block-house and stockade had been
built by Polomoshnoi at Yakutat, or Bering Bay, for
the reception of the Siberian convicts, or agricultural
settlers, as they were called. The site for this settle-
ment had been chosen by mistake. After his first
visit to Prince William Sound, Baranof had recom-
mended the country bordering on Comptroller Bay as
probably adapted to agricultural pursuits. Cape Suck-
ling, the western point of this bay, had been erroneously
called Cape St Elias, the name applied to the south

•In a letter to Rodianof, agent at Nuchek, dated May 14, 1800, Baranof
writes: ' We enjoyed good health and fair success during our winter there,
and though we had some difficulties with the people, we finally establislied
friendly intercourse with them. I resolved to establish a permanent settle-
ment, and at once set to work to erect the necessary buildings, one of wliicli
was a two-story structure, 8 fathoms long and 4 wide, protected on all
sides by palisades and two strong block-houses or towers. Another buiMing
I hod putupfoi myself and future commanders, with the necessary accom-
modation for servants and officers, and there I have lived from the middlo of
February to the present date. A small temporary bath-house had been
erected, wherein I passed the first part of the winter, a shed and sleeping-
fooma for the members of the party, a blacksmith's shop, and temporary
kitchen. One fortified block-house is not quite finished, while two otlien
have been only just begun. Tlio men hero number 25 Rusaiana »Ld 55 Aleu-
tian hunters.' Tikhmen^', lator. Obos., ii. app. part ii. 131.

YAKUTAT SETTLEMENT.

891

point of Kayak Island by Bering, and in his recom-
mendation Baranof spoke of the country about Capei
St Ehas. Subsequently the bay of Yakutat had
been visited by Purtof and Kuskof ; and as this aflfords
the only good harbor on that part of the coast, and
is overshadowed by the peak of St Elias, the pro-
posed settlement had been located there in a deso-
late region of ice and rock, entirely unfit for occupation
by man. Polomoshnoi only obeyed orders in locating
the block-house there, but as soon as the buildings
were completed, he returned to Kadiak to remonstrate
against any attempts at founding an agricultural
colony in such a place. He was ordered back, how-

^t>

Yakdtat Bay Skttlement,

ever, by Baranof's representative, and sailed for hig
destination on the brig Orel, laden with provisions for
the new settlement, in charge of Talin, a naval officer
in the service of the company, but one who, like all of
his profession, was little disposed to heed the chief
manager's instructions, and when his vessel was lying
in Norfolk Sound had threatened to hang Baranof
from the mast-head if he dared to show himself on
board. While beating against head winds, the ship
was wrecked on the island of Sukluk (Montague),
and Polomoshnoi, with five men, perished.'

• Four hundred sea-otter skins, valued at 22,000 roubles, were lost on thU
ocatsiou, iu addition to the rig.3ing and anchors and ship'p rttt^i. Talin h<ul

3b2

THE FOUNDING OF SITKA.

• From other parts of the country news of dis-
aster had also reached Baranof. The year before his
departure for Norfolk Sound he had been informed
that two of the company's establishments, at Ilyamna
lind Kadiak, had been surprised, and all the Russians
stationed there, twenty-one in number, massacred.
The outbreak appears to have been caused, as usual,
by the cruelty of the settlers, for all the native ser-
vants were spared.

' Notwithstanding occasional misfortunes, Baranof's
management of the affairs of the company appears to
have met with the approval of most of the directors,

been from the beginnine overbearing and insolent in his intercourse with
Baranof, whom he considered as a mere hwpetz, or trader, far beneatli him
in sociul rank. It grated upon his aristocratic sensibilities to receive orders
from such a man, and acting in this spirit, he seized upon every opportunity to
evade obedience and raise obstacles.

In order to show the unfortunate relations existingbetween the naval gentle-
man and Baranof, and also the character of the latter, I will copy here portions
of a letter written by him to Lieutenant Talin, dated in May 1799: ' Giacious
Sir: In your communication to me, you are pleased to ask why I meddle with
nautical afifairs. Do you refuse to follow my instructions because I am a mei-
ehant? Does it compromise your honor, as an officer and gentleman, to
execute the company's wishes when expressed through me ? If such be the
case, I must inform you that the managing partners of the company, Golikof
and Shelikof, have intrusted the management of all its colonial affairs, includ-
ing navigation, to me ever since the year 1790; and since then I have fre-
quently been honored by direct instructions from the government, both public
and secret, the execution of which was always left to me alone; and therefore
all the navigators in the service of the coaipany were under my orders. For
proof of this, I refer you to a secret order, dated xiugust 14, 1790, under No.
19, of which I send you a copy to keep for your own use. The last commu-
nication on this subject is dated May 1797, and speaks also of you, dear sir, aud
the navigators in our service, and of your position with regard to the company
in the following terms: "One of the partners of the company, Ivan Lariouff,
asked the late empress Ekaterina Alexeievna, of blessed memory, to furuisli
the company with a number of naval officers, in view of the importance of tlie
company's voyages of discovery, and the difficulty of navigating these north -
em seas without thoroughly trained and experienced navigators, promising
to sucii officers twice the salary which they rece'ved from the government.
This petition was approved by our august monarch, Emperor Pavl Petro\ich,
who liad succeeded to the throne in the mean time. Though these officers rc-
niaiii in the imperial service, they were ordered to obey all commands luid
regulations of the company as strictly and punctually as if proceeding from
their niilitary commanders; and it is the will of our august monarch that tlicy
should conform in every respect wi*-h the arrangements made by the company,
bo it during expeditions for special purposes or on voyages oi discovery .lud
exploration."

' In transmitting and presenting to you these orders and instructions with
regard to the extent of my power and responsibility in these matters, I Kavo
you entirely free to follow or not to follow my instructions witli regard

BARAN0F3 TROUBLES.

393

though he himself was dissatisfied with his position.
In answer to a letter from Larionof, in 1799, he re-
marks: " The lowest and most insignificant official in
the service of the company pretends to know more
about the business of this section than its head, and
expresses his opinion on everything. They write
about us, but nobody ever thinks of asking, How do
they live there, and what are they doing?" When
writing to his friend Delarof, he mentions that he had
never failed to earn for the shareholders a dividend,
and that its amount for 1795 was 22,000 roubles. He
also refers to his request to the managers of the com-

to this voyage, which is of the greatest importance, not only to the com-
pany, but to the country at large. If you do not obey, I cannot compel
you; but you will be kind enough to send me a written refusal and copies of
my other letters relatiug to this subject, in order to enable me to take other
measures which the interests of the company immediately require. As for
tiic charts and journals which you think it superfluous to prepare and keep,
I had already the honor to mention in my first communication that they are
considered indispensable in the company's office. You cannot but acknowl-
edge that in the science of practical navigation I have never attempted to
interfere with you, but have only made you acquainted, where it was neces-
sary, with the views of the company and of the government in regard to
certain voyages of discovery to be made during the present summer; and it
it insults your honor to receive such information through the mouth of a
merchant, a class of people whom you consider as far beneath you, I can only
be sorry that I am prevented from giving you the satisfaction which you per-
haps desire, on account of being neither in the military nor the naval service
of the government, and not even holding any civil position or rank. At the
same time, I take the liberty of informing you that we are a company of
merchants, accustomed to commercial usages only, and exacting business-like
behavior on the part of our servants. If you really had no idea of this on
ludving the admiralty college, you certainly cannot have failed to under-
stand the cl)p;acter of our enterprise when siraing the mutual agreement
before the commanding officer at Okhotsk, and liave had every opportunity
of acquainting yourself with the nature of your engagement during yonr
paiisage on the Feniks and on the Orel. Now that you are navigating one of
i"ir vessels on the coast of America, you have no choice but either to obey
cur instructions (even though it come from a person without official rank),
or to give up the whole business and revoke the contract. The arrangements
concerning your entrance into our service were made by higher authorities
than yours or mine, and how the proposal to revoke them would be received
by them I cannot tell. In conclusion, 1 would ask you again either to send
me a peremptory written refusal, or to comply with the instructions drawn up
by mo, in conformity with the views of the government and of the managing
partiicr.s of the company. Hoping that you will soon honor me with a com-
munication on this subject, I remain witli due respect, dear sir, your honor's
oliedient servant, Alexander Baranof.' Id., ii. app. part ii. 125-30. This
letter, so polite and yet so brimming with satire, affords us another insight
into the mind of the ' common trader,' despised by his military or naval sub-
onliiiatcs. The allusion to his regrets at being unable to give Talin the 'sat-
isfaction of a gentleman ' is especially pertinent, coming from one as brave as
Barauof was known to be.

»M

1 '■ i L

1.1 1

^^hf

:s|

\i-.<

III

894

THE FOUNDING OF SITBLA.

I Hi

pany to send from Russia some one to relieve him.
As we shall see, this request was repeated several
times during a period of nearly twenty years before a
successor finally reached the colonies, though two were
appointed meanwhile, but were shipwrecked on the
way. There can ')e no doubt that the chief cause of
his dissatisfaction was the unpleasant relations with
the naval officers and the intrigues of the mission-
aries, though his failing health and the condition of
his finances were additional reasons.^

Believing the Sitka settlement to be now firmly
established and safe from hostile attacks, Baranof re-
turned to Kadiak in the autumn of 1800. But prior
to his return he made an official visit to various set-
tlements, an account of which I give in his own words.

Writing to Larionof, the agent at Unalaska, in July
of this year, he says: "On Kenai Bay at Ilyarana
Lake the rebellious tribes have killed three of our
men since Lebedefs people departed. Our establisli-
ments on the gulf of Kenai have been broken up three
times, and a conspiracy has been discovered to destroy
all places occupied by Russians, and to kill them as
well as the natives of Kadiak in their employ; and
we have not been able as yet entirely to suppress the
spirit of rebellion. But the saddest news of all, and
the most disastrous to us, is of the wreck of the Feniks,

' His pecuniary affairs at this time were in an nnsatisfactory state. ' Of
9,000 roubles which I liad left in the hands of Kretcheotzaif,' he writes, 'only
one half has been returned, and I have met with losses in other quarters. If
I were to return to Siberia now, I would not be a rouble better on than I was
when I came to this country. The ^lass factory in Irkutsk in which I had in-
vested 4,000 roubles has fallen into decay, and the stock gone into possession of
my former partner, Lackman. I inquired concerning the sale of the property
of my late wife, but never received an answer. This is the way, my friend, all
the little property I had, and left in charge of my wife and friends, has boeii
scattered. Some of it has been absorbed dv unjust claims advanced by 8iiar-
ikof and Lebedef. For this reason it would be advisable that I should return
hence before I am left entirely destitute in my old age. But unfortunatuly,
the shareholders have paid no attention to my denmnd for a successor, aud
I cannot conscientiously abandon my ]>osition and duties without leaving some
one in my place, as such action might involve the company in inextricable
difficulties. For the pro|)er management of affairs here, a man in the ])i'iiiie
of life, in the enjoyment of full health and all his faculties, is required, and not
a person worn out with hardship and fatigue, and with a temper soured by
adveraity.'

THE DIRECTOR'S TRAVELS.

9»

and the loss of the whole cargo and all on board.
For two months portions of the wreck have been cast
on the beach in various localities, but the exact place
of the disaster remains unknown.

" I set out in person in July, first for the gulf of Ke-
nai, to subdue the rebellious tribes, and the remnant
of the Lebedef Company, who had killed over a hun-
dred people between them, and had divided them-
selves into several bands of robbers. Man^^ of them
threatened our men on the Kaknu River, which sta-
tion they had occupied after the breaking-up of the
Lebedef Company, but fortunately the leaders of the
conspiracy dispersed upon my arrival, and though the
combination was not entirely dissolved, I succeeded
in obtaining several hostages for the safety of our
agent in command, Vassili Malakhof, but in the more
distant settlements there is still a strong inclination
to warfare and plunder. I remained there until the
15th of August, making necessary arrangements to in-
sure the safety of the place by strengthening its for-
tifications. I also selected a more convenient site for
the fort, made a plan in accordance witl. he local
facilities, and left its execution to the agent Malakhof;
and after collecting all the furs at the station, consist-
ing chiefly of those of small land-animals, I proceeded
to Fort Alexandroffsk at the entrance of the gulf.
Here I furnished the agent Ostrogin with further in-
structions, and sailed again on the 30th of August,
shaping my course for the redoubt at Voskressenski
Bay. Thence I proceeded to Nuchek Island, where I
made a searching investigation of everything, and es-
tablished the fort St Konstantin upon a new site.
I also had several interviews with the natives, and
placed my assistant Kuskof in command of that re-
gion."

"Concerning the new settlement at Sitka," the man-
ager says, for I cannot do better than permit him
to continue his story, "I thought there would be
no danger with proper protection from the larger

hai

«v

<r,s

390

THE FOUNDING OF SITKA.

vessels, though the natives there possess large quan-
tities of fire-arms and all kinds of ammunition, receiv-
ing new supplies annually from the English and
from the republicans of Boston and America, whose
object is not permanent settlement on these shores,
but who have been in the habit of making trading
trips to these regions. It is to be hoped that the
fruits of the discoveries of Russian navigators may
not be enjoyed by European or other companies, de-
priving us of our hard-earned advantages. I trust
that God in his justice will allow us to enjoy the
fruits of our enterprise, and as, with his help, I, an
ignorant subject, have been able to add something to
the vast dominion of his imperial Majesty, we must
hope that we shall find the means to preserve our new
possessions intact, and make them profitable.

"At the settlement of Yakutat I found nothing but
trouble and disorder in every department. This was
partly owing to the old difficulties between Polomosh-
noi^ and your brother Stepan, who was appointed
assistant manager in 1796. During the first winter
thirteen of the twenty-five hunters and seven of the
settlers died of scurvy, besides women and children.
Polomoshnoi had written a whole ream of trash and
nonsense which he forwarded to Kadiak, the whole
report containing only what one settler had said of
another, what the settlers had said of the hunters, and
the threats made by the latter against his life. In
cc nclusion, he asked to be relieved. The wish was com-
plied with, and Nikolai Moukhin, who was thought
to possess considerable administrative ability, was sent
as his substitute. I had all the property forwarded
to Yakutat on behalf of the settlers transferred to hiui,
though it was almost impossible to obtain any clear
statement with regard to it from the confused mass ot
papers left by Polomoshnoi. His reports spoke of
many acts of cruelty and abuse committed by the
hunters, and he had even gone so far as to appoint a

* Boranof bad not yet beard of Polomosbnoi's death.

BARANOF'S LETTERS.

307

commission to investigate the charges; but as the mem-
bers of the commission were all ignorant settlers who
were interested in the case, they did nothing beyond
getting up a voluminous pile of testimony v;hich
amounts to nothing but empty words. Several times
I was on the point of solving all difficulties by dis-
banding the settlement; but better thoughts prevailed,
and remembering the importance of the success of
this experiment to the company and to the country
at large, I did my best to restore order and reconcile
the parties involved.

"The tribes living in the vicinity of our Sitka set-
tlement at first met us in a very friendly manner, but
of late they have displayed some distrust, and when
our men had formed a procession during holy week in
honor of the emperor, they thought we were preparing
for a fight, and seized our interpreter, who happened
to be in the native village. The procession was con-
ducted with great solemnity and pomp, and after it
had been disbanded, our men went through some mil-
itary evolutions, all of which had been witnessed by the
chiefs of the savages, who listened frowningly to our
discharges of musketry and artillery; but all this dis-
play did not induce them to give up the interpreter,
and some property which they had stolen; and I found
it necessary to assure them that we were not afraid of
them. Therefore, on the third day I proceeded to the
principal village with twenty-two men, landed fear-
lessly on the beach, and placed two small cannon in
front of their houses. Over three hundred armed men
surrounded U5, but we marched directly to the house
where the prisoner was reported to be. We fired a few
blank volleys to keep the crowd in awe, and seized a
few men who seemed inclined to oflfer resistance. Our
determined attitude held the people in check, and
when we had accomplished our object and released the
prisoner, they began to ridicule the affair, bandying
words with our men, and offering them food. I re-
joiced in having accomplished my end without blood-

< S #5

i 31

h'i

I!1^H

SM THE FOUNDING OP SITKA.

shed, and made up my mind not to allow the slightest
offence on their part to pass unnoticed in the future."

The admixture of busmess and piety in this despatch
is somewhat noteworthy. "With Grod's help," he
writes, "our men killed 40 sea-lions and 150 seals
during the winter." Speaking of the hunter Mikhail,
whom he had ordered to travel around Kadiak "for
the purpose of taking a census of that island, and to
make presents to the leading men among the Aleuts
of tobacco and other trifles," he remarks, " I thought
this course of action best, in view of the misfortune
which had happened last year, as I wrote to you
from Sitka; and with God's help, he succeeded so well
in his mission that the necessary number of men were
obtained in all districts, from the first to the last, even
to bird-hunting parties."

Again, in a letter to Larionof, dated March 22,
1801, the chief manager thus expresses his gratitude:
" The All-creator of the world, in his infinite mercy,
has overlooked and forgiven our sins, and tempered
the cruel blows of misfortune with success in sea-otter
hunting. In the three years which have elapsed
since the arrival of the last transport, we have col-
lected over 4,000 skins of sea-otters — males, females,
and yearlings, besides cubs. The skins secured at
Nuchek and Sitka will probably amount to nearly
4,000, with the help of God. On the other hand, the
trappers have had but little success, on account of the
unfavorable weather during the winter; and, as you
see from the statement, only 1,500 skins were obtained
from that source, while in former years from 2,000
to 2,500 was the average number."'

Baranof 's complaints of foreign encroachment ap-
pear to have been well grounded. Within a few
leagues of Sitka the captains of three Boston ships
secured 2,000 skins, though paying very high prices,
each one trying to outbid the other. For a sin-

•In 1800 the skins obtained from Sitka amounted to 2,600, and for the
wliole colony to 3,500. Khkhnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 62.

AMEEICANS AND ENGLISHMEN.

800

[itest
ure.
jatch
," he
seals
khail,
: "for
ind to
Ueuts
ought
)rtune
o you
ao well
n were
,t, even

•ch 22,
ttitude ;
mercy,
■mpered
ea-otter
elapsed
ive col-
males,
ured at
nearly
and, the
ntofthe
, as you
obtained
m 2,000

nent ap-
a few
^on ships
rh prices,
ir a sin-

), and for the

gle skin they gave cloth worth twenty-eight roubles,
or three coats of frieze lined with cotton. In
the same neighborhood two skins were formerly
bartered for cloth valued at ten and a half roubles.
" The Americans," writes the chief manager, " who
have been acquainted with these tribes for two or
three years, and have sent from six to eight ships
each year, speak of the trade as follows : * The Amer-
ican republic is greatly in need of Chinese goods, the
Chinese teas, the various silk materials and other
products of that country, which had formerly to be
purchased for coin, the Spanish silver dollar exclu-
sively, but since these shores have been discovered,
Avith their abundance of furs, they were no longer
obliged to take coin with them, but loaded their ves-
sels with full cargoes of European goods and products
of their own countrv, which are easier obtained than
coin.' " After touching on the political complications
that marked the close of the eighteenth century,
Ea.anof continues : " The T-esources of this region are
such that millions may be made there for our country
with proper management in the future, but for over
ten years from six to ten English and American ves-
sels have called here every year. It is safe to calcu-
late an average of 2,000 skins on eight, or say six
vessels, which would make 12,000 a year, and if we
even take 10,000 as a minimum, it would amount in
ten years to 100,000 skins, which at the price at
Canton of 45 roubles per skin would amount to
4,500,000 roubles.'""

For the next year and a half, little worthy of record
occurred in connection with the affairs of the Russian
American Company. A number of agriculturists and
mechanics, placed at the disposal of the company by
Count Zubof, arrived at Kadiak, together with a reen-

^"fd., ii. app. part ii. 145-8. The total value of furs shipped by the She-
likof-Golikof Company between 1780 and 1797 was only 1,479,600 roubles
Berg, Kronol. /at., 169.

■Kl ^

400

' THE FOUNDING OF SITKA, .

forceraent of missionaries. The chief manager haa
little to report, save that he has succeeded in bringing
into friendly relations with the Russians a number of
tribes, among whom, as he supposed, were the Kolosh.
The question of boundaries between the Russian and
British American possessions had been mooted, how-
ever, almost from the time that Spain ceded Nootka
to the English, and Baranof feared that his people
might be driven from their settlements," although
their right of discovery and occupation north of tbe
55th parallel left little room 1 /r dispute. He begs
the governor of Irkutsk to intercede with the emperor,
more especially in relation to the establishment of an
agricultural settlement, for it was useless to select a
site until some definite action was taken," and the
colony at Cape St Elias was of no benefit.

" The English claimed Ltua Bay, aad even the gulf of Kena!( and Princo
William Sound.

" In this despatch Baranof says: 'Oar greatest need is now skilled naviga-
tors, since of five vessels in American waters only one haa an experienced
master, and he is in poor health.'

• V

CHAPTER XIX.

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

1802.

RcuoBs OF Revolt amono the Kolosh — They Attack Fort Sv MiKHAh/—
Testimony of Abrossim Plotnikof — And of Ekaterina Lebedef —
Sturois' Equivocal Statement — Captain Barber as a Philakthro-
pisT— Khlebnikop's Version of the Massacre — Secret iNSTRccnoNS
TO Baranof— Tidings from Unalaska— Further Promotion of ths
Chief Manager— He Determines to Recapture Sitka — Prepara-
tions for the Expedition.

Baranof's hope that the Kolosh were at length
finally pacified proved to be ill founded. Although
he was not aware of it, disaiFection had long been rife
among the warlike nations of Sitka and of the main-
land, in the vicinity of the Yakutat settlement. It is
said that the hostile spirit was fostered by the Eng-
lish and American traders, who supplied the ravages
with fire-arms, ammunition, and intoxicating arink.
Rumors had reached the commanders of both Sitka
and Yakutat that an organized cctack was contem-
pl'ted on the Russian strongholds; but as the chiefs
iii iheir vicinity continued to profess friendship, and
as traffic was carried on as usual, the agents paid
little heed to the repeated varnings. No change was
made IP the dr.ily routine f<,bout the settlement. Par-
t s wert ociit out to cut timber in the forests, and to
luint on the islands and bays. Sentries were posted in
accordance with Baranof's instructions, but ai' the force
was small in either place, only the sick and disabled
were selected for such duty, and it was therefore per-
formed in the most inefficient manner. In the mean

Hut. AioiSA. 38 ( 401 1

If 'all!

! 1

tfe*- J

j^,i»«- 11

h
t:4i

402

THE SITKA MASSACBK

time, the savages had matured their plans. Allies
had been secured from all the villages throughout the
Alexander Archipelago, and from the populous valley
of the Stakhin River, and during the summer of 1802
the blow was struck which swept from earth the in-
fant colony.

The exact date of the Sitka massacre is not known ;
the only survivors v/ere Russian laborers and natives,
who were so terrified as to have taken no note of time.
It is certain, however, that the event occurred in the
month of June. The best statements of this incident
are contained in depositions made by the few survivors
in the office of the company's agent at Kadiak.^ They
were rude, ignorant men, and their ideas and words
are crude; but they are better for the purpose than
mine would be, and I will not mar their testimony by
another rendering.

Abrossin Plotnikof, a hunter, who was among those
who were rescued, testified as follows : " In this present
year, 1802, about the 24th day of June — I do not re-
member the exact date, but it was a holiday — about
two o'clock in the afternoon, I went to the river to
look after our calves, as I had been detailed by the
commander of the fort, Vassili Medvednikof, to take
care of the cattle. On returning soon aftev, I noticed
at tho fort a great multitude of Kolo&h people, who
had not only surrounded the barracks below, but were
already climbing over the balcony and to the roof with
guns and cannon; and standing upon a little knoll in
front of the out-houses was che Sitka toyon, or chief,
Mikhail, giving orders to those who were around the
barracks, and shouting to some people in canoes not far
away, to make haste and assist in the fight. In
answer to b^'s shouts, sixty-two canoes emerged fcom
behind poia. < of rocks. Even if I had reached the
barrackf), '>h< t were already closed and barricaded,

* i heL3 Bur ' '/ore were carried to Kadiak by Captain Barber, the com-
mander oi .1. English vessel, who, as will be seen, played a somewhat am-
biguous rola in the tragedy.

llies
, the
illey
1802
le in-

lown;

■time,
in the
cident
•vivors
They
, words
le than
lony by

ig those
) present
not re-
— about

river to
by the
[to talio

^ noticed

^ple, who
but were
roof with

knoll in

or chief,
■ound the
,68 not far

ight. In
:ged fct^ii^
.ached the

,arricadec\,

wber, the cotr.-
, Bomewhat am-

PLOTNIKOFS STORY.

403

and there was no safety outside; therefore I rushed
away to the cattle-yard, where I had a gun. I only
waited to tell a girl, who was employed in the yard,
to take her little child and fly to the M'oods, when,
seizing my gun, I closed up the shed. Very soon
after this four Kolosh came to the door and knocked
three times. As soon as I ran out of the shed they
seized me by the coat and took my gun from me.
I was compelled to leave both in their hands, and
jumping through a window, ran past the fort and hid
in the thick undo»*brush of the forest, though two
Kolosh ran after me, out could not find me in the
woods. Soon after, I emerged from the underbrush,
and approached the barracks to see if the attack had
been repulsed, but I saw that not only the barracks,
but the ship recently built, the warehouse and sheds,
the cattle-sheds, bath-house, and other small buildings
had been set on fire, and were already in full blaze.
The sea-otter skins and other property of the company,
as well as the private property- of the commander Med-
vednikof and the hunters, the savages were throw-
ing to the ground from the balcony on the water side,
while others seized them and carried them to the
canoes, which were close to the fort "

After mentioning that there were sixteen men in
the barracks, and giving the names of others who were
absent on hunting or fishing expeditions, he continues:
"All at once I saw two Kolosh running toward me
armed with guns and lances, and I was compelled to
hide again in the woods. I threw myself down among
the underbrush on the edge of the forest, covering
myself with pieces of bark. From there I saw
Nakvassin drop from the upper balcony and run
toward the woods; but when nearly across the open
space he fell to the ground, and four warriors rushed
up and carried him back to the barracks on the points
of their lances and cut off his head. Kabanof was
drajrged from the barracks into the street, where the
Kolosh pierced him with their lances; but how the

vs^m

404

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

other Russians who were there came to their end I
do not know. The slaughter and incendiarism were
continued by the savages until the evening, but finally
I stole out among the ruins and ashes, and in my
wanderings came across some of our cows, and saw
that even the poor dumb animals had not escaped the
blood-thirsty fiends, having spears stuck in their sides.
Exercising all my strength, I was barely able to pull
out some of the spears, when I was observed by two
Kolosh, and compelled to leave the cows to their fate
and hide again in the woods.

"I passed the night not far from the ruins of the
fort. In the morning I heard the report of a cannon
and looked out of the brush, but could see nobody,
and not wishing to expose myself again to further
danger, went higher up the mountain through the
forest. While advancing cautiously through the
woods, I met two other persons who were in the
same condition as myself: a girl from the Chiniat3
village, Kadiak, with an infant on her breast, and a
man from Kiliuda village, who had been left behinl
by the hunting party on account of sickness. I took
them both with me to the mountain, but each night
I went to the ruins of the fort with my companions,
and bewailed the fate of the slain. In this miser-
able condition we remained for eight days, without
anything to eat and nothing but water to drink.
About noon of the last day we heard from the moun-
tain two cannon-shots, which raised some hope in me,
and I told my companions to follow me at a little
distance, and then went down toward the river
through the woods to hide myself near the shore, and
see whether there was a ship in the bay. When I
reached the beach I saw behind a small island a ves-
sel whic]i looked to me like our Ekaterina, but when
I came to our harbor which overlooked the entire
bay I found that it was not the Ekaterina, but an
English ship.

"I then ascended the rock where a tent had been

RESCUE OF THE SURVTVOES.

408

set up wlien the chief manager was present, and
shouted for help. Some Kolosh, who were near the
river, heard my voice, and six of them had almost
reached me before I saw them, and I barely succeeded
ill escaping from them and hiding in the woods.
Thus I had been chased three times by the savages.
They drove me to another point on the beach, !iear
the cape, where again I hailed the ship, and to my
great joy a boat put oif from the vessel to the place
where I was standing. I had barely time to jump
into it when the Kolosh in pursuit of me came in
sight again, but when they saw I was already in the
boat, they went away again. The commander of the
vessel was in the boat, and when we had got on
board, I gave him a full account of the sad disaster,
and asked him to save the girl with her infant son,
and the man whom I had left ashore, and showed
them the place where I had told the girl and man to
hide. The captain at once despatched an armed yawl,
and fortunately we hit upon the very spot where they
were hiding, and they were taken into the boat and
brought on board the ship. The boat was sent off
again immediately to the other side of the bay, and
soon returned, to my great astonishment, with Batu-
rin, another Russian, whom I recognized with un-
speakable joy, and we soon related to each other our
experience.

"We asked the commander of the ship to escort us
to the site of thu destroyed fort, to see if anything
had been spared by the savages. He very kindly
consented, had the yawl manned again, got in him-
self, and took me with him. When we arrived at the
ruins ho examined the bodies of the dead, all of which
were without headsj except Kabanof, and we buried
them. Of property, \:c found nothing but the melted
barrel of a brass gun, and a broken cannon, which we
] licked up and brought to the ship. When wo had
boon on board the ship three days, two bidarkas canio
IVom the shore with the Sitkan chief, Mikhail, and

! iiT

406

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

Sm-

f t^l '

his nephew. The former asked the captain if there
were any Russians on board, and whether he wished to
trade. The captain said nothing of our presence, and
with friendly words coaxed him on board, together
with his nephew, and the Kolosh girl who had been
in Kuzmichef's service at the settlement. At our
request, the captain seized the chief and his nephew,
and ordered them to be kept in confinement, ironed
hand ar''. foot, until all the persons captured at the
time of the destruction of the settlement had been
given up. The chief told his men who had remained
in the bidarkas to go and bring them. After that
they began to restore our servant-girls and children,
not all at once, however, but one by one. Finally,
the captain told the chief that if he did not give up at
once all the prisoners in his hands, he would hang
him, and in order to frighten him, the necessary
preparations for the execution were made.

"In the mean time two other English ships entered
the bay and anchored close to each other. With the
captain of one of them wo were somewliat acquainted,
as he had once wintered with his vessel near our fort.
This was the Abetz.^ The Kolosh put off to the two
ships in many canoes, and when the commander of the
Abetz learned of our misfortunes, he held a consulta-
tion with the captains of the other vessels. As tlio
savages approached in their canoes he fired grape-shot
at them from the cannon, destroying several. Somo
of the occupants reached the shore, while many were
drowned. Several of the Kolosh the captain of the
Abetz kept as prisoners, and by that means succeeded

'Probably the i4/«r<, Captain Ebbets, from Boston. Plotnikof was evi-
dently unable to distinguish captains' and ships' names; or even nationalities.
The ship commanded by Larbei- must have been the Unicorn, mentioned ia
the list of vessels wintering on the coast in 1801, in Stur<]W Narr., MS., 7,
as hailing from London. The Alert first appears in the Sturgis list in 180*2,
but OS it registered there with 2,000 sea-otter skins on board, the vessel niiKst
have reached the coast previous to that time. In the list of uorth-west
traders made by Jamea O. Swan, I find the ship Alert, Captain Bowles, iu
1799, while it occurs again in 1801 under command of Captain £bbet8. 'i'iie
Unicom, Captain Barber, must have escaped Itir Swan's notice, though she
made several visits to the coast.

EKATERINA'S STATEMENT.

407

there
ledto
e, and
rether
ibeen
Lt our
jphew,
ironed
at the
d been
mained
;er that
hilaren,
Finally,
ve up at
Id hang
ecessary

5 entered
W\t^ the
[^uainted,
our fort.
) the two
deroftho
consulta-
As the
i-rape-shot
[\. Some
lany were
ain of the
succeeded

nikof was evi-
n nationalities.
, mentioneil in

aislistmlS"^--
the vessel nuist
t of uorth-vest
,tain Bowles, ju
nEbbets. 1 '«
ice, thougb sUe

in obtaining the release of a few more of the captured
women. As soon as the Kolosh discovered what had
been done, they would not visit the ships any more ;
but from the girls we learned that they held prisoner
one of our men, Taradanof. We asked the captain
not to release the chief; and when the Kolosh saw
that he and his nephew were not set at liberty, they
brought us Taradanof, four more women, and a large
number of sea-otter skins. After taking Taradanof
and the women on board, the captain released the chief
and his nephew,, though we entreated him. not to do
so, but to take them to Kadiak. Both at Sitka and
on the voyage the captain supplied us with clothing
and abundant food. The commanders of the other ves-
sels also made us presents of clothing, as we had lost
everything."

Of another statement concerning this aftair, I will
make an abstract. Ekaterina, wife of the Russian
Zakhar Lebedef, testified as follows: "She was in the
street of Fort Sv Mikhail at noon — the day and month
she did not know — near the ladder which led to the
upper story where the commander Medvednikof
lived. She heard a Russian shouting, but could not
distinguish the words. A man named Tumakaief ran
from the kitchen and told her to hasten to the bar-
racks, as the Kolosh were coming with guns. While
he was still speaking, all the Russians and women
who had been in the street ran into the barracks. The
doors were then barricaded; but from the windows
we saw an immense crowd of Kolosh approaching,
and they soon surrounded the barracks, armed with
guns and lances."

The witness then gives the names of those who
were within the barracks, and also of those who were
absent, agreeing in this part of her statement with
Plotnikof, and continues: "When the Kolosh came
up they at once rushed at the windows and began a
contip'^ous fire, while the doors were soon broken
down i»' spite of those inside. Among the first who

I'M

408

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

were hit were the commander and Tumakof ; others
were also wounded, when the rest were ordered to
the upper story, but though they kept up a constant
fire, they could not do much. When the Kolosh
broke into the building, Tumakof, though wounded,
fired the cannon at the entrance and killed a few
Kolosh; whereupon the remainder retreated a little.
It was soon evident that there was not ammunition
enough for the cannon in the lower story, and to get
a new supply, one of the men broke through the ceil-
ing between the upper and lower stories, when flames
came through the opening and suffocating smoke.
When the fire spread in the lower story the women
were thrust into the basement; but soon afterward
some of the Russians again fired the cannon, and the
concussion broke the door leading from the basement
into the street. The women then ran out and were
seized by the Kolosh and carried to the canoes which
lay close by. Thence they could see the Russians
jumping down into the street when the fire drove
them out. There they were caught and pierced with
lances."'

• Tikhmen^, htor, Obos., ii. app. part ii. 174-9. The account of Sturgis,
captain of the Caroline, foi* veracity is a fair Si^eclinen of the information
given of the Ruasiana by American and English ship captains of that day.
Knowing the facts, it is not possible that the writer intended to tell tlie
truth. 'In the year 1799,' he says, 'the Rassians from Kamchatka had
formed an establishment at Norfolk Sound, consisting of 30 Russians and 700
or 800 natives of Kadiak and Unalaska, for the purpose of killing sea-otters
and other animals. They had built a strong lort, contrary to the wishes of
the natives, who had notwithstanding conducted themselves in a pcaccaltle
manner, probably awed by the superior power of the invaders. Mucli to
their discredit, the Russians did not adopt the same conciliator}' conduct, but
on some real or pretended suspicions of a conspiracy, pursued tlie most san-
guinary course toward these people, some of whom were massacred, and others
sent into captivity to Kadiak Island. Stimulated to revenge by tho los.s of
friends and relatives, and tiuding their stores of wealth, and almost of subsist-
ence, seized by strangers settled amongst them contrary to their wishes, tho
natives formed a plan to attack the fort, and either exterminate their oppress-
ors at a blow or perish in the attempt. They succeeded, got possession of
tho fort by 8uq)risc, and instantly put to death several men in tho garrison . . .
Previous to this, the ship Jenny, of Boston, had been at Norfolk Souml,
where seven of the men deserted and took refuge with the Russians. 'I'lio
natives knew this, and willing to make a just distinction between those whom
tliey considered as commercial friends and their arbitrary o]ipressoi-8, tlay
ectit a message requesting the Americans to mako them a friendly visit at
tlieir village. Six of them accepted the invitation; tho other was out witli a

.. ili! t

]%■■

|v '.

S- ■ i'!'

DIFFERENT VERSIONS.

400

When all was over, the witness was taken to the
winter village of the Kolosh, where she was treated
as a slave. During her presence there, a messenger
was captured, from whom the savages learned of the
approach of a large Aleutian hunting party under
Kuskof. An armed force was sent to overtake and

party of Kadiak natives hunting. When they arrived at the village, the
Indians communicated to them their designs, and requested their assistance.
This they declined giving, and were then assured that no injury should be
offered to them, but were at the same time infonned that they would be de-
tained at the vilkge to prevent any information being given to the Russians
of what was intended. From the time of their successful attack oa the
Russians, the Indians constantly protected and supplied the Americans until
two American and one English ship arrived, about twenty days later. They
were then permitted to go where they chose. ' This portion of Sturgis' narra-
tive is partly confirmed by the mention of one Englishman as having perished
with the Russians, in the narrative of the widow Lebedcf: 'Such conduct
towards their countrymen merited the most friendly return on the part
of the Americans, and policy aa well as justice forbade any attempt to
avenge the cause of the Russians; but unfortunately the men and officers were
of a diScrent opinion. I am inclined to suppose that they were in tliis in-
stance too much influenced by the master of the English ship, who was in-
cl uced from motives of interest to take part with the Russians. He was bound
for Kadiak, and knew that whatever prisoners might be rescued would be for-
warded in his ship. This he expected would ingratiate him with the Rus-
sians, and procure him commercial advantages with tliem. At a meeting of
the officers of tho diflfercnt vessels, it was determined to seize the native chiefs,
V lio were alongside in the most friendly manner, and to keep them as host-
ages until tho Kadiak women and other prisoners on shore were delivered up.
In pursuance of this resolve, several natives who chanced to be on tlic deck were
immediately secured, and an attempt was made to seize those in the canoes,
who however fled to the shore. They were fired on from the ships, and to the
eternal disgrace of their civilized visitors, numbers were killed. . .The captive
cliicfa were now told that unless all the prisoners on shore were delivered
lip, tliey must expect no mercy. One of the natives attempted to escape, but
failed, and in tho attempt waa slightly wounded. He was immediately sin-
gled out as a proper object for vengeance. After a mock-trial, he was placed,
as was the custom in naval executions, on a gun on tho forecastle with a hal-
ter from the yard-arm around his neck. Tho gun was fired, and he strung up
in tlie smoke of it.' Mr Sturgis here indulges in a discussion of the atrocity
of killing 'peaceable Indians,' and inserts a speech supposed to have been
niade by tho condemned savage, which would do honor to the fictitious red-
Bkiuned heroes of Cooper in both eloquence and logic, and then continues: ' I
iiave before observed that this speech had no effect. The man was executed.
After several days, some of tho Kadiak prisoners were liberated, put on board
tlio English vessel, and sent to their former place of residence.' Aarr., MS.,
19-21. I liave not been able to discover tho name of the second American
^ oHsel, but have convinced myself that Mr Sturgis was not well infonned as
to this occurrence, and that the pretended speech is pure invention.

Lisiansky, in his story of the Sitka massacre, says: 'Among the assailants
wny tlireo seamen belonging to tho United States, who, having deserted from
their sliip, liad entered into the service of tho Russians, and then took part
n-'ain.st them. These double traitors were among the most active in the plot.
'lli'y coutrived combustible wads, which they lighted, and threw upon the
biii'iiliugs whore they knew (lie gunpowder was Kept, which took tire and
Were blown up. Every person who was found in tho fort was put to death.

;, |i'<i

ift%3l

410

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

destroy them, but they returned without having
accomplished their object. After many days the
widow Lebedef and two native women, together with
fifty sea-otter skins stolen from the Russians, were
placed on board an English ship and finally brought
to Kadiak. While on her way to the ship in a canoe,
a savage seated close by the woman whispered to her
that during the attack upon Kuskof s party only ton
natives had been killed.

On account of the importance of the event, I give
one more narrative of the massacre, that of Baranof's
biographer, Khlebnikof, a patient investigator, though
of course somewhat biased in favor of his country-
men. He relates that "on Sunday, the 18th or 19th
of June,* after dinner, Medvednikof sent off a few
men to fish, others to look after the nets in the river,
and some of the women went to the woods to pick
berries. Only fifteen Russians remained in the garri-
son, resting from their labor without the slightest sus-
picion. A few of these and some of the women were
outside of the barracks.

"The Kolosh women living with the Russians had in-
formed their countrymen, not only of the number of
people in the garrison, but of all precautionary meas-
ures and means of defence, and the Kolosh chose a
holiday for the attack. They suddenly emerged
noiselessly from the shelter of the impenetrable for-
ests, armed with guns, spears, and daggers. Their
faces were covered with masks representing the heads

Not content with this, the Sitcans dispened in search both of Russians and
Aleuts, and had many opportnnities of exercising their barbarity. Two
Russians in particular were put to the most excruciating torture. The place
was so rich in merchandise, that two thousand sea-otter skins aud other
articles of value were saved by the Sitcans from the conflagration.' I'oy.,
219-20, London ed., 1814.

Bavidof says: 'At the station there lived several sailors who had deserted
from a United States ship and had been allowed to stay and work for their
subsistence. These made joint cause with the savages, set iiro to the bar-
racks, and fireu apon the Russians at the time of the attack by the Kulosb,'
DvuLt, ii. iii.

*That all the narrators of the events just decribed are in error as to date
h evident from Baranofs own diary, in which it is stated that the Unicom
arrived at Kadiak on June 24th.

KHLEBNIKOF'S TESTIMONY.

411

having

[tys the
ler with
IS, were
brought
a canoe,
d to her
only ten

it, I give
3aranor3
r, though
country-
h or 19th
off a few
the river,
Is to pick
the garri-
fhtest sus-
3inen were

aus had in-
number of
nary nieas-
)sh chose a
y emerged
Btrable for-
ers. Their
a: the heads

of Russians and
barbarity. Two
ture. Thf place
skins
[agrati(

Krhohadcleserteil

1 work for their

St lire to the bar;

by the Kolosh.

of animals, and smeared with red and other paint;
their hair was tied up and powdered with eagle down.
Some of the masks were shaped in imitation of fero-
cious animals with gleaming teeth and of monstrous
beings. They were not observed until they were close
to the barracks; and the people lounging about the
door had barely time to rally and run into the building
when the savages, surroundmg them in a moment with
wild and savage yells, opened a heavy fire from their
guns at the windows. A terrific uproar was continued
m imitation of the cries of the animals represented
by their masks, with the object of inspiring greater
terror.

" Medvednikof had only time to hurry down from the
upper story, and bravely attempted to repulse the
sudden attack with the twelve men at his disposal.
But the wailing of the women, and the frightened
cries of the children, added to the confusion, and
at the same time nerved the defenders to do their
utmost. The assailants broke into the door of the
vestibule, cut through the inside door, and kept up a
wild but continuous fire. Finally the last door of the
barracks was broken in, the last weak barrier which
protected the besieged, and in the savages poured.
Suddenly the report of a cannon was heard. Those
within range threw themselves down, while others ran
away in terror. A few more well directed and rapid
discharges, and it might have been possible to frighten
away the enemy, who were numerous but cowardly.
The bold defenders Medvednikof, Tumakof, and
Shashin were killed, and others dangerously wounded.
The women in the upperstory, crazed by fright, crowded
with their children to the trap-door over the stairway.
Another cannon-shot was heard, and the trap-door
gave way. The women were precipitated into the
street, and in a moment were seized and carried off
to the boats."

Meanwhile the savages had set fire to the building.
"The flames increased," continues Khlebnikof, "in the

■•Wf*i-;'fff

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

upper story of the barracks, and the Russians still
fighting there, suffocated in the dense smoke and
heat, jumped from the balcony to the ground, in the
hope of gaining the shelter of the woods. But the
enraged Kolosh rushed after them with hideous cries,
thrust their lances throu{»h them, and dragged them
about for a long time to mcrease their suffering, and
then, with curses and foul abuse, slowly cut off the
heads of the dying men.

"Skaoushleoot, the false* friend of Baranof, who
had been named Mikha'ilof by the Russians, stood at
the time of the attack upon a knoll opposite the
agent's house, and having given the signal for the at-
tack, shouted to the canoes with terrible yells to has-
ten to the slaughter. Amid fierce outcries, abdiit
sixty of these instantly appeared round the point,
filled with armed men who, as soon as they landed,
made a rush for the barracks. The number of assail-
ants may be estimated, without exaggeration, at over
a thousand, and the few brave defenders could not
long hold out against them. They fell, struck with bul-
lets, daggers, and lances, amid the flames and in tor-
ture, but with honor. They were sacrificed for their
country. The hordes of Kolosh then poured into the
upper story, and carried away through the smoke and
flames furs, trading goods, and articles belonging to
the murdered men, throwing them to the ground over
the balcony, while others seized the booty and car-
ried it off to the canoes. In the mean time, not only
the barracks, but the commander's house, the \\are-
house, and other buildings, as well as a small vessel
just completed, had been burned; and as the flames,
fanned by the wind, leaped upward amid the unearthly
howls of the mad, hurrying savages, the spectacle
became hideous and awe-inspiring."^

When the massacre occurred the chief manager was
at Afognak Island ; but on hearing that Barber had

^ Mater. let. Ruaa. Zaaa., 46-7.

AN ENGLISH PHILANTHROPIST.

413

ans still
oke and
d, in the
But the
ous cries,
red them
ring, and
it oir the

mof, who
;, stood at
>osite the
for the at-
iUs to has-
•ies, about
the point,
tey landed,
(r of assail-
on, at over
could not
;k with bul-
md in tor-
■d for their
red into the
smoke and
elonging to
rround over
)ty and car-
le, not only
^ the ware-
s'uiall vessel
. the flames,
le unearthly
le

brought with liim three Russians, two Aleuts, and
eighteen women whom ho had rescued from the
Kolosh at Sitka, he returned in all haste to Kadiak.
Instead of landing the released prisoners at onc«.
Captain Barber, under the idea that there was war
between En inland and Russia, cleared his decks for
action, prepared his twenty guns for service, and
armed his men. At the same time he declared that
from motives of humanity he had rescued the prison-
ers from the hands of savages, fed and clothed them,
and neglected his business ; and he demanded as coii -
pensatioa 50,000 roubles in cash, or an equivalent
in furs at prices to be fixed by himself. Baranof
learned, however, that Barber had not only paid no
ransom, but had even appropriated a large number of
sea-otter skins of which the savages had robbed the
Russian magazine. His only expense had been in
clothing the captives, and feeding them on the way to
Kadiak. The demand was of course refused, where-
upon the captain threatened to use force if it were not
satisfied within a month. Baranof was somewhat dis-
concerted. He was without news from Europe, and
unaware of any declaration of war, but he prepared
his settlement for defence as far as lay in his power,
and remonstrated with Barber on the injustice of his
claims. At last, after much haggling and repeated
threats on the part of the Englishman, a compromise
was arrived at, and the British philanthropist de-
parted after receiving furs to the value of 10,000
roubles.*

The loss of Fort Sv Mikhail was a heavy blow to
the Russians. Baranof saw at once that his plans
for an advance beyond Sitka to the eastward must be
abandoned until the Russians had been avenged, and

*B(iraiiof, Correspondence, MS., 20-1. Sturgis makes no mention of the
captaiu'a demand for compensation, and probably knew nothing about it,
thoiigli it ia mentioned by all the leading authorities. Khlebuikof states that
Baranof took a receipt from the captain in order to explain his action to the
Russian American Company. Shun, Jiaranova, 70.

f I
> i »i

€'^-

414

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

to do this he felt himself powerless. His loss in men
had been considerable, and in property enormous.
Moreover, he knew not in what light the misfortune,
occurring as it did during his absence, would be
viewed by the company.

Before the close of the year matters assumed a
brighter aspect. On the 13th of September the brig
Alcxandr arrived from Okhotsk, and on the 1st of
November the brier Elizaveta under Lieutenant
Khvostof, the two vessels having on board a hundred
and twenty hunters and laborers, and an immense
stock of provisions and trading goods.'

By the Elizaveta Baranof received secret instruc-
tions from the managers of the company,* that were
of considerable importance, as they touched on points
that subsequently arose between the governments of
Russia, England, Spain, and the United States, in
regard to territorial claims. He was directed to push
forward his settlements to the 55th parallel, to lay
claim to Nootka Sound, and to establish forts and
garrisons," with a view to obtain from the English
government a settlement of the boundary question.'"
All explorations to the northward were to cease
meanwhile, unless the advance traders of the company
should come in contact with Englishmen, in which
case a line of posts must be constructed. He was

* Baranof now learned for the first time that his old enemy loassaf had
perished on board the Feniks, with the crew and passengers, numbering 00
souls.

'The original instructions have been preserved in the archives of the Rus-
sian American Company, now deposited in the department of state in Wash-
ington.

'If natives already occupied the most conTenient sites, Baranof was per-
mitted to form settlements at the same points, provided he obtained their
consent by purchase or by making presents. In Tikfimfnef, lator. Obon., i.
1 17-18, is a list of the fortified stations occupied by the company in 1803. Tliey
were twelve in number, and included, beisides those at Pavlovsk and Three
.Saints, three on the gulf of Kenalt Bay — forts St George, St Paul, and St
Nicholas — two in the Chugatsch territory — one named Fort Constantine and
Helen at Nuchek, and tlie other at Port Delarof— two on Yakutat Bay, and
one each at Cape St Elias, Afognak Island, and Cape Kenai, the last being
named Fort Alexander. Most of them were armed with three-pounder pivot

funs, and with due precautions were strong enough to resist tne attacks of
ostile natives.
'" At the 50lh parallel, if possible.

INTERNATIONAL MATTEES.

410

in men

ormous.
fortune,
ould be

aumed a
the brig
e Ist of
eutenant
hundred
immense

t instruc-
;hat were
on points
nments of
States, in
ad to push
del, to lay
forts and
le Enghsh
question '"
. to cease
le company
1, in which
He was

my loBssaf had
L numbering 00

lives of the Rus-
Btate in Wash-

hiranof was per-
le obtained their
r. Iglor. Obon., 1.
ay in 1803. They
rtovsk and Three

St Paul, and bt
Constantine and
•akutat Bay, anil
»i, the last being
•ee-pounder pivot
,t the attacks of

instructed to avoid disputes as to boundary lines, and
should they become unavoidable, to declare that, while
insisting on the rights of Russia, he was not author-
ized- to treat on such a subject, and that the govern-
ment of Great Britain must address the tzar directly."

The instructions then touch on the political changes
which had occurred in Europe. Baranof learns for
the first time t!;«.!. "the French nation had been
universally acknowledged as a republic, that the wise
administration of the first consul had put an end to
the shedding of blood, and that a universal peace had
been declared." Little did the managers of the Rus-
sian American Company dream how soon this univer-
sal peace would be followed by Austerlit/. and Fried-
land. Allusion is also made to Nelson's appeirance
in the Baltic after the battle of Copenhagen; and
though harmony was now restored between England
and Russia, Baranof is cautioned that such misunder-
standings might arise again, and is ordered to collect
all the furs gathered at Pavlovsk and its vicinity, or
to ship them to" Siberia without delay. In future a
naval officer was to be sent with each transport to
take charge of the vessel on the return voyage.

With regard to the navigator Shields, the man-
agers write that, "though they have no reason to
doubt his zeal, his kinship with the English may lead
him to act to their advantage, and therefore advise
Baranof to use every precaution, to watch his every
step, and to keep the board informed, endeavoring at the
same time not to irritate him with suspicions, and not
only to abstain from the slightest provocation of a
quarrel with him, but to treat him kindly and ply him
with promises of reward from the government and
pecuniary recognition from the company, in order to
attach him the more firmly to the Russians, and that,
under the fatherly rule of his imperial Majesty, this

" The managers remark that in Vancouvtr'a Voyage it is stated that some
of Baranof's traSera had given charts of the Russian voyages to the English,
and forbid any repetition of this practice.

416

THE SITK.. MASSACRE.

foreigner may feel to the fullest extent the blessings
of his fate, and see no reason to seek his fortune else-
where."

In conclusion, Baranof is enjoined to maintain peace
and good feeling among all, as a necessary condition
to the success of the great and promising enterprise
on which the company has just entered. The execu-
tion of all plans is left to him as chief manager of the
Russian American possessions, "under the conviction
that he will devote his strength and labors to the
service of the emperor, and thus make known his name
in Russian history." "

From Unalaska also had come good news, though
not unmixed with evil tidings. In May the councillor
Banner^^ arrived with intelligence that the Russiaii
American Company had obtained a new charter an I
fresh privileges. Baranof Lad been appointed a share-
holder, and by permission of the emperor Alexander
was allowed to wear the gold medal of the order of
St Vladimir, previously besiowed on him by Paul 1.
The day on which he heard of his advancement he
counted as one of the happiest of his life. " I went

" Baranof is informed that the government had views concerning Amci'ii ;i
that must be kept a profound senret, and is instructed to send his deispatcli s
direct to the board of managers, instead of through the authorities at OkhotsI;,
with whom no secret was safe. As a proof of this, a copy of S/ielikq/'n Trav U
was enclosed, which consisted merely of his journal, presented confidentially
to the governor of Siberia, and on his removal stolen from the chancelry, :iii I,
contrary to the wishes of the deceased, printed in Moscow, thus exposiu'^
state secrets, especially the location of tablets claiming possession of tlio
country for Russia. Baranof is ordered to cause the immediate removal of
these tablets to such points as he may select, and in future to address e\mv-
thing pertaining to discoveries direct to the managers, in special report^,
marked 'secret. The document is signed by the directors Mikhail Buklaknf,
Eustrate Delarof, and Ivan Shelikof, and approved by a committee of tin'
sharelioldcrs assembled at the oQice of the minister of comirerce, Count Nikol.ii
Petrovicb Rnmiantzof.

"Ivan Ivanovich Banner had been formerly in the government service. i:i
the province of Irkutsk as provincial inspector in Zashciversk. On leaving
tho service, he was engaged by the company to proceed to Bering Bay with a
colony of agriculturists. Tho vessel was injured on tho voyage, and dotainc 1
for nearly a year on one of the Kurile Islands. At Unalaska the vchhcI v,- is
again detained l)y Ijirionof, and as the plan of a settlement in tliat region l;a I
been abandoned. Banner was ordered to Kii'a' , where he remained uiuil
his death in 1810. He waa favorably mc .rd by Langsdorff, Uezjuiof,
Campbell, and other visitors to the islikud dn ' ■-.1^: ^is residence there of twelvo
years. Id. 60.

!?sPFvfW;!^l

ngs
ilse-

eace

ition

prise

iecu-

►f tho

iction

tlio
name

hough
ncillor
Lussiau
,er an I

1 sharo-
;x ancle; r
)rcler of
Paul 1.
lent he

I went

tespatc!-. h
tOkliotsli,
,/-.s Trav /s
'ifKlentialiy

icolry, :>'.''•
us expos\n;
sion of t'.iu
removiil <>i
ilreaa cvcvy-
cial reivvts
rt.il BuW;'k"t,
nittco of til';
ountNikoUi

ut service \.\
On Icavi-vi
,„ Bay "itU a
anc\aoUiincl

,at region

hal

e — 1
ImaiiH-tl uiiiil
r>rff llezantMi

HONORS FOR BARANOF.

417

to the barracks," he says, "whew the imperial orders
and documents concerning my promotion were read
out, and also the new charter and privileges granted by
highest order. The undeserved favors which our
great monarch has thus showered upon me, almost
overwhelmed me. I prayed from the bottom of my
heart that God's blessings might fall upon him. As a
small token of my gratitude, I donated a thousand
roubles for the establishment of a school here for the
instruction of the children of the Russians and the
natives. On the occasion of this holiday I killed a
sheep which had been on the island from our first
settlement. What gluttony ! "

From Larionof, who had been appointed agent at
Unalaska in 1797, the chief manager received letters,
in which the condition of affairs was depicted in gloomy
colors. Supplies of goods and provisions were nearly
exhausted," and no vessels had arrived ; while scurvy
and other disca es were playing havoc among the
islanders awd the few discontented hunters who still
remainec.

It is probable that Baranof now proposed to aban-
don this settlement; for in April 1803, he ordered
Banner to sail for Unalaska in the Olga, and ship
thence, in the Petr y Pavl, all the men that could be
spared, the furs and trading goods in the storehousos,
and all the provisions, except what were needed to
supply the islanders until the next visit. He was then
to take his best seamen and proceed for tho hunting
season to the islands of St Pa d and St George, which
had not been visited for many years, and where a vast
number of skins must have been accumulated by the
natives.

At Kadiak also much dissatisfaction was caused
about this time by a change in the relations between

" Langadorff says that during his stay at Unalaska, in 1805, Larionof as-
sured him that for five years he had seldom toasted bread. Some time before
lie liai) procured five or six pouds of meal from Okhotsk, but only ou iur«
fccasious was bread or pastry made of it Koy., part ii. 36.
Hmt. Alaika, 37

f '" %

^. l-

ii ( *I1IJ1
< ' \IHStt> Jll

418

THE SITKA MASSACRE.

the company and its employees. Hitherto all had re-
ceived a share in the proceeds of the sale of furs in the
Russian markets, but now payment was made for furs
procured in accordance with a price-list made out by the
managers, without regard to fluctuations in value. Of
course, in making this arrangement, they insured
themselves against the possibility of loss, by fixing
the prices below the market rates. Complaints and
remonstrances w€a"e 'requent, and the hunters were
sorely aggrieved ; &j^ a few months before, Baranof
had shipped on the Elizaveta the most valuable cargo
ever sent home to Russia, consisting of 17,000 sea-
otter skins, in addition to others, representing in all
a sum of not ) -ss than 1,200,000 roubles. The value
>f this shipment will be the better comprehended when
i state that the cargoes of the 77 private trading ves-
sels which left the coast of Russian America between
the years 1745 and 1803 were estimated as worth
little more than 5,600,000 piastres;" while those of the
seven ships belonging to the Shelikof-Golikof Com-
pany, between 178G and 1797, were valued at less than
1,200,000 piastres;" and the 39 craft which sailed
from Alaskan ports in the employ of the Russian
American Company, between 1798 and 1822, had on
board, apart from other cargo, only at^out 80,600 sea-
otter skins."

Feeling that he had now given the shareholders of
the company a proof of Lis zeal in their service,

"Their caivoea included 96,047 sea-otter ekina, 58,618 sea-otter tails,
417,758 fur-seal skins, 1,697 otter, 10.421 black fox, 15,147 silver fox, 14,!W7
Md Ibx, and 62,361 ice-fox skins, 977 pouds of whalebone, and 772 pimdn
(rf walrus tusks. Materiahii, iMor. Ihi«i>., part iv. app., where a list is given
of the names of vesaels aud their commanders, the valuation of cargoes, and
the dates of sailing.

'•Including 15,647 sea-otter skins. 13,»4i sea-otter tails, 1 39,266 fur-seal,
3,.360 otter, 4,625 black fox, 5,222 ndver fox, 5,704 red fox, (iOO ice-fox, 428
heaver, and 200 sable skins. Id., wtjere a s'lnilar list is given.

"Besides 71,1.10 sea-otter tails !,7ti7,;i40 fur-seal. 17,768 ott<T, I.'i,li2
black fox. 24,535 silver fox, 3.'), 456 rod fox. 5,130 v/hito ice-fox, 45,90-1 fiiny
ioo-fox, 56,001 beaver, 2,650 bear, I,*il9 lynx, 1,2:»4 glutton, 5,349 miuk,
17,921 sable skins, 2,011 pouds of vrlialebone, and 1,989 ix)uds of walrus
tuaks. Id. The valuation id the oa*gu«ii ut not given.

-J^^,

lad re-
in the
"or furs
, by the

le. Of
insured
r fixing
ats and
rs were
Baranof
le cargo
)00 sea-
ig in all
he value
led when
ding vcs-
, between
as worth
ose of the
Jiof Com-
■ less than
ich sailed

Russian
22, had ^n

600 sea-

(olders of

jir service,

aver fox, 14,0tt7
and 772 pou-l*

of cargoes, w<\

fox. 4o.Wt pmy

PREPARATIONS FOR VENGEANCE. «NP

and an earnest of what he might accomplish in the
future, Baranof felt at liberty to turn his thoughts
once more to that thorn in his flesh, the loss of
Sitka. In September, 1808, he sailed for Yakutat
with the intention of assembling there the different
hunting parties operating under Kuskof s superintend-
ence, and then proceeding on his errand of vengeance.
Kuskof, however, persuaded him that this plan wa^
impracticable without the aid of sea-going vessels ; and
he was compelled to bridle his wrath and return to
Kadiak, taking with him but a small quantity of otter
skins as the result of the summer's operations. Mean-
while Kuskof was left at Yakutat, with orders to
build two small sailing vessels and have them in
readiness for the following year.

In March 1804 the mate Bubnof, of the company's
service, arrived at Pavlovsk,** bringing intelligence of
yet one more distinction conferred on the chief man-
ager. He was appointed by the emperor to the rank
of collegiate councillor, and thus placed on a level
with the proud officers of the naval service who had
caused him no little trouble. Baranof was deeply
affected, and tears coursed down his weather-beaten
cliceks as he exclaimed: " I am a nobleman ; but Sitka
ib lost! I do not care to live; I will go and either die
or restore the possessions of my august benefactor."

True to this declaration, he began at once to make
his final preparations f\>r the coming campaign. As
usual, the natives liad to furnish a contingent, thouurh
for years the settlement had been drained of able-
bodied men to recruit the sea-otter parties, until there
were barely enough left at home to provide for the
women and children. Three hundred bidarkas with
about eight hundred Aleuts, and a hundred and twenty
Russians on board four small ships, left St Paul har-
bor on the 2d of April, under command of Demian-

"From (Jn.iloflka ill abiclarka. Ho sailed from Okliotsk for Kiuiiak a«\
the close of ISO.'J, in conimand of tho transport Dmih'i, but waa wrecked on
tho iakind of Ouuuiak. The crew aiid cargo were saved.

('I

420

THE SITKA MASSACaE.

enkof, bound for the Sitka coast, by way of Ledianof
(Cross) Sound, and Baranof in person sailed two days
later with the sloops Ekaterina and Aleocandr, leaving
Banner in charge at St Paul. On arriving at Yak-
utat, he found that Kuskof had strictly obeyed his
orders, and that two craft lay on the shore ready to be
launched. The vessels were named the Yermak and
the Rostislaf. '""■ '

CHAPTER XX.

SITKA RECAPTUEED.

1803-1805.

Thb 'Naobshda' and 'Neva* Sail from Kbonstadt— Lisianskt Vrkivis
AT Norfolk Sound in the 'Neva' — Baranop Sets Forth from Yak-
UTAT — His Narrow Escape from Shipwreck — Hk Joins Forces

WITH LiSIANSKY — FRUITLESS NeOOTIATIONS — DEFEAT OF THE RUS-
SIANS — The Fortress Bombarded— And Evacuated bt the Sav-
ages — The Natives Massacre their Children — Lislanskt's Visit
to Kadiak — His Description of the Seftlements — A Kolosh Em-
bassy — A Dinner Party at Novo Arkhanqelsk. — The 'Neva's'
Homeward Voyage — ^Bibliography.

Before proceeding further with the narrative of
Baranof's operations, it is necessary to give some ac-
count of an expedition which had previously sailed
from St Petersburg. While he was yet smarting under
the loss inflicted by the savages of Sitka, and look-
ing about in vain for men and means to avenge himself,
a young naval officer in that city was setting in motion
a chain of events that were destined to aid in the
acv^rmplishment of the chief manager's wishes.

"Hiring the years 1798-9, Lieutenant Krusenstern,
Oi the Kus^an navy, sailed for Canton on board an
Enorlish merchant vessel, for the purpose of becoming
wijuajnted with the navigation of the China Sea.
There he noticed the arrival of an Eni:ii8h trading
vi^iseP from the American coast, and the disposal of
her ewgo of furs for 00.000 piac^tres. On his return
to Rai^M^ Kru6€4M(tira presented a memorial tu the

i' ship.

(Ml)

ll^-

I,:

' 1'

!.){|

i^r-f*i'%.':>

J&r _1%

SITKA RECAPTURErt.

minister of marine," proposing the despatch direct
from Kronstadt to the Russian American colonies of
two ships, fitted with all the material needed for the
construction and equipment of vessels, and having on
board a force of shipwrights and skilled workmen,
and a supply of charts, instruments, and nautical
works.

The trade with China was then conducted by way
of Okhotsk and Kiakhta, thus entailing a loss in
time of more than two years with each cargo. If
suitable vessels could be built on the American coast,
or the adjacent islands, furs shipped thence direct to
Canton, the proceeds expended in the purchase of
Chinese goods for shipment to Russia, the vessels
touching at Manila, Batavia, or some port in the Ea^t
Indies to complete their freight, a commerce might
be developed which erelong would place the Russian
American Company beyond the competition of the
English and Dutch East India companies.

Such was Krusenstern's project; and though, as
he says, there was nothing novel about the idea, it
does not seem to have occurred to the managers of
the company. The memorial met with the approval
of the minister of marine, v>liO discussed the matter
with the minister of commerce; and within a few
Jionths, the young officer was summoned to St Peters-
burg, and, much to his astonishment, informed that
the empe»*or had selected him to carry his own plan
into execution.

Captain Lisiansky, who had served wiffih Krusen-
stern on board the English fleet during th-e American
war of independence, was appointed seeoad in com-
mand, and to him was intrusted the purchase of suitable
vessels. Two ships, renamed the Nadeshda, or IIopc,
and the Neva, were secured in London for £17,000

• An abstract of the memorial was first presentwl to Count Ktjschelef, who
returned a discouraging anrwer. On the occeBsion of Alexander I., Admiral
Mordivinof was appointed miuister of marine, and to him the raemorui w.is
presented in January 1802, with a favorable result. KruneiuUern'a Voy. 'Omi
World, in trod., p. xxix.-trr.

KRUSENSTERN'S EXPEDITION.

*3»

sterling, and an additional sura of £5,000 was imme-
diately expended for repairs.' On their arrival at
Kronstadt further repairs were found necessary, and
it was not until late in the summer of 1803 that the
expedition was ready for sea.

Meanwhile Krusenstern was informed that advan-
tage would be taken of the opportunity to despatch an
embassy to Japan, with a view to opening the ports
of that country to Russian commerce. Rezanof was
appointed ambassador, and was intrusted with an
autograph letter addressed by the tzar to the mikado,
and with presents for that dignitary. To Rezanof was
probably due, in part, the favor with which Krusen-
stern 's project was regarded, for, as we have seen, he
had great influence at court. Moreover, the dowry
ot" his wife, who had died soon after her marriage, was
entirely invested in the stock of the Russian American
Company

About a month before the departure of the expedi-
tion, the commander had the honor of receiving the
tzar on board his vessel. " The object of his visit,"
says Krusenstern, " was to see the two ships which
were to cairy the Russian flag for the first time round
the world — an event which, after a hundred years' im-
provement in Russia, was reserved for the reign of
Alexander. He noticed everything with the greatest
attention, as well with the ships themselves as with
the different articles which were brought from Eng-
land for the voyage. He conversed with the com-
manders, and attended for some time with pleasure to
the work which was going on on board the ship."*

On the 7th of August, exactly one year after Kru-
senstern had received his appointment, the vessels

*Id., 3. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obtm., i. 98, says the N'adeshda\ns purchased
for 8'2,0'24 roubles, and the Neva for 89,914 roubles, in parchment money.
Tliijiie ligurea are certainly inaccurate, for parchment money was at a very
heavy discount.

' Krusenstern had now ua opportunity of thanking the tar in person fot
assigning to liis wife, for fTrclve years, tlie income of an estate amounting to
1,.')(H) roubles a year, in order, na tlic emperor said, to set liio mmd perfectljr
at mute with respect to the welfare of his family. Jd., i. 7.

141

■ ill

•i} I f-

rif

h Ml

[ !li B t

k'i

■'■■ ^;f J
i 'i.f

(01^ SITKA RECAPTURED.

sailed from Kronstadt, supplied with two or three
years' provisions, and having on board a hundred and
thirty-nine persons. The Neva was placed in charge
of Lisiansky, while on board the Nadeshda were the
commander, the ambassador and his suite, the natur-
alist Langsdorff, and two sons of the counsellor Kot-
zebue, one of whom afterward became famous as an
explorer in the north-west.^

As only one ship was allowed by the mikado to call
yearly at Japan,^ it was arranged that they should
part company at the Sandwich Islands, the Nadeshda
sailing for Japan, thence for Kadiak, and afterward for
Kamchatka, there to winter, while the Neva sailed
direct for the harbor of Three Saints. In the following
summer both were to proceed to Canton freighted
with furs, and after taking in a cargo of Chinese
wares to return to Kronstadt.

After calling at Copenhagen and Falmouth, the
vessels sailed for the island of Teneriffe, and thence
for Santa Catharina, on the coast of Brazil, where they
were repaired and refitted. Hero disputes broke out
between the members of the embassy and the naval
commanders, Rezanof attempting to control the move-
ments of the expedition by virtue of his rank and
social position. In April 1804 the two ships rounded
Cape Horn. Explorations among the South Sea Is-
lands caused further delay, and it was not until the
second week in June that the expedition sailed from
the Hawaiian Islands. The programme of the voy-
age was now somewhat altered, the Nadeshda, before
proceeding to Japan, steering for Petropavlovsk, where

' Tlij Nadeshda was 8 vessel of 450 tons, and had 64 persons on board.
The complemeut of the Neva, a 370-ton ship, consisted of 8 officers and 4(i
Bailors and petty officers. A list of the officers, the ambassador's suite, iiiul
the scientific men who accompanied the expedition is given in Id., 1(! IS.
With two exceptions all the members of the embassy returned to St Teters-
burg, after leaving the Nadeshda at Kamchatka in 1805.

* An embassy sent to Japan in 1792 had been favorably received, per-
mission being given for one Russian vessel to be admitted each year to tlie
port of Nangasaki, for trading purposes; but until 1803 no use appears to
have boeu mmle of this concession.

three
d and
liarge
re the
natur-
[•Kot-
as an

uth, the
I thence
lere they
roke out
he naval
le move-
ank and
rounded
Sea Is-
Lintil the
ed from
the voy-
a, before
sk, where

ms on board.

ficers anil 4b

3r'8 suite, aiul

in Id., If' 18-

to St reters-

receivetl, l^f-
h year to tlio
ISC appeai-s to

LISIANSKY'S VOYAGE.

425

for the prcvsent we will leave her, while the Neva was
headed for Kadiak.

On the 13th of July, 1804, Lisiansky sighted
Pavlovsk, or, as we shall now call it, St Paul Harbor,
where he thus describes his reception: "Shortly after
midnight, two large leathern boats came to our assist-
ance, m consequence of a letter I had sent the day
before, by nieaus of a small bidarka, to announce our
arrival, in one of which was Captain Bander,^ deputy
commander of the Russian establishment here. The
weather was so thick and dark that he found us mere-
ly by the noise we made in furling our sails. His
stay with us was short, but he left his pilot on board,
who brought the vessel into the harbor about two
o'clock in the afternoon. On passing the fort, we
were saluted by eleven guns; and as soon as the
anchor was down, Mr. Bander returned, accompanied
by several Russians, who were eager to congratulate
us on our happy arrival. It is not easy to express
what I felt on this occasion. Being the first Russian
that had hitherto performed so long and tedious a
voyage, a degree of religious fervor mixed itself with
the delight and satisfaction of my mind."®

Lisiansky hoped that his hardships for that year
at least were over, and that he would have time to
repair and refit after his long voyage; but no sooner
bad he landed, than Banner placed in his hands a
counimnication from Baranof relating the destruction
of the Sitka settlement," and begging assistance in
conquering the savages and rebuilding the fort. Con-
vinced of the importance of recovering this point, he
complied at once with the request. Only the most
neces.sary repairs were made, and after being detained
for a few days by unfavorable weather, the Neva
sailed from Kadiak on the 15th of August, and five

' Banner. Langsdorflf makes the same mistake in his Voy. and Trav. , part
ii. oG.

' Linlanxky's Voy. rovnd World, 142-3.

' Lisiansky liad heard a rumor of the disaster during his brief stay at
the Sandwich Iskads.

■'■•J-J|»Ki

I K: . i

■m

426

SITKA RECAPTURED.

days later entered Sitka Sound, where the Alexandr
and Ekaterina were found at anchor, awaiting the
arrival of Baranof, who was then engaged in a hunt-
ing expedition. From one of the officers it was as-
certained that the natives had taken up their position
on a bluff, a few miles distant, where they had forti-
fied themselves, and were resolved to try issue with
the Russians.

Relating his impressions of the surrounding country,
Lisiansky says: "On our entrance into Sitca Sound
to the place where we now were, there was not to be
seen on the shore the least vestige of habitation.
Nothing presented itself to our view but impenetra-
ble woods reaching from the water-side to the very
tops of the mountains. I never saw a country so
wild and gloomy; it appeared more adapted for the
residence of wild beasts than of men."

On the 25th of August, the chief manager sailed
from Yakutat on board the Yermak, and on the fol-
lowing day his boats and bidarkas entered Ledianof
Sound. A swift current runs by these shores, and
great care was needed to keep the vessels on their
course. Moreover, the fog which overhangs il^e sound
at all seasons of the year completely hid the boats from
sight. A strong tide was setting in, which carried
the Yermak away from the remainder of the flotilla,
and soon all the vessels were rapidly closing in with
the shore. Presently the wind calmed, the sails hung
to the mast, the boats would not obey the rudder, and
the depth of water prevented them from anchoring.
There appeared to be no hope of keeping off the
beach, where the Kolosh might be upon them at any
moment. " There was notning to be done," says
Khlebnikof, "but to leave everything to providence.'

'10

Iff *

" The RuBsians appear to hare been somewhat unmindful of the maxim
on providence and self-help. A laughable Btory is told of a skipper wlxi, be-
ing caught in a squs.ll about this year, and his vessel thrown on her bi^ainciids,
was roused from nis slumbers by the water coming into his berth, ami liy one
of the mates who came to warn him of the danger. ' Now the ship is ic

:andr
y the
hunt-
as as-
)sition
forti-
e with

er sailed
1 the fol-
Ledianof
ores, and
on their
Ll>u sound
oats from
;h carried
le flotilla,
ig in with
sails hun;,^
udder, and
anchoring-
^g off the
icni at any
,one," Bays
)Vidence.

,1 of the maxim
^kippt-r *b". W-
' hert)eam-ouds.

w the Bhir » ^

IMPENDmo SHIPWRECK.

427

The chief manager preserved the greatest calmness,
and by his demeanor inspired his frightened men with
some confidence. Thus encouraged, their exertions
never relaxed, and from time to time they would ob-
tain glimpses of each other through the fog, as they
continued to keep off the dreaded shore. Baranof
writes of this incident: "What a position to be in;
working desperately to hold our own between steep
cliffs and rapid currents 1 At last the tide turned, and
we were drawn toward the opposite shore. At the
same time a breeze sprung up and allowed the hoisting
of sail, while the fog dispersed. But nothing seemed
to be in our favor that day. Soon the breeze freshened
into a gale, threatening the expedition with another
danger. The ships barely escaped stranding, as they
tacked frequently and cleared the strait in the teeth
of the storm. The bidarkas were scattered over the
sound, and some sought shelter under the rocks,
trusting rather to the protection of providence from
the savages than risking exposure to the merciless
elements. Finally the prayers of so many anxious
souls were heard, and with almost superhuman exer-
tion a sheltered bay was reached, and the boats
anchored, the liostislaf coming in last. The Yennalc
had lost a skiff, the Rostislafa. considerable part of her
rigging, while one of the bidarkas went down in the
storm.""

Without further incident worthy of mention, Bar-
anof arrived at Sitka Sound on the 19th of September,
and on the following day went on board the Nei'a to
consult with Lisiansky. " Hearing nothing," writes
the latter, " of the hunters who had been separated

God's hands,' he exclaimed, as he turned over in his bed, and commencing to
pray, there remained nntil one of the oflScers had sense enough to let go the
laain-sail, wlien the ship righted.

' ' Langsdorff, who passed through this channel in a bidarka, in company
^ith the navigator De Wolf, says: 'At this point tlie force of the current and
tiilo is considerable. The passage is only 150 toises wide, while the average
^•'pth is 200 fathoms, with rocks coming up within 6 feet at low tide.' Uo
" "If remarks that nowhere in his travels has he met with an vthin^^ to com-
paro with the violence of the current. Khkhiiikof, Shizn. liar jvu, 80-1.

til a J 3

;#*^Mr'

.^^

v%^,

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

1.25

ui lift

•" 140

12.0

U II 1.6

*» >;

Hiotographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

4»

4> '

^X"Q

C^\ <^

;/.

in SITKA RECAPTl}R£J>.

in the gale, an armed vessel was on the 23d sent in
search of them, and everything in the mean time pre>
pared for their reception, in a small bay opposite to us.
At eight o'clock in the evening, sixty bidarkas belong-
ing to this party, among whom were twenty Russians,
arrived, under the command of Mr Kooskoff, who, on
passing us, fired a salute of muskets, in answer to
which I ordered two rockets to be sent up. Expect-
ing more of these bidarkas in the course of the night,
we hung out a lantern to each top-gallant mast-head
of our vessel.

"The next morning, as soon as it was light, ob-
serving the shore to the extent of three hundred
yards completely covered with the hunting-boats, we
sent our launch armed with four swivels, to cruise on
the sound, to prevent them from being attacked by
the SItcans; and shortly after I went with some of
ray officers on shore, where the picture that presented
itself to our view was new to us.

"Of the numerous families of hunters several had
already fixed their tents; others were busy in erect-
ing them. Some were hanging up their clothes to
dry, some kindling a fire, some cookmg victuals; some
again, overcome with fatigue, had stretched them-
selves on the ground, expecting, amidst this clash of
sounds and hum of men, to take a little repose; whilst
at a distance boats were seen arriving every moment,
and by adding to the numbers, increasing the interest
of the scene. On coming out of the barge we wero
met by at least five hundred of these, our new coun-
trymen, among whom were many toyons."

On the 28th of September the united squadron
moved out of Krestovsky Bay, the Neva being towed
by over one hundred canoes. In the evening an an-
chorage was found near the high bluff upon which t'lo
Sitkans' stronghold was situated. All night the weiid
song of the chaman was heard by the Russians, hut
no opposition was offered, when on michaelmas duy

A BATTLE.

420

it m

pre-

;ou8.

long-

iians,

lo, on

er to

cpect-

night,

i-head

jral had
[1 erect-
ithes to
some
them-
clash of
whilst
nomeiit,
interest
we were
w couu-

quadron
ig towt »i
igf an an-
hich t^o
he weinl
iians, hut
mas day

of 1804 Baranof and his party landed near the site of
the modern town of Sitka."

At dusk an envoy from the Kolosh came to the
Russians with friendly overtures. He was told that
conditions of peace could be made only with the chiefs.
The next morning he reappeared in company with a
hostage, whom he delivered up, but received the same
answer. At noon thirty armed savages approached,
and halting just beyond musket-shot, commenced to
parley. Baranof's terms were that the Russians
should be allowed to retain permanent possession of
the bluff, and that two additional hostages should be
given. To this the Kolosh would not consent, and
soon afterward withdrew, being warned through the
interpreters that the ships woula be immediately moved
close to their fort, and that they had only themselves
to blame for what might follow.

On the 1 st of October four of the ships were drawn
up in line before the enemy's fort," in readiness for
action, and a white flag hoisted on board the Neva.
As no response was made, the order was given to
open fire, and Lieutenant Arbusof, with two boats and a
field-piece, was instructed to destroy the canoes which
lay on the beach, and to set fire to a large barn near
the shore, which was supposed to be the storehouse
of the Kolosh. Finding that he could do little damage
in his boats, Arbusof landed and marched toward the
fort, whereupon Baranof went to his support with a
hundred and fifty men and several guns. The sur-
rounding woods were so dense that the two parties

"ThU was the spot selccteil by Baranof on his first appearance on Norfolk
Sound, bnt another site was chosen on account of the disinclination of tlie
natives to see a Russian settlement established there.

'* Khlebnikof gives Sept 20th as the date. Shitn. Baranova, 85. This
fort was in the shape of an irregular polygon, its longest side facing the sea.
It was protected by a breastwork two logs iu thickness, and about six feet
high. Around and above it tangled br<]gh-wood was piled. Grape-shot did
little damage, even at the distance of a cable's length. There were two em-
bnisures for cannon in the side facing the sea, and two gates facing the forest.
Within were fourteen large huts, or, as they were called by the natives, bara-
luros. Judging from the quantity of provisions and domestic implements
found there, it must have contained at least 800 warriors. Lisiansiy'a Voy,
round World, 103, where a plan of the fort is given.

430

SITKA BECAPTURED.

i !

could not see each other as they advanced; their
progress was slow, and night was upon them when
they reached the stronghold. Meanwhile the savages
remained perfectly quiet, except that occasionally a
musket-shot was firea, probably as a signal. Mistaking
this inaction for timidity, Baranof rashly ordered his
men to carry the fort by storm. He was met by the
savages in a compact body, and a well-directed fire
was opened on his men, causing a stampede among
the natives, who were dragging along the guns. Left
with a mere handful of sailors and promyshleniki, the
commander was forced to retire. The Kolosh then
rushed forth in pursuit. The Kussians fought gal-
lantly, and succeeded in saving their field-pieces, though
with the loss of ten killed and twenty-six wounded,
among the latter being the chief manager, who was
shot through the arm with a musket-balD* As they
neared the shore, their retreat was covered by the
guns of the flotilla, but for which circumstance it is
probable that none would have escaped, and that Bar-
anofs career would now have been brought to a close.
The following day Lisiansky was requested by
Baranof to take charge of the expedition. He at once
opened a brisk fire on the fort. In the afternoon,
messengers were sent by the Kolosh to sue for peace,
with the promise to give as hostages some members
of the most prominent families, ana to liberate all the
Kadiak natives who were detained as prisoners. The
overture was favorably received, and on this and the
three following days a number of hostages were deliv-
ered into the hands of the Russians. Meanwhile the
evacuation of the fort was demanded, and to show
that he was in earnest, Lisiansky moved his ship far-
ther in shore. To this the chief toyon consented
after a brief negotiation.

** Of the Neva't men alone two ware killed, uid a lieutenant (Povalisliu)).
a nutster's nukte, a 8ur|(eon'i mate, a quartermaster, and ten sailors of tbo
sixteen who occompani^ them, were wounded. Of the two that were killuJ,
one was immediately held up on the spears of the savages. /</., 108.

HUBDER OF CHILDREN.

On the morning of the 6th, an interpreter was sent
to ask whether the Kolosh were ready to abandon
their stronghold. He was answered tiiat they would
do so at high water. At noon the tide was at its
height, and as there was no sign of preparation
for departure, the savages were again hailed, and no
answer being returned, fire was opened from the Neva.
Duringthe dayaraftwas constructed, on which the guns
could be brought close up to the fort. Toward evening
two large canoes appeared, one of them belonging to
an old man, " who,' says Lisiansky, " hke another
Charon, had in general brought the hostages to us."
He was advised to return and persuade his country-
men to retire at once if they valued their safety. To
this he consented, and it was arranged that if he were
successful, it should be made known to the Russians
by a certain signal." Two or three hours later the
signal was heard and was answered by a cheer from
those on board the vessels. Then far into the nijjht
a strange chant was wafted on the still air from the
encampment of the savages, expressing their relief,
as the interpreters said, that now their lives were no
longer in peril.

But the chant had other significance. At daylight
no sound was heard from shore, nor was any living
creature in sight, save flocks of carrion birds hover-
ing around the fort. The Kolosh had fled to the
woods, and within the stronghold lay the dead bodies
of their children, slaughtered lest their cries should
betray the lurking place of the fugitives." The fort-

" Shouting thrice the word " oo," meaning "end."

" Thirty of the Koloali warriors were auo found dead in the fort. It
v-af) at first supposed tliat the survivors had crossed the mountains to Khns-
noffaky Sound, but soon afterward they attacked a party of Aleuts a few versta
diatint, killing nine of them. Kldebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 87-8. Lisiansky
thinks that their flight was due to fear of vengeance, on account of their late
cruelty and perfidy, but that if ammunition had not failed them, they would
hiive defended themselves to the last extremity. He is of opinion that if
Buianof had adopted his sugsestion to harass the enemy from the ships, and cut
oil' tlicir water supply and their communication with the sea, the lort might
have been captured by the Russians without the loss of a single man. The
Kulosh left behind them a quantity of provisions u^d more than twenty large
cauoes. loy. round World, 162-4.

432

SITKA RECAPTURED.

ress was then burned to the ground, and the construc-
tion of magazines was imiuediately commenced, to-
gether with spacious barracks and a residence for the
chief manager. The buildings were surrounded with
a stockade, block-houses being erected at each corner,
and a stronghold was thus formed that was believed
to be impregnable against the attacks of the Kolosh.
To this settlement was given the name of Novo Ark-
hangelsk. Under the bluff were anchored all the ves-
sels, with the exception of the despatch boat Rostislaf
and the Neva, both of which sailed for Kadiak, Lisi-
ansky purposing to winter there, and after taking in
supplies, to return in the spring to Sitka Sound, whence
he proposed to sail foi Canton."

During his stay in Kadiak, Lisiansky visited sev-
eral of the settlements on that island, concerning
which he gives some interesting details. The entire
population apart from the Russians he estimates at
only four thousand," and remarks that according to
the report of the oldest inhabitants it had decreased
by one half since the arrival of the Russians. The
wholesale mortality which had thus prevailed since
Shelikof landed there in 178^ was mainly due to dis-
eases introduced by the invaders, and to the severe toil
and hardship to which the natives were exposed dur-
ing the long hunting expeditions required of them by

" Banner was ordered to supply the Neva with all the fish and gnmc
needed, and all the cattle that could be spared. On board the ship were two
Kolosh prisoners. Baranof sent instructions to keep them conmied iu tlic
stockade at St Paul, and make them work along with the Aleuts, who were
placed there for punishment. Khlebniko/, Shizn. Baraiiova, 80.

'* His calculation is based on the number of barabaros in the several ilis-
tricts, and these ho found to be 202. Allowing 18 persons to each barabani,
we have a total of 3,G36, the remainder consisting of Aleuts in the com-
pany's service. Voy. round World, 193. This is probably near the truth,
for a census list lodged in the office of the directors at St Petersburg iu I S(H
gives 4,834 as the population of Kadiak and the a<ljacent islands alraiit tliut
date, against G,519 in 1795. Delarof in 1700 places the number us \ow ns
3,000, and Baranof and Banner in 180.') state tnat, there were only 4J0 men
in Kaidiik capable of lalK>r. LungsdorfT, who « as at Kadiak in the Litter
year, is inclined to believe that the number of men fit for work or hunting
did not exceed 500. Voy. and Trav., part ii. 60.

POVERTY OF THE NATIVES.

43S

their task-masters.'' Other causes were the destruc-
tion of the sea-otter, on which they had been accus-
tomed to rely for food during winter, and their neg-
lect to lay in a stock of dried salmon for the season
of scarcity. In winter and early spring the islanders
lived mainly on shell-fish, and this in a country where,
between the months of May and October, salmon
could be taken out of the rivers by hand, and see,-
bears'" could catch them in their paws so easily thct
they devoured only the head, and threw away the
remainder.

On visiting Igak on the 24th of March, 1805,
Lisiansky reports that he found all the people iu
search of shell-fish along the beach, only the young
children being left in the eleven filthy barabaraf' which
formed that settlement. "After dinner," he writes,
" the chief with his wife came to pay me a visit. On
entering my room they crossed themselves several
times, and then eat down on the floor and begged
snuff. In the course of conversation their poverty
was mentioned, when I endeavored to convince them
that their extreme indolence was the cause of it; and
I suggested various ways by which they might im-
prove their situation and render life more comfort-
able. I advised them to build better habitations, to
lay in regularly a sufiicient stock of winter provisions,
which they almost always neglect, to attend more to
the article of cleanliness, and lastly, to cultivate differ-

" Langsdorff declares that he has aeon the promyshleniki put the natives
to a horrible ileatli from mere caprice. Speaking of the overseers, ho terms
them 'vSil>erian malefactors or adventurers.' Both these statements are de-
nied by Lisiansky, who atiirms that the exiles sent to Kadiak were employed
only as common laborers. * That mistakes of this nature should l)o made by
LaiigsdorflT,' ho remarks. * is not to be wondered at, when we find him thus
speaking of himself: "To examine a country accurately, three things are lequi-
8ite, not one of which I ai this time enjoyed — leisure, serenity of mind, and
convenience." To this might be added, that lie was but a short time in the
country of which he speaks, and was ignorant of the language both of the
natives and of the Russians.' Voy. round World, 2\5, note.

"'Called by the Russians kolik, and belonging to the seal genus, though
uiffenng materially from the pkoca vUulina, or common seal. Lavqxdorff'i
>"!/■, part ii. 2*2. Lisiansky makes a ridxulous mistake on this point. He
>ays tliat the wild beasts, au<l especially bears, go into tb« river aod catch
these a»h with their paws. Voy. round World, 192.

Hut. Alaska. 28 .>

434

SITKA RECAPTURED.

ent culinary plants near their houses, by which they
would be relieved from the trouble of collecting wild
roots and herbs, which were neither so palatable nor
so nutritious." "

At Killuda Bay, a few versts south-west of Igak,
Lisiansky landed at a settlement, " in which," he says,
"we found oi\ly women and children, the men be-
longing to it having been absent with Baranof since
the preceding spring. Not having laid in provis-
ions m su£Scient quantity for the winter, these poor
wretches were literally half starved. Wishing to
afford them what was in my power, I distributed
among them the stock of dried iSsh I had in the boats,
and left this abode of wretchedness with no very
pleasurable sensations. It was indeed a heart-rending
scene to see these emaciated beings crawling out of
their huts to thank me for the trifling relief I had
afforded them. Though the weather was the next
morning very disagreeable, I went to Drunkard's Bay,
where 1 witnessed the same meagre traits of poverty.
Of the inhabitants I purchased several curiosities,
consisting of images dressed in different forms. The
best were cut out of bone. They are used here as
dolls. Indeed, the women who have no children
keep them, I was told, to represent the wished-for
infant offspring, and amuse themselves with them, as
if they were real infants.

"On the 1st of April we proceeded to the harbor cf
Three Saints, where we arrived in the afternoon. In
our way we visited a village called the Fugitive,
which was in a thriving condition. The inhabitants
appeared much healthier than those of Ihack"^ or
Killuden,^ and lived better. On our arrival, the

"/(/., 173-4. Two days later Lisiansky received a visit from a Russian
who had lived in Unalaska. He reported that a volcanic island had npi^cared
above the sea in the middle of April 1797. The news was brought by some
Aleutian fishermen, who observed a great smoke issuing from the waters. The
land gradually rose above the surface, and in May of the following year an
eruption occurred which was distinctly visible at a settlement on Makusliin
Bay, 45 miles distant In 1700 the island was 12 miles in circumference.

"Iffak.

"kiiluda.

BERRIES AND OIL.

435

Erom a E«8« »°

•ought by some
tbo waters. The

It on Makushm
cumfercnce.

chief's wife brought us a basin of berries, mixed with
rancid whale oil, begging us to refresh ourselves.
This delicate mess, produced at a time when the ber-y
ries are not in season, is regarded by the islanders
as no small proof of opulence. I gave this treat,
however, to my Aleutians; and after distributing to-
bacco and other trifles among the family, took my leave.

"The next morning, as soon as my arrival at the
harbor of Three Saints was known in the neighbor-
hood, several of the toyons came together to see me.
After the usual compliments, and a treat of snuff on
my part,** the conversation began on the common
topic of poverty, when I endeavored, with some
earnestness, to persuade them to throw off" the sloth
and idleness so visible amongst them, and exert them-
selves; and I stated, as I had done in a previous
instance, the many comforts they would derive from
habits of industry, of which they were at present per-
fectly destitute. The toyons listened attentively to
my advice, and assured me that they should be happy
to follow it, but that there were many circumstances
to prevent them ; and I must confess I blushed when
I heard that the principal of these was the high price
fixed by the Russian Company on every necessary
article, and especially its iron instruments, which ren-
dered it impossible for the islanders to purchase them.
While this is the case, what improvement can be ex-
pected in these people?"

On the 6th Lisiansky and his party visited a settle-
ment on the adjacent island of Sitkhalidak, with regard
to which I give one more quotation. " Toward even-
ing," he continues, "the weather becoming cold, we
made a fire in the middle of our barabara, which was
soon surrounded by the inhabitants, young and old
They were very much amused at seeing us drinking
tea; but I have no doubt were still more gratified
when I ordered some dried fish to be distributed

" Snuff i8 the best treat that can be offered to these people, who will often
go twenty miles out of their way to get merely a pinch or two of it. Id., 179.

480

SITKA RECAPTUWH).

Amongst them, which was a rarity at this season of
the year. The master and mistress of the house were
invited to partake of our beverage, and they seemed
to plume themselves upon the circumstance, as if dis-
tinguished by it from the rest of the party. During
our tea repast, the family were at their supper, which
was served up in the following manner: The cook
^«aving filled a wooden bowl with dried fish, presented
it to the master of the house, who, after eating as
much as he could, gave the rest to his wife. The
other dishes were served up in similar order, be-
ginning with the oldest of the family, who, when ho
had eaten his fill, gave the dish to the next in age,
and he again to the next; and thus it passed in rota-
tion till it came to the youngest, whose patience, as
the family was numerous, must have been a little ex-
hausted. Perceiving, at length, that our companions
were becoming drowsy, I advised them to go to rest,
which they did, wishing us several times a good night,
and expressing how satisfied they were with our kind-
ness.

"The next morning when I arose at daylight, and
was proceeding to take a walk, I found all the men
sitting on the roofs of their houses. This is their fa-
vorite recreation after sleeping; though they are also
fond of sitting on the beach, and looking for hours to-

f other at the sea, when they have nothing else to do.
n this practice they resemble more a herd of boasts
than an association of reasonable beings endowed with
the gift of speech Indeed, these savages, when assem-
bled together, appear to have no delight in the oral in-
tercourse that generally distinguishes the human race;
for they never converse; on the contrary, a stupid
silence reigns amongst them. I had many opportu-
nities of noticing individuals of every age and degree;
and I am persuaded that the simplicity of their char-
acter exceeds that of any other people, and that a long
time must elapse before it will undergo any very per-
ceptible change. It is true, that on my entering their

MOVEMENTS OP THE 'NEVA.'

437

houses, some sort of ceremony was always observed
by them; but by degrees even this so completely dis-
appeared, that an Aleutian would undress himself to
a state of nudity, without at all regarding my presence;
though at the same moment he considered me as the
greatest personage on the island."

On the 14th of June the Neva sailed from St Paul,
and on the 22d of the same month entered the harboi^
of Novo Arkhangelsk. During Lisiansky's absence
matters had prospered with the new settlement.
Eight substantial buildings had been completed; the
fort was also finished and mounted with cannon; a
number of kitchen-gardens were under cultivation,
and the live-stock were thriving. All winter the
Kolosh had avoided the neighborhood, and only now.
and then a few small canoes appeared, whose inmates,
carefully scanned the movements of the Russians
and then vanished quickly from sight.

On the 2d of July an interpreter was despatched by
Baranof to inform them that the Neva had arrived
with the hostages who had been delivered up on the
cessation of hostilities.*' The demoralized savages
had scattered during the winter, but now were assem-
bling once nore, and had built another fort on the
western shore of Chatham Strait, opposite the village
of Houtshnoo. The report was current that other tribes
also were fortifying their villages, and it was feared
that in time the colony would again be surrounded
with dangerous neighbors. The messenger was sent
back with the answer that the toyons required some
assurance of good faith before placing themselves in
the power of the Russians, and was again despatched
on the same errand, with presents and promises of kind
treatment.

** While waiting for a reply from the enemy, Lisiansky caused a survey td
be ma<lo of Norfolk Sound, and espenially of the island upon which Mount
Eilgecumbe is situated. To this he gave the name of Kruze, now Knizof, ia
honor of an admiral of that name to whom he was indebted for his prefer-
toeat Id., 22Q-1.

Ill

438

SITKA RECAPTURED.

On the afternoon of the 16th five canoes were seen
approaching the fort, and as they drew near it became
known that they contained the messenger and an em-
bassy from the Kolosh. The Chugatsches in Baranof's
camp were ordered to conduct them to the fort, play-
ing the part of gentlemen ushers, as LisianHky re-
marks, and donning their holiday apparel, set forth to
meet them. Some were attirea only in a threadbare
vest, some few in a pair of ragged broeches, while by
others an old hat, or a powdering of eagle down on the
hair, was considered a full-dress suit for a gentleman.
When close to the beach the embassy stopped, and
the savages on shore and in boat executed a dance and
song, the toyon of the Kolosh being conspicuous for
his nimble capering. The canoes were then pulled on
shore by the Chugatsches, their inmates remaining
seated, while the gentleman ushers entertained them
with a second performance.

At length the ambassador and his suite were lifted
from their boats and carried to their apartments,
where a feast had been prepare . for them. On the
following day they paid a visit to the Neva, and were
regaled with tea and brandy. The envoy in chief was
invited into the cabin, where his son, who had been
held as a hostage, was brought into his presence.*" Ho
was surprised at the cheerful and well-fed appearance
of the lad, and expressed his gratitude to the captain,
but no sign of affection was shown by child or parent.
After more singing and dancing, the savages returned
on shore,'^ and in the afternoon held an interview

"Among the hostages were three creoIe youths, to whom were given the
names of ^drei Klimovsky, Ivan Chemof, and Oerassin Kondakof. One of
them was the ambassador's son, but, as Lisiansky says, was aftorwanl ex-
changed for a younger brother, who probably received the same name. They
were subsequently placed in the school of navigation by the board of managers,
jnd were finally returned to the colonies. Klimoffsky became a captain and
commanded several vessels, while the others were appointed mates in the
company's service. Kondakof died in 1820 and Klimoffsky in 1831. Duramf,
8h.xn., 90. The third, Chemof, sun'ived the transferof Alaska to the United
States, dying in the year 1877. His two sons still navigate the waters of
Alaska.

fi Lisiansky says; ' These people are so fond of dancing, that I never saw
three of them together without their feet being in motion. Before tlie de<

TREATY WITH THE KOLOSH.,

with Baranof, who presented to each a cloak * and a
pewter modal, the latter in token of peace. Brandy
was produced, the terms of the treaty were arranged,*
and all were invited to a banouet at the residence
of the chief manager. The place of honor was of
course given to the envoy's wife, whose evening cos-
tume was a piece of red cloth thrown over her sboul
dors, and a thick coating of black paint on her fac.
Her coiffure wa'' r mposed entirely of soot, and for
ornament she wore a round piece of wood in the
lower lip. It was observed that during he" frequent
sips of fire-water she was extremely careful of^ this
feature, which projected at right angles from the
chin, and was regarded as her greatest charm. Late
at night the ambassador, his spouse, and suite were
again carried to their apartments, none of them being
sober enough to stand on their feet. The next day
they took their leave, the chief of the embassy being
presented with a staflf on which were the Russian
arms, wrought in copper, decorated with ribbons and
eagle down. This he was told to present to his coun-
trymen as a token of friendship.**

After the conclusion of the treaty with the Kolosh,
Lisiansky made ready for sea, and on the 1st of Sep-
tember, 1805, sailed for Canton with a cargo valued
at more than four hundred and fifty thousand roubles."

parturo of the ambassador I allowed him to fire off one of our twelve-pounders,
which be did with a linnuess I little expected, exhibiting no surprise either
at tlie report of the cannon or its motion.' Voy. round World, 223-4.

''To tlie ambassador was given a mantle of fine red cloth trimmed with
ermine, and to the rest cloaks of common blue cloth.

** I have boon unable to find any account of the terms c . this treaty.
Neither Lisiansky nor Baranof has a word to say about it in their reports of
tlie affair.

'" Returning to the fort on Augt|st 16th, after an excnrsion to the summit
of Mount Edgecumbe, Lisiansky found the ambassador there. He had re-
turned to announce to the Russians his appointment as chief toyon in place
of Kotlean. His new dignity hod so elated his pride that he no longer deigned
to use i)is legs, except when dancing, but was invariably carried on the shoul-
ders of his attendanU. Id., 232.

" Including 3,000 sea-otter and more than 150,000 small skins. Khlehni-
kof, Shitn. liaranova, 90. This authority gives August 20th as the time of
the Neva'n departure. Witli regard to date, he is constantly at vcrianco with
Lisiansky, who has been accepted as the chief authority for the statement*
mode in this chapter.

i^*i

440

SITKA RECAPTURED.

Here he arrived early in December of the same
year,^' calling at Macao, where he met with Captain
Krusenstern, who had arrived in the Nadeshda on his
homeward voyage, Rezanof meanwhile having sailed
in another vessel for Alaska. After much vexatious
delay, caused by the Chinese officials, the furs were
landed and sold,*® a cargo of tea, nankeens, and other
goods purchased with the proceeds, and on the 4th
of August, 1806, the Neva cast anchor at Kronstadt.

As soon as the news of her return was known in
St Petersburg the vessel was thronged with persons
of every rank, and for many days her commander
was so much occupied with answering their questions
and listening to their compliments that, as he says, he
had barely time to eat or sleep. Among those who
visited the ship were the emperor and the empress's
mother. The former complimented Lisiansky on
the appearance of the Neva, and observed that her
erew looked better than when they had left the shores
of Russia,^ while the latter spoke a few kind words
to all on board, and afterward sent presents to each
of the officers and sailors.

On the 19th of the same month the Nadeshda
arrived, having accomplished her voyage round the
world in three years and twelve days, with the loss of
only one man.*®

The two commanders received the order of St
Vladimir of the third class, and a pension of 3,000
roubles a year for life.^ The other officers were pro-

" During the voyage, it was discovered that a large portion of tho skins
were in an advancea stage of decomposition. Several days were occupied iu
sorting them and throwing overboard those tliat were entirely spoiled. Tlio
loss was estimated at 200,000 roubl'is. Lisiansky'a Vo;i. round World, 204 0.

'^ Tlie Nadeshda was also detained at Macao by the authorities. Cotli
cargoes wero Bold at low prices.

*' Among the refreshments served to the emperor was some Russian suit
beef, 'which,' Lisiansky nays, 'had stood the test of the entire voyage, ami
was nevertheless more juicy and less salt than the Irish beef whicli ho hud
lately purchased at Falmouth. '

'* Rezanof 's cook, who, as Krusenstem affirms, was in an advanced st;i;,'e
of consumption when he went on board the ship. Toy. round World, 404,
note.

*^ Lisiansky also received many valuable presents from the royal family.

RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION.

411'

le same
Captain
^(i on his
ig sailed
exatious
ars were
nd other

the 4th
ronstadt.
Isnown in
1 persona
>mmander
questions
le says, ho
those who

empress's
iansky on
i that her
the shores
tind words
its to each

Nadeshcla

round the

I the loss of

rder of ^t
m of 3,000
s were pro-
ton of the skins
vere ocoiipie<l i'»
IV Bpoilecf. Tl'«
^d World, 2f.t '.■
thorities. Botli

jme Russian 8;.U
i,tire voyage, an.l

!c:

£ whicli ho

advanced stuj;e
■onnd Worhl, 404,

the royal family.

moted one step, with pensions of 500 to 1,000 rou-
bles; and to the petty officers and sailors were given
pensions of 50 to 75 roubles, with permission to retire
from the service if they so desired.'^ Lisiansky was
raised to the rank of commander in the imperial navy,
but no further promotion appears to have been con-
ferred on Krusenstern.^ He had failed in his mis-

"/(£., introd. xxx.-xxxi., note; LUiaimh/, Vo>/. rouwl World, 318. Langs-
dorff and the scientific men who accompanied him received pensions of 300
ducats a year.

"The principal sources of information as to the recapture of Sitka and the
inc'ideuts in connection with the voyage of the Nadrahda and Neva are A
Voi/nge round the World, in 1803-6, with plates and oliarts, by Urey Lisiansky
(translated from the Russian, London, 1814); Voyajes mid Trawls in Various
Part* of Ike World, in 1803-7, with sixteen plates, by O. H. von Langadorfif
(in two parts, St Petersburg, 1811, and London, 1813); and Voyiirjn round llie
World, in 1803-0, by A. J. vou Krusenstern (3 vols, with atlas and maps, S*
Petersburg, 1810-14; 2 vols. London, 1813, and Paris, 1820). Lisiansky's
account ot the taking of the Kolosh stronghold is probably the most reliable
version of this event, and is to be preferred to that of Khlcbnikof, as the for-
mer was on eye-witness of all that transpir-bd, took a leading part in the
oiierations of the expedition, and writes without any of the bias shown by
lUranof 's biographer, though perhaps taking a little too much credit for his
own share in tl>e achievement. The first seven chapters and a jiart of the
eigiith describe the voyage of the Neva from Kronstudt to Kndiak, and con-
tain some interesting particulars about the natives of the Sandwich Islands,
where the ship called on her passage. In the remainder of cap. viii.
and in ix.-xii., we have an account of his travels and observations in
Alaskn, and of the recapture uf Sitka. In the rest of the work lie relates his
lionieward voyage. The book is entertaining, written in an easy and natural
style, and evidently with more regard to truth than effect. Lisiansky was a
native of Nagin, where he was born of noble parents, on the 2d of April, 1773.
After completing his education at the naval academy at Kronstadt, he was
appointed, when fifteen years of age, a midshipman in the Russian navy, in
wliich capacity he served during tlie war with Sweden, being present at the
battle of Revel, in 1790. LatfT, he took service in the English navy, where
ho first met with Krusensteni, and after travelling in the United States, re-
turned to Russia in 1800, wliero he was appointed to the command of a
frigate, and made a knight of the order of St George of tlie fourtli class.

Kriisonstern, although in command of the expedition, never visited the
nortli-west; but, as we have seen, tlie dcsfmtch of the expedition was due to
liis elVorts. The narrative of his voyage in the Nadexhda is full of interest,
and l)y no means justifies the first part of the motto which appears on the
title-page: 'Lcs marins (?cr'vent mal, inais avec asaez de candour.' Betwi>en
tlie vijus 1824 and 1835 he published in .St Petersburg, in 3 vols, an Atlas
ill' rOci'an Pacifqne, together with his I'cciteil (/ci Mi'moires //i/druiirajihlqiu'ii,
and in 1830 liis.S; ipUmens au Rrcuril de Mcmoires llydrographiqii-s pour
n'rrir (raualiine (i d'explicatioH a V Allan df POcian Pacijique. These works
are vcrj favorably noticed in the Jour. Royal Oeoy. Soc. of London, 1837,
vii. 400-9, wherein is a list of the more important errors contained in Arrow-
Binitli's chart of the Pocilic, which, it was claimed, had been con-ected up totiie
Year 1S.12. ami was then considered the brst in Europe. Among others is the
1 )calioii of the island of St Paul. ' The Sii]>pl('men>i,' says the Jouri al vf the
J.oiiiloii Ocoriraphical Soi'ivly, ' registers all the discoveries and newly de-
termined positions that have been made in the lapse of the last thirteen years,

«',«)(»»

''^m

iVH

^ITr

442

SITKA RECAPTURED.

sion; but, as we shall see later, through no fault of
his own.

during which more has been done towards obtaining a correct knowledge of
those seas than at any time since the voyages of Ckrak and La P^rouso.'

Langsdorff's work is the least valuable of the three. As a savant he was
superficial; as a chronicler he was biased. In neither capacity does he add
much to what was already known of Russian America. The first part con-
tains a narrative of his voyage to Kamchatka, thence to Japan, and back to
Petropovlovsk, the incidents of which are also related in Krusenstem's work.
The first five and the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the second part relate
to Alaska, and the remainder of the work is taken up with his visit to Cali-
fornia and his homeward journey. His statements as to the condition uf the
natives and the promyshleniki appear to be greatly exaggerated. They are
not indorsed by any of the Alaskan annalists, and though Lisiansky gives
some color to them, they are strongly at variance with the reports of Riezauof,
who was a keen and impartial observer. A proof of the little value set on
Langsdorff's services is the smallness of the pension granted to him on his
return. He received, as will be remembered, but 300 uucats a year, and the
like sum was given to his assistants, while the lieutenants and surgeons of
the expedition were awarded pensions of 1,000 roubles.

»k1

CHAPTER XXI.

REZANOF'S VISIT.
1804^1806.

VOTAOEOFTHB 'NaDESHDA' — A RUSSIAM EHBAS8T DISMISSED BY THE JaPAN*

BSE — Rezanof at St Paul Island — Wholesale Slaughter of Fur-
seals — ^The Ambassador's Letter to the Emperor — The Envoy Pro-
ceeds to Kadiak — And Thence to Novo Arkhangelsk — His Report
TO the Russian American Company — Further Trouble with the
KoLosB — The Ambassador's Instructions to the Chief Manager —
Evil Tidings from Kadiak — Rezanof's Voyage to California — Hia
Complaints against Naval Officers— His Opinion o? the Mission-
aries — His Last Journey.

A FORTNIGHT before the Neva sailed for Canton, the
Elizaveta arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk, together with
two American ships, one of them, named the Juno^
laden with provisions, calling for repairs. A fow days
later the company's brig Maria entered the harbor,
having on board as passengers lieutenants Kvostof
and Davidof, the naturalist LangsdorfF, and the am-
bassador Rezanof, who was destined to play an im-
portant part in the development of the Russian
American colonies. Before proceeding further, it
nmy he well to mention briefly the voyage of the
Nadeshda from the time of her parting company
with her consort, and the envoy's operations before
landing at Novo Arkhangelsk.

After a passage of thirty-five days from the Sand-
wich Islands, the vessel arrived at Petropavlovsk on
ihe 14th of July, 1804. Here Rezanof assumed full
control. The ship, "''ter being unrigged and repaired,
was again ready foi sea at the end of August, but

(4431

444

REZANOF'S VISIT.

was weather-bound until the 6th of the following
month, when she sailed from the coast of Kamchatka,
well equipped, and with an ample stock of provisions.'

Arriving at Nangasaki on October 8th, after a
rough passage, Rezanof was detained for several
months by the frivolous trifling of the Japanese au-
thorities. At length, on the 30th of March, 1805, a
plenipotentiary arrived from Jeddo, and "on the 3d
of April," writes Krusenstern, "it was concluded that
the ambassador should pay the representative of the
Japanese emperor, a European, and not a Japanese,
compliment. This latter, mdeed, is of so debasing a
nature, tuat even the very lowest of Europeans could
not submit to it; but he was obliged to appear with-
out his sword or shoes, nor would they allow him a
chair or any kind of European seat, but reduced him
to the necessity of sitting in front of the governor and
the plenipotentiary, on the floor, with his feet tucked
under him, an attitude by no means the most conven-
ient.

"On the 4th of April Rezanof had his first audience,
to which he was conveyed in a large boat adorned
with flags and curtains. On this occasion, merely an
exchange of compliments took place, and a few insig-
nificant questions were put to him. The second au-
dience was conducted with the same ceremonies, and
here the negotiation terminated; the necessary docu-
ments being delivered into his hands, which contained
an order that no Russian ship should again come to
Japan; and the presents, and even the letter from
the emperor of Russia, were all refused."'

' Krusenstern writes: 'I doubt whether any ship ever sailed from tliia
harbor so well provisioned os wo were; and shall mention the chief articles
we were furnished with, in order to show what Kamchatka was coitipetciit
to provide. VVe had seven large live oxen, a cousidcrablo provision of Bultod
and dried fish, a great supply of vegetables, several canks of sivlt fisli for
the crew, and three large barrels of wild garlio (as an anti-scorbutic niid a
subitituto for sourkrout). Besides these, we received several delicacies for
our own table, such as salted reindeer and game, argali or wild siioep, saltnl
wild goese, etc., for all which we were indebted to the governor, who, if I
may be allowed the expression, employed all Kaniuhatka to our advautugi'.'
Voj/. round World, i. 213-10.

*Id., i. 284-5. 'Should any Japanese hereafter be cast upon the coast of

AT SAINT PAUL.

In sore disgust, Rezanof ordered th captain of thee
Nadeshda to weigh anchor on the morning of the 1 7th
of April. After being engaged for several weeks in
exploring expeditions among the Japanese, Kurile,
and Saghalin Islands, the ship again cast anchor off
Petropavlovsk on the 5th of June. Here Rezanof
engaged a passage on board the brig Maria for Ka-
diak, the Nadeslida sailing a month later, and after
further explorations, arriving at Macao on the 20th
of November.

Dismissing the members of his embassy with the ex-
ception of Langsdorff, the plenipotentiary sailed from
Petropavlovsk on the 24th of June, and about three
weeks later landed at the island of St Paul. Here he
met with sufficient evidences of carelessness and waste.
The skins of the fur-seal were scattered about over
beach and bluff in various stages of decomposition.
The storehouses were full, but only a small part of
their contents was in a marketable state. As many
as thirty thousand had been killed for their flesh alone,
the skins having been left on the spot or thrown into
the sea. After questioning the Aleutian laborers and
Russian overseers, Rezanof came to the conclusion
that unle H at. end were pu»- to this wanton destruc-
tion, a fe. ,<!ars more would witness the extirpation
of the fur-seal.

On the 25th of July the Maria entered Beaver
Bay, on the eastern side of Unalaska, and thonce, with
a few companions, Rezanof proceeded on foot over tlie
rousfh mountain trail to the company's station at Illiu-
liuk.«

IPl,v1

't':^

Russia, ' continues Krusenstem, 'they were to be delivered over to the Dutch,
who would send thetn by way of Batavia to Nangasaki. Further: wc wefc
forl)iddon from making any presents, or purchasing anything for money, as
well as from visiting or receiving the visit of the Dutch factor. On the otiier
liauil, it was declared that tho repairs of the ship and the supply of provisions
Were to be taken into tho imperial account; that she should be provided witli
everything for two mouths; and that tho emperor had sent 2,000 sacks of salt,
each Weighing 30 pounds, and 100 sacks of rice, each of 150 pounds weight,
besides "2,000 pieces of cnpock or silk wadding.'

' Tho natives of the settlement on Beaver Bay (Borka) still relate inci-
dents of this journey, transmitted to them by their fathers. They told Mr

«M

REZANOP's visrr.

From this settlement Rezanof despatched his first
official letter. After making brief mention of his voy-
age, he writes:* " The multitude of seals in which St
Paul abounds is incredible; the shores are covered
with them. They are easily caught, and as we were
short of provisions, eighteen were killed for us in half
an hour. But at the same time we were informed
that they had decreased in number ninety per cent
since earlier times. These islands would, be an inex-
haustible source of wealth were it not for the Bostoni-
ans, who undermine our trade with China in furs, of
which they obtain large numbers on our American
coast. As over a million had already been killed, I
gave orders to stop the slaughter at once, in order to
prevent their total extirmination, and to employ the
men in collecting walrus tusks, as there is a small isl-
and near St Paul covered with walrus.

" I take the liberty, as a faithful subject of your im-
perial Majesty, of declaring my opinion that it is very
necessary to take a stronger hold of this country. It
is certain that we shall leave it empty-handed, since
from fifteen to twenty ships come here annually from
Boston to trade. In the first place, the company
should build a small stanch brig, and send out heavy
ordnance for her armament. This would compel the
Bostonians to keep away, and the Chinese would get
no furs but ours. Secondly, the establishment of tho
company's business on so large a scale requires great
expenditure, and the trade in furs alone cannot support
it. The American colonies can never be fully de-
veloped as long as bread, the principal staple of food,
has to be shipped from Okhotsk. To this end it is

PetroflT, during his visit in 1878, thu^ when this greatest and mightiest of ull
Russians who nad ever visited their country passed over the trail connecting
the head of Beaver Bay with Illiuliuk settlement, the obsequious promyslilc-
niki had engaged numbersof natives to carry pieces of board or plank in advance
of the ambas^or to be laid over rivulets and damp places, and thereby save
his excellency from wetting his feet. The natives, who think nothing of
wading through water for hours at a time, were evidently deeply impressed -.vitlt
this extraordinary precaution.

* lie was authorized to address his despatches directly to the emperor, a
privilege seldom granted to a Russian subject.

LETTER TO THE TSAR.

447

necessary to intercede with the Spanish government
for permission to purchase on the FhiHppine Islands,
or in Chili, the produce of those countries. There we
could obtain breadstufis, sugar, and rum at low prices
for bills of exchange in piastres, and in sufficient quan-
tity to supply all Kamchatka; while in the mean time
we are developing our colonies in America, and after
building ships there could compel the Japanese to open
their ports to our trade.

" I hope that your imperial Majesty will not con-
sider it a crime on my part, if, after being reenforced
by my distinguished cooperators, Lieutenants Khvos-
tof and Davidof, and having the ship repaired and
newly armed, I push on next year to the coast of
Japan, there to destroy the settlement at Matsraai,
drive the Japanese from Saghalin Island, and frighten
them away from the whole coast and the Kurile Isl-
ands, breaking up their fisheries, and thereby depriv-
ing 200,000 people of food, which will force them all
the sooner to open their ports. I have heard that
they have been bold enough to erect a factory at Oor-
upa Island, one of our Kuriles.

"Here at Unalaska, I have succeedod in impressing
the islanders with your Majesty's fatherly care for
their welfare. I asked them if they were satisfied
with their agent Mr Larionof, and if they suffered
oppression. They all answered unanimously that he
had been a father to them. I questioned also the
chiefs of more distant villages, and they all answered
the same. Finally I assembled the whole population,
and persuaded them to tell me without fear whether
they had cause for complaint, informing them that my
advent among them was the consequence of your im-
perial Majesty's anxiety for their well-being. They
answered that they had only one request to make, and
that not of nie, but of the agent, and when I inquired
what that request was, assuring them that it should
be granted, they answered that they wished him to
be as good to them in the future as he had been in

"«>..:

448

REZANOFS VISIT.

the past, for they had been perfectly quiet and happy,
and received such remuneration for their labor as had
been mutually agreed upon. I gave to the agent
Larionof, in the name of your imperial Majesty, a
gold medal, and to the interpreter Pankof a silver
medal, and told the chiefs that these men had been
rewarded solely on the strength of their unanimous
favorable answers to my questions. At the same
time I inflicted exemplary punishment upon the trader
Kulikalof, who had been summoned from Atkha Isl-
and for cruelly beating a native woman and her in-
fant son After assenabling all the chiefs and other
natives, and the Russians and sailors from the vessel,
I had the culprit put in irons and sent him off to
Irkutsk by the transport then about to sail, to be
turned over to the courts of justice; after which I ex-
plained to the islanders that before your imperial
Majesty all subjects were equal, and then turning to
the Russian hunters, I assured them that every act
of violence would be as severely punished. "

On the 25th of July, the Maria sailed from Una-
laska, and a week latter ancTiored in the harbor of St
Paul. Upon landing, Rezanof, as the plenipotentiary
of the Russian emperor, was saluted with salvos of
artillery and received with hearty welcome.* His ro-
port on the condition of affairs was satisfactory, and
he speaks in high terms of Banner, who was still ii)
charge of the colony.*

form, who had ranged themselves along the stockade. At the lan<Ung place,
he was met by three Russian clergymen and conducted by them to tlic
church. Here a te deum was offered up by the whole population upon tlio
happy arrival of so distinguished a personage. Lawjudorff^a ^'oy., part ii. 57.
' At this time it consisted of about 30 buildings, apart from the habita
tions of the natives. Id., GO. Of the condition of the natives, Langsdorif
gives a very unfavorable account. 'They are at present,' he says, 'so
completely the slaves of the company, that they hold of them their kiidans,
their clothing, and even the bone with which their javelins are pointc<l. ami
the whole produce of their hunting parties is entirely at their disposal. It
is revolting to a mind of any feeling to see these poor creatures half Htiirved
and almost naked, as if they were in a house of correction, when at the smiie
time the warehouses of the company are full of clothing and provisions.
Nor is this the case with tiie natives alone: tlie Russian promiischlenik.s are
not in a much better situation. They ore extremely ill-treated, and kept at

MEASURES OF IMPROVEMENT.

449

During his brief stay he took measures to improve
the moral condition of the settlement. In a building
which had been erected during the preceding wintet
by Lisiansky, he laid the foundation for a library,
with books forwarded for the purpose from St Peters-
burg.'' He urged upon the promyshleniki and natives
in the service of the company the benefit to be
derived from sending their children to the school,
which for some years had been sparsely attended.
At the same time he induced the wife of Banner to
take into her house a certain number of young girls
to be trained in housekeeping.

Arriving at Novo Arkhangelsk near the end of
August, Rezanof and his party were provided with
the best accommodation at the disposal of the chief
manager, and with such rough and scant fare as his
stores could furnish. "We all live poorly," writes
the former, a few weeks later, in his first report to
the Russian American Company; "but worse than
all lives the founder of this place, in a miserable hut,
so damp that the floor is always wet, and during the
constant heavy rains the place leaks like a sieve.
Wonderful manl He only cares for the comfort of
others, and is very neglectful of himself. Once I
found his bed floating m the water, and asked him
whether the wind had not torn ofi" a board somewhere

thsir work till their strength is entirely exhausted; if they are ill, they must
never hope for medical assistance or support in any other way; while as
little attention at the same time is paid to their minds aa to their bodies.
The bad quality of their food, which consists chiefly of the flesh of whales
und sea-dogs, the moist, foggy climate, the dirtiness of their habitations in
the barracks, the want of a proper change of linen and clothing, all these are
circumstances sufficient to undermine the strongest constitution. /(/., 71-2.
Langadorff's statements, though supported in part by thosa of Lisiansky;
which I have already quoted, are probably exaggerated.

' Trevions to his departure from St Petersburg, Rexanof received portraits
in oil of the imperial family, and of scientific men, the latter presentmg their
likenesses ' witli the sole object of awakening in the untutored mind of the
American savage an understanding of true art.' One of these donations was
made by State Counsellor Von Fuchs, director of the Moscow Academy of
Sciences, who accompanied his gift with a letter, in which he spoke of Kez-
anof as the ' worthy nuccessor of all the great discoverers of the world — the
Russian Columbus.* Petroff during his wanderings in Alaska saw tho por-
trait of Fuchs doing duty as saint in the comer of a smoky dwelling of a
native up Cook Inlet.

Hist. Alaska. 29

460

REZANOP'S VISIT.

from the side of the hut. 'No,' he answered quietly, 'it
is only the old leak,' and turned again to his occupation.
I tell you, gentlemen, that Baranof is an original, and
at the same time a very happy production of nature.
His name is heard on the wl. oie western coast, down
to California. The Bostonians esteem him and respect
him, and the savage tribes, in their dread of him, offer
their friendship from the most distant regions." Re-
zanof then informs the directors that both Baranof
anti Kuskof desire to leave the country, and declares
that in the existing state of affairs a new man could be
of no use, for, in the time that he would require to be-
come acquainted with his duties, the company would
inevitably suffer considerable loss, and might be de-
prived of all ics possessions.

In their last communication, the directors had in-
formed their plenipotentiary that they purposed to es-
tablish trading-posts in Tonquin, Cochin China, Bur-
mah, and elsewhere in the farther Indies. But Re-
zanof, although a man of sanguine temperament, was
of opinion that, with the resources at his command,
such a project was simply chimerical. He does not ap-
pear, however, to have abandoned his intention of
forcing the Japanese to open their ports, although he
states that the company is in no condition to extend
its operations beyond north-western America.*

* He had intended that a flotilla should be built at Novo Arkhangelsk for
his Japanese expedition, but in view of the poverty-stricken condition of the
settlement, contented himself with ordering a launch made for the Juno. Tlio
craft was signiFicantly named the Avoaa (Perhaps), and Davidof was appoiut-
ed her commander, Kvosdof taking charge of the Juno, On his arrival at
Okhotsk, in September 1806, Rezanof procured a new armament for the Juno
and the Avoss for the expedition to the Japanese coast. The commanders
of the two vessels were instructed to seize everything in such Japanese sottle-
ments as were accessible, taking care at the same time to capture alivo as
Inrge a number as possible of skilled artisans, who might be useful in the
American colonies. Having long since revolved the plan of this enterprise
in hia mind, he had instructed mranof to prepare quarters for such cutnpul-
Bory immigrants on an island in Sitka Bay, which has since borne tlio name
of Japanovsky, though the envoy's plan was never carried out. Feeling that
he was acting rashly, and without the sanction of the imperial government,
Rezanof was somewhat uneasy, and changed the tenor of his instructions sev-
eral times before finally delivering them to Kvosdof and Davidof. The two

A NEW REVOLT.

451

"The Kolosh appear to be subdued," continues the
envoy, "but for how long? They have been armed
l)y the Bostonians with the beat guns and pistols, and
have even falconets. All along the sound they have
erected forts. The fierceness and treachery once ex-
hibited by the natives have taught us all the greatest
caution. Our cannon are always loaded, and not only
are sentries with loaded guns posted everywhere, but
arms of all kinds are the chief furniture of our rooms.
Every evening, after sundown, signals are maintained
throughout the night, and a watchword is passed from
post to post until daylight. Perfect military disci-
pline is enforced, and we are ready at any moment to
receive the savages, who are ii. the habit of profiting
by the darkness and gloom of night to make their
attacks."

Rezanofs fears were not ill-founded. About the very
time that his report was written a rumor reached
Novo Arkhangelsk, which was afterward confirmed,
that the Yakutat colony had been destroyed by the
Kolosh, and all the Russians, except the commander's
wife and children, together with a number of Aleuts,
massacred.' Encouraged by this success, the savages
determined to attack the Russian settlements lying
farther to the north. Embarking in eight large war-
canoes, they proceeded to the mouth of the Copper
River, where, leaving six of their vessels, they de-
spatched the other two to the Konstantinovski Re-
doubt, on Nuchek Island. Their chief, Fedor, a godson
of Baranof, and a man well known to the promysh-
Icniki, appeared boldly before Ouvarof, the commander
of the station, declaring that he wished to trade with
the Chugatsches. Ouvarof gave him permission, and

officers by no means liked the part they were to play in the ptopoaed under-
taking, but being accustomed to implicit obedience of orders, they did their
best in carrying out the work of destruction. This course of action subse-
quently involved them in serious difficulties with the Okhotsk authorities,
resulting in imprisonment, privation, and suflFering. Tikhmeiief, i. 154-lGO.

' The news was sent by Ivan Repin, the company's agent at Konstantin-
ovsk Redoubt, on Nuchek Island. His letter was sent to Kadiak, and dated
September 24, 1805. Tikhmen^, lator. Oboa., ii. app. partii. 195.

REZANOF'S VISIT.

"witnessed the usual preliminary dances and CeBtivity.
On one of the canoes kept in reserve there was, how-
ever, a captive Chugatsch, who succeeded in escaping,
and informed Ouvarof of th6 real object of the Ko-
losh. Thereupon the Russian commander seined the
chief, and told him that hia plan had been revealed.
In the mean time the native allies, hearin*^ of the
rt)atter, had taken the remainder of the Kolosh to
their village under pretence of inviting them to a
feast, and had there massacred almost the entire party.
Among the few that escaped was Fedor, who carried
to the party at Copper River the news of their com-
rades' fate. Fearing that the Chugatsch es would
soon be upon them, the panic-stricken Kolosh at once
put to sea, and while attempting to cross the bar in
tlie teeth of a gale, the bidarkas were dashed to pieces
and their inmates drowned. Thus was the Yakutat
massacre avenged without the loss of a single man on
the side of the Russians.*"

During a brief sojourn in London, in 1803, while
the NadcshdavfSiS lying at Falmouth, 7lezanof visited
Newgate prison, where he saw four hundred convicts
awaiting transportation '•o Botany Bay. Thus was
suggested to him the id', of petitioning the crown
that a number of exiles be . ^t out yearly to reenforce
the sparsely peopled colonies v ' Russian America. He
recommends that those select*. \ be chiefly mechanics
and laborers, and that it be inderstooa that none
should have permission to return, in order that society
might be permanently rid of a portion of its dangerous
members; while the criminals, oeing fairly treated and
having no hope of escape, would be of great benefit in
building up the settlements.

For several months after Rezanofs arrival at Novo
Ajkhangelsk, formal councils were convened for the
purpose of discussing measures for the welfare of the

*^ Khlebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 102-5. The number of Kolosh who per-
iahed was about 200, of whom 70 were massacred at Nuchek Island.

COLONIAL ORGANIZATION.

403

colonies." At thoir luootings Baranof am' his chief
assistants were always present, but the plenipotentiary
was doubtless the guidin^r spirit. At the close of
their deliberations the latter handed to the chief man-
ager a list of instructions for his guidance, which,
though some of them -ere for the time impracticable,
show a keen insight into the wants of the colony. He
recommends that special attention be paid to the
training of mechanics and tradesmen; that the garri-
son be recruited from friendly natives and native
youths reared at the company's expense; that young
men be trained in the schools of the colony to fill po-
sitions as book-keepers, clerks, and agents; that a fund
be provided for the support of the aged and disabled;
that, in view of the scarcity of shipwrights, ships be
l)urchased from foreigners whenever opportunity may
offer, even at a sacrifice, and that for this purpose
credits be established with banking houses in London
and Amsterdam ; and that in order to insure a suffi-
cient supply of bread-stufiB, trade be established with
California, New Albion, and the Philippine Islands."
" Upon the fur trade alone," he writes in a letter
to the directors, " the company cannot subsist, and it
is absolutely necessary to organize without delay t\
business of a general character — a trade with other
countries to which the road is open from the colony.
This is all the more necessary, as the number of fur-
bearing animals decreases from year to year. If Bar-
anof had not returned to Novo Arkhangelsk, but given
up the enterprise there as lost, the effect upon the

" The firat of them appears to have been held on the Ist of September,
1S05, On this occasion the envoy, after examining the reports of llaronof,
Baid: 'The organization of the company is complete and in perfect working
order; all matters conneoted with trade, actual settlement, and general econ-
omy are flourishing; the inhabitants are being instructed in the necessary
iudustries, trades, and manufactures; the business connections are being con-
stantly extended; the administration nf justice is efficient; the navigation of
the company's vessels is intrusted to tried seamen, and youths are being trained
to succeed them when required; the fighting establishment is strong, and
ready for any emergency; and the relations with friendly tribes of the natives
are of a satisfactory character, and likely to be permanent.' Id., 91-2.

'^Tlic principal items in these instructions ai o given in Tikhmenef, Intor.
OJw., i. 142-4

.;.i;yf'

^rv /

454

REZANOP'S VISIT.

company would have been to carry the value of the
shares, not up into the thousands as in former years,
but down to about 280 roubles. In that case the hunt-
er who receives his half-share, or 140 roubles, would
work for nothing, as his expenses for food and drink
alone exceed that sum each year. According to my
calculation, the annual expenses of the hunter, at the
present high prices, cannot amount to less than 317
roubles."

The prices of all imported commodities throughout
Russian America were, at this period, so extrava-
gant that the promyshleniki were always hopelessly
in debt to their employers. They were not allowed
to leave the country until their obligation was can-
celled; and he was considered a fortunate man who,
after many years of exile and privation, could return
to his native country to end his days, broken in
health and spirit, and without a rouble in his pocket.
Bread-stuffs could be brought from Boston at lower
rates than from Okhotsk, while at Petropavlovsk
trade was in the hands of a few monopolists. As an
illustration of the condition of affairs at the latter port,
it may be mentioned that the mere sale of the Na-
deshda's surplus supplies, during Rezanofs visit, caused
the leading articles of consumption to fall in price from
fifty to seventy per cent.*'

Such was the dearth of provisions in Novo Ark
hangelsk at the approach of winter, that early iil
October Baranof was compelled to purchase the Jund\
cargo of provisions, which was solcf, together witli th
ship, for the sum of sixty-seven thousand piastres.
On the 15th of the month the vessel was despatched

" Linen fell from 14 to 7 roubles a piece, sugar from 140 to 48 roubles I
poud, brandy from 20 to 8 roubles a quart, and tobacco froi.. 2^ roublca tu 7|
kopeks a poud. /(/., 132,

'*Tiie provisions obtained by this purchase consisted of 19 casks of sal
pork, 42 casks of salted beef, 1,055 gals, of molasses, 2,983 lbs. of powdprcl
sugar, 315 lbs. loaf-sugar, 4,343 lbs. of rice, 11 casks of fine wheat lloiil
^,392 lbs. of biscuit. Lang$dorfs I'oy., part ii. 80-90. Payment was inaJ
in furs to the amount of 31,250 piastres, and the remainder in drafts r
directors in St Petersburg. A small vessel was also given to the captuiu
which to ship his crew and furs.

DISASTER AT YAKUTAT.

455

the value of the
J ill former years,
,hat case the hunt^
l40 roubles, would
for food and drink
According to my
the hunter, at the
b to less than 317

lodities throughout
period, so extrava-
3 always hopelessly
3y were not allowed
obligation was cau-
fortunate man who,
vation, could return
lis days, broken in
"ouble in his pocket.
)ni Boston at lower
e at Petropavlovsk
monopolists. As an
lirs at the latter port,

ciere sale of the A a-
lezanofs visit, caused

,n to fall in price from

isions in Novo Ark-
vinter. that early m
to purchase the J«'io .9

olcf, together with the
n thousand piastres,
irrssel was despatched

to Kadiak for further supplies, and a few weeks later
returned laden with dried fish and oil for the use of
the natives.

The tidings froM St Paul were almost as disastrovia
as was the news which Captain Barber brought from
Novo Arkhangelsk to the chief manager, some three
years before. The Elizaveta, despatched to Kadiak
for provisions soon after Rezanof 's arrival, had been
wrecked during a heavy storm; six large bidarkas,
laden with furs, had foundered during the same gale;
of a party which had left Norfolk Sound und-^r
Demianenkof, more than tv/o hundred had perished at
sea; and finally the destruction of the Yakutat settle-
ment was confirmed.

The details of the disaster which overtook Demi-
anenkof and his party are as follow: He had left
Novo Arkhangelsk with the intention of proceeding
to Kadiak, and not many days after his departure
heard rumors of the Yakutat massacre, and of the
intention of the Kolo.sh to attack his party also. He
at once adopted extraordinary precautions, travelling
only at night, and hiding by day in the dense forests
lining the shore. When be had reached a point about
forty miles distant from Yakutat, he timed the depart-
ure of his command so as to reach the settlement at
midnight. As they cautiously approached the shore,
aiter ten hours of hard paddling, they were soon con-
vinced that the reports of disaster were true. Of all
the buildings, not one log was left standing upon
another. Ashes, the remains of destroyed implements
and of other property, covered the whole village site.
The frightened Aleutian hunters, though almost ex-
hausted, refused to land, and after a brief consultation
a majority of the farce concluded to proceed without
delay to the island of Kyak, a hundred and fifty
miles away; but the inmates of thirty of the b'darkas,
exhausted with their long toil, landed on the beach
near by, preferring the chances of death or captivity
to further exertion. The coast between Yakutat and

:^iiii

"'""^>,if*J

h ')i

IP REZANOF'S VISIT.

Prince William Sound consists of steep cliffs and gri3at
bodies of glacier ice, affording no landing places,
even to canoes, for nearly the whole distance. As
fate ordained, those who had chosen almost certain
death at the hand of the Kolosh were saved, and
finally reached their destination without being mo-
lested; but as soon as the landing had been effected, a
terrible gale sprung up, during which all their com-
panions at sea perished. The following morning the
shore was lined with corpses and the shattered rem-
nants of bidarkas.

The winter was passed by Rezanof and his com-
panions in great discomfort, on account of constant
rain and snow storms, and though the stores of the
Juno had appeared ample for the season, a scarcity of
provisions was felt by the Russians as early as the
beginning of February." At length the envoy, tired
of his dismal abode, ordered the Juno to be again
made ready for sea, having resolved to proceed to tho
coast of California, there to negotiate with the gov-
ernor for a constant exchange of commodities. With
'difficulty a small crew was mustered from a command
weakened by disease and privation, and even these
were so emaciated that Rezanof would not allow them
to be seen by the Californian officials until they had
been plentifully fed and brought into better condition.
The details of Rezanofs visit to San Francisco, which
after lengthy negotiations resulted in the accomplish-
pien of its object, are related elsewhere." It is sufh-
cient to state, at present, that the Juno returned to
Novo Arkhangelsk on the 19th of June, with a cargo
pf G71 fanegas of wheat, X17 of oats, 140 of pease and
beans, and a large quantity of flour, tallow, salt, and

"* Langsdorff givea a sonsational account of tho Buffering among tlic colo-
nists at Novo Arkhangelsk during this winter, and of the spread of scorlmtio
diseases. Some of his statements appear false on their face. For iiiiituMcc,
he says that tho houses of the promyshleniki and native laborers wcro <i:ilv
wanned ' by their own fetid breath ' — and this in a settlement surroumled
pn all sides by dense forests. Voy. , part ii. 93-06.

^*Hi8l. Col., ii. G4 et scq., this scries.

DEPARTURE OF THE PLENIPOTENTIARY.

457

other supplies, valued at 5,587 piastres, payment hav-
ing been made chiefly in Russian manufactured goods.
Rezanof had now fulfilled his mission to the best of
his power, and five days later sailed for Okhotsk on
board the Juno, intending to proceed thence overland
to St Petersburg, and report in person to the emperor
his achievements and his plans for the future, and to
ask of his sovereign permission to bring to its legiti-
mate end his romantic episode with Dona Concepcion
de Arguello, of which mention is made in another
volume." His sojourn in the north-west had wrought
many changes for the better, and though his relations
with Baranof and his subordinates were always friendly,
the envoy was even more bitter than the chief man-
ager in his complaints of the treatment which he re-
ceived at the hands of the naval officers. Describing
an interview with one of them, he says : "A man
dressed in a black coat and vest approached me and
shook hands. I asked him, 'Who are you? ' He an-
swered, 'I am Lieutenant Sookin of tao Russian navy,
commanding the ship Elizaveta,^ I replied that I was
chamberlain of the Russian court and commander of
all America. I expressed my displeasure at his ap-
l)oarance, and ordered him to return to shore and pre-
bcnt his report to me, dressed in proper uniform. He
complied with my orders very unwillingly." For this
conduct Rezanof threatened to send the lieutenant
back to Russia, but Baranof asked that he be allowed
to remain and earn his pay, for he had already re-
ceived for doing nothing the sum of five thousand
roubles, "of which amount," says Rezanof, "he had
expended three thousand roubles in rum. I saw him
but five times during the whole winter, always in his
room, dividing his time between sleeping and drink-
ing, though his quiet consumption of the liquor dis-
turha nobody and injures only his own health. Ho is
so unobtrusive that we scarcely notice his presence.

'"/(/., 08 etseq.

»«-J

I -

458

REZANOF'S VISIT.

His log-books and reports will convince you of the
insuflSciency of his nautical knowledge. On shore he
spends much time inditing ungrammatical letters to
the chief manaorcr, and thus far has spent eighteen
months' salary m purchasing rum. He is like a use-
less sea-sprite, to whom, however, the chief manager
does not dare to intrust a vessel ; therefore I have con-
cluded to send him back to you, leaving it to you to
settle his accounts."

The next officer discussed is Lieutenant Mashin,
"who," says Rezanof, "has asked to be relieved. The
history of his services has been given to you by the
chief manager. I will only remark that by his con-
sumption of brandy he has contributed considerably
to the profits of the company, and therefore gratitude

{)revents me from keeping him in the service. He
ives in the same house with Sookin. Their tastes
and recreations are the same, but I am told that they
Kve in a very original and independent way. They do
?iothing together. They sleep by turns; they prom-
enade one after the other, and care so little about
J last, pn sent, or future, that they find no topics upon
vhich to converse." ^^

" During the winter of 1805-6, Lieutenant Khvostof was debited in tlie
company's books with 0^ buckets (19 gallons) of French brandy, and '2^
buckets of alcohol. Tikhmenef, ii. app. part ii. 248. Khvostof anil Daviduf
were both drowned while crossing the Neva in a small boat by night. Tlio
accident was probably due to a joint debauch. Dvukratnoe Pute»hedvic v
AmcriKu MornLikh OJ/itzerov Khvostova i Davidova, app. — two voyages to
America by the naval otBcers, Khvostof and Davidof, written by tiie latter.
2 vols. 1810 and 1812, Naval Printing Office, St Petersburg. This work
contains a .'otailed and for the most part clear and impartial account of tlio
voyages <ind experience of two naval officers in the service of the Russian
American Company. Both were men of culture and education, and were tlio
lirst to avail themselves of the privilege granted by an imperial oukaz, whicli
permitted officers of the navy to enter into temporary engagements with the
Kussian American Company, without losing rank or pay m the public ser-
vice. Their departure from St Petersburg took place in April 1802, and tlio
first two chapters are devoted to the overland journey to Okhotsk, where
they arrived in August of the same year. The next two chapters contain tlio
departure from Okhotsk, the journey to Kadiak, an interview with Baranof,
a brief review of the company's history and business, and the return voyu<^e
to Okhotsk in June 1803. Ihencc they returned to St Petersburg overlaud,
arriving there in January 1804. An appendix to the first volume contains a
short biographical sketch of both travellers, a letter addressed to them jointly
by Rezanof, whom they accompanied on his mission to Japan, and concludes

MISSION WORK.

Of the missionaries and their labors Rezanof has
little good to report. He remarks that their so-
called conversion was merely a name, and that the
ceremony of baptism had not affected their morals or
customs. He states that the Russian priests did not
follow the example of the Jesuits in their missionary
work, that they did not enter into the plans of the
government and the company, that they lived in idle-
ness, or busied themselves only in meddling with the
company's affairs, often causing disturbance between
officers and servants at the various stations. He
complains that through lack of zeal few took the
trouble to acquire the native language, and states
incidentally that the late bishop loassaf had received
fifteen shares of stock in the Russian American Com-
pany — a circumstance which explains the tenor of the
prelate's reports.^"

On the 24th of September, 1806, Rezanof left Ok-
hotsk on his homeward journey. Prompted by re-
markable activity of mind and body, he travelled
rapidly; but, weakened as he was by the hardships,
anxiety, and trouble of the past three years, the
journey had a fatal effect upon his health. While
crossing rivers, over the thin ice just forming, it fre-
quently happened that he was not only drenched, but
obliged to camp in the snow afterward. About

with two poema in praise of the achievements of Davidof and Khvostof,
aud alluding to their tragic death.

The second volume is devoted entirely to a detailed description of Kadiak
aud tlio settlements on Cook Inlet, and at Novo Arkhangelsk, with historical
sketches of the colonies and the Russian American Company, and a review of
the manners and customs of the natives, and the way in which they were
managed by the Russians. Attached to this volume are two brief vocabula-
ries of the Kolosh and Kcna'iski languages, of little value to the pliilologist on
account of numerous mistakes. Sokolot subsequently reviewed Khvostof and
Davidof at length in the Morskoi Sbornik. He confined himself chiefly to
Kiivnstof, whom he describes as a talented, amiable individual, though im-
bittercd in mind by misfortune and dissipation, and feeling great enmity
toward Rezanof. When the latter sailed in the Juno for Califomia to save
tile people of Novo Arkhangelsk from starvation, Khvostof complained that
lie was ' taking them into a tropical latitude at the most dangerous season of tlie
year.' Morakoi Sb., ix. 340-58.

"Dall, ./1/cMil'a, 310, speaks of loassof as an Augustine friar. It is diffi-
cult to conceive whence he obtained this information, as there is but one
monastic order in all Russia— that of St Basilius.

ll M

400

REZANOF'S VISIT.

sixty miles east of the Aldana, he was attacked with
a violent fever and carried unconscious into a Yakout
hut. A few days after he became convalescent, he
pushed on to Yakutat before recovering his strength.
Here again he was prostrated, and again continued
his journey; but his career was now at an end, and
on the 1st of March, 1807, the plenipotentiary breathed
his last at Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Siberia.^''

*' Tikhraenef reflects thui on Rezanof's death: 'The company lost in him
a spirit jiost active in its organization, and in the development of the colonies
under its control. Having acquainted himself on the spot with the retjuire-
meuts of the country, anu having made the most earnest efforts to establish
relations with adjoining countries, Rezanof could not brook delay on his
homeward journey, where he e)(pected to plea<l personally tlie company's
cause before tlie imperial throne. There can be no doubt that his influence, so
far as it reached, hog been wholly beneticial. We do not know what plans
were seething in hisi active brain, ready to be laid before the company's <Iirec-
tors and the government upon his return to the capital. If Rezanof's life liad
not ended so prematurely, some of his plans would certainly have been brought
to successful issue at a much earlier period than we can now hope for, wliilo
others would not have suffered total neelect at the hands of the authorities.
Wo cannot fail to see that he was no idle dreamer, though ids efforts fur the
public welfare were not much appreciated during his life-time, being frequently
spoken of in a deprecating manner. A few looked on him as a visionary, capa-
ble only of concoctins schemes on paper, but at tiie same time hardships,
disasters, and opposition could not prevent him from following his course an<l
pursuing the object of his life. The honesty and amiability of his character
were universally acknowledged, and though he failod to accomplish muuh
that he proposed, he probably did more uiau any of his assaihuits.* Jstor.
Obot., i. iG2-3.

■' ■ W'

CHAPTER XXII.

SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS.

1806-1812.

Ship-building at Novo Abf hanoklsk— The Settlement Thrisatened
BY KoLOSH — A Plot aoa inst the Chief Maitaoer's Life— The Con-
spirators Taken by Surprise — Arrival of Golovnin in the Sloop-

OF-WAR 'DiANa'-HiS J-IeSCRIPTION OF THE SETTLEMENT — AsTOR'S

Vessel, the ' Enterprise,' at Novo Arkhangelsk — Negotiations
POR Trade — Golovnin's Account of tub Matter — Farndm's Jour-
ney prom Astoria to St Fetebsbubg — Wreck op the 'Juno'—
Sufferings of her Crew.

Three years had now elapsed since the chief man-
ager had sailed from Kadiak, and at the end of Sep-
tember 1806 he returned to St Paul, leaving Kuskof
in command at Novo Arkhangelsk, with instructions
to hasten the completion of certain buildings anfl
ships then in course of construction. In March 1807
a fine brig named the Sitka was launched, and two
months later she arrived at Kadiak. During the fol-
lowing summer a three-masted vessel of three hundred
tons, christened the Otkrytie, or Discovery, was also
built at Novo Arkhangelsk, and at the same time
the keel was laid for a schooner, to be named in honor
of the discoverer Chirikof * A few clays after the
arrival of the Sitka, the English ship Myrtle anchored
in the harbor of St Paul, in charge of Captain Bar-
ber, of whom mention has been made in connection

'On the completion of each vessel, the builder received a gratuity of
1 ,000 roubles from the company. Chirikof, it will bo remembered, was in
command of the first RuBsian vessel tl'.at visited the farther uorth-west coast
of America.

1461)

,.r-r 111

SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS.

\\f k I .

with the Sitka massacre. Although no friendly feel-
ing existed between him and Baranof, so greatly was
the latter in need of vessels, that the ship was pur-
chased, together with her cargo,'* and renamed the
Kadiak.

In September 1807 the Ncua arrived at Novo
Arkhangelsk on her second voyage from Kronstadt,^
in command of Lieutenant Hagemeister, who, as we
shall see, was appointed some years later Baranofs
successor, and in the following spring the ship was
added to the company's fleet. By this vessel the
chief manager received news that the imperial govern-
ment had bestowed on him, as an additional reward,
the order of St Arne of the third class, while on
Kuskof was conferred the rank of commercial coun-
cillor.

Meanwhile the Kadiak had been despatched to
Vakutat by way of Novo Arkhangelsk, her com-
mander being instructed to rescue the survivors of
the massacre who were still in the hands of the
Kolosh. A foreign flag was hoisted in order to de-
ceive the savages, and thus two of them were induced
to board the ship, and were secured. Negotiations
were then opened, and the commander's widow and
children with several others were released from
captivity.*

*Ths ship for 42,000 piastres, and the cargo of furs, proTisions, arms,
and ammunition for 63,675 roubles. Barber received his pay in drafts on
the board of managers, and demanded to be placed at Okhotsk on one of tlic
company's vessels in order to proceed to St Petersburg overland. He sailed
on the Sitka the following autumn, but owing to the lateness of the season,
the vessel proceeded to Petropavlovsk. Here she was loadei! with gootls for
Nishe Kamchatsk, but was totally wrecked at the mouth of Kamchatka
River on the 15th of October, 1807. The crew and passengers were sdved.
Khlebnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 117-18.

'In August 1806 it had been resolved at a meeting of the shareholders to
send the Neva once more to the colonies. Hagemeister and the other officers
were engaged for a period of four years. Tikhmene/, Itlor. Oboa., i 164.

♦During the preceding year Baranof had sent Captain Campbell, an
American, upon the same errand, but he succeeded only m securing two ]v><t-
ages and releasing one Aleut and his wife. The former were transferred to
Kadiak and baptized, receiving the names of Kalistrat and Gideon. Tliey
afterward returned to Sitka, where they were employed as interpreters.
Kalistrat died in 1832, and Gideon several years later. Khklmikof, Shkn.

NAPLAVKOF'S CONSPIRACY.

463

During the winter of 1806-7, the Kolosh again
assumed a threatening attitude, encouraged chiefly by
the absence of Baranof. Reports of intended attacks
reached Kuskof at various times. Under pretext of
engaging in herring fishery, they assembled on the
islands of Norfolk Sound, with more than four hundred
large war-canoes, while the number of warriors was
not less than two thousand. The Kolosh women, who
cohabited with the promyshleniki of the garrison,
aided in spreading alarm by exaggerated reports of
the intentions of their countrymen. Deeds of violence
were of daily occurrence, and at last a party of Aleu-
tian fishermen were captured and killed. Prompt
action was now required; but as the Russians were
not strong enough to attack the enemy, or even sus-
tain a siege, Kuskof resolved to try the effect of
peaceful measures. He invited to the fort the most
powerful of the chiefs, feasted them, flattered them,
plied them with rum, and by a liberal distribution of
presents, finally induced them to leave the neighbor-
hood.' ,

The year 1809 witnessed the most formidable of
the many conspiracies hatched by the promyshleniki
and Siberian ex-convicts against the chief manager.
A few headstrong ruffians of the latter class, having
been detained for some time at Kamchatka on their
journey to America, had there learned the details of
Benyovsky's famous exploits, doubtless exaggerated
and embellished by transmission from one generation
to another. One of these unruly spirits, Naplavkof,
who had been originally exiled to Siberia and subse-
quently permitted to enter the company's service, con-
ceived the idea of imitating the venturesome Pole,
and forming a secret society for the purpose of over-

Barartova, 119-20. In 1835 Baron Wrangell, then chief manager, recora-
mundcd that a pension be given to Gideon for hia long services.

^ In a private letter to Baranof, Kuskof reports that the success of his
mauoeuvres was due to the efforts of a Kolosh girl sent by him into the hostile
camp to create dissensions among the leaders.

hi-

404

SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN AJlTNALS.

throwing existing authority. His most trusted con-
fidant was a peasant named Popof. By the time
these two worthies reached Novo Arkhangelsk, they
had admitted into their confidence eight or ten others,
assuring them that as soon as the first blow was
struck the whole colony would rise in re vo' fc.

The object of the conspiracy was to put to death the
chief manager, who had now returned to Novo Ark-
hangelsk, and seize the arsenal and fort on some day
when Naplavkof, who was then acting as a subaltern
officer in the garrison, should be on duty. The con-
spirators then intended to plunder the storehouse.^
and barracks, and to load the ship Otkrytie with pro-
visions and the most valuable of the goods. Each of tlio
conspirators was to select one of the women for his
mistress, and in addition, fifteen female natives were
to be taken as servants. On leaving Novo Arkhan-
gelsk they purposed to sail for Easter Island, or to
some uninhabited spot still farther south, where they
could form a settlement, calling on the way at the
Hawaiian Islands to exchange their furs for provisions
and other necessaries.*

Few as were the conspirators in number, no less than
three of them, each independently of the others, re-
vealed the secret to Baranof Two of these Iraitois
were Poles, named Leshchinsky and Berezovsky ; tho
third a Russian, called Sidorof. From these men tho
chief manager learned that the party met at Lesh-
chinsky's quarters, and that all the members wcro
about to sign a written pledge, wherein each agreed to
carry out the plans of the rest, and to subscribe to a code
of rules and regulations. In expectation of this event,
Baranof ordered Leshchinsky to keep him informed
when the date was fixed for the proposed meeting, and

* Rhlebnikof gives to this plot a tinge of romance. He says that, taking ad-
vantage of the war then raging in Europe, the conspirators purposed to fonii
a colonial confederation, capture Siberia, and establish a great republic uf
hunters and traders. Shizn. Baranova, 128. He gives no authority, however,
for stating that such a foolhardy enterprise was conceived by Naplavkof and
his gang.

FAILURE OF THE PLOT.

46S

supplied him with a keg of brandy, wherewith to make
merry with his comraofes.

On the 6th of August the conspirators met at the
usual rendezvous, which was close to the residence of
the chief manager, in order to affix their signatures to
an agreement drawn up by Popof from Naplavkof's
dictation. When the object of the meeting had been
accomplished, and the brandy freely handed round,
Leshchinsky, according to a preconcerted signal, be-
gan to sing, whereupon Baranof, with a large force of
armed men, rushed into the building. Naplavkof,
a sabre in one hand and a loaded pistol in the
other, made a show of resistance, while Popof hastily
thrust the document into the oven. So sudden was
the onslaught, however, that all tlie party were
seized and bound before they could make use of their
weapons. The document was recovered, almost in-
tact, but the only additional information obtained from
it was that Popof had been elected chief of the society
under the assumed name of Khounshim, and that it
had been agreed to do nothing until a hunting party,
which contained some of their number, should return
from Chatham Strait. The ringleaders and four others
were ironed, placed under guard, and finally sent
to Kamchatka for trial; and thus ended the plot,
without further result than to increase the chief man-
ager's desire to be relieved from office.^

|lf^3

' Raranof soon afterward forwarded an urgent letter to the board of direct-
ors, asking to be relieved. Captain V. M. Golovnin, of the 8loop-of-war Diana,
in speaking of thia conspiracy, remarks: 'The Russian American Company's
conimissiiiner at Kamchatka, Khlebnikof, an honorable man, obtained from tlie
leader of this conspiracy all the details, and finding that they had been suffer-
ing from hunger, cruel labor, and inliuman treatment by the officials, desired,
in tlie interest of the company's good name and perhaps its existence, to con-
ceal the whole proceedings from the government, to which end he wrote a
letter to the directors of the company, dated July 8, 1810, wherein lie de-
clared that if Naplavkof and his companions were tried in any open court,
they could reveal truths of a character most damaging to the company; there-
fore he asked them to drop the matter. But tlie directors did not approve
of Khlebnikof 's opinion, and replied, under date of September 29, ISIO,
that he must bring the offenders to justice, but make every effort to manage
the alfairto the advantage of the company, that is, to punish the conspinitors
while at the same time concealing the shortcomings of the company, Voy.,

7a-9.

Hist, Ai.a8Ka. 30

186

SEVEN MORE YEARS OF ALASKAN ANNALS.

Baranofs wish was not fulfilled until several years
later, though, as we shall see, through no neglect on
the part of the directors. There were none of his
subordinates to whom he dared to intrust the control
of affairs, and he had no alternative but to remain un-
til a successor should arrive. Meanwhile he was re-
lieved for a time from all anxiety as to further revolt
among Russians or Kolosh by the arrival, in June
1810, of the sloop-of-war Diana, commanded by Cap-
tain Golovnin.*

The captain, who, like other naval officers, was not
predisposed in the company's favor, thus describes his
arrival: "It was 10 p. m., and dark. We fired a gun
to call the pilot ; lights were hung out, and we lay at
anchor until midnight; we could then hear the noise
of oars, but it was too dark to see the boat. At last
Russian voices became audible, and wo could doubt no
fonger that some of the company's promyshleniki wore
approaching, but for all that we did not neglect any
precautionary measures. It was well known to me
that this class of the compp.ny's servants consisted
chiefly of criminals; and also tU"5t this class of scoun-
drels, having come from exll<? under false promises and
expectations, found life in. Ar jerica even worse than
that of a Siberian convict, and therefore were always
ready to profit by any opportunity to throw off the
yoke of the Russian American Company. They
would not have hesitated even to surprise a ship of
war and take possession of the country. All arms
were kept at hand, and the crew on the alert. I then
hailed the boat. They stated in reply that they were
sixteen unarmed men, who had been sent by the chief
manager to our assistance. I ordered tliem to board,
and while they were standing in line I questioned
them, the answers being evidently given in fear.
During this time the officers of the Diana stood mo-
tionless at their posts. Not a voice was heard but my

*The Diana had beea expected the previona year. She reached Petro-
pavlovsk in the autumn of 1809, and wintered there.

years

jct on

of bis

ontrol

lin un-

vaB re-
revolt

I June

)y Cap-
was not

•ibes his

a a gun

jQ lay at

iie noise
M last

doubt no

niki were

jo-lect any

jjn to me
consisted
of scoun-
,jnisefs and

^orse than

ere always

' ,vv off the

[ny. They

'e a ship ot
All arms

Irt. 1^^^®"
t they were
bytbechiet

fm to board,
questioned

.en in f^^^"

\a stood mo-

eardbutm)

OOLOVNIN'S AmtlVAL.

4or

own and that of their spokesman. They had never
witnessed such discipline oefore, and, as I subsequently
heard, were laboring under the belief that they had
been captured by some European man-of-war, on which
I alone could speak Russian. But as soon as I had
learned all I cared to know, I told them they might
talk to their countrymen, and when they heard the
Kussian language spoken cu all sides, they were almost
beside themselves with joy. Only then they confessed
that they had come armed with pistols, spears, and
guns, which, suspecting us to be English, they had
concealed in the bottom of the boat,"

On the f:;llowing morning the Diana was towed
to the anchorage under the fort and saluted with
eleven guns. After a ridiculous discussion between
Baranof and Golovnin as to the number of guns to
which each was entitled, the salute waa returned.
The captain was then invited to dinner, together with
his officers and the commanders of several American
vessels then in port. He thus relates his impressions:
" In the fort we could see nothing remarkable. It
consisted of strong wooden bastions and palisades.
The houses, barrack magazines, and manager's resi-
dence were built of exceedingly thick logs. In Bar-
anof's house the furniture and finishing were of fine
workmanship and very costly, having been brought
from St Petersbui^ and England ; but wliat astonished
mo most was the large library in nearly all European
languages, and the collection of fine paintings — this
in a country where probably only Baranof can appre-
ciate a picture, and no travellers are apt to call except
the skippers of American trading vessels. Mr Bar-
anof explained that the paintings had been presented
to the company at the time of iLs organization, and
that the directors had considered it best to send them
to the colonies; with a smile, he added that it would
have been wiser to send out physicians, as there was
not one '.a the colonies, nor even a surgeon or apothe-

K .'

t" M

•*&

T-'i .1 j

rm^

#*H\.

!ii(i|-,i;

-M,

SEVEN MORE YEARS OP ALASKAN ANNALS.

cary.' I asked Mr Baranof how the directors could
neglect to send surgeons to a country the climate of
which was conducive to all kinds of diseases, and
where men may at any time be wounded by savages
and need surgical treatment. *I do not know,' he
said, 'whether the directors trouble themselves to think
about it; but we doctor ourselves a little, and if a man
is wounded so as to require an operation, he must die.'
Mr Baranof treated us to an excellent dinner, during
Which we had music which was not bad."

During his stay in Russian America, Golovnin dis-
played in a somewhat ridiculous aspect his jealousj'
of the Russian American Company and of foreign
traders. A short time before, the American ship
Enterprise, in charge of Captain Ebbets, had arrived
at Novo Arkhangelsk, laden with trading goods.
The captain handed to the chief manager a despatch
from the owner of the vessel, John Jacob Astor,
wherein the latter stated that "for twent3'^-five years
he had been established in New York and engaged in
foreign trade; that he had done business with the
Canadian Company and exchanged goods with Europe
and Canton, and that he now sent his first ship to the
north-west coast of America in charge of Captain
Ebbets."

If we can believe the chief manager's biographer,
Dashkof, the Russian consul-general for the United
States,^" being informed that Baranof was in want of
supplies, had been recommended to inquire of Astor
what was most needed, and by his advice had pur-
chased a full cargo for the colonies. "I was very
glad to oblige Mr Dashkof," continues the New York
merchant, "and have loaded the ship with such use-
ful commodities as will be best adapted to trade in the

•Baranof was of course aware that there was a hospital at St Paul. See
Campbell's Voy. round World, 101, where the town is called Alcxiiiiiliia.
Probably the chief manager was amusing himself and his guests at tlie ox-
pense of the captain.

'" Afterward envoy plenipotentiary to the United States, and counsellor
of state. Khkhnikof, Shizn. Jiaranova, I3G.

a could
nate of
jes, and
savages
now,' he
to think
if a man
lUst die.'
r, during

(Vnin dis-
t jealousy
)f foreign
ican ship
jd arrived

ncr croods.

a, despatch
;ob Astor,
r.five years
engaged in
3 with the
rith Europe
ship to tlic
of Captain

biographer,
the United
J In want ot
re of Astor
ce had pur-
I was very
3 New York
bh such use-
) trade in the

at St raul. See
^lled Alcxan.l.u-
guests fit tl«> '-''

.tea, and counsellor

ASTOR'S ENTERPRISK

460

colonies. I send the vessel direct, giving full power
to Captain Ebbeta to make agreements and contracts,
if he should see fit, and I am prepared to send, each
year, two or three vessels specially for that trade."

Baranof purchased goods of Ebbets to the amount
of twenty-seven thousand piastres, but declined to
buy the entire cargo. In reply to Astor's letter, he
wrote that "he had reason to believe from private in-
formation that he would soon receive supplies, and
that he could not make contracts for the future, as he
expected to be relieved. But he would always be
able to take the cargoes of one or two vessels each
year, if the price were not too high."

The Enterprise was now despatched with furs to
Canton, the proceeds to be invested in Chinese goods,
and after a prosperous voyage Ebbets returned in
May 1811. He had sold his peltry at fair rates,
and purchased his cargo at low prices." Baranof in-
spected the bills of sale and the papers relating to
the several transactions, and so pleased was he with
the result, that he soon afterward despatched the
vessel on a second trip to Canton, with a cargo of
English goods which had beon purchased during her
absence.

All this appears to be a very simple and straight-
forward transaction, though doubtless matters were
concealed by the chief manager's biographer v;hich he
did not care to bring to light. But now Lt us hear
Golovnir ^ ccount of the matter. " Ebbets brought
a despatch from Dashkof," writes the captain of the
DiaruXy "with a contract with Astor, and a second
letter written by Astor himself with similar propor
sals, in terms very flattering to the chief m<ii,agor,
calling him 'governor,' 'count,' and 'your excelieucy'
on nearly every line, and showing that oven th».i re-
publicans know how to bestow titles when tueir inr

"The terms of his contract with Baranof, the prices which ho obtained
for tlie furs, and the goods bought with tho proceeds are mentioned in Id.,
138-9.

*'^l

J^:^t^'^^.

SEVEN MORE YEARS OP ALASKAN ANNAU3.

tereat requires it." He then makes the questionable
atatement that the letter was written in French, and
that as Ebbets understood only English, and there
were no interpreters, matters were at a stand-still
when the IXana arrived. "An American sailor," he
continues, " who was teaching English to the boys at
Kadiak, without understandmg Russian, a Prussian
skipper of one of the company's vessels, and a relative
of Baranof 'a who had picked up a few hundred Eng-
lish words, composed, previous to our arrival, the
diplomatic corps of the Kussian American Company ;
l>at as the first two were absent, and the third could
only speak of subjects at which he could point with
his fingers, Baranof could not communicate with the
foreigners. Ebbets had already decided to leave
without accomplishing anything, but when he heard
that we could speak both English and French, he
asked for our cooperation, which was freely promised,
myself and Lieutenant Ricord acting as interpreters.
We translated all the letters and documents and drew
up the contracts."

Golovnin, in his account of these transactions,
claims to have discovered that some deep-laid plan
was contemplated by Astor, and thus gives his reasons
for such an assertion: "Ebbets, desiring to let me
know how much it had cost Astor to complete the
Enterprise and fit her out for the expedition, gave nie
three books to look over. Two of them contained
the accounts mentioned, but the third was evidently
given by mistake, and contained supplementary in-
structions to Ebbets, in which he was directed to call
at certain Spanish ports on the American coast and
endeavor to trade with the inhabitants. If he su(-
ceeded, he was to go to Novo Arkhangelsk in b::)] t*i
and trade with Baranof, and in caae the 1b< c^ shor.ld
ask why he brought no goods, he must ^ive .i' in
excuse that he had heard the colonies were ful y siip-
jplied. He was also told to obtain most minute de-
tails of the trade and condition of the Russian culo-

EBBETS AND WINSHIP. .

471

nies, their strength and means of protection, the actual
power of Baranof, and the relations 'oetv/een the com-
pany and the government. In brief, Astor wished to
ascertain the feasibility of a seizure of the colonies by
the United States. I returned the books to Ebbete
v;'tbout saying anything, but immediately wrote down
it gist of the instructions and laid them before
Baranof, who thought it best to forward them to the
board of managers, who, with their usual policy, will
no doubt, in course of time, make the best use of this
information for themselves."

Whether the captain's view of the matter was right
or wrong, h« does not appear to have been actuated
by very patriotic motives; for, without heeding Bar-
anof's urgent request to prolong his stay in the col-
onies on account of the danger threatened from
Engli&h privateers, he at once took on board a cargo
of furs fill--}, trading goods for the company's commis-
sioner m Ka.inchatka, and was ready for sea on the
2d of li.ugust. On that day Captain Winship, a
Boat 'n tLa;icr, entered the outer harbor in the ship
OCai.r.' Lbbets, anxious to communicate with the
nev. -ei>nei aen ', off a boat, which was stopped by a
(Shot from the Diana, much to Baranof 's satisfaction,
v/ho was glad to see the Russian authority maintained
in this manner. Golovnin afterward sent a formal
communication to Ebbets and Winship, stating that
no one must communicate with an incoming ship until
the harbor authorities had done their duty.

'" .> .jj^ Bezanofs absence in California, Winship arrived in the ^ntfr*
prtV a N yyn A'-khangshk, and with him Baranof coueluded a contract
for hull.';: • 1 j,-otter on the coast of California. Winship was furnished with
CO liidiu-kuii, nnder command of a trusted friend of Baranof, Pavl Slobod-
cliikof, wao subsequently was in captivity in Lower California. The aaree-
mout was made for a period of from 10 to 14 mouths. There appears to liave
beeu some disagreement between Slobodchikof and Winship, as the fcirmer,
after a successful hunt all along the California coast, lel't the ship at the
island of Ccrros, where he purchased of an American si. ipper a small schooner
for 150 sea-otters, naming her the Nikolai. On this craft, with a crew of two
Americans and three Kanakas, he tixWoA for the Sandwich Islands, and thence
for Novo Arkhangelsk. Winship did not reach the latter port until Scptem-
b:r of the following year. This enterprise resulted in the collection of 4,S29
•eaotter skins. Id., 107-8.

472

SEVEN MORE YEARS OP ALASKAN ANNALS.

Late in August 1812, the American ship Beaver,
fitted out by Astor, arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk,
having on bo> c his cor^ud'.^ntial agent, Wilson B.
Hunt, who wa>. i cted to treat with Baranof for
the establishment >ermanent relations between the
American and Russian fur companies. Hunt executed
his commission with some difficulty. He succeeded,
however, in disposing of his cargo on advantageous
terms, but was obliged to go to the Prybilof Islands
for his payment in seal skins.

Considering the relations that were now established
between Baranof and Astor, one may indulge in some
speculation as to what would have been the result of
this alliance had ! be enterprise of the latter been suc-
cessful." In that case, the Hudson's Bay Company
would probably not have remained the chief factor in
shaping the destinies of the north-west coast, and the
British flag might not to-day float over the province
of British Columbia. But it is probable that the
shrewd New York merchant v/as out-matched by the
chief manager, whom Irving describes at random as "a
rough, rugged, hospitable, hard-drinking old Russian ;
somewhat of a soldier, somewhat of a trader, above all,
a boon companion of the old roistering school, with a
strong cross of the bear, but as keen, not to say
crafty, at a bargain as the most arrant water-drinker."

Nevertheless, Astor had no cause for complaint
against the Russian American Company. After
abandoning his trading-post at the mouth of the Co-
lumbia, on the outbreak of war in 1812, his claim for
damages was not disputed. His agent, Russell Far-

" The first cargo forwarded by Astor under the new agreement was lost
by the wreck of the Lark at the Sandwich Islands in 1813. During this year
Baranof jpurchaaed two foreign vessels, the AtahucdpattmA her consort, t lie
Lady. The Atahualpa was an old visitor on the north-west coast, appcnring
firet in Sturgis' list of north-west traders iu 1801, being then commaiulLMl by
Captain Wild (Wil ies act' rding to Swan). The sale was effected by Caiitain
Beniiet, who in 18i;J comm.ind'^d the Atahualpa. The price agreed upon
was .31,000 piaatres for the cargo and 20,000 fur-seal skins for the vessel.
Siurgia' Hemarks, MS.; Baranof, Shizn., 155. The Atahualpa, a tliree-
master, was re-named the Bering, and the Larly, a brig, nceived the uaii)'"
Jlttun, Both were subsequently wrecked at the Sandwich Islands.

FARNUM'S MISSION.

473

num, being despatched to Astoria, found that the per-
son whose evidence was necessary to prove the claim
had gone the previous year to Novo Arkhangelsk.
After waiting a year for a vessel, the agent followed
him, only to find that he had crossed over to Kam-
chatka. Reaching Bering Strait, Famum made the
passage between the ice-floes in an open boat, and at
length overtook the man of whom he was in search.
After obtaining the necessary proof, he made his way
through Siberia and northern Russia to St Peters-
burg. "There," says Thomas Gray, who, while re-
siding at Keokuk in 1830, heard the story from
Farnum's own lips, and recently furnished me with
a statement of his adventures," "he met the head of
the Russian Fur Company, adjusted the claim, and
received an order on tiie London branch of a Russian
bank in favor of Astor for the amount." Farnum re-
turned to New York, and after an absence of three
years, presented himself to the astonished Astor, who
had long since given him up for lost."

On the day of Winship's arrival at Novo Ark-
hangelsk, the Juno returned from a cruise in the inte-
rior channels of the Alexander Archipelago, where
she had been attacked by the Kolosh. Several of
the crew had been wounded, and were treated by the
surgeon of the Diana. After remaining in port for
nearly a month, the vessel sailed for Petropavlovsk,
on what proved to be her last voyage. "Sailing from

"Mr Gray was kind enough to call at my Library and hand me a copy
of the St Louis llepuhlkan, dated October 18, 1883, in which is a copy of
his letter to Dr 0. VV. Stevens, acting president of the Missonri Historical
iSociety in tliat city, containing a narrative of Farnum's adventures. In his
letter, (iray, who now resides in San Francisco, writes: ' I desire to couiinuni-
e>ite what 1 know of this matter to a person who is writing a work on tlie
l^'.cino coast, and that he may not Iiave to depend solely upon my say so, I
Blmuld 1)0 (,'lad to liave tlio testimony of otiicrs, as far as they know anything
rilutiu ,' to the same. ' His statement is corroborated by sevei-al persons. One
of tlioin, Mr Richard Dowling, then in hia TDth year, and a resident of St
Loiiia from the time wlien it contained only 1,700 inhabitants, relates further
lueitlenta of FBmum's adventures.

'■' Astor cave Farnum an interest in the business of which he was then the
head, and this ho retained uutil his death at St Louis in 18.32. Id.

It*;

i 1

474

SEVEN MORE YEARS OP ALASKAN ANNALS.

Novo Arkhangelsk," writes her captain in his log-
book on the 14th of November, "with the ship placed
under my charge, I €nd myself in sight of land in
the most miserable condition. For three months
we have been battling with continuous gales, and for
nineteen days ^ve have been within sight of the coast,
with only three good sailors on board, and those en-
tirely exhau&^ed, and five young apprentices who have
been intrusteii to my care. Two of the latter who
are more robust than the others are doing sailors'
duty, while the rest can only assist at the rudder and
in pumping the ship, for we are making five inches of
water per hour. They help me to haul the log and
to keep my journal. The management of the ship
with these eight persons is exceedingly difficult; the
remainder of my command — "" With this broken
sentence the report ends.

The gale continued, and a few days afterward the
greater part of the bulwarks were carried away, the
rudder was unshipped, and the Jutio drifted in shore.
Anchor was cast in thirty fathoms, but still the ves-
sel drifted helplessly shoreward; a second anchor was
thrown out, but this also gave way, and now the ship
was dashed on a reef parallel with the coast. Here
she lay till the incoming tide cast her on an inner
reef All through this chill November night the
men stood waiting for death, lashed to the rigging,
and drenched with the ice-cold waves. One huge
breaker swept away six of the company, among whom
was the captain, and even their fate was a merciful
one, for when the vessel was finally carried into the
mouth of the river Viliuya, only four reached the
land out of twenty-two men who had sailed from
Novo Arkhangelsk.

Six hours after being cast on shore the vessel
broke to pieces. One of the survivors was struck by
a falling mast. He was wrapped in such articles of

'* SUka ArcMvef, Log-ho^, iiL

SHIPWRECK.

log-
Diced

d in
nths
1 for
;oast,
e en-
have
• who
ailors'
jr and
hes of
•g and
e ship
It; the
broken

I shore,
.he ves-
hor was
the ship
Here
xn inner
ight the

rigging'
me huge
[^g whom
nierciful
into the
ched the
iled from

;he vessel

truck by

articles ot

clothing as his shipmates could spare ; but knowing
that he could not live, crept to a projecting rock and
threw himself headlong into the waves. His com-
rades tried to save him, and twice he was almost
within reach. Then the recoil of a wave carried him
beyond their grasp, and he was seen no more.

The three Russians now set forth on their way
along the bleak Kamchatka coast, with little hope of
meeting any living creature, save the wolves and
bears which infested that wintry solitude. Their
sufferings during this journey I shall not attempt to
describe. All that men can suffer from cold and
hunger they endured. Crawling gaunt and half
naked to the banks of a neighboring stream, they
were fortunate enough to catch some fish, and near
by a few sables, which furnished food and clothing ;
and thus toward Christmas of 1811 they made their
way to Petropavlovsk."

" KUebnikof, Shkn, Baraiumi, 141-3. When the news was received at
Petropavlovsk, the commissioner of the company at ouce repaired to the sceue
of the wreck. Search was made through tiie adjacent woods, but no tr.ice
of any human being was found. The beach was strewn with corpses, all of
which had their arms or legs broken.

!^Hl

CHAPTER XXIII.

FOREIGN VENTURES AND THE ROSS COLONY.

1803-1841.

BARANors Want of Means — O'Cain's Expedition to California— And
TO Japan — The 'Mkrotjbv' at San Dieoo — Tbadino CoNTRAOTa with
Amkrican Skippers — Kcskof on the Coast of New Albion— Tub
lloss Colony Founded — Seal-hunting on the Coast of California —
Ship-building — Agriculture— Shipments of Cereals to Novo Ark-
hangelsk — Horticulture — Stock-haising — Losses Incurrkd by tub
Company — Hunting-post Established at the Farallones — Failure
OF t.!ik Enterprise — Sals of the Colony's EpFEcrs.

Notwithstanding frequent losses by shipwreck, Bar-
anof was now well supplied with sea-going craft, and
had more vessels at his disposal than he could use for
hunting expeditions. He had not forgotten, however,
the secret instructions received from the directors of
the company in November 1803, and for several years
had been pushing forward his settlements toward the
south. The rich hunting-grounds on the coast of Cal-
ifornia had long since attracted his attention, and he
had made several efforts, though with little success,
to avail himself of this source of wealth, and to open
up a trade with the Spanish colonies.

The only obstacle that now lay in the path of tlie
chief manager was want of means. Men were not
lacking, nor ships; but supplies were forwarded to
him in such meagre quantity and at such exorbitant
rates that, as will be remembered, want was a famihar
guest in the Russian settlements. The resources of
the Russian American Company's territory, bountiful
though they were, had thus far served at best < i ly to

(470)

O'CAIN-S VOYAGE.

477

lA— And

era WITH
ION— Tub

OVO Akk-
m BY TUB

supply the few needs of the settlers, to furnish small
dividends to the shareholders, and to satisfy in part
the greed of the company's agents.

In 1803 the vessels that arrived at Okhotsk from
Alaska were freighted with furs valued at 2,500,000
roubles.^ Other large shipments followed, among them
being one by the Neva, in 1805, valued at 500,000 rou-
bles. Nevertheless, Baranof did not venture to draw on
St Petersburg for the nieans wherewith to carry out
his instructions. " * There is another cargo with half a
million,' you will say," writes Rezanof to the directors
in November of this year, " 'and where is the threat-
ened want of means?' But I must answer you, gen-
tlemen, that in your extensive business this is only a
short palliative, the drawing of a oreath, and no perma-
nent relief. Patience! and you will agree with me."'

A few days before the chief manager received his
secret despatch, the American ship O'Cain, or as it
was called by the Russians the Boston, arrived at
Kadiak, in command of Captain O'Cain, whom the
former had previously met as mate of the Enterprise.
After an exchange of trading goods for furs, to the
value of 10,000 roubles, O'Cain proposed that Bar-
anof should furnish him with Aleutian hunters and
bidarkas for an expedition to the coast of California.
The latter was disposed to listen favorably to such a
proposition, for during this and the two preceding
years the destruction of seals in Russian America harl
been on an enormous scale, and, as we have seen, ii
few months later orders were given by Rezanof that
the slaughter should cease for a time. After some
negotiation an agreement was concluded, and twenty
bidarkas were fitted out and placed in charge of
Shutzof,* a tried servant of the company. Shutzof

'Between 1801 and 1804 the company accumulated about 800,000 skins,
many of which were spoiled through want of care in dressing. Tikhmenef,
Isfor. Obo»., i. 93-4.

'^/(/., app. part ii. 201. The letter was dated from Novo Arkhangelsk.

' Sixteen years later the widow of this man petitioned the company for a
pension, basing her claim on the assertion that lier husband had 'opened to
the Kuasian American Company, and to the Russian empire, the valuable trade

;ii

478

FOREIGN VENTURES AND THE ROSS COLONY.

iJi^'i!

was ordered to observe closely all parts of the coast
which he might visit, to mark the number and charac-
ter of the inhabitants, and to procure information of
all hunting-grounds which might in the future be util-
ized by the company without the assistance of for-
eigners. He was instructed also to observe the sea-
ports that were frequented by Americans for purposes
of trade, and to ascertain the prices of provisions and
other products of the country.

The Boston sailed from Kadiak on the 26th of Octo-
ber, and after calling at San Diego, proceeded to the
bay of San Quintin in Lower California, where
O'Cain* made his headquarters, sending out hunting
parties in various directions, until the 1st of March of
the following year. The number of furs secured was
eleven hundred, and Shutzof reported that the Amer-
ican captain, trawling on his own account with the mis-
sionaries and soldiers, had obtained seven hundred
additional skins at prices ranging from three to four
piastres. Thus was inaugurated a series of hunting
expeditions beyond the borders of the Russian col-
onies, which continued for many years with varying
success.

In August 1806 O'Cain returned to Alaska, arriv-
ing at Novo Arkhangelsk on board the Eclipse.
Touching at the Hawaiian Islands on his voyage, he
had found there a crew of Japanese sailors who had
been picked up at sea. He now proposed to the chief
manager to supply him with a cargo of furs for Can-
ton, and that, having taken on board the shipwrecked
sailors, he should proceed thence to Japan, with a
view to opening the Japanese ports to the Russians.
As the captain had before proved faithful to his trust,
Baranof consented, and a few weeks later the vessel
set sail, with a cargo^ valued at three hundred and

of Califomia.' Archives Jiussian American Company, 1810 (Letter Books,
vol. iii.)

♦ For further mention of O'Cam'b voyage, see Hi»t. Col., ii. 25-6, this series.

* Including 1 ,800 sea-otter, 105,000 marten, 2,500 beaver, and other sliios.
Khkhnikof, Shizn. Baranova, 111. The terms of the contract between O'Caia
and Baranof are given in Id., 109-10.

loast
irac-
m of
util-
' for-
) sea-
poses
s and

Octo-
to the
where
anting
irch of
ed was
Amer-
be mis-
undred
to four
lunting
lan col-
varying

OTTER-HUNTINa CONTRACTS.

ten thousand roubles. The expedition proved a com-
plete failure. The furs were sold at Canton at low
prices, and Chinese goods purchased with the pro-
c(-'eds." On entering the harbor of Nangasaki under
K'jssian colors, the ship was immediately surrounded
with hundreds of row-boats and towed to the anchor-
age ground. Soon afterward a Dutch official came
on board, and finding that neither captain nor crew
were Russian, ordered them to haul down their flag.
As the Japanese would not listen to his proposals,
O'Cain informed them that ho was in need of provi-
sions and fresh water. Supplies were delivered to
him in abundance free of charge; but on the third
day after his arrival, he was towed out to sea under a
strong guard, with orders never to enter a Japanese
port again. The Eclipse was then headed for Petro-
pavlovsk, where half her cargo was transferred to the
care of the Russian commissioner, and sailing thence
for Kadiak, was wrecked on the voyage at the island
of Sannakh. Only the captain and four others were
saved, and with the assistance of some natives from
Unalaska, made their way to St Paul.^

The result of O'Cain's hunting expedition to the
coast of California had been so satisfactory that Bar-
anof resolved to profit by every opportunity of repeat-
ing the experiment. Through captains Ebbets and
Meek it had become known among American skip-
pers that money could be made in this way, and several
of the north-west traders were only too willing to make
the attempt. In May 1808 a contract was entered
into with Captain George Ayres, of the ship Mercury
from Boston. Ayres was furnished with twenty-five

'Baranof, in his reports, bints at sharp practice on the part of O'Cain.
The price obtained for sea-otter skius was only 13^ piastres each, vrhile
martens brought only 40 cents, beavers 3 piastres, etc. The whole cargo was
8uld for 155,C^ roubles, just one half the estimated value. With this sum
tho captain purchased 3,000 socks of rice, 280 chests of tea, and 25,000 (lack-
ages of various Chinese goods. Id.,\\2.

^ An aocotmt of this shipwreck is given by Campbell, one of the survivors,
in his Voy. round World, 42 et seq. (Edinburgh, 181G). He calls St Paul
'Alexandria.'

480

FOREIGN V'ENTURES AND THE ROSS COLONY.

bidarkas for the purpose of hunting in the vicinity of
islands 'not, previously known.' Baranof engaged to
furnish the Aleuts with subsistence, and no party was
to be sent out without an armed escort. For any na-
tive hunter killed or captured while hunting, Ay res
promised to pay 250 piastres toward the support of
his family. The ship was to return within ten or
twelve months, and the proceeds of the trip were to
be equally divided, the furs being valued by the chief
manager. For the labor of the Aleuts, Ayres was to
deduct from his share three and a half piastres for
each sea-otter, a piastre and a half for each fur-seal,
and one piastre for each beaver.

The Mercury sailed from Kadiak on the 8th of July,
Shutzof being in charge of the hunters. At Char-
lotte and adjacent islands Ayres bought a number of
sea-otter furs from the natives, paying for each a can
of powder, and at the mouth of the Columbia* Shut-
zof purchased five hundred and eighty beaver skins.
In September the vessel entered the harbor of Trini
dad, but meeting with little trade, the captain sailed
for Bodega Bay, and thence for San Francisco and
San Diego. From the latter port hunting parties
were sent out during the v, inter, and the ship re-
turned the following year with more than two thou-
sand skins.

Between 1809 and 1812 Baranof made six addi-
tional contracts with American masters, the result
being that over eight tho-isand sea-otter skins, pro-
cured outside the limit of the company's possessions,
were delivered to the chief manager as his share of
the proceeds.' These transactions were approved by

' ' Here,' says Khlebnikof, ' the party met with two United States officials
and a number of soldiers, who were already putting up barracks. The olli-
ciala bad given medals to the savages, bearing the portrait of Wasliiiigtou. '
Shizn. Daranova, 123. This occurred in August 1808, and as Lewis and Claike
left the mouth of the Columbia in 1800, and Astoria was not est^iblished until
1811, it remains to bo shown who these officials were. Doubtless they wero
not United States officers and soldiers, but traders.

• In 1809, Captain John Winship on the ship O'Cain was furnished with
50 bidarkas, the company's share being 2,728 sea-otter skins. In 1810,
Nathan Winship of the Albalrona hunted with 68 bidarkas, the conipacy'a

* "rif •

PLANS FOR NEW ALBION.

481

ty of
id to
^was
[y na-
Vyres
jrt of
en or
ere to
3 chief
was to
res for
jr-seal,

ofJuly,
t Char-
mber of
;h a can
x« Sbut-
er skins,
of Trini
in sailed
isco and
parties
ship rc-
,svo thou-

six addi-
,he result
(kins, pro-
:)SSCSsions,
share of
)roved by

states olBcials
cks. Thoolb;

,f WasUiiiR^oV
5wi8 and Clarke

stiblisheil until

,tle8B they were

.kins. In 18U).
^ the compacy*

the directors, but the frequent purchases of entire
cargoes of goods and provisions, for which payment
was usually made in fur-seal skins, were regarded
with less favor. Twice in succession shrewd Yankee
skippers succeeded in selling their skins to the com-
missioner at Kamchatka or Okhotsk at a higher val-
uation than had been placed upon them by Baranof
in the original transaction; and finally a peremptory
order was issued by the board of directors to make
no more payments m kind, but to give drafts on the
home office at St Petersburg.

After his return from California, Rezanof had never
ceased to urge on the chief manager the importance
of establish mg, on the shore of New Albion," a
station for hunting, trading, and agricultural purposes.
It is probable that his plans were even more ambi-
tious than those contained in the company's private
instructions to Baranof, and that he purposed gradu-
ally to push forward the Russian colonies toward the
mouth of the Columbia, and in time even to wrest
from Spain a portion of California.

Baranof did all that lay in his power. In October
1808 Kuskof was sent to the coast of New Albion on
board the ship Kadiak, the schooner Nikolai haviiig
been despatched southward a fortnight earlier. Tlic
latter was wrecked at the mouth of Gray Harbor,
where she had been ordered to join her consort ; arid
though no lives were lost, the men were held captives
by the Indians, a few of them being rescued by an
American vessel, in which they returned to Novo Ark-
share amounting only to 560 skins. In the same year Davis of the Isabella
hunted with 48 bidarkas, the company receiving 2,488 skins. In 1811,
Meek of the Amethyst was supplied with 52 bidarkas, the company's shr.rc
of tlie result being 721 sea-otter. In the same year Blanchard of the C'a<A-
eriiie hunted with 50 bidarkas, and returned 750 sea-otter. In 1812, Captain
Wittemore of the Charon was supplied with hunters, and returned to the
company 890 sea-otters as its share.

'" The term 'New Albion' was of somewhat vague significance. Its south-
ern limit was anywhere between San Diego and Point Reyes, near whicli. it
will be remembered, Drake landed in 1579, at the bay which now bears his
luvffie, and called the country 'New Albion.' *

Hin. Alaska. 31

; ■; hi;;

FOREIGN VENTURES AND THE ROSS COLONY.

hangelsk two years later. Contrary winds prevented
the Kadiak from entering the harbor, and Kuskof
proceeded to Bodega Bay, where he arrived at the
close of the yoar. Returning after a twelve months'
voyage with more than two thousand otter skins," he
laid before Baranof information of the greatest im-
portance. He reported that sea-otter and fish abounded
on the whole coast, that he had found many places
well adapted for agriculture and ship-building, and that
the whole country north of San Francisco Bay was
unoccupied by any European power.

The chief manager finally resolved to delay no longer
the execution of his plans in that direction, although
he did not receive positive instructions to found such
a colony until several years later. He gave orders to
collect all the men who might be of use in forming a
permanent settlement, including ex-convicts from the
agricultural provinces of Russia, and others skilled in
agriculture and stock-raising; and in 1810 despatched
Kuskof on a second trip to the coast of New Albion,
with orders to make further explorations. This ex-

f)edition was unsuccessful. Calling at Queen Char-
otte Islands, his men were attacked by savages, and
after losing eight of his hunters, he was compelled to re-
turn to Novo Arkhangelsk," whence he was again sent
in the same direction in the schooner Chirikof early in
1811. Of his voyage little is known,^^ but anchoring
in Bodega Bay, which he re-named Rumiantzof, be
found its vicinity not adapted to his purpose, and se-
lecting another location eighteen miles to the north-

" For further details of this voyage and a map of Bodega Bay, see Jlist.
CaX., ii. 80-2, this series.

" Tikhmene/, lator. Obos., i. 208. Kuskof sailed on <x>ard the Juno two
years before she was wrecked.

"Khlebnikof, Zapiski in McUerialul, 137-9, gives Jan. 22d as the date of
the Chirikofs departure, and says that Bodega Bay was reached a month later,
but that finding there a scarcity of sea-otter, Kuakof sent twenty-two bidar-
kas to San Francisco Bay, where they met a party of Aleuts under coinniauJ
of Tcrepanoff with forty-eight bidari is, and one belonging to VVinship'a ex-
pedition with sixty-eight uidarkas. Kuskof's men secured 1,1G0 sea-uttor
and 78 yearlings '.vithin three months. In order to drive them away, tlio
Spaniards placed guanls at all the points where the Aleuts were accustoincJ
to procure ir^sh water.

FOUNDING OF ROSS.

483

;nted
askof
it the
Diiths
s," he
at iui-
lunded
places
id that
ay was

) longer
[though
nd such
,rders to
)rming a
from the
skilled in
sspatched
(7 Alhion,
This ex-
Char-
ges, and
lied to re-

again

sent

0/ early m
anchoruig
iantzof, he
»e, and se-
the north-

Bay, nee

Ilist.

>d OS the date of

jdaroonthlaer,

,enty-twobvaar,

under coinmutKl

I 1,100 Bea-utta
them away, t"®
were accustomed

ward, purchased a tract of land from the naiivew. On
his return to Novo Arkhangelsk he was ordered to
proceed at once to this site with a large party of Rus-
sians and Aleuts, and was furnished with an ample
store of supplies for the use of the proposed settle-
ment. Of the colony founded by Kuskof, in 1812, a
full descriptio is given elsewhere;^* it remains only
to make brief mention of it, and to give a few details
as to the industrial progress of an enterprise which
the company had long desired to establish.

During the year a fort, mounted with ten guns,
was erected on a bluff about a hundred feet above the
sea; other buildings were added, and on September
10th, or, according to the Russian calendar, on
A"gust 30th, the new colony was named Ross — the
nx o of the modern word Russia.^'

Thus at length a foothold was gained on the shore
of New Albion, but the result disappointed all ex-
pectation. The hunting-grounds on the neighboring
coast to which the Russians had access were soon ex-
hausted; while as a site for ship-building and agricul-
ture, it met with little success.^* Between 1812 and
1823 only about 1,100 large sea-otter skins and some
250 yearlings were secured, and of these at least two
thirds were obtained during the first four years of
this period, the seals rapidly disappearing from the
neighborhood. In 1824, the treaty between Russia
and the United States permitted the Russians to send

'*//«<. Col., ii., cap. xiv.-xxviii., and iv., cap. vi., this series. Ou p.
300, vol. ii., is a map of the region.

''The fort was surrounded with a palisade, enclosing a space of about 42
by 49 fathoms. The other buildings included the commandant's house, bar-
racks, storehouses, magazines, barns, shops, bath-house, tannery, and wind-
niill. All were not co'.i^pleted until 1814. Khlebnikof, Zapiaki in MaUriolui,

loo.

"As early as 1818, Hagemeister writes in his report: 'As to agriculture
ill tiia colony of Ross, I an. obliged to destroy the hopes that have been en-
tertained. The main obstacle consists in not having competent workmen.
Those sent from Novo Arkhangelsk are, with a few exceptions, the smin of
tlie Hcuin. The Aleuts are also unfitted for this kind of work, and long train-
ing is necessary to prepare them for their new occupation. Meanwiiile the
Hussion American (Company loses the advantage that would be gained by
employing them in seal hunting.' Zavaluhin, Koloniy Rosa, 21-2.

f'i

^ ,0..ia^ VB^O^ES A«. THE UOSS COU,^. ^

and inland waters for a P^rf^-^'^^ing this time aoout
Tad no bearing on W.^^^^^^^^^^^^ few yearl ngs

1,800 sea-otter 2,700 ^^[ . ^^^^ters as the com-
pere delivered by tj;!,^^ ^^en for the greater gor-
pany's share, ^^/i! Sness was unprofitable."
Toif of this decade the ta^^^^^^^^^ ^.J^^ ate

From 1816 to 1824 ^-JJ^^^y^ cost of more than
capacity of 720 tons, were bm^^^^^^^^^ .W^-carpenter

i-iOOOO roubles.*^ An ^^P^.._„ded their construc-
from Novo Arthangf^^ %C4ht that the oak, pino
tn and for a time it --^^^^^^^^^^^^ well adapted
and cedar found m tbe neighb^ ^^^^^ ."^^f t'".

for the purpose. The resui I ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ap

tory, however. The ^oo^ T' . within six years after
soon the timbers began to rot and w ^^ ^ thy.

Snc launched not one of tbe smp ^.^^^^^^^i p^r-

But it was mainly with a v^e w t j ^^^
poses, as we ha^^e Been, tha^^^^^^^ ^^ ^ bt the

U was selected A.lthougri .^^^^3, the loca-

best one that tbe Bussians f^^^^^^ ^,,3 ,,„-

tion had ^fy.,f £:i7w"oded at a distance
rounded with hills, densely ^^^^ containe-l

one ^^^ fr^"\ ^^".r;.ost ferSe portions of it wero
numerous gulches; ^^^^ ^i^J^*^ 'Ling at adistancc c,
Sifficult of access, so^^^ ^^^ summer fogs caused
Jbree versts from the fort the^ ^^^ g.^Uers

the ripening gram to rust H .^ , ^

spread havoc among the g^^l^^^-J^ individuals, as
^Farming was earned on by P ^^.^^^^ ,„tU

wai as by^the company b agent^, ^^ y^^^
system. The V.^o^S^^." -T and Californian The
Russian Siberian Fmn^^^^^^^ a pointed piece

shares of many of '^'^ ^^ ,,,,^„,,, ;... 0.....

„ A «Uteu.ent of each year's catch « g^-n ^ ^^^^ ^^

Wes; the ^^'''''"'[froL^fl^BO^ons finished ^^^^^^^ f^g* ^, ,„ expcus-
of 33,2'18 ro"^^^"- *■

RUSSIANS IK CALIFORNIA.

485

duals, as

her Nvit^^
terns—
n. TUc

ted p"iccc

of thick bar-iron, and where the soil was rocky and
no plough could be used, Indians were employed to
dig up the ground with spades. Each one farmed as
seemed best in his own eyes, and the usual result
was, of course, failure. Between 1815 and 1829
about 4,800 pouds of wheat and 740 o'f barley were
sown, and over 25,000 pouds of wheat and 3,600 of
barley harvested. Thus the average yield for both
these cereals was little more than five-fold; while in
1823, the most prosperous of the intervening years, it
did not exceed ten or eleven fold, and in bad seasons
fell as low as two or three fold. Not until 1826 were
any considerable shipments of grain made to Novo
Arkhangelsk, and from that date to 1833 only 6,000
pouds were forwarded.'^*

During his visit to the colony in the latter year^
Baron Wrangell selected a new site for agricultural
purposes, near the mouth of the Slavianka (Russian)
lliver, midway between the Ross settlement and
Bodega Bay. About 400 pouds of wheat were sown,
together with a small quantity of barley; and besides
what was required for home consumption and for
seed, there remained as the result of the harvest
about 4,500 pouds of wheat and 450 of barley for
shipment to Novo Arkhangelsk. The next year's
crop was almost as satisfactory, but that of 1835 was
a partial, and of 1836 a total failure. From the latter
date until 1840 the surplus of wheat at both settle-
ments amounted to about 10,000 pouds, in addition to
a few hundred pouds of other cereals.

Other branches of husbandry were introduced, but
with little better result, for there were none who
thoroughly understood the business. The first peach-
tree was brought from San Francisco in 1814, on
hoard the Chirikqf, and six years later yielded fruit,

"In 1833 wheat yielded only 8 to 1. Vallejo, In/orme Reservado, MS.
In a few choice localities the yield was sometimes as high as 15 to I of wlie ',
ami of barley 19 to 1. In ITisl. ('al., ii. G36, this series, is a list of the pro-
visions obtained by the company in California between 1817 and 18vi5.

M ,,1

I„ 1817 the g^pe-vine -j^tr^d^ced fro™ L.ma.
and in 1820 apP e- P^"- ^"^ *?^i823, and the
slanted The vines began w u . ^^^^^

etes not till five vea^^^^^^^^ by

quantity. Melons a"d PumpK .^.^^ ^f beets

Lskof, who also [Xce^Se,Ws, radishes, and

cabbages, Pp^^^f^'s^^^^'eie^^^^^ in size but poor in
turnips. The two last were larg ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^
flavor Vegetables, however ga ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^

crop, and after f PP&"|X R^^^ settlement, a sur^
of vessels that torched at tne ri Arkhangelsk.*

;iuswas available or shipme^^^^^ ^^^^^^,

^ The industry of s^^^^^^X want of pasture all
successful though restricted b^^^^^^ ^^^ ,^ttle

the best land ^^^^^ ^J^^^^ ranges, and

were left to roam among tne ^^^^ ^ ^o

Iny were slaughtered by Indmn^^ ^^^^ ^^
wild beasts.'^ Nevertheless oe^ ^^ mustered

the number of \«r"^f^^^^^^^^^^^ 521, of horses

.at the settlement ^^^^f^^^J?^^ i61 to 6U. Dur-
from 10 to 253, and of !^^^P, '""^^ntity of live-stock
ing the interval a ««f ^^^Jf^^ at the San

wL purchased from the -t-es, and ^^^^

Francisco mission, but ^or company s ves-

home consumi>tion, tor the use^ During 1826 and

sels, or for ^t^^P^f.^^ ^^.^^^^^^ than 450 pouds of

the three ^^^^f^'^^^^lTto^ovo Arkhangelsk. Tal-
salt beef were forwarded to^ovo ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ,

low was produced at the rate o ^^

, oi™ i 210, «•»"«■•' If "T^towK —

nlaced on board the K.atuBOi ui

plai
Zicu

GENERAL RESULTS.

«^

ima,
were
[ the
small
i by
t>eets,
8, and
oor in
tndant
ly and
a sur-
gelsk*
t more
,ure, all
, cattle
res, and
prey to
nd 1829
iiustered
f horses

ive-stock
. the San
tered for
tuy's ves-
1826 and
pouds of
>lsk. Tal-
) pouds a
e between
d to Novo
jA,nd upper
idiak, who

twice a year-
bill in some

ito Bides. ll'«

had learned his business from the Russians. An
attempt was also made to manufacture blankets, but
the wool was of poor quality, and there was no one who
understood how to construct a loom.

Between 1825 and 1830 the expense of maintain-
ing the Ross settlement was about 45,000 roubles a
year, while the average receipts were less than 13,000
roubles.'^' In later years, though the shipments of
produce were on a larger scale, the hunting-grounds
became almost worthless. Meanwhile the outlay was
largely increased, and during the last four years of its
existence the colony was maintained at a total cost of
about 288,000 roubles, while the returns were less
than 105,000 roubles, leaving a net loss of more than
45,000 roubles a year.

Trade wa3 carried on to a small extent with the
Spaniards at San Francisco even before the treaty of
1824, though before that date the Russians were not
allowed to enter the harbor for hunting purposes. At
the Farallones, however, a station was established,
which for a time was fairly profitable." From 1812

''Consisting of 8,745 roubles' worth of produce and 4,138 of furs. Tikh-
menef, Istor. ohoa., i. .359.

^ Tho men sent to this station were relieved at intervals, as want of proper
food, shelter, fuel, and wholesome water caused sickness and death among
thcin. Zakhar Chichiuof, who was one of a party sent to the Farallones in
1819, thus relates his experience: 'A schooner took us down to the islands,
but we had to cruise around for over a week before we could make a landing.
Wu had a few planks with uh and some canvas, and with that scanty material
and some sea-lion skins wo built huts for shelter. We had a little drift-wood,
and used to burn the fat of sea-lions and seals for cooking purposes. When
V'ti landed we had about 120 lbs. of flour and 10 or 12 lbs. of tea, and, as we
Mere nine persons, tho provisions did not last lone, and we were soon reduced
to sea-lion, seal, (\.nd Hsh. The water was very oad also, being taken from
hollow places in the rocks, where it stood all the year round. We had no
firu-arms; the sea-lions were killed with clubs and spears. The sea-lion
nieat was salted down in barrels and boxes, which we had brought with us,
and in holes in the rocks. Once only, about sis months after we landed on
tlic islandb, one of the companv's brigs came and took away the salted meat
and a lot of fur-seal skins, and then went on her way, leaving us about 100
lbs. of flour, a few pounds of tea, and some salt. About a month afterward
tliu scurvy broke out among us, and in a short time all were sick except my-
self. My father and two others were all that kept at work, and they were
growing weaker every day. Two of the Aleuts died a month after the disease
bruke out. All the next winter we passed there in great misery, and when
spring came the men were too weak to kill sea-lions, and all we could do waa
to crawl around the cliffs and gather some sea-birds' eggs, and suck them raw. '
Adventures, MS., 0-8.

ijt

tn«^

488

FOREIGN VENTURES AND THE ROSS COLONY.

to 1818, about 8,400 fur-seal skins were obtained there,
and it is stated that, before their occupation by the
Russians, as many as 10,000 were taken on these
islands in a single autumn. Later the supply was
gradually exhausted, but the ground was not finally
abandoned until 1840, the few Aleuts left there in
charge of a single Russian being employed in shoot-
ing and drying sea-gulls for use at the Ross colony
and in gathering sea-birds' eggs.^

One of the greatest obstacles to the prosperity of
the Ross settlement was that the colonists held no
secure title to their possessions. The land had been
purchased from the Indians for a trifle; but the
Spaniards had never recognized their ownership, and
at this time laid claim to the entire coast as far as
the strait of San Juan de Fuca. Of the disputes that
arose on this point, an account is given in another
volume.'" As early as 1820 the company offered to
surrender the colony if restrictions on trade were re-
moved, for they had already begun to despair of its
success. In 1838, after the failure of Wrangell's mis-
sion to Mexico, of which mention is made in connec-
tion with my History of California, it became evident
that the days of the colony were numbered. Already
American immigrants had taken up land within tea
leagues of the settlement, and others proposed to
establish themselves still nearer to Ross. In vain an
appeal was made to the vice-chancellor at St Peters-
burg. His decision was that no claim could be ad-
vanced, "other than right to possession of the land
already occupied and of the buildings erected thereon."

This was a death-blow to the company's hopes.
After two unsuccessful attempts to sell the establish-
ment, first to the Hudson's Bay Company and thou
to General Vallejo,^* the entire property at Ross and

*'The average nuirber of birds obtained was 5,000 to 10,000 a year, but
in 1828, 60,000 were killed. Khkhnikof, Zapiski in Matericdui, 157.
'*//««<. Col., ii. .103 et seq., this series.
** Soe Douylaa, Journal, MS., IG, aud Vallejo, Doc, MS., x. 60-2.

lere,
the
,hese
was
nally
re in
lioot-
olony

FAILURE IN NEW ALBION.

489

Bodega, apart from the real estate, including all im-
provements, agricultural implements, 1,700 head of
cattle, 940 horses, and 900 sheep, was sold to John A.
Sutter in September 1841, for $30,000, the amount
being payable in yearly instalments,^' and two thirds
of it in produce, to be delivered at San Francisco,
freight and duty free.'*

Thus ended, in loss and failure, the company's
schemes of colonization on the coast of New Albion.
The experiment had been for thirty years a constant
source of expense and vexation; but if the Russians
could have maintained their foothold, results might
have followed, more brilliant than even Rezanof con-
templated. Within a few years after their departure,
gold-bearing sands were discovered beyond the ranges
of hills which separated from an interior valley the
abandoned site of Ross.

FIS'W

" Extending over four years, the first two of $5,000 and the others of
$10,000 each, liosi, Conlrat de V-nte, MS., 1841, of which there is a copy iii
Spanish in Depl. St. Pap., MS., vi. 108-9.

"^ Tiklimenef, /ntor. Obos., i. 366, states that payment was guaranteed by the
Mexican govenimeut, but such was not the fact. The Bodega pi'operty, two
ranches belonging to Tschemich and Khiebuikof, and an establishment at
New Helvetia, were left in the hands of the company's agents as security.
i?o,i», Conlrat de Ventc, MS. The last payment was not made until about
1S50. For further particulars on this matter, see Uiat. Vol., iv. cap. vi., this
series.

K) ft year.
157.

«.'-»

CHAPTER XXIV.

FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

180S-1818.

Haobheister in the Sandwich Islands — Baranof Again Dxsires to bi
Rklieted — EuoT Saiu fob CAuroRNiA in the 'Ilmen' — His Cap-
tivity — KOTZEBUB IN the ' RURIK ' IN SeaBCH OF A NORTH-EAST

Passage — Hia Explorations in Kotzebue Sound — He Proceeds to
Unalaska — And thence to California and the Sandwich Isl-
ands — King Kamehaueha — A Storm in the North Paciho — Tub
•Rcrik' Returns to Un\laska — Her Homeward Voyage — Ben-
nett's Trip to the Sandwich Islands — Captain Lozaref at Novo
Arkhangelsk — His Disputes with the Chief Manager — Sheffer
Sails for Hawaii — And tiienck for Kauai — His Agreement with
Kino Tohari— Jealousy of American and English Traders-
Flight of the Russians.

As only casual mention of the Ross settlement will
be required in the remainder of this volume, I have
thought it best to complete the brief record of its
operations before proceeding further. I shall now
refer to other and earlier attempts at foreign coloniza-
tion ; for, as we have seen, the company's plans were
far-reaching, and extended not only to both shores of
the Pacific, but to the islands that lay between.

In 1808 Captain Hagemeister sailed for the
Sandwich Islands in charge of the Neva, with in-
structions to establish a colony there, and to survey
the field with a view to future occupation by the Rus-
sians.^ Arriving at a harbor on the southern side of

* Campbell, Voy. nmnd World, 118, states that the Neva had a crew of
seventy-five men belonging to the Russian navy. He was one of those wlio
survived the wreck of the Eclipae, in 1807. Though an illiterate seaman, liia
story is interesting, and in the main worthy of credit. He writes appor-

(490»

HAGEMEISTER'S VOYAGE.

491

IE8 TO BS

His Cap-

3BTH-EAaT
0CKKD9 TO
WICH Isl--

;iFic— The
AGE— Ben-

, AT Novo

L— Sheffeb
UENT wna
Tbadeks—

nent will
I have
rd of its
lall now
coloniza-
ans were
shores of

en.

for the
with in-
to survey
the Bus-
rn side of

OahU; the ship was boarded by a large canoe, in which
was seated, dressed in European costume, King Ka-
meharaeha, then the potentate of the Hawaiian group.
"Immediately on his coming on board," says Camp-
bell, a Scotch sailor who acted as Hagemeister's in-
terpreter, " the king entered into earnest conversation
with the captain. Among, other questions, he asked
whether the ship was English or American. Being
informed that she was Russian, he answered, ' Meitei,
meitei,' or 'Very good.* A handsome scarlet cloak,
edged and ornamented with ermine, was presented to
him from the governor of the Aleutian Islands. After
trying it on, he gave it to his attendants to be taken
ashore. I never saw him use it afterwards. In other
canoes came Tamena, one of his queens, Crymakoo,
his brother-in-law, and other chiefs of inferior rank."*
Through fear of British intervention, or for other
reasons not specified by the chroniclers of the time, no
attempt was made to found a settlement,' though, if we

ently without bias, and speaks very favorably of his reception in Alaska and
in the Hawaiian Islands. His work was noticed in the Edinburgh Review,
vol. ix.

'/(/., 127. In Campbell's work, Washington Irving's Astoria, l'ajicoHver''s
Voy., and Kotzebtte, \ oy. of Discov. (London, 1821), the king is called Ta-
maahmaah; in Meares* Voy., Tomyhomyhaw; in Pirrtlock's Voy., Coinaamaa; in
LuMjudorfs Voy., Tomooma; in Liniamiky, Voy. round World, Hanicamca.
How the monarch received so many aliases does not appear, for in Samwell's
account of Captain Cook's death (Samwell was the surgeon of the DUcovery),
his iiamo is spelled Tameainea. In the Hawaiian dialect consonants are often
substituted for each other, a guttural even taking the place of a lingual when
rendered into English characters, as in this instance. Kamehameha I., sur-
named the conaueror, was already known by fame throughout Europe. In
the Nuuanu Valley, it will bo remembered, ho routed the army of tho king of
Oahu, and drove hundreds of the enemy over a neighboring pali, at the foot
of which their bones lie bleaching to this day. liie spot is but a few miles
from Honolulu.

' Daranof certainly instnicted Hagemeister to found a settlement, and a
copy of his instructions has been preserved in the Sitka Archines, but no
mention of this is made in the captain's report. It is probable that he was
prevented by fear of British opposition, for on August 6th of tho following
year, Kamehameha wrote to George III. proposing to acknowledge him aa
Ilia sovereign, and asking that the Islands bo placed under British protection.
The request was granted. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 1C6, says that aa soon as
a rumor spread throughout the Islands that a vessel had been sent from Novo
Arkhangelsk for the purpose of founding a settlement, an English frigate
called there to ascertain the truth of the matter. This statement is not
indorsed, however, by Campbell, who remained in the IJands for more than
II year after the departure of the Neva. Tikhmenef would have us believe
that Hagemeister was ordered to make a tour of the Russian colonies, and

492 FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

can believe Kaniehamelia, Hagemeister tried to bring
the natives of Oahu under subjection by threatening
that ships of war should be seat against them.* After
calling at other islands in the Hawaiian group, and
bartering seal skins and walrus tusks for salt, sandal-
wood, and pearls, the captain sailed for Kamchatka,
and thence for Novo Arkhangelsk, setting forth on
his homeward voyage the following year.' In his
report to Baranof, whom, as we shall see later, he
succeeded in office, he states that taro, maize, and
sugar could be purchased at moderate prices in Oahu
and the neighboring islands, but that European goods
were held at extravagant rates.

The control of the company's affairs had long been
felt as too severe a strain by the chief manager, who
was now more than sixty years of age. He had sev-
eral times requested that a successor be appointed, and
twice his request had been granted, but on both occa-
sions the official who was sent to relieve him died on
the way. In October 1811 the brig Maria returneil
to Kadiak, having sailed from Okhotsk during the pre-
vious year. In this vessel Collegiate Assessor Kf)eli,
who had been appointed Baranof's assistant with a
view to succeeding him, had taken passage, but during
the voyage he fell sick, and breathed his last at Petro-

Sivlovsk. The news of his death was doubly sad to
aranof, who had been on terms of intimacy with tlio
deceased for many years." By the Maria the chief

then to aacertain the exact location of certain islands lying between tlie
Japanese and Hawaiian groups, discovered in the seventeenth century, liia
visit to Oahu being merely with a view to trade.

' See the king's address to Kotzebue, as related in his Voy. of Discov., i.
30.3.

' After wintering at Kadiak, he was sent to Petropavlovsk, with a cargo
of furs valu'd at over 750,000 roubles.

• Ivan Gavrilovich Koch, a native of Hamburg, entered the Russian mili-
tary service as a surgeon in 1709. Ho did duty duriu;/ the siege and cupturo
of Bender in 1770, and throughout the Turkish war ot tliat period until the
conclusion of peace. In 1783 ho was promoted to the rank of stafT surgeoa
and attaclied to the Irkutsk district. In 1784 he was transferred to the
civil service, with the rank of collegiate assessor, and sent to Okhotsk as com-
mandaiit of the garrison, which position ho filled witii credit until 1 79iJ. For
distinguished services, he was decorated with the order of St Vluiliinir. I)iir-
Ing tlie following years he made several oiHcial visits to Irkutsk, and wan

DEATH OP BORNOVOLOKOP.

493

bring
ening
After

[), and
andal-
hatka,
rth on
In bis
ter, he
ze, and

I Oabu

II goods

been
wbo

fer,
bad sev-
ited, and
:>tb occa-
idied on
returned
r tbe prc-
•or Koeb,
r^t vvitb a
,ut during
at Petro-
3]y sad to
r witb tliu
tbe (;bici

tlie
his

between
•h century

of Dl»(ov., >•

„ with ft cargo

e Russian ii>ili-
^(ro iukI capture
joriod until the
,{ staff Bur^eo"
■nsfcrred to tl.e
3kUotskusc<;m-

intiinos. •»;

amlimir. l»'f-
rkutsk, ami «aa

manager received authority from the board of directors
to establish a permanent settlement on the coast of
New Albion wherever he might think best. Mean-
while he did n3t neglect to forward another petition
to St Petersburg, asking that his resignation be ac-
cepted; but once more he was disappointed. Early
in the month of January 1813, the inhabitants of
Novo Arkhangelsk were surprised by the arrival of a
small boat containing a few Russian sailors, half dead
from cold and hunger. They brought the unwelcome
news that the Neva, which had sailed from Okhotsk
under command of Lieutenant Podushkin, had been
wrecked in the vicinity of Mount Edgecumbe. One
of those who perished on board this craft was Colle-
giate Counsellor Bornovolokof, who had been appointed
Baranof's successor.'

In December of this year the Ilmen was despatched
to Ro.js with a cargo of goods and provisions. On
board the v^isel was a hunting party under the leader-
ship of Tarakanof. nnd a man named Eliot, or Eliot de
Castro, who iiacl volunteered to conduct the trade
with the missionaries on the Californian coast, claim-
ing long acquaintance with the fathers.*

The ship left Sitka in December 1813. On her ar-
rival at Bodega, the Aleutian hunters were divided

appointed assistant on the general staff and commissary-general. Ho retired
with full pay in 1802. Khlebiiikof, Shizn. Daranova, 14o-G.

' The wreck occurred on the 9th of January. Bornovolokof, the pilot
Kalinin, the wife and son of the mate Nerodof, the boatswain, '27 prouiy-
slilcniki, and 4 women were drowned. The survivors were Lieutenant Po-
duslikin, tlie mate Nerodof, cadet Tcrpigoref, a quartcnnaster, and 21 promy-
shlouiki. Three of the latter died soon afterward. During tlie voyage from
Okhotsk 15 men had died from sickness. Id., 149-50. See also Benj, Ship-
nrerk of the Neva, and Ooloimiii KorcdM.rmh, iv. The survivors reported that
the brig A/exandr, which had sailed from Novo Arkhangelsk in June of tlie
preceding year, with over 8,000 sea-otter skins, under command of master
rctrof, had also been wrecked on the Kurile Islands.

'Eliot is mentioned by Kotzebuc in the first volume of his voyage as Eliot
<lo Castro, a native of Portugal, and is so called by several other writers. In
the ar^jumcnt between him and Baranof, which has been preserved in the
Sitkn Archives, the document is signed 'John Eliot,' and he is spoken of in tlie
indorsement as an American, vi. 113. In Gnerra, Doc. Hist. Cat., ii. T4-8:{,
I find a number of statements relating to Eliot, but in no instan ;e does the
name of Castro occur. It is always Eliot or Don Juan Eliot.

inwM

4M FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

into detachments and scattered over the sea-otter
grounds. Seal were not plentiful, and though for a
time the Aleuts escaped the vigilance of the Spanish
soldiery, the largest detachment, together with Eliot
and Tarakanof, were surprised by a troop of horse
in the vicinity of San Luis Obispo and taken to the
presidio of Santa Barbara.'

Eliot and his companions remained captives until
1815, when all who had not taken unto themselves
Indian wives were delivered to Lieutenant Kotzebue,
who visited the California coast during his voyage of
exploration in the brig Rurik}°

The Rurik, a vessel of one hundred am' eighty tons,
was built and equipped by Count Romanof, for the pur-
pose of exploring the supposed north-west passage by
way of Davis Strait or Hudson Bay; but as an expedi-
tion was being fitted out in England for the same pur-
pose, it was determined to attempt the passage from
the eastward. Otto von Kotzebue, who a few years
before had sailed with Krusenstern on board tlie
Neva, as will be remembered, was placed in command.
Sailing from Kronstadt on the 30th of July, 1815,"
the brig arrived at Petropavlovsk after an uneventful
voyage lasting nearly a year, and thence was headed
for Bering Strait. Proceeding in a north-easterly di-
rection, the commander, after touching at St Lu -
rence Island, entered a large inlet, through the
of which passed the arctic circle, and whose n is
extended to the eastward as far as the eye cmild
reach, the current running strong into the entran

Ulc.

*In Tarakanof 's ofiScial report of the matter, Cape Concepcion is mentioned
as the scene of this incident.

'" In the course of his transactions with the missionaries, Eliot had sold
goods to the amount of more than ten thousand piastres, for which he received
payment in cash, grain, and otter skins, and transmitted the proceeds to
Kuskof at Ross.

"The naval officers who accompanied Kotzebue were lieutenants Zok-
harin and Sohischmaref, the scientists Chamisso and Wonnskloid, Dr Esch-
scholtz, and the artist Choris. Kotzebue's Voy. of Dincov., i. introd. 90-1.
Among the subordinate officers were the mates Petrof and Khramcbemka, who
subsequently figured prominently in the annals of Alaskan explorations.
The vessel carried the imperial flag and was mounted with eight guns.

KOTZEBUE'S VOYAGE.

49S

la-otter
;h for a
Spanish
,h Eliot
)f horse
n to the

res until
emselvcs
Lotzebue,
voyage of

rhty tons,
Jr the pur-
,as9age by
an expedi-
! same pur-

ssage

from

, few years
board the
command

uly, 1815/;

uneventtui
was headed
■easterly di-
it St T,
hthe

hose ^ '
e eye cu'i'*^
^e entrance.

H-ioniBmentionea
ies, Eliot ViadBoU
,dthe proceeds to
' lieutenant g;

i^ explorations.
eight guns.

From a small neighboring hill on the southern shore
no land could be seen on the horizon, while high
mountains lay to the north. Here, thought the Rus-
sians, is the channel that connects the two oceans, the
quest >f which has for three centuries baffled the
greatest navigators in Europe. On the following day,
the 2d of August, the vessel continued her course,
and from the mast-head nothing but open sea ap-
peared to the eastward. Toward sundown land was
m sight in several directions, but at noon on the 3d
the opening was still five miles in width." On the

KorzEBUB Sound.

4t1 ^he search was continued in boats, for now the
waier was shoaling rapidly, and after proceeding four-
teen miles farther, cnly a small open space was visi-
ble to the eastward." A few days later the party
Bet forth on heir return to the Burik, but were
driven back to shore by a violent storm.

" It seemed," says Kotzebue, " as if f irtune had sent
this storm to enable us to make a vary remarkable

" On this day a island waa discovered, to which waa given the name of
Chamisso. Id., i. 213.

" Probably the bead of Eschscholtz, or perhaps Schischmaref Bay.

''^J

!li* '1

J!'

lU ;

<rn^i>

i'X FURTHEH ATTEMITS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

discovery, which we owe to Dr Eschscholtz. We !iacl
climbed much about during our stay, without discover-
ing that we were on real icebergs. The doctor, who had
extended his excursions, found part of the bank broken
down, and saw, to his astonishment, that the interior
of the mountain consisted purely of ice. At this
news, we all went, provided with shovels and crows,
to examine this phenomenon more closely, and soon
arrived at a place where the back rises almost perpen-
dicularly out of the sea to a height of a hundred feet ;
and then runs off, rising still higher. We saw masses
of the purest ice, of the height of a hundred feet, whicli
are under a cover of moss and grass, and could not
have been produced but by some terrible revolution.'*
The place, which by some accident had fallen in and
is now exposed to the sun and air, melts away, and a
good deal of water flows into the sea. An indisput-
oble proof that what we saw was rral ice is the quan-
tity of mammoths' teeth and bones which were exposed
to view by the melting, and among wliich I myself
found a very fine tooth. We could not assign any
reason for a strong smell, like that of burnt horn,
which we perceived in this place."

On the 11th of August the Rurik left the inlet
which now bears the name of Kotzebue Sound,"^ and
sailed for St Lawrence Island and thence for Una-

'* ' This result of a terrible revolution,' remarks the Lomhn Quarterly />
vimo, *is considered by Cliarnisso, the naturalist, to be similar to the grouml
ice, covered wit'.i vegetation, at the mouth of the Lena, out of whicli tliJ
mammoth, the skeleton of which is now in St Pctersbuig, was thawed. Ho
makes the height of it to be 80 feet at most; and thd length of the pnifiie,
in which the ico is exposed to sight, about a muskot-shot. Wo have little
doubt that both Kotzebuo and Chamisso are mistaken with regard to the
formation of this ico mountain. The terrible revolution of nature is sheer
nonsense; and the ground ico of the lA:na is cast up from the sea, and aftoi-
ward buried by the alluvial soil brought down by the floods in the same man
ner ii.i the huge blocks which Captain I'arry found on the beach of Melville
Island; this operation, ho- .•0""ir, could not take place on the faco of the jiroin-
ontory in the tranquil souml f Kotzebue. Wliat they discovered (willioiit
Huspcctin.q it) was, in fact, a rt-..l iceberg, whicli had been formed in tho inaii-
ncrin which all icebergs a' ^ ' ;xvi. 35'2 (1822).

'^This name was mt ,rivr . until after Kotzebue's return to Russi:!: but
other points i.cre naiueil by him after members of tho expedition, Ksclistlioltz
Bay being one of ti\eni. C a; Krusenstcrn. on the northern shore of tho Hountl,
was BO called after the -u^iain of tlie Nadeshda,

Tg had
icovei-
hohad
broken
interior
^t this
L crows,
nd soon
perpen-
red feet;
8V masses
et, which
•ould not
rolution.^*
en in and
ray, and a
: indisput-
the quati-
■ro exposed
, I niyseU
assign any
,urnt horn,

1ft the iidct
ound,^^ ai^'l
ce for ^'i^^^-

\l„r. Quarterly '"''
liar to tuc b , ,
Vut of wlucU ti-
aras tbawctl. I =

l' Wo lia''° " ;,

ilb regard to 1 1^^;
of nature «^f«'-;
the sea, a.ul . u

Jormea in tl>o ina.>

tiition,bscl-^,_
[slioreof tUi-8*.

RECEPTION AT HAWAH.

laska, where the commander gave orders to the agent
of the Russian American Company to have men^
boats, and suppHes in readiness for the following sum-
mer, when he purposed to make a thorough explora-
tion of the farther north-west. Remaining only long
enough for needed repairs, he proceeded to San Fran-
cisco without having attempted to explore, according
to his instructions, the coast of Alaska southward
from Norton Sound, then a terra incognita, but, as it
proved, one of the richest portions of the territory.'*
After sharing in a conference touching the affairs of
the Ross colony, at which KusL ** and the governor
of California were present, as is mentioned elsewhere,"
he sailed for the Sandwich Islands, taking on board
Eliot and three of his fellow-captives.

Landing at the island of Hawaii, Kotzebue was met
by Karaehameha, who was now king of the entire
group, and thus describes his reception: "I now stood
at the side of the celebrated Taraaahmaah, who has
attracted the attention of all Europe, and who in-
spired me with the greatest confidence by his unre-
served and friendly behavior. He conducted me to
his straw palace, which, according to the custom of
the country, consisted only of one spacious apariment;
and, like all the houses here, afforded a free drauglit
both to the land and sea breezes. They offered us
European chairs very neatly made, placed a mahogany
table before us, and we were then in possession of all
the furniture of the palace. Taraaahmaah's dress,
which consisted of a white shirt, blue pantaloons, a
red waistcoat, and a colored neckcloth, surprised me

" Kotzebue probably made a great mistake ■when he omitted the explora-
tion of this portion of the coast of Alaska, of which nothiug more was known
than wlicn Cook left it between his Shoalness and Point Shallow (Cape
Romanof and the mouth of the Kuskokvim). Captain Golovnin, of the sloop-
of-war Diana, had definite instruction to survey it, ' ut was prevented by his
captivity among the Japanese. Count Romanof liad given this instruction
to Golovnin, and when the latter set out upon hia second voyage around the
world, in the sloop-of-war Kamchatka, he received a letter Irom the miuiator
of marine, who requested him to sur\'ey the coast north of Alaska Peiiinaul^
provide 1 that Kotzebue had not already done so.

"//»«?. Cal., ii. 31, tliis series. <

Hut, AJ.1SKA. 32

! I

^ i^

IM FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

yery much, for I had formed very diflferent notions of
th<j royal attire. The distinguished personages pres-
ent f-t our audience, who had all seated themselves on
the ground, wore a still more singular costume than
the king; for their black frocks looked very ludicrous
on the naked body. One of the ministers had the
waist half-way up his back; the coat had been buttoned
with the greatest difficulty; he perspired freely in his
tight state costume, and his distress was evident; but
fashion would not permit him to relieve himself of the
inconvenience. The sentinels at the door were quite
naked; a cartridge-box and a pair of pistols were tied
round their waist, and they held a musket in their
hand.

"After the king had poured out some very good
wine, and had himself drunk to our health, I made
him acquainted with my intention of taking in fresh
provisions, water, and wood. A young man of the
name of Cook, the only white whom the king had
about him, acted as interpreter. Tamaahmaah desired
him to say to me as follows: 'I learn that you are
the commander of a ship of war, and are engaged in
a voyage similar to those of Cook and Vancouver,
and consequently do not engage in trade; it is there-
fore my intention not to carry on any trade with you,
but to provide you gratis with everything that my
islands produce. I shall now beg you to inform mo
whether it is with the consent of your emperor that
his subjects begin to disturb me in my old age.
Since Tamaahmaah has been king of these islands, no
European has had cause to complain of having suf-
fered injustice here. I have made my islands an
asylum for all nations, and honestly supplied with
provisions every ship that desired them.'"

After alluding to the trouble caused by Hagemeis-
ter and his party, the king continues: "A Russian
physician, named Scheffer, who came here some
months ago, pretended that ho had been sent by the
Emperor /^ l.oxander to botanize on my islands. I

ON.

otions of
ges pres-
selves oa
ime than
ludicrous
1 had the
1 buttoned
eely in his
ident; hut
i8elf of the
were quite
a were tied
.et in their

3 very good
,1th, I niade

ing in fr®^^^
man of the
he king had
maah desired
that you are
B engaged in
\ Vancouver,
.. it is there-
ade with you,
ing that my
to inform mo
emperor that
iny old age.
ese islands, no
3f having sut-
tnv islands an
supplied with

KOTZEBUE'S VOYAGE.

489

))>

by Hagemeis-
<'j^ Kussian
rae here some
len sent by tbe
[my islands. ^

not only gave him this permission, but also promised
him every assistance; and made him a present of a
piece of land, with peasants, so that he could never
want for provisions. What was the consequence of
my hospitality? Even before he left Owhyee," he
repaid my kindness with ingratitude, which I bore
patiently. Then, according to his own desire, he
travelled from one place to another; and at last
settled in the fruitful island of Woahoo,^* where he
proved himself to be my most inveterate enemy;
destroying our sanctuary, the Morai; and exciting
against me, in the island of Atooi,*' King Tamary,
who had submitted to my power years before. Schef-
fer is there at this very moment and threatens my
islands."

" I assured Tamaahmaah," continues Kotzebue,
"that the bad conduct of the Russians here must not
be ascribed to the will of our emperor, who never com-
manded his subjects to do an unjust act; but that
the extent of his empire prevented him from being
immediately informed of bad actions, which, however,
were not allowed to remain unpunished when they
came to his knowledge. The king seemed very
much pleased on my assuring him that our sovereign
never intended to conquer his islands; the glasses
were immediately filled, to drink the emperor's
health, and Kamehameha was even more cordial than
before."

Eliot, who before his capti^l^y had lived for two
years in the Sandwich Islands as physician and chief
favorite to the king, remained at Hawaii in his former
position ; and taking his leave in the middle of Decem-
ber, Kotzebue sailed in a south-westerly direction.
On the Ist of January, 1817, he discovered a low
wooded islet, to which was given the name of New
Year's Island. Three days later a chain of islands
was sighted, extending as far as the eye could reach,

" HawaU.

»»Oaha.

*OEAuaL

000 FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

the spaces between being filled with reefs.''^ After
some weeks had been spent amid these and other
groups in the Caroline Archipelago, the R\irih was
again headed for Unalaska, her commander purpos-
ing to continue his explorations in search of a north-
east passage. But this was not to be. On the 11th
of April, when in latitude 44° 30' n. and longitude
181° 8' w., a violent storm arose, and during the
following night increased to a hurricane. "The
waves, which before ran high," says Kotzebue, for I
cannot do better than use his own words, "rose iii
immense masses, such as I had never yet seen; the
Rurik suffered beyond description. Immediately
after midnight the fury of the hurricane rose to sucli
a degree, that it tore the tops of the waves from the
sea, and drove them in the form of a thick rain
over the surface of the ocean. Nobody who has
not witnessed such a scene can form an adequate idea
of it. It seems as if a direful revolution was at that
moment destroying the whole stupendous fabric of
nature.

" I had just relieved Lieutenant Schischmareff. Be-
sides myself, there were four sailors on the deck, of
whom two were holding the helm ; the rest of the crew I
had, for greater securitj^ sent into the hold. At four
o'clock in the morning I was just looking at the height
of a foaming wave, when it suddenly took its direction
to t)\e Rurik, and in the same moment threw me
down senseless. The violent pain which I felt on re-
covering was heightened by the melancholy siglit of
my ship, whose fate would be inevitable if the hurri-
cane should rage for another hour ; for not a corner of
it had escaped the ravages of that furious wave. The
first thing I saw was the broken bowsprit; and an idea
may be formed of the violence of the water, which at
once dashed in pieces a beam of two feet in diameter.

** Whether those are the islands that were Bichted by Captain MarsliiiU in
17B8 is uncertain. At least, Kotzebue was the brat to ascertain their exact
position.

Illif™

Jter
•ther
; was
rpos-
orth-

11th
ritude
DT the
''The

for I
ose ill
n; the
diately
bo such
)ra the
ck rain
ho has
ite idea

at that
'abric of

eff. Be-
deck, oi
crew I

At four
height
direction
hrew mo
elt on ro-^
sight ot
he hum-
corner of
ave. Tlie
d an idea
which at
(liaiuctcr.

iin

MarshuU in

dn their c

xact

STORM AT SEA.

601

The loss was the more important, as the two masts
could not long withstand the tossing of the ship, and
then deliverance would be impossible. The gigantic
wave broke the leg of one of my sailors ; a subaltern
officer was thrown into the sea, but saved himself with
much presence of mind by seizing the rope which hung
behind the ship; the steering-wheel was broken, the
two sailors who held it were much hurt, and I myself
thrown violently with my breast against a corner, suf-
fered severe pain, and was obliged to keep my bed for
several days."

When the storm had moderated the vessel was put
in order, and reached Unalaska in safety, though heavy
Aveather prevailed during the rest of the voyage.'" She
was then unrigged, unloaded, careened, and repaired,
and within a month was again ready for sea. Boats,
provisions, and a party of Aleuts, together with two
interpreters from Kadiak, were provided by the agent,
as Kotzebue had directed,'*' and on the 29th of June
the Rurik again sailed on her voyage northward.^*
On the 10th of July St Lawrence Island was sighted,
and here the commander ascertained that ice-floes had
surrounded it on the south-east until three days be-
fore. Anchoring at midnight off its northern prom-
ontory, he found an unbroken ice-pack toward the
north and east.

There was now no hope of passing Bering Strait
until the end of the month, when, as Kotzebue thought,

^^ Kotzebne's Voy. o/Discov., ii. 160-1. The author remarks: 'I would ad viae
no one to visit this ocean so early in the year, for the storms are frightful.'

^ Kotzebue was furnished with an order from the directors of tlie Russian
American Company requiring Kriukof, then agent at UnaL>«ka, to supply the
cxpuilition with all that was needed, and declares that he received every cour-
tesy and assistance at the hands of the agent.

^'On the Hurik WBM a boy named Kadu, whom Kotzebue had taken on
board at one of the Caroline Islands. He appeared to be contented on reach-
ing Unalaska, though he was disjvppointed at not finding there any cocoa-nut
or biead-fruit trees, and did not approve of the Aleutian mode of living nnder
iiTOiiud. He asked whether people lived so at St Petersburg. Gazing at tlie
oxen on board the vessel, ho expressed his joy that the meat consumcti by the
cri'w was the flesh of these animals. Being asked his reason, lie confessed
tli;it lie thought tlie Russians were cannibnTs, that ho regarded himself a»
a portion of the ship's provisi ■":., and looked forward in horror to the moment
when tliey miglit bo in want . food. Jd., 106.

11 h,

.m..

S02 FTHITHER ATTEMPtS AT FOREIG(N COLONIZATION.

the season would be too far advanced for a successful
voyage. Moreover, his health was shattered; his
breathing was difficult; he was suffering from spasms
in the chest, fainting fits, and hemorrhage of the
lungs. The surgeon of the vessel declared that to re-
main longer in the neighborhood of the ice would cost
him his life. " More than once," he says, "I resolved
to brave death, but I felt that I must suppress my am-
bition. I signified to the crew, in writing, that my
ill- health obliged me to return to Oonalaska. The
moment I signed the paper was the most painful in
my life, for with this stroke of the pen I gave up the
ardent and long-cherished wish of my heart."

Returning by way of the Sandwich Islands, Kotze-
bue reached Hawaii on the 27th of September. Here
he was greeted by Kamehameha and his old acquaint-
ance, Eliot de Castro. Sailing thence to Oahu, he
found six American ships at anchor, and one— the
Kadiak — belonging to the Russian American Corn-

Eany, hauled up on the beach. In this vessel Sheffer
ad reached Oahu, after being expelled from Kauai,
where he intended to found a settlement. A few
days later the Boston arrived on her way to Canton,
with a cargo of furs shipped from Novo Arkhangelsk.
Calling at St Helena on his homeward voyage,
Kotzebue met with a most surly reception from the
British naval officers who kept guard over the rock
where the captive emperor was then entombed alive,
his craft being fired upon without apparent cause."
His reception in England was more cordial. During
a visit to London, where business compelled him to
spend a few days on his way to Kronstadt, he was
introduced to the Prince Regent and to the Archduke
Nikolai Pavlovitch. On the 23d of July, 1818, the
Rurik sailed past the port of Revel, and now, after an

* Kotzebue's purpose in calling at St Helena was to give the Russian com-
miasary, Count Ballcman, an opportunity to send letters to his countrymen.
Three shots were fired at the Rurik, one of them passing between her uiaBto.
Id., 285.

BENNETT'S TRIP.

56>

3S8fui

; hia
)asma
f the
to re-
d cost
aolved
ly am-
at my
The
nful in
up the

absence of three years, Kotzebue once more beheld
his native city. A week later the vessel cast anchor
in the Neva, opposite the palace of Count Romanof.**

Before making further mention of Sheffer's exploits
in the Hawaiian Islands, it is necessary to refer to in-
cidents which preceded the voyage of the Rurih. In
April 1814 one of Baranof's American friends, Cap-
tain Bennett, who had sold him two vessels and their
cargoes, offered to accept fur-seal skins in part pay-
ment, but having none of the required kind on
hand at Novo Arkhangelsk, the chief manager induced
Bennett to proceed in the Bering to the island of St
Paul in search of them, and at the same time to
take a cargo of furs, worth half a million roubles, to
be landed at Okhotsk. There he took on board a
number of the company's hunters who were awaiting
passage, and a large mail of the company's despatches.
He then sailed for the Sandwich Islands, where it had
been arranged that he should purchase a cargo of taro,

" In his Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering'a Straits, for
the Purpose of Exploring a North-east Passage (3 vols., Berlin, 1819, and
London, 1S2I), the author, after a lengthy introduction, devotes the first seven
chapters of the first volume to his journey from Kronstadt to Kotzebue Sound,
the eighth to his trip from the latter part to Uualaska, and the ninth and
tenth to his visit to California and the Sandwich Islands. In the eleventh
chapter, which opens the second volume, we have an account of his explora-
tions in the Caroline Archipelago. Then follow his second voyage northward,
and his homeward journey, occupying the four next chapters. The remainder
of the work is taken up with an Analyxis of the Islands Discovered by the liurik
in the Great Ocean (written by Krusenstem), a short paper on the Diseases of
the Crew during the Three Years of the Voyage, by Frederick Eschscholtz, M.D.
(the ship's physician), and the Remarks and Opinions of the Naturalist of the
Expedition, Adelbert von Chamisso. In his preface, Chamisso remarks that he
recognizes only the German edition, ' for the various foreign subjects of which
he had to treat have made him too sensible how difficult it is, when aiming
at brevity to avoid obscurity, for him to answer for translations of which he
cannot jud,!j;e. ' The precaution was justified, for in the English translation
by H. E. Lloyd are many errors, caused probably by the extreme haste with
which the work was rendered. A few years later Kotzebue pul)lished in two
volumes his New Voyage round the World in the Years 1823-26. I have
before me only the English translation (London, 1830). As on this occasioa
he visited Novo Arkhangelsk, California, and the Sandwich Islands, wo shall
hear of him again. Three years after completing his second voyage, he ro-
tirod to his estate in Eathonia, where his decease occurred in 1S4(). His sona
and grandsons held positions in Unalaska in the service of tlie Russian Amer-
icau Company, until it was disincorporated, and several remained there after
the purchase of Alaska by the United ijtatcs. The last of them died in 1881.

804 FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

ialt, and other provisions. Having exhausted the re-
sources of Hawaii, he proceeded to Kauai, where, the
fc^ptain being on shore, the ship was struck by a sudden
squall, and vessel and cargo were cast on the beach.
King Tomari, who was then in power at Kauai, though
subject to Kamehameha's authority, offered Bennett
every assistance in collecting his cargo; but when all
that could be saved had been secured beyond reach of
the waves, he coolly appropriated it as a perquisite of
the owner of the soil. The captain and some of his
crew soon afterward made their way back to Alaska.
At the time when the Rurik left Kronstadt the
imperial government was fitting out two vessels, the
Suvarof and Kutusqf, for an expedition to Russian
America. They were placed in charge of Captain
Lozaref,'" and the Suvarof with the commander on
board sailed from Kronstadt on the 8th of October,
1813, arriving at Novo Arkhangelsk in November of
the following year. Lozaref, in common with all the
naval oflScers, was prejudiced against Baranof. Dis-
putes between the two men arose at once, and ceased
only when the ship set sail from Novo ArLhangelsk.^

^^ Krusenstem, who was now an admiral, recommended Kotzebue for the po-
sition, but the Russian American Company, which was to pay a part of the
expenses, objected on the ground of nia youth. The other olhcers were
lieutenants Unkovsky and Schveikovsky; the mates Rosaysky and Dr
Sylva; cadet Samsonof, Dr Sheffer, and the supercargo Molvee. The crew
consisted of 23 naval seamen, 9 merchant sailors, and 7 laborers of the com-
pany. Tikhmen^, htor. Obos., i. 183.

* On his return to St Petersburg, Lozaref was tried before a naval court
of inquiry on charges preferred by the board of managers of tlie
Russian American Company. He was charged with immorality, with
returning from Novo Arkhangelsk without the company's supercargo,
the boy Molvee being deemed too young for such a position, without
the physician appointed to the vessel, without bills of lading or any
despatches from Baranof, and without the chief manager's pcrmiasion.
To this the captain replied that lie had repeatedly asked for orders, and
finally sailed, and made his way back around Cape Horn with all speed.
He also stated that the misunderstanding arose from his refusal to sanction
Baranof's action in seizing the brig Pedler belonging to Astor. On that
occasion Lozaref stated that Baranof's anger was so great that he truiiieil
the guns of the fort upon the Suvarof, and threatened to sink her. Lozaref
was also charged with having sold at Lima 60,000 roubles' worth of furs bo-
longing to the company, "rhis he denied, but stated that he sold to tlio
viceroy of Peru a few black-bear skins for the manufacture of shakoes for
his soldiers, and received 22piastras each for the skins. The other charges
were of a similar nature. Zeteniy, Coir., MS., in S'Uka Archives, iii.

1 the re-
lere, the
a sudden
Le beach,
i, though
Bennett
when all
1 reach of
rquisite of
me of his
jO Alaska,
istadt the
essels, the
o Russian
)f Captain
xnander on
)f October,
jvember of
with all the
anof. Dis-
and ceased
Ivhangelsk.^

tzebueforthepo-
pay a p«>t of tho
^er ollicers were
ossysky and vr
)lvee. The crew
orere of the corn-
ore a naval court
nanagcrs of tl'e
iinmorality, v;ith
iny'8 supercargo,
position, without
of lading or any
acer's permission,
.d for orders, and
m with all speed.
efusal to sanctum
, Astor. On that
tt that he trained
Bink her. Lozaref
' worth of furs 1)0-
lathe Bold to tho
,ure of shakoes for
The other charges
•chives, iii-

♦> • - LOZAREF AND SHEFFER.

Lozaref desired to pass the winter at Novo Ark-
hangelsk, and to land his cargo and repair the vessel,
but Baranof insisted that he should make a winter
voyage to the Prybilof Islands for a cargo of furs,
as there was not enough peltry at Novo Arkhangelsk
to complete his freight. The captain then put to sea,
but returned almost immediately, under pretence that
the ship was leaking, and remained in port until the
following May, when he finally executed the chief
manager's orders. Soon after his i-eturn he again set
sail on the 24th of July, leaving the anchorage hur-
riedly and without waiting for the mail prepared by
Baranof for the home office of the company. Enraged
at this, the chief manager despatched a fleet bidarka
after the retreating ship, and threatened to open fire
on her, but did not execute his threat. The Suvarof
then proceeded on her voyage to St Petersburg, call-
ing at San Francisco and at the port of Callao, where
a part of the cargo was exchanged for Russian prod-
ucts.'®

One of the oflScers of the Suvarof was the German
doctor, Sheffer, who, having quarrelled with the com-
mander, had for that reason found favor in the eyes
of Baranof. Sheffer remained at Novo Arkhangelsk,
and being a plausible adventurer, and somewhat of a
linguist, succeeded in convincing the autocrat of the
colonies that he was the man to carry out his schemes
of colonization in the Hawaiian Islands.

Bennett, who had now returned to Novo Arkhan-
gelsk, urged Baranof to demand the return of the
Bering's cargo, but the latter would not consent to
use force for such a purpose, as he had frequently ex-
changed presents and friendly messages with Kame-
haineha through their mutual acquaintances among
tlie American north-west traders. He decided, there-
fore, to send Sheffer to the Sandwich Islands as a pas-

Tr 1815 Baranof despatched another cargo of furs, valued at 800,000
roubles, to Kiakhta, in tlie Maria, master Petrof. The vessel was WTOcked
at Okhotsk, but most of the cargo was saved. Khlehnikof, Hhizn. Baraitova,
IGO.

BOO FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

senger in a foreign vessel, with instructions to open
negotiations with the Hawaiian monarch. The doctor
sailed on the Isabella, which left Novo Arkhangelsk
on the 5th of October, 1815, and it was arranged that
the Otkrytie, commanded by Lieutenant Podushkin,
should follow in the spring with a number of native
mechanics and laborers for the purpose of establishing
a settlement.

On arrivingat Hawaii, Sheffer presented himself at
once before Kamehameha and delivered letters and
presents from Baranof, at the same time complaining
of King Tomari for seizing the cargo of the Berinrj.
The king promised redress, and appeared to listen
favorably to the doctor's proposals to establish more
intimate relations with the chief manager of the
Russian American Company. He even assigned to
Sheffer several pieces of land, whereon to make experi-
ments in the planting of grain and vegetables. One
of them was situated on the island of Kauai, the
domain of King Tomari. Though Sheffer continued
in favor for a time, he found that he could not com-
pete with the Englishmen and Americans, who were
already established at Kamehameha's court, and re-
solved to try his fortune with Tomari. During the
first week of his stay in Kauai, it was his good fortune
to cure the queen of an intermittent fever and the
king of dropsy. The German adventurer was now in
the good graces of his intended victim, and in a few
weeks an agreement was drawn up to serve as the
basis for a formal treaty, subject to the approval of
the Russian government.

It was stipulated that the Bering^ s cargo should he
returned to the Russians, with the exception of a few
articles which the king required, and for which he
bound himself to pay in sandal-wood; that Tomari
should send annually to the colonies a cargo of dried
taro root; that all the sandal- wood on the islands sub-
ject to Tomari should be placed at Sheffer's disposal,
to be sold only to the Russian American Company;

SHEFFER IN THE SAND*WICH ISJANDS.

807

pen

stor

3\sk

ihat

kin,

tive

bing

and that the company should have the right to estab-
lish stations or factories in any part of the king's
possessions. As an offset to these favors, the doctor
pledged himself to furnish five hundred men, and some
armed vessels, for the purpose of assisting in the over-
throw of Kamehameha, and of placing Tomari on his
throne. The troops were to be under Sheifer's com-
mand, and in case of success, one half of the island
of Hawaii was to be c-^ded to the company. Finally
Toraari and all his people were to be placed under the

f)rotection of Russia. In order more firmly to estab-
ish the king's confidence in his authority, Sheffer at
once bought an American schooner for $5,000, and
agreed to purchase a ship for the sum of $40,000, pay-
ment to be made in furs, which he promised to order
from Novo Arkhangelsk.**

In the mean time, Sheffer's intrigues had been
watched by American and English traders, and by the
Europeans settled on the islands under Kamehameha's
protection. They took care to magnify the danger in
the eyes of the latter, urging him to enter on a cam-
paign against SheflPer and the would-be rebel Tomari.
Though opposed to open hostility, Kamehameha's

'" Sheffer was of course playing upon the king's ambition to serve his own.
He was certainly a bold man, a true adventurer, and one who led an exceed-
ingly checkered life. He was born in Russia, of Oennan parents, the date of
his birth being uncertain, and entered public life as a surgeon in the Moscow
police. In 1812 he was engaged in constructing balloons to watch the move-
ments of Napoleon's invading army. In 1813 he was detailed as medical
officer of the ship Suvarof. We have seen how he left the ship at Novo Ark-
hangelsk, but it remains to record the doctor's strange career after the col-
lapse of the Sandwich Island scheme. On making his escape from Oahu, he
proceeded to Canton, and thence to St Petersburg. Here he made to the
imperial government the moat vivid representations of the advantages to be
gained by taking possession of the Sandwich Islands. The minister for in-
terior afiairs requested the managers of the Russian American Company to
express their opinion on the subject, and they reported imfavorably. Tlie
emperor's ministers could not blind themselves to the fact that Russiadid not
then possess a navy which could support such an enterprise against tlie objec-
tion of the great maritime powers, and the doctor was doomed to disappoint-
ment. He left Russia in disgrace, and was lost to view for a sliort time,
until lie finally turned up again in Brazil, where he manaced to ingratiate liim-
self with Dom Pedro I., who conferred upon him the high-soundin<t title of
Count von EYankenthal, and intrusted him with a commission to Germany to
recruit men for the imperial body-guard. Sheffer finally died peaceably in
Germany, at a very advanced age.

^' "\^.

808 FURTHER ATTEMPTS AT FOREIGN COLONIZATION.

repeated orders to Tomari finally resulted in an
estrangement between him and the German doctor,
who by this time had succeeded in establishing plan-
tations on various points of the Islands, and had
erected buildings for his own accommodation, for the
mechanics and laborers who had now arrived in the
Otkri/tie, and for housing the crops intended for
shipment to Novo Arkhangelsk. The unfriendly feel-
ing thus engendered increased in intensity until the
Russians and Aleuts were looked upon by the Haw-
aiians as enemies, and were compelled to adopt meas-
ures for their defence. A few slender fortifications
were erected at Wymea, the ruins of which remain
to the present day.

As soon as Baranof ascertained that this, the pet
scheme of his old age, must fail, he lost no time in
forwarding orders to Sheffer to give up everything,
and to save what he could out of the wreck which
was impending. By this time news had also boon
received of the refusal on the part of the imperial
government to sanction the scheme of annexation.
The doctor's position became more critical every day.
From Novo Arkhangelsk he could expect no furthor
support, while on the Islands the Americans and
English became constantly more aggressive. A small
Russian station on the island of Hawaii was sacked
by sailors from an American ship, and they even
threatened to destroy the company's plantations on
Kauai. A report was also started that American
men-of-war were on their way to the Islands. Some
of the Americans in the company's service became
disaffected, one of them. Captain Wosdwith, who com-
manded the Ilmen, purposely running his vessel on
the beach and joining the adversaries of Sheffer.

By this time the ire of Tomari's subjects had been
roused against the intruders, and they forced the
Russians to abandon their settlements and to seek
refuge on board the Kacliak, which was anchored off
the island. When the fufjitives left the beach it was

HAWAIIAN FAILURE.

609

in an
loctor,
r plan-
d liad
for the
in the
.ed for
lly fcel-
[itil the
e Haw-
)t meas-
ficationa
t remain

the pet
time in
3rything,
jk which
ilso been
imperial
ncxation.
very day.
lo turthcr
cans and

A small
as sacked
hey even
tations on
American
Is, Some
3e became
^ who coui-

vessel on
leffcr.

had been
forced the
^d to seek
ichored off
each it was

discovered that the boat had been scuttled ; the crew,
however, reached the vessel by swimming. The natives
now turned the guns of the fort against them and en-
deavored to sink the ship. The shot fell harmless, but
it was discovered that the vessel had sprung a-loak, and
that the water was gaining rapidly. In this predica-
ment, an effort was made to get off the Ilmen, which
succeeded. The American captain of the Kadiak was
then transferred to the Ilmpn by Sheffer, and sent to
Novo Arkhangelsk to carry to Baranof the news of
the failure of his enterprise, a duty which the doc-
tor did not wish to undertake in person. After a brief
stay at Kameharaeha's court, exposed to constant
annoyance from foreigners, accompanied with threats
of personal violence, Sheffer finally escaped to China
on board an American vessel, leaving the rest of
his countrymen, and the Aleuts sent from Novo
Arkhangelsk, to labor on the plantations. Of these
Tarakanof took charge, and finally succeeded in se-
curing their return^* in 1818, by engaging himself
and his men to an American skipper to hunt sea-otter
for a brief season on the Californian coast. Thus
ended the attempt at colonization in the Hawaiian Isl-
ands, whereby nothing was gained, and a loss of two
hundred and fifty thousand roubles was incurred by
the Russian American Company.'"

" Tarakanof, whom Kotzbne met in Oahu, where Ramchatncha then held
his court, declared that the men escaped almost by a miracle, as Tomavi might
easily have killed all the party. Only three of them were shot. Kotzebae's
Vot/. of Dkcov., ii. 197.

" Kamchamoha expected that the Russians would take revenge for the
treatment of Sheffer and his party, tintil Captain Golovnin's arrival in 1818.
After that year the company's vessels again visited the Sandwich Islands, but
at long intervals. Occasional intercourse was also maintained through Amer-
ican ships. The produce of the Islands, consisting of cocoa-nuts, rum, taro,
and rope of cocoa-palm fibre, was exchanged for peltry and piastres. Liilkc, \n
Mnterialui, Tutor. Russ., part iv. 140-7. One of Baranof 'a plans for the es
tahlislmient of trade with the Philippine Islands also failed of success. For
this ^lurpose he sent one of his confidential clerks to Manila in the Ilmen.
On his return ho reported that the Spanish authorities were strongly opposed
to extending their trade with foreigners.

CHAPTER XXV.

C5L0SE OF BARANOP'S ADMINISTRATION".

1819-1821.

Haqkmeisteb Sails for Novo Abkhanoelsk~He StrPEUSEDES Bakanof—
Transfer of the Company's Effects — The Accoonts in Good Order —
Sickness of the Ex-manaoeb — Baranof Takes Leave of the Col-
onies — His Death — Remarks of Khlebnikof and Others on Bar-
anof — Korasokovsky's Expedition to the Kuskokvim — Roqcefeuil's
Voyage— Massacre of his Hcntbrs — Further Explorations — Div-
idends and Increase of Capital— Commerce — Deorkasb in the
Yield of Furs — The Company's Servants.

In 1815 an expedition to Alaska wai fitted out by
the imperial government in conjunction with the
Russian American Company, and Hagemei jter, whose
voyage in the Neva has been mentioned, wa? placed
in command. A vessel, renamed the Kutusof,^ was
purchased at Havre for £6,000 sterling, and in July
of the following year was ready for sea, when Lozaref
returned to Kronstadt in the Suvarof. On his ar-
rival, the directors resolved to delay the departure
of the expedition until after the decision of the
naval court of inquiry, held to investigate the charges
made against him by the chief manager."^ When
the judgment was made known, the directors added
to Hagemeister's instructions a clause authorizing
him to assume control in place of Baranof, if he
should find it necessary.

The Suvarof firnved at Novo Arkhangelsk on the
23d of July, and her consort, the Kutusof, on the

» Of 525 tons.

*See chap, xxiv,, thia vol., note 28.

(tvo)

"tW''

HAGEMEISTER'S VISIT.

511

18 Basanoj—
tooD Ordbb—

OF THE COL-

iiKBS ON Bab-

RATIONS— I>IV-
mXSB IS THE

ited out by
with the
jter, whose
vva-'. placed
itusof^ was
nd in July,
len Lozaret
On his ar-
departure

ion of the
he charges
er.-2 When
ctors added
authorizii>g
ranof, if l^e

gelsk on the
Isof, on the

(tVO)

20th of November, 1817.* Both vessels hid been de-
tained at Lima, whence the former had sailed direct for
Alaska, while the latter visited other Peruvian ports,
and also Bodega and San Francisco, where large quan-
tities of provisions were purchased. For these ssup-
plios Baranof expressed his thanks, but complained
bitterly of the company's refusal to listen to his re-
newed request to be relieved, deck'ing most emphat-
ically that he was no longer able to bear the burden
of his responsibility. Hagemeister meanwhile did
not choose to reveal the extent of the powers con-
ferred on him, but began at once quietly to investi-
gate the state of affairs in the colonies and the exact
status of the company's business. During the whole
winter he kept his orders concealed from Baranof,
who, though almost prostrated with disease, labored
assiduously in surrendering the affairs of the com-
pany. He was now failing in mind as well as in bod-
ily health, one of tho sy; ^ptoms of his approaching
imbecility being his audden attachment to the church.
He kept constancy about him the priest who had
established the first church at Novo Arkhangelsk
during the preceding summer, and urged by his spirit-
ual adviser, n-iade large donations for religious pur-
poses.

Hagemeister was impressed with the great respon-
siblities that awaited him, and hesitated long before
consenting to assume the burden. At last he saw a
way out of the difficulty. Yanovsky, the first lieu-
tenant of the Suvarof, had become ena nored of Bar-
anof's daughter, the offspring of a connection with a
native woman, and had obtained his consent to be-
come his son-in-law. Hagemeister's consent was also
necessary, and this was granted on condition that
Yanovsky should remain at Novo Arkhangelsk for
two years and represent him as chief manager.

'Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 200, gives the dates of the arrival of the Sutiarq/
and Kutmof aa the 22d of July and the 22J of November. These given in
the text ai 3 tftken from tiie books of the company preserved iu the Sitba

Archiots,

Ut CLOSE OF BARANOP'S ADMINISTRATION.

At last, on the 11th of January, 1818, Hagenieister
suddenly laid before Baranof hi« orders, and three
days later despatched the Suvarof to St Petersburg
with a report of his proceedings. This surprise
prostrated the deposed autocrat. The fulfilment of
his long-cherished desire came upon him too sud-
denly. He could not in reason have expected a
successor until the next ship arrived from St Peters-
burg. Whatever may have been Hagemeister's mo-
tive, the effect certainly was uo shorten the days
of Baranof, who deserved more consideration. After
displaying his instructions, the former at once gave
a peremptory order that all the books and property
should be immediately lelivered to the company's
commissioner, Khlebnikuf. Making a supreme ef-
fort, Baranof rose from his bed on the day of the
Suvarof's departure and began the transfer of tin?
company's effects,* a task which was not complete i
for several months. The property at Novo Ark-
hangelsk alone was estimated by Khlebnikof at two
and a half millions o\ roubles. In addition to two
hundred thousand roubles' worth of furs shipped on
the Suvarof, there still remained in the storehouses
skins to the value of nine hundred thousand roubles.
The buildings were all in excellent condition, aa were
the sea-going ve^els. In all the complicated ac-
counts of this vast business, Khlebnikof I'ailed to riii'l
a single discrepancy. " The cash accounts, iiivolvin'^"
millions, were in perfect order; in the item )f strong
liquors there was a small quantity not accounted for,
but this had been caused by the hospitalities extended
to naval officers and other visitors. Among the
many who had been with him for long years, Baranof
knew no one to whom he could intrust the irksome
duty which now fell to his lot, but labored from morn-

* A lint of the principal articles is given in KhMmihof. Zapieki, m Ma-
terimlm,i, 23-4.

*> Khlvhnikofs Shhn. Baraw>vn, 1 74; T'ikhmmef, intor. Ohoa., i. '24;], -!'),
She latter sts cs that the vala« of property trMi««rr«(( OMteeded tiiut wlucb
ed on paper.

ILL-REQUITED SERVICES.

meister

1 three

ersburg

surprise

tnent of

,00 sud-

)ected a

i peters-

ter's mo-
tile days

a. After

)nce gave
property

3ompany's

preine ef-

ay of the

fer of the
complete* I

;jovo Ark-

ikof at two

ion to two

shipped on

storehouses

[nd roubles.

,iou, as were

|iplicate<i ac-
ailed tutina
^s^ ■mvolvi;i'-'
1,' .f stn»n;.^

bcounted f'>v,
ies eiitenJea
[Among tbc
'.ars,Barauot

the irksouio
' from movu-

ing to night, overcoming his weakness with stimu-
lants. At length the task was finished, and in Sep-
tember 1818 he delivered a full statement of the
company's affairs to his son-in-law. "I recommend
to your special care," he said, "the people who have
learned to love me, and who under judicious treat-
nvmt will be just as well disposed toward those who
shall watch over them in the future."

Nearly forty years had now elapsed since Baranof
Iva-J left his native land; nearly thirty since he had
first landed at Kadiak. He was ill requited for his
long and faithful service. To him was due, more than
to all others, the success of the Russian colonies in
Aruerica; by him they had been founded and fostered,
and but for him they would never have been estab-
lished, or would have had, at best, a brief and tioubled
existence. Here, amid these wintry solitudes, he had
raised towns and villages, built a fleet of sea-going
ships, and laid a basis of trade with American and
Asiatic ports. All this he had accomplished while
paying regular dividends to shareholders; and now
in his old age he was cast adrift and called to render
an account as an unfaithful steward. He was already
in his seventy-second year. Where should he be-
take him during the brief spai> of life that yet rc-
tuaiued?

Bitter as was the humiliation which Baranof suf-
fered, he could not at once tear himself away from the
land which he loved so well. He resolved first to pay a
visit to Kadiak, meet once more the tried friends and
servants who were yet living there, and take a last
glance at the settlements, where first he had planted
his country's flag. He would then bid good-by to all,
and join his brother at Izhiga, in Kamchatka, the only
one of his kin that now survived." Finally, his
old ai'quaintance. Captain V. M. Golovnin, who about

"At one time ho purposed to Bail for tlie Sandwich Islands and end liis
ilavH ill the court of Kainclianicha, witli whom he was still on friendly t nms.
iikkbinkvf, .Shizn. Baranova, 174-5.
Hist. Alaika. 33

r*vl

4U
1 ^1

! .,

Olt

CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.

this time had returned to Novo Arkhangelsk, urged
him to return to Bussia, where he could still be of
great service to the company by giving advice to
the managers on colonial affairs. The prospect of
continued usefulness and perhaps the hope of receiv-
ing reward for past services, then much needed by
the ex-manager, decided him to accept this advice.
The period of general leave-taking preceding his de-
parture was a severe ordeal. He was frequently found
m tears, and the symptoms of disease increased as he
was submitted again and again to the trial of bidding
farewell to the men with whom he had been intimately
associated for more than a generation, and to the chil-
dren who had learned to love him from their infancy.

At length, on the 27th of November, 1818, he em-
barked on the Kiitusof, and as the vessel entered the
waters of the sound, he gazed for the last time on the
settlement which was entirely of his own creation.
After touching at Umata, the vessel arrived on the
7th of March at Batavia, where she was detained for
thirty-six days. No more unfortunate choice could
have been made for so prolonged a visit than amidst
the pestilential climate of that Dutch colony. Tired
of the confinement of his cabin, the ex-manager in-
sisted upon living on shore, spending his whole time in
the hostelry just outside the settlement; thence he
was carried almost lifeless on board the ship, which
now put to sea; on the 16th of April, 1819, he
breathed his last; on the following day his obsequies
were performed, and in the strait of Sunda the waters
of the Indian Ocean closed over the remains of Alex-
andr Andreievich Baranof

With all his faults, and they were neither few nor
small, it must be admitted that in many respects ]3ar-
anof had no equal among his successors. "I saw him
in hi: seventieth year," writes his biographer, Klileb-
nikof, 'and even then life and energy spariilcd in his
eye . . . He never knew what avarict; was, and never
hoarded riches. He did not wait until his death

CHARACTER OF BARANOF.

k, urged
ill be of
dvice to
)8pect of
jf receiv-
eeded by-
is advice.
g his de-
itly found
ised as be
of bidding
intimately
o the cbil-
lir infancy.
18, he ein-
ntered the
;ime on the
n creation,
ved on the
letained for
[hoice could
;han amidst
:ny. Tired
.nanager in-
rhole time in
; thence be
'ship, wblch
•il, 1819, be
lis obsequies
|a the waters
ins of Alex-

Ither few ncr
respects Bar-

.'Isawluiu

ipher, Kh\f:

larivled in bi^

IS. and never

il his doatii

to make provision for the living, and gave freely to
all who had any claims upon him. Some said that
he had large deposits in foreign banks, but no proof
of this was to be found when he died. He always
lived on his means, and never drew his balance from
the company while he was in their service. From
Shelikof he had received ten shares, and by the Sheli-
kof Company he was allowed twenty shares more.
Of these he gave away a considerable portion to his
fellow-laborers Banner and Kuskof, who were rather
poorly paid. There are not a few now living in the
colonies whom he helped out of difficulty, and many a
remittance he sent to Russia to the relatives of per-
sons who had died, or were by misfortune prevented
from supporting those dependent upon them. An
example of this occurred in the case of Mr Koch, who
was sent out to relieve him but died on the way. He
had assisted him formerly both with money and influ-
ence, and after his death sent large remittances to his
family."'

''Every one looked to him an chief manager,' remarks Khlebnikof.
Shkn. Baranora, 197-8. 'There were two classes to bo provided for- the
Russians and the natives. The latter never troubled themselves about the
future, as long as they had a fisl^ to eat; but Baninof, with his goo«l warm
heart, looked into the future for them. On one occasion all kinds of provis-'
ions were giving out, even the supply of fish dwindling away. He did not
sleep at night, when the wind was blowing, thinking of tlio ships on the way
to liim, laden with what was needed so much. Had he known at this time
that, at the very moment when he was praying for the arrival of a ship on
the coast of America, the vessel which he expected was breaking to pieces on
tlic rocky shore of Kamchatka, even his stout heart might have trembled.
Laraiiof was never at his wits end nor faint-lieartcd. When lie heard at the
same time of the wreck of th« Elizavfta, Deniianenkof's disaster, anil the
Valaitat massacre, nl! he said was, "MyGod! how can we repair all these dis-
asters!"' Among >>.; many instances related by Khlebnikof of Baranof's
business ability th«. sollowia^c may be mentioned: In 1802 he received by the
EUwvela a cargo worth or'> '2(),tiOO roubles, a great part of which was use-
less for bis purpose. Bk-mnof went round the tliffercnt statimis to collect
goods to bo exclutngcil foe furs and to pay the hunters. Meeting witli little
success, he si'iit wit Alvuts to shoot or trap seB-birds, and of their akin-^ he
had fanciful pa"4a!f (cloaks) nuule, which greatly pleased the natives, z^ail
were readily »ocef*«««l in.j>uym««t for furs.

AltiK<»ugh the Mithor's n»nie does not appear on the title-page of th«-
Shzr laxMmit Aiejmivii)^ Amlrf^viteha Bar"fH)va Qlavnago Praritelia 7?"*-
' ' • 'I Koioniff V >t4MBilr (Biography <^f Aloxander Andreievich liaranof,
Ouw MauagtT «i tiw ftWiiai ColiDiiiM> m America), Navnl I'rintii.g Oiiii -.
Sc Petersburg, ISM>» H k0Wlltefe fiMB the introductt\>n that the work wan
written by iKgoait wMMMi It was dedicated <o iia Excellensy the Ad-

•I ■ 'mA

■m

'Jl

'if

.'4 ~^'«-m

f 1

t' S

516

CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.

One of the officers of the sloop-of-war Kamchatka.
in which vessel Golovnin arrived at Novo Arkhan-
gelsk, a short time before Baranofs departure, thus
relates his impressions: " We had jnst cast anchor in
port, and were sitting down to dinner when Baranof
was announced. The life and actions of this extraor-
dinary man had excited in me a great curiosity to seo
him. He is much below medium height. His face
is covered with wrinkles, and he is perfectly bald ; but
for all that he looks younger than his years, consider-
ing his hard and troubled life. The next day we were
invited to dine with him. After dinner singers were
introduced, v/ho, to please the late manager, spared
neither their own lungs nor our ears. When they
sang his favorite song, * The spirit of Russian hunters

iniral, Member of the Privy Council, Knight of all Russian Orders, Count
Nikolai Somenovitch MorJvinofF. Khlebuikof held a prominent position
under the Russian American Company for many years, and devoted nuiL!i
time and study to the colonies. His biogi'aphy of Baranof is very complete
though tinged with admiration. Baranof was so thoroughly ideutilied wi.li
all that was accomplished by the Russians on the American coast from 1703
to 1818, that his oiography furnislies a complete history of the enterprise
up to that time. His numerous thrilling adventures, his linn but somotimoa
cruel mode of dealing with the savages and his own followers — but little
above tlie fonner in tlie scale of civilization — his vast plans for extending the
field of the company's operations over half the Pacific Ocean, are .ably an 1
clearly portrayed. Tlie relations betwee% the Russian fur-trader and tlio
Califomiau authorities, and his ventures in the Sandwich Islands, occupy
considerable simco in this volume.

Khlebnikof 8 letters on Aiuerica, forming part iii. of the Materialui dli'i
htoriy liuHnkikh Zasa, Ifnh/ po Denijam Vontochnnvo Olceana (Material for t!ie
History of the Rt.jsian Settlements on the Shores of the Eastern Ocean >,
Printing Office of the Ministerium of Marine, JSt Petersburg, 1861, bear lo
date, but were apparently written in 1829 or 1S30. This work is a col!«'tij:i
of papers jjublishcd in the Mornkoi Sboriiik, tlie organ of the Russian X.n': 1
Department, on the then all-absorbing topic of the Russian Colonics. Tin;
contents of the collection are: I. Instructions of the Russian murine mini. . r
to Captain Golovnin, If 17. II. Communication from the marine mini- re;-,
Marquis de Traverse, to Baron Testel, governor general of .Siberia, 1817. ill
Conimunioation in reply, 1817. IV, Letter of Captain Golovnin to the v
enior of !Silv»'>», 1817. V. Report of the commanding officer at Okhoti,K ;'
the civil ^vvcruor of Irkutsk, 1815. VI. Letters of the post commaiuL :
Okhotsk on the oppression of Aleutias employees by the company. Vli.
Letter of Captain Golovnin on the conditicm of the Russian American Company,
1818. VIII. Review of the Russian colonies in North America by Captain (in-
lovnin. IX. Letters of Khlebnikof on America, divided 'nto two parts tlie
northern colonies and the Rosa settlement, containing minute and ril„;i.'Io
dat* on both subjects. X. Translation? and extracts from the works <'f tlio
foil )wing authors: Khlebnikof, Davidof, Krusenstem, Lisiansky, KotZLimc,
Golovnin, Lozaref, Lutke, Lancsdorff, Roqucfeuil, Belcher, La I'lacc, Miifas,
Htuipaou, and Kellett. Statistical tables ore appended to the collection.

1 ^ «.

r Hi'

1. n,ii iiiii 'i

ichatha,
^rkhan-
re, thus
icVior in
Baranof
extraor-
ty to seo
His faco
jald; but
consider-
j we were
gers were
er, spared
/hen they
etn hunters

I Orders, Count
miucnt position
a (le voted HUH '
3 very complete
, iaeutilied w^-^.i
coast from l-.J
bf thoeuterrnso
irt but apmctiuici

[or extending t u^
=an, are ably uu

ir-trader and no
» Islands, occupy

CHAEACTER OF BARANOF.

817

devised,' he stood in their midst and rehearsed with
them their common deeds in the New World. I
must add here a word as to his mode of life. He rises
early, and eats only once during the day, having no
certain time for his meal. It may be said that in
this respect he resembles Suvarof, but I believe Bar-
anof never resembled anybody, except perhaps Cortds
or Pizarro,® His former condition had caused him to
adopt a custom of which he could never wean himself —
that of keeping around hin) a crowd of madcaps, who
were greatly attached to him, and ready, as the say-
ing is, to go through fire and water for him. To these
people he often gave feasts, when each one could drink
as much as he pleased, and this explains the enormous
consumption of rum which Baranof was in no condi-
tion to buy, and had to procure at the company's
expense."®

It is probable that the words which Washington
Irving puts into the mouth of Astor's agent, when
he " found this hyperborean veteran ensconced in a
fort which crested the whole of a high rocky promon-
tory," are but too near the truth. " He is continually
giving entertainments by way of parade," says Mr
Hunt, " and if you do not drink raw rum, ami boiling
punch as strong as sulphur, he will insult you as soon
as he gets drunk, which will be very shortly after
sitting down to table.

"As to any 'temperance captain,'" continues Irving,
"who stood fast to his fiiith and refused to give up his
sobriety, he might go eii^ewhere for a market, for he
stood no chance with the jrovernor. Rarely, however,
did any cold-water caitiff if the kind darken the door
of Baranof; the coasting captains knew too well his
humor and their own interests; they joined in bis
revels; they drank and R-ig and whooped and hic-

'' In what respect the writer iloes not explain.

' Tikhmenff, in/or. OboK., i. •J.i-i-C). The otficer remarks, that during his
wluile term oi adminiatratiou ho had exhibtusd a rare disinterestedness, and
tixMigh lie had every chukcb of enriching hiniHelf, had UfTer taken advantago
cf his piNutiou.

11 ■_,;«!

: iji)

818

CLOSE OP BARANOP'S ADMINISTRATION.

il :>

cuped, until they all got 'half-seas-over,' and then
affairs went on swimmingly.

"An awful warning to all 'flinchers' occurred shortly
before Hunt's arrival. A young naval officer had re-
cently been sent out by the emperor to take command
of one of the company's vessels. The governor, as
usual, had him at his ' prosnics,' *" and plied him with
fiery potations. The young man stood on the de-
fensive, until the old count's ire was completely kin-
dled; he carried his point and made the greenhorn
tipsy, willy nilly. In proportion as they grew fud-
dled, they grew noisy; they quarrelled in their cups;
the youngster paid Baranof in his own coin, by rating
him soundly; in reward for which, when sober, he was
taken the rounds of four pickets, and received seventy-
nine lashes, taled out with Russian punctuality of pun-
ishment.

"Such was the old grizzled bear with whom Mr
Hunt had to do his business. How he managed to
cope with his humor, whether he pledged himself in
raviT rum and blazing punch, and 'clinked' the can with
him as they made their bargains, does not appear upon
record; we must infer, however, from his general ob-
servations on the absolute sway of this hard-drinking
potentate, that he had to conform to the customs of his
court, and that their business transactions presented
a maudlin mixture of punch and peltry.""

Before taking final leave of Baranof, I will give
one more quotation from a manuscript in my posses-
sion, from the dictation of one formerly in the service
of the Russian American Company, who arrived at
Novo Arkhangelsk in 1817, for the purpose of rejoin-
ing his father, who had been sent to the Ross colony.
" On the day after our arrival, Mr Baranof sent for
me. He was a small man, of yellow complexion, and

'" Carousals.

" Astoria, 465-7. Irving statea that in 1812 the fort at Novo ArkhangoUk
mounted 100 guns ; but one must, of course, allow for the vivid imagination
of the uoveliat. There were but 50 cannon as late as 1817. Golovnin, ii Ma-
Urialui, htor, Russ., part iv. 101.

THE CHIEF DIRECTOR'S HABITS.

619

i then

shortly
hadre-
immand
rnor, as
iui with
the (le-
tely kin-
reenhorn
rew fud-
eir cups;
by rating
if, he was
I seveiity-
ty ofpun-

ffhom Mr
anaged to
himself in
le can witU
ipear upon
reneral ub-
d-drinking
oma of lu3
I presented

will give

my pos*^^^'
the service
arrived at
,se of rejoin-
loss colony,
nof sent for
plexion, and

Kovo Arkhangelsk
vivid imaguiauon
Oolovtiin, » •^''

with very little hair on his head. He spoke to me
very kindly, and promised to send me to Mr Kuskof
as soon as any of the company's ships were going in
his direction. Then he told me I could stay at his
house and help the woman who was his housekeeper.
He had several women about his house, young and
old, and one daughter about seventeen years or age,
for whom he kept a German governess. The mother
had been a Kolosh woman, but she died before I
came to Novo Arkhangelsk.

"Baranof was often sick, and sometimes very cross,
but his daughter could always put him in good hu-
mor by playing on the piano. I have seen him send
every one out of the house in a heavy snow-storm
when his anger was roused, but half an hour later he
sent messengers to call back the women and servants,
and gave each one an order on the store for whatever
they wished. Then he would send for liquor and or-
der a feast to be prepared, and call for his singers to
amuse him while he was eating. After his meal he
was apt to get drunk on such occasions, and would
try to make all around him drunk. Most of the peo-
ple in the house liked to see him in a rage, because
they knew that a carousal would follow. As soon as
he began to feel the effect of drink he always sent his
daughter away, but all the other women were required
to stay with him and share in the revelry.

" One night Baranof came into the kitchen for some
purpose, and saw the German governess taking a glass
of rum. He was so enraged that he struck her on
the head and drove her out of the house. On the next
day he sent for her, made her some presents, and apol-
ogized for striking her. He said that she might drink
now and then, but must never let his daughter see it.
The governess promised to abstain from dram-drinking
in the presence of her pupil, and remained with her
until she was married to a young naval officer," who

" Yanoveky.

' 'ifli

620

CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.

had arrived from St Petersburg on board a man-of-

war.""

Here we have probably a truthful picture of Bar-
anof's household during the last years of his resi-
dence at Novo Arkhangelsk. At this period he dis-
played only too often the darker phase of his character,
for the use of stimulants had now sapped the vigor of
his manhood, and in their use alone could he find
temporary relief from his constitutional fits of melan-
choly. That he indulged too freely in strong drink
has never been disputed by his friends; but that he
was, as some chronicles allege, a cruel and vindictive
man, has never been proven by his enemies. It
must be remembered that drunkenness was then a
vice far more common among the Russians than it is
to-day, and that it is now more prevalent in Russia
than in any civilized country in the world. The as-
persions made on Baranof's character by missionaries
and naval officers have already been noticed. They
need no further comment. When we read the pages
of Father Juvenal's manuscript, and the remarks of
such men as Lieutenant Kotzebue, in whose work lie
is spoken of as "a monster who purchases every gain
with the blood of his fellow-creatures," we can but
wish that they had formed a truer estimate of one
whose memory is still held in respect by his fellow-
countrymen.

While Baranof was still at Novo Arkhangelsk,

" Adventures of Zakhar Chichinof, MS., 2-4. Chichinof was a native of
Yakutsk, where he was boni in 1802. When eight years of age he went
to KaJiak, and was placed in the school of Father German, or Germaniiis,
under whose care he remained until the year 1817, learning to read, write,
and cipher. His father removed to Novo Arkhangelsk, where his son fol-
lowed him in the autumn, earning his passage by acting as servant to
Hagemeister, who was a passenger on the same vessel. ' Hagemeister w;ia
very proud,' remarks Chichinof, 'and used to kick me for not taking olF my
cap before going into the cabin. ' Hearing that his father had joined the Rosa
colony, he presented to Baranof a letter from the missionarv, requesting tliat
he be allowed to see his parent as soon as possible. It will be renicmbircd
that, on his arrival atRoss, he was sent to the Farallon Islands, wliorc lu; "as
employed to keep accounts. Chichinof was a resident of St Paul, KaJiak,
in 1878, in which year he related to my agent, partly from memory aud
partly from his journal, the incidents contained in my manuscript.

Wf^

ian-01-

f Bar-
,8 resi-
he dis-
iracter,
rigor of
he find
melan-
ig drink
that he
ndictive

ies. It
} then a
ihan it 13
a Russia
The as-
ssionaries
d. They
the pages
jmarks or
e work he
;very gain
e can but
tte of one
his feUow-

khangelsk,

vas a native of

,{ age lie went
or Germaiuus,
to read, wntc,

ere his sou M-
as servaut to

iacemeiater ^va3

,t taking ot\,>"y
joined tholluss

requesting that
be reuicml"'-''^'
Is, wlicrchc^^M

itraul.K="l'='^!
,m memory aua

iscript.

KORASAKOVSKY'S EXPEDITION.

821

and probably under his direction, a force was de-
spatched by land to make a thorough exploration of
the territory north of Bristol Bay, and to establish a
permanent station on the Nushagak River. The
expedition formed on Cook Inlet, in charge of one
Korasakovsky, who was well acquainted with the na-
tives of this portion of Alaska.'* Proceeding to lake
Ilyamna, the party descended the river Kuichak to
Bristol Bay, and following the coast, reached the
mouth of the Nushagak, where the leader left be-

Plan of Expedition.

hind him a portion of his command with instructions
to build a fort, while he went on with the remainder
to the mouth of the river Tugiak, far to the west-
^vard, where the sloop Ko.tstantin was to meet him

'*A curious superstition is alluded to in Korasakovsky's instnictions.
From early times a belief had existed among the promyshleniki and otliers,
that somewhere in the interior, on tlio banks of the river named tlie Kbin-
vercii, there lived white people with long beards, the descendants, probably,
of some of Dcshnef's companions who were reported to have been lost on the
A!iu rican coast in 1048. Others ascribed their origin to the members of
Chirikof'a crew lost on the coastof America. How firm a holil this cliildish
oelic'f had taken in the minds even of those in authority, is evidenced by
tlie fact that Korasakovsky was instructed to search for the mysterious white
men of tlie interior. Tikhmenef, Islor. Obos., i. 249.

If I

i !lMi

1:1

'Hi

IMAGE EVALUATION

TEST Target (mt-s)

1.0

I.I

1.25

2.5

CiS III 2.0

1.4

1.6

/}.

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

'9,

^V^

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

622

CLOSE OF BARANOFS ADMINISTRATION.

with a cargo of supplies. After a brief rest, Kor-
asakovsky continued his journey, rounding Cape
Newenham, and finally entering tne wide estuary of
the Kuskokvim. It was now late in the season, and
hearing from the natives that it was extremely diffi-
cult to procure subsistence during the winter, the
leader turned back. On reaching the Nushagak, he
found the fort neaily completed, and givin^r it the
name of Alexandre vsk, returned to Kadiak across
the Alaska peninsular..

Lieutenant Yanovsky, who was one of the party,
forwarded a special report of this expedition to the
board of managers at St Petersburg, with a recom-
mendation that during the following summer the set-
tlement should be transferred from the Nushagak to
the Kuskokvim, or that a new post be established at
the latter point.**

During the presence of Hagemcister and Yanovsky
in the colonies, occurred the first visit of a French vessel
to Norfolk Sound. In 1816 a merchant of Bordeaux
fitted out a ship named the Bovdelais for a voyage to
the farther north-west, intending to compete with the
English and American traders. The vessel sailed in
October 1816, with a complement of thirty-four incii
and three officers, in charge of Camille Roquefeuil, a
naval officer. '' In May of the following year, wliile
taking in water and provisions at Lima, Roquefeuil

'* In the same year, he ordered a careful cenans of the colonics to 1w
taken, the result of which he forwarded along with the report. The luim-
bcr of Russians at the various settlements aniftrndinK-lKiets was found to l>o
891, of whom only 13 were women, of Creoles 244, including 111 womuii, ami
of natives under the company's control 8,384, the sexea being about ci|uully
divided. The Russians were thus distributed: At Novo Arkliongclsk. lOS
men and 11 women; at Kadiak and adjoining islands, 73 men; on the inlaml
of Ookamok, 2 men; at Katmai, 4 men; at Sutkhumokoi, 3 men; at Vuskiea-
sensky Harbor, 2men; at fort Konstantino, 17 men; at Nikolai (on Cook InK't),
11 men; at Alexandrovsk (also on Cook Inlet), 11 men; at the Ross settle-
ment, 27 men; on the Seal Islands, 27 men; and at Nusliagak, 3 men nml 2
women. Tiklimen^f, Iitor. Obon., i. 2*12. Khlebnikof, Zapitki iu Materialui,
20, eivea 8,3U7 ns the number of natives.

'*Tbe liordAai* was prov-isionod for two years, carried cine 24-pounil can-
non and six 8-pound carronodes, and had on board a large quantity uf niiiall
arms. The cargo consisted chiefly of French inanufaotureu goods. Itoqui'/cuil,
Jour, d'un Voy, autour du Monde, i. 4.

ROQUEPEUIL'S VOYAGE.

528

met the coramanders of the Kutusof and Suvarof, chen
on their way to the Russian colonies, and when the
Frenchman arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk, on the 5th
of April, 1818, he was well received by Hagemeister,
with whom he made a contract to hunt sea-otter on
joint account in the channels of the Alexander Archi-
pelago, Hagemeister agreeing to furnish him with
thirty bidarkas."

On the 7th of June the Bordelais arrived off the
north-west side of Prince of Wales Island, where
the vessel was moored a short distance from shore, the
anchorage being selected by the advice of a Kaigan.
On the 9th a reconnoissance was made, but neither peo-
ple nor sea-otters were seen. On the following day
a fleet of twenty-nine bidarkas, each provided with
a rifle, a pair of pistols, and two daggers, went forth
to hunt, the long-boat serving as escort. The catch
was one sea-otter. On the same day four canoes came
alongside with a few skins and some fish, and the
Kaigan, being discovered in secret consultation with his
countrymen, was driven out of the ship. The com-
pany's agent proposed that the Aleutian hunters
sliould camp on shore under the guns of the ship. To
this Roquefeuil consented, detailing a guard for their
protection. They hunted with but little success for
a few days longer, the entire catch being but twenty
sea-otter, while only ten were obtained by barter.

On the morning of the 17th a large number of
natives came to the beach, offering to trade; but at
noon all disappeared, and remained out of sight the
following day. Roquefeuil now resolved to recall his
Aleuts; and landing toward evening to observe the
state of the tide, passed by their camp and walked to
the head of the cove. On his way he was accosted by

" A clause woa inserted in thoir contract that 330 roubles (about $90) were
to be paid as indemnity for any Aleut who might lose his life while engaged
in hunting. Tikhnunff, Ittur. Obo»., i. 247. Roquefeuil, i. 64, makes the
amount ^JOO; but Tikhmenef is supported by the figures contained in the
ori^riual contract preaurved in the Sitka A rchivea of the Russian Amuricou
Company. The statements of the Frenchman concerning this expedition
have been found incorrect in most instances.

t: ■!:.

CLOSE OF BARANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.

an Indian, who was apparently unarmed. A few min-
utes later a musket-shot was heard, followed imme-
diately by a volley. The captain instantly turned
back, but seeing the Aleuts running toward the beach
without offering resistance, he hid himself in a thicket
which lined the shore, and made signals for a boat to
conic off to his rescue. As soon as his signal was
answered, he stripped and swam off toward the ship,
holding his watch between his teeth. As the boat
approached, the savages opened fire on her, and
wounded four out of a crew of seven, but Roqucfeuil
was finally rescued. Meanwhile the sailors returned
the fire, and a lieutenant was sent with two sail-boats
to rescue the survivors. Seven men were lifted out
of their torn and sinking bidarkas, two of them being
at the point of death, four severely wounded, and from a
small hole in the rocks crept forth seven others, who
all escaped unhurt. On the 19th a strong party was
sent on shore to search for more survivors, but with-
out success. Most of the bidarkas were recovered, a
few muskets were picked up near the beach, and nine-
teen Aleuts lay dead within the encampment, the only
traces of the fight being a few discharged pistols and
broken spears."

On Roquefeuil's return to Novo Arkhangelsk, Ha-

fremeister offered him an opportunity to retrieve his
osses by joining one of the Russian hunting parties
then engaged among the islands, but the crow re-
fused to receive on board any more Aleuts, or to en-
gage a second time in the dangerous service of escort-
ing them. The captain resolved, therefore, to conline
himself to trading; and after repairing damages, he
again sailed for the Alexander Archipelago. Hoping

"Roquefeuil, Id., i. 71, states that of 47 Aleuts, 20 were killed, ami "ij
escaped or were picked up by the boats, the fate of the other two 1) iiig
unknown. Of the survivors, VI were wounded, most of them seriuu-ly.
Only one Kaigan was found dead on the scene of the massacre. In the
accounts of the Russian American Company, contained in tho fi'.lka Arc!, iw,
vi., aij entry speaks of 2.1 natives (20 men and .3 women) who had lost (lioir
lives on this occasion, and for cacii of whom Roquefeuil was made to pay >^90,
under the terms of his coutract.

Th(
phart(
Jous t(
and e>
be de.s
time 1
tlenici
expion
both i
Atnas.
expedil
J»of, foL
Cook ll

.. "AtaJ

pi'Gculty

latter wen

The resuJtl

•w 8ca-ottl

'!"In tliJ

°^'h, desl

NEW EXPEDITIONS.

to deceive the savages, and capture some of their chiefs,
to be held for ransom, he had painted his ship and
changed the rigging; but his trouble was in vain; the
ruse did not deceive the Kaigans, and not a canoe
came near his craft.*'

Roquefeuil then sailed for San Francisco to procure
a cargo of grain with which to settle his indebtedness
to the company. There he was detained by the author-
ities for more than a month, but finally obtained Gov-
ernor Sola's permission to trade, chielly through the
intervention of Golovnin, who was then at the same
port. Returning once more to Novo Arkhangelsk,
he found that Hagemeister was willing to accept a
small cash payment in behalf of the relatives of the
Aleutian hunters, and after landing his bread-stuffs,
took his final leave on the 13th of December. Wo
may presume that he was not very deeply impressed
with the advantages of the fur trade on the upper
north-west coast.

The end of the period for which the company's
charter had been grantedwas now approaching. Anx-
ious to make all possible progress, both in discovery
and exploration, the directors ordered expeditions to
be despatched in various directions, and at the same
time new buildings were erected in nearly all the set-
tlements. Two attempts had already been made to
explore the head waters of tbe Copper River, but in
both instances the leaders had been killed bv the
Atnas. From the Nikolaievsk redoubt another
expedition was despatched, under con)mand of Malak-
liof, for the purpose of exploring the country north of
Cook Inlet. *** From Petropavlovsk the company sent

"At about the same time the Boston ship Brutus, Captuin Nye, had some
dilGculty with the Kolosh in the arcliipclago, during which a few of the
latttT were killed. Captain Young was cruising in the same vicinity for
tiic Russian American Company in the brig Finland, but was not attacked.
The result of his expedition was by no means satisfactory, however, for only
400 8ca-otter were obtained with a force of 70 bidarkas.

*'Iu the Sitka Arckiwii, x., is a report transmitted by Malakhof to Yon-
ovsky, describing the journey undertaken in accordance with his iiistruc-

ka^

CLOSE OF BABANOF'S ADMINISTRATION.

the sloop Dohroie Namerenie (Good Intent) to explore
the Arctic coast. This craft sailed in 1818, but was
delayed at the mouth of the Anadir River, and did
not return till three years later. No report of the
expedition is extant, but the voyage was continued at
least as far as East Cape.'^

The efibrts made by the company at the same time
to explore the Asiatic coast south of Kamchatka,
and especially the mouths of the Amoor, do not prop-
erly fall within the scope of this volume, but serve to
show that the monopoly was straining every nerve to
obtain a renewal of its privileges.

After reorganizing the affairs of the colony" and
visiting the different settlements, Hagemeistcr sailed
on board the Kutusof for Kronstadt,** where he arrived

tions. In this docutnent, which does not bear the impress of reliability, Mai-
al;hof states that, striking eastward from the Kuskottvim across a chain of
mountains, lie found himself on the banks of a large river thickly dotted witli
native settlements, and flowing northward. It is not safe to assume that ho
reached the Yukon, a» the time occupied in bis exploration was altogether too
sliort for such a journey. He probaoly heard from the natives on the Kus-
kokvim of the existence of a large river toward the north.

" Lieutenant Hooper of the royal navy, in his description of the voyage of
ti.d Plover, states that he saw near East Cape a cross on which was inscribed
in Russian: *Iii this place was buried the bo<ly of carpenter Stepan Naumof
of the sloop Good ItUent, August 12, 1821.* Tents of tlie Tngki, 151.

** Among other measures, ho ordered that the promyshleniki should re-
ceive, instead of their usual remuneration from half-shares, a salary of .SOO
roubles a year, and one poud of flour per month. This system r.as tirst roe-
ommcndeu by Rezanof. He also instructed the officials to provide each (>f
the Aleuts with seal-skins for bidarkas, a whale-bladder coat, and a bird-skin
parka, for which they were to pay only one fifth of the regular price. From
the pav of those who were indebted to the company, only omi third must be de-
ducted. All skins brought in by hunters were to be marked in their prosenec
with the company's stamp, and with initials indicating tlieir quality and gntilc.
KMebnikof, Zapiski in Materialm, 2o-8. Tikhmenef says that llagemeistrr
proposed to fix the pay of hunters at 350 roubles, but tiiat the directors would
not consent. He also states that tlie latter made other regulations, wliicli
were approved by the general administration for the guidance of ofliciuLs in
Kadiak, Novo Arkhangelsk, Unaloska, and Ross, and revised regulations for
foreign vessels visiting Novo Arkhangelsk. Tikhmenef , tutor. OboB.,i. 240. In
his remarks on Novo Arkhangelsk, Uolovnin says: 'Perhaps the directors do
not know of the loss which the company sufibrs from contrabandists, and of
the injur" done *^o the colony and its inhabitants. ' He rcconmiends that the
matter b 3 brou^at to the notice of the government. Id., 251.

** WLen the Kulruof arrived, an English ship of 600 tons, purchased liy
the compwy and renamed the Borodino, was being fitted out for another
naval expedition, the command being intrusted to Lieutenant Ponalidin,
formerly of the 8uvar(\f, The complement of the Borodino oousisteU of 1«

FINANCIAL RESULTS.

Mi*

(lore
was
did
• the
ed at

time
latka,
prop-
rve to
rve to

j"^ and
r sailed
arrived

,iUty, Mai-
a chain ol
lotted with
,mo that lio
ogcthcr too
n the Ku9

le voyage of
as iiiscrilJCil
)an Nauinof

ti "shouW re-
[alary of 3iX)
kns first roc-
Ivide each ci
habirilsl^'"
>ricc. From
i must bo tic-
lueir presence
ftyantlgr:>'>C'
Hagemtister

«ctor8 wonKi
itions. wUi>^^''
of officials in
• -ions [or

•gulati

b».,»

)», 1.240. I"
k directors <lo
tdiBts, m\f
lends that tl.a

Ipurohased by

"^ for another

it PonalHUn^

ouBisted of 1-

on the 7th of September, 1819. Calling at Batavia,
he purchased an assortment of goods to the amount
of two hundred thousand roubles, and the value of his
cargo of furs was estimated at a million. The vessel
was at once refitted, and again despatched to the col-
lonies about a year later under command of Lieu-
tenant Dokhturof, who subsequently became famous
in Kussian naval annals.^* Arriving at Novo Ark-
hangelsk in October 1821, after calling at several Cali-
fornian ports, she returned the following year with
another cargo of furs valued at over a million.

As we have now come to the close of the first term
for which the privileges of the Russian American
Company were granted, I will give a brief account of
its operations during this period, or so much of them
as can be obtained from the records which have come
down to us. The original capital of 723,000 roubles
was increased by the subscriptions of new shareholders
to 1,238,740 roubles; and the net earnings between
1797 and 1820, the first years including the operations
of the Shelikof-Golikof Company, were 7,G85,G08 rou-
bles. Of this sum about 4,250,000 roubles were dis-
tributed as dividends, and the remainder added to the
capital, which amounted in 1820 to about 4,570,000
roubles.^' Meanwhile, furs were sold or exchanged
for other commodities at Kiakhta to the amount of
16,376,096 roubles,'' and at Canton through foreign

ofticcra and petty officers, and 79 seamen of the navy. She had also 33 la-
horers on board. Tikhmtnef, Istor. Ohoa., i. 201; SUla Archives, i. Of the
oHicers of this expedition, Chistiakof and Zarembo were afterward prom-
iiicutly connected with the development of the Russian colonies. On Hagc-
meister's return the directors ordered Ponafidin to call at Rio de Janeiro, and
then at Manila, where commodities could be purchased at low rates. Ah a
mercantile speculation the enterprise proved a success, but it cost the lives of
many of the crew. Disease broke out soon after leaving the latter port, and
40 of the crew fell victims to fever. On his return from the colonies in 1821,
I'onafidin was temporarily suspended from duty.

" With Dokhturof sailed 42 seamen of the nnvy, 28 laborers, and 3 Creole
youths who had completed their education in St Petersburg.

*^ Divided in 1820 into 7,713 shares, and distrilmtcd among G30 share-
holders. TUhmeH^, Istor. Oboa. , i. 255-6. The figures given are in paper rou-
bles, then worth about 20 cents.

" At Kiakhta furs were usually exchanged for tea, Chinese cloth, /ind some-

628

CL03E OP BARANOP'S ADMINISTRATION.

vessels to the amount of 3,648,002 roubles. Of the
company's transactions elsewhere we have no complete
records.

Notwithstanding the large shipments of furs made
during the first twenty years of the company's exist-
ence, the yield had greatly diminished smce the first
years of Baranofs administration. In the gulf of
Kenai, where Delarof had obtained 3,000 skins dur-
ing his first year's hunting, the catch decreased, until
in 1812 it amounted only to 100. In Chugatsch Bay,
where seal had before been plentiful, the yield fell off
in the same year to 50 skins. Between that point and
Novo Arkhangelsk sea-otter abounded when the Rus-
sians first took possession, but five years later they
had almost disappeared. In Otter Bay, Queen Char-
lotte Island, and Nootka Sound they were still plen-
tiful, but the Americans absorbed most of this trade,
bartering fire-arnis and rum with the Kolosh in re-
turn for skins, of which they obtained about 8,000
a year, while the Russians tried in vain to compete
with them.

In Novo Arkhangelsk, which had now become the
commercial centre of Russian America, there were, in
1818, G20 inhabitants, of whom more than 400 were
male adults. Of the servants of the company, 190
were at that time engaged on shares, and 101 on
fixed salaries. The income of the chief manager w;is
7,800 roubles a year; that of the head clerk from 3,000
to 4,000, of a trading skipper about the same, an as-
sistant clerk or priest 600, and an Aleutian or creolo
hunter from GO to 150 roubles. The total sum pukl
yearly at Novo Arkhangelsk on account of shares,
salaries, premiums, and pensions, was about 120,000
roubles.

It will be seen that, with a few exceptions, the coiii-
pany's servants had little chance to enrich themseh es

ttniefl for silk or sngar. Sea-otter skins were valued at 110 to 124 ronlilcs,
fur-seal 5 to 7 roubles, and fox skins from 2 roubles and 20 kopeks to 13 rou-
bles in tea, according to quality. Id., 254.

UFK IN THE COLONIES.

529

during their sojourn in the farther north-west. More-
over, the necessaries of life often became so scarce
that they were beyond reach of most of the colo-
nists.'^ There were some exceptions, however. Bread,
for instance, was usually sold to married men, at least
after Hagemeister's arrival, at cost, and in suflficient
quantity. To laborers goods were issued from the
stores, on a written order from the chief manager, and
charged to their accounts occe a month or once in
three months. On these occasions they received a
present of a small quantity of flour or other provisions.

" KIdebniko/, Zamtld in MaUrialui, 215. There are no data as to the
prices at which goods were ftunished to employees in 1818; but in previous
years they were often purchased by the chief manager at very high rates, and
of coarse retailed at a profit. In 1805, $35 per barrel was paid to Captain
Wolf for salt beef, and the same price per cental for common soap; in 1808,
$7.50 per cental was paid to Ayres for wneat, and $50 per cental for tobacco.
In 1310, $16.80 per cental was paid to Davis for white sugiur; and in 181 1,
$15 to Ebbets for brown sugar. Id., 14.

1 1 Mf

*nfcl

|l o\i

1,000
In ^^■''

paKl

11 ares,

Icooo

coni-
Iselvos

I'J rou-

CHAPTER XKYI.

SECOND PERIOD OF THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY^

OPERATIONS.

1821-1842.

GoLOTNw'g RnpoRT ON «HK CoLONuu— Tbx CoMTAinr's Crabtkr R»

NEWED — New Pritileoxs Oranted — MouuAViBr Appoiktxd Oovek-
MOB — Alaska Divided into Districts— Thbxatkned Starvation—
CaisTiAKor Supersedes Modraviep — Foreign Trade Prohibited—
The ANOLo-RnssiAK and Rdhso-Amxrioan Treaties — Mori Explor.
ations — Wranoell's Administration— He w Succeeded by Ktrp.
BiANOF — Disputes with the Hudson's Bat Company — Their Adjust
MENT— Fort Stikeen — Etuolen Appointed Governor— A Shall-fox
Epidemic — Statkticau

At the end of the twenty years for which the ex-
f lusive privileges of the Russian American Company
were granted, we find this powerful monopoly firmly
established in the favor of the imperial government,
many nobles of high rank and several members f)f
the royal family being among th« shareholders. The
company already occupied nearly all that portion of the
American continent and the adjacent islands south
of the Yukon River now comprised in the territory
of Alaska. The country north of Cook Inlet and
Prince William Sound, and the Alexander Archi-
pelago north of Dixon Sound, was also universally
acknowledged as belonging to Russia, though her
right was not established by treaty until some years
later. With an imposing list of permanent stations
represented as forts and redoubts, with a long list of
tribes converted to Christianity and brought under
subjection, the directors now sought to obtain, not

(6301

tl]

a I

ric

for

soi:

bei.

bJit

tor

but

as a

almc

creoJ

port

to re

ant ;
iias
a boll
hoh
of na
in th
It
being I
»iinis<
of his
^lis adi
Septer
^onipaj

'Tliei
*'^, tnia
part i. i_

'Inai

'^"s addei

»P«nal sol

'Afe/

GOLOVNIN'S PEPORT.

031

only a renewal of the favors already granted, but im-
portant additions to their privileges.

Aware that such a request would be made, the
government had instructed Captain Golovnin to in-
quire into the condition of the settlements during his
cruise in the Kamchatka} His report was by no
means favorable. "Three things are wanting," he
says, "in the organization of the company's colonies:
a clearer definition of the duties belonging to the va-
rious officers, a distinction of rank, and a regular uni-
form, so that foreigners visiting these parts may see
something indicating the existence of forts and troops
belonging to the Russian sceptre — something resem-
bhng a regular garrison. At present they can come
to no other conclusion than that these stations are
but temporary fortifications erected by hunters
as a defence against savages." The captain expresses
almost unqualified condemnation of the treatment of
Creoles and hired laborers, but concludes his re-
port with the following words : "I consider it my duty
to remark that these abuses occurred before Lieuten*
ant Hagemeister's accession to office. Though he
lias but recently assumed control, and their entire
abolition cannot yet be expected, the measures which
he has already adopted for improving the condition
of natives and promyshleniki promise complete success
ill the near future.' *

It was of course to be expected that Golovnin,
being a naval officer, should condemn Baranof's ad-^
ministration, and speak in favor of Hagemeister. Some
of his suggestions were adopted, but notwithstanding
ills adverse criticism, an imperial oukaz was issued, in
September 1821, granting exclusive privileges to the
company for another period of twenty years.^

' The instructions for his guidance were framed by the marquis de Trav-
erse, minister of marine. Tney are given in the jaaterialui Istor. Rttss.,
part i. 1-2.

'In a letter to Captain Etholen, Alexander Kashevarof, a Creole educated
&t St Petersburg at the company's expense, declares that the last paragraph
was added to the report after the directors had read the proofs, and at their
Bpccial BoUcitation. liusn. Amer. Co. Jrchiwa, in.

' A few days before the oukaz vi^-, issued, a communication from the

jm THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS

This document was introduced by the following
words, which are in strong contrast with the tenor of
the captain's report: "The Russian American Com-
pany, under our highest protection, having enjoy od
the privileges most graciously granted by us in the
year 1799, has to the fullest extent justified our hopes
and fulfilled our expectations, in extending navigation
and discovery as well as the commerce of our empire,
in addition to bringing considerable imniediaU ..rofit
to the shareholders in the enterprise. In considcr-
ati<vn of this, and desiring to contuiue and confirm its
existence, we renew the privileges given to it, with
some necessary changes and additions, for twenty
years from this time; and having made for its guid-
ance certain rules, we hereby lay them before the
governing senate, with our orders to promulgate the
same, to be submitted to us for signature."

Id jhe new charter, the text of which included
twenty paragraphs, the jurisdiction of the company
was established over all the territory from the northern
cape of Vancouver Island, in latitude 51° n., to Ber-
ing Strait and beyond, and to all islands belonging to
that coast as well as to those between it and the coast
of eastern Siberia, also to the Kurile Islands, wliero
they were allowed to trade as far as the island of
Ourupa, to the exclusion of other Russian subjects
and of foreigners. It was granted the right to all
that existed in those regions, on the surface as well
as in the bosom of the earth, without regard to tlic
claims of others. Communication could be carried ou

emperor, containing 63 paragraphs, was laid before the senate, wherein wcro
r%ulatiuns for the management of the company's business and for the gciierul
amniuistration of colonial afifoira. It was called forth by representations
mode by the oompanv as to losses suffered from the illicit trade of forcigucra,
and was accompanied by the following letter: ' From information laid Ufore
us, we have learned that the trade of our subjects on the Aleutian Islands and
on the north-west coast of America in our posaeeaion, is suffering fr>>:'i tiio
existence of illegitimate traffic in the same localities, and that the chief rea-
son for this has been the absence of definite rules and regulations fur coin-
merce and navigation on the coasts mentioned, as well as on the shoic <.'
eastern Siberia, and the Kurile Islands. To remedy this fault, wo luiiliy
transmit to the senate the much-needed rules and regulations.' Tikhineiiff,
lalor. Oboa., i. app. 27.

by«

Jono

oftl

conij

gove

stand

» liana,

gover

tary,

the CO

(uul wi

ill the

mnk, w

after t

'•f the

"11 offic

t'le sem

after thi
fiom thi
also givJ
period, f
If the
J'larket J
sponsibilj
c'lange tl
larger aai
t« the s
l>oard of i
to the co|
ct^niruodit
'^'"^onies A
aJi militA
t'> aid tj
J'bservancI
foreigners!

Jj*' ' -

NEW REOULATIOKS.

63S

by soa between the colonics and adjoining regions bo-
longing to foreign powcid, ' ut only with the consent
of their rulers.

Considering the vast tc rntory corvtroUed by the
conipany, and the large \, inibei's of it** inhabitants, the
government saw fit to ^^nfer cor^i.'ai rank and official
standing on the company'.; servants. The chief
manager Wua to be i)laced n the sumo footing as the
governors of Siberia; goverument officials of the mili-
tary, naval, and civil service were allowed to enter
the company's service, rejtaining half their foi ;L.or pay,
and without losing their turn for promotion ; all officials
in the company's employ, not previously invested with
rank, were to be promoted to that of collegiate assessor
after two years' service in the colonies; all servants
of the company were exempt from conscription, and
all officials and agents from tl:c payment of taxes.
Employes were granted the right of complaining to
the senate for injustice or abuse on the part of the
company, the complaint to be made within six months
after the occurrence; right of appeal to the senate
from the decision of the company's authorities was
also given, the appeal to be maide within the same
period.

If the company's shaxes shouM fall fifty per cent in
market value, the government was to assume the re-
sponsibility and sell them at auction. The right to
change the relat'ons of the company was given to the
larger assembly oi the shareholders, subject to appeal
to the senate, and penuhsion was granted to the
board of directors to despatch vessels from Kronstadt
to the colonies with cargoes of Russian and foreign
commodities free of duty, and also to ship goods to the
colonies on government vessels at low rates. Finally,
all military, naval, and other officers were enjoined
to aid the company, and to insist on the strict
observance of these rights by Russian subjects and
foreigners. Most of the privileges contained in th«

■•II

m.<^\

'libttl

\m 4

834 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

oukaz of 1799 were also renewed in the charter of
1821.*

The regulations appended to this charter were very
voluminous, referring to the treatment of the natives,
the obligation of the company to maintain churches
and schools at its own expense, and to provide for the
importation of supplies in sufficient quantity, the
rights and privileges of Creoles, and the rights and
duties of shareholders and of the company's officials.
It was provided that the chief manager must be se-
lected from the naval service, and rank not lower than
captain of the second class; the assistant manager
must also be a naval officer; the board of directors,
each of whom must hold not less than twenty-five
shares, was to consist of four members, to be elected
by the assembly of shareholders, and all the transac-
tions of the company were to be subject to the super-
vision of the minister of finance, to whom detailed re-
ports were to be submitted.

The first step taken by the board of directors, after
obtaining their second charter, was the election of a
successor to Hagemeister, or rather his representa-
tive Yanovsky, who, having married Baranof's daugh-
ter, was not considered free from the taint thrown
upon the latter's fame by Golovnin. M. N. Mouia-
vief, a captain in the navy and a scion of an old family
belonging to the Russian nobility, was the one seloct-
ed, and his appointment being confirmed, he sailed for
Novo Arkhangelsk during the year 1821. He at once
took measures to reconstruct the garrison, to repair
the fortifications of all the settlements, and to erect new
buildings wherever they were required.'

Mouravief at once saw the absurdity of Baranof's

'Among others were those of making settlements in regions adjacent to
their territory, not cicupied by foreign nation", and of engaging laborers for
a term of seven years in any part of the empire, the company aMuniiiig the
paymentof their taxes. Capital invested by shareholders wiis also cxctn|it, as
before, from attachment, though dividends could be appropriated in payiiicut
of debts.

* It is related that he added more buildings to the company'! stations than
any subsequent manager.

ery

ves,
jlies

the

and
cials.
le se-
than
nager
ctors,
,y-five
lected
ansac-
super-
led re-

s, after

jn of a

senta-

augU-

irown

Moura-

family
select-

liled tor
at once
repair

rect new

nofs

;ara

adjacent to
laborers for

ssuniinj!

t\l8

cxemiit, ^
. in payii>«--u'

Btations than

v^« ? - »• -

MOURAVIEF IN COMMAND.

535

policy in keeping the Kolosh at a distance from Novo
Arkhangelsk. Up to this time they had been compelled
to live on the islands north and south of the settle-
ment, and this arrangement, intended to insure the
safety of the Russians, had only served to increase
the danger of hostile attack. Away from all commu-
nication and supervision, they had been at liberty to
plot mischief at leisure, while they were kept informed
of all that occurred in the garrison by the females of
their tribe, whoso intercourse with the promyshleniki
was never interrupted. The result was, that murder
and robbery were committed with impunity on de-
tached parties of laborers and fishermen. Mouravief,
taking advantage of the presence of the well armed
ship which brought him to the colonies, summoned
the chiefs of the Sitkas, and told them that they
might return with their people to their former village
adjoining the fort. The permission was gladly accepted,
and the removal effected within a few days. Mean-
while the palisade separating the native huts from the
company's precincts had been strengthened, and a
heavy gate built, through which no savage was allowed
to enter without a permit. On certam days, they
might, at a stated hour, visit the enclosed space for
the purpose of disposing of game, fish, furs, and other
commodities. Before sunset the streets were patrolled
by an armed guard, and all the natives kept out from
that time until daylight; sentries were doubled and
kept vigilant by a half-hourly exchange of signals.
These regulations were found so satisfactory that they
were continued by Mouravief's successors, and to a
certain extent even by the American troops who took
charge of the territory after its transfer in 1867.

The chief manager, or governor as he was now
styled, also issued orders that the garrisons should be
placed under strict discipline at all the outlying sta-
tions; but only in Kadiak could this be done, for at
other points the force was too small to allow of mili-
tary organization. He then made a tour of inspection

036 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

through the colonies, visiting all the stations except
those at Atkha and Atoo, and on his return divided
the colonies into districts. The Sitka district in-
cluded the mainland of Russian America from Mount
St Elias as far as latitude 54° 40' n., together with
the islands along the adjacent shore. The Kadiak
district embraced the coast and the islands on the
gulfs of Kena'i and Chugatsch, the Alaska peninsula
as far south as Shumagin Island, the Kadiak, Ooka-
mok, Semidi, and all adjacent islands, the shores of
Bristol Bay, and the coast between the mouths of the
Nushagak said Kuskokvim rivers. In the Mikha'ilof
district were included the basins of the Kvichak
and Kuskokvim rivers, and the coast lying between
Norton Sound and Bering Strait. The Unalaska dis-
trict comprised all of the Alaska peninsula not in-
cluded in the district of Kadiak, and the Lissiev,
Sannakh, and Prybilof islands. The Atkha district
consisted of the Andreanofsky group and the Blishie,
Krissie, and Commander islands, and the Kurile dis-
trict of the islands of that name lying between Ou-
rupa and the Kamchatka peninsula.^

Soon after Mouraviefs arrival, the colonies were
once more threatened with starvation, a danger which
was due to the following incidents: In the summer
of 1821 supplies were despatched from Kronstadt in
the Rurik, which had been placed at the company's
disposal at the conclusion of Kotzebue's voyage, and
in the Elizaveta,, a Hamburg ship. The command of
the Rurik and of the expedition was given to Master
Klotchkof. The Elizaveta was intrusted to Acting
Master Kisslakovsky.^ While rounding the Cape of
Good Hope, the two craft met with a hurricane, dur-

•The head office of the olonies was of course at Novo Arkhangelsk.
There was also an office at St Paul in Kadiak. The other clistricta \\ ere
managed bjr agents selected by the colonial administration. Oolotmiii, Okior.
Jiius. Kol. in Materialui, 01-2.

' Their cargoes consisted of goods for the colonies and of rye flour for
Okhotsk. TikhmeHtf, htor. Obos., i. 335.

HARD TIMES.

587

Jape
\e, dur-

IrictB v^™
It,!., Obsor.

floui- iot

itig which the Elizaveta lost several sails and sprung
a-leak, whereupon both vessels were headed for Si-
mon Bay. On again putting to sea, after repairs
had been made at great expense, it was found that
the ship still leaked, and it was thought best to
return to port, sell the Elizaveta, and transfer her crew
to the Rurik, which arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk in
November 1822. As most of the supplies had been
given in payment for repairs, the governor detained
her in the colonies, having no other vessel at his dis-
posal fitted for a long voyage in search of provisions.

When informed of this disaster, the directors at once
ordered the purchase of a ship of four hundred tons
in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The craft was re-
named the Elena, and placed under command of Lieu-
tenant Chistiakof, who had before made the voyage
from Kronstadt to Novo Arkhangelsk. A few days
before the vessel was ready for sea a general assembly
of shareholders was held, at which one of the direc-
tors* stated that, as several rich cargoes had recently
been despatched to the colonies, goods and provisions
nmst have accumulated there in great quantity, and
that there was no necessity to despatch another vessel
round the world. The majority of the shareholders
present adopted this view of the matter, and the ex-
pedition was jxbandoned for the time.

Thus in the year 1823 it became known throughout
the settlements that supplies need not be expected
from home during that and the following year. At
the same time a despatch was received from the com-
pany's commissioner in California, stating that, on ac-
count of a failure of crops and for other reasons, it
would be impossible to forward the usual quantity of
bread-stuffs from that country. The colonies were
now in evil case, and starvation, or at best the pros-
pect of living for a time on seal flesh, appeared to be
inevitable, for already the storehouses were almost

« Named Prokofeief. W., 337. ' .

SS8 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

empty. Mouravief at once sent an urgent appeal to
the managers, and meanwhile despatched Lieutenant
Etholen to the Sandwich Islands m the brig Golovnin
for a cargo of provisions, the Rurik being then en-
gaged in the intercolonial trade. Calling at San Fran-
cisco on his voyage, Etholin succeeded, notwithstand-
ing the dearth, in bartering furs for a large quantity
of wheat " at moderate rates. Proceeding thence to
the Sandwich Islands, where he found the price of
most commodities extremely high, he purchased at a
fair price an American brig named the Arab, with
her cargo of provisions and trading goods,'" the cap-
tain agreeing to take his craft to Novo Arkhangelsk.
Both vessels arrived safely, and in time to prevent any
serious suffering among the colonists. A few months
later the stock of provisions was further increased by
the cargo of the Rurik, which was sent to the Sand-
wich Islands with the crew of the Arab, after calling
at California ports during the voyage, and returned
with a moderate supply."

As in this instance, the colonies had frequently been
relieved from want by trade with foreigners; and in-
deed, this was too often the only means of averting
starvation. Even between 1818 and 1822, wl iji>-
plies were comparatively abundant, goods, consistliig
mainly of provisions, were obtained by traffic with
American and English masters to the value of more

* He paid also 5,000 piastres in cash, and secured altogether 1,000 fanegas.
The entire crop in California for 1823 was only 50,000 fanegas. See llUl,
Cal., ii. 493, this series.

'"The brie; was renamed the Baikal. Tikhmenef, lator. Ohos,, i. 338,
claims that the company realized a large profit on this transaction, but \na
explanation of the matter is somewhat vague.

"Tlie goods purchased in the Sandwich Islands were 1,000 lbs. of salt,
1,270 lbs. of biscuit, 500 lbs. of sperm candles, 217 gals, of rum, 1.33 gals. o(
brandy, 39 kegs of cocoanuts, anii 18 kegs of tar, for which were civcn in ex-
change 2,000 fur-seal skins an<l 303 Spanish piastres. KMebnikof, Z»]ti--<li in
Mattrialiu, 85. In 1825 fur-seal skins were bartered in the Sandwicli Isl-
ands by the captain of one of the company's ships on the basis uf $l.7''> p«r
skin. Id., 88. This seems an extravagcnt price, wlien, as will Ijo rciiiLiii-
bered, the price at Kiakhta was only 5 to 7 roubles in scrip ($1 to §1.40); l>ut
it was the usual rate at whicii furs were exchanged at Novo Arkhuu'.;vUk
with American and English ski[)per8. See Id., 75-0, where a list is givcu of
goods exohauged in trade with foreigners between 1818 and 1822.

CHISTIAKOF SUCCEEDS MOURAVIEP.

639

than three hundred thousand roubles in scrip." The
supplies shipped by the company were never more
than sufficient for the actual needs of the settlements,
and if a ship were lost, her cargo was seldom replaced.
The Aleuts were, of course, the principal sufferers,
often perishing during their hunting expeditions from
hunger and exposure. But what mattered the lives of
the Aleuts ? It were better that hundreds of them
should perish for lack of food than that the share-
holders should suffer from want of dividends.

The governor's appeal was, however, too urgent to
be neglected, and, on the 31st of July, 1824, the Elena
sailed from Kronstadt with a cargo of supplies, arriv-
ing at Novo Arkhangelsk a year later.'' The ship
was again placed in charge of Lieutenant Chistiakof,"
who was directed to relieve Mouravief, the latter re-
turning home on board the same vessel."

It is probable that the only reason for Mouravief's
recall was some slight disobedience of orders, coupled
with the failure of the hunting expeditions sent out by
his direction. About the close of the year 1822 the
Russian sloop of war Apollon had arrived at Novo
Arkhangelsk, with instructions that all trade with
foreigners should cease, and for two years the inter-
dict remained in force,'* Willing as he was to obey

" The paper rouble, worLn at this time about 20 cents, though its value
was of course fluctuating, is always the one spoken of in this volume, unless
the silver rouble (worth about 75 cents) is specified.

"The Elena returned to the colonies in 1828, with a cargo worth 600,000
roubles. Among those on board was the Creole Koshcvarof. Wo again hear
of this vessel at Novo Arkhangelsk in 1830, on which occasion she brought
out Lieutenant Moshin and Master Khalizof. In August of the following
year tlie Nikolai was despatched from Kronstadt. Among her passengers
was the creolo Arkhiniundritof. Tikhmentf, Istor. Ohos. , i. 347-r>0. Kashev-
ai'of and Arkhimandritof had been educated at the company's expense, tlie
latter at tho imperial school of navigation, and both afterward did good ser-
vice as navigators, and the former as an explorer.

"In tho instructions given to Chistiakof, it was stated that the frigate
Kreitmer and the sloop-of-wor Ladotja had been sent to the colonies to pvcvcut
all foreign traile which might bo injurious to tho colonies, especially that of
excluuiging fire-arms and munitions of war with the natives in return for
peltry. Id., 331M0.

'^ With a cargo of furs valued at 150,000 roubles, and 10,000 pouds of sugar
purchased in Brazil. Id. , 340.

" When it was removed, in 1824, the company was relieved from ita obli>

840 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

even this ill-advised order, he was sometimes compelled
to enter into transactions that were necessary to the
very existence of the Ross colony, to which he must
now look for supplies in case of need.*' Of sea-otter,
the catch during the four years of Mouraviefs ad-
ministration was little more than fifteen hundred
skins" — a grievous contrast with the condition of this
industry iu the days of Baranof, who, it is related,
could estimate, almost exactly, the number of furs
which could be collected in each section of his hunt-
ing grounds.**

Not satisfied with prohibiting foreign trade, the
Russian government issued an order forbidding the
approach of any foreign vessel within thirty leagues
of the coast. In 1822 the sloops-of-war Kreisser and
Ladoga arrived in the colonies from St Petersburg,
having been sent out to enforce the provisions of the
oukaz, and remained in colonial waters for two years.-''

gation to furniah provisions in its own vessels for Petropavlovsk and Okhotsk.
JJok. Com. Uiixs. Amer. Kot., i. 35.

" About this period trade with California became very considerable.
Fiom the company's books we find that between 1817 and 1825 eleven vessels
visited San Francisco, Santa Ciniz, and Monterey, exchanging furs for pi-ovi-
sious.

"The catch for each year between 1818 and 1825 is given in Khlehnikof,
Zapiaki in Malerialui, 7.3.

"In 1829 the catch liad become so small that little hunting was allowed,
and payment was made to tlie captains of trading vessels in bills of excliange
instead of furs. Tikhmenef, hlor. Obos., i. Ml.

*' A second voyage round the world was made by Otto von Kotzebue dur-
ing the years 1823-1826. A new ship, the Predpriatie (Enterprise), carrying
24 guns, was fitted out tor this undertaking. There were on board tlic nat-
uralists Eschscholtz and Lenz, the astronomer Preus, and the mineralogist IIulT-
man. Kolzehtie'x Neiv Voy. round World, i. in trod. The commander received
general instructions to protect thu interests of the Russian American Cum-
pany. He sailed from nt Petersburg on tl«e 2Sth of July. 1823, and after .i
prolonged sojourn at Rio Janeiro, and a quiuk trip around Cape Horn, ]iut
into Concepcion Bay, Chile, wliich country had b-^come republican sinee liis
last visit. Owing to intrigues between the different parties, lie was not so well
received as on the former occasion. In hie journal ho asserted that a ])lot li.ul
been fiirnicd to capture him and bin olfieei-s, and tliat two Chilian ineii-ofwiir
attempted to prevent the sailing of the Pndpr.atie, whicli vessel next visited
the Sandwich Islands, and the groups in the Caroline Archipcla'^o discovered
during the voyage of the Itnrik. The expedition finally reached Petromvlovsk
and Kamchatka on the 6th of June, 1824, and sailed for Novo Arkliini','c!:'k
on the 1 0th of August. Thence Kotzebuc again proceeded to the Namlwioli
Islands and the coast of California, where he greatly increased the diHioiil.ies
then arising between the Russian and C'aliforuian authorities in regard to llio
continued occupation of the Ross colony. Iu his report upon the inattci, liu

iluv-
rving
ho luit-

gtIlol^

ccivi'fl
,11 Ci'iii-

aftor a

n, put

incu liis

KO Will

plot li;ul
visited

,COVlT0(1

■ijivliivsk
„n,,;,''.;'k

tVioal.i'-'S
attei-, Ufl

A DIPLOMATIC CLOUD.

The shareholders soon began to see the folly of
their senseless agitation against traffic with foreign-
ers; receipts fell ofi' to an alarming extent, and it be-
came evident that something must be done to avert
the dissolution of the company. At a general meeting,
one of the directors, named Prokofief, laid before them
the report of Mouravief in relation to the evil effects
of the imperial order, and stated that a famine would
have ensued in all the colonies if the governor had
obeyed the spirit as well as the letter of his instruc-
tions. He pointed out to them how much Baranof
owed to his unfettered intercourse with foreign traders
in developing the resources of the colonies. He also
showed them the enormous expense of expeditions
sent direct fVom Kronstadt, and the advantage of pur-
chasing goods from foreign skippers who came to
the company's ports at their own risk and expense.
His appeal was successful, and a resolution was adopted
by the assembly petitioning the government to reopen
to foreign vessels the port of Novo Arkhangelsk.
The request was granted, and the consequence was that
under Chietiakof s management there was a great im-
provement in the company's affairs.

While the company's business was thus progressing
satisfactorily, a cloud arose in the diplomatic horizon,
which at one time threatened the very existence of
the colonies. As soon as the arbitrary measure of
Russia became known to English and American north-
west traders, protestations and complaints were for-
warded to their respective governments. The matter
was discussed with some heat in the United States
congress, causing voluminous diplomatic correspond-
once. In the mean time some traffic was carried on
under protest, and the matter was finally settled by
the Anglo-Russian and Russo- American treaties of
1824 and 1825, when the eastern and southern

tided clearly with the Californian authorities and against the company. He
rotumed to Novo Arkliongolak on tlie '23d of February, 1825, and sailed on
hia homeward voyage in the autuuin of the following year.

* PI

842 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

boundaries were then established as they remain to
the present day, the limit of Russia's territory being
fixed at latitude 54° 40'. The clause relating to the
boundary between the Portland Canal and Mount St
Elias furnishes an instance of the absurdity of legis-
lation by diplomates in regard to regions of which
they were entirely ignorant. At some time in the
future this work will have to be undone, and another
line agreed upon, as it is impossible to follow in real-
ity the wording of the treaty."

The convention between the Russian and English
governments was concluded in February 1825. The
commissioners on the part of Russia were the same

" I inaert here an extract from the treaty with the United States of the
I7th of April, 1824, as published by the Russian government: 'I. Withmutuul
consent, it is hereby established that in all parts of the great ocean commonly
known as the Pacific Oeean, or its adjoining seas to the south, the citizens aud
subjects of the high contracting powers may engage freely and witliout oppo-
sition in navigation or fishing, and enjoy the right to establish themselves on
the coasts of such regions as are not already occupied for the purpose of trad-
ing with the natives, subject to the rules and regulations mentioned in subse-
quent clauses. II. In order to prevent such privileges from serving as a
pretext for engaging in illegitimate traffic, it is agreed that the citizeiia
of the United States cannot land at places where Russian settlements arc
located, without the permission of the local agent or commander, and that
in tlie same manner Russian subjects cannot land without permission in tliu
settlements of the United States on the north-west coast. III. It is also
agreed that from this timo forth citizens of the United States, or persons under
protection of those states, will establish no settlements on the north-west cuast
of America, or any of the adjoining islands north of latitude 54° 40' N. , and that
Russian subjects will establish no settlements to the south of the same parallel.
IV. It is provided, however, that for a period of ten years, to commence from
the signing of this treaty, the ships of both powers, or the subjects lielouging
to either, aliall be allowed to enter without restriction all interior waters, bays,
coves, and harbors of either country, for the purpose of fishing and trading
with the native inhabitants of the country. V. From the trade permitted in
tlie preceding paragraphs are excepted all spirituous liquors, fire and siii^U
arms, powder, and munitions of 'var of all kinds, which both contracting powers
agree not to sell or to allow their citizens or subjects to sell to the native inhab-
itants. It is also agreed that this prohibition shall not serve as a pretext for
searching vessels or detaining them, or for the seizure of goods, or for violent
measures against the commanders or crews of the vessels engaged in such
traffic, since the high contracting powers reserve to themselves the right of
meting out punishments or imposing fines for infraction of this article on their
respective citizens ahd subjects. VI, As soon as this treaty is ratified in due
form, on the one hand by his Majesty the emperor of all the Russias, and on
the other by the presidentof the United Stateswith consentof the senate, the
ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within ten months of the ilate
hereto subscribed, or sooner if possible, in confirmation of which the respective
plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures and their respective seals and
stamps. St Petersburg, April ijth (17th), in the year 1824, after the birth of
Christ, 1824.' Tikhmet^f, lator. Oboa., i. app. 62-3.

TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

as those who concluded the American treaty, while
Great Britain was represented by Lord Stratford
Canning, a privy councillor. The third article con-
tains the boundary clause which was subsequently
inserted in the Russo- American treaty at the cession
of Alaska, and is thus worded: "The boundary line
between the possessions of the high contracting pow-
ers on the coast of the mainland and the islands of
north-western America is established as follows : be-
ginning at the southernmost point of the islands
named Prince of Wales, which point is situated in
latitude 54° 40' n. and between the 131st and 133d
degrees of western longitude, the line extends north
along a sound known as Portland Canal, to a point
on the mainland where it crosses the 56th degree of
north latitude. Hence the boundary line follows the
chain of mountains running parallel with the coast to
the point of intersection with the 141st degree of
longitude west from Greenwich, and finally from this
point of intersection on the same meridian to the
Arctic Sea, forming the boundary between the Rus-
sian and British possessions on the mainland of north-
western America.""

''The first and second articles are substantially the same as in the treaty with
the United States. The fourth article stipulates that, ' with regard to the boun-
dary lines established in the preceding article, it is understood that the island
nnmod Prince of Wales belongs entirely to Russia, and that whenever the sum-
mits of the mountains running parallel with the coast from 56° of M. lat. to the
poiut of intersection with the 14l8t meridian shall be more than ten leagues from
the shore, the boundary line of the British possessions shall run parallel with
the coast line at a distance not greater than ten leagues, the land between
such line and the coast to belong to Russia.' Article v. provides that tlie con-
tracting powers must not establish settlements within each other's territory.
Article vi. stipulates that the subjects of Great Britain shall be forever at
liberty to pass to and from the ocean by way of rivers and streams emptying
into the Pacific Ocean and cutting through the coast strip in Russian jrasscs-
Bion described above. Article vii. provides for free navigation and right of
fislicry l)y the subjects of both powers for ten years in the harbors, bays, and
channels. Clause viii. provides that the port of Novo Arkhangelsk shall be
oimn to the trade and to the ships of British subjects for ten years counting
from the day of ratification, and tliat if any other power should obtain this
privilege for a longer period, the time shall be extended to Great Britain.
Article ix. provides that the free trade granted in previous paragraphs shall
not extend to spirituous liquors, powder or other munitions of war, which
shall not be sold to any of the native inhabitants. By article x. Russian and
British ships were permitted to enter any harbor in distrsss or for repairs,

544 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

It was further provided in these conventions that
citizens of the United States and subjects of Great
Biitain should have the right of free navigation, fish-
ery, and trade in the Alaskan waters for a period of
ten years, but that the trading-posts of either con-
tracting power could not be visited by subjects or
citizens of the other without the consent of the officer
in command; that at the end of ten years this right
might be abrogated by Russia; that in the mean while
arms, amnmnition, and spirituous liquors were in no
case to be sold to the natives, and that British sub-
jects should always have the privilege of passing to
and fro on rivers and streams flowing into the Pacific
and cutting the strip of coast already described.

The news of these treaties, which was not received
until after Chistiakof had taken command, aroused
a storm of remonstrance on the part of the Russian
American Company. The imperial government was
besieged with petitions to abrogate the clauses grant-
ing free trade and navigation to Americans and Eng-
lishmen for a period of ten years. It was represented
as a most flagrant violation of the rights granted by
the imperial government, the result of which wouM
inevitably be the dissolution of the company. The
most active promoter of this agitation was Admiral
N. P. Mordvinof, a shareholder of the company,
who, in a letter to the minister for foreign affairs, de-
fended the sanctity of the company's privileges, point-
ing out that the vague wording of some of the treaty
clauses would lead to many misunderstandings. Dui-
ing the lifetime of Alexander, no attention was paid to
these complaints; but after Nicholas had ascended the
throne, negotiations were inaugurated with the Brit-
ish and United States governments for an abolition

provisions, or material, without payment of duty or port charges, but if the
captain of such vessel was obliged to sell a portion of his cargo to cover tlie
expenses incurred, ho was to conform to local regulations of trade. Clausu xi.
provides that in case of any complaint of the violation of this treaty, the civil
and military authorities of either contracting power should not be allowcil to
resort to arbitrary or forcible measures, but that the matter must be referred
to tho respective courts at St Petersburg and St James's. Id,, 04-6.

EXPEDITION TO THE KURILE ISLANDS.

64«

of the treaty. The first proposals met with a firm
refusal in both countries, but to appease the share-
holders a supplementary oukaz was issued, stating
that the privileges of navigation and trade extended
to foreigners would be confined to the strip of coast
between the British possessions and the Hist merid-
ian. The standpoint of Russia on this question was
communicated to all the representatives of that nation
abroad, and as the north-west trade was then in its
decline, no further complications ensued, and no at-
tempt was ever made to apply the provisions of the
convention to the islands and coasts of western
A) aka.

Povorothoj

-" : r^MAVAMUKOTAN'

VeTOI. (
t/MAHIKAN

KuRiLE Islands.

While the directors of the company were loud in
their remonstrance against foreign encroachment, they
did not hesitate themselves to establish settlements
in regions to which they had no valid claim, A com-
mittee established by the company at Petropavlovsk
in November 1830 ordered that an expedition be sent
to the Kurile Islands. A settlement on Ourupa Isl-
and, abandoned in 1805, had been rebuilt in 1828, and
during that and the following year furs to the value
of eight hundred thousand roubles had been obtained.
In 1830 a ship was despatched from Novo Arkha -
gelsk with a party of hunters, well supplied with p. -
visions and material, to form a colony on Simusir Isl-

HWT. AI.AIKA. 86 .,.-'■■

'it

6M THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

and. The natives were not numerous, numbering in
1812 only sixty-seven souls for the entire group, and
the Russians found no difficulty in annexing their ter-
ritory to the possessions of the company .**

During the second term of the Russian American
Company's existence, several important expeditions
were undertaken. Within the colonies, explorations
were continued by Mouravief, the principal one being
under command of Khramchenko, Etholen, and Master
Vassilaief, who sailed from Novo Arkhangelsk in tlio
brig Golovnin and the schooner Baranof, in Juno
1822, and remained absent for two years. A detailed
survey was made on this occasion of the coasts from
Bristol Bay westward to the mouth of the Kuskok-
vim. Norton Sound was also explored along its east-
ern and northern coast, the deep identation on the
north shore being named Golovnin. Many promi-
nent points were definitely located with the help of
astronomical observations, but the coast between
Stuart Island and the Kuskokvim was again neglect-
ed, as it had been by all previous explorers. To this
expedition we owe the only charts now existing of
the coast between Bristol Bay and Cape Newenham."*

In 1826 the Russian government despatched an
xploring expedition in command of Captain Liitkc,

ho arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk in June of the
ibllowing year.*" After remaining in port fur a

** Before the annexaticn of the Kurile Islands each native paid an annual
tribute of 41 sea-otter, 23 fox skins, and 74 kopeks in money.

** From the reports intheSi^ia Archivts, it appears that Khramchenko
and Vassilaief were always qnarrelling, Rtholen serving as arbitrator. It is
perhaps owing to this circumstance that Etholen 's name alone appears on the
charts compiled during the progress of tlie explorations, though the work of
surveying was accompTished almost exclusively by his colleagues. Wc find
several capes named Etholen, and also one strait between Unalaska Islaml ami
the mainland. The name of Vassilaief, M'ho subsequently did much gond
work in inland exploration, does not appear on anv map or chart except in
connection with a submerged rock in Kadiak Harbor, upon which the mari-
ner's craft happened to stnke. Sitka Archives (log-book), ix.

''In the ifaUrialui, Islor. Rusa., part iv. 133-41, is a description, by the
captain, of Novo Arkhangelsk, its inhabitants, and their mode of life at the
time of his visit.

n^
P

IK
th

Is,

th«

pec

the

Caj

tani

visii

the

to tJ

Vass

of t

Kadi,

reacl)(

seJecti

or th]

«truct(

theKl

back

hshmc

deterr

l?overr

J^ortoi

coverej
Vivi

Sound I
river bj
P^ishni^
Ini)
Ward

•"'nute surl

fcientists]
^^^<i repol

1 annual

Bnchenko

5 on Uie
•work of
\Vc fiiw*
Iftutl awl
ch gt"^**
except in
the marl-

lifoattha

EXPLORATIONa '" ' " <M|

month, the captain proceeded to Unalaska and the
Prybilof Islands, making also a careful survey of the
northern coast of the Alaska peninsula, naming
the various points, and finally visiting St Matthew
Island and Petropavlovsk before proceeding south for
the winter.*" Two other vessels belonging to the ex-
pedition, the Kroth/ &nd the il/oWer, sailed in 1828,
the former commanded by Hagemeister, the latter by
Captain Staniukovich. Both officers made impor-
tant surveys of the coasts of Bering Sea, which was
visited about the same time by Captain Beechey in
the ship Blossom.

In 1829 Chistiakof ordered an inland exploration
to the north of the Nushagak River, in charge of
Vassilaief, the Creole Alexander Kolmakof being one
of the party. The expedition was organized on
Kadiak Island, and crossing the peninsula ascended
the Nushagak to the region of the lakes, and thence
reached the Kuskokvim. Kolmakof on this occasion
selected the site for a trading-post, built by him two
or three years later; and in 1841 a redoubt was con-
structed and named after him, near the junction of
the Kvigin and Kuskokvim rivers. The furs brought
back were fox and sable of fine quality, and the estab-
lishment of a permanent station m the interior was
determined. On his return, Vassilaief laid before the
governor a plan for establishing communication with
Norton Sound by way of the route which he had dis-
covered. On the Kuskokvim he had met with natives
living on the lower Yukon and the shores of Norton
Sound who assured him that the transit from one
river basin to the other was short and easy of accom-
plishment.

In 1830 the brig Chichagof waa despatched north-
ward in charge of midshipman Etholen, with instruc-

*' During this cruise, Lfltke named port MoUer on the Alaska peninsula,
port ilaiden, Cape Seniavin, and Hagemeister Inland. He also made a
minute survey of the vicinity of Cape Chukotsk on the coast of Asia. The
scientists Kitlitz, Postels, and Mertens sailed in the SetiiaviTi. All ttiree pub-
lialied reports of their investigations.

' ii!

S48 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

tions to explore Norton Sound and proceed thence to
Bering Strait, touching at St Lawrence, Asiak, and
Ookivok islands. Ookivok the midshipman found to
be an entirely barren island; and "one wonders," he
writes in his report, "how people could ever settle
upon it, but the countless nuniber of walrus around
its shores soon solves the r'ddle. The savages who
hunt these animals receive in exchange from the in-
habitants of the mainland all the necessaries of life,
and gain their subsistence easily." At St Lawrence
Etholen found five native villages, the inhabitants of
which also lived chiefly by hunting walrus. On his
return to Novo Arkhangelsk, he reported that it would
be beneficial to the company's trade to establish a fort
on or near Stuart Island at the entrance of Norton
Sound.'''

On the arrival in the colonies of Baron Ferdinand P.
von Wrangell, who was appointed Chistiakof s succes-
sor,^ explorations were made on a larger scale. After
examining the reports of Vassilaief's and Etholeii's
expeditions, Wrargell came to the conclusion that com-
munication between Bering Bay and Norton Sound
could be established overland. For this purpose he
ordered Lieutenant Tebenkof to proceed to the latter
point in the sloop Ourupa. Tebenkof erected a forti-
fication with the consent of the natives, who promised
to trade with the Russians, and gave to the settlement
and to the island on which it was founded the name
of Mikhaielovsk.^ When the necessary buildings had

«' Tikhmen^, Istor. Obot., i. 28.3-5. In laSl and 1837 careful explorations
were also maJa ut the Alaska peninsula and the adjacent islands.

*" Though Chistiakof had given complete satisfaction to the managers, they
resolved to relieve him at the end of his term and appoint a man of scientific
attainments, and one higher in social and oi&cial rank. From the beginning
of his administration, Chistiakof had endeavored to persuade the managers
that their interests would be served by removing the seat of authority frowi
Novo Arkhangelsk to St Paul. So repeated and urgent were his ropreseutn-
tions, that the assembly of sliareholders fmally passed a resolution autliori/ing
the change. Before the removal could be eiieoted, however, Chistiukuf ^va^
relieved, and the project obandoned.

'*It narrowly escaped destruction in 183C from an attack of the natives,
an account of which is given in Zago»kin, Pea/w.khodnaia 0pm Chaufi/ JlU'^i-
Vlad. vAmer., part i. 28-0; and Tikhmen^, Ulor. Obos., L 287-8. According

WRANGELL'S RULE.

nee to
k, and
undto
rs," he
• settle
around
res who
'the in-
i of life,
,awrence

itants of
On his
tit would
Lishafort
f Korton

dinand P-

,f 8 succes-

de. After

Etholeu s

thatcom-

on Sound

urpose h«

the latter

ted a forti-

o promised

settlement

the name
ildings had

ef ul explorations

tde the mana!;i»
l{ authority from
U hia rnprese".*"'
Pionauthori^"g

U of the native'.
t>pi.s Ghaxtn />[»*•
287-8. Accorilmg

been completed preparations were begun for the in-
land explorations included in the governor's instruc-
tions.

A native of the colonies, a creole named Andrei
Glazanof, who had been instructed in the use of astro-
nomical instruments, and was familiar with various
dialects of the Innuit language, was selected to take
charge of the expedition.-^ The plan first adopted
was to proceed to the mouth of the river Pastol,
making the portage across a low divide to the Yukon;
but rumors being heard of hostile intent on the part
of the natives in that region, it was found impossible
to secure a guide. Three natives were therefore se-
cured to guide the party to the banks of the Yukon iu
a north-easterly direction, and on the 30th of Decem-
ber, 1833, the explorers left the road with two sleds,
each drawn by five dogs, and a small quantity of pro-
visions and trading goods, the men carrying their own
guns, knapsacks, and clothing. They travelled on the
ice, following the coast in a northerly direction until
reaching the village of Kigikhtowik, whence on the
following day they struck eastward. After crossing
several ranges of hills with great difficulty, Glazanof
arrived on the banks of the Anvik. His progress was
much impeded by the condition of the ice on the
rivers, and within two weeks his provisions were ex-
hausted. In the hope of finding natives, his party
proceeded up the Anvik into the mountains, but
finding it impossible to reach their hunting-grounds,
was forced to return, subsisting on a small quantity of

to tlie foiTOer authority, the settlement contained, about the year 1843, a bar-
tuck, a house for the managing agent, two magazines, a shed, bath-house, and
kitchen, all occupying a space of 20 fathoms square, enclosed with a stockade
15 feet high, and protected by two block-houses, mounted with six three-
poundcrs. Outside the stockade wan a blacksmith's shop, a house for native
visitors, and u chapel.

'" He was accompanied by four volunteei-s, Vassili Donskoi, Vaasili Dersha-
bin, Ivan Balachcf, and Ja'ob Knagge. Donskoi died from the effect of in-
juries receiTed during the journey. Dershabin and Balachef remained in
tlie company's service; the former was finally killed in the Nulato massacre,
together with Lieutenant Barnard of the English navy, while Balachef served
at the stations on Cook Inlet, where his chUdreu ore atill living. Wrangell,
Statul. uiui Ethnog., 13S-9.

p "«ji

Hiii

550 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

frozen fish taken from the Indian caches. On the
17th of January the explorers stumbled on a subter-
ranean dwelling occupied by a native couple and their
three children. Here they were treated to an ample
meal of rotten fish, and found an opportunity to mend
their broken sleds and snow-shoes.

A week later Glazanof and his men, now completely
exhausted, arrived at the mouth of the Anvik, where
they found a native village, the inhabitants of which,
at the first sight of the Kussians, began to prepare
for defence, but a messenger being sent forward un-
armed, succeeded in persuading them as to Glazanof s
peaceable intentions, whereupon a cordial invitation
was extended to the way-worn travellers to rest and
recuperate their strength. One of the subterranean
dwellings was vacated by its occupants tu accommo-
date the guests, and after taking due precautions,
Glazanof proceeded to the kashim, or council- house,
a large structure containing several hundred people.
He addressed the multitude, and less by his eloquence
probably than by a judicious distribution of tobacco,
succeeded in gaining their friendship. Presents of
fish blubber, bear meat, and other food were laid be-
fore him, and he was told that if he had other wants
they should be at once supplied. Here the party re-
mained for some time, in friendly intercourse with the
natives, and finally proceeded down the Yukon, as
their new friends dissuaded them from attempting the
portage route to the Kuskokvim."

The subsequent explorations of Glazanof and his
party were confined to the delta of the Yukon, the
dense population of which astonished the Russians.
His diary, which has been preserved, is full of the
most minute observations of the topography and eth-
nology of this region, which modern investigations

" Glazanof questioned two natives who arrived during hio presence at An-
nk from tlie Ciiageluk River, and obtained from tliem a description of the
country between the two rivers. These men evidently described the longest
portage route, without mentioning anotlier by which commuoictiou vau be
eCTected in two days with the greatest ease. Id., 148-9.

1^1

.5. Ivi

DNS.

On the
a subter-
ind their
an ample
J to mend

ompletely
ak, where
of which,
o prepare
irward un-
Glazanofs
invitation

bo rest and
ibterranean
, accommo-
)recautions,
iincilhouse,
red people,
is eloquence
of tooacco,
Presents of
ere laid be-
other wants
he party re-
rse with the
Yukon, as
,empting the

anof and his
Yukon, the
he Russians.
9 full ot the
iphy and eth-
^nvestigatious

hio presence at M^
, description of the
Ucribei the longer
,mmuniotion oan ba

GLAZANOF ON THE YUKON.

651

prove to be remarkably accurate. At one mouth
of the Yukon, named the Kashunok, he met with
two natives from the Kuskokvim, who had been bap-
tized by Kolmakof in the year 1832. They de-
scribed the ceremony to the other natives, who were
so much pleased with it that they requested Glazanof
to baptize them also; but he declared that he had no
authority to do so. A large number of these Indians
agreed to accompany the Russians on their return to
Mikhaielovsk, on condition that the guides who had

Plan of Expedition.

accompanied them thus far be left as hostages; but
having acquired a good hold on the people, Glazanof re-
solved to push on to the Kuskokvim, which he reached
on the 19th of February. Here he was met by a
party of natives returning to their homes from the
Yukon. They told him that they had intended to
visit Kolmakof, but that he had returned to the Nush-
agak, leaving behind his interpreter Lukin. On the
following day the expedition proceeded up the Kus-

Ilji
M4

■'^■•ii.;*.,.
vwtf

062 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

kokvim, and on the 21st arrived at the village called
Kvigym Painagmute, where they found Lukin in a
log house built by Kalmakof. Glazanof was now in-
formed of a portage route along a tributary of the
Kuskokvim, from which it was possible in one day to
reach a stream emptying into Cook Inlet, but he tried
in vain to obtain guides to lead him in that direction.
The natives assured him that several parties of their
countrymen had been killed by the inhabitants of the
intervening mountains, and Lukin conjfirmed these
sensational reports, stating that he himself had failed
in a similar attempt. Glazanof then resolved to pro-
ceed alone, but being unacquainted with the country
and having lost his compass, shaped his course too
much to the north, and found himself involved in a
network of lakes and streams without provisions, and
in a country destitute of animal life at that season
of year. His men were reduced to the most cruel
straits, and obliged to eat their dog-harness, boots,
and seal-skin provision bags. Finally, after wander-
ing about until the 19th of March, they once more
found themselves upon the banks of the Kuskokvim,
and soon afterward met Lukin, who had returned from
a journey into the mountains. Accompanied by him,
and several friendly natives who furnished them with
ample supplies, Glazanofs men at last regained the
banks of the Yukon, and thence crossed over to the
Mikhaielovsk settlement."

In 1838, after Wrangell had been relieved from of-
fice, an expedition was fitted out by the Russian Amer-
ican Company to explore the arctic coast of America
eastward from Kotzebue Sound. A Creole named
Alexander Kashevarof, a native of Kadiak, who was
thoroughly conversant with various Innuit dialects,
was appointed to command the force, the party, which
was composed mainly of Creoles and Aleuts, being

" The time occupied by Glazanof in tliis remarkable journey was 104 days,
and according *o his calculation the distance traversed was 1,500 miles. Jd;
102-00.

MALAKHOF AND SAGOSKIN.

888

taken northward on the brig Polyfem. The skipper,
wlio was a Russian, Chernof by name,"' was instructed
to pass through Bering Strait, to proceed thence north-
eastward as far as possible, and to land Kashevarof
with one bidar and five three-hatch bidarkas at the
furthermost point reached by the vessel. The Eskimos
living on the coast opposed Kashevarof's progress, and
as he advanced slowly chrough the shallow sea wash-
ing the arctic shore, hostile bands began to gather in
rapidly increasing numbers, until, when still a hun-
dred miles west of Cape Beechey, the creole found
himself compelled to turn back before an armed body
outnumbering the explorers twenty to one. On his
return journey, he was attacked at various times,
but finally regained Norton Sound, where he found
Chernof awaiting him.

In the same year, Malakhof ascended the Yukon
River as far as the present site of Nulato, where he
built a small block-house. In want of provisions,
and with only two men, he was obliged temporarily
to abandon the building and repair to Mikhaielovsk
for supplies. During his absence the Indians living
in the neighborhood burned the building.

In 1842 Lieutenant Zagoskin of the imperial navy
set forth for Norton Sound and Mikhaielovsk, purpos-
ing to make an inland exploration of the northern
territory. His work was confined chiefly to the mid-
dle course of the Kuskokvim, and the lower course
and northern tributaries of the Yukon, especially the
Koyukuk, which he followed to its head waters and to
the divide which separates it from the streams running
into Kotzebue Sound. At Nulato he was assisted by
Durzhavin in building a new fort. Zagoskin's ex-
ploration was performed conscientiously and well.
Wherever we find mistakes, we may ascribe them to
his imperfect instruments and to local obstacles. He
gathered most valuable trading statistics for the com-

" The sons of Chernof are now living on Afognak Island, engaged as ship-
builders and oavigators, and iu conifortuble circumstances.

654 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

pany, and ingratiated himself with all the tribes with
which he came in contact. His expedition was not
completed until 1844, when he returned to Russia to
superintend the publication of his notes.**

It had been Wrangell's desire to explore the arctic
coast of the Russian possessions, but complications
constantly arising with the Mexican authorities in
California required his personal attention. Figueroa,
then governor of California, had addressed to him
several letters, demanding the abandonment of the
Ross settlement. The latter always had the excuse
that he was not authorized to treat on so weighty a
subject; but when the end of his teim was approach-
ing, he received news of Figueroa's death, and resolved
to proceed homeward by way of Mexico, in order to
negotiate with the authorities at the capital of the new
republic, visiting on his way the Ross settlement. In
the harbor of San Bias he met with the company's ship
Sitka, having on board his successor, Captain Kupri-
anof. To him he surrendered his office, and soon after-
ward proceeded to Mexico. His negotiations with
the Mexican government on behalf of the Ross colony
and their failure are related in connection with my
History of California.^

'* An account of this expedition will be found in Peahekhodnaia 0pm
Chasty Puaskikh Vladaniy v A merika. Lieutenant A Zcujoskin v 1S43, 1S//3 i
1844 godakh, or Explorations on Foot of Parts of the Russian Pos^fssions i/i
America, by Lieutenant A Zatjoskin 1842-4 (in two parts, St Petersburg, 1847).
This work is a very complete description of the journeys undertaken by
Lieutenant Zagoskin of the imperial navy in the service of the llussiaii
American Company, between 1842 and 1844. The field of his operations
includes the territory north and east of Norton Sound and drained by the
Yukon and Kuskokvim. The entries of Zagoakin's journal are given for tlio
most part in full, with astronomical observations, etc., interspersed occasion-
ally with historical sketches of various localities, and finishing with a ruview
of all the native tribes which came witliin his observation, and very com-
plete vocabularies of their respective languages. An excellent chart is
appended to the work.

•* Vol. iv., cap. vi. The Statistische und Ethnographischf naehrichfen iibtr
die Russischen Be^itzungen, or StiUistical and Ethnographieal Statements eon-
ceming tht Rusxian Poasessiout, collected by Baron Wrangell, and edited by
E. K. von Baer, appeared in ISViQ as the first volume of a series publiHlicd l)y
the imperial academy of sciences at St Petersburg, under the title of Beitidge
xur Kenntnisa de» Rutuiachen Reichee, or Contributions to the Knowledge of iht

ihi

abs

the

noti

min

tha

able

Wit

ure

vessi

rernl

«stai

kaua \l
feotioil
'"■guid

AJeiitsf
editor.!

TROUBLE WITH THE ENGLISH COMPANY.

655

vitb

not

La to

irctic
btions
les in
iieroa,
3 liim
of the
excuse
ghty 'A
jroacA-
esolvecl
•rder to
tbe new
ent. In
ay's ship
1 Knpri-
on after-
jns with
3s colony
with my

odnaia Opif,
184:3, W-K'

rsburg, iS-i'l;

idertakcn Dy

the Itossia"

nia operations

Trained ,^yS
[ Kiven for the
ricd occasion-
^itharovie*
md very com-
sUent ciiart w

Mchrichten itbtr

fand e.U e.\ jy
l8Publi8U"'i''y

During Wrangell's administration a serious dispute
arose with the Hudson's Bay Company, which was then
extending its operations over the whole north-west,
estabhshing forts at every available point on river and
sea-coast, and which a few years later entirely outbid the
Russian American Company in the trade of the Alex-
ander Archipelago. Taking advantage of the clause
in the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825, providing for
the free navigation of streams crossing Russian terri-
tory in their course from the British possessions to
the sea, the English company had pushed forward its
trading-posts to the upper course of the Stikeen,
and in 1833 fitted out the brig D)v/ad for the purpose
of establishing a permanent station on that river.
Information of this design had been conveyed to
Wrangell during the preceding year, and he at once
notified the managers at St Petersburg, asking
them to induce the imperial government to rescind
the clause under which the Hudson's Bay Company
intended to encroach on Russian territory. As a
further motive for this request, he reported that
the English company had violated the agreement to
abstain from selling fire-arms and spirituous liquor to
the natives. The emperor granted the petition, and
the British and United States governments were duly
notified of the fact. Both protested through their
ministers at St Petersburg, but in vain; the reply of
the Russian foreign office being that the objection-
able clause would terminate in the following year.
Without waiting to be informed of the success or fail-
ure of his application, Wrangell despatched two armed
vessels, under command of Lieutenant Dionysi Za-
rembo, to the mouth of the Stikeen. Here the latter
established a fortified station on a small peninsula,

Jitmian Empire. In the preface the question is discussed whether the Alas-
kans w«re benefited or otherwise by the Russian occupation. The first three
Bections contain vaUiable statistical and historical information. Then folio w
hi.guistic studies by Wrangell and Kostromitinof, the journal of skipper
Glaznuof, the exploration of the Copper River, and tlie characteristics of tlie
Aleuts, the last being by Veniamiuof, and miacellaaeous remarks by the
editor.

I Pi

^ m

M6 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

the neck of which was flooded at high water, and
named the fort St Dionysi,*

Tiiese warlike preparations remained unknown to
the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company, and when
the Dnjad approached the mouth of the Stikeen, the
men crowding her deck were surprised by a puff of
white smoke and a loud report from the densely
wooded shore, followed by several shots from a ves-
sel in the offing. The brig was at once put about,
but anchored just out of range, whereupon a boat
was sent from shore carrying Lieutenant Zarembo, who,
in the name of the governor of the Russian colonies
and the emperor of Kussia, protested against the en-
trance of an English vessel into a river belonging to
Russian territory. All appeals on the part of the
Hudson's Bay Company's agents were ineffectual.
They were informed that if they desired to save them-
selves, their property, and their vessel, they must
weigh anchor as once, and after a brief delay the
Dnjad sailed for Fort Vancouver.

The authorities of the Hudson's Bay Company lost
no time in sending reports of this affair to Londoii,
accompanied with a statement that the loss incurred
through this interference with their project amounted
to £20,000 sterling. The British government imme-
diately demanded satisfaction from Russia, but the
matter was not finally settled until 1839, when a com-
mission met in London to arrange the points of dispute
between the two corporations, and in a few weeks
solved difficulties which experienced diplomates had
failed to unravel in as many years. The claim of
the Hudson's Bay Company was waived on coikH-
tion that the Russian company grant a lease to the
former of all their continental territory lying between
Cape Spencer and latitude 54° 40'. The annual reiittil
was fixed at two thousand land-otter skins," and

*• This fort was built on the site of an Indian village near the t<iwTi of
Wrangell. The logs used for its foundation can ho seen at the present ilny.
*' Afur much used in the Russian army for trimming officers' uuifurius.

FORT STIKEEN.

657

and

n to

, the
iff of
nscly
I ves-
ibout,
, boat
),wbo,
)ionics
,he en-
ding to
of tlie
fectual.
e tbem-
y must
lay the

any ^o^t
London,
incurred
[iiounted

it imme-
but the
n a com-
f dispute
)W weclvS
lates had

clahu of
3U coiidi-

se to the

ual rental
insf aiul

the town ot
_ present 'I'^y-
ts' uniform*

at the same time the English company agreed to
supply the colonies with a large quantity of provisions
at moderate rates.^ The abandonment of the Ross
colony, whence the Russians obtained most of their
supplies, was now merely a question of time, and the
agreement appears to have given satisfaction to both
parties, for at the end of the term the lease was re-
newed for a period of ten years, and twice again for
periods of four years.

On the 1st of June, 1840, a salute of seven guns
was fired as the British flag was hoisted from Fort
St Dionysi, or Fort Stikeen, as it was renamed by
Sir James Douglas, who then represented the Rea-
son's Bay Company, and during a previous visit had
appointed John McLoughlin, junior, to the command,**
Having arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk on April 25th
of the same year. Sir James says, that "he had
held daily conference with the governor in a frank
and open manner, so as to dissipate all semblance of
reserve, and establish intercourse on a basis of mutual
confidence. The question of boundary was settled in
a manner that will prevent any future misunderstand-
ing They wish to sell Bodega*" for $30,000, with

a stock of 1,500 sheep, 2,000 neat-cattle, and 1,000
horses and mules, with important land fenced in, with
barns, thrashing-floor, etc., sufficient to raise 3,000
fanegas of wheat. They of course cannot sell the soil,
but merely the improvements, which we can hold
only through a native. We concluded to write to
Mr McLoughlin on this subject, so that he may write

'"Including 14,000 pouds of wheat at 80 cents per poud, 408 of flour
at $1.45, 404 each of pease and groats at 06 centB, 922 of salt beef at 75 cents,
41)8 of butter at $1.05, and 92 pouds of ham at 12 cents per lb. Tikh-
vienrf, Inter. Obo*., i. 351. In FinlaytoiVs Vancouver Island and N. W. Coast,
M8., 12, it is stated that the Hudson's Bay Company also agreed to supply
trading goods. Dall, Alaska, 338, gives 1837 as the date of the agreement, but
on what authority I aui unable to ascertain. The correct date is given in
^yruiujetl, SlaUiit, wid Ethnog. 322 (St Petersburg, 1830), and by Tikhmenef
and otliers.

" In the same year a fort was built by the Hudson's Bay Company on the
Taku River. Dottglas, Jour., MS., 27-44; Finlanson'a Vaticouver Island and
^. ir. aoast, MS., 13. It was abandoned in 1843.

"Ross. • '

ill

668 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

to Mr Etholen in reply in the autumn by the steam
vessel, or appoint an agent to settle with the com-
mandant at Bodega."" What might have been the
result if England, with her powerful navy and all-
grasping policy, had now gained a foothold in Califor-
nia on the eve of the gold discovery 1

Almost as soon as the Hudson's Bay Company's
men had established themselves at Fort Stikeen, hos-
tilities were commenced by the natives. In 1840 an
attempt was made to 8« ale the stockade; in 1841 the
Indians destroyed the aqueduct which supplied the
fort with fresh water, and the beleaguered garrison
only saved themselves by seizing one of their chiefs,
whom they held as hostage. In the following year a
more serious attack was threatened, which would prob-
ably have been carried out successfully but for the
timely arrival of two armed vessels from Novo Ark-
hangelsk in charge of Sir George Simpson, the gov-
ernor of the company's territories, whose statement I
will give in his own words.

" By daybreak on Monday the 25th of April, we
were in Wrangell's Straits, and toward evening, as we
approached Stikeen, my apprehensions were awakened
by observing the two national flags, the Russian and
the English, hoisted half-mast high, while, on landing
about seven, my worst fears were realized by hearing
of the tragical end of Mr John McLoughlin, jun.,
the gentleman recently in charge. On the night of
the 20th a dispute had arisen in the fort, while some
of the men, as I was grieved to hear, were in a state
of intoxication; and several shots were fired, by one
of which Mr McLoughlin fell. My arrival with two
vessels at this critical juncture was most opportune,
for otherwise the fort might probably have fallen a
sacrifice to the savages, who were assembled round it
to the number of about two thousand, justly thinking
that the place could make but a feeble resistance, de-

*^D(mglai Jour., MS., 4.

ETHOLIN AS GOVERNOR.

559

an aiiJ
anding
hearing
n, jun.,
light ot
ile some
a state
by one
nth two
portune,
fallen a
round it
thinking
auce, de-

prived as it was of its head, and garrisoned by men in
a state of complete insubordination." "

A few days later Simpson returned to Novo Ark-
hangelsk, in order to discuss with Etholen,who in 1840
had relieved Kuprianof as governor," the difficulties
constantly arising between the Russian and Hudson's
Bay Company's agents with regard to trade on the
Alexander Archipelago. Though Etholen was un-
yielding in other matters, he was quite willing to join
Simpson in his efforts to suppress traffic in spirituous
liquors among the Kolosh,** and an agreement to this
effect was signed by the representatives of both com-
panies on the 13th of May, 1842." The evil was

**N'arr. Jour, round World., ii. 181. 'If the fort had fallen,' continues
Simpson, 'not only the whit«8, 22 in number, would have been destroyed, but
the stock of ammunition and stores would have made the captors dangerous
to the other establishments on the coast.'

**He arrived in the Nikolai I,, which asain sailed from Kronstadt for the
colonies in August 18.39, with a cargo worth 500,000 roubles. EthoUu, who,
Bs we have seen, had before done cood service in the colonies, was accom-
panied by his wife, an accomplished lady, a native of Finland. Calling at
Rio Janeiro, he purchased for the company a brig, which he renamed the
Grand Duke Konstanlin, and loaded her with a cargo of Brazilian produce.
Both vessels arrived at Novo Arkhangelsk May 1, 1840. Tikhmenef, Istor.
Obos., i. 350.

*" At the post on Stakhin River the Indians were buying liquor and fight-
ing all the time among themselves just outside the fort. A big hogshead of
liquor four feet high was emptied in one day on the occaaion of a feast. There
v'oro always four watchmen around, in the night especially. It was terrible;
but they got plenty of beaver skin.' Mrs llarvey'a Life of McLaughlin, MS.,
19-20.

'^This docnment was handed as evidence to a select committee of the
house of commons in June 1857. The foUowiug is a copy of the original:
'With a view effectually to guard against the injurious consequences that
arise from the use of spirituous liquors in the Indian trade on the north-west
coast, it is hereby agreed by Sir George Simpson, governor in chief of Rupert's
I-and, acting on behalf of the honorable Hudson's Bay Company, and his Lxcel-
Iciicy Adolphus Etholen, captain in the imperial navy and governor of the Rus-
sian American colonies on the north-west coast of America, acting on behalf of
the Russian American Company, that no spirituous liquors shall be sold or given
to Indians in barter, as presents, or on any pretence or consideration whatso-
ever, by any of the officers or servants belonging or attached to any of the estab-
lishments or vessels belonging to either concern, or by any other person or
persons acting on their behalf on any part of the north-west coast of America
to the northward of latitude 60% unless competition in trade should render it
necessary, with a view to the protection of tiie interests of the Hudson's Bay
Company, to discontinue this agreement in so far as the same relates to or is
applicable to that part of the coast southward of lat. 54° 40'; this agreement
to take effect from the date thereof at New Arkhangel, or wherever else the
Russian Americao Company have dealings with Indians on the northwest

s sl'ii 'til\>,f,i'ji

600 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

felt in all parts of the archipelago, and nowhere more
than at the capital.

"Some reformation certainly was wanted in this
respect," writes Simpson, " for of all the drunken as
well as of all the dirty places that I had visited, New
Archangel was the worst. On the holidays in par-
ticular, of which, Sundays included, there are one hun-
dred and sixty-five in the year, men women, and oven
children were to be seen staggering about in all di-
rections. The common houses are nothing but wooden
hovels huddled together without order or design in
nasty alleys, tho hot-beds of such odors as are them-
selves sufficient, independently of any other cause, to
breed all sorts of fevers. In a word, while the inhab-
itant do all that they can to poison the atmosphere,
the place itself appears to have been planned for the
express purpose of checking ventilation."

The Indian villages in the neighborhood of Novo
Ai'kuangelsk had suffered severely a few years before,
when during Kuprianof s administration the small-pox
epl'^icmic appeared for the first time among the natives
of Alaska. The disease broke out in 1836, among
the Kolosh tribes near the southern boundarj% and
was probably introduced by Indians from the British
possessions. During the first year the settlement of
Tongass suffered most severelv, two hundred and fifty
dying in a settlement numbenng nine hundred inhab-
itants. From Tongass the contagion rapidly spread
over all the Kolosh settlements of the Alexander
Archipelago. The filthy dwellings of the Kolosh fos-
tered the germs of the disease, and the mortality was
appalling, fifty to sixty per cent of the population being
swept away. From the outlying settlements the
scourge was introduced to Novo Arkhangelsl:, and
here as elsewhere a large portion of the nptive popula-

coast, and from the date of the receipt of a copy thereof at tlie establish menti
of Takoo, Stikine, Fort Simpson, and Fort McLoughlin.' Report on Jludum
Bay Co. (\m), 209.

tion perisl

n« tho nai

tiveJv ama

check the

could be c

«taff of th

^^^ media

^vho was in

cjaJiy that t

'•'nation wa

its effect wj

^ Jn 1838 1

^^W^rn, th

ease broke ,

amvaJ, and i

■^ieuts couJd

^lad come am

consented to ^

order had bee

trict." Allt

** Chichinof. wli,

f tho most powerfuil
die. JivV^KP^y^J

"*™*'', lirportm

-f^t "11 f'

1';;

RAVAGES OP SMALL-POX.

tion perished, while the proinyshleniki, almost as filthy
as the natives in their habits, escaped with compara-
tively small loss. Kuprianof did all in his power to
check the epidemic, enforcing vaccination wherever it
could be enforced, and keeping the whole medical
staff of the company in the field, surgeons, stewards,
and medical apprentices. Dr Blaschke, a German,
who was in charge of the medical service, stated offi-
cially that three thousand natives died before any vac-
cination was attempted, and that for an entire year
its effect was barely perceptible.'"

In 1838 the doctor proceeded to Unalaska in the
Polnfem, then en route to the Arctic. T)ie dis-
ease broke out on tbat island immediately after his
arrival, and it was some time before the superstitious
Aleuts could be made to understand that Blaschke
had come among them to cure and not to kill. They
consented to vaccination only after a most peremptory
order had been issued by the commander of the dis-
trict." All the villasres in the Unalaska district were

**Chichinof, who travelled in the KenaY district in 1836, says that in
Bome of the villages the inhabitants had fled, leaving only the sick and dead,
the latter in various stages of decomposition. Adventure*, Mo., 29. Markof,
in Voy. (by .Sokolof ), M8. , 7-9, says: * The disease came northward from the Co-
lumbia, and was carried from village to village by Kolosh traders. At one
tin)c, at Khutznii village, they found the |jlace deserted, and dozens of corpses
lying around, rotting away. They threw some ea; tl» over the bodies, and
were on the point of lea\'ing again, when an old man appeared and said that
nil the people who had escaped the disease had moved into a temporary camp
in the woods, and that they were afraid to come to tlie village, but would
willingly be vaccinated. When my father and a surgeon's apprentice who
was doing the vaccinating had followed the old man a short distance into the
woods, they found themselves surrounded by h crowd of men, including one
of the most powerful shamana The shaman was exhoroing the people to save
themselves and their families from certain death by killing the vaccinators
ami burning their bodies, and a large fire for that purpose had alreaiiy been
started. The surgeon's apprentice gave himself up for lost, knelt down,
and bs).- ii to pray and make the sign of the cross, believing himself about to
die. My father, however, began to talk to tl»e mien, showed them the marks
of vaccination on his own arm and on that of his companion, and called upon
Bomo of the Khutznu men, who had been to Novo Arkhangelsk, to say
whether they had seen any of the Russians or Creoles die of the disease.'
Tiio above statement was made in Russian to my agent, during his stay
at Sitka in July 1878. Tikhmeuef states that the number of deaths in all Ihu
districts was not less than 4,000, and that the epidomio disappeared in 1S40.
Istor. Obos., i. 312. Vaccination has since been performed on all children ou
reaching a certain age. Dok, Kom. Jiuss. Anwr. Kol., i. 83.

*^DtMehlc,; Jirport in Morskoi Sbornik (1848), 115-24.
HiBT. Alaska. 8A

;i . \

' "m

662 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

visited by the vaccinators, and parties were sent on
the same errand of mercy to the Alaska peninsula,
to Bristol Bay, and Cook inlet.** In nearly every
instance the outbreak of the epidemic could be traced
to the arrival of persons from sections of the colonies
already aft'ected, a circumstance which greatly in-
creased the difficulties with which the medical men
had to battle in treating and protecting the natives.
From the coast villages the disease spread into the
interior, decimating or depopulating entire settlements.
From Bristol Bay it advanced northward to the Kus-
kokvim and the Yukon, and raged fiercely among the
dense population of the Yukon delta and Norton
Sound. To this day the islands and coasts are dotted
with numerous village sites, the inhabitants of which
were carried off to the last individual during this
dreadful period. In many instances the dead were
left in their dwellings, which thus served as their
graves, and skeletons can still be found in many of
these ruined habitations.

One of the effects of the small-pox epidemic was
a general distress in the outlying settlements, caused
by the death of so many heads of families. Large
issues of provisions were made to widows and orphans
for several years; and when it wa,s reported to Etholeii
that in the various districts there existed many vil-
lages where only a i'ew male youths of tender age
survivea to take care of the women and children, and
where constant aid from the company wc - ' be re-
quired for some time to come, he framed measures for
the consolidation of small villages into large central
settlements, where people might help each other
in case of distress. His plan was not perfected iin-

*^The villages in the Unalaska district at that time numbered nine; ono
on Unalaska Island, two on Akun, one each at Avatanok, Tigalda, I'lgUi
Unatgct, and Unimak, three on the Alaska peninsula, two on Unmiik, and ono
on each of the Pribylof Islands. The service wr.s performed on the Alaska
psninsula by surgeon's apprentice Malakhof, with one interpreter as assistout.
Surgeon's apprentice Fomin, and Orlof, interpreter, were sent to IWstol IJay.
A trader named Malakhof was intrusted with the vaccination on Cook Inlet.
Id., 116-17.

on
ula,
jevy
aced
)nies
<f in-

men
bives.
the
aents.

Kus-
[ig the
ijorton
dotted
' which
ig this
id were
IS their
many of

POPULATION STATISTICS.

til 1844, and though it met with violent opposition
on the part of the natives who were to be benefited
by it, it was finally carried out, and fulfilled the most
sanguine expectations of the governor.

NotwithstaTiding the loss of life that occurred dur-
ing the years 1836-1839, the population of the colonies
amounted, according to a census taken in 1841, to 7,580
souls, a decrease since 1822, when the first regular cen-
sus was taken, of 706, and since 1819 of 1,439 persons.*'
There were in 1841 714 Russians or Europeans of
foreign birth, 1,351 Creoles, and 5,417 Indians.^ Be-
t'.veen 1830 and 1840 the number of Aleuts de-
creased from 6,864 to 4,007, but the loss was in part
compensated by the increase in the Russian and Creole
population, the fecundity among the latter class being
much greater than among the natives, as they received
better food and clothing, and were exempt from en-
forced service on hunting expeditions.

Although the yield of the various hunting-grounds
decreased considerably during the second terra of the
Kjssian American Company's existence, it was still
on a, large scale. Between 18*^1 and 1842 there were
sliipped from the colonies over 2o,000 sea-otter, 458,000
fur-seal, 162,000 beaver, 160,000 fox skins, 138,000
)».)unds of whalebone, and 260,000 pounds of walrus
tusks." At the time of Simpson's visit to the col-
onies in 1842, the catch of sea-otter at Kadiak, Una-

*Z)oit. Kom. Rm*, Amer. KoL, i. 40. Yennolof, in UAnierique Rnss.,
89, gives 1 1, 259 as the population in *1836, witliout counting tlie Indians of
tlip interior, who were more or lesa subject to the company's authority, and
wlio, he say^, numbered abou t iO,\iOO. The St Peterburger Calendar of 1S87,
p. 132, places the entire population m ingh -ta 100,000, but both these esti-
mates are no doubt exaggerated.

'" There were also 05 nati". as cf the Kurile Islands. Of the Indians, 4, 103
'.vcre Alcata, 967 Knnaitze, ai.il 237 Chugaches. Wrangell says there were,
ill 18Sfl, 730 Russiatis, ! , K2 Creoles, and 9,082 Indians, and points witli prido
to tlie increase of 'tflS soula w'Mch had occurred during his administration.
Slatht. und Ethnorj., 327.

^'Alao 29,442 otter skwis, Zi,':m sea-otter tails, 5,35P Var, 4,253 I'nx,
l.Wi4 glutton, 15,181 mink, lt5,666 sable, 4,491 musk-rat, and 201 wolf skini.
TiLhmtnef, Istor. Obo»., i. 327. Vcniaminof, Zapiski, in a table at the end
of vol. ii., gives the yield of thn Prybilof Islands alone, between )dI7and
!S37, at 578,224 fur-seals. Of the whale fisheries mention will be mad«
later.

504 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

laska, and Atkha, then the principal hunting-grounds,
did not exceed 1,000 a year. Of course the dimin-
ished yield was attended^ with a corresponding increase
in price, six or seven blankets being j^iven for a good
sea-otter skin, and thirteen for the udh^ \. iii?o as much
as two hundred roubles in cash w«o sk^ 'or a singlo
fur of the choicest quality.** Moreover the natives
were not slow to better the instruction which had
accompanied the progress of civilization in the far
north-west. They had learned how to cheat, and
could already outcheat the Russians. " One favorite
artifice," relates Simpson, "is to stretch the tails of
land-otters into those of sea-otters. Again, when a
skin is rejected as being deficient in size or defective
in quality, it is immediately, according to circum-
stances, enlarged or colored or pressed to cirder, and
is then submitted as a virgin article to the buyer's
criticism by a difierent customer."

It is somewhat remarkable that the declir o m the
leading industry of the colonies and the iiicrenfe in
the value of furs was not attended with a . o; v pp nd-
ing reduction of dividends. Between ^3'zl an( 184!
about 8,500,000 roubles were distributed among' mo
shareholders,®' or nearly double the sum disbursed
during the company's first term. The directors were,
however, often in sore need of funds, and sometimes
could only declare a dividend by charging it to the earn-
ings of future years. During this period the gross
revenues exceeded 61,400,000 roubles, ' rid in 1841
the capital had been increased to a* o- (. G,200,000
roubles, which was represented mainly ; y trading
goods, provisions, material, implements, turs, sea-go-
mg vessels, and •r'^^l es+i^fg in Russia, the amount of
cash on hand et that dsite being less than 50,000
roubles.

*' Besides this no bargain was concluded without other trifles being thrown
IB. Bdcher'n A'arv. Voy. rwmd World, ii. 101.

*• A list of these dividends is given in Tikhmen^, Itlor. Obon., i. 378. Tlify
were paid every two years, and varied from 108 to 38 roubles per share. For
18*22-3 and 1840-1 no dividends were declared.

e in
> -nd-

1841

.' UllO

were,
letimes

|e earn-

gross
1841
100,000

,railUig
Isea-go-

)UUt t>t
50,000

Bg thrown
lliare. t^'

THE FUR TRADE.

Large quantities of furs were still exchanged at
Kiakhta for teas and Chinese cloths, which were
afterward sold at Moscow and at the fair at Nijinei-
Novgorod, the remainder of the furs and all the wal-
rus tusks and whalebone being marketed at St Peters-
burg.

The contract with the Hudson's Bay Company and
the reopening of intercourse with foreigners, though
limited to the port of Novo Arkhangelsk, were of great
benefit to the shareholders. In 1822 and 1823, when
the prohibition against foreign traffic was in force, the
company suffered a clear loss of 85,000 roubles in sil-
ver, while for the two following years the dividend
was the largest paid during the second term, amount-
ing to nearly 45 silver roubles per share. Although
furs were bartered with English and American skip-
pers at half or less than half the prices current in
Kussia, the loss was more than counterbalanced by
the cheaper rates at which provisions and trading
goods could be obtained." Moreover, the freight
charged on the Hudson's Bay Company's vessels, ac-
cordingly to the terms of the contract, was 50 to 78
silver roubles per ton, while from Kronstadt it was
180 to 254, and by way of Siberia 540 to 630 roubles
in silver. Between 1821 and 1840 twelve expeditions
were despatched from Kronstadt to the colonies with
supplies, and yet more than once the governor was
compelled to send vessels to Chile for cargoes of breadr
stuffs.^^

^* For the inhabitontB of Noto Arkhangelsk alone, and for the crews of the
company's vessels sailing from that port, there were imported, in 1831, 0,000
louds of grain, 900 of salt beef, 600 of dried beef, and a sufficient quantity of
utter and other provisions. Two years later wheat flour was soiling at 14
roubles a poud, salt beef at 6 to 12, butter at 23, tea at 280, white sugar at
Co, and tooacco at 50 to GO roubles a poud. ]Vrangell, Siatial. und Etitiwij.,
li, 24-5.

^''Dok. Kom. 7i>c9H. Amer. KoL, i. 36. The Baikal was sent to Chile in
1820, in charge of Etholin. Russian manufactures were then introduced for
tliu lirst time into Chilian markets, and met with ready sale at protitablji
rates. Etholen purchased 0,340 pouds of wheat, at prices much lower than
those prevailing at Okhotsk or even in California. Tikhmencf, Islor. Oboi^.,
\. 344-5. Several regulations made duriuf^ the company's second term,
Ivhereby expenses could be reduced, are mentioned in lU,, 373-4.

m : %\

666 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S OPERATIONS.

The expense of supporting the colonies, apart from
iLo sums required for the home office, taxes, and other
items, increased from about 676,000 roubles, scrip, in
1821, to over 1,219,000 roubles in 1841, and amount-
ed for the whole period to nearly 18,000,000 roubles.
The increase was due mainly to the necessity of estab-
lishing more stations as seal became scarce near the
settlements, and of increasing the pay of employees.
f'The salaries of the officers,' remarks Simpson dur-
ing his stay at Novo Arkhangelsk, "independently of
such pay as they may have, according to their rank
in the imperial navy, range between three thousand
and twelve thousand roubles a year, the rouble being,
as nearly as possible, equal to the franc; while they
are, moreover, provided with firewood and candles,
with a room for each, and a servant and a kitchen be-
tween two. Generally speaking, the officers are ex-
travagant, those of five thousand roubles and upwards
spending nearly the whole, and the others getting
into debt, as a kind of mortgage on their future pro-
motion.

" For the amount of business done, the men, as well
as the officers, appear to be unnecessarily numerous,
amounting this season to nearly five hundred, who,
with their families, make about one thousand two hun-
dred souls as the population of the establishment.'^
Among the servants are some excellent tradesmen,
such as engineers, armorers, tin-smiths, cabinet-mak-
ers, jewellers, watchmakers, tailors, cobblers, builders,
etc., receiving generally about three hundred and fifty
roubles a year; they have come originally on engage-
ments of seven years; but most of them, by drink-
ing or by indulging in other extravagance," contrive

"These figures probably include only the employees and their families.
In FttUavton'a Vancouver Island and N, W, Coast, MS., 10, it is stated tiiat
in 1840 Sitka was garrisoned by over 600 troops.

*' ' Spirits, which cost the comw'- ■ at Montreal |2 per gallon, were sold
in the interior to their servants at fM per quart. At this rate the coinpau^
oould not lose anything by increasing the salaries of drinking men.' Dunnt
Oregon and BrUi$h N. Amer. Fur Trade, 25 (Philadelphia, 1845).

SIMPSON'S VISIT.

to be 80 regularly in debt as to become fixtures for
life."«

•• In his Narrative of a Journey round the World during the yean 1841
and 1842, Sir Georce Simpson sives some interesting descriptions of Novo Atk-
hangelsk and its innabituits, from whicli I shall give one or two extracts later.
He appears to have l>een a keen observer, and his work was evidentlv written
without bias. Travelling as the representative of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, he made the journey overland from Boston to Fort Vancouver. Thence,
after a visit to Novo Arkhangelsk, he sailed for California and the Sandwich
Islands. Returning to Novo Arkhangelsk in the sprins of 1842, he soon
afterward sailed for Okhotsk, and traversing Siberia and European Russia,
arrived at London in October of the same year, the entire journey occupying
19 months and 26 daya.

;, M

M ll

CHAPTEK XXVII.

THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

1842-1866.

The Chabteb Renewed — Its Peovisions— The Affaib at Petkopav-
LovsK — Outbreaks auono the Natives — The Nulato Massacre—
A Second Massacre Threatened at Novo Arkhangelsk — Explor-
ations — The Western Union Telegraph Company — Westdahl's
Experienoe— The Company Requests Another Renewal of its
Charter — Negotiations with the Imperial Government — Their
Failure — Population — Food Supplies— The Yield of Furs— Whal-
ing — Dividends — Trade — ^Bibliographical.

At the request of the directors, and after a care-
ful investigation into the condition of the colonies,
the imperial council at St Petersburg decided, on the
5th of March,^ 1841, to renew the charter of the
Russian American Company for a further period of
twenty years. "In the variety and extent of its
operations," declare the members of the council, "no
other company can compare with it. In addition to
a commercial and industrial monopoly, the govern-
ment has invested it with a portion of its own powers
in governing the vast and distant territory over which
it now holds control. A change in this system would
now be of doubtful benefit. To open our ports to all
hunters promiscuously would be a death-blow to the
fur trade while the government, having transferred to
the company the control of the colonies, could not now
resume it without great expense and trouble, and would
have to create new financial resources for such a pur-

• Dok. Aom. Butt. Amtr. Kol, i. 40; the 7th according to Tikhmewf, Istor.
Oboi., i. 380.

(868)

onies

the

refra

few i

name

hang

rienci

the s!

it in

troubl

„ 'Thd
li-74. '

, care-

lonies,

on the

3f the

jriod of
of its

il, "no

jtion to
rovern-

[powers

' which

would

iS to all

to the

jrred to

iiot now

[d would

a pur-

A NEW CHARTER.

pose." This opinion, together with a charter defin-
ing the privileges and duties of the company, was de-
livered to the uzar and received his signature on the
11th of October, 1844.

The new charter did not differ in its main features
from that of 1821, though the boundary was of
course changed in accordance with the English and
American treaties. None of the company's rights
were curtailed, and the additional privileges were
granted of trading with certain ports in China, and
of shipping tea direct from Shanghai to St Peters-
burg. The board of managers, through its agent the
governor of the colonies, was recognized as the su-
preme power, though appeal could be made to the
emperor through the minister of finance. A colo-
nial council was established, consisting of the dep-
uty governor and four naval officers, or officials of the
company, with criminal jurisdiction in all but capital
cases. Much indulgence was shown to naval, military,
and civil officers, who while in the company's service
received half-pay, and did not forfeit their right of
promotion, their time of service being counted double.'

The sale of fire-arms, ammunition, and spirituous
liquor to the natives was still forbidden ; and this pro-
hibition was followed by an order from the governor
that no intoxicating drink should be sold in the col-
onies. It is related that when this order was read to
the servants of the company many of them could not
refrain from tears. The temperance cause had but
few advocates in Hussian America. One of the men,
named Markof, who in 1845 sailed from Novo Ark-
hangelsk for San Francisco, thus relates his expe-
rience: "How easily and willingly the labor of getting
the ship under way was performed! Each sailor had
it in his mind that he could enjoy himself for his
troubl ; in the first tap-room in California. In the

* The provisions of the charter of 1844 are given at length in Dok. Kom,
Jiusn. Amer, Kol.A. 49-GO; and in Tikhmenef, lalor. Oboa,, ii. app. parti.
11-74.

h 1

670 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

evening we could only see the outlines of our former
home, traced in black, indistinct shapes against the
darkening sky. 'The devil must have planted these
cursed sea-otters in these out-of-the-way regions, said
one of the sailors; 'as far as we can see land up and
down the coast, not a single rum-shop is to be found.*
' Yes,' answered another, 'but I remember Father
Baranof. There was a time when a camp-kettle was
set out brimming full, and he would shout, "Drink,
children 1" and he would join himself in a merry song.
Those were better days, continued he, with his eyes
fixed on the waning land; 'but now what times have
wel We can do nothing but work, and when that
is done, we promenade, or smoke in the barrack.
What a life I' 'You see,' replied his comrade, 'in this
country we all have to join the temperance society.'
'What is that?' 'I dont know exactly: it is some
kind of a sect. I belonged to it once, but it is so
long a^o I forget. I can make no reckoning of time
when I get no drinks to count by ; but I remember
we all had to pay a beaver skin apiece.' 'A beaver
skin apiece I That is a big price to pay for the privi-
lege of drinking nothing but water. I'll have nothing
to do with any such sect. There was that German
Mukolof; he joined the sect, and in a few weeks he
was dead. God knows where he is now' — crossing
himself: 'I don't think there is much room for Dutcli-
men in heaven; so many Russians go there.'"'

As soon as war between England and Russia be-
came a certainty, representatives of the Russian
American and Hudson s Bay companies met in Lon-
don to consult on the exigences of the case. It was
agreed that both companies should petition their gov-
ernments for a convention of neutrality, that should
include the Russian and English possessions on the

' SutkU na Vottotehnom, r ';. , or The Russians on tlie Eastern Ocean ('2d
ed., St Petersburg, 1856), 69 r^, 102-4. Mnrkof adds that, on reaching Saa
Francisco, the first building which they entered was a drinking-saioon, kept
by one of Napoleon's veterans who had served in the campaign of 1612.

t'leeroupj
'<"• fttnrel

WAR WITH ENGLAND.

north-west coast of America, the parties being al-
lowed to trade freely with each other, while forbear-
ing to furnish aid to the squadrons of Kussia or of the
allies. The powers at war, considering this a small
matter, and wishing to keep their hands free in other
quarters, consented to sanction the agreement. A
few English cruisers appeared at the entrance of
Sitka Bay at various times, but finding no vessels of
war in port, nor any evidence of a violation of the
agreement, inflicted no damage.* The company suf-
fered some loss, however, by the bombardment of
Petropavlovsk in 1854,* and through its destruction
in the following year, on which occasion the allies
buiiied the government buildings, plundered the
Greek-catholic church, broke all the windows in the
town," and captured a vessel belonging to the Russian
American Company. A part of the allied forces then
sailed for Ourup, and bombarded the Russian settle-
ment on that island, burned all the buildings, seized
the furs and papers belonging to the company,^ and
hoisted the union-jack, the tricolor, and a sign-post
declaring that they took possession of the territory
on behalf of England and France. These proceedings
were sufficiently disgraceful — the most disgraceful

* This was either a fortunate accident or was due to the vigilance of the
Russians. In 1852 the frigates Aurora and Diana, tlie corvette Navarin,
and the transport Niemen were despatched from Kronstadt to Kamchatka.
Morakoi Sbomik, x. 21-8. The Di a and a corvette (probably the Navarin)
were expected to rendezvous at Novo Arkhangelsk. Saint Amaiit. Vo;/. en
Cal. e.t dam VOregon (Paris, IS-H), C37. At this time the fort of Novo Ark-
hangelsk was mounted with 70 guns, including two of very long range, and
was garrisoned by 250 to 300 men, well commanded, but poorly armed.
Of 4S3 rifles sent from Tobolsk, between 1851 and 1854, only 161 were fit for
use. Sitka Archives, ii. 83.

'After the failure of the attack which followed the bombardment the
English admiral Price committed suicide. When informed of this the Rus-
sians would not believe it, but ascribed his death to a well aimed shut from
tiic shore batteries. Morskoi Sbomik, xlv. 1, 2, 23. By oukaz of Dec. 2,
18(9, Okhotsk was closed as a naval station and the force transferred to
PetropavloTsk. Id., civ. 7.

"In Kodyers' Letters, MS., ii., it is stated that, in 1856, few houses were
left standing at Petropavlovsk, but that the English behaved well, while the
French rioted in destruction.

' The natives of the Kurile Islands reported sea-otter plentiful on some of
tlie group. In 1853, 108 skins were shipped from Ourup, and 200 retained
for future shipment. Sitka Archives, ii. 05.

»*>* Slj

■ ■ -^jfci

J:l

liP

672 THE RUSSIAN AMEHICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

affair, perhaps, of the whole war, if we except the
Sinope massacre; but yet more disgraceful was the
conduct of the English government which sanctioned
them, on the ground that the convention of neutrality
extended only to the north-west coast of America, and
not to all the company's territory.

Though no attack was made, during the war, on
the Alaskan settlements, the Russians suffered more
severely about this date from outbreaks among the
natives than at any time since the Sitka massacre.
In 1851 the fort at Nulato was surprised by Indians,
and most of the inmates butchered. Among the vic-

Plan of Nulato.

tims were the commandant Derzhavin and Lieutenant
Barnard, an English naval officer on board the En-
terprise, despatched in search of Sir John Franklin
and his party .^ In that year Barnard was sent to in-
vestigate the truth of certain rumors as to the mur-
der of a party of his countrymen near Lake Mintokh,
and in his blunt English fashion announced that liu
intended to send for the chief of the Koyukans,

* In July 1850 the Ileruld, Plover, and Iiiveiitujator, all tlcspatched inso.ircli
of Franklin and his party, met in Kotzcbue Sound. While anchored olT
Chamisso Island during the previous year, tlie captain of one of these vosscU
caused search to be made for a cask of flour buried tlierc by Beechey, 2.'i yc-arii
before. It was found to be in good condition, and a dinner party was j^i\oii,
at which cakes and pastry made of the flourfonncd partof tlie fare. Sccman'ii
Narr. Voy. Herald, ii. 100, 17ft: Jlooper'a Tents of the Taski, 213.

,enaut

En-
ankliu
to iu-

ntokli,

bat U^
ukans,

cbori'il oil

eso VU:<S('

v'as givt'W

MASSACRE AT NULATO.

named Larion, who was then holding festival at his
village a few leagues distant. But, as Dall reniarks,
this man "was not accustomed to be sent for. When
the Russians desired to see him, they respectfully re-
quested the honor of his presence." Now Larion was
a great chief, and also a shaman, and his ire was
thoroughly roused at the insult. Moreover, there
was another cause of provocation. One of his daugh-
ters had for some time been living with Derzhavin as a
concubine. This was perfectly legitimate and seemly
according to the native and even the Russian code of
morals; but a second daughter had recently found
favor in the eyes of the commandant, and when the
shaman demanded, in person, the surrender of at least
one of his children, Derzhavin coolly answered that ho
had at the fort a visitor, who must also be provided
with a concubine. After his departure perhaps one
of the damsels might be restored.

A council was called, and Larion swore that the
salmon should have blood to drink before they went
back to the sea. At this moment a dog-sled appeared
in sight on the Yukon, by the side of which walked
a Russian and a Nulato workman. S '^n afterward
the sled was drawn up on the bank fo' > purpose of
cooking the mid-day meal, and while the Nulato
was searching for water, a party of Indians stole up
steathily behind the Russian, and stunning him with
a blow on the head, beat in his skull with their clubs.
His flesh was then cut in strips, roasted, and devoured,
and the Koyukans set forth at once for Nulato.
Half a mile from the fort were three large buildings,
in which were many Nulato families. These were
set on fire, and their occupants were either smothered
in the smoke or fell beneath the knives and arrows of
the savages, one man only making his escape to the
mountains, and a few women being spared to servo as
slaves.

The Koyukans then advanced on the fort, whore
most of the inmates were yet asleep, and all were un-

[ill

lilt

w s

674 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

conscious of tho impending clanger. Derzhavin, who
had just risen, was stabbed in the back and fell dead
without a struggle. Barnard, who was reading in bed,
grasped his gun and fired two shots, but each time
the barrel was struck upward and the balls lodged in
the ceiling, whereupon he was stabbed in the stomach,
his intestines protruding from the wound. The work-
men, who lived in a separate building in which were
two Russians and a few creolen had now taken the
alarm and barricaded the door. ^kets were fired at

the savages, but without effect, .. ./ere answered by
a flight of arrows. At length one of them fell, where-
upon the entire party at once took to flight, carrying
with them their booty and prisoners.* A new fort
surrounded with a stockade was built two or three
years later on the spot where it now stands, and
within a hundred yards of it is a cross that marks the
resting-place of Barnard and Derzhavin.

In the following year a party of Kolosh destroyed
the buildings at the hot springs near the Ozerskoi re-

*Dall, Ala»ka, 48-61, is probably the beat authority on the Nulato nias-
sacre, though, as I have before remarked, ho ia extremely inaccurate in mat-
ters relating to the history of Alaska. I have accepted some portions of his
narrative, and tlie remainder is taken principally from the statement of oue
who was present at the massacre and from wnich the following is an extniot:
'When the Koyukans had gathered about 100 warriors they started down
stream, journey ng only by night. Finally they camped on the shore of a
lake, about half a day's travel from the river, and the same distance from the
fort. Several small parties and some women were then sent forward to tho
redoubt, to trade and act as spies. On the third day some of them returned,
and during the night we ad vanced to within a short distance of Nulato. At day-
break the attack was made, ourmen being assisted bythe spies who had remained
in the fort. This was the first war-party that I had ever joined, and I was very
much frightened, and fired my musket at random. When I entered tlic re-
doubt the victims were all dead, and our people were engaged in collecting
the plunder, of which my share was two silver-mounted pistols and a box oi
beads; but afterward I heard Larion boast repeatedly tliat he killed both Deri-
abin and the English officer with his own hand, and there were none to con-
tradict him.' This statement was made on the 16th of January, 187!), 'jy
Ivan Konnygen, a native of the village of Unalakleet, near Mikhaielovsk. )Iy
agent obtained the information from Konnygen, who was a prisoner at San
Quentin, where he went by the name of Korrigan. At the time of the mas-
sacre he was a suitor for one of Larion's daughters. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos.,
ii. 202, mentions only three victims — Deriabin, Barnard, and one Aleut. He
also states that the reason for the attack was the protection given by the Rus-
sians to some of the Nulato people who had incurred the wrath of the Koyu-
kans. Russian authorities appear to be ill informed on this matter or to have
purposely misrepresented it. In Dok. Kom. Rutt, Amer, Kol., i. 80, it ii
meraly stated that the attack waa repulsed.

K0L08H HOSTILITIES.

876

doubt The inmates were stripped of all that they
possessed, even to their shirts, and in this plight made
their way across the mountains to the capital.'" In
1855 the Andreief station, south of Fort Michaielovsk,
was destroyed by Indians, two of the company's ser-
vants being slaughtered." In the same year an
attack was made on Novo Arkhangelsk. The Sitkan
Kolosh, without appart it provocation, fell upon a
sentry who was guarding the wood-piles of the com-
pany and wounded him with spears. The governor
demanded the surrender of the guilty individuals, but
was answered with threats. Two cannon-shot were
then fired, whereupon the savages made a rush for the
fort and began to chop down the palisade. A sharp
fire of musketry and artillery was opened on them,
but without effect. Some tried to force themselves
through the embrasures; others broke in the door of
a church, built outside the stockade for the use of
natives, and returned the fusillade from the windows.
If the Kolosh had been in possession of a few pieces
of cannon, it is not improbable that there might
have been a repetition of the Sitka massacre. For
two hours they stood their ground, but after losing
more than a hundred of their number,*^ were forced to
capitulate and give hostages to the Russians. A strict
surveillance was thenceforth kept over the independ-
ent native tribes, and no serious ($meutes occurred.

'"About 5,000 roubles was distributed among them as compensation.
Sithi Archives, ii. 107. One of them, an invalid, is supposed to have perished,
as nothing was heard of him. Ward's Three Weeks at Sitka, MS., 4.S. During
tlie same year 35 Stikeens were massacred by the Kolosh, while on a visit to
Novo Arkhangelsk in sight of the town. On another occasion several of
tlicm were smothered while taking a steam bath, the Kolosh closing all the
openings. Id., 63-4. In October 1853 a Creole and an Aleut, while hunting
deor near the Ozerskoi redoubt, were murdered by Kolosh. Sitka Archives, ii.
69.

" Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 202-3. In Id., 339, is a list of the stations
under the control. Among them was Nulato.

"Z>oifc. Kom. Russ. Amer. Kol., i. 81, where it is stated that two of the
defenders were killed and 19 wounded. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 208,
places the losses of the Russians at the same figures, and that of the Kolosh at
60 killed and wounded. Otherwise there is no material diflference in these
two accon.nts of the affair. A description of it is also given in the Adventure*
vjZnkhar Chichinof, M8., 41-6. Chichinof was an eye-witness, as was also
Charles Kruger. in 1885 a resident of San Franouco.

V ■c

67« THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TEEM.

After his return from the colonies, Tebenkof, who
succeeded Etholen as governor, published, in 1852, an
atlas, in which the results were exhibited of all
the explorations of the previous twelve years, to-
gether with many of former periods.^' To mention
the discoveries of all the exploring parties that were
despatched during the company's third term wou)
serve but to tax the reader's patience." More inter-
esting are the operations of the scientific corps that
sailed from Stuart Island on the l7th of September,
1865, under the auspices of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company.

It was intended by the managers to build an overland
line to Europe through Alaska, across Bering Strait,
and through Siberia by way of the Ar soor River. ^'
The cooperation of the Russian government was
obtained, and a party of explorers organized for raak-

'•It was published in 1852, named The North-totitem Coast of America,
from Bering Straiti to Cape C'orrientea and the Atlantic lalandn, with the Ad-
dilioji of a Few Points on the North-eastern Coast of Asia. The maps, whicli
numbered 39, were engraved at Novo Arkhangelsk by the Creole Terentief.
The discoveries up to 1842 have already been related. In 1843 two parties
explored the Sustchina and Copper rivers for the purpose of extending trade
with the natives. During Tebenkof's administration, explorations incluilcd
the coast from Anchor Point in Kenai° Bay to Sukli Island in Chugosch Bay, tlio
whole of Kadiak and the smaller islands to tho south of it, Voskressenski
Bay, Andreianof, Afognak, Unmak, Unalaska, Shumogin, Ourup, and other
islands; the shores of Baranof and Cruzof isluuds from Capo Ommaney to
Mount Edgecumbe, Norton Bay, and Bering and Kurile straits. Tiklnncuef,
Istar. Ohos., ii. 247-8; Dok. Kom. Buss. Amer. Kol., i. 98.

*♦ In this connection may bo mentioned the exploration of the Aleutian Isl-
ands, ma<le by Lieutenant Gibson in the United States schooner Fenimore
Cooper, in 1836, as mentioned in the Rogers Letters, MS., ii. (Washington,
D. C. ), Blake's survey of the Siikeen River, as related in his Ihtsstan A meriai,
1-2, and Keunicott and Kirby's journeys from the Mackenzie River to tlio
Yukon, as narrated In the Smithsonian Reports, 1861, 39-40, and 1864, 416-'J0.
Kennicott was i;ppoiiite{l director of the scientifio corps, in connection with
the Western Union Tclegi-aph Compiriy. but died a few months before the
expedition set forth. DalCs Alaska,, 4-5.

'*Tho project is credited to Major Collins, to whom the Russian govirn-
ment gave the privilege of constructing, maintaining, and working a line
from the mouth of the Amoor to the bounf!'«'y between Russian territory
and British America. He was allowed to erect block-houses and otlier nucot<-
sary defences. He might cut timber, open roads, navigate rivers, and in fact
do almost anything except organize a new empire. Knox., Russ. Amer.
Tel., 242. In 1862 a committee of the U. S. Senate reported in favur of a
survey for a line via Siberia. U. S. Sen. Com.;, Report, 37th cong., 2d sesd.,
xiiL In the same year the U, S. Minister in Russia was ordered to favor
the enterprise. U, 8. Sen. Ex, Doc, 37th cong., 2d sess., x.

^»

TELEGRAPH EXPEDITION.

577

,n govern-
ing a l'"«
, tervHovy
ther ncf-:
^nd in fact

favor of a
r 2>1 s"^*-'
'id to favor

ing preliminary surveys on the American continent
and in Siberia. Captain C. S. Bulkley was appointed
to superintend the expedition, and for this purpose
proceeded to Novo Arkhangelsk in the spring of 1865.
A steamer, three barks, and other craft were pur-
chased for the use of the members, and with the per-
mission of the secretary of the treasury several revenue
officers participated in the enterprise. One vessel
sailed for British Columbia, the intention being to
penetrate from the head waters of the Frazer River
to those of the Yukon ; another to Novo Arkhangelsk,
a third to Fort Mikhaielovsk, and a fourth to the
mouth of the Anadir River in Siberia. In the fol-
lowing year explorations were continued; but in 1867,
a few months after the first pole was raised,^" the com-
pany, after having incurred an expense of three millions
of dollars, abandoned the enterprise and recalled its ex-
plorers, finding that the line could not compete with
the Atlantic cable. The details of their operations
do not concern the purposes of this volume, but wo
have some interesting descriptions, which will be men-
tioned later, of the condition of the Russian settle-
ments, especially in the work of Dall, who was ap-
pointed director of the scientific corps.

I shall venture also to give a brief extract from a
statement made in 1878 by Ferdinand Westdahl, who
who was employed to survey Norton Sound and
other points for the purpose of determining their ex-
act position on the company's chart, and had not then
heard of his recall: "We lay at Unalakleet until
February, when we went into the field and continued
to work on the line, putting vip some 30 miles — the
posts only — for we had no wire. The country is a
complete bog. If you dig down on the hills there two
feet, you strike ice. We dug three holes with crow-

"On the lat of January, 1867, after breakfast, the party went out in a
ixKly and raised the first telegraph pole, ornamented with the flags of the
Uuited States, the telegraph expedition, the masonic fraternity, and the
tcientific corps. A salute of 36 guns was fired. Dali's Alaska, 59,
HiiT. Alaska. S7

r.»t*d

1 M

i«5

;^'v^

T'l'S

678 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

bars. lu many j' i we found snow 15 feet in
depth to leeward oi" a hill. Our poles were on an
average 15 feet long, b ,"■ on the leeward side we
had to make them 24 feet long. We should have
made them all 24 or 30 feet long, but that the timber
was too short. We dug them three feet into the
ground, which consists of frozen dirt. In summer
when the surface thawed, we found many of them,
which we supposed to be very firmly erected, entirely
loose.

"The men were very contented. They were of
course exposed to severe cold, and we had the ther-
mometer as low as 68° below zero, but we did not
suffer in the least. We were dressed in furs like In-
dians, and slept in open camps. For rations we had
only beans and graham flour. We also obtained seal-
oil from the Indians, and sometimes frozen fish. This
was just the kind of food that we needed in such a
climate. When we started forth on journeys, we
used to cook an entire sack of beans into bean soup.
Before it was entirely cold, we would pour it into a
bag, let it freeze, and take it with us. When we
camped at night, we took out an axe, chopped off" a
little, made our fire, and our supper was ready imme-
diately.""

In 1860 the general administration of the Russian
American Company submitted to the minister of
finance a draught of a new charter, together with a
request that the privileges be renewed for a further
term of twenty years, to commence from the 1st of
January 1862." In the following year Captain Golov-
nin was sent to Novo Arkhangelsk, with instructions
to make a thorough investigation into the condition

" This statement was made to me personally, on June 7, 1878, by Wf
Westdahl, on board EUicott's steam-launch, near Anderson Island in Pugel'
Sound.

" This was approved at a general assembly of shareholders. The few ail'
ditional nrivilegcs and changes requestod are mentioned in Dok. Kom. l!o»»-
Amer. Kcl., L 144-53, and in Politofiblcy, htor. Oboa. Rou. Amer. Kom.,
lOit-3.

thi

prt

stal

feal

Uvc

panl
conf

to I
>i J

NEGOTIATIONS FOR A CHARTER.

'tWfO

set itv
on an
de we
I have
timber
.to the
iummer
f them,
entirely

v^ere of
be ther-
did not
like In-
i we had
ined seal-
ish. This
in such a
trneys, we
jean soup-
it into a
^hen we
pped off a
lady iomie-

^e Bussian

minister ot

ther with a

m>T a further

the 1st ot

Iptain Golov-

instructions

,he condHiou

e7. l87»-^'^i
, Island 111 1"*='

L - The {cw ail-
Rom. ^^''- '^

of the company's affairs and report thereon to the
government. His report was in the main favorable,
though suggesting many changes and containing much
adverse criticism. It was followed by a reply from
the Creole Kashevarof, exposing abuses which had
hitherto been kept secret; and the statements of the
latter being indorsed by Baron Wrangell, the gov-
ernment refused to renew the charter, except on such
conditions as the company was not willing to accept.
In 1865 meetings of the imperial council were held at
which these conditions were determined, and in the
same year they were approved by the president and
submitted to the general administration. Some of
them were extremely unpalatable, especially those
requiring that the Aleuts and other dependent tribes
be exempt from enforced labor, and that all the inhab-
itants of Russian America be allowed to engage,
without distinction or restriction, in whatever indus-
try they preferred except that of fur-hunting." After
much intrigue, some concessions were obtained from
government, and a subsidy was even promised,^"
but no satisfactory arrangement was made, though
negotiations were continued almost until the transfer
of the territory to the United States.

During the debates which occurred in congress on
the purchase question, and in the comments of the
press on the same subject, it has frequently been
stated that, in 1866, the charter of the Russian
American Company was about to expire. It had al-
ready expired on the 1st of January 1862, and about
two years later Prince Maksutof, an officer appointed
by the imperial government,'* took charge of the com-
pany's affairs. That the renewal of the charter was
contemplated, however, appears in the following ex-

"The full text of the imperial council's decision is given in Politoffsky,
Ittor. Otoi. Ross. Amer. Kom., 147-M.

'~/d., 154-7.

" He commanded a battery at tl. attack on Petropavlovak in 1854, and
was wounded while loading a cannon wi'ih his own hands. Du Hailly, L'EX'
pid. de Petropavlovsh, in Htvue des deux Mondea, Aug. 1, 1858.

III'!

580 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

tract from a decision of the imperial council, con-
firmed by its president, the grand duke Constantine,
on April 2, 1866: "The company is allowed to in-
crease its working capital by the issue of new shares,
but at the final settlement of the company's business,
within twenty years hence or later, all claims must
be satisfied at the company's expense, without assist-
ance from the government."

Though the abuses mentioned by Kashevarof were
no doubt suflSciently culpable, it would seem that the
treatment of the natives was somewhat less severe
than during the two first terras of the company's ex-
istence. The number of Aleuts, which in 1840 had
decreased, it will be remembered, to 4,007, was in I860
about 4,400,*" the entire Indian population subject to
the company having increased during the same time
from about 5,400 to over 7,600. Meanwhile the Rus
man population had increased to 784, and the Creoles
mustered nearly 1,700, the whole population of the col-
onies being about 12,000, a gain of more than 58 per
cent since the census of 1841.^

The increase in the native population was due in
part to their being better fed and housed than in for-
mer years. Though except for a scant crop of veg-
etables raised chiefly at Kadiak, nearly all food
supplies, with the exception of fish and game,
were imported, the company not only supplied fair
rations of flour, fish, sugar, tea, and other provisions

" In 1849 it had reached 4,322, but the following year fell to 4,084. This
was caused by an outbreak of the measles in the Sitka aud UnalaskadistricU.
l)nk. Kom. Rots. Amer. KoL, i. 131. In Davidson's Report Coant Snrveij,
1867. the number is given at 4,268. Dall, Alaska, 350, after an amusing ex-
hibition of indignant philanthropy on stilts, states that their number had du-
creased about this date to 1,500. To point ont any more of Mr Dall's blun-
ders in the so-called historical portion of his work is a task for which I have
neither space nor inclination.

'■* Oolovnin, Obsor. Ross. Kol., in Malerialui, I. app. 151. Tikhmenef, Inter.
Obos., ii. 264, gives the entire population in 1860 at 12,028, including 784 Ifus-
■ians and 1,076 Creoles, the remainder being Indians. Among the Russians
he includes 208 women, but most of these were probably their crcolo or Iiidiau
wives. His figures coincide somewhat suspiciously with those of Goloviiin.

veg-

food

gavae,

?.fl fair

t visions

384. This
districts.
Lst Surrey,
muBing «•
,er hail do-
lall's Wun-
,icb I ha^»

lenef , /«'<"■•

o RuBsian'

oorlnJia"

oloviiin.

RATIONS OP THE HUNTERS.

581

to its servants,"* but sold flour to them at a small
fixed price,*^ and often at a heavy loss.^' Fish was of
course the staple food, and vi^as supplied to servants
free of charge, those who received less than 1,000
roubles a year being allowed to draw each day their
dole of bread and fish, of pease or gruel twice a week,
of salt beef on holidays, and of game when it was plen-
tiful, from the public kitchen; while married men
could receive an equivalent in money.^ The Aleuts
and others employed on hunting expeditions also re-
ceived a liberal supply of food and warm clothing, and
were allowed higher rates for their furs.'^

At the beginning of the company's third term, rules
were established for the preservation of fur-bearing
animals by a system of alternation at the various hunt-

** At the Mikhaielovsk redoubt they received in 1866 about 50 pounds of
flour, a pound of tea, and three pounds of sugar a inontli, in addition to
tlieir pay of one rouble a day. DaWs Alaska, 12. In the Sitka Archives, ii.
17, 18o4, it ia stated that after Voievodsky's arrival, the ration of flour waa
increased from 40 to 60 pounds, and that to reimburse the company, two
hours were added to each day's work during the summer months. Besides
these rations, servants received an allowance of fish. laid., ii. 71, it ia
mentioned that 71,500 salmon were salted at the Ozerskoi redoubt. It does
not appear that the laborer could purchase much for his wages, for according
to the company's price list for 1860, woollen shirts were sold at Novo Ark-
hangelsk for 12.1 roubles a dozen, blankets for about 21 roubles eaoh. boots of
second quality for 15 roubles a pair, and tobacco at 67^ roubles a poud. 'Tikh-
tnenef, Islor. Obos., ii. 234-5.

"Five roubles (scrip) per poud for rye and common wheat flour, and 10
for fine white flour. The company refused to ssU it, or sold it in very small
quantities, to those who were not in their service, on the ground that they were
compelled to keep on hand a two-years supply. Oolovnin, Ohsor. Ross. Kol.,
in Matericdui, 56.

"In 1856 rye flour imported from Russia cost the company 9.42 roubles
per poud, in 1857, 7.05, and in 1859, 6.47 roubles (scrip). Of course bread-
Btufls were obtained at cheaper rates when California began to export cereals.

" Beef from Ayan sold in the colonies at 25 kopeks, or 5 cents, per pound,
and even at that price was beyond the means of the poor, at least of the
poor who had families. California salt beef sold for about double that price.
Hogs were raised to some extent, but aa they were fed mainly on fish, tlieir
meat was unsavory. Chickens, also fed partly on fish, sold at Novo Ark-
hangelsk for 5 to 7 roubles each, and eggs at about roubles a dozen. Rum
was issued to the servants at the rate of eight gills a year; but after fa-
tiguing labor and in bad weather a further allowance was issued, so that they
usually received one or two gills a week. When one had need of a laborer
or craftsman, he would usually pay in rum, which could be obtained by those
in office for one tenth of the prir at which it was given in payment. Thus,
for making a pair of boots, a bottle of rum which had cost only 3J roubles,
would often be accepted in lieu of 30 or 35 roubles, scrip. Id., 58-9.

"A table of the prices paid by the company between 1830 and 1855 is
given in Id., app. 180-5.

!lt

if '4

V. i'

^ :¥-'4

Ill i ;

ill." ii

'"II

582 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

ing-grounds, those which were threatened with ex-
haustion being allowed to lie undisturbed for a period
of ten years. The increase which occurred after this
regulation in the number of fur-seals was remarkable,
especially at the Prybilof group. In 1851, 30,000
could be killed annually at St Paul Island alone, and
in 1861 as many as 70,000, without fear of exhausting
the supply. Between 1842 and 1861 shipments of
furs from the colonies included about 25,600 sea-otter,
338,600 fur-seal, 161,000 beaver, and 129,600 fox
skins.''' It will be observed that these figures show
a considerable decrease from the quantity forwarded
during the period 1821-1842. This was caused
mainly by the encroachments of foreign traders, and
especially of American whaling- vessels, whose masters
often touched at various points in the Russian posses-
sions during their voyage, and paid much higher prices
for furs than those fixed by the company's tariff. An-
other reason was the growth of intertribal traffic,
clothing worn by the natives far in the interior and
made up by Aleutian women being bartered for small
skins, oil, and bone."^

In 1826 Chistiakof wrote to the directors, asking
that an experienced wLaler be sent to the colonies.

**/d., app. 158 et seq. During the company's third term the supply of fox
skins became much smaller and their quality poorer. Etholen forbade shcotiiig
them in the Unalaska and Kadiak districts, though traps might stul be used.
Tikhmen^, Istor. Oboa., ii. 219. Ward, Three Weeknia Sitka, MS., 28(1853),
says that about 50,000 skins a year were received at the warehouse in Novo
Arkhangelsk. From Kadiak , shipments between 1 842 and ] 86 1 included 5, 809
sea-otter, 85,381 beaver, 14,298 sable skins, and 1,296 pouds of walrus tusks.
From at Paul Island, during the same period, there wore shipped 277,778 fur-
seal, 10,508 fox skins, and 104 pouds of walrus tusks. T'ikhmen^, Jslor. Ohm.,
ii. 190,200. For the quantities forwarded from other points, see Id., ii. 179,
184-6, 220. Probably the largest cargo of furs ever shipped from the colouies
was that of the Cesarevitch, despatched from Novo Arknangelsk to Ayau in
1857. It contained 453 packages, was valued 2,004,919 roubles, <uid iuuured
by the company's agent in London for £100,000. Sitka Archive,: (1857), i.
169, 243.

•"In Whymper's Trav. and Advent, in Alaska, 182, it is stated th.H this
trade was carried on by the Tchuktchis, who crossed from Siberia bjr way of
Bering Strait, and exchanged their reindeer skins for these commodities with
the Kaneaks and Malemutes, whom they mot at Port Clarence. Mr Wliyni-
per did not seem to bo aware that the Tchuktchis or Chugasches and the
Malemutes lioth belonged to the family of Kouiagas. For a description of
these tribes, see my A'ative Races, passim.

WHALE FISHERY.

683

No further steps were taken in the matter until 1833,
when an American named Barton arrived at Novo
Arkhangelsk, under a five-years contract to engage
in this industry, and to instruct the natives in harpoon-
ing and in rendering oil. He met with little success,
for the method employed by the Aleuts of shooting
the whales with spears or arrows, and waiting until
the carcass was washed ashore, was found easier and
less dangerous. Moreover, the company had neither
funds nor vessels to spare for the active prosecution
of this industry, as trade with California and the
Hawaiian Islands was now on a large scale, and se-
verely taxed the company's resources. For several
years, therefore, the whale-fisheries were left in the
hands of foreigners, since without the cooperation of
the Russian government the directors had no power
to prevent their intrusion.

In 1842 Etholen transmitted a report from Captain
Kadlikof, commanding the company's ship Naslednik
Alexandr, wherein the latter stated that he had spoken
an American whaler north of the Aleutian Islands,
and had learned from the ."^^tainthat he had sailed
together with 30 other whalers for Bering Sea. He
also mentioned that, the preceding year, he had been
in the same waters with 50 other vessels, and that he
alone had killed 13 whales, yielding 1,600 barrels of
oil. Upon this report- Etholen based a request that the
imperial government should send armed cruisers for
the preservation of Bering sea as a mare clausum.
Etholen's efforts were assisted by the board of managers,
but did not meet with immediate success, the minis-
ter for foreign affairs replying that the treaty between
Russia and the United States gave to American citi-
zens the right to engage in fishing over the whole ex-
tent of the Pacific Ocean. Etholen, however, would not
allow the matter to rest, but continued his correspond-
ence on the subject, urging that so lucrative an indus-
try should be placed in the hands of Russians, instead
of being left entirely to Americans.

B ^-^

te4 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

The government at length referred the matter to a
Committee, composed of officals of the navy department,
who reported that the cost of fitting out a cruiser for
the protection of Bering Sea against foreign whalers
would be 200,000 roubles in silver, and the cost of
maintaining such a craft 85,000 roubles a year. To
this a recommendation was added that if the company
were willing to assume the expenditure, a cruiser should
at once be placed at their disposal. Though the direc-
tors would not consent to this outlay, complaints of
the doings of American whalers were forwarded from
time to time, referring chiefly to the practice of landing
on the Aleutian Islands and other portions of the
coast for the purpose of trying out blubber, on which
occasions a wanton destruction of fuel took place,
causing great hardship to the inhabitants, who de-
pended entirely on the scant supplies of drift-wood. It
was not until 1850 that an armed corvette was finally
ordered to cruise in the north Pacific.

In the mean time Tebenkof took up the matter, and
forwarded proposals to the company for the establish-
ment at various points of whaling stations, provided
with whale-boats and improved appliances, and in
charge of experienced American whalers to be engaged
by the company for a term of years. In the year
1850 it was estimated that 300, and in later years as
many as 500 or 600 whalers annually visited the Arc-
tic Ocean, the Okhotsk and Bering seas,'^ and Alaskan
waters, carrying ofi" the stores of dried fish reserved
for hunting parties, and bartering liquor, arms, and
powder with the natives for furs. In 1849 a whaling
enterprise was established at Abo under the name of
the Russian Finland Whaling Company, with a capi-
tal of 200,000 roubles in silver, one half of which was

•' In 1854 there were 525; in 1855, 468; in 1856, .866; and in some ycara
600 foreign whalers. Doh. Kom. Rosa. Amer. Kol., i. 116. In Seeman'a S'^arr.
Voy. Herald (London, 1863), ii. 94, it is stated that in 1849-50 the American
whaling fleet in the Arctic consisted of 299 vessels, with 8,970 seamen, and
that the catch yielded about $0,367,000 worth of oil and $2,075,000 worth
of bone.

i'T'

NEW GOVERNORS.

furnished by the Kussian American Company. The
corporation received from the government a donation
of 20,000 roubles, and a premium of 10,000 roubles
each for the first four vessels equipped for this purpose,
and was permitted to import material, implements,
and stores, and to export its products, duty free, for a
period of twelve years.'^

During the few years of the Kussian Finland
Whaling Company's existence, six vessels were fitted
out, but the losses incurred and the difficulty in sell-
ing cargoes during the war with England and France
caused the enterprise to prove unprofitable.^ In 1854
the shareholders resolved to go into liquidation, and
were enabled to settle their liabilities in full by a
special grant from the imperial treasury, made on
account of losses incurred during the war. Thus the
whale fisheries were again left in the hands of foreign-
ers, who, before long, caused their entire destruction
in the sea of Okhotsk.

In consequence of the political complications then
arising in Europe, no successor was appointed at the
close of Tebenkofs administration in 1850, until four
years later, when Captain Voievodsky was elected
governor. He was succeeded in 1859 by the mining
engineer Furuhelm, the interval between Tebenkof

y illffl

"Sgibn^, in Morskoi Sbomil; ciii. 8, 89, 90; Tikhmenef, Istor. Ohos., ii.
app. 1-11, where further particulars of the charter are given. The value of
every tenth whale killed was to be delivered to tlie Russian American Com-
pany, to reimburse the natives for the loss caused by this enterprise.

"' The Siiomi, the first of the company's ships, a 500-ton vessel built at
A 1)0 and tittud out in Bremen, obtained, during her cruise in 1853, 1,500
barrels of oil and 21,400 lbs. whalebone. Her cargo was sold for 80,000 rou-
bl(!s, yielding a profit of 13,000 roubles. The second one, the Turko, secured
only one whale during her first cruise, but in the following year was more
successful. In 1854 the Aiaii wintered at Petropavlovsk, being intended to
sail with the Turko for Bremen, but was captured and burnt by the allied
fleet. Tikhmenef, iMor. Obos., ii. 139-53; ^orakoi Sbornik, xxiii. 5, 29-30;
Sitka Archive/* (1854), ii. 110. Tikhmenef gives a full description of the oper-
ations of the Russian Finland Whaling Company. In the Morskoi Sbornik,
xxiii. 4, 45, 4", it is stated that in 1854 a private wlri-'.^ig company was
established at Hclsingfors under the auspicjs of the Russian American Com-
pauy, and despatched a brig to Kamo.liatka by way of New Zealand. Wo
Dave no further details of its operations.

S86 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

and Voievodsky's administrations being filled by the
temporary appointment of lieutenants Rosenburg
and Rudakof, who managed the company's affairs
during the first years of the Russo-Turkish war.

Notwithstanding some unfavorable features and the
interruption to trade caused by the war of 1853, there
was a considerable increase in dividends during the
company's last term, the amount disbursed being about
10,210,000 roubles, a gain of nearly 17 per cent
over the sum distributed in the previous twenty
years. At the close of the term the fixed and work-
mg capital of the company amounted to more than
13,600,000 roubles.** The receipts from all sources
exceeded 75,770,000 roubles, of which amount over
23,755,300 was required for the support of the col-
onies, and nearly 11,366,000 roubles for ihe general
administration, including, among other items, pensions
and rewards to otBcials and servants."

The entire amount received from sales of tea, whif^h,
as in former years, was mainly purchased at Kiakhta
and njarketed in Russia, exceeded 27,000,000 roubles.
The profits on these transactions were greatly reduced
when, on the application of a few Moscow manufact-
urers, a rule was established that the company's agents
should be required to accept Russian manufactured
goods in part payment; the more so as these were
always of inferior quality. Between 1835 and 1841
the company's profits on each chest of tea were from

**The items and also the rate of each year's dividend are given in Tilh-
tnenff, Istor. Obot., ii. 281-2, and are in silver roubles, but have been reduced to
roubles in scrip, as this kind of money is the one usually mentioned in the text
of this volume. The figures given in Dok. Kom. Ross. Amer. KoL, i. 100,
di£fer somewhat from Tikhmenef's.

*^ A colonial pension fund was created in 1851 by a tax on the sale of
liquor, but about two years later there was a deficit, which wa« made good
by au appropriation from the company. Sitka Archives, 1854, ii. 85. Rewards
were on a liberal scale. For 1853 they amounted at Novo Arkhangelsk alone
to 26,555 roubles. Id., 73. The total number of the company's servants on
the 1st of January, 1861, including a portion of the Sibenan line battalion,
was 847. Oolovriin, Obsor. Ross, KoL, in Materialui, app. 145. This of course
does not include the hunters. Ward states that the governor received 35,000
roubles a year, and his amistant 12,000. Three IVeeka in Sitka, MS., 79.

f'alui,
''ition tl
"Till
companf

'toted tlT
„ '"ThJ
S ilka A,
each of tl
^I« , 10,
"'entions
«Aec

! ;i-'

CAUFORNIA TRADE.

687

187 to 300 roubles; in 1845 it was less than 23
roubles. The loss fell entirely on the company, or
more probably on the company's servants. Two years
after permission was given to send cargoes of tea from
Shanghai to Kussia, annual shipments were made
of 4,000 chests; and yet cloths manufactured at Mos-
cow could be bought cheaper at Shanghai than in the
former city.*

The discovery of gold in California was of course
followed by a marked revival of trade with that coun-
try. One cargo of almost worthless goods, that had
been in the company's storehouses for years, was dis-
posed of in San Francisco at fabulous rates. Other
ventures were less successful, though most of them
were profitable.'^ In 1851 a party of San Francisco
capitalists, among whom were Messrs Sanderson and
J. Mora Moss, made a contract with Rosenberg for
250 tons of ice to be shipped from Novo Arkhan-
gelsk at $75 per ton. The shipment was made in
February 1852, and in October of the same year tlie
])rice was reduced to $35 per ton, and the quantity
forwarded increased to 1,000 tons, a contract to this
effect being made for three years. Later the price
was further reduced and the quantity again increased.
Between 1852 and 1859 there were shipped from Novo
Arkhangelsk 13,960 tons, and from Kadiak 7,403
tons.'* The ice was procured from two lakes, one of
them near Novo Arkhangelsk and the other on Wood
Island, near Kadiak, five buildings being erected for
its storage*® with a total capacity of 12,000 tons.*"

*^Dolc. Kom. Rom. Amer. Kol., i. 99; Oolovnin, Ohaor. Ron*. KoL, in Mate-
rialui, 121-2. The company was allowed to ship tea by water only on cou-
(Ution that they would not undersell the Kiakhta merchants.

" There was also a small but profitable trade with New York during the
company's third term. In 1857, 7,500 fur-seals and 4,000 beaver skins were
shipped to that port. Sitka Archives, i. 308.

^° An account of each year's shipments is given in Id., 180-8. It is there
stated that 20,554 tons were sold in Sun Francisco, netting $r21,9.~)6.

"Three at Novo Arkhangelsk and two at Kadiak, all built in 1852-3.
Sitka Archives, i. 188. In Id., 9, it is stated that one ice-house was built in
each of the years 1852, 1853, and 1856. Ward, in his Three Weekt iti Sitka,
MS., 10, says that an ice-house was built in 1853 at the edge of the lake, but
mentions no other.

*" According to the opinion of an American engineer in the company's em-

688 THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN COMPANY'S LAST TERM.

Rails were laid to connect the ice-houses with the
wharves, these being the first tracks constructed in
Russian America. I append in a note" a few remarks

ploy, tho lake on Wood Island alone could furnish 30,000 tons a year. Tikh-
menff, Istor. Obon., ii. 198.

*> Among tho principal sources of information aa to the affairs of the Rus-
sian American Company, may be mentioned first the Doklcul Komileta ob
Udro'iKtva Ihtsxkikh Anierikannkikh Koloni, or Keport of the Committee on
the Reorganization of the Russian American Colonies, St Petersburg, 1803-
4, 2 vols. The question of what was to be done with the Rrs^-ian jossessions
iu America at tho expiration of the absolute control of the Russian American
Company was referred to a mixed committee of f ~)urteen, composed of gov-
eramcnt officials, me of science, and members of the company. Tliis com-
mittee presented an jlaborate report based upon the infomiatii .i tliey had
gathered from the works of Khlebnikof, Tikhmenef, and </' hers, a(l from
private individuals, which was published in the present wv. l, together
with the following additional documents: 1. A separate opinion of Act-
ual State Counsellor Kostlivtzof, a member of the committee; 2. Expla-
nations as to the conclusions of the committee by the general administra-
tion of the Russian American Comfuny; 3. A letter of n member of the
general administration. Admiral Etholin; 4. A communicatiun from the gen-
eral administration on the financial condition of the company; 5. Report of
on inspection of the Russian American colonies in 18(i0 and 1801 by Kost-
livtzof; 0. Report on the same s bject by Captain Golovnin; 7. Remarks of
the general administration on Kostlivtzof's report; 8. Reply of the company
to tlie opinion of the i.unister of marine concerning its privileges; 0, Letter
on the same subject by Adjutant General Wrangell, member of the privy
council; 10. Letter of Furuhilm on the mining interests of the Russian
American colonies; 11. Letter of Captain Wehrman on the condition of the
Russian American Company and the trade with the arctic regions; 12. Ex-
tracts from a commtmication of the company to thr committee on the organ-
ization of the Russian American col' >riies. "he >t' 'a few historical data

pf it thru»s light n the circuui-
le United States, and is probably

not contained in the work of Tiki
stances which led to the sale of
more reliable in matters of det
At the time when the third
Russian American Company w^
revoking its charter was generally

the exclusive p leges granted to the
;t to 0^ ire, the . , bject of renewing or
^ _ ussc' loth in comm«rcial and f^overn-

ment circles. Tikhmenef undertook the t k. of compiling a complete history
of thpcoloniss and of the company, and &. ne was afforded every facility hy
the ''irpotors, the different departments of the government, and the holy synod,
he succeeded admirably. The work covers a period of 75 year? and is
em-iohed with a large number of verljal copies of original document- aul let-
ters by Baranof, Shelikof, loassafT, Rezanof, and others who jJayed a prom-
inent part in the development of the Russian cohmies in America. The various
imperial edicts and charters of the company are also given in full, as well as
comprehensive statistics of population, commerce, and industries. The vol-
umes are handsomely printed, ond adorned with excellent chart:^ steil v-
gravings, and autographs of Shelikof, Baranof, and Rezanof. It entithi
Istorirheakoie Obosrenie Obrazovnia BoHsv/sko JmerikaiiMkoi Kompani, or
Historical Review of the Origin of the Russian American Company (2 vols.,
St Petersburg, 1861). Of the Matericdui dlia htori Rmnkikh Zasxeleni, or
Material for the History of the Russian Settlements, mention has before
been made.

The KrcUkoie latorickeskoie Ohozrdnie Obrazovania i deintvy Rossiitiko-A nwr-
ikanskoi Kompani s'samago Nacliala UchrezJenia Onoi i do Nuatoiaalchavo
Vremeni, or Short Historical Account of the Establishment and Operations
of the Buaaiau American Company from its First Beginning down to

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

lastiharo
lowu ^

of a bibliograhical nature on authorities for annals of
the company.

the Present Time, by Lieutenant General Politoffslty (St Petersburg, 1861),
covers only the ground occupied by Tikhmcuef an(l otliors, but in a later
edition contains the negotiations ))ctween the company and the imperial gov-
ernment, not to bo found in any of the authors quoted in this volume. The
above authorities together with Khlcbnikof, Vcniaminof, and Znvalishin are
the principal sources of information concerning the Russian American Com-
pany, apart from the Sitka and Alaska archives, thouoli many items of inter-
est may bo gleaned from Markof, Davidof, Lisiansky, Wrangoll, Belcher,
Simpson, ancf from the manuscripts quoted in this volume.

Worthy of mention also is the Khronolofjichexkaia htoria Othrytia A hut-
nkikh Ontrovov Hi Podvigi Rotsiyskaijo Knpechestva m Prisovokuplenii'm lato-
richfskaiio hventia o Miakhovoi Tori/ovla, or Chronological History of the Dis-
covery of tlie Aleutian Islands or tlie Achievements oftho Russian Merchants,
with an additional Historicnl Review of the Fur Trade. (Gretsch Printing
OfRce, St Petersburg, 1823.) The author of this work, who is not named on
the title-page, is Vassili Berg, and the volume is dedicated to the vice-
admiral and chief of the naval staff of his imperial Majesty, Anton Vassil-
ievitch Von Moller. The writer, who was a member of tlie Imperial
Academy of ^Sciences, has collected with great care and arranged chronologi-
cally the accounts of all voyages of Russian fur traders and hunters from
Olihotsk and Kamchatka to the islands and coasts of Bering Sea, between
1743 and 1805, as found iu the original journals and archives of Siberian
towni.

«u;'.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ALASKA AS A CNITED STATES COLONY.

1867-1883.

Motives for thi Transfeh by the Rttssian Government — ^Neootia-
TI0N8 Commenced — Senator Cole's Efforts — The Tkeatt Signed
AND RAiinED — Reasons for and against the Pdrchase — The Ter-
ritory AS AN Investment — Its Formal Cession — Inflitx of Amer-
ican Adventurers — Measures in Congress — A Country without
Law or Protection — Evil Effect of the Military Occupation—
An £meute at Sitka— Further Troubles with the Natives — Their
Cause — Hootcbenoo or Molasses-rom — Revenue — Suggestions fob
A Civil Government — Want of Mail Facilities— Surveys and Ex-
plorations.

From the day on which the term of the Russian
American Company's third charter expired, the great
monopoly ceased to enjoy, except on sufferance, any
rights or privileges other than those common to all
Russian subjects. It retained, of course, its personal
property ard the real estate actually in use, but after
the company refused to accept the terms of the im-
perial government, operations were continued only
pending the disposition of its effects and the winding-
up of its affairs. Expenses were curtailed, some of
the trading posts abandoned, and the control of the
colonies placed in charge of an officer appointed by
the company.

But Russia had no desire to retain control of this
territory, separated as it was from the seat of govern-
ment by a wide tract of tempestuous ocean and by
the breadth of her vaat empire. Long before tlie
Crimean war, the question had been mooted of plac-

( 8B0 )

RUSSIA HAS NO USE FOR ALASKA.

tEATY Signed
,gTj_-THB Tek-

LTTX or AMEB-
NTRY WITHOUT
OCCtlPATION —
fATIVSS— 'CBEIB
DOOBSTIOKS FOB

b,vey8 and Ex-

tie Russian
d, the great
erance, any
.mon to all
its personal
se, but after
I of the uu-
tinued only
the winding-
led, sonic oi
,ntrol of the
ippointed by

Ltrol of this
Uofgover^^-
Ccean and by
U before the
[oted of plac-

(BSO)

ing Alaska under imperial rule, but it was decided
that the expense of protecting this vast territory, and
of maintaining there the costly machinery of a colo-
nial government, was not justified by the prospect of
an adequate return. The bombardment of Petropav-
lovsk and other incidents of the war had confirmed
this impression, and the day seemed not far distant
when the long-threatened struggle would begin with
England for supremacy in central Asia. In such an
event Russia would need all her resources. Already
her railroads had been built and her wars conducted
ma'^lv with borrowed capital. In case of another
war witn the greatest moneyed power and the great-
est maritime power in the world, neither men, ships,
nor money could be spared for the protection of Rus-
sian America. Moreover, Russia had never occu-
pied, and had never wished to occupy, this territory.
For two thirds of a century she had been represented
there, as we have seen, almost entirely by a fur and
trading company under the protection of government.
In a measure i ! had controlled, or endeavored to con-
rol, the affairs of that company, and among its stock-
holders were several members of the royal family;
but Alaska had be&^ originally granted to the Rus-
sian American Company by imperial oukaz, and by
imperial oukaz the charter had been twice renov/ed.
Now that the company had declined to accept a fourth
charter on the terms proposed, something must be
done with the territory, and Russia would lose no
actual portion of her empire in ceding it to a republic
with which she was on friendly terms, and whose do-
main seemed destined to spread over the entire conti-
nent.

The exact date at which negotiations were com-
menced for the transfer is difficult to determine ; but we
know that at Kadiak it was regarded almost as a cer-
tainty not later than 1861,' and that at Washington

'According to Chichinof, Adventures, MS., 48, the manager of this dis-
trict declared that arrangements with the United States were almost com.

MAu

I' ilf I

f J" F

'1, i

II'

502

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

it was discussed at least as early as 1859. In Decem-
ber of the latter year, during Buchanan's administra-
tion, Mr Gwin, then senator for California, held sev-
eral interviews with the Russian minister, in the course
of which he stated, though not officially, that the
United States would be willing to pay five million
dollars for Alaska. The assistant secretary of state
also affirmed that the president was in favor of the
purchase, and that if a favorable answer were returned
by the Russian government, he would lay the mattei
before the cabinet. A few months later a despatch
was received from Prince Gortschakof stating that
the sum offered was entirely inadequate ; but that the
minister of finance was about to inquire into the condi-
tion of the territory, after which Russia would be in a
condition to treat.^

On the 1st of January, 1860, the company's capital
was estimated at about four million four hundred thou-
sand dollars,^ but it was represented almost entirely
by furs, goods, real estate, improvements, and sea-going
vessels, which would realize, of course, but a small
part of the value placed on them. In view of this
fact, and of the uncertainty as to the renewal of the
charter, it is not improbable that a positive offer of
fiv3 million dollars might have been accepted, but for
the outbreak of the civil war, which for several years
put an end to further negotiations.

Among those who most desired the transfer were
the people of Washington Territory, many of whom
had been employed in the fisheries of the British
provinces, and wished for right of fishery among tiie
rich salmon, cod, and halibut grounds of the Alaskan
coast.* In the winter of 1866 a memorial was adopted

Eleted, but nothing more was heard of the matter at Kadiak until a few weeks
efore the transfer occurred.
^Sumner's Sj>eerh, Cevi. Rum. Amer., 8 (Washington, 1807). Sumner re-
marks that Buchanan employed as his intennediary a known sympathizer
with slavery, and one who afterward became a rebel.

•Politoffsky, htor. Ohot. lions. Amer. Kom., 162, gives it at 5,007,850.03
roubles, silver.

*Iu/7r^(. Com. For. Aff. in Houtt Com. Jle^. 40th cong. 2d aeu., No. 3',

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PURCHASE,

3m-

tra-
sev-
iirse
the
Uion
state
■ the
irneil
lattei
tch

; that
at the
condl-
38 in a

capital
d thou-
jntirely
,a-goin<j;
a small

of thin
of the

offer of

but for
lal yeav>^

ifer were
)f whom

British
Inong the
Alashan

adopted

llafewwecka

Sumner ro-
sympathize'

5,907,850.09
, No. 37.

by the legislature of this territory, "in reference to
the cod and other fisheries,"' and after being presented
to the president, was delivered to the Kussian minis-
ter, with some comments on the necessity of an ar-
rangement that would avoid difficulties between the
two powers.

A few weeks later other influences were brought
to bear. The lease of territory which, it will be re-
membered, had been granted by the Russian Ameri-
can Company to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1837,
and several times renewed, would expire in June
1868. Could not the control of this valuable slip of
earth be obtained for a trading company to be or-
ganized on the Pacific coast, together with a license
to gather furs in portions of the Russian territory ?
Mr Cole, senator for California, sought to obtain
these privileges on behalf of certain parties in that
state, and thus, as Sumner remarks, "the mighty Hud-
son's Bay Company, with its headquarters in Lon-
don, was to give way to an American company, with
its headquarters in California." The minister of the
United States at St Petersburg was addressed on the
subject, but replied that the Russian American Com-
pany was then in correspondence with the Hudson's
Bay Company as to the renewal of their lease, and
that no action could be taken until some definite
answer were received. Meanwliile the Russian min-
ister at Washington,® with whom Cole had held sev-
eral interviews, returned to St Petersburg on leave of
absence, promising to do his best to maintain friendly
relations between the two powers.

If at this juncture a prompt and satisfactory an-

p. 1 1 , it is stated that the people of Washington Territory ' entered into compe-
tition unsuccessfully with the subjects of Great Britain and Russia, who liaj
obtained froii. tlieir respective governments a virtual monopoly of the seas and
coast above the i>arallcl of 49° north latitude.' The committee did not seem
to he aware that the Russians made little use of their fisheries except for
local consumption, and tliat even the whale-fisheries were mainly in the hands
of Americans.

' A copy of it is given in Sumner's Speech, 8-9.

'Baron Edward do Stoeckl.
UiST. Alaika. 38

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

swer had been returned by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, Alaska might at this day have been one of the
numerous colonies of Great Britain, instead of being,
as in fact it became for a time, the only colony belong-
ing to the United States. But no answer came, or
none that was acceptable; nor at the beginning of
1867 had any agreement been made by the Russian
American Company with the imperial government as
to the renewal of its charter.

In February of this year, when the Russian minis-
ter was about to return to Washington, the archduke
Constantino gave him power to treat for the sale of
the territory. On his arrival, negotiations were at
once opened for this purpose. On the 23d of March
he received a note from the secretary of state offering
to add, subject to the president's approval, two hundred
thousand dollars to the sum of seven million dollars
before proposed, on condition that the cession be "free
and unencumbered by any reservations, privileges,
franchises, grants, or possessions by any associated
companies, whether corporate or incorporate, Russian
or any other." ^ Two days later an answer was re-
turned, stating that the minister believed himself au-
thorized to accept these terms. On the 29th final in-
structions were received by cable from St Petersburg.
On the same day a note was addressed by the minister
to the secretary of state, informing him that the tsar
consented to the cession of Russian America for the
stipulated sum of seven million two hundred thousand
dollars in gold. At four o'clock the next morning the
treaty was signed by the two parties without further
phrase or negotiation. In May the treaty was rati-
fied," and on June 20, 1867, the usual proclamation
was issued by the president of the United States.

' William H. Seward' » Letter to Edward de Stoecicl, in JJept., nt 8upra,_52.

•On May 27th, or according to the Russian calendar, on May 15th,
Seward received from Stoeckl, who was then at New York, a despatch, stating
that the treaty had been ratified at St Petersburg. On the 28th Stoeckl WM
in Washington, and on the sume day the treaty was ratified by thu gov:
meut of the United States. Jlept,, ut supra, 53.

'CSS aewd

°^fortncn
*"(! in //I

the

)ng-

y oi

jsiau
nt as

ainis-
iduke

TREATY OF CESSION.

*)«»

Siich in brief is the history of this treaty, which
for years was published and republished, discussed
and rediscussed, throughout the United States.® As
there is no principle involved, nor any interesting
information connected therewith, it is not neces-
sary here to enter upon an analysis or elucidation
of these discussions. The circumstances which led
to the transfer are still supposed by many to be
enshrouded in mystery, but I can assure the reader
that there is no mystery about it. In diplomatic
circles, even so simple a transaction as buying a piece
of ground must not be allowed consummation without
the usual wise winks, whisperings, and circumlocution.

Some of the reasons which probably induced Russia
to cede her American possessions have already been
mentioned. The motives which led the United States
government to purchase them are thus stated in a
report of the committee on foreign affairs, published
May 18, 1868: "They were, first, the laudable desire
of citizens of the Pacific coast to share in the prolific
fisheries of the oceans, seas, bays, and rivers of the
western world; the refusal of Bussia to renew the
charter of the Russian American Fur Company in
1866; the friendship of Russia for the United States;
the necessity of preventing the transfer, by any possi-
ble chance, of the north-west coast of America to an
unfriendly power;*" the creation of new industrial in-
terests on the Pacific necessary to the supremacy oi
our empire on the sea and land; and finally, to facili
tate and secure the advantages of an unlimited Amer-
ican commerce with the friendly powers of Japan and
China."

Here we have probably a fair statement of the caso
in favor of the purchase question, howsoever senselesj,

•Copies of it are to be found in Mess, and Doc. Dept. State, I., 40th cong.
2d seas. 388-90, in Doll's Alaska, 300-2, among other works, anil in count,
less newspapers and periodicals.

'" In Sumner's Speech, 10-11 , is a clear and logical discussion on the relation
of former treaties between England and Russia as to the transfer of Alaska;
Md in Hansard, Deb. ccxv. 1487-8, and ccxvi. 1157 (1867), are some remark!
nude in the British House of Commons on this point.

4'^Mi

596

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

^'iiil

and illogical some of the reasons cited may appear.
On the other side, we have some cogent arguments in
theminority report, whereitisremarked that "acontract
is entered into by the president, acting through the sec-
retary of state, to purchase of the Russian government
the territory of Alaska. The contract contained stij)-
ulations which were well understood by Baron Stoeckl,
the agent of the Russian government. Those stipu
lations were such as the negotiators could not enforce,
but which were necessary to be complied with before
the treaty could become valid or binding. The stip-
ulations were, first, that the treaty should be ratified
by the senate; and second, that the legislative power
should vote the necessary appropriation. The first
stipulation was complied with, and the second is the
one now being considered. Each stipulation was inde-
pendent of the other, and required independent pow-
ers to carry it into execution. The treaty-making
power can no more bind congress to pass a law than
congress can bind it to make a treaty. They are
independent departments, and were designed to act as
checks rather than be subservient to each other.

"As was well said by Judge McLean,. . .'a treaty
is the supreme law of the land only when the treaty-
making power can carry it into effect. A treaty
which stipulates for the payment of moneys under-
takes to do that which the treaty-making power can-
not do; therefore, the treaty is not the supreme law
of the land. A foreign government may be presumed
to know that the power of appropriating money be-
longs to congress.'""

The unseemly haste with which the treaty was con-
summated, and the reluctance with which the purchase
money was afterward voted by congress, add to the
pertinence of these remarks; and the mistrust as to
the expenditure of public funds was not dispelled by

" In the minority report it ia compkuoed that in answer to a resolution
that all correspondence and information in poaseasion of the executive be laiJ
before the house of representatives, 300 po^a mainly of irrelevant matter
were produced.

A GOOD BARGAIN.

sg?

,,pipear.
ents in
otitract
the sec-
rnnient
led 8ti\)-
Stoeclil,
36 stipu-
enforce,
h before
rbe stip-
e ratified
ve power
The first

)nd is t^^^

was inde-

dent pow-

ty-makiug

I law than
They are

id to act as

other.
.<a treaty

the treaty-
A treaty

^eys under-
power can-
tipreme laNV
)e presumed
r money be-

ity was con-
_,he purchase
add to tlio
strust as to
dispelled by

,er to a resolution
irrelevant matter

the report of the committee on public expenditure
published at Washington in February 1869." More-
over, it was well known to all American citizens that**
the president of the United States, or his representa-
tive, had no more right to use the public money for
the purchase of Alaska without a vote of congress,
than had the queen of England to demand from her
people the price of her daily breakfast without the
consent of parliament.

Nevertheless, experience has proved that the terri-
tory was well worth the sum paid for it, though at first
it was believed to be almost valueless. And this is
the real reason of the purchase ; it was thought to be
a good bargain, and so it was bought, though cash on
hand was not over plentiful at the time. A special
agent of the treasury, in a report dated November 30,
1869, estimates the compounded interest of the pur-
chase money for twenty-five years at $23,701,792.14,
and adds to this sum $12,500,000 as the probable ex-
pense, caused by the transfer, to the army and navy
departments for the same period, thus making the
total cost, including the principal, $43,401,792.14 for
the first quarter of a century. He is of opinion, how-
ever, that $75,000 to $100,000 a year might be derived
from what he terms the ' seal-fisheries,' and perhaps
$5,000 to $10,000 from customs. "As a financial
measure," he remarks, " it might not be the worst

" In this report we have a copy of the treasury warrant delivered to
Stoeckl, and of nis receipt. From the statements of all the witnesses, no evi-
dence of bribery was elicited when the facts were sifted from rumor and hear-
say, unless the oflFer hy the Russian minister of $3,000 in gold to the principal
proprietor of the Wanhiiigton Daily Chronicle, and the payment of $1,000 in
greenbacks to a representative of the California press, be so regarded. The fees
puitl to counsel were very moderate. William H. Seward, one of the wit-
nesses, denied most emphatically ' all knowledge whatever of any payments
or distribution of any part of said money other than to the representative
of tlio Russian government, or of any payments other than triflmg sums for
printing, purchasing, and distributing documents by and from the state
department pertaining to Alcska.' Such a statement, however, proves noth-
ing, as there were doubtless several thousand others, at Washington and
elsewliiTe, who knew of no bribery or corruption in the matter. In the
Baiirro/t Library Scraps, and in Iloncharenko's Scmp Book, i. passim, there
are Bonie amusing discussions and comments on the disposition of the purchase
money.

508

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

1^'

policy to abandon the territory for the present.""
The agent appears to have been somewhat astray in
his estimates, for between 1871 and 1883 about
$5,000,000 were paid into the United States treasury
as rent of the Prybilof Islands and tax on seal-
skins alone. It is true that the military occupa-
tion, while it lasted, was somewhat expensive, and
that buildings which cost many thousands of dol-
lars were afterward sold for a few hundreds; but, as
we shall see, troops were not needed in Alaska, and
the cost of maintaining the single war-vessel which
was occasionally stationed at Sitka after their with-
drawal cannot have been excessive.

Seward, who visited Alaska a short time before
the agent's report was published," and who delivered
a speech at Sitka in August 1869, remarks: "Mr
Sumner, in his elaborate and magnificent oration, al-
though he spake only from historical accounts, has
not exaggerated — no man can exaggerate — the marine
treasures of the territory. Besides the whale, which
everywhere and at all times is seen enjoying his ro-
bust exercise, and the sea-otter, the fur-seal, the hair-
seal, and the walrus found in the waters which ini-
bosom the western islands, those waters, as well as the
seas of the eastern archipelago, are found teeming
with the salmon, cod, and other fishes adapted to the
support of human and animal life. Indeed, what I
have seen here has almost made me a convert to the
theory of some naturalists, that the waters of the
globe are filled with stores for the sustenance of ani-

"Mclntyre'a Rept. in Sen. Ex. Doc., 4l8t cong. 2d eess., No. 32, p. 34,
He states that the entire number of voters in the territory does not exceeil
125, and reports against the establishment of a territorial government.

'* He arrived at Sitka on board the Active on July 30, 1869, and witnessed
the eclipse that occurred a few Jays later near Davidson's camp oti the
Ghilkat. Seward was on his way up the river when the eclipse occurred.
The day was cloudy, and the sun was first observed by an Lidian, who re-
marked that it 'was very sick and wanted to go to sleep.' The Indiaus
refused to row any farther, and the party went ashore and lighted a tiro iu
a dell near the river bank. In the evening Seward's party reached the pro-
fessor's camp, to which they had been invited. Iloncharenko'a Scrap Book,
i. 72.

and

Pestl

a coii

JiaiiL'

Joh

dencj

sian

the

ofthi

ton, \i
"OJ
""• 280.1

"If
gelsk
Words,
before i
use.

TRANSFER AT SITKA.

500

raal life surpassing the available productions of the
land."»*

Of the resources of Alaska, mention will be made
later. At present her furs and fisheries are of course
the chief attractions; but it is not improbable th^t
in the distant future the sale of her mining and tim-
ber lands will yield to the United States an annual
income larger than the amount of the purchase money.

The Russian American Company, besides support-
ing its numerous and expensive establishments, paid
into the imperial treasury between 1841 and 1862 over
4,400,000 roubles in duties," to stockholders more than
2,700,000, and for churches, schools, and benevolent
institutions about 553,000 roubles. There appears
no valid reason, therefore, why Alaska should not have
been a source of profit to the United States, except
perhaps that this was the first experiment made in the
colonization, and it is to be hoped the last in the mil-
itary occupation, of a territory which, as will be re-
lated, the attorney-general declared in 1873 to be
'Indian country.*

On Friday, the 18th of October, 1867, the Russian
and United States commissioners. Captain Alexei
Pestchourof and General L. H. Rousseau, escorted by
a company of the ninth infantry, landed at Novo Ark-
hangelsk, or Sitka," from the United States steamer
John L. Stephens. Marching to the governor's resi-
dence, they were drawn up side by side with the Rus-
sian garrison on the summit of the rock where floated
the Russian flag; "whereupon," writes an eye-witness
of the proceedings, "Captain Pestchourof ordered the

^''Speeehes of William H. Seward in Alaska, Van., and Or. 6 (Washing-
ton, 1809).

"On tea forwarded from Shanghai and Kiakhta. Tikhmenef, Jalor. Ohon. ,
ii. 280.

" I find no evidence as to the exact date when the name of Novo Arkhan-
gelsk was changed to that of Sitka. Simpson, writing in 1847, nses both
words. Jour, round World, ii. 180-1. Though the latter is used by writers
before his time, it was probably about this date that it first came generally into
ase.

f \ ■ i

ill

■ a,' "I ;

iii

im^k

ii'lilll
,1

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

Russian flag hauled down, and thereby, with brief
declaration, transferred and delivered the territory of
Alaska to the United States ; the garrisons presented
arms, and the Russian batteries and our men of war
fired the international salute; a brief reply of accept-
ance was made as the stars and stripes were run up
and similarly saluted, and we stood upon the soil of
the United States." »«

Thus, without further ceremony, without even ban-
queting or speech-making, this vast area of land, be-
longing by right to neither, was transferred from one
European race to the oflshoot of another. No sooner
had the transfer been made than General Davis de-
manded the barracks for his troops, taking possession,
moreover, of all the buildings, and this although the
improvements of whatever kind were beyond doubt
the property of the Russian American Company, the
Russian government having no right whatever to
transfer them. Thus the inhabitants were turned
into the streets, only a few of them obtaining two or
three days' grace in which to find shelter for their
families and remove their eflPects.

Within a few weeks after the American flag w^as
raised over the fort at Sitka, stores, drinking-saJoons,
and restaurants were opened, vacant lots were staked
out, were covered with frame shanties, and changed
hands at prices that promised to make the frontage
of the one street which the capital contained alone
worth the purchase money of the territory. To this
new domain flocked men in all conditions of life — spec-
ulators, politicians, office-hunters, tradesmen, even
laborers. Nor were there wanting loafers, harlots,

^* Bloodgood's Eight Months at Sitka, in Overland Monthly, Feb. ISGO.
In Whymjier^s Alashi, 105-0, and in some of the Pacific const newspapers, it
ia stated that the Russian flag, wlien being lowered, clung to the yard-aim.
The following extract from the Albany State Hight-i Democrat, March 20, IST's
will serve as a, fair specimen of the nonsense published on this matter: 'A
vailor was ordered up the flagstaff, and had actually to cut the flag iuto slimls
before he could take it down. VVhen the American flag reached the toj) of
the staff, it hung lifeless, until, at the first boom of the saluting Russian artil-
lery, it gave a convulsive shudder, and at the second gun it shook out its starry
folds and proudly floated in the breeze.'

NEW ORDER OF ' IIINQS.

601

gamblers, and divers other classes of free white Eu-
ropeans never seen in these parts before ; for of such
is our superior civilization. A charter was framed for
the so-called city, laws were drawn up, and an election
held, at which a hundred votes were polled for almost
as many candidates." The claims of squatters were

f)ut on record; judgment was passed in cases where
iberty and even life were at stake; questions were
decided which involved nice points of international
law; and all this was done with utter indifference to
the military authorities, then the only legal tribunal in
the territory.

Two generations had passed away since Baranof
and his countrymen had built the fort, or as i is now
termed the castle, of Sitka. During all these years
the Russians had known little and cared for little
beyond the dull routine of their daily labor and their
daily life. It is probable that the appearance of the
first steam-vessel in Alaskan waters caused no less
sensation among them than did the news of Auster-
litz, of Eylau, or of Waterloo. Apart from the higher
officials, they belonged for the most part to the uned-
ucated classes. If poorly paid, they had been better
fed and clad and housed than others of their class.
They were a law-abiding, if not a God-fearing, com-
munity. During the long term of the company's
dominion there had been no overt resistance to author-
ity, except in the two instances already mentioned in
this volume. They had been accustomed to submit
without a murmur to the dictates of the governor,
from whom there was no appeal, save to a court from
Avhose seat they were separated by more than one
third of the earth's circumference. This, however,
was under what might be called a half-savage regime.

" Mr Dodge, collector of customs, was tho first mayor of Sitka, Soon
after tho purchase, the following ticket was elected: For mayor, W. H.
WiKxl; for councihnen, J. A. Fuller, C. A. Kinkaid, Frank Mahoney, Isaac
r>or{,'innn, and J. Uelstedt; for recorder, 0. R. McKnight; for surveyor, J. A.
I'ul.er; and for con:,tablo, P. B. Ryan. In 18S2, Wood was practising law in
San Francisco, Fuller lived at Napa, Kinkaid at Portland, Or., McKuight at
Kiy West, Fla., and Helstedt still kept a store at Sitka.

I Ik

i«!

i^fi

602

ALASKA A3 A UNITED STATES COLONY.

But now all was changed. Speculation and law-
lessneas were rife, and the veriest necessaries sold at
prices beyond reach of the poor. The natives were
not slow to take advantage of their opportunity, and
refused to sell the Russians game or fish at former
rates ;*• while the Americans refused to accept the
parchment money which formed their circulating
medium" in payment for goods, except at a heavy dis-
count. No wonder that few of the Russians cared to
take advantage of the clause in the treaty which pro-
vides that, "with the exception of the uncivilized
native tribes, the inhabitants of the ceded territory
shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights,
advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United
States, and shall be maintained and protected in the
free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion."
The company and the imperial government gave
them at least protection, sufficient means of livelihood,
schools, a church; but in this vast territory thorR
never existed, since 1867, other than a semblance
even of military law. There was not in 1883 legal
protection for person or property, nor, apart from a
few regulations as to commerce and navigation, had
any important act been passed by congress, save thoso
that relate to the preservation of seals, the collection
of revenue, and the sale of fire-arms and fire-water.

" The inhabitants of the ceded territory, according
to their choice, reserving their natural allegiance, may
return to Russia within three years," read the words
of the treaty. Within a few weeks, or perhaps months,
after the transfer, there were not more than a dozen

*• The Bituation was rendered worse by certain agitators, prominent among
whom was Honcharenko, who, on July 1, 1868, puoliahed an address in the
Alaska JferaM, advising the Aleuts and Russo- Americans, as he tcrnirai
them, not to work for less than five dollars a day in gold. On September
23d of this year Andrei PojKjf was admitted to citizenship — the first llus-
sian who changed his nationality.

" Usually in pieces two inches square, which passed current for about
eight cents when two comers were cut off, and for four cents when all the
corners were lopped. The soldiers, after clipping the lower part of the four
cent pieces, passed them off for eight cents until the fraud was discovered.

employdl
toe vill

POUCY OF CONGRESS.

008

Husslans left at Sitka, the remainder having been
sent home by way of California, or round the llorn.*'
Five years later, the population was composed of a few
Creoles of the poorer class, a handful of American sol-
diers, perhaps a score of American civilians, a few
Aleuts, and a few Kolosh.

Toward the Creoles and Indians the policy of the
Ui.Ited States has thus far been severely negative;
and, to put the matter in its most favorable light, I
cannot do better than quote the words of the creole
Kostromitin, who in 1878 was a resident of Unalaska,
being at that date an octogenarian. "I am glad," he
says, "that I lived to seo the Americans in the coun-
try. The Aleuts are better off now than they were
under the Russians. The nrst Russians who came
here killed our men and took away our women and
all our possessions; and a'iterward, when the Russian
American Company came, they made all the Aleuts
like slaves, and sent them to hunt far o.way, where
many were drowned and many killed by i?avage na-
tives, and others stopped in strange places and never
came back. The old company gave us fish for nothing,
but we could have got plenty of it for ourselves if we
had been allowed to stay at home and provide for our
families. Often they would not sell us flour or tea,
even if we had skins to pay for it. Now we must pay
for everything, but we can buy what we like. God
will not give me many days to live, but I am satis
fied."** We shall see presently that Kostromitin's
satisfaction was not shared by a majority of his coun-
trymen.

In many sessions of congress bills have been intro-
duced relating to Alaska, of which some have pro-
voked discussion, many have been tabled, and a few
have passed into law. The only measures to which

"Kruger'a MS. Mr Clioa Kruger was for more than 15 years a trusted
employ^ of the Russian American Co.

^ Early Times in Aleul I»l., MS., 16-16. Kostromitin was then living at
the village of Makushin.

004

A" ASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

reference is needed at present are the act of congress
approved July 27, 1868, whereby, among other pro-
visions, a collection district was established in that
territory;^* two bills introduced in 18G9 and 1870 to
provide for a temporary government in Alaska, both
of which were referred, though neither passed; some
futile attempts to extend the United States land laws
over the territory ; ^ and certain regulations as to the
importation, sale, and manufacture of liquor. "^^

It is worthy of note, that in a territory which has
belonged to the United States for more than half a
generation, and whose area is more than double that
of the largest state in the Union, no legal title could
be obtained to land, other than to small tracts deeded
to the Russians at the time of the purchase, except by
special act of congress, and not a single acre had as
yet been surveyed for preemption.''' "Claims of pre-
emption and settlements," remarks Seward, "are not
only without the sanction of law, but are in direct viola-
tion of laws applicable to the public domain. Military
force riay be usea to remove intruders if necessary."^"

As there was no legal title to land in Alaska, there
could be neither legal conveyance nor mortgage, though
conveyances were made occasionally, and recorded by

**See Cong. Olobe, 1867-8, app. 567-8. A list of the various sub-dis-
tricts, witli their loaitions in 1809, is given in Bryant and Mclntyre, liept.
Alaska, 2-24, in Sen. Ex. Doc, 41st Com/., 2d Se-^n., No. 32; and of the col-
lectoi-8, tlieir duties, etc., in Morris, liept. AlaskUi li>-19, in Sen. Ex. Doc,
45th Comj. 3d Seen., No. 59.

"A bill was introduced for tliis purpose in 1871. See House Jour.. 4^*^
Comi. Sd SrsH., 549.

"Contained in section ^ of the act of .Tulji 27, 1868, and amended by act
of March .3, tS73, extending ovrr the territory sections 20 and 21 of the act of
Juno .30, 18.34, regulating trade and intercourse with Indian tribes, the sec-
tions being those relating to the niauufactuie and Introduction of licjuor. See
Conr/. Globe, 1872-3, app. 274.

"//. Ex. Doc, 45lh Con;/. Sd Seas., viii. 155, 217, and 45lh Coriff. ■■d
Sfss., ix. 146. According to the latter, no survey had been made up to .Jiino
30, 1878, and none but special and local surveys appear to have been mado
since that date. A survey was proposed as early as 1807. IiL, ^WA ('oni/. '■/
Sess., ix. No. 80. For report on quantity and (juality of land, see Zuhri^ki'''i
Land Laws, 880-1.

^"Letter of William 7. .toward to Gen. Grant, Oct. 28, 18C7, in Morris
Rept. Alaska. 110. T • ^cn^tary renuests that (irant cause instruction;; to
this effect to be forwar'' "i to General llousscan at Sitka. See also Beard ulti't
JHept. Alankn, in Sen. Ex. Doc, j^th Conn. Sid Sens., no. 103, p. 14.

PROPERTY RIGHTS.

60S

congress
her pro-
, in that
1 1870 to
ska, both
led; some
land laws
1 as to the

.-26

which has
han half a
[ouble that
title could
lets deeded
3, except by
Lcre had as
lims of pre-
rd, "are not
direct viola-
n Military

"28

necessar} .
Jaska, there
age,thouorli

recor

ded

^^y

e various sub-dis-
id Mdntyre, /.<•;'•
>. and c.{ the co\-
in Sen. Ex. Doc,

.e House Jour.. 4i^t

id ameiuled by art
„nd21 ofthtactol

Lian tril)C8, the «co-
cUon of luiuor. h^"

an.\ v^'h Cf r/- ■;;^

tol.avcbccnnia.l.

land; see Zatn.^^""'

28, 1S07, in ^^f^''^'''
cni,8e instruction., to

103, p. !*•

the deputy colK^ctors at Wrangt 11 and Sitka, the par-
ties concerned t.;king their own risk as to whether the
transaction might at some distant day be legalized.

Miners and others whose entire possessions might lie
within the territory, and who might have become resi-
dents, could not bequeath their property, whether real
or personal,^" for there were no probate courts, nor any
authori^y whereby estates could beadministered. Debts
could ' lot be collected except through the summary pro-
cess by which disputes are sometimes settled in min-
ing camps *° In short, there was neither civil nor crim-
inal jurisdiction'*^ in any part of Alaska. Even mur-
der might be committed, and there was no redress within
that colony. Thus it was that "the inhabitants of the

"luNov. 1877 the postmaster at Sitka died intestate. Soon after his
death his creditors arrived from Oregon, and a general scramble took place for
his propei'ty. TJie creditors, of course, took the lion's share, the widow what
tliey vouchsafed to leave her, and the two young children of the deceased by
a former wife were left to the charity of strangers. MorrWs liept. Alaska, 120,
in Sen. Ex. Doc, 45th C'omj. 2d Se^n., no. 59, p. 120.

'"To quote the words of a memorial addressed by the inhabitants of south-
eastern ALasUa, in 1881, to the president and congress of the United .States:
' There are no courts of record, by which title to property may be established,
or conflicting claims adjudicated, or estates administered, or naturalization
and other privileges acquired, or debts collected, or the commercial advan-
tages of laws secured. And persons accused of crimes and misdemeanors are
subject to the arbitrary will of a military or naval commander — thrown into
prison and kept there for months without trial, or punishment by imprison-
ment upon simple accusation and withoit verdict of^ a jury — all in plain vio-
lation of the constitution of the United iStates.' The following is an extract
from aletter addressed July 11, 1881, by the secretary of the navy to Com-
mander Glass of the Jamestown, tlien stationed i<t Sitka, relating to parties
arresti'd for certain disorders: ' In the absence of any legally constituted
judicial tribunals, tiie peace and good onlcr of society demand that the naval
authority in control of the territory shouUl interpose its power to maintain
tiic protection of the lives, persons, ;u)d property of individuals within its
reach.'

" The only of.'ances that could be committed apparently were those which
violate the act of July 27, 1868, 'to extend the laws of the United Stnte.s re-
lating to customs, couunerce, and naviga'ion over tii*- territory cedud to the
I niteil States by Russia, to cst.ablish a collection district therein, and lor
Dlher purposes ' (the other purposes relating to the sale, importation, and use of
fire-arms, ammunition, and distilled liquors, and the protection of fur-l)earing
animals). In such cases it is provided, by section 7 of the same act, tliat the
olh'ndcr shall be prosecuted in any U. S. district court of California or Ore-
gon, or in one of the district courts of Washington Territory. In 1872 a bill
was introduced 'further to provide for the punishment of offences com-
mitted in the district of Alaska.' U. 6. Sen. Juur., 4.id Comj. 3d Sesa., 400-1.
And one in the same year 'authorizing the secretary of tlio intorior to take
jiiiisdiction over the people of Alaska called ludiaus, and for other purposes.'
JJvuse Jour., 4Jd Cony. M Sens., GOO.

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

fS:
Ml.,

^ ti,

rii:

«||ii

ceded territory were admitted to the enjoyment of all
the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of
the United States."

What shall we do with Alaska? was one of the first
questions asked after the transfer of the territory —
make of it a penal colony?** Perhaps it had been
better so. At no period in the annals of Alaska were
there ao many Indian emeutes as during the few years
of the military occupation; at no per were lust,
theft, a-nd drunkenness more prevalent ui ig Indians
and white persons alike. After the withdrawal of the
troops, in June 1877,^ disturbances among the na-
tives became fewer in number and less ser'ous in char-
acter, and it is probable that many lives would have
been saved if no United States soldier had ever set
foot in the territory.

"I am compelled to say," writes William S. Dodge,
collector of customs, to Vincent Colyer, special In-
dian commissioner, in 1869, "that the conduct of cer-
tain military and naval officers and soldiers has been
bad and demoralizing in the extreme; not only con-
taminating the Indians, but in fact demoralizing antl
making the inhabitants of Sitka what Dante charac-
terized Italy — 'A granH house of ill-fame.' I speak
only of things as seen and felt at Sitka.

" First. The demor: Jizing influence originated in the
fact that the garris<»u was located in the heart pf the
town.

"Secon<JIy. The great mass of the soldiers were
either desperate or very immoral men.

"Thirdly. Some of the officers did not carry out
military discipline in that just way which the regula-

" The question wm senously mooted by Nordhoff, in a magazine article
entitled 'VVhat shall we do wita Scro^gs? Scroggs is the American Giux's
baby;' and by o«rtain o* the San Francisco and .Sacramento papers.

»'Oen. Or<l^». JMpf. Vol., May 2.3, 1877. Ju Rept. Sec. Var, I., 44lh
Cong. Id Sett* . 47, the statement shows 46 men at Fort Wiungell, and
in /(/. , 124, it m meutioned that companies P and Ij of the fourth artillery
were Mttttioned at Hitk». It is >vorthy of remark that the secretary, while
stating that there v/^m an improvement in the nioi-ale of the army, says that
out of A forc<' <>f 2ii,0U0 the number of deserters in 1874-5 was 2,100 lost
th&r\ durmg thr previons year.

^.mn

it of all

tizens of

■ the first
rritory —
had been
iska were
few years
vere lust,
ig Indians
val of the
g the na-
Ss in char-
ould have
d ever set

i S. Dodge,
special In-
duct of cer-
rs has been
t only con-
ralizing and
mte charac-
I speak

nated in the
leart of the

oldiers were

)t carry out
the regula-

luagazine article
American (-.inx s
« papers. ,

,rt Wvangell, |"''l
,be fourth artillery
"le secretary. wlul«
hp. army, says » 'a*
U wai 2,100 l.«

TREATMENT OP NATIVES.

607

tions contemplate. They gave too great license to
bad men ; and the deepest evil to all, and out of which
other great evils resulted, was an indiscriminate pass
system at night. Many has been the night when sol-
diers have taken possession of a Russian house, and
fr'ghtened and browbeaten the women into compliance
with their lustful passions.

"Many is the night I have been called upon after
midnight, by men and women, Russian and Aleutian,
in their night-clothes, to protect them against the
malice of the soldiers. In instances where the guilty
parties could be recognized, they have been punished;
but generally they have not been recognized, and
therefore escaped punishment.

"Fourthly. The conduct of some of the officers
has been so demoralizing that it was next to impossi-
ble to keep discipline among the soldiers. . . . Officers
have carried on with the same high hand among the
Russian people ; and were the testimony of citizens to
bo taken, many instances of real infamy and wrongs
would come to light.

" For a long time some of the officers drank im-
moderately of liquor, and it is telling the simple truth
wlKin I say that one or two of them have been drunk
for ii week at a time. The soldiers saw this, the Ind-
ians saw it; and as 'ayas tyhus,' or 'big chiefs,' as
they called the officers, drank, they thought that they
too miust get intoxicated. Then came the distrust of
American justice when they found themselves in the
guard-house, but never saw the officers in when in a
like condition."**

**See. of Interior Rept., 4l8t Cong. Sd Seta., 1030-1, where it is stated
that within six months after the arrival of the troops at Sitka nearly the whole
Sitka tril)e, some 1,200 in number, were su£fering from venereal disnascs.
It ia probable, however, that most of them had such diseases long before a
I'liitcd States soldier set foot in the territory. Colyer remarks; 'I have
B)i()ken of the ill effects of the near proximity of soldiers to the Indian villages,
aiul of the demoralizing effects upon both. It is the same in all Indian coun-
tries. It appears to be worse hero because more needless. Nowhere else
that I have visited ia the absolute uscleasness of soldiers so apparent as in

Alaska The soldiers will hove whiskey, and the Indians are equally fond of

ii. Tho froe use of this by both soldiers and Indioiu, together with the other

1 m

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

[ - ir-U.

"An effort is being made to have the miHtary re-
turn to Alaska," writes the deputy collector < f cus-
toms from Fort Wrangell, in October 1877, "and in
the name of humanity and common sense I ask, What
for ? Is it for the best interests of the territory that
they should return ? Look at the past for an answer.
Whenever did they do anything for the country or
the people in it that deserves praise ? Did they en-
courage enterprise and assist in the developing of the
resources of the country? Nol It stands recorded
that they foiled the developing of it, and placed re-
strictions on enterprise and improvements. Did they
seek the enlightenment of the Indian, and endeavor
to elevate him to a higher moral standard ? On this
point let the Indians themselves testify."*

There were in 1869 five hundred soldiers stationed
in Alaska, while it was admitted by many of the offi-
cers that two hundred were sufficient, and it had al-
ready become apparent to civilians that none were
really needed. In a country where there are few
roads, and where communication is almost entirely by
water, three or four revenue cutters and the presence of
a single war-vessel would have prevented smuggling
and lawlessness far more effectually than any force of
troops.*"

debaucheries between them, rapidly demoralizes both.' Rept. Ind. Affain,
1809, 5i)6. In 1869 some soldiers were drummed out of the service for
robbing tho Greek church at Sitka, and for other crimes. Id., 537. Voi-
further though less reliable details as to the misconduct of the military, soe
Honcharenko'a Scrap Book, i. passim.

"Letter to PunH Sound Anjun, published Nov. 23, 1877, of which thore
is a copy in Aforrh's Rept., app. Ii53. A statement as to the result of "Kiitury
rule is givnn by three cliicfs among the Wrangell Indians.

'" Captain White, in a letter to the secretary of the treasury, remark'-
' From my own personal observation and the experience gained in my form
cruise to this portion of Alaska, embracing tho waters of the Alexumlr
Archifielago, and extending from latitude N. 54° 40' to latitude n. 60", I !■
no hesitation in respectfully stating that even for armed vessels oi- thetlet^iK'sr
draught there is no difficulty in approaching, within easy slKsini^ itwIMice, nny
of the villages and completely destroying them.' Morr: . ,'rr\)r', AtmJea, I ^•'■
Morris is of opinion that vessels intended to bo pemw*-- ntlj statMNMd ou tiie
coast of Alaska ahonld bo of not less than .500 tons burden; but, »s \V1»»)» re-
marks, a small >■ osscl properly armed and o<|iiippetl ooiild acooH^^ish tktt i*»*
a larger and more heavily armed one could, with tho added a^CwMHi <^ <"«•
lerity (if movement and quickness of evolution. On the wilMMM tf thb
troops in 1877 three revenue cutters were stationed ii

itary re-

,,r CU8-

«'and in
k, What
tory tbat
n answer.
Duntry or
L they en-
ing of the
3 recorded
placed re-

Did they
i endeavor
'I On this

rs stationed
r of the offi-
d it had al-
, none were
.re are few
entirely bv
presence ot

sraugg

•lins

any fo^^e of

^,pt. Ind. Affairs

L of vhicb there
[; result of '-^'*^'-y

I treasury, remark^
Lined in my fow.
gVe Alexaiulr. ^

Red a*?^*^ tiv

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. H^

Notwithstanding all that h&H been said against the
regime of the Russian American Company, it must
be admitted that there were more troubles with the
natives in the ten years during which American troops
were stationed in Alaska than in any decade of the
Russian occupation.

"When the territory was transferred to the United
States," writes Bryant, "the natives had no knowl-
edge of the people with whom they were to deal; and
having been prejudiced by the parties then residing
among them, some of the more warhke chiefs were in
favor of driving out the 'Boston men,' as they termed
us." ^' The discontent arose, not from any antagonism
to the Americans, but from the fact that the territory
had been sold without their consent, and that they
had received none of the proceeds of the sale. The
Russians, they argued, bad been allowed to occupy
the territory partly for mutual benefit, but their fore-
fathers ha'd dwelt in Alaska long before any white
man had set foot in America. Why had not the
§7,200,000 been paid to them instead of to the Rus-
sians?

But long before the purchase, as the reader will
remember, the natives received better prices for tlieir
peltry from the Americans than from the Russians,
and when it was found, after the transfer, that still
higher rates and greater variety of products coukl be
obtained, their antipathy rapidly disappeared. Thus
for a time there was no difficulty; Aleut and Thlin-
keet became friends of the 'Boston men/^ and so it
might have continued but for an untoward incident.

On New- Year's day, 1869, a Chilkat chief." Chol-

"Bryamt'aRfpt, 14.

"The U. S. military force sent Id Cook Inlet in 1868 was instnicted to
'beware of the northern Indians aa savage, treacherous, nud warlike.'
That character the uativos of Cook Inlet do not deserve. The tsoopi found
thciii tnii-hful, by no muans warlike though ^ood hunters, and tkievea o;i!y
0"' ..-I'out temptation. Wh«n the noldiera were shipwrecked a*d at their
"' ) they did ni>t r.t«al from them but caught fish for their aubsi&tence.
» yihi'^M ( 'ool- fnk*y 6S.

"The ChiUnri»M«» TUinkeet tziiiB.
Hist. Autaxx. 39

II .|l

4 t '

Mt' ik^

'1»1

■)r::'

liBi

1^ m

Jus

610

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

cheka by name, was invited to dinner by General
Davis, then in command of the district. After doing
ample justice to the general's hospitality, he was pre-
sented with two bottles of American whiskey, and on
taking his leave, felt that he was not only every
inch a chief, but as good and great a man as any who
claimed possession of his country. On reaching the
foot of the castle stairs, attired in a cast-off army uni-
form, and with bottles in hand, he stalked majesti-
cally across the part of the parade-ground reserved
for officers, and was challenged by the sentry. Ignor-
ing such paltry presence, Cholcheka went on his way
toward the stockade, at the gate of which was a
second sentry, and refusing to turn back, he received
a kick as he passed out. Now a kick to a Chilkat
chief, and especially to one who dons the United
States uniform, has just dined with the general in
command, and has a bottle of whiskey in each hand,
is a sore indignity. With the aid of one Sitka Jack.
then a well known character among the townsfolk, he
wrested the rifle from the soldier's grasp, and entered
the Indian village close at hand.

The guard was at once turned out, and "ordered,"
writes Davis in his report of January 5, 1869, "to
follow him into the village, and arrest him and his
party. He resisted by opening a fire upon the guard.
The guard returned it, but finding the Indians too
strong for them, retreated back into the garrison. As
the chief himself was reporr.ed probably killed in the
melee, and the whole tribe jf Sitkas, among whom he
was staying, was thrown into a great state of excite-
ment, I thought it prudent to order a strong guard
out for the night, and to take no further action until
morning, as the night was very dark, thus givirn;
them time to reflect.

"I called the principal Sitka chiefs together, and
they disclaimed any participation in the affair, and
said they did not desire to fight either the troops or
the Chilkahts, and that they had already hoisted white

]i:i:

CHOLCHEKA'S WRONGS.

611

r General
fter doing
e was pre-
ey, ana on
)nly every
Ls any v/lio
aching the
? army n^i-
ed majesti-
^d reserved

,ry. Ign^^-
, on his way
rhich was a

he received
to a Chilkat

the United
^Q general in
in each hand,
,e Sitka jack.

, townsfolk, he
p, and entered

Liid "ordered,"

ly 5,1869'';^.'^
t him and his
,pon the guard.
Te Indians too
garrison, ^-s
V killed in the
tmong whom he
state of excite-
I a strong g^ar^
her action uuti
'rk, thus gwuv.

L together, and
\ the affair, aiu
.er the troopj «^

Ly hoisted Wi^^^«

flags over their cabins. I then demanded the surren-
der of the Chilkaht chief, who, after considerable delay
and some show of fight on the part of about fifty of
his warriors, came in and gave himself up. A few
minutes' talk with him sufficed to convince me that he
was bent on war, and I would have had to tight but
for the Sitkas refusing to join in his design. I con-
fined him and his principal confederates in the guard-
house, where he still remains."*"

In a few days Cholcheka and his party were lib-
erated, and here it was supposed the matter would
end; but, as it proved, this, the first difficulty between
the Indians and the military, was fraught with evil
consequences, and all on account of a United States
general making an Indian drunk, and then having two
of his people killed. And this from his own showing;
we never hear the other side of these stories. "On
the 25th of December last," continues Davis, in tv
report dated March 9, 1869, "a couple of white
men, named Maager and Walker, left Sitka in a
small boal on a trading expedition in Chatham Straits.
About one week after their departure the difficulty
between the Chiicot chief and a few of his fol-
lowers occurred at this place, as heretofore reported.
It appears that during this difficulty a party of
eight Kake Indians were at the Sitka village, and
one of them was shot by a sentinel while attempting
to escape from the village in a canoe, contrary to or-
ders and an understanding with the peaceable portion
of the Indians. The parties thus attempting to escape
were run down hj small boats from the Saginaw and
iiie revenue cutter Edia'nce, and brought back. As
they were unarmed, they were permitted to go about
their business. Tiiey remained some days among the
Sitkas, and after the Chiicot chief was restored to

**'!!>*. Interior, .Rept,, 41st Conq. 2d Sess., 1028. In his letter to Vincent
Colyei, dated Nov. 10, 1869, Dod 50 says that the kickine was witnessed by
a little Russian girl. Id., 1031. Two Indiana were killed in the fray, and one
•oldier severely wounded.

Iff

iiM

GI2

/LASKA AS A XJNITED STATES COLONY.

liberty, it is reported they tried to get him to join
them in a general fight against the whites. From the
best information I can get, he declined to do so. They
then left for their homes, and en route murdered
Maager and Walker in the most brutal manner."*'
' It was not yet known to the military authorities,
or, if it were, the fact was ignored, that among the
Thlinkeet tribes, when a member has suffered death
or injury from violence, his comrades require payment
in money or goods, and in default of it, never fail to
retaliate. The present of a few blankets or other
articles to the relatives of those who fell in the emeute
at Sitka would probably have prevented the troubles
that ensued.*' It is certain that it would at least have
prevented the mutilation and murder of Maager and
Walker.

Davis had now, as he thought, no alternative.
He sailed for Kou Island, the territory of the
Kakes, on board the Saginaw, intending to obtain
the surrender of the murderers, or to seize some of
their chiefs as hostages. On his arrival he found that
the whole tribe had disappeared, dreading the ven-
geance that might overtake them ; whereupon he or-
dered their villages to be razed to the ground and all
their property to be destroyed.

Henceforth troubles with the Indians continued
throughout and after the military occupation.*^ On

*' Army and Navy Jour., March 1, 1869. A copy of Gen. Davis' report
was fiirnialicd to this publication from the headquarters of the military
division of the Pacific.

*■■' Five months after the dmeute occurred, a party of Chilkats boardfd
a vessel, and demanded money or life. Guaranty was given for payment,
imd on the refusal of the communder at Sitka to furnish the sum agreed on,
it was paid by the owner, Frank K. Louthan, a Sitka merchant, who says, in
a letter to Viucent Colyer, in 1809: 'My own experience has taught nie tiiiit
nn immediate settlement for any mortal or other injury inflicted is the most
judicious course to pursue with the Kolosh Indians.' Hept. Lid. Ajjairs,
Alaska, in Rept, Ind. Comm., 1809, p. C73.

*^ Professor Davidson of the coast survey went to the Chilkat Rivfr to
observe the solar eclipse on August 9, 1809. He was warned that the Cliil-
kat Indians had just been provokxl to hostility, but did not heed the valu-
ing, and the party returned safe. The observation was made near a populous
villiigc, and when it took place the Indians gradually disappeared and tied
into the woods in silent di,smay. They had not believed Davidson's predic-

KILLING OF LOW AN.

618

to 30m
•om the
Tbey
urdered

horit'ies,
long the
3d death
payment
er fad to
or other
le eraeute
Q troubles
least have
Laager and

Jteruative.

,rY of the
. to obtain
lize some of
found that
ven-

the

upon

he or-

und and all

contmuca
ation.*^ On

len. Davis- report
^ of tlie iniUtaiy

ChilkatB boarcliA
ven for paynjeu .
he 6um agreed on.

dieted istl^?"'"

, CbilUat Eiv^'r y

tlenearapop 5
^appeared am ^^_
[ Davidson s p^^

Christmas night of 1869 it was reported tu the officer
in command at Fort Wrangell tlmt a Stikeen named
Lowan, or Siwau,** had bitten off the finger of the
wife of the quartermaster sergeant. A detachment
was sent to arrest him, in charge of Lieutenant Loucks»
who states that he entered the Indian's house with
twelve men, eight being posted outside, and instruc-
tions given to fire at a given signal. " I tapped
Siwau on the shoulder," reports the lieutenant, " say-
ing that I wanted hira to come with me. He arose
from his sitting posture and said he would put on his
vest; after that he wished to get his coat. Feeling
convinced that this was merely to gain time, and that
he wished to trifle with me, I began to be more urgent.
Siwau appeared less and less inclined to come away
with me, and in this the latter part of the parley he
became impudent and menacing in raising his hands aa
if to strike me. I admonished him against such
actions, and tried my utmost to avoid extreme meas-
ures in arresting him. About this time Esteen,
probably apprehending danger to his brother, Siwau,
rushed forward in front of the detachment, extending
his arms theatrically, and exclaiming, as I supposed
under the circumstances, ' Shoot; kill me; I am not
afraid.' Siwau, seeing this, also rushed upon the
detachment, endeavoring to snatch a nmsket away
from one of the men on the right of the detachment.
Still wishing to avoid loss of life if possible, I tried to
give him two or three sabre-cuts over the head to stun
without killing him. In doing this I had given the
preconcerted signal, by raising my hand, to fire. I
should judge about six or eight shots were fired during
the m^l^e, and only ceasing by the Indian Siwau fall-
ing at the feet of the detachment dead."

The officer returned to his quarters and dismissed
his men, supposing that no further trouble would

tinn the day before, and its fulfilment probably caused the safety of the party.
Htpt. Coast Survey, 1809. 177-9.

" Both uaines are used in the official reports on thia matter.

i'l

lii

?.li

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

occur; but an hour later shots were heard from the
direction of the store of the post- trader, and taking
with him a single private, Loucks ran toward the spot.
On his way he stumbled across an object near the
plank walk laid between the store and the garri-
son quarters. It was the post-trader's partner, Leon
Smith, lying on his breast with arms extended, a re-
volver near his right hand, fourteeen bullet wounds
in his left side just below the heart, and three in
the left wrist. A few hours later he died an ex-
tremely painful death, and it was ascertained that the
murder had been committed by an Indian named
Scutdoo.

Immediately after reveille Loucks was sent with
twenty men to demand the surrender of the mur-
derer; to summon the chiefs of the tribe to the post,
and to state that if the culprit were not delivered up
at mid-day at latest, fire would be opened on the Ind-
ian village outside the stockade. At noon there were
no indications that the demand would be complied with,
but there were very strong indications that the Ind-
ians intended to fight.** After consulting with his
fellow-officers and waiting for two hours more, in the
hope that the natives would change their determina-
tion, Lieutenant Borrowe of the second artillery, then
in CO jimand, ordered his battery to open with solid shot
on the murderer's house. Several shot passed through
the building, but the Indians maintained their posi-
tion and returned the fire. Later a fusillade was opened
by the Indians from the hills in rear of the post, but
being answered with canister, they quickly dispersed.

Firing was continued on both sides until dark. " The
next morning, just at daybreak," reports Borrowe,
"they opened on the garrison from the ranch with
musketry, which was immediately replied to, and see-
ing that they were determined not only to resist, but

"Some of them were observed canying away their goods to a place of
safety. Lieutenant Borrowe' a Rept, in Sen. Ex. Doc., 4ist Cong. 2d Seas., no.
67.

BORROWE'S ACHIEVEMENTS.

615

from the
nd taking
I the spot,
near the
the garri-
:ner, Leon
aded, a re-
[et wounds
d three in
ied an ex-
^ed that the
iian named

8 sent with
of the mur-
to the post,
delivered up
L on the Ind-
)n there were
omplied with,
ihat the Ind-
,ing with his
more, m the
ir determina-
artillery.then
vith solid shot
,assed through

ed their posi-
tde was opened
• the post, but
■^jkly dispersed,
tildark. "The
►orts Borro^ye,
he ranch witH
ied to, and see-
y to resist, but

)laoe of
no.

ROOclB to a plaoi

lat Cong

had become the assailants, I resolved to shell them,
but having only solid shot for the six-pounder, and the
distance being too great for canister, I still continued
the fire from that gun with shot and from the moun-
tain howitzer with shell."

During the afternoon messengers were sent under a
flag of truce to request a parley. The reply was, that
until the murderer was surrendered " talk was useless."
" Soon after," continues Borrowe, " the chiefs were
seen coming over, and a party behind them with the
murderer, who was easily recognized by his dress.
Just as they were leaving the ranch a scuffle, ev-
idently prearranged, took place, and the prisoner es-
caped, and was seen making for the bush, no attempt
to rearrest him being made." On arriving at the post
the chiefs were informed that if Scutdoo were not de-
livered up before six o'clock the next evening their
village and its occupants would be destroyed. At
nine P. M. on the 26th the murderer was surrendered;
on the 28th he was tried by court-martial, and at noon
on the following day he was hanged."

The prompt action of Lieutenant Borrowe was ap-
proved by General Davis, but it would appear that the
matter might have been settled without the murder
of an Indian, a white man, and the bombardment of
an Indian village, especially as the general admits that
Siwau was drunk when he bit off the woman's finger.
This skilful and gentlemanly performance of the
lieutenant, who with twenty armed men could not
arrest a drunken and defenceless Indian without first
cutting him on the head with a sabre, and then allowing
liini to be shot, was a fitting supplement to that of his
general. The killing of Siwau was no loss a murder
than was the assassination of the white man. For that
murder vengeance must be taken, in accordance with
Indian notions of justice, and the post-trader's assassi-

"A full report of the afifair at Fort Wraneell is contained in Id., tho re-
port of Lieutenant Loucks which follows, and the proceedings of the court-
Diartial which are appended.

•ilii

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET {MT-3)

1.0

I.I

540 IIIII2.0

1.8

1.25 u ||i/s

^ 6"

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

-/^

■ f

33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. M580

(716) 872-4303

Sl«

ALASKA AS A UNITRD STATES COLONY.

nation was the act of vengeance as inflicted by Scutdoo.
After listening with perfect calmness to his sentence,
the prisoner exclaimed, "Very well," and said that " he
would see Mr Smith in the other world, and, as it
were, explain to him how it all happened ; that he did
not intend to kill him particularly; had it been any
one else, it would have oeen all the same."*'

There is abundant testimony as to the peaceful
character of the Indians at Fort Wrangell. Leon
Smith himself says, in a letter to Vincent Colyer,
written about three months before his death, " I have
found them to be quiet, and they seem well disposed
toward the whites;" and in the same letter remarks
that "tho Stick (Stikeen)** tribe are a very honest
tribe, and partial to the whites." These statements
are indorsed by others. Moreover, from the reports of
several reliable witnesses it appears that the Wrangell
Indians were far more industrious, if not more intel-
ligent, than the United States soldiers.*"

From the official reports of the officers in command
at Sitka and Fort Wrangell, it will be seen that tho
conduct of the troops was sufficiently atrocious, and
of course they put the matter in its most favorablo
light. "If," writes the Christian missionary society's
superintendent of Indian missions" to Vincent Colyer,
in 1870, "the United States government did but
know half, I am sure they would shrink from beini^
identified with such abominations, and the cause of
so much misery. I hope and pray that in God's good
providence ^he soldiers will be moved away from Fort

*' See rejmrt of proceeding of conrt-martial. Soutdoo admitted tliat lis
woa tlm murderer, aud was identified by tho uhinfs.

'* A Ttilinkoet tribe. The word is variously spelled. For the location uf
tlie ti-ilje, see my Native Itactn, i. 00, 143.

** ' Tho majority of tliese Indians are very industrious, and are alw.iva
anxious to get cH)p!oymont,' writes W. Wall, interpreter nt Wrangell. 'Tlicy
are of a very superior intelligeuce,' says William S. Dodge, collector of >'iis-
toiiis. Colyrr'H Ilfpt., app. U.

'"The Rev. W. Duncan, superintendent in British Columbia, near tlie
boundary line of Alaska. Id., p. 10.

OUTRAGES.

617

Tongas and Fort Wrangel, where there are no whites
to protect.""

It is unnecessary to relate in detail all the outrages
that called forth this well deserved remark and justi-
fied it in later years. I will mention only three
instances. At Sitka, a Chilkat was deliberately
shot dead by a civilian in 1869 for breaking the
glass of a show-case;'* three were wounded in 1872
by United States soldiers in an a6fray caused by the

" The iBperintendent U wrong on -thia point. There wm a imall number
of white people at each of these posts.

*' I'rooably by James C. Parker, an employee of the post-trader. Parker
was tried by a court-martial. The flndiug of the court was, that 'after a
careful examination of the witnesses who liave liecn called before tao board,
tliu board has not been able to determine, further than througli the inferences
of circumstantial evidence, who shot the Chilkat Indian. The circumstan-
tial evidence points to an employee of the post-trader, Mr Parker, as the
person who did the shooting; the breaking of a show-case for the purpose of
stealing being, as far as the board can determine, the circumstance which led
to the shooting, and the board is of the opinion that if there were no more
reasons for shooting than those brought out in evidence, the act was not
ju8iilia))le.' The evidence was at least such as would have endangered Par-
ker's neck if he had been living in British CJolumbia. Colonel W. H. Den-
nison, then in command of the post, testified: 'I was in tlie sutler's [post-
ti-ader's] store at about 4 o'clock in tiie afternoon. Mr Parker, wlio is em-
ployed in the store, came iu very much excited, and asked Mr 8outli:iu [the
sutler] where his rifle was. Mr Soutlian asked Mr Parker to the purport as
to whether he hod seen the Indian. Mr Parker replied that he had. While
Mr Parker was looking around for the ride and changing his shoes, Mr Soutlian
told iiim two or three times not to take tiie rifle. Some one else sitting by
the stove told Mr Parker to take the pistol instead of the rifle. Mr Parker
Haiil tlie pi.st<d was not sure enough ; "lam going to take the rifle to bring the
Indian back." He took the Henry rifle, went out of the front door, and
walked up toward the Indian market-house, and came l>ack in aliout ten min-
utes. Mr Soutlian asked him if he had gotten the Indian. Mr Parker replied
that "that was a very hard question to ask a man. " ' When asked whether, as
commanding ollicer. lie had taken any action in the case, the colonel answered :
'I took none more than to investigate and satisfy myself that uo soldier of
my command was engaged iu the snooting.' Southan stated that the damage
to tlic show-case was trifling, and that Parker asked for the rifle, saying that
he was in pursuit of the Indian who had broken the show-case window.
Private John McKenzio testilicd that there was no one with Parker at the
time, private .Monzo Ramsey, that he saw Parker chase the Indian, return
to the store for the rifle, go outside the stockade, and disappear l)ehind a
neigliboriiig Iiill near the Greek church. A few minutes later liamscy heard
time shots fired, and from the direction of the smoke supposed that Parker
had (liselmrgcd his gun. Inuneiliatcly after ♦.he Rhooting the In<1ian stated
tu his brother that the shots were tired nt him by Parker in rear of the
(irctii chuieli, on t!io hill near the stoekade. Sec. Interior Urpt., 4tKf Coiuj.
ill .Viw., app. 11, 1047. A few weeks lx!fo>o this incident. Lieutenant Cowan
of tiie revenue service was shot dead iu iv saloon by a discharged .soldier.
The bullet w;i8 intended for Colonel Dcnnisou, who was with Cowan at the
time.

I,',

ei8

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

accidental breaking of an egg;" and an Indian chief,
being sent on board a steamer from Fort Wrangell in
1875, as a witness against some military prisoners, met
with such ill usage that he cut his throat, his servant
afterward attempting to blow up the steamer by
throwing a large can of powder into one of the fur-
naces, and his tribe threatening war on hearing of
their chiefs suicide.

After the withdrawal of the troops there was no
power or authority in the land to punish wrong-doers,
and a serious outbreak was of course anticipated ; but
none occurred. In August 1877 there were at most
but fifteen American citizens and five Russians re-
maining at Sitka, with their wives and families, at
the mercy of the hundreds of Kolosh who inhabited
the adjoining village. They were in hourly fear of
their lives, as they saw drunken men staggering past
their residences at all hours of the day and night; but
that for two years at least, the Indians caused further
trouble, apart from being noisy, boisterous, sometimes
insolent, sometimes guilty of petty theft, and always
drunk when they could obtain liquor, there is no
evidence. Much indignation was expressed by the
newspapers of the Pacific coast as to the indifference
with which a handful of loafers and office-seeking poli-
ticians — American citizens they were called — were
abandoned to their fate." In a San Francisco pub-
lication issued November 2, 1877, it is even stated
that the timely arrival of a revenue cutter alone saved
Sitka from demolition and the white population from

^Two Boldien were bargaining with an Indian woman for a basket of
eggs, and broke one of them, for which the woman demamlod payment. A
scuffle followed, and soon the tribe gathered in the parade-ground. One of
them shot at the sentry, whereupon the troops were put under arms. Alaska
Her., July 24, 1872; Portland Bull., July 15, 1872; S. F. Bulletin, August
1, 1872.

•♦Among others, see the 8. F. Bulletin, Sept. 24, 1877, Oct. 30, 1S77,
Jan. 22, 1878; Chronicle, Oct. 31. 1877, Jan. 26, 1878; Call, Jan. 23, 1878.
In the San Francisco Post, October 31, 1877, it is justly remarked that ' the
clamor for troops to hold the Indians in chock is a shallow pretext, prompted
by a dozen contractors, and the agents of a steamship line that has lo^t its
traffic.'

OFFICIAL REPORTS.

slaughter; but now let us hear the official reports of
the revenue officers themselves on this matter.

Captain White of the Corwin, ordered to Sitka
soon after the withdrawal of the military, writes, on
August 12, 1877: "After diligent inquiries and care-
ful observation since our arrival here, I have not dis-
covered any breach of the public peace, nor has my
attention been called to any particular act, save a few
petty trespasses committed by the Indians, half-
breeds, and white men as well.""

In September of this year there was much needless
alarm at Sitka. It was reported that Sitka Jack,
then the chief of his tribe, had invited a largo number
of the Kolosh from the districts north of the capital
to be present at a grand festival which was to com-
mence on the 1st of October. Liquor would of course
flow plentifully, and it was feared that the festival

" MorrWt liept., VSJ. The vessel was sent at the request of Major Berry,
collector of customs, and William Gouverneur Morris, special a.!i(cnt of the
treasury department, and author of the report. The cruise of the (Jorroin in
Alaska and the N. W. Arctic in 1881, as related, House Ex. Doc, (published
ill separate form, Washington, 1883). is too well known to the reader to require
comment. Mention of this cruiso is made in the S, F, Bulletin, Sept. 20-29
and Oct. 22, 1881. On Auejst 12th of this year, Oapt. Hooper of the Cor-
icin succeeded, after much difficulty, in reaching Wrangell Land. The island
was christened New Columbia, the American flag hoisted, a record of tlie
Corwin'it visit and a copy of the New York Herald were placed in a brrttle and
secured to the flag-pole, and the flag saluted. The decision of the court cf
uuiuiry held at Washington, as to the members of the Jeanette expedition, is
puulished in Id., Feb. 19, 1883. During her cruise the Coricin destroyed the
Indian village of Hootchenoo on the Alaska coast, two miles from North Port
Tlio incident is thus described in /(/., Nov. 13, 1882: 'The tribe had seized
and held two white men and a steam-launch, which had been sent out witli a
tug after whales. The launch was provided with a bomb-gun, upon firing
wliich an explosion occurred, and an Indian chief who was assisted on board
t!ie launch was killed. The tribe surrounded and captured the launch with
two white men, and nearly succeeded in gettin.^ possession of the tug. The
latter, however, got away and steamed to Sitka. The Corwin, with Capt.
Mcrriman and sixty sailorsond marines, was despatched to Hoocheuoo. {'apt.
Alcrrinian demancled the surrender of the launch and prisoners, and the
Indians demanded 200 blankets in compensation for the death of the chief.
Captain M<;rriman put in a counterclaim for 400 blankets as compensation for
the seizure of the launcli and men. The Indians refused, and the next morn-
ing' a Catling gun was played on the Indian canoes on the beach. A force
\vus afterward landed, which destroyed nil of tiiem. The Indians afterward
fled to the woo<1b and the village was shelled, the huts remaining standuig
after the shelling, being looted and burnetl to tlio ground.' The cruise of the
United States reli if steamer liodnfm is mentioned in id., Nov. 9, 14, 17, 1881,
and the wreck of the Vigilant in Id., Aug. 15, 1881.

ii:J

n'i

020

ALASKA A8 A UNITED STATES COLONY.

would end in the sack of the town and the mossacrie
of its inhabitants. The revenue steamer Wolcoit was
therefore ordered to Sitk^ from Port Townsend, and
on the 18th of October her commander thus reports
to the secretary of the treasury: "The situation of
affairs here remains unchanged since the cutter Conviii
left. The festival among the Indians is nothing new ;
they have continued this fashion of holding an annual
celebration similar to this one for years, and I learu
from a reliable source that no trouble has ever como
of it, or is there likely to now. They are noisy and
boisterous in their mirth, and assume immense airs,
and swagger around with some insolence, but nev(?r
make any threats. Sitka Jack, the chief of the Sitka
Indians, has recently built him a new house, and cele-
brates the event on this occasion by inviting the rel-
atives of his wife, numbering about thirty persons,
from the Chilkaht tribe. These are all the Indians
from abroad, which, with the five hundred Sitka Ind-
ians, comprise the total number present. With the
exception of the noise and mirth incident to these
festivities, I am assured by the chiefs that there shall
be no disturbance."*" And there was none; nor has
there since been any very serious trouble. In 187!)
(Smcutes were threatened at Sitka and Fort Wrangell,
but both were prevented, the former by the arrival of
the British man-of-war Osprey, and the latter, which
was merely a fray between two hostile tribes, by the
arrival of a party of armed men from the United
States steamer Jamestown.^' Since that time there
have been occasional murders and attempts at murder,
but less frequently, in proportion to the population,

" /(/. , 128. Captain Selilon, who wrote this report, wna of opinion tliat tlio
Sitkna, being entirely dependent on the soa-coast for the means of siili-
sistciicc, aiuT knowing the certainty of punishnicut if tiiey displayed Ims-
tility t'lward the whites, feared the conseiiucnces too much to coiiiuiit any
deprei'ations. The only depredations which they committed, worthy of im ii-
tion, 'veru carrying off the doors and windows of the government buildings,
and tearing away a part of the stockade for lircwood.

'' /. u account of the former aOatr is given in lieardidee's Pfpt, Ajl'aiis,
Alaska, 4-0, and of the latter in the S. F. liultetin of Fek 2, 1880.

ABORIGINAL RULE.

than has been the case in some of the states and ter-
ritories of the Pacific coast.

Considering that since the withdrawal of the troops
the natives have been for the most part masters of
the situation, they appear to have shown more forbear-
ance than could reasonably be expected. It is true
that they have often assumed an arrogant tone, have
sometimes demanded and occasionally received black-
mail from the white man when trouble was threat-
ened;** but this is not surprising. They had been ac-
customed to stern treatment under Russian rule, to
brutal treatment under American rule, and now that
there was no rule, they found themselves living in
company with Americans, Russians, Creoles, Cliina-
men, Eskimos, men of all races, creeds, and colors,
in a condition of primitive republican simplicity.
Tliey vastly outnumbered those of all other national-
ities. Notwithstanding the regulations as to the sale
of fire-arras, ammunition, and spirituous liquor, the
Indians could always obtain these articles in exchange
for peltry and other wares. They were seldom free
from the craze of strong drink, and strong drink of
the vilest description ; the imported liquor sold to them
was the cheapest and most poisonous compound man-
ufactured in the United States, and the soldiers liad
taught them how to make a still more abominable
compound for themselves.

Nearly all the troubles that have occurred with
Indians, since the time of the purchase, may be traced
directly or indirectly to the abuse of liquor. During
the regime of the Russian American Company, rum
was sold to them only on special occasions, and then
in moderate quantities, but afterward the supply was
limited only by the means of the purchaser. The
excitement of a drunken and lascivious debauch be-
came the one object in life for which the Indians lived,
the one object for which they worked. While sober

''See the report of the commander of the Oeprty, publiahod in the iS^. F.
Bullelin, March 18, 1879.

'Ill

t *!

\i>^

"**«!
i.li

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

they were tractable and sometimes industrious, and
if they had sufficient self-denial, would remain sober
long enough to earn money for a prolonged carousal.
They would tffen plan their prasnik, as they termed
it, deliberately, ana of malice aforethought, and enjoy
it as deliberately as did the English farm-laborer in
the seventeenth century, when spirits were cheap and
untaxed, and when for a single shilling he could soak
his brains in alcohol for a week at a time at one of the
road-side taverns, where signs informed the wayfarer
that he could get well drunk for a penny, dead-drunk
for twopence, and without further expense sleep off
the effects of his orgy on the clean straw provided for
him in the cellar.

Soon after the purchase, an order was issued by the
president of the United States'* that all distilled
spirits should be sent to department headquarters at
Sitka and placed under control of General Davis — a
wise proceeding, if we may judge from results — but
the injunction was of no avail. In 1869 confiscated
liquor was sold at auction by the collector of the port
in the streets of Sitka. In the same year nine hundred
gallons of pure alcohol, landed from the steamer New-
hern and marked 'coal oil,* were seized by the in-
spector; but for each gallon of alcohol or alcoholic
liquor confiscated by the revenue officers, probably ten
were smuggled into the territory,** or were delivered
under some pretext, at the sutler's stores. By the
Newhern were also forwarded to Tonga.ss and Fort
Wrangell, during the same trip, ten barrels of distilled
spirits, twenty of ale, and a large number of cases of
porter and wine. The ship's papers showed that they
were for the use of the officers; out as there were only
four officers at Tongass and a single company of troops
at Fort Wrangell, there is no doubt that they were

"Under act of congress. See Colyer'a Rept., 637, and app. H, 585.

•" ' During the summer season,' writes Morris, on April 14, 1877, ' the Alas-
kan coast swarms with small vessels and canoes, naTigated by desperate and
lawless men, bent upon smuggling, illicit barter, and that especial curse to
the natives — trading in ardent spirits.' Sept., 23.

SALE OP LIQUOR.

623

New-

ioholic
|ly ten
liverccl
,y the
Fort
istilk'd
i,ses of
,i they
•e only
troops
ly were

585.

' the A1.19-
erato aixl
curse to

intended for sale at the Indian villages adjoining these
posts.**

In answer to a letter from the secretary of war in
1873, the attorney general of the United States de-
clared oflBcially that "Alaska was to be regarded as
Indian country, and that no spirituous liquors or wines
could be introduced into the territory without an order
by the war department for that purpose."'^ In 1875
ail permits for the sale of spirituous liquors in Alaska
were revoked,** and during the two remaining years of
the military occupation, we learn of no serious disturb-
ances among the natives.

The disorders that followed the withdrawal of the
troops were due quite as much to white men as to
Indians; and by both, the revenue laws and revenue
officers were held in contempt. Of the disgraceful
scenes that then ensued, I will give a single instance.
Early in 1878 there were about two hundred and fifty
miners at Fort Wrangell, waiting until the ice should
form on the Stikeen River or navigation should become
practicable. In a report dated February 23d of that
year, the deputy collector of customs at Wrangell
says : " While I was at Sitka another thing occurred
at this port that puts to shame anything that has
happened heretofore. A gang of rowdies and bum-
mers have, for the past three months, been in the
habit of getting on a drunken spree, and then at mid-
night going about the town making the most hideous
noises imaginable, disturbing everybody, and insult-
ing those who complain of these doings. On the
night of February 16th the incarnate devils started
out about midnight, and after raising a commotion

" Id,, 537-8. The spirits were afterward sent to Sitka, through the inter-
ference of Colyer.

"Letter of Geo. H. Williams to W. W. Belknap, in Sen. Ex. Doc., 43d
Cong. Sd Sets., 24. In Oct. 1874 the deputy collector at Wrangell was
arrested by o:der of the officer in command for violating the rules on the im-
portation of liquor. Alaska Her., Oct. 28th. On Jan. 7, 1875, the district
court at Portland, •'/> re John A. Carr on hubeaa corpus, held Carr to answer on
a similar charge, and fixed his bail at $2,500. Portland Oregonian, Jan. 8, 1875.

"Gen. Ordtrs, Dfpt. Col., Jan. 21, 1875.

•H

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

all over town, visited a house occupied by an Indian
woman, gave her whiskey that made her beastly
drunk, and then left. Shortly after their departure
the house occupied by the woman was discovered to
be in flames, and ere any assistance could be rendered
the poor woman was burned to death."* It was
feared that two months later there might be a thousand
miners congregated at Wrangell ; and the population
of the Indian village was about double that number.
As there was a plentiful supply of whiskey for the
former, and of hootchenoo, or molasses-rum, for the
latter, serious troubles were anticipated.

During the last five months of 1877, there were
dehvered at Sitka, from the steamer which carried the
United States mail from Portland, 4,889 gallons of
molasses, and at Fort Wrangell 1,635 gallons. Large
quantities were also landed from other vessels, all for
the purpose of making hootchenoo, the other ingre-
dients used being flour, dried apples or rice, yeast
powder, and sometimes hops. Sufficient water is
added to make a thin batter, and after fermentation
has taken place, a sour, muddy, highly alcoholic liquor
is produced, of abominable taste and odor.** From
one gallon of the mixture nearly a gallon of hootclio-
noo IS distilled, a pint of which is quite sufficient to
crazef the strongest brain.

Before the time of the purchase the art of makinj?
molasses-rum was unknown to the natives, but after
the military occupation many of the soldiers became
proprietors of hootchenoo stills, while others were in
the habit of repairing for their morning dram to tlio
Indian village outside the stockade at Sitka, where
this liquor was sold at ten cents a glass."* Occasional

•* Report of I. C. Dennis in MorrWs Rtjtt. , 4-5. The deputy collector stotcs
that he lutenda to stop the liquor traffic.

"The process is described in MorrU's Rept., 61-2. Potroff Bays that in
1880 the niitives used Sandwich Island sugar for this purpose. Pop. Ahdn,
13. Beardslee states that in 1879 a number of hootchenoo distilleries ntur
Sitka were broken up. llfpt. Affairs, Alaska, 16.

* 3f orris's Kept., 62; and letter of I. C. Dennis in Purjet Sound ArrfiM, Xi'v.
23, 1877. ' And yet,' remarks the deputy collector, ' white men were ar-

SOU]

the
oft
tion
the •

the

seal

has

tionsi

Was

Decel

port

oelef

It
jears |
treasi
seal si
three

rested,
«ell a bJi

aubursenf

^ofig. Jen

makini:
ut after
became
were in
■n to the
wliere
casional

llectorBtotcs

jiVB that i"
yop. Alo-'^"'
llUeriea »«'"

jjen were ar-

EOOTCHENOO LIQUOR.

eai

raids were mode on the distilleries, and the proceeds
detained until it could be settled by thejproper authori-
ties what should be done with them. What was done
with them was seldom known, but it is certain that
no real effort was made to check this evil, though pre-
tended restrictions were sometimes placed on vendors
of raw sugar and molasses.

At least, a considerable amount of revenue might
have been derived from this source, enough, perhaps,
if honestly collected, to offset a large part of the
excess in disbursements over receipts, which has oc-
curred each year since Sitka was declared a port of
entr^. Between July 1, 1869, and May 1, 1878, the
receipts of the customs district of Alaska from all
sources were $57,464.95, while the disbursements for
the same period were $116,074.87. The operations
of the Alaska Commercial Company, of which men-
tion will be made later, were confined almost entirely to
the Prybilof Islands, and have yielded an income to
the United States sufficient to pay good interest on
the purchase money. But the rent paid for the fur-
seal islands since 1871, apart from the tax on furs,
has barely covered the deficit of revenue in other por
tions of the territory. Under these circumstances, if
was recommended by the secretary of the treasury, in
December 1877, that Sitka should be abolished as a
port of entry,*' or, in other words, that Alaska should
be left to take care of itself

It would seem that a territory which for the five
years ending May 1, 1876, paid into the United States
treasury as rent for the Prybilof Islands, and tax on
seal skins, more than $1,700,000,*" or nearly four and
three quarters per cent a year on the purchase money,

rested, confined, and prosecuted on a charge of having introduced at Wran-
gell a bottle of liquor.

*^ Rqat. in JJoute Ex. Doe., 45th Cong. Sd Seta., xxx. The receipts ami
disbursementa of the customs district of Alaska between July 1, 18()9, and
May 1, 1878, are given in detail, for each year, in Morris's Kept., 11-12.

'^Fernando }Vood'» Kept., Ahuka Com. Co., in Howe Com. Bepts, 44lh
Cong, let Sfss., app. C, 19.
Hut. Alaska. 40

i|i|;i

626

ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

deserved a better fate. It is at least the only territory
that yields, or ever has yielded, any direct revenue ; and
yet, notwithstanding all the bills and petitions laid bo-
foro congress for its organization, it was without gov-
ernment, and almost without protection.

" I recommend civil government," writes General
Howard to the secretary of war, in 1 875, " by attaching
Alaska to Washington Territory aa a county, a *' ^
simplest solution of all difficulties in the ca«o."* In a
despatch to the secretary of the navy, datuu January
22, 1880, the commander of the Jamestown, then sta-
tioned at Sitka, remarks: "A court should be estab-
lished possessing full power to summon a jury and try
and settle all minor cases of delinquency on the spot,
and with power to make arrests and inflict punishment
of fine or imprisonment. For offences of magnitutlo
this court should have full power to take all testimony,
wliich should be received by the United States court
<j Portland as final.. . .The land here should be sur-
veyed and existing titles perfected and protected, and
it made possible to transfer real estate."'" " Either
the civil laws of the United States should be ex-
tended over the Indians," remarks Colyer, "or a code

** In the same year a hill was introduced by Senator Mitchell, and one in
1876 by Delegate Garfielde (from Washington Ter.), for thia purpose. In
Cong. Globe, 1875-6, 194, it ia stated that the latter bill was referred to com-
mittee, but nothing camu of either of them. In 1867 a bill to organize the
territory was introduced by James M. Ashley, House Jour., 40th Coiuj. Itt
Sess., 260, and one in 1871 to provide a ' temporary civil organization fur the
territory.' U. S. Sen. Jour., 500, and Houm Revt., 2944. In 1880 a bill was
before congress for organizing the territory. On Decenriber 1.3, 1881, it was
resolved in tlie senate, 'that the committee on territories be instructed to in-
quire as to the expediency of organizing civil government in Alaska.' U. S.
Sen. Jour., 47th Cong. 1st Sess., DO. In the same session a senate joint reso-
lution authorizing the president to declare martial law in Alaska was read
twice and referred, Id., 1281; and a bill for establishing courts of justice
and record in the territory was read twice, referred, and reported on unfa-
vorably. Id., 1162. During this session a petition of the citizens of soutli-
eastern Alaska for a territorial government, a resolutiou of the San Francisco
board of trade in favor of the introduction of civil law, and a memorial uf the
Portland (Or.) board of trade in favor of the establishment of territorial gov-
ernment were presented, of course with the usual result.

^"Bearddees Iiept.,3i, On page 14 of this report fieardslee says: 'There
are a number of miners, mining engineers, and otners, etc., who ara d-isiroua
of settling in Sitka and bringing their families. If they could preeL'.i't laoJ
here, or purchase land and houses from the government, the place would take
a step forward; this they cannot do.'

near

pen inj

fnines

j»g in

Yukoi

cannei

will ri

the Pj

at pres

other i|

In if

coJJectc

^lad thl

treasurj

war-ve/

asapoj

ander

GOVERNMENT NFEDED.

ory

and

be-

TOV-

leral
ihinj]?

In a
luary
n sta-
estab-
[idtry

3 spot,

hment
rnituilc
imony,
is court
be sur-
:ed, and
' Eitlier
be ex-
r a code

antl one in

arposc. 1»

xed to com-

irganizo the

h Comj- !>'■

,tion for tUe

)0 a bill w»

1881, it '■■tt*

ructcil to 111-

jska.' IJ- *•

to joint reso-

ika was «?''
ts of j«stf
ted on unla-
ens of WW"'-
ian Francisco
imorialoftl'"
irritorial gov-

I says: 'Tl>er«

of laws at once adopted defining crime and providing
a judiciary and a polico force to execute it.""^ " What
this country wants is lu .- and without it she will
never flourish and prosper, remarks I. C. Dennis, on
resigning his position f«s deputy colJ'^'jior at Wrangell
in 1878. " I have f -jd in the "ajjacity of arbitrator,
adjudicator, and peace-mal» jr until forbearance has
ceased to be a virtue. "Wituin the past month one
thousand complaints l»y Indians have been laid before
nie for settlement, and as I urn neither Indian agent
nor justice of the peace, I decline the honor of patch-
ing up Indian troubles."

The main obstacle in the establishment of some form
of civil government for Alaska appears to have been the
difficulty in reconciling the conllicting claims of the
several sections, separated as they are by a vast extent
of territory, and having few interests in common.
South-eastern Alaska has mines, timber, and fisheries,
though it is not probable that any of these resources
except the last will receive much attention in the
near future. On Cook Inlet in Kadiak, on the Alaskan
peninsula, and on the Aleutian Islands there are also
mines and fisheries, but fur-hunting is still the lead-
ing industry. In the far north, on the banks of the
Yukon, now almost deserted by white men, salmon
canneries may be established at no distant day, which
will rival those of the Columbia River; while at
the Prybilof Islands, the catch of fur-seals produces
at present a la. ger aggregate of wealth than all the
other industries of the territory combined.

In 1883 Alaska was but a customs district, with a
collector and a few deputies. For laws, the territory
had the regulations made by the secretary of the
treasury; and for protection, the presence of a single
war-vessel, the crew of which was sometimes employed
as a police force among the settlements of the Alex-
ander Archipelago.

y Hept. , 680-1 . Colyer recommends that the savage tribes be put on
vatious, but thia would seem impnusticable.

m ALASKA AS A UNITED STATES COLONY.

From St Paul to Sitka the distance is but five hun-
dred and fifty miles, and from Iluiliuk in Unalaska
about a thousand miles; and yet the deputies at both of
these stations could rarely report to the collector ex-
cept by way of San Francisco, nearly twenty degrees
to the south of either point. The mail service estab-
lished between Sitka and Port Townsend extended
only to Fort Wrangell and Harrisburg, and in some
parts of the territory the visit of a whaling- vessel or
revenue cutter afforded until recently the only means
of communication with the outside world."

Among the wants of Alaska, remarks a special
agent of the census of 1880, are 'a gradual but sys-
tematic exploration of the interior, and an immediate
survey of the coast and harbors of the region now
constantly frequented by trading and fishing vessels,
in order to prevent the alarmingly frequent occur-
rence of wrecks upon unknown rocks and shoals.""
The navigation of the Alaskan coast is in many parts
extremely intricate, and as yet reliable charts exist
only for a few sections. Some progress has been made
in this direction, however, since the purchase, and as
I have already observed, we may in the remote fa-
ture possess reliable charts for the entire coast and
more definite information as to the interior.

In 1867 an expedition organized by the treasiivy
department sailed from San Francisco on board the
revenue steamer Lincoln, and during the sumiiicr
passed several months in exploring and obtaining in-
formation concerning the newly purchased country.

" In 1869 the United States senate resolved that the committee on post-
offices inquire as to the expediency of establishing a mail service 1>ctvvccn
Portland and Alaska. Sen. Jour., 41*t Cong. 1st Sots., p. 77. Mail statistics
for 1876-7 are given by the postmaster-gen. in Jtept., 44th Cong. 2d Sen^., nm\
ia Hounf. Ex. l)oc., 4Sth Cong. Sd 8eM. vii. part ii. There are no overland
mails. During the latter part of the Russian occupation there appears to
have been regular overland communication. In 1857 the agent at Saint
Michuel was instructed to send an overland mail to Sitka by way of ''ook
Inlet and Kadiak. In the previous year the mail had arrived safely and in
good order. Sitka Archives, i. 264.

"/wan Petrqf, in InUnicU. Rev., Feb. 1882, 122-3.

EXPLORING PARTIES.

029

jpecial
it sys-
lediate
m now

occur-

loals."
ly parts
bs exist
jft made
and as
iote f^-
►ast ani^

Among the members was George Davidson, who was
placed in charge of the coast survey party, and whose
report was printed by order of congress, and forms a
most valuable memoir/*

In 1869 a party was sent to the Yukon River,
in charge of Charles W. Raymond, for the purpose of
ascertaining the amount of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany's trade in that district, and the quantity of
goods forwarded from British territory ; also to obtain
information concerning the sources of the Yukon and
its tributaries, and the disposition of the tribes in its
neighborhood."' In 1871-2 W. H. Dall surveyed the
Aleutian and Shumagin Islands and located several
new harbors.^* In 1879 a valuable set of charts of
Sitka Sound was forwarded to the bureau of navi-
gation by L. A. Beardslee, the commander of the
Jamestown.'''' Thus some little eflfort has been made
toward the survey and exploration of the territory, if
none as yet toward its development.

" U. S. Coant Survey, 40lh Cong. Sd Sess. , app. 18, p. 187. The personnel
of the expedition ia given in Id., 198-9. The most interesting parts of the
report, relating to climate, vegetal ile productions, fisheries, timber, and fur-
bearing animals, were republished lu tne Coast Pilot of A laska (Washington,
18G0). Some vaJuable collectionb in natural history and ethnology were sup-
plied by Davidson and others to the Smithsonian Institution. Smithaonian
Jiept., 1867, p. 4.^

"The report is published in Sen. Doc, 42d Cong. Itt Se^., 12. In 1880
a partial exploration of the Chilkat River was made by a private party. An
account of it i« given in Bancrofl Library Scraps, 190-2.

" Fourteen according to Bept. Cowl Survey, 1872, 49, but most of them
were known before, at least to the Russians. In Id., 1873, 122, ia given the
height of a number of mountains as estimated by Dall, who gives as the
height of Mount Shishaldin in Gonimak, 8,683 feet. Alphonse Pinart, a French
scientist, attempted its ascent in September 1872, but after attaining, as he
relates, a height of 8,782 feet, was confronted by almost perpendicular walls
of ice, Voy. , 13. During a canoe voyage from Unnloska to Kadiak, he stopped
at au island which he calls Vozoychenski (prolxibly Vosnessensky), where he
met an Aleut, who was said to be 120 years of age, and remembered the time
the Russians took possession of the country. Id., 15.

'' Beardslee claims that his officers discovered a better channel into Sitka
Harbor than any before known. Eept. Affairs, Alaska, 9.

ir!!

il 0'

CHAPTER XXIX.

COMMERCE, BEVENUE, AND FUBS.

1868-1884.

Ihpobts and Expobts — Cost of Coixectino Revendk— Tbk Hudson's
Bat Company — Smugoumo — Thx Alaska Cohheeoiai. Company— It
Obtains a Lease of the Tsybivow Islands — ^The Tebms of the Con-

TBACT— ReMDNEBATION AND TbEATMENT OF THE NATIVES — ThKJB MoDE

of Life — ^Invkstioation into the Company's Management — State-
ments OF Robebt Destt — And of the Secretabt of the Tbkasuby—
Incbease in the Value of Fubs— Remabks of H. W. Elliott-
Landing of the Fcb-seau — Theib Combats — Method of Driviko

AND SLAtTOHTEBING — CUBINO, DbESSING, AND DyEING — SeA-OTTEKS—

Land Pbltby.

The exports from California to Siberia amounted
for the year ending June 30, 1883, to a very large
sum, and were greatly in exoess of the amount for the
previous year. The imports for 1883 were valued at
$2,887,200, and never exceeded in any year $3,000,-
000. There is probably no country in the world hold-
ing commercial relations with which the balance of
trade is so largely in favor of the United States.

The commerce between Alaska and other portions
of the Pacific coast is insignificant, but will probably
increase now that congress has put that territory
within pale of the law. As is the case with Siberia,
however, imports are largely in excess of exports.

During the existence of the Russian American
Company it will be remembered that trade became
every term more considerable, and yielded each year
a moderate revenue to the imperial govern p it.
There is little doubt that, were any consideruole

(630)

'■ I

STATISTICS OP REVENUE.

631

nounted
ry large
b for the
^alued at
$3,000,-
[•1(1 hoW-
ilance of

lies.

I portions

probably
' territory
Siberia,

►oris.
American

[e became

[each year

isideraDie

630)

portions of the territory surveyed and open to preemp-
tion, its resources are sufficient, apart from the seal-
grounds, to attract capital and population, and hence
to develop traffic. For a year or two after the mili-
tary occupation there was a fair amount of commerce,
but subsequently for a time the fees and duties of tho
entire district about sufficed to pay the salary of a sin-
gle deputy collector.

The following figures require little comment: For
the six months ending July 1, 1868, the imports on
which duty was paid were valued at more than $26,-
000; for the twelve months ending March 1, 1878, at
$3,295, the decrease meanwhile being gradual. For
the year ending December 31, 1870, fines, penalties,
and forfeitures amounted to nearly $9,000 ; for the
year ending December 31, 1877, to $10. During 18 76
there were no fines, and the revenue collections for
that year amounted to $1,417.81,* while the cost of
collecting this sum, apart from the expense of main-
taining revenue cutters, was $11,195. Thus the cost
of collection was to receipts about in the ratio of eight
to one. And yet the year 1876 compares very favor-
ably with other years. In 1872, for instance, exclud-
ing fines, the cost of collecting one dollar of revenue
was fifty dollars, and in 1873 sixty dollars. '^ These
figures do not, of course, include the royalty on fur-
soals, or the rent paid by the Alaska Commercial
Company for the lease of the Pribylof Islands.

The total value of domestic exports from Alaska,
excluding peltry, was, for 1880, about $90,000, and
will no doubt increase when the fisheries are more
largely utilized. The value of domestic imports de-
pends partly on the demand at the various mining
districts, and especially at the Cassiar district in Brit-
ish Columbia, for which Wrangell is the distributing

>For duties $724.43, and for tonnage tax $693.38. Morris't liept., 11.
Marine hospital collections for 187G amounted to $331.79, and this is iucluded
by tho collector as a part of the revenue.

' fd., 11-12. Statistics as to trade will be found in the Com. and Nav,

i 19

i*v,

682

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND PURS.

point, and is therefore fluctuating. In occasional
years it reaches or exceeds $350,000,' and may average
about $300,000, the principal commodities being Cal-
ifornia flour, tea, coarse sugar, and tobacco. The de-
mand is about equally divided between eastern and
western Alaska, the latter having imported from San
Francisco in 1880 nearly 20,000 barrels of flour.*

It is worthy of note that a territory which absorbs
this amount of produce should import so trifling a
quantity of duty-paying goods, and that the cost of
collecting the duty on these goods should be three or
four times their value, and at least eight times that of
the revenue collected. Moreover, it is difficult to ac-
count for the fact that fines, penalties, and forfeitures
should have decreased from $8,843 in 1870 to $2,921
in 1872, increased to $5,814 the following year, and
fallen to nothing in 1876. Hootchenoo distilleries
were in full blast, it will be remembered, almost
throughout the military occupation ; there is no evi-
dence that there was less smuggling in 1872 than in
1870; and there is no evidence that there was less
smuggling in 1876 than in 1873. On the contrary,
there is strong evidence that smuggling was steadily on
the increase during and after the military c ation.

The fact that imports of duty-paying goods de-
creased from $26,000 for the six months ending July
1, 1868, to about $3,000 for the year ending March
1, 1878, and that, meanwhile, trade had been so hon-
estly conducted that there was no longer occasion for
fines, penalties, or forfeitures, is a matter that invites
investigation. Apart from the negligence of officials,
to use no stronger phrase, it is certain that powerful
factors have been at work to cause this anomaly, and
the main factor is probably the operations of the Hud-
Bon's Bay Company.

■ The value of merchandise that pacweil through Wrangell alone in 1S74
wu more than 8100,000. Alaska lltr., March ITi, 1875.

* Besides 3,452 cases of liard brea^l, 753 chests of tea, and 2,048 half-ban da
of sugar. Pet raff's Pop. Alaxka, 80. At least 50,000 lbs. of leaf- tobacco were
also imported, a part of which came from San Francisco.

HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

633

tie in

1874

lj,H-1)ariol9
stcco were

When governor of this corporation, Sir George
Simpson declared that, without the strip of coast leased
to it by the Russian American Company, the interior
would be "comparatively useless to England." It will
be remembered that, by the Anglo-Russian treaty of
1825, the boundary between the Russian and British
possessions was one drawn between the Portland canal
and Mount St Elias, and following the trend of the
coast range, or at a distance of thirty miles from the
sea. By the same treaty it was provided that Brit-
ish subjects should forever enjoy right of navigation
on the rivers and streams which cross this line in their
course toward the north Pacific. The latter clause
was repeated in the treaties of commerce and naviga-
tion between Russia and Great Britain in 1843 and
1859.

As the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered most
of its possessions to the British government in 1869,'
and is now merely a private trading corporation, there
can bo no doubt that its pretensions are barred by the
clause in the treaty of 1867, which declares the cession
of Alaska to be free of encumbrance through privileges
granted to any association or to any parties except
individual property holders. It is also improbable
that its employes, or other British subjects, will con-
tinue to enjoy right of navigation on the rivers and
streams which oross the boundary line.

"In succeeding to the Russian possessions," re-
marks Sumner, "it does not follow that the United
States succeed to ancient obligations assumed by Rus-
sia, as if, according to a phrase of the common law,
they 'are covenants running with the land.' If these
stipulations are in the nature of servitudes, they depend
for their duration on the sovereignty of Russia, and
arc personal or national rather than territorial. 3o at
least I am inclined to believe. But it is hardly profit-
able to speculate on a point of so little practicable
value. Even if 'running with the land,' these servi-

■^ For £300,000 sterling.

634

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND PURS.

[II

tudes can be terminated at the expiration of ten years
from the last treaty, by a notice, which equitably the
United States may give so as to take effect on the
12th of January, 1869. Meanwhile, during this brief
period, it will be easy by act of congress in advance
to limit importations at Sitka, so that this 'free port*
shall not be made the channel or doorway by which
British goods may be introduced into the United
States free of duty.""

In the customs regulations it is provided that "no
duty shall be levied or collected on the importation of
peltries brought into the territories of the United
States, nor on the proper goods and effects, of what-
ever nature, of Indians passing or repassing the boun-
dary line aforesaid, unless the same be goods in bales
or other large packages unusual among Indians, which
shall not be considered as goods belonging to Indians,
nor be entitled to the exemption from duty aforesaid."

When we consider that five or six revenue officers,
hampered with such restrictions, and some of them a
thousand miles apart, collect the customs of a terri-
tory whose coast line is more than twice as great as
that of the United States,^ it is not surprising that
the results should be nugatory. There is probably
no better opport-unity for smuggling in any part of
the world than amidst the tortuous channels of the
Alexander Archipelago and among the Aleutian Isl-
ands. Hundreds of bidarkas laden with blankets,
molasses, sugar, fire-arras, and other commodities pur-
chased from the Hudson's Bay Company's agents,
escape the vigilance of the revenue-cutters, or if
detected, the wares are passed off as the "proper

* Speech on Cess. Russ. Amer., 11. In the president's message in Sen. Ex.
Doc. , 40th Cong. 3d Sess. , No. 4^, complaints are made of the encroachments of
the Hudson's Bay Company on the trauo of Alaska. Ex-Collector Berry states
that, after the cession, the company established a town eight or ten miles
from the mouth of the Stikeen liiver, and at the head of tide- water, for the
purpose of unloading vessels from Victoria, B. C, at that point, and tlmi
evading custom dues. Developments, Alaska, MS., 3.

' The coast line of Alaska, including the islands, is 26,000 miles, and of the
United States 10,000 miles. Seward's Our North Pac. States, 3..

> SMUGGLING. 635

goods and effects of Indians." Among Indians, blan-
Kets are still the principal currency, as they were
during the rdgime of the Russian American Company.
Blankets of iracific coast manufacture are sold to-day
to a small extent in England, and to a considerable
extent in the states and territories east of the Rocky
Mountains ; but so successful has been this illicit traf-
fic, that a few years ago none but Hudson's Bay Coai-
pany blankets were to be found among the Indians of
Alaska.

Of smuggling among white men, two instances may
be mentioned — those of one Charles V. Baranovich,
a trader at Karta Bay,* and of the Rev. William
Duncan, an Episcopalian missionary and teacher, mag-
istrate, and trader at Metlahkatlah, in British Colum-
bia, near the Alaskan border. Baranovich was ac-
cused in 1875 of smuggling blankets, hard-bread, and
flour. The evidence was conclusive, but there was no
jurisdiction in Alaska, and it was not considered worth
the expense to indict him in the courts of Oregon or
Washington Territory. In the following year, the
Rev. W. Duncan was known to have held complicity
with smugglers of blankets, silk goods, fire-arms, and
molasses." Mr Duncan is criticised perhaps a little too
severely by William Gouverneur Morris, a late agent
of the treasury department,^** but it would seem alien
to the functions of a missionary to transgress or to
connive at the transgression of the United States
revenue laws. The expense at which the revenue
laws have been administered, and the contempt in
which they are held, need no further comment.

Let us now consider the resources of a territory
which contains but a few score of American citizens,

* Prince of Wales Island.

• The evidence in the latter case appears to be suflBciently conclusive. See
^f orris's Rept., 38-9. Duncan's bidarka fleet, on its way from Metlahkatlah,
was chased by Deputy Collector Dennis. Collector M. P. Berry, who ordered
tlie chase, paid the expense out of his own pocket, as for some reason it waa
disallowed Dy the accounting officers of tho department.

'"Duncan is complimented very highly in Colyer's Rept., 558-0.

, i|

8S«

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

and which was declared 'Indian country' by an ex-
attorney -general of the United States. They consist
of furs, fisheries, timber, mines, and as some would
have us believe, agriculture. The last three are as
yet but little utilized, and will be mentioned later.
The fur-seal trade, which is at present the most im-
portant industry, is now in the hands of the Alaska
Commercial Company, of which I shall make some
mention before proceeding further.

When negotiations for the sale of the Russian pos-
sessions were drawing to a close, a party of San Fran-
cisco merchants, among whom was J. Mora Moss,
obtained from Prince Maksutof a promise to transfer
to them all the property of the Kussian American
Company; but no contract was signed.

Among those who landed from the John L. Stephens
at the time of the transfer, however, was a merchant
named Hutchinson, who proceeded at once to the
castle and made arrangements with the ex-governor
to dispose of a portion of the company's vessels and
other property to the firm of Hutchinson, Kohl, and
Company," on better terms than those offered by
Moss and his colleagues. His offer was accepted.
A fur-trader named Boscovitch also purchased about
sixteen thousand fur-seal skins at forty cents apiece,
which were shipped to Victoria and sold for two or
three dollars each.*^ Other portions of the company's
assets were disposed of to various parties, most of
them at rates very much below their value.

In 1869 the Alaska Commercial Company was in-
corporated, with a capital of $2,000,000. In 1870 a
law was passed by congress for the protection of fur-
bearing animals,^* and a lease of the Prybilof or Seal

" Ab to the amount of his purchases, there are no reliable data.

"Thereupon Boscovitch tried to secure the remainder of the skins; btit
meanwhile the governor had received orders not to part with them. Among
the stock ill the warehouses were 80,000 dried fur-seal skins.

" For reports, bills, discussions, and investigations concerning the seal-
hunting grounds of Alaska, see Sen, Ex. Doc., 41x1 Comj. £d Ses., 1; Sen.
Sept., 4l8t Cong. 2d Sean., 47, p. 228-30, and Cong. Globe, 1869-70, app.
668-9, 675.

ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

637

islands granted to the company for a term of twenty
years." In 1872 the company purchased the prop-
erty and interest of Hutchinson, Kohl, & Company.

Apart from the seal islands, the industries of the
territory are open to the public, and for the stations
which the company has established on the Aleutian
Islands and on the peninsula north and west of Ka-
diak, no special privileges are claimed.

It was estimated by the secretary of the treasury,
before the lease was granted, that the cost of main-
taining at the expense of the United States a revenue-
cutter and a detachment of twenty troops, and of
paying the salaries of officials, would amount to
$371,200 a year, while a private company could save
nearly half that sum.*^

" The plan I propose," remarked one of the stock-
holders" to the chairman of committee on commerce
in the house of representatives, "asks for no expendi-
ture of money, nor the exercise of any doubtful or
unusual power of the government. On the other
hand, it will abolish the entire expense of the military
and naval establishments, which have already cost the
government so much at a time when it could be least
afforded; and in the next place, it will put into the
treasury $150,000 per annum net revenue at a time
when it is most needed."

It must be admitted even by its enemies that the
Alaska Commercial Company has thus far more than
fulfilled its promise. Instead of $150,000 a year, the

" Morris, Rfpt., I5I-2, makes the following absurd statement: In 1863-9
there were four or five companies engaged in killing seals on these islands, as
fast aa they could hire Aleuts to do the work. Among them was an eastern
firm that was too religious to allow seals to be killed on the sabbath, but did
not hesitate to supply whiskey to the Aleuts in payment for skins. Captain
J W. White, of the revenue marine, stopped this wholesale slau^jhter, which
tlireatened the extermination of the fur-seal, and ordered all tne whiskey-
liarrels to be broken open, and their contents poured on the ground. The
Aleuts lapped up the pools of whiskey as dogs lap water. There were but two
companies engaged in killing seals on the Prybilof islands in 18C8-9, and
otherwise the statement is pure fiction.

" It was supposed that loss by shipwreck would entail an additional ex-
pense of about $108,000. The number of revenue-cutters which the United
SStates proposed to lose each year is not stated in the secretary's report.

"Natbaa F. Dixon.

ti 't

■^.;M

iUi

li-,^

638

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

average revenue between 1870 and 1883 was about
$317,000, and meanwhile the supply of fur-seals in-
w-eased."

By the act approved July 1, 1870, "to prevent the
extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska," it
was provided that fur-seals should be killed at the Pry-
bilof Islands only during the months of June, July,
September, and October, except such as might be re-
quired for the food and clothing of the natives; that
the slaughter should bo restricted to males at least
twelve months old ; that the number killed each year
for their skins should not exceed 75,000 at St !Paul
and 25,000 at St George Island ; and that the use of
fire-arras or other weapons tending to drive the seals
away should not be permitted. It was estimated by
H. W. Elliott, a treasury agent, from surveys made
in 1872-3, that only one eighteenth of the aggregate
supply was contained at the latter island, and that to
secure there 25,000 seals within the time allotted
would be a difficult task. Through his efforts the act
of 1870 was amended,** and the secretary of the treas-
ury authorized to determine the relative number to
be killed at each island from season to season. The
time for killing was also extended to the first half of
the month of August.

According to the terms of its contract, the company
was required to pay a fixed rental of $55,000 a year,
a tax of $2.62^ on each fur-seal skin, and 55 cents per
gallon on all the seal-oil shipped from the Prybilof
Islands; to furnish annually to the natives, free of
charge, 25,000 dried salmon and 60 cords of fire-wood,
together with salt and barrels for preserving seal-meat ;
and to maintain a school on each island for at least
eight months in the year. As the market value of
seal-oil ranged from 35 to 55 cents per gallon, the
company could not save it except at a loss, and it was

" After the indiscriiniiiate slanghter in 1868-9 seals disappeared rapidly
from the Prybilof Islands, but two or three years later began to return in vast
numbers.

>* By act approved March 24, 1874.

TREATMENT OP NATIVES. , ,

allowed to go to waste. Though the tax was after-
ward abolished in consideration of a payment to the
natives of 10 cents per gallon, the production of oil
was still found to be unprofitable, and shipments have
never been considerable.**

In the regulations of the Alaska Commercial Com-
pany, prescribed in January 1872,*' are certain provi-
sions as to the remuneration and treatment of the
natives, which, together with the obligations of its
contract with government, appear to have been faith-
fully carried out. The Aleuts are to be paid forty
cents for each skin delivered, and for other labor a su m
to be agreed upon between the company's agents and
the parties employed. The working parties are to be
under control of native chiefs, and no compulsory labor
is to be required. Goods are to be sold at rates not
more than twenty-five per cent above the wholesale
price in San Francisco, salmon, fuel, and oil being fur-
nished gratis. Widows and orphans at either island
are to be supported if necessary at the company's ex-
pense. Medicines and medical attendance are to be
provided for all free of expense. Free transportation
and subsistence on the company's vessels must be fur-
nished to those who any time wish to remove to any
island on the Aleutian group. Finally, the agents
and employes of the company are strictly enjoined at
all times to "treat the inhabitants of the islands with
the utmost kindness, and endeavor to preserve ami-
cable relations with them. Force is never to be used
against them, except in defense of life, or to prevent

'*It was alleged in 1876, that the 100,000 seals killed each year would
yield at least 200,000 gallons of oil, that if the tax had been maintained it
would have yielded |!1 10,000 a year to government, and that the oil would
have sold in London for 05 cents per gallon. It is well known that the seals
whose fur is most valuable give the least oil, and the average yield is proba-
blv nearer half a gallon tlmn two gallons per seal. Moreover, the oil that
sells in London for 05 cents a gallon is not fur-seal but hair-seal oil. The
former has sometimes no marketable value, and apart from tax, the highest
price paid for it never exceeds the cost of production, freight, and other
charges. See House Com. Repts., 44th Cong. 1st Seas., 623, p. 9

"' A copy of them, and also of the 'Acttoprevent the extermin^aon of for-
bearing aniuuda in Alaska,' may be found la Elliott's Seal-hUmds, Alaika,
153-6.

640

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

the wanton destruction of valuable property. The
agents and servants of the company are expected to
instruct the native people in household economy, and
by precept and example illustrate to them the prin-
ciples and benefits of a higher civilization."

The workmen keep a tally of their number of skins,
and at the close of each day's labor give the result to
their chief When the skins are afterward counted
by the company's agent at the salt-houses, it is seldom
that any discrepancy is found. Once a month, or
sometimes more frequently, the sum due for the catch
is paid to the chiefs, by whom a portion is distributed
among the men, the remainder being reserved until
the final settlement, which takes place at the end of
the season. First-class workmen can thus earn, in-
cluding extra work, about $450" for three or four
months' labor, and considering that they are supplied
gratis the year round with house-room,'^ fuel, oil, and
their staple article of food, it would seem that their
condition is much better than that of the majority of
laborers in other parts of the world. Not a few of
them save money, though thrift is a rare virtue among
the Aleuts, and the company allows good interest to
those who deposit their savings,'' some having several
thousand dollars to their credit."

Complaints have been made from time to time of

*' At 40 cents per skin, the payment for the 75,000 skins taken at St Paul
Island in 1872 amounted to $30,000, and inclnding extra work, to $30,037. H?.
This was divided into 74 shares, though in fact only 56 men were at work,
portions being reserved for tlie church, the priest, widows, and orphans. Tho
shares were thus divided: 37 first-class snares at $451.22; 23 second-class
shares at $406.08; 4 third-class shares at $360.07; 10 fourth-class shares at
$315.85. Id., 25-i8. First-class shares are given to those who have worked
regularly and are of good standing in the community; second-class to those
who have worked irregularly or for a portion of the time; third-class to tlioie
who have been idle and worued only when they felt disposed, and fourth-clatis
to bojrs. Testimony of Charles Bryant, in llouse Com. liepts., J^th Coivj.
j8t8es8.,623,Ti.ff!.

" In 1876 dwellings had been erected on both islands, one for each family.
They were lined insido and filled in between the lining and weather-boardinj,'.
Stoves were also provided free of expen>^. Testimony of John F. Aliller, iu
/</.. 30.

*• Nine per cent was the rate paid in 1880.

■'In 1875, eighty natives at St Paul were credited with $34,715.24.
Id., 31.

I of

St Va.u\
,,037.37.
at woiK,
Tho
jond-class
Bliarcs lit
I worked
to those
_, to tliobe
urtU-clasa
ilh Cowj.

ich family-
.boaviUnc.

l,7l6.-24-

CONDITION OP THE INDIANS.

641

the treatment of natives by the Alaska Commercial
Company. Even before its incorporation the commis-
ttioner ot Indian affairs lamented that the relations of
Hutchinson, Kohl, & Company with the Aleuts were
merely those of traders, and "in the name of human-
ity" trusterl that the bill which passed the house of
representatives in 1868, and which "would virtually
reduce the Indians of Alaska to a condition of serf-
dom," would not become law. What relations other
than those of traders he expected to exist between
the Aleuts and Hutchinson, Kohl, & Company tho
commissioner does not state. It is certain, however,
that at the Prybilof Islands the treatment of tho for-
mer has been in marked and favorable contrast with
that which they received elsewhere during the mili-
tary occupation or during the regime of the Russian
American Compan3^

The entire population of the Prybilof Islands num-
bered, in 1880, nearly four hundred persons,-' all but
eighteen of them being Aleuts. Until these islands
were leased to the Alaska Commercial Company, most
of the natives lived in sod huts, some of them partly
under ground. The fat of seals and a small quantity
of drift-wood found on the northern shore of St Paul
Island formed their only fuel, and when these failed,
they passed the remainder of the long drear winter
huddled together beneath seal-skins, in the warmest
corner of their dark and noisome dwellings. Now there
is in their midst neither poverty, suffering, nor crime,^
and the villages at St Paul and St George will com-
pare not unfavorably with those of equal size, even in
the eastern states. The streets are regularly laid
out; each family lives in a comfortable frame dwell-
ing; there are churches and school- houses at both

" At St Paul there were 298, including 14 white persons, 128 male and
150 female Aleuts; at St George the population was 92, including 4 whites,
35 male Aleuts and 53 females, an increase of 30 or 40 souls since 1873. Elli-
ott': Seal- Idands, Alaska, 20.

'' Tltero are no policemen nor courts of justice, and eince 1870 there has not
been a single instance where the presence of a justice of tlie peace was needed.

Hist. Ai^aska. 41

Iff

h
ill

I*?:!'

r It !■'

642

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

settlements, and at St Paul a hospital and well fur-
nished dispensary.

The principal food of the natives is salmon and seal
meat, of which five to six hundred pounds a year are
required per capita. For animal food they have no
relish. Salt beef and pork they will sometimes accept
as a present, but will never purchase them. Apart
from fish, bread, butter, canned fruit, sugar, and tea
form their principal diet. Of bread they consume
about five pounds each per week, of butter and sugar
all that they can purchase, or rather all that the com-
pany will allow them to purchase; for if the supply
were unlimited, they would constantly surfeit them-
selves with both these luxuries. The samovar, which
is now being replaced by the tea-kettle, is kept boiling
at all hours of the day and most hours of the night.
When not at work the Prybilof Islander sips tea even
more persistently than the Chinaman, some of them
drinking as much as a gallon a day. No intoxicating
liquors of any kind are openly permitted to come
within their rmch, and of tobacco the consumption is
moderate."

During the eight or nine months which intervene
between the sealing seasons, the Aleut is little better
than a hibernating anin>al. He sleeps or slumbers for
about eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, anc? for
the rest he eats, drinks tea, smokes, goes to church,
and occasionally gambles. Sometimes he will work
at the grading of roads, or assist in the unloading of
vessels, receiving for his services fifty cents to one
dollar a day, but he does so with an air of supreme
condescension, for after receiving his share in the pro-
ceeds of the year's catch, he has sufficient to support
him until the following season, and is averse to labor
of any kind The holidays of the Greek church,
of which, including Sundays, there are usually three
or four each week, afford some relief from the tedium
of winter life. For those who are socially inclined,

^ About fifty poonda a week at St Paul Island.

the'.

tary
ofth
1870

(iMmis
"Fd
mana

manageif
"fiver M
"lilea ofl

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

643

there are also birthday parties, and occasionally dance
parties, at which the young pass through the figures
taught them by the Russians and set to Bussian
music, and the old look on and drink tea.

At St Paul Island we have probably about as con-
tented a community as can be found elsewhere on the
Pacific coast. Strong efforts have been made from
time to time to show that the natives are dissatisfied;**
but the dissatisfaction appears to exist only in the
minds of those who failed to procure the privileges
granted to the Alaska Commercial Company, or who
envy its privileges.''^ That, the company has been
guilty of breach of faith in its relations with the na-
tives or with the government has never yet been
proved, and assuredly its conduct has not lacked
investigation.

After a thorough inquiry into the affairs of the
company, the committee of ways and means report
to the house of representatives, in June 1876, that
"there is no just ground of complaint against the
Alaska Commercial Company or the officers of the
governm*^nt who were intrusted under the law with
the power to make and see to the performance of the
lease." The assignment of the lease was also made
the subject of a special investigation.

Before a sub-committee appointed for the purpose
of taking testimony, a large number of witnesses were
examined, among whom were General John F. Miller,
president of the company, George S. Boutwell, secre-
tary of the treasury in 1870, B. H. Bristow, secretary
of the treasury in 1876, and Louis Goldstone, who in
1870 "was trying," as he testifies, "to obtain a lease

**Anv wilful violation of the regulations is punished by the aummary
dismisaalof the offending party. Id., 166.

^ For adverse commenta and groundless complaints as to the company's
management, see Mofcharenko, Scrap Book, passim, and House Com. liepts.,
Uth Cong. Ut Stu: , o'?3, p. 29-30. If we can believe the president of the
company, General Ho .^ard, to whose pamphlet reflecting very severely on the
management of the natives was due in part the investigation of 1876, had
never been within 600 miles of one of the company's stations, or within 1,600
miles of the sea?-Lelands.

'it

mk,

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

iiS!

Hi::

from the government for seal-fishing on the Saint
Greorsfe's and Saint Paul's islands."

In the fourth section of the act of July 1, 1870,
for the protection of the seal-islands, it is ordered
that the secretary of the treasury ahall immediately
lease the Prybilof Islands "to proT;erand responsible
parties, to the best advantt^e of ;he United States,
having due regard to the interests of the government,
the native inhabitants, the parties heretofore engaged
in the trade, and the protection of the seal-fisheries,
for a term of twenty years from the lat day of May,
1870." In the sixth section it is provided "that the
annual rental to be reserved by said lease shall be not
less than fifty thousand dollars per annum, to be
Secured by deposit of United States bonds to that
amount, and in addition thereto a revenue tax or duty
of two dollars is hereby laid upon each fur-seal skin
taken from said islands during the continuance of such
lease."

On the 8th of July, 1870, an advertisement was
published by order of the secretary of the treasury,
stating that bids would be received for a period of
twelve days, and among them was one from Louis
Goldstone, offering to pay, in addition to $55,000 of
rental, $2,62^ for each seal-skin and 55 cents for
each gallon of seal-oil. Goldstone represented threu
parties in California, among whom was the "American
Russian Commercial Company," which withdrew
about the time that the bids were opened, notice to
thp.t effect being immediately sent to Mr Boutwell.

After considering all the proposals, together with
the character, fitness, and financial responsibility of
the parties, the secretary decided that the Alaska
Commercial Company best fulfilled the conditions
named in the act, and could give the surest guaranteo
of a faithful and intelligent performance of their con-
tract. He therefore awarded to them the lease on
the same terms as were offered by Goldstone, tho
company agreeing, moreover, to furnish food and fuel,

LEASE OF THE ISLANDS.

Saint

1870,
deretl
lately
nsiblo
states,
iment,
igaged
lieries,
f May,
bat the
i be not
, to be
to that
or duty
jeal sUiu
3 of such

lent was
treasury,
period of
,ni Louis
k5,000 of
cents for
jted thrco
American
[withdrew
notice to
)utweil.
(sther with
[sibility of
\e Alaska
[conditions
guarantee

' their con-
le lease on
^stone, tho
>d and fuel,

and to maintain free schools for the use of their native
employes on the Prybilof Islands.

Such, in brief, is the story of this transaction — one
that, like the purchase, is supposed to be deeply
shrouded in mystery, but was in fact a very straight
forward, business-like procceumg.

Mr Boutwell, in giving his testimony before the
committee, stated that the lease was assigned by his
direction, after such investigation as was thought
necessary on the question of granting to the Alaska
Commercial Company the preference. The matter
had been first submitted to the attorney-general, who
had also been asked whether, in his opinion, it was
the duty of the secretary to give public notice of the
passage of the bill, and to invite proposals. The
reply was that the company was entitled to prefer-
ence only so far as the secretary should consider them
to have peculiar facilities for the performance of the
contract, and that the invitation for public bids was a
matter that lay very much within his own discretion.
If the terms which the company offered were as fa-
vorable to the government, to the inhabitants of the
seal-islands, and to the protection of the seal-fisheries
as those which could be obtained in any other quar-
ter, or nearly so, " then, under the provisions of the
act, they would be entitled to a preference." **

General Miller testified that the Alaska Commer-
cial Company offered for the lease as much as any
other proper and responsible party, and in addition,
the considerations above mentioned. The proposals
were merely invited by the secretary for his own in-
formation, and he had of course the power to reject
any or all of them, as he saw fit. Being asked whether,
if the contract had been let to other parties, tbey could
have fulfilled it satisfactorily, General Miller replied

*'/rf., 4&-50. Mr Boutwell's testimony was confirmed by that of W. A,
Richardaon, asaistant secretary, by wliom tho contract was signed, tlie forniei
being absent from Washington at the time. Mr Uichardaon states tlmt Bout-
well was very much opposed to leasing the seal-ialands at all, but the law
having been passed, and the attorney-general having rendered hia opinion,
there waa no alternative. Id,, 60.

646

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

that it would have been very difficult for them to do so.
They could not have obtained at the islands the use
of a single building, nor any of the appliances needed
for carrying on the business, since all of them belonged
to the Alaska Commercial Companv,*" a member
of -which had also made contracts with the natives
for their labor. To build salt-houses, boats, dwelling-
houses, and procure what else was needed, would re-
quire much time and capital, whereas the company
had already on hand everything that was necessary.
Hence they were better fitted to carry on the business
than were other parties.

In addition to the above reasons for granting the
lease to this company, it may be stated that among its
stockholders were three firms, certain of whose mem-
bers had more experience in fur-sealing and the fur-
seal business than any of the remaining applicants,
their names being Williams, Haven, and Company of
New London, John Parrott and Company of San Fran-
cisco, and Hutchinson, Kohl, and Company. These
firms afterward consolidated and formed the nucleus
of the present Alaska Commercial Company, the first
of them being the oldest and most successful of all firms
connected with the American fur trade. At the time
when the lease was assigned, this association repre-
sented a capital of nine millions of dollars, and owned
no less than fifty trading posts in various parts of
Alaska.

As to the bid tendered by Louis Goldstone, it
remains only to be said that, on the withdrawal of
the American Kussian Commercial Company, the
secretary of the treasury considered it thereby inval-
idated, probably not deeming Mr Goldstone and his
colleagues "proper and responsible parties," "having
due regard to the interests of the government." Cer-
tain it is that the ofier made by Goldstone was sus])i-
ciously liberal — more liberal than the law required,

** Beini;; tranaferred by Mr Hutchinson to the firm of HutchinBon, Kohl,
and Company, and by the latter to the Alaska Commercial Company. Tusti-
■tony of H. M. Hutchinson, lu Id,, pp. 112, 118.

83,j..j

8eu.

Ho
pared
lerredl
CommJ
GeorffcT
tbeS^
■igned]
gation^
are thJ
an act 1
withdr
IhiJ

Ho.v.
sent

RIVAL BIDDERS.

647

though less so than the terms ultimately proposed by
the Alaska Commercial Company. The action taken
by the secretary gave sore offence to Goldstone and
his associates, by some of whom a pamphlet was pub-
lished, entitled the History qftlie Wrongs of Alaska,*^
a memorial being also forwarded to the representatives
and referred to committee, in which it was alleged
that the lease had been illegally assigned. The state-
ment was afterward retracted, as having been made
under a misapprehension of the facts, and the memo-
rial withdrawn."

If any other evidence be needed, in addition to
the statements already mentioned, we have the testi-
mony of the Hon. B. H. Bristow, of which more later,
Joseph S. Moore, and other responsible gentlemen,
whose answers before the committee were unanimously
in favor of the company. Finally, we have the report
of the members of the committee themselves, who
"concur in the opinion that the lease with the Alaska
Commercial Company was made in pursuance of the
law; that it was made in the interest of the United
States, and properly granted to the Alaska Commer-
cial Company; that the interest of the United States
was properly protected in all the requirements of the
law; and that the lessees have faithfully comphed
with their part of the contract."

" A copy of it will be found in House Ex. Doe., 4^A Cong, Id Seat., no.
83, p. 152-71.

" A copy of the letter will be found in Houte Com. EepU., 44th Cong, lit
Bt»$.. 623, p. 136. It reads aa follows:

San Francisoo, Gal., Dec. 15, 1871.

Honored Sir: During the last session of Congress a memorial was pre-
pared by the undersigned and associates and presented to the House, anci re-
ferred to your committee, in which it was alleged that the lease to the Alaska
Commercial Company by the United States, ^r the islands of St Paul and St
George, Alaska, August 3, 1870, was illegally obtained by said company from
the Secretary of the Treasury, and ought to nave been awarded to the under-
signed and associates. I now desire to withdraw said memoriaL The alle-
gations contained therein, having been made under a misapprehension of facts,
are therefore untrue. The undersigned, representins the memorialists, as
an act of justice to the Secretary of the Treasury andall concerned, begs to
withdraw all statements of complaint contained in said memorial.

I have the honor to be, air, your obedient servant,

LouiH GoLDSTOiat.
Hon. John A. Binohah, Chairman Judiciary Committee House of Eepra*
seutatives, Washington, D. C.

■"m

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

Andong the papers submitted to the committee of
ways and means were two communications from Rob-
ert Desty of San Francisco. In the first one, dated
February 28, 1876, he citesanumber of charges against
the company ,** which then soUcited an investigation,
and which he compares to a "thief who aims to keep
himself always ready to be searched, depending on hav-
ing the search dirc^l/ed by himself." He also states
that he has delivered to Senator Jones, of Nevada, cer-
tain documents relating to Alaska, to which he refers
the committee. "I am not a trader," writes Desty,
"never was, and never likely to be, have no interest in
Alaska, but for many years I have been a close student
of its affairs, and have contributed some to writing up
its resources, which I believe to be greatly underrated
♦by the company; and desiring to see an honest admin-
istration of the affairs of government, I took the lib-
erty thus to address you."

From Desty's second communication, dated May 1,
1876, I will give a few extracts, which may serve to
explain the History of the Wrongs of Alaska and the
newspaper comments to which it gave rise. "Some
time since I forwarded to you a coll-^ction of documents,
and a written statement of the affairs of the Alaska
Commercial Company. Since that time I have taken
especial pains to investigate as far as I was able the
matters involved therein, and I have become convinced
that most of the charges against the company are not
founded on facts which can be proved.

"Having written nearly all the newspaper articles
which have appeared in the San Francisco papers dur-
ing the last seven years against the Alaska Commer-
cial Company, and being the author, in print, of most
of the charges which have been published against
that company ... I deem it incumbent on me to make
the following statement. . .Being a poor man, and a
writer, I wrote upon this subject such tilings as I was
required to write by those who employed me; and

"They are given in Id., p. 139-43.

DESTY'S WRITINGS.

649

being a radical in politics, of the French school, I was
the more easily deceived, and more readily accepted
the statements which charged oppression and wrong-
ful acts upon the part of this powerful company as
true, and wrote them up with all the vigor and zeal I
possessed, induced by my natural desire to protect
the weak against the strong.

"It is well known that there has existed in this city
for several years a combination of individuals, mostly
fur-dealers, who singly and together, under various
names, have made common cause against the Alaska
Commercial Company. For a time they took the
name of the 'Alaska Traders' Protective Association;'
lately they have assumed the name, 'The Anti-Monop-
oly Association of the Pacific Coast. '^^

"It was in the interest of this combination, as I now
discover, that I was employed to write, and the alleged
facts and charijes which I have from time to time
written and published against the company were fur-
nished by one and another of these parties.^*

" The pamphlet called the History of the Wrongs
of Alaska was mostly composed of statements and
charges made by me in the Alaska Herald and other
sources — the articles written by me and published in
the Alaska Herald and other San Francisco papers,^'
and in the New York and Chicago papers.

"The object and purpose of all these various publi-
cations on the part of this combination was to raise a
clamor against the Alaska Connnercial Company, and
by charging fraud and oppression continually, make
the company so odious to the public that congress
would take action towards the abrogation of its con-
tract of lease for the Seal Inlands.

'••Tlie names of the membci-s, according to Dcsty's information, are given
in /(/., 141. Desty states that lie waa himself invited to become a member,
but declined.

'" 'And others in written memoranda furnished by the pen of Honcharenko,
and wliich I elaborated into the articles which appeared in print.'

'■ Desty states tliat Honeharenko was never in Alaska, and tiiat the Alivika
JlfTiilit was piiblislK.'d for sevcr-al years in San Fi'aucisco, and supported by
the combination and their synipatliii:i"'«

i'l

850

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

"I now desire to retract all I have written against
the company, and this I do freely and voluntarily,
without fear or compulsion of any sort, but as an act
cf simple justice."

Desty's communications, for whatever they were
worth, were put on file as evidence. Their worth is
probably known to those who were residents of San
Francisco when the suit of Thomas Taylor and others
versus the Alaska Commercial Company and others
was tried in 187 1,*' and they are mentioned in these
pages merely to explain in part the adverse comments
that have appeared in the press and in various pam-
phlets.

Perhaps the most valuable testimony educed durinc?
the investigation was that of B. H. Bristow. "I
understand you to say," remarked a member of the
sub-committee, "that you have instituted all the in-
quiries that you deem necessary, but that you have
not found anything against the company that is
reliable?" "Yes, sir," replied the secretary of the
treasury, "all that I thought necessary — indeed, all
that I could; for, to speak the plain truth, when it
came to my knowledge that the company was making
a very large profit out of the matter ,*'' I felt that the gov-
ernment was not getting as much as it ought to have,
and I wanted to find some way of getting a share of
the profits for the government; but I found myself
confronted with the law and this contract, and I saw
no reason to believe that the company were not carry-
ing out thtir contract in good faith, whatever may be
the suspicions by which they are surrounded."

The only charge worthy of mention that was brought
home to the Alaska Commercial Company was a clis-

•• A portion of the evidence in this case, of which I have a copy, will bs
found in the Alaska Com. Co., MS.

*• Miller testified that the company lost money the first year, but the
second year made a small profit, that for the third year the dividend was ton
per cent, and for 1875 fifteen per cent. House Com. lieptn., 44^/* Comj. 1st
Sess., 623, p. 37, where are given the names of the stockholders in 1870.

CHARGES AGAINST THE COMPANY.

est

crepancy of $1,407.37*° between the accounts kept by
the custom-house and those of the company; and in
the opinion of the official appointed to examine the
company's books, this was due to an error of the gov-
ernment agents.

In 1869 the value of a fur-seal skin in London, the
world's mart for peltry, did not exceed three or four
dollars, but at that date the tax was one dollar per
skin. In 1876 a first-class skin delivered in London
cost the company six to six and a half dollars; its
market value at that date before being dres.^ed or
dyed was about fifteen dollars, and in 1881 twenty
dollars. The enhanced price is due in part to better
preservation, but more to whim of fashion.

The demand for furs is of course controlled by fash-
ion. As men wear beaver hats in summer, so do
women seal-skin sacks. Among others, furriers regu-
late fashion. "When I was in London," remarks
Miller, "I talked with all the great furriers, and
they were delighted to know that they could cal-
culate with reasonable certainty upon the number of
skins that were to be put upon the market each year.
The furriers influence fashion. The value of this
article is subject to the caprice of fashion, but the fur-
riers themselves aid in making the fashions, and they
make the fashion for an article that will pay."

Among: the charges brouj^ht against the Alaska
Commercial Company was that of taking more than the
number of skins allowed by law. It is unnecessary to
discuss this charge. As a fact, they usually take one
or two hundred less than the number prescribed, and
not until 1881 did the number of accepted skins
amount to a hundred thousand." "If we overran the

*" Tho nraount of tax on 559 skins at §2.62i each.

*' EHioWh Seal Idandx, Alaska, 109. The list of the treasury agent is the
official indorsement of the company's catch. The skins are shipped to San
Francisco, where tliey are counted. 'As it never liappened bcfoie. until the
Benson of 1881 , ' remarks Elliott, ' that the two counts at San Francisco and St
I'aid iiave agreed to a unit, tho company has given strict and imperative
orders tlmt no more than 99,800 or 99,850 shall be annually taken by ita

652

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

market to any appreciable extent," stated Miller, in
evidence, "it would certainly knock the price down,
and it would do it because it disturbs the present
equilibrium."

At the Prybilof Islands the government has what
may be termed a stock-farm, which yields an income
of more than $300,000 a year. The advantages of
leasing these islands to responsible parties are thus
stated by Henry W. Elliott, formerly a treasury agent,
who inspected the sea] grounds in 1876:

"First. When the government took possession of
these interests, in 1868 and 1869, the gross value of
a seal-skin laid down in the best market, at London,
was less in some instances, and in others but slightly
above, the present tax and royalty paid upon it by the
Alaska Commercial Company.

"Second. Through the action of the intelligent
business men who took the contract from the govern-
ment, in stimulating and encouraging the dressers of
the raw material, and in taking sedulous care that
nothing but good skins should leave the islands, and
in combination with leaders of fashion abroad, the de-
mand for the fur, by this manipulation and manage-
ment, has been wonderfully increased.

"Third. As matters now stand, the greatest and
best interests of the lessees are identical with those
of the government; what injures one injures the other.
In other words, both strive to guard against anything
that shall interfere with the preservation of the seal-
life in its original integrity, and bo^h having it to
their interest if possible to increase that life; if the
lessees had it in their power, which they certainly have
not, to ruin these interests by a few seasons of rapacity,
they are so bonded and so environed that prudeiico
prevents it.

agents from the seal-islands. Taking the full qnota for this season of l^Sl
was contrary to its express direction.' In the Rept. on F^iitancen, in Hdiisc.
Ex. Doc., 47lh Co7i(j. 2a Sp-i^., 47, the secretary of tlie treasury etjites tluit in
1882 the Alaalia Commercial Co. took 'nearly the maximum number of sual-
skins pennitted under its lease, paid the tax thereon, as well as the rent of
the islands, and otherwise performed its duties uuder its lease.'

ELUOTT'S REPORT.

608

lof IS^l
In II'"""'-
J that in
[of seal-
rent 01

"Fourth. The frequent changes in the oflSce of the
secretary of the treasury, who has very properly the
absolute control of the business as it stands, do not
permit upon his part of that close, careful scrutiny
which is exercised by the lessees, who, unlike him,
have but their one purpose to carry out. The char-
acter of the leading men among them is enough to
assure the public that the business is in responsible
hands, and m the care of persons who will use every
effort for its preservation and its perpetuation. . .As
matters are now conducted, there is no room for any
scandal — not one single transaction on the islands but
what is as clear to investigation and accountability
as the light of the noon-day sun; what is done is
known to everybody, and the tax now laid by the
government upon and paid into the treasury every
year by the Alaska Commercial Company yields
alone a handsome rate of interest on the entire pur-
chase money expended for the ownership of all
Alaska."*'^

It is probable that the lease of the Prybilof Islands
has been a much more profitable transaction, both for
the government and the Alaska Commercial Com-
pany, than was anticipated at the time when it wass
signed. In 1871 Hutchinson, Kohl, & Company
obtained a lease of Bering, Copper, and Robben
islands on very much more favorable terms. The
rental was but five thousand roubles in silver, and the
royalty two roubles. The minimum number of skins
that should be taken was fixed at one thousand, but
otherwise there was no limit.**

In many parts of Alaska there were, in the time of
the Russian American Company, as the reader will

"Seal Mnnds, Alaska, 26-7. 'It i8 frequently urged with great persist-
ency, by misiuformed or malicious authority,' continues Elliott, 'that tbo
lessees can and do take thousands of skins in uxcess of the law, and this catch
in excess is shipped sub rosa to Japan from the Pribylov Islands.' To show
tlie impossibility of such action on the part of the company, he then states
the conditions under which the skina are taken.

"A copy of the lease is given in J louse Com. Repts., 44th Cong. 1st Staa.,
623, app. B.

"•'ill

' U'^M

|:!l

Jl'

mt COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

remember, seal-grounds of great value, but where to-
day the catch is inconsiderablo. In the south Pacific
there were, less than fifty years ago, rookeries fre-
quented by millions of seals, and which now yield but
five to ten thousand skins a year. That the same
fate would have overtaken the Prybilof Islands, but
for the intervention of congress; that, instead of the
five millions of fur-seals which at present make these
islands their summer resort, there would have been
but a few thousands, cannot reasonably be doubted."
They return each year only because they are not
allowed to be disturbed by the sound of firearms or
by other means, much care and method being used
during the slaughtering season.

When they come in from the north Pacific in early
summer, the seals usually select their landing-places
on the south and south-eastern shores of the Pr v bilof
Islands, mainly, as is supposed, because the winds,
blowing at that season usually from the north and
west, (;arry out to sea the scent of their old rookeries.
Di ring the month of May only a few hundreds of full-
pi-own males are to be seen on the grounds, but about
the first week in June, when banks of gray fog begin
to enshroud the islands, the males swarm in daily by
thousands, and choose locations for their harems close
to high-water mark.

Toward the end of the month the females arrive,
and meanwhile a constant fight has been going on
between the new-comers and those already in the
field, during which the latter, exhausted by repeatcl
conflicts, are often driven higher up the rookery and
away from the water-line. The contests are only
among the full-grown males," which dispute in single
combat the choicest spots; and veterans have been
known to fight thirty or forty pitched battles in order

"About 3,000,000 are full-grown females. Wheir 'mi y all harbor during
the rest of the year is not known, but it is believea that they spend the win-
ter south of the Aleutian Islands, in places where fish an' abunuant. IlUtcU't
Com. and Ind., I^ac. Coast, 332. ,.

« Eight years old or more.

to niaintaii
females, wh
who have Ii
the season.**
The com!
gaze. When,
like pugilists
out and theii
much prelim
each other w
gn'p is relaxe
are scarred w
meanwhile, ai
singular that
''Thus," as
all the males
numbers to th
the remaining
land upon the i
which always
^reat band of
^}^y termed, v
live apart enti
miles away froi
perfect method
properly killed
iected and held
take them with
entire quiet of
IS perpetuated.'
To the bache
}JP their abode
111 rear of the i
free beaches, j
through the mi
ceaseless files, <

i«at off all his assailan

«nd covered with raw a

A Kussian word ii

SEAL BATTLES.

653

to maintain their ground until the arrival of the
females, when it seems to be imdcrstoocl that those
who have held their own shall not be disturbed for
the season.**

The combatants approach warily and with averted

f'aze. When at close quarters they make feints or passes
ike pugilists in tho ring, their heads darting in and
out and their eyes gleaming with a lurid light. After
much preliminary roaring and writhing, they seize
each other with their long canine teeth, and when the
grip is relaxed, the skin and blubber of one or both
are scarred with furrows, the blood streaming down
meanwhile, and the conflict being perhaps the most
singular that man can witness.

"Thus," as Elliott remarks, "about two thirds of
all the males which are born, and they are equal in
numbers to the females born, are never permitted by
the remaining third, strongest by natural selection, to
land upon the same breeding-ground with the females,
which always herd thereupon en masse. Hence, the
great band of bachelor seals, or holluschickie,*^ so
fitly termed, when it visits the island is obliged to
live apart entirely'', sometimes, and in some places,
miles away from the rookeries; and in this admirably
perfect method of nature are those seals which can be
properly killed without injury to the rookeries se-
lected and held aside, so that the natives can visit and
take them without disturbing, in the least degree, the
entire quiet of the breeding-grounds, where the stock
is perpetuated."

To the bachelor seals remains the choice of taking
up their abode — in technical phrase, 'hauling up' —
in rear of the rookeries, or on what are termed the
free beaches. For the former purpose a path is left
through the married-quarters by which they pass in
ceaseless files, day or night, at will. No well con-

** Elliott states that he has seen a veteran seal fight 40 or 50 battles and
beat off all hia assailants, coming out of the campaign with the loss of an eye,
and covered with raw and festering scars. SecU lalands, Alaska, 32.

" A Russian word for bachelors.

'^HA

IM.i

65d

COMMERCE, REVENUE, AND FURS.

ducted hoUuschick is molested on the way, but woe
to him that keeps not straight on his path, or looks
askant and sniffs in the neighborhood of a harem.
Loss of flipper or of life is the sure penalty.

During the early part of the season, the bachelor seals
that select as their ground the free beaches haul up"
within a few rods of high-water mark, and to effect
their capture great caution is required. At the first
glimpse of dawn, a party of natives is sent to the
spot whence the seals are to be driven to the slaugh-
tering-ground, and while their victims are still dozing,
creep stealthily betweeis them and the surf When
roused, thev find themselves cut off from retreat to
the sea, and crawl or lope in the direction in which
they are guided by the Aleuts, who, brandishing their
clubs, but as noiselessly as possible, walk slowly on
the flank and in rear of the drove. In this man-
ner, under favorable circumstances, several thousand
fur-seals may be driven by a dozen men, but usually
only a few hundred are taken at a time.

From the hauling-grounds to the killing-grounda
the seals are driven at the rate of about half a mile
an hour, with frequent halts to allow time to cool, as
heating injures the quality of the fur. During the
'drive, as it is termed, they never show fight, unless
it should happen that a few veterans are among the
drove. When the men think it time to halt, they
drop back a few paces, whereupon the holluschickio
stop, and pant, and fan themselves. Th. .\ittoring
of a few bones or a shout from their drivers causes
them instantly to resume their march to the slaugh-
tering-grounds.**

About seven o'clock the seals are secured in the
slaughtering corral, which is always close to one of the

*• A phrase applied to the action of Bsals when they land from the surf and
drag themselves over the licach.

^The 'drive' to Lukannon on St Paul Island cccupiei about two hoiira,
to Tolstoi on the same island two and a half tu three hours, while to Zoltui,
on St George Islanil, the distance from the beach is trifling. These are the
principal alaughtoring-grounds. Id., 71 (note). Opposite tliat page is a plate
representing a drove on its way to the killing-grounds.

-le nu
They ,

phrase
salt

sliding
when
of two
They
where
thence
forty t(
The

•nd three
"' Elliot
"The I
"Larg,

the weight]

li It

SLAUGHTER OF SEALS.

es7

Alaska Commercial Company's villages. Here they
are allowed to cool until the men havfe breakfasted, after
which all the Aleuts come forth, armed with bludgeons,
clubs,*" and stabbing and skinning knives. At a given
signal the men step ihto the corral, from which rt
hundred or a hundred and fifty are driven at a time,
and surrounded, the circle narrowing Ufitil the sealj
are huddled together and within reach of the clubs.
The chief then selects those which are doomed, and
a single blot^ of the club, which will stun and not
kill, is dealt to all. If the day happen to be warm
and fair, the skin will spoil, unless removed, sometimes
\rithin half an hour," and always within an hour ami
a half after the death of the seal. To avoid waste,
therefore, and to allow those whose furs hiive been
injured during the harfera fights a chance to escape
the fatal blow is not struck until later, when a single
well aimed stroke of the bludgeon crushes in the slen-
der bones of the victim'sskull and stretcheshim lifeless;"'

The skins are taken to the salt-house, tvhere thoy
are carefully examined, and those which are damaged,
the number seldom exceeding one per cent, are rejected.
They are then salted on the leshy side, and, in sealing
phrase, piled, fat to fat, in 'keaches,'*' after which
salt is thrown on the outer edges and ke^t in place by
sliding planks. In two or three weeks they are pickloci,
when they are taken, as required, rolled into bundle;?
of two, with the fur outward, and are tightly corded.
They are then ready for shipment to San Francisco,
where they are counted by the government agent awd
thence forwarded to London in casks containing each
forty to eighty skins. "^

The method of

^ssrng

dyeing

^ The bludgeonu ave o^ iiickory, and the cljba five or six feet iu longtli,
»nd three iuchi* in diamef r at tlie head.

" EUiiott 8tatet> tha'' th; i oijuurs, but is a rare occurrence.

" The blows ere usually itpiated two or three tim^

'^ Large bi.is.

"Tiie average weight of a skin thus pickled is 6 ^o lOlbsl A table of
the Weight, siite, attd growth cf th6 fur-a&il at the Prybilof Islar.ds is given

»u//., 40. ■ •

Hist. Alaisa. li

C08

COMMEr.CE, REVENUii, AND FURS.

trade secret, and for some reason this branch of indus-
try appears to be almost concentrated in London. Al-
though artisans have been engaged, and dye-stuffs and
even water imported from England by the French, furs
prepared by artisans of the lattor iipt'on are not con-
sidered equal to those prepar'^d in ■ j-^ ioi. The pro-
cesses previous to that of dyeU:;^, ';'■ , lein the secret
lies, are very simple. In order tc lid it of greasy
particles, the skin is first soakbd in warm water, and
after being scraped clean, again soaked in warm water
containing rose-wood or mahogany sawdust. The
fleshy side of the skin is then shaved, in order to cut
off the roots of the coarser hairs, which fall out, leaving
only the soft fur, which is then ready for the dyeing
process.^

Whatever has been or may be alleged against the
Alaska Commercial Company, it cannot be said with
truth that it has diminished the world's wepltb. Dur-
ing the first term of the Russian American Cc^npany's
existence, the entire catch of fur-seals at ine I'ribylof
Islands was estimated at a little over " ,0"^' .000^ dur-
ing the second term at less than 460,0o0, ;ud during
the third term at about 340,000, eacli toi:a <. "ter ding
over about twenty years, and almost each year show-
ing a diminution in the supply. The waste of skins
caused through fault of cunng has already been men-
tioned." In 1868 the slaughter exceeded 240,000,
and, as we have seen, the rookeries were threatened
with extermination. In 1883 about 100,000 were
killed; their value was greatly enha ■ 'd, and during
the portion of the company's lea; o chat had then
expired the supply was gradually on t . increase.

The catch f/i" .-ea-oiier now averages 5,000 to 6,000
a year, or moie than icnhle the number secured be-

» Hiltell'a Com. and LA. Pnr Coait, 336. The price of a good finisheil
■kin in London was, in 1881, abov ii |40.

^ Elliott remarkB that tho method of curing in early times was to peg tlie n
out when green on the ground, or stretch them on a wooden frame. About
730,000 were spoiled in 1803. ,

SEA.OTTER AND FOXES,

659

then
ise.

6,000
Ired Ije-

ke: About

fore the purchase ; and their skins are worth in Lon-
don from $75 to $100.'^ This industry furnishes prof-
itable employment for a few months in the year to
several thousand Aleuts, the skin being the most val-
uable of all peltry, excepting perhaps the pelt of the
black fox.

Silver-gray and black fox-skins were first introduced
to fashion, it will be remembered, at St Petersburg."*
Of either the catch is inconsiderable, that of the silver
fox seldom exceeding one hundred, while the appear-
ance of a black fox-skin in the market is of very rare
occurrence. Blue fox-skins are taken to the number
of about 2,000. The red fox has little commercial
value. Of marten and beaver skins considerable ship-
ments are made; but of these, as of other land peltry,
the principal supply comes from the Hudson's Bay
Company.

" For 1879 the catch was 900 in the Kadiak district, and 4,850 in the
Unalaska district, the latter including the Shnmagin Islands. PttrojSTB Pop,
Mcuka, 66.

"This vol, p. 253.

CHAPTER XXX.

FISHERIES.

*. ■ '■» ,■

1887-1884 .

SitLHON PACKim — PRIOB AITD WbiOIIT Of THE RaW FiSH— YtTKOW-RlTSlt

SAUioir — AubSKAir CAKKERns— DoMEsno CoNstmnioN asd Waste—
.; Thi Co]>-bank» at Alaska — Larok Ikghbas* in the Catch of Cod-
• ,, nsH — And Decbbasb in its Valoe— The Halibut- fisheries — Her-

WNO AND HeRRINO-OIL — MaCKEREL — TaS EVLACHON OR Candlb-pish —

Valob AMD Prospects of the Alaskan Fishckitu — Whaling Enter-
prise—The North Pacific Whaling Fleet— Gradual Decrease
in thx CAroH — Tukeatiweo Exhaustion of the Wualino-ouounds.

"In their public prayers,"^ remarks John Adams, "it
is said that the Dutch ask of the supreme being that
it may please him to bless the government, the states,
the lords, and the fisheries." In 1776 the fisheries of
Alaska were unknown to John Adams and to the
Dutch, nor were the Russians aware of their value,
even at the time of the transfer, though it is not im-
probable that, a generation hence, the waters of this
territory may be one of the main sources of the world's
supply.

There is, of course, no immediate prospect that the
fisheries of Alaska will be extensively utilized unless
other sources of supply should begin to fail. It is n
little significant, however, that the salmon-pack should
have increased from about 8,000 cases in 1880* to
36,000 in 1883, the yield in the latter year being
worth about $180,000," while during the interval the

' HitUlVa Com. and Ind. Pac. Conut, 375. There werealao shipped in 1880
600,000 lbs of salted salmon.

*San Fran. Bulletin, April 1*2, 1884. A case contains four dozen one-puuiitl
tins, the value of wliicli is estimated at 91.25 per dozen.

(660)

■'fi

SALMON IN ALASKA.

market for canned salmon had become greatly over-
stocked. More than 36,000 cases are often shipped
by a single cannery on the Columbia, although the
price paid per fish in 1883 was on the Columbia
seventy cents, and at the Alaska canneries from cn«
cent to five cents.

The average weight of salmon caught in Alaskan
rivers, after being cleaned, exceeds fifteen pounds,'
while on the Columbia it is less than twenty pounds.
The flavor of the best fish caught in the former local-
ity is only excelled by that of Scotch and Norwegian
salmon, which are considered superior to any in the
world. The more northerly the waters in which salmon
are taken, the better their flavor. The king salmon,
the largest and choicest of the species found in Alaska,
not unfrequently attains a weight of eighty and some-
times of a hunured pounds, its range being from the
Alexander Archipelago to the Yukon. It is known
to ascend that river for more than a thousand miles,*
the run commencing about the middle of June and
lasting till the end of August. So choice is its flavor,
that during the regime of the Russian American Com-
pany, several barrels of the salted fish were shipped
uach season to St Petersburg for the use of the
friends of the company's officials.'

The run of salmon on the Yukon is immense, but
lasting as it does only for about six weeks, is at pres-
ent considered of too brief duration to warrant the
investment of capital. The fact that the mouth of the
Yukon is not navigable for sea-going vessels is a

ilFl

*In Morria's Rept., Altuha, 113, it is stated that at Cook's Inlet they av-
erage 60 lbs, and tnat some have been caught weighing 120 lbs. The state-
ment would be true if it were applied only to king salmon, but is much above
the figures for the average catch.

' Seyond the site of Fort Yukon.

^(7. 8. Agnc. h'ept. (1870), 41st Cong. Sd Sesi., 382-3. The more common,
species have the same range, but their run commences a few days later and
tliey remain longer. A king salmon when dried will make on an average
about 20 lbs of «/iba/t, as the dried fish was termed by the Indians. In the
report the veiglit of the common species is given at 10 to 30 lbs, and when
cloitned and smoked 2 or 3 lbs. These figures are too low. Frobably the
Aleut process of cnring is the one mentioned.

I 4

FISHERIES.

further obstacle. In other rivers and streams of
Alaska, however, salmon are almost equally abundant,
and it is possible that the proprietors of the Colum-
bia River canneries may find competition from these
sources increase more rapidly than they anticipate.

About the year 1868 a cannery was built at Klowak,
on Prince of Wales Island, probably the first one in
Alaska, and afterward became the property of the
San Francisco firm of Sisson, Wallace, and Company,
who incorporated under the laws of California, taking
the name of the North Pacific and Trading Company,'
In 1878 Cutting and Company, also of San Francis-
co, established a cannery near the site of Fort Sv
Mikhail, or, as it is now termed, old Sitka,^ and al-
though they did not commence operations until late
in the season, their first pack was about five thousand
cases.® On account of an accident, this cannery was
afterward removed to a favorable site on Cook Inlet.
In 1883 the Alaska Salmon Packing and Fur Com-
pany was incorporated, among its purposes being the
canning, salting, and smoking of fish at the lake and
harbor of Naha. Small canneries have also been
established at other points, and it is worthy of note
that they should find the industry remunerative,
while, on account of low prices, the canneries of the
Columbia, with their superior appliances, have almost
ceased to be profitable.

The chief obstacles in the way of the canneries are
the shortness of the season, the difficulty in obtaining
labor, the great cost of supplies, the want of commu-
nication, and the fact that no title can be obtained to
land. That raw fish will continue to be cheaper, be-
cause more abundant and more easily caught than

' Morris states that the first year's operations satisfied the firm that tho
enterprise would be successful, liept., 115.

^ Five miles from the present town of Sitka.

* Berry'' » Developments, Alaska, MS., 12. Beny states that the firm
did not lose money the first season. In Sen, Ex. Doe., 46lh Cong. Hd Sesn.,
105, p. 13, it is stated that the total shipments for 1879 were 6,000 cases, and
a large quantity of salted salmon in barrels. At that date there were two
other firms in operation.

COD-BANKS.

66}

felsewhere in the world, there is little doubt. It would
seem that as salmon can be bought from the natives
in Alaska at less than one fifteenth of the price paid
on the Columbia, and as Alaska salmon is preferred
in the eastern states and in Europe to Columbia.
River salmon, these difficulties will in time be over-
come. Moreover, it is probable that the demand for
canned salmon will gradually increase, and that its
present low marketable value will not long continue,
for few more nourishing and palatable articles of food
can be bought at the price, and the entire pack of
Alaska would not yet furnish breakfast for the popu-
lation of London for a single day.

The quantity of salmon shipped from Alaska is of
course but a small portion of the annual catch, for
this is the staple food of the 30,000 or 35,000 Ind-
ians who inhabit the territory.^ A 30 or 40-pound
fish will weigh but four or five pounds when prepared
by their wasteful process for winter use, and it is es-
timated that they take 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 sal-
mons a year, probably at least thrice the number re-
quired to supply the demand of all the canneries on
the Pacific coast. ^"

The cod-banks of Alaska, like the salmon fisheries,
are admitted to be the most extensive known to the
world, and only in the waters near this territory, and
perhaps three or four degrees farther south, is the gob-
dus morrhua, or true cod, known to exist on the Pacific
coast. The banks extend at intervals from the Shura-
agin Islands northward and westward to the ice-line
of the Bering Sea, eastward to Cook Inlet, and south-
ward to the strait of San Juan de Fuca," those near

• According to the censuB of 1880 the entire population waa 33,426, of
whom 430 were white persons, 1,756 creolea, and the remainder Indians.

'"The Pacific coast pack was estimated, for 1881, at 44,440,000 lbs. Hit-
Uirg Com. and Ind. Pac. Coast, 380.

" U. 8. Ar/ric. Hepl., 1870, 375. Dodge states that the cod fisheries
extend to Bering Strait, and even to the Arctic Ocean. Morris's Re jit. ,113. A
few Btragglers may find their way through the strait during summer, but lat,
AO" N., wliicli is about the line reached in mid-wiuter by floating ice, is practi-
cally the limit.

FISHERIES.

thie Shumagin Islands being considered the best, ov
at least the most available." East and west it may
be said that they reach for 20 or 25 miles from the
slhores of Asia and America, the area of the Alaskan
banks already known being probably more thai)
100,000 square miles. They are much more shallow
than those of Newfoundland, the depth of the former
being usually 20 or 30 fathoms, though the best fish
are taken in 70 or 80 fathoms,^' while the latter aver-
tige from 60 to 120 fathoms.

I In 1867^ 28 vessels were employed at the cod-banks,
the catch for that year exceedmg 2,500 tons when
salted, and its value being about $350,000, against
less than 1,500 tons, worth almost the same amount,
in 1866. The catch of 1867, which was then consid-
ered enormous, coippletely glutted the market, and
caused a fall in price of about 40 per cent. It is
worthy of note, however, that in 1869 nearly 3,700
tons of fish were salted, and in 1870 over 5,300 tons,
the catch for each year selling at better rates than
were obtained in 1867." After 1870 the take aver-
aged about 500,000 fish per year," the industry usu-
ally giving employment to a dozen or fifteen schoon-
ers, some of which were engaged for a portion of the
year in the salmon fisheries. Meanwhile the price
gradually fell in San Francisco to about five cents per

" One advantiage is that fishing vessels ci^n always lie under the lee of one
of the islands, ana thus Ik; protected from the swell of the ocean; another is
the proximity of the Shu^nagiu Islands to Kadiak, ^^here, as Davidson sug-
gests, ti curing establishment miglit oc opeued with advantage. Coaat Pilot,
Alaska, 46.

. . . ^*Captain Whi(e, in Morris's Rtpt. , 1 12. The captain states that at a point
700 miles north-we^t of Sitkt^ his crew caught 250 iish with 20 lines in two
lidurs, and that the natives fish in shallow water, where they catch cod
weighing 5 to 15 lbs, because deep-water fishing is too hard work. Williuin
S! Dodge, in Id., 113, relates tliat two Kadiak fishermen caught 22,000 cod in
Qjx months; and Sheldon Jackson, that in 1879 tlireo San Francisco firms se-
cured 3,000 tons o£f the Shumagin Islands, Alaska, 45. The existence of
^ese cod-banks was well known to the Russians. Siee Davidson'a Ooact Pi-
lot, Alaska, 44-6, and Sumner's Cess. Puss. Anwr., 42-3.

'*Each year's catch, between 1804 and 1870, together with its value, i.i
given in t7. S. A'jric. Pept., 1 70, 380.

" Petroff's Pop. Alaska, . \t the Shumagin Islands, in 1873, five vessels
Vaught 235,000 fish. Alaska i.enild, Oct. 24, 1873. In 1875 seven vessels took
440.000 fish. W., Oct. 1,1875. .

'•Tl
cents fc

"T(
llarcli

''In

18 J;

in the
kept in
"Sp

HALIBUT— HERRING-MACKEREL.

6611

pound fit the close of 1883," and to still lower rates
during the early months of 1884." Small quantities
of cod are q,lso shipped to the Sandwich Islands and
elsewhere," but the demand is practically limited to
the Pacific coast from California northward, and, as
its entire population does not yet exceed 1,500,000, it
is not probable tha,t this immense source of future
wealth will, at present, be much further utilized.

Although it is conceded that the flavor of the
Alaskan cod is not inferior to that of fish caught on
the banks of Newfoundland, the former always sells
at lower prices in the market, the difference being
sometimes as much as three cents per pound. This
,3 probably due to defect in curing," and perhaps in
part to the fact that Atlantic cod has always been in
favor on the Pacific coast.

Among the other food-fishes with which the waters
of Alaska abound, I shall mention only the halibut,
herring, mackerel, and eulachon.^" The range of the
halibut extends from Cape Flattery northward to the
Aleutian Islands. The true halibut is smaller in size
than that of the Atlantic coast, but specimens of the
bastard halibut are not unfrequently taken weighing
from 300 to 500 pounds. As yet, neither has been
much in demand, except for local use, but the flavor,
oven of the bastard halibut, when salted and smoked,
is preferred by many o that of salmon, while its napes
and fins are a standard article of commerce.

Herring arrive in vast shoals at the Aleutian Isl-
ands, the Alexander Archipelago, and Norton Sound
during the month of June. Those caught at Unalaska

'•The price on Dec. 30th, according to the S. F. Chronicle, was four
cents for coil in bundles and six cents for Doned fish.

"To three and five cents for the two descriptions. S. F. Bulletin,
March 19, 1884.

'^ In 1SG8 a cargo was sent to Australia, and realized eight cents per lb.

'*Petroflf thinks it may be caused by the inferior quality of the salt used
in the process. Pop. Alanka, 71. It is more probably owing to tho fish being
kept in salt for several months, until tho return of the vessel to Sou Francisco.

'"Spelled also oolikou, ulikon, and otherwise. _ .. ,

.X...:

FISHERIES.

are considered the best, but in the neighborhood of
Sitka they are perhaps most abundant. At the latter

Eoint a canoe load can easily be securea within half an
our. Though a few barrels may occasionally find
their way to San Francisco, the Alaska herring has
as yet no commercial value except for its oil, for the
production of which an establishment was in operation
at Prince Frederick Sound in 1883, about 20,000 gal-
lons being obtained in that year.*" It is admitted that,
in bulk and flavor, those taken at Unalaska and else-
where are quite equal to imported herring, and there
appears no good reason why they should not, if prop-
erly cured, find a profitable market on this coast.

Mackerel, equal in size and flavor to those captured
in Atlantic waters, are found in the bays and straits
of the Aleutian and Shumagin islands, and when
shipped to San Francisco have met with ready sale,
sometimes realizing as much as $24 per barrel. It is
probable that, when the range and distribution of this
favorite food-fish is better ascertained, a thriving in-
dustry may be established in connection with other
branches of fishery.

The eulachon, or candle-fish, as it is often termed, a
small silvery fish, seldom exceeding fifteen inches in
length, and in appearance resembling a smelt, abounds
in river and stream as far south as latitude 49°. It is
most abundant in Alaskan waters, where for the throe
or four weeks during which the season lasts, the run
is more marvellous even than that of salmon. The
eulachon is the fattest of known fish, and the oil tried
out from it is sold to the Indians on the Nass River
near the Alaskan border^ at profitable rates. ^' When
dried, it serves as a torch, burning with a clear bright
flame. Hence its name of candle-fish. When smoked

"Besides 3,000 gab of whale oil and 12,000 of dog-fish oU. This industry
■was established by the North-west Trading Company of Portland. The com-
pany has another station at Cordova Bay, where it was proposed to commence
work in 1882. JIUteU'a Com. and Ind. Pac. Gocut, 357.

" Tlie eulachon is also plentiful in the Fraser and Columbia rivers.
- ** About $1 per gal. in 1881. Id., 355. Hittell states that the oil possesses
valuable medicinal qualities.

THE CANDLE-FISH.

667

and prepared for table by broiling or steaming, it is
equal in flavor to the finest quality of eastern mack-
erel, and when pickled and shipped to San Francisco,
finds a ready market.

On the Nass River, eulachon are usually caught in
wicker baskets, and after being dried or smoked are
stored up for future use. The fishing commences about
the end of March ; and in connection with it is a curious
custom which prevails elsewhere among the natives
and in other branches of fishery. The first eulachon
caught is addressed as a chief, and the natives gath-
ering round him, tender profuse apologies that they
should be compelled to destroy his kindred in order to
supply their wants. Then follows a feast, with speeches,
songs, dancing, and of course drinking, after which fish-
ing commences in earnest and continues until all have
procured a sufficient stock.

I have mentioned only the varieties that, with
the exception perhaps of the white fish, have or are
likely to have any commercial value, but in few
parts of the world are other kinds more abundant.
Among them may be mentioned the tom-cod, smelt,
salmon-trout, and grayling,^* all of which are found in
Alaskan waters, the first three bei'^s; ( f excellent qual-
ity.

The value of all the Alaskan fisheries, in which
phrase is included the seal-hunting grounds, was esti-
mated in the census of 1880 at $2,661,640, of which
sum fur-seal skins and other pelagic peltry were
valued at $2,096,500, and the fisheries proper at
$565,140. What will be the commercial value of
these fisheries, when, as will probably be the case at
no very distant day, the Pacific states and territories
are peopled with 15,000,000 instead of 1,500,000 peo-
ple, and are threaded with railroads almost as com-

'* The tom-cod resembles the eastern fish of that name, but is much better
fl»,vored. Smelt are plentiful near Sitka and elsewhere. Salmon-trout of ex-
cellent flavor are taken in the smaller rivers and streams. The grayling is of
poor quality. Pike are taken in the lakes and ponds of nortlicni Alaska, but
are of little value as a table-fish, and are mainly used for dog-feed.

FISHERIES.

pletfly as are now the western states of America?
jBut when this shall happen, there will doubtle;:i8 be
more frequent communicatiuti with Mexico and Central
and South America; for already Pacific coast manu-
factures have found a foothold in all these countries,
and it is predicted by political economists that the
manufactures of this coast will exceed both mining
and agriculture in aggregate wealth. The fur-seal
industry is the only one at present utilized to any
considerable extent, but it is ^ improbable that,
even before the close of this cen the fisheries may

become more valuable than art. now the fur-seal
grounds.

Of whaling enterprise in the neighborhood of the
Alaskan coast, mention has already been made; but a
few statements that will serve to explain the enor-
mous decrease that has occurred in the catch within
the last three decades may not be out of place.

Of the six or seven hundred American whalers that
were fitted out for the season of 1857, at least one
half, including most of the larger vessels, were en-
gaged in the north Pacific.^ The presence of so vast a
lleet tended of course to exhaust the whaling-grounds
or to drive the fish into other waters, for no permanent
whaling-grounds exist on any portions of the globe
except in those encircled by ice for about ten months
in the year. In the seas of Greenland, not many
years ago, whales were rarely to be seen ; in 1870 they
were fairly plentiful. The sea of Okhotsk and the
waters in the neighborhood of the Aleutian Islands
were a few decades ago favorite hunting-grounds,^*
but are now almost depleted, while in 1870 the coast
of New Siberia was swarminjj with whales. Schools

'* Including of course the Bering Sea. ZabriakU'a Land Laws, 882.

** Davidson says that in 1868 whales were as plentiful near the Aleutian
group as in the Arctic, but that the shoal waters of the latter greatly facili-
tated their pursuit. Scient. Expetl., 476. It would seem that, if they were
as plentiful off the Aleutian Islands as the professor would have us I>cliuvt',
they would have been taken in greater number. The Aleuts found nu ditE-
culty in catching them. . ■

WHALES.

600

oast
lools

etitian
facih-
y were
liliuve,
Lo ditli-

of sperm-whale are occaHionally seen between the
Alaska Peninsula and Prince William Sound, and the
hump-back sometimes makes its apjwarance as far
north as Baranof Island. Between Bristol Bay and
Bering Strait a fair catch is sometimes taken, but
most of the Tessels forming what is termed the
north Pacific whaling fleet, now pass into the Arctic
Ocean in quest of tlu>ir prey.'' Probably not more
than eight or ten l' them are employed on the
whaling grounds of tlie Alaskan coast.

In 1881 the whaling fleet of the north Pacific
mustered only thirty, and in the following year forty
craft, of which four were steamers.^^ The catch for
1881 was one of the most profitable that has occurred
since the dote of the transfer, being valued at $1,139,-
000, or an average of about $57,000 for each vessel,-'
some of them returning with cargoes worth $75,000,
and few with cargoes worth less than $30,000. In
1883 the catch was inconsiderable, several of the whal-
ers returning 'clean,' and few making a profit for
their owners.

The threatened destruction of these fisheries is a
matter that seems to deserve some attention. In 1850,
as will be remembered, it was estimated that 300 whal-
ing vessels visited Alaskan waters, and the Okhotsk and
Bering seas.** Two years later the value of the catch
of the north Pacific fleet was more than $14,000,000.'^
After 1852 it gradually decreased, until in 18G2 it
was less than $800,000; for 1 8G7 the amount was about
$3,200,000; in 1881 it had again fallen to $1,139,000;

" Sen. Ex. Doc, 42d Cony. Sd Seas., 34, p. 2-3. It is there stated that of
28 right whales caught near the coast of Alaska during one season eleven were
lost.

" A steam whaler was despatched from San Francisco for the first time in
1880. HUtelVs Com. and Ind. Pac. Coast, 347.

** Including 354,000 lbs of whalebone worth $2 to $2.50 per lb., 21,000
bblg of oil at about 35 cents per gallon, and 15,000 lbs of ivory at CO cents
pel lb. Id., 348.

'° P. 584, this vol. They were not of course all American vessels.

" The fleet for that year consisted of 278 ships. Sen. Ex. Doc, 42d Cong.
Sd Seas., 34, p. 4.

1 1**'"

iii

670

FISHERIES.

and for the season of 1883 there was a still further
reduction.**

The whaling-grounds of the north Pacific, though
of course open to all nations, are now in the hands of
Americans, and were so practically before the pur-
chase.* It is probable that the United States will
continue to enjoy a virtual monopoly of this industry,
for under present conditions it will erelong cease to
be profitable.

*'In Id., 4-6, the value is stated of each year's catch between 1845 and
1867.

**In 1864 there were only 14 whalers, in 1865, 18, and in 1866, 9 Tesfwjls
sailing under other flags. Id., 6.

CHAPTER XXXI.

SETTLEMENTS, AGRICULTURE, SfflP-BUILDING, AND MININQ.

1794-1884.

Sitka sdrinq the Russian Occopation— The Town Half Deserted —
Social Life at the Capital — The Sitka Librabt — Newspapers-
Fort Wranoell — ToNOAsa — Earrisburo — Settlements on Cook In-
let— Kadiak — Wood Island— SPRacE Island— Three Saints— Afog-
NAK — The Aleutian Islands — Volcanic Eruptions and Earth-
quakes — Saint Michael — Fort Yukon — Agriculture- Stock-rais-
ing — Timber — Ship-building — Coal-hinino — Petroleum, Copper.
Quicksilver, Lead, and Sulphur— Silver and Gold.

In May, 1794, Vancouver visited a settlement
at Cook Inlet, which he thus describes: "We met
some Russians, who came to welcome and conduct
us to their dwelling by a very indifferent path, which
was rendered more disagreeable by a most intolerable
stench, the worst excepting that of the skunk I had
ever the inconvenience of experiencing; occasioned, I
believe, by a deposit made during the winter of an
immense collection of all kinds of filth, offal, etc., that
had now become a fluid mass of putrid matter, just
without the rails of the Russian factory, over which
these noxious exhalations spread, and seemed to be-
come a greater nuisance bv their combination with
the effluvia arising from vheir houses."

Cleanliness and oc-mfort were little regarded by the
early settlers in Alaska. It will be remembered that
Rezanof, calling on the chief manager in 1805, found
him occupying a Lut at Sitka, in which the bed was
often afloat, and a leak in the roof was considered too
trivial a matter to need attention. As late as 1841,

672

AGRICULTURE, SHIPBUILDINO, AND MINING.

Simpson, who visit-" ^ *he settlement during his voy-
age round the wo» . declared it, as the reader will
remember, the dirtiest and most wretched place that
he had ever seen.* Nevertheless, it continued to in-
crease rapidly. On the site where the first colonists
pitched their tents and lived in constant fear of the
Kolosh, there stood, in 1845, besides other buildings,
a spacious residence for the governor, a well furnished
club-house for the lower officials, barracks for labor-
ers and soldiers, an arsenal, a library, an observatory,'
and the churches, schools, and hospital of which men-
tion will be made later. A wharf, with a stone
foundation, and on which were several storehouses,
led out into deep water, and the fort, from which
floated the flag of the Russian American Company,
was mounted with two rows of cannon, which com-
manded all portions of the town.'

' There was, however, a considerable improveinent in the condition of tho
settlemertt before tliiS ddte. Belehe;i' gives a detailed description of Sitka at
the time of his visitr in 1837, in which bo notes the solidity of its buildings
and fortifications, and its excellent ship-yard and arsenal. Nan: Voy. rouid
World, i. 95-9. On the evening b/eforo Belcher's departare, Koiiprianof, who
was then chief manager, gave a hall at which the lormer remarks that tlio
women, though almost self-taught, danced with as much ease and grace an
those who had been trained in European capitals. He speaks very favorably
of Madame Kouprianof, and states that the wife of Baron Wrangell was the first
Russian woman who came to Alaska. Id. , i. 103-6, Diavis, whoarrived at Sitkn
On board tho Louisa in 1S31 (the first year of VVranj^U's administration), Speaks
of the wives and daughters Of the Russian otiicials as being exceedingly
beautiful. Glimpses of the Paxt in Cat., MS., i. 2; hut he was a mere boy
tit the tiftie, and probably exaggerates, for in the Sitka Archives, MS., of this
date but two women are mentioned as living at Sitka.

* The observatory was built at the company's expense, and its reports wero
published by the academy of sciences at St Petersburg. Dok. tCom, Rms.
Anter. Kol., i, 9S. It was erected on one of the islands in Sitka Bay. Ward's
Three IVeef.s in Sitka, MS., 2S.

* Markof, Rnsikie no Vostotctmom Oheana, 54-8 (St. Petersburtf, 1856, 2d
ed.) Tikhmonef states that the number of guns in position was GO, and that
there were 87 others in the arsenal and elsewhere, of all sizes, from SO-pOuml
mortars down to one-pound falconets. Idor. Obos., ii. 328. Ward, who wat
at Sitka in 1853, says that the chief manager's residence was a very largo
two-story buildihg, tne lower part of which was used for his private apart-
ments, offices, etc., while tho upper floor was nsed for public receptions, ball»,
and dinner-parties. On tho 4th of July, 1833, at which date an Americuu
bark was lyi^g in the harbor, and several Americans Were on a visit to
fhe settlement, a salute of 13 guns was fired, and in the evening there \mv3
a dinner-party, at which champagne flowed' fre«Sly and coniplirndtttary specolu j
were made. Three Weeks in Sitka, MS., Ut- 14, 17-18. Many of tlid ofliocM
and olficials in tlio company's service could s.ncnlc English.

empl

^ay,r

1871
it wd
less;

*In
Wore \d
In '.86d
iiiniat

SITKA.

673

Such was Sitka about the middle of the present
century, when its inhabitants mustered about one
thousand souls; and there are to-day on the Pacilic
coast few more busy communities than that which
peopled the capital of Alaska toward the close of the
Russian occupation. After the withdrawal of the
Russian employes who departed for their native land,
and of American speculators who departed with

C.Spencerf^ ,^

Baranof and Kbuzof Islands.

empty pockets, the settlement gradually fell into de-
cay, and soon was but the ghost of its former self In
1875 the population had decreased to one half; in 1883
it was little more;* many of the dwellings were tenant-
less; the harbor was almost deserted, and the arrival

*In the S. P. Bulletin of Oct. 3, 1882, it is given at 560, of whom 2r)0
were white people and 410 Indians. Most of the latter were prolmbly crcoli.'!«
In '.869 the Indian village adjoining "Hka contained 50 houses, with about 1 ,200
iun<ates.

Hist. Alaska. 43

.( ■I,

lU.^is'iJ;;

674

AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.

or departure of the mail steamer was the sole incident
that roused from their lethargy the people of the
once thriving town of Novo Arkhangelsk.

With the exception of the fort, or castle, which
crowns a rock about a hundred feet in height, and is
reached by a steep flight of steps, the buildings occupy
a low and narrow strip of land at the base of Mount
Verstovoi. On Kruzof Island, at the entrance of the
bay, is Mount Edgecumbe, the prominent landmark
of this portion of the coast. In the bay are several
islets, which partly screen from view the portion of
Baranof Island on which Sitka is built, until the ves-
sel arrives within a few cables' length. On landing,
one notices unmistakable signs of decay. Many of
the houses are falling into ruins; and some of them,
being built of logs and their lower portion continually
water-soaked, are settling down on their foundations.
After passing the fort we come to a better class of
buildings, prominent among which is the Greek church,'*
with its dome and roof painted an emerald green.
Beyond this are the club-house, the principal school-
house, and the hospital; then come a score or two of
huts, and then the forest, through which is cut for a
short distance a path, the second road made in Alaska
before the purchase.'

Of social life at Sitka, before the transfer, some in-
teresting records have been handed down to us by
travellers, and by the annalists of the Bussian Amer-
ican Company, among whom were several of the com-
pany's servants. Officers and officials had cast in
their lot in this the Ultima Thule of the known world,
far removed fronn all centres of civilization, and from
all civilizing influences. Some were of noble birth,
and had passed their youth and early manhood among
the cultured circles of St Petersburg; but here, amidst

'Adjacent to thia building is the Lutheran chapel, which in 1877 wiis
vacant.

• Whymper'a Alaska, 97-8. Other roads have been built since that date.
Until 1867 Sitka had no regular communication with any point outside of
Alaska. In the following year it was made u port of entry.

moc

unii

ka,

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ofvij

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officers]

Jieeporsl

*0n|

•All

SOCIAL LIFE. ,

675

this waste, there was for many years no society, no
home circle, no topic even for conversation. Plow
beat should they beguile the long years of their ban-
ishment, the tedium of barrack life, the drear monot-
ony of their voluntary servitude? No wonder that
many fell victims to gambling and strong drink, sank
even to yet lower depths, and gradually debased them-
selves oftentimes below the level of the savage.

To remedy this state of affairs, and especially to pro-
vide comfortable accommodation for unmarried officers
and officials of the higher rank,' Etholen, during the
first year of his administration,^ established at Sitka
a social club, furnished with reading, billiard, card,
and supper rooms. Here the members entertained
visitors, when the hospitalities tendered by the gov-
ernor were intermitted. Until the transfer, this in-
stitution was conducted on the system adopted at its
foundation, and wrought much benefit in the colony,
save, perhaps, in the cause of temperance — a virtue
which the Russians were loath to practise. "Rus-
sian hospitality is proverbial," remarks Whymper, "and
we all somewhat suffered therefrom. The first phrase
of their language acquired by us was 'petnatchit cop-
la' — fifteen drops. Now this quantity — in words so
modest — usually meant a good half-tumbler of some
unmitigated spirit, ranging from cognac to' raw vodh-
ka, and which was pressed upon us on every available
occasion. To refuse was simply to insult your host.
Then memory refuses to retain the number of times
we had to drink tea, which was served sometimes in
tumblers, sometimes in cups. I need not say the oft-
described samovar w^as in every household. Several
entertainments — balls, suppers, and a fdte in the club-
gardens — were organized for our benefit, and a number
of visitors came oflf daily to our fleet of four vessels."'

'The distinction of 'honorable "and 'veryhonomble' — potchetnui and pol-
npotchetnui — was made according to rank. The very honorables were naval
otBcers and the higher officials; the honorables, petty officers, clerks, book-
keepers, and the like.

•On the 5th of November, 1840. Tikhmen</, Istor. Ohoa., ii. 244.

*Alanka, 101-2. This occurred in 1865, during Maksutof's administi»-

\ '1 1

»«8 AGRICULTURE, SHIPBUILDING, AND MINING.

At all seasons of the year the tables of the social
club and of the higher class of employes were sup-
plied with venison or other game, with chickens, pork,
vegetables, berries, and of course with fish. A simi-
lar diet was provided for the lower officials, while the
i,taple food of the laborers was for about nine months
in the year fresh lish, and for the remaining three,
salt fish.^"

There was little variation in the routine of life at
Sitka. Employes, other than the higher officials,
were required to rise at 5 a. m., and to work in
summer for about twelve hours a day; at reveilld and
at 8 p. M. the drums beat; at 9 lights were extin-
guished, and at half-hour intervals during the night
bells were tolled, the sentries responding at each
stroke." For the higher officials there were card-

tion. Simpson, who took leave of Etholiu in 1842, remarks: 'The farewtll
diuuer, to which about thirty of us sat down, exceeded iu sumptuousneas any-
thing that I had yet seen, even at the same hospitable lx)ard. The glass, the
plate, and the appointments in general were very costly; the viands were ex-
cellent; and Governor Ktholine played tlie part of host to perfection.' Narr.
Jour, round World, ii. 212. On festive occasions, as on tlie emperor's birth-
day, etc., the officials and native chiefs dined with the governor, after divine
service. All wore full dress and decorations. Ward's Three Weeka in Sitkn,
MS., 29 et seq.

" The Kolosh supplied the market with deer, fish, clams, and berries.
Wrangell, Statist. undEthnog., 12-1,3. Beef and mutton were rarely seen, orfB
on the tables of the higher officiaL, and as late as 1870 could not be had a:
the one restaurant then open at Sitka, though according to the Alaska Timm
of Oct. 31, 1808, the market price of beef was 15 to 30 cents per lb. At
the latter date eggs were selling at $1.50 per doz., and scarce at that.
Milk was $1 to $1.50 per gal.; coffee 18 to 33 cents; ham and fresh pork
25 cents; and fish C cents per lb. In tliis year speculation was rife at
Sitka, town lots being held, says Whymper, at $10,000. In May 1873 tliu
Rev. John G. Brady, writing from Sitka to the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, sa.v3:
'This part of Alaska abounds in food. Yesterday I bought four codfish for
tem cents, and a string of black bass for five cents. A silver salmon, weighing
thirty-eight to forty pounds, is sold for fifteen or twenty cents. Last week
I bought fifteen dozen fresh clams for ten cents, and a)K)ut twenty pounds of
halibut for the same piice. Ducks, geese, grouse, and snipe are abundant and
•cheap. A good ham of venison will bring fifty cents.' Jackson's Alaska, 200-
10.

" Ward's Three Weeks in Sitka, MS., 41. This precaution was i.<»eded to
provide against surprise from the Kolosh. Even after the purchat*) thc>
were admitted only at 9 a. m. iu order to exchange their peltry for other
wares, and at 3 p. m. were driven oat at the point of the bayonet if neces-
•ary. About 15 versts to the south-cast of Sitka was the Ozerskoi redoubt,
built as a protection against the Kolosh at the outlet of a lake seven miles in
Ibngth. In 1853 there were six or eiglit houses, and a dam with fish-traps
had been constructed at the mouth of the lake, the catch l>eing marketed ut
Sitka. Id.; Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 332-3.

LIBRARY AND NEWSPAPER.

677

parties, dance-parties, or drinking-parties at the club-
rooms, varied occasionally with an amateur theatrical
entertainment, and when there was no other recourse
the evening hours were passed at the library.

The Sitka library, which, it will be remembered,
Bezanof founded in 1805, contained in 1835 about
1,700 volumes in the Russian and other languages,
in addition to 400 periodicals and pamphlets, and a
valuable collection of charts." Of any printed local
literature before the purchase we have no records.

Qn the Ist of March, 1868, the first newspaper cob-
cerning Alaska, styled the Alaska Herald, was pub-
lished in San Francisco by a Pole named Agapius
Iloncharenko,^^ and contained the first part of a Rus-
sian translation of the United States constitution.
It was issued semi-monthly, printed in Russian and
English, and about twelve months after its first ap-
pearance, claimed a circulation of fifteen hundred
copies." During the same year the Alaska Coast Pilot
was pubHshed by the United States Coast Survey,
and also the Sitka Times, which was at first issued in
manuscript, and had hv^ a ephemeral existence.^^

Near the mainland, a little more than a hundred
miles to the south-east of Sitka, is Fort Wrangeli,

kded to
U tUc>
it other
neccs-
ledoubt,
Iniles in
Tab-traps
toted "t

" WraTigell, Statist, und Ethnog., 17. Of the books, 600 were Russian, .SOO
French, 130 German, 3u English, 30 Latin, and the i-est Swedish, Dutch,
Spanish, and Italian. Khlehidlxf, Zapiski, in AlcUerialui, 1 16.

" Who gives liis autobiography as follows: ' I was bom in the government
of Kieff Aug. 19, 1832, and educated in Kieff. In 1857 I left Russia and was
appointed to service with the Russian embassy to Greece. On the '2d of Feb.
1860, I was arrested in Athens for advocating the liberation of serfs, but suc-
ceeded in escaping to England and subsequently to America, where I was em-
ployed by the American Bible Society. I come to San Francisco in 1867. I
was much persecuted by the representatives of Russia abroad. ' Alaska Herald,
Dec. 15, 1868.

'*0n May 2, 1868, the first number of Free Press and Alaxka Herald was
lirst issued, and Honcharenko's name does not appear on the sheet. On June
1st of the same year the Herald agi>in appeared under its old name, with Ilon-
charenko ea proprietor, and m May 1872 {>assed into the hands of A. A.
Stickney. The Russian articles were frequently repeated through three or
four numbers.

"It wan issued weekly in MS. by T. G. Murphy, and contained advertise-
ments and unimportant Jocnl items. The first printed number was published
on April 29, 1869, and the last on September 13, 1870.

If .iiJi

m AGRICULTURE, SHIPBUILDING, AND MINING.

built on an island of the same name, and situated
about a hundred and thirty miles north of the boun-
dary line of British Columbia, at the head of ship
navigation on the route to the Cassiar mining district.
While the mines were prosperous, this was, during a
few months in the year, the busiest town in Alaska,
the miners who ascended the Stikeen" each spring to
the number of about four thousand, and returned in
the autumn, averaging in good seasons as much as
fifteen hundred dollars per capita, and leaving most
of their earnings among the store and saloon keepers.
The fort is now deserted, and the town nearly so, ex-
cept by Indians. The government buildings, which
cost the United States a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, were sold in 1877 for a few hundreds. The
main street is choked with decaying logs and stumps,
and is passable only by a narrow plank sidewalk.
Most of the habitations contain but one room, with
sleeping-berths arranged round the walls and a stove
in the centre, and many of them have neither windows
nor openings, except for the chimney and a single
door. Nevertheless, in these comfortless abodes sev-
eral hundreds of white men were content to pass the
long winter months in former years, and a few score
still remain, who have not yet lost their faith in the
mines.

"Fort Wrangell," writes one who visited that set-
tlement in 1883, "is a fit introduction to Alaska. It
is most weird and wild of aspect. It is the key-note
to the sublime and lonely scenery of the north. It is
situated at the foot of conical hills, at the head of a
gloomy harbor filled with gloomy islands. Frowning
cliff's, beetling crags stretch away on all sides sur-
rounding it. Lofty promontories guard it, backed by
range after range of sharp volcanic peaks, which in
turn are lost against lines of snowy mountains. It is

" As far as Telegraph Point, a distance of about 1 30 miles. Thence a land
journey awaited them of about 180 miles to tlie lower and 240 miles to tho
upper gold-fields. This was usually made on foot.

FORT TONGASS AND HARRiSBURG.

679

the home of storms. You see that in the broken
pines on the diff sides, in the fierce, wave-swept rocks,
in the lowering mountains, and in the sullen skiies.
There is not a bright touch in it — not in its straggling
lines of native huts, each with its demon-like totdm
beside its threshold ; nor in the fort, for that is dilap-
idated and fast sinking into decay; not even in the
flag, for the blue is a nondescript tint, and the glory
of the stars has long since departed." ^^

On a small island at the mouth of the Portland
Canal, and close to the southern boundary of Alaska,
is Fort Tongass, the first military post established by
the United States government after the purchase.
The site was well chosen, containing a plentiful supply
of timber and pasture, while fish and game abound in
the neighborhood.

At the foot of a perpendicular bluff fifteen hundred
feet in height, and about two hundred miles north of
Sitka, is the town of Harrisburg, or Juneau, the lat-
ter name, and the name now commonly in use, being
that of one of the discoverers of a mining district," of
which mention will be made later. In 1883 this was
probably the most thriving settlement in Alaska, con-
taining in winter about a thousand inhabitants, and
before that date the mail service between Port Towns-
end, Wrangell, and Sitka had been e?Ltended to Har-
risburg, the last being the most northerly point from
which the United States mails were distributed.

Passing from the Alexander Archipelago westward
to Cook inlet and Kadiak, we find at the former point
few remaining traces of Russian civilization. A short
distance from Port Chatham is the settlement of Sel-
dovia,^® with about seventy native and creole hunters.

" Overland Monthly, March, 1884.

>'In the <S'. B\ Bulletin, Feb. 1, 1883, it is stated that Juno (Juneau)
was one of the discoverers of the district, and thot ' ' was also called Rock-
well, the name of the acting officer of the Jamefitown.

'* Between Port Chatham and Seldovia is Alexondrovsk, a settlement with
about 40 hunters.

IM"-

d» AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDINO, AND MINING.

and a few leagues north of it the village of Ninilchik,
where dwell thirty Russian and Creole descendants of
the colonial citizens, who subsist mainly by agriculture
and stock-raising. Close to it is the mouth of a small
river, the waters of which discharge, or are rather
filtered into the sea through the bar that chokes its
outlet. In former years this was a favorite spawning-
ground for salmon, which still attempt to leap the bar
in vast numbers, many of them faiUng to gain the
stream beyond, and being gathered up by the settlers,
who select only the choicest.'"

/.tifTTAvi - - :

sosf

^%i#^- %

A*V C^

^^-v

j - <5<SlIMlTV is'"*' "*i^ ^' .

Maf or Radiak and Adjacent Islands.

The islands of Jiadiak and Afognak, 'the garden
spots of Alaska,' as they are termed, enjoy more sun-
shine and fair weather than any portion of the terri-
tory, with the exception, perhaps, of some favored
localities on Cook Inlet. Here are found, in parts,
rich pastures dotted with woodlands,^^ and covered,
during summer, with a carpet of wild flowers. When
the Russians were compelled to remove their capital
from Saint Paul to Sitka, they did so with extreme re-

.*" Petroff's Pop. Alaska, 37, where is a description of other settlements in
Cook Inlet.

"The timber is much inferior to that in the neighborhood of Sitka.
Davidson's Sci. Exped., 473.

8T PAUL.

681

luctance, for the former, as Dall renmrks, "deserves
far more than Sitka the honor of being the capital."*'

The village of Saint Paul, or Kadiak, contained in
1880 about four hundred inhabitants,'" a large propor-
tion of whom were Creoles. Here were built the
stores and warehouses of the Alaska Commercial
Company, the Western Fur and Trading Company,'*
and the barracks formerly occupied by the United
States troops. While a garrison was stationed at this
point, bridges were built across the rivulets that inter-
sect the village, and culverts to drain the neighboring
lakes and marshes; but so little enterprise had the in-
habitants that after the withdrawal of the soldiers no
attempt was made to keep them in repair. The cul-
verts were washed away, and the bridges allowed to
rot, except those which were used for fire-wood. The
houses are built of logs, the crevices being filled with
moss, but are clean and comfortable. The people are
probably better circumstanced than those of their own
status in other portions of America. Labor is in
demand and fairly paid; food is cheap and abundant;
there are no paupers in their midst, no lawyers or
tax collectors; and all are at liberty to make use of
unoccupied land.

At Wood Island, opposite to Saint Paul, is a thriv-
ing settlement, the inhabitants of which support them-
selves in summer by hunting, and in winter by cutting

'■' In 1874 tho Icelandic Society in Milwaukee sent a petition to the presi-
dent of tho United States, asking that facilities be afforded for exploring por-
tions of Alaska, with a view to colonization. Throe commissioners were
appointtd by tho society, and a sloop of war placed at their disposal, in which
the party was conveyed to Cook Inlet. Finding there no suitable location,
they were taken to St Paul. Hero they found plenty of pasture and tillable
land, and were so well pleased that they made no further search. Two of
thenj ren)ained until tho following summer to make preparations for the recep-
tion of tlicir countrymen, but a winter's residence in their adopted country
appears to have disgusted them. Tho winter of 1874-5 was exceptionally
severe, and an ouibreak of measles spread liavoc among the natives. Tlie
commissioners returned in July, and nothing came of tlie matter. Bancroft
Library Scraps, 232. See aJso Sec. U. S. Navy Jiept., 43d Cong. 2d Sess., p.
14-1.-..

2' I'etroff gives the population at only 288, but his estimate was made
somewhat earlier.

" Afterward removed to St Paul Island.

Ill Mil,

Ml AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDINO, AND MININO.

and storing ice. In order to develop the latter indus-
try was built the first road constructed in Alaska,
comprising the circuit of the island, a 'stance of
about thirteen miles.

A few versts farther to the north-west is Spruce
Island, on which is a village containing about eighty
Creoles. "Here," says Tikhmenef, "died the last mem-
ber of the first clerical mission, the monk Herman,
and was buried side by side with the Hieromonakh
Joassaf. During his life-time Father Herman built
near his dwt ding a school for the daughters of the
natives, and also cultivated potatoes"!

The village of Three Saints, where, it will be remem-
bered, Shelikof landed from a vessel of that name in
1784, and founded the pioneer colony in Russian
America, now contains about three hundred inhab-
itants. There were in Shelikof's days the finest sea-
otter grounds, and aie now perhaps the finest halibut
grounds in Auska.

The village of Afognak, on the island of the same
name, separated by a narrow channel from the northern
shore of Kadiak, is one of the most thriving settlements
in Alaska. Though mount, aou d in some parts
thickly wooded, the ' ' n^ of timber and fire- wood
being one of the chie , cries, it co' '^ains many spots

suitable for pasture ' agr? ulturc. Boat-building
is also a profitable occt jiati .. Many of the inhab-
itants, who now muster abou l three hundred and fifty,
i<vG in substantial frame houses, this being on* of the
lew places in the territory where any consn_ierable
number of dwellings other than log huts are to be
found.**

The principal port in the Aleutian group is Tlliuli^k,
or, as it is sometimes called, Unalaska,'" on t. j island

**> For a short description of the remaining settlements in the Kadiak and
other districts as they were at the time of the last census, see Pttroff'a Pop.
Alcuka, passim. Want of space forbids my mentioning any but the more
prominent settlements, and those about which there is something of interest
to relate.

** Spelt also Oonalashka, and otherwise. ,

':'&■'

ofth(
write,
the 4
and f'c
elsevvi

Uril
meat
laska, I

Its Ticinii

UNALASKA.

683

of the latter name. Its main recommendation is that
it possesseB one of the best harbors in Alaska, and it is
probable that it will always remain, as it is to-day,
the chief centre of trade for this district. Nevertheless,
the population of Illiuliuk is little more than four hun-
dred, and of the island from six to seven hundred.
Most of them are hunters by occupation, for so rugged
is the coast and so deeply indented that there is little
room for other pursuits.*'' Brought frequently into
contact with foreigners, and especially with Amer-
icans, they are perliaps among the most enlightened

°o,

'•.^*'

"SS?

!^?^'

I.v<^

ALECTiAh Islands.

of their race. More than half of them can read and
write, and it is said that on festive occasions, as on
the 4th of July, their exploits in wrestling, dancing,
and loot-racing surpass anything that can be witnessed
elsewhere in the territory.

Under the volcano of Makushin, in a small settle-
merxt of the same name on the western coast of Una-
laska, lived, in 1880, a man named Peter Kostromitin,

" Id., and Tikhmenef, later. Obw., ii. 303. The island of Sannakh and
its vicinity is tlieir favorite hunting ground.

Ii3i

684

AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.

who witnessed, about sixty years before tiiat date, a
volcanic eruption, during which a new island made its
appearance to the north of Oumnak.^ On the 1 0th
of March, 1825, a violent disturbance occurred at
Oonimak, which is thus described by Veniaminof:
"After a prolonged subterraneous noise, resembling a
cannonade, which lasted almost an entire day, and was
heard at Unalaska, the north-eastern mountain chain
of Oonimak opened in the middle of the day, in five
or more places, for a considerable distance, accompa-
nied with eruptions of flame and great quantities of
black ashes, which covered the whole extent of
Alaska'* to the depth of several inches. In the
neighboring localities on the peninsula it was dark for
threw or four hours. On this occasion the ice and
snow lying on the top of the chain melted, and a con-
siderable stream flowed from it for several days, the
width of which was five to ten versts. These waters
ran down the eastern side of the island in such volume
that the sea in the vicinity was of a mud color until
late in the autumn."** Some of the islands on the
coast of Alaska are unmistakably of volcanic origin,
and it is the received opinion of geologists that the
greater portion of the Alaskan peninsula is being
gradually raised by Plutonic action. Nevertheless,
though between 1700 and 1867 many earthquakes
and violent eruptions are reported," none of them
have proved very destructive, the last severe earth-
quake shock having occurred in 1880, and being se-
verely felt at Sitka, though causing no damage worthy
of mention.

** I have an account of this phenomenon as related by Kostromitin in his
Early Timet, MS., 6-10, but it will not bear quoting. There is no doubt,
however, that ho witnessed it.

••The peninsula, f course.

*" Zapinki oO Out. OiinulaHhk, i. 35-6. In Id., i. 37-9, 20.5-7, are ancouiiti
of other eruptions and eartliquakcs. See also Tikhmtnef, Istor. Obos., ii. 295,
312, 330, and Whymper'a AUuka, 105.

" A list of thcin is given in DaWi* Alaska, 466-470. Grcwink, the Hub-
sian geograplier, laid down between Cook Inlet and the island of Attoo, 48
active volcanoes. Davidson'n Sci. Exped, , 475.

St .

the

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and i

posts

the c

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had

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before

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arriva

supplij

distri(
ready
^^'ero CI

, "Fori
June 20,

ST MICHAEL.

Of the Innuit racea that people the neighborhood
of Bristol Bay and the Kuskovkim Valley, no men-
tion is required in this chapter. Sailing in a north-
easterly direction from the Prybilof Islands we find,
close to the southern shore of Norton Sound, the
old port and trading post of Mikhaielovsk, or as it is
now termed St Michael,"' founded, as will be remem-
bered, by Tebenkof, during Wrangell's administration.
Here was the chief mart of trade in the district of
the Yukon, for no sea-going vessel can enter the
mouth of this vast river, the volume of wliose waters
'" said to be greater than that of the Mississippi. Of
St itiichael, Whymper remarks: "It is not merely
the best point for a vessel to touch at in order to land
goods for the interior, including that great tract of
country watered by the Yukon, but it has been and
is, to a great extent, a central port for Indian trade,
and for the collection of furs from distant and interior
posts. The inhabitants of the fort — all servants of
the company — were a very mixed crowd, including
pure Russians and Finlanders, Yakutz from Eastern
Siberia, Aleuts from the islands, and Creoles from
all parts. They were not a very satisfactory body of
men; in point of fact, it is said that some of them
had been criminals, who had been convicted at St
Petersburg, and offered the alternative of going to
prison or into the service of tlie Russian American
Company! We found them — as did Zagoskin years
before — much given to laziness and drunkenness.
Fortunately their opportunity for this latter indul-
gence was limited, usually to one Ijut a year, on the
arrival of the Russian ship from Sitka with their
supplies; while the 'provalishik,' Mr StephanofF, the
commander of this fort, who had charge of the whole
district, stood no nonsense with them, and was ever
ready to make them yield assistance. His arguments
were of a forcible cliaracter. I believe the knout

" For a description of tliia post as it now exists, see S. F. Chronich,
June 20, 1881, aud .S'. /'. Bulletin, Aug. 10, 1881.

6S6

AGRICULTURE, SraP-BUILDTNG, AND MINING.

formed no part of his establishment, but he used his
fists with great effect!"^

Since the purchase little attention has been given
to the Yukon district, or to the territory of the In-
galiks.®* At St Michael and an adjoining Innuit vil-
lage, at Nulato, and at Fort Yukon, the total popula-
tion mustered, in 1879, only three hundred and eighty
souls, of whom all but eleven were natives. The site
of Fort Yukon on the verge of the Arctic zone,
where the thermometer sometimes rises above 100°
of Fahrenheit in summer and sinks occasionally to
55° below zero in winter,*^ was in 1867 one of the
cleanliest of the Russian settlements. At this, the
northernmost point in Alaska inhabited by white men,
the Russians appear to have established friendly rela-
tions? with the natives. "Each male," says Whym-
per, "on arrival at the fort, received a present of a
small cake of tobacco and a clay pipe ; and those who
were out of provisions drew a daily ration of moose-
meat from the commander, which rather taxed the
resources of the establishment." Game and fish were
the principal diet of both Russians and natives, for
during the greater portion of the year, bread and veg-
etables were seldom to be had, though it has fre-
quently been stated that vegetables can be raised
in abundance during the brief hot summer of the
Yukon valley.

** Alaska, 152-4. Dall, who passed throngh this settlement about the same
time, says: ' StepdnofT has been in office about four years. He is a middle-
aged man of srcat energy and iron will, with the Rusaian fondness for strong
licjuor, and with ungovernable passions in certain directions. He has a sol-
dier's contempt for making money l)y smuU ways, a certain code of honor of iiis
own, is generous in his own way, and seldom does a mean thing when ho is sober,
but nevertheless is a good deal of a brute. He will gamble and drink in tlio
most democratic way with his workmen, and bears no malice for a black eyo
when received in a cfrunken brawl; but woe to the unfortunate who infringes
discipline while he is sober, for he shall certainly receive his reward, aiul
Stepdnofif often sayj of his men, when speaking to an American, "You can
expect nothing good of this rabble: they left Russia Inicause they were not
wanted there. ' '

**The natives that inhabit the far interior.

"Doll's figures are 112'"+ and C9° - as extremes. Alaska, 105.

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL.

687

A vast amount of nonsense, as Whymper remarks,
has been published and republished in the United
States on the agricultural resources of Alaska. Dall,
for instance, assures us that potatoes, turnips, lettuce,
and other garden vegetables were raised at Fort
Yukon,^ but his statement lacks confirmation.

Berries and the hardier class of vegetables are the
only produce of which the soil is capable, even in
favored localities, and though numberless and patient
attempts were made to raise cereals, during and after
the Russian occupation, nearly all proved a failure.
A scant crop of barley may mature in a few localities
in exceptional seasons, and both wheat and barley will
grow in many portions of the territory, but barley
seldom kernels, and wheat never. ^^ Potatoes, cab-
bages, turnips, lettuce, radishes, and horse-radish are
produced in many parts of the territory, but cabbages
often fail to head. On Kadiak, Afognak, and Prince
of Wales islands, at Fort Wrangell and Bristol Bay,
potatoes of fair quality can be raised in favorable sea-
sons, but are often a partial or total failure, and when
they mature are, in common with other vegetables,
for the most part watery.*^

A fair crop of hay is often secured at Kadiak** and
at some other points, where cattle and sheep are raised.
Live-stock were supplied to some of the Aleuts free
of charge early during the company's regime, but most

**n>id.

"Oats were raised near Ninilchik Bay (between the redoubt St Nikolai and
Kaohekinak Bay) in 1 855. Tikhmenef, lator. Obos. , ii. 32-2-3. Petroff says that
in 1880 potatoes and turnips, the latter of excellent quality, were raised
there. Pop. Alaska, 37.

"Khlubnikof, Zai^ski, in Materialui, 126-7, claims that mealy and eood-
flavored potatoes were raised at Sitka on ground manured with sea-weed, the
crop being in some places 12 or 14 to one, but there is no confirmation of this
statement. Wrangell states that in 1831, 2,424 pouds were raised at Sitka.
Stalixf. und Ethnog., 12-13; but says nothing aa to their quality. According
to Pitroffs Pop. Alaska, 76, nearly 100 acres of potatoes and turnips were
raiset' at Afognak in 1880. Tikhmenef says that attempts to raise vegetible*
on the Prybilof Islands usually failed. Istor. Obos., ii. 310; but in EllMt'tSeaU
Idandu, Alaska, 12, it is mentioned that lettuce, turnips, and radishes were
raised at St Paul Island in 1880.

»' Golovnin, in Materialui, 54, says that the Aleuts were too lazy to turn
the hay or place it under shelter.

AGRICULTURE, SmP-BUILDING, AND MINING.

of them perished from want of care. The Aleuts, be-
ing accustomed to a diet of fish, did not reUsh milk or
flesh, and regarded animals as a nuisance. The cows
were kept m corners used for storing salmon, and
knocked down with their horns the poles on which the
fish were suspended, trampling them under foot;*" while
pigs undermined the natives' huts by scratching out
the earth in search of refuse, and goats climbed on the
roofs and tore away the thatch.

The cattle sent to Alaska during the Russian occu-
pation were of the hardiest Siberian stock, but even in
1883 the herds seldom mustered more than twenty
head; though beef-cattle are often sent from Sau
Francisco to fatten at Kadiak or the Aleutian Islands,
and are slaughtered in October. Horses and mules
are of course little valued in a territory where there
are few roads, and where, as in Venice, travel is al-
most entirely by water. Sheep thrive well during the
short, hot summer, especially on the nutritious grasses
of the Kadiak pastures, and at this season their mut-
ton is of choice quality; but in winter they are crowded
together in dark, sheltered corners, whence they crawl
out, in early spring, weak and emaciated."

Among the resources of the territory, timber will
probably be an important factor in the future, though
of course in the distant future; for, so long as the im-
mense forests of Oregon, Washington Territory, and
British Columbia are available, those of Alaska can

<• As early lu 1795 there was a small supply of live-stock in Alaska, and in
that year cows were sent from Kadiak to Unaluska. No butter was made in
the Russian colonies until 1831, when 20 ponds were produced. Veniaminof,
ZaiAski, Out. Ouiiatashk, 71. In 1833 the Russian American Company had '2-)
head of horned cattle, apart from those at the Ross colony. Wravgell, Stnl-
int. tindEthiiog., 18. In 1823 a pair of pigs was landed at Chemobura Island
(between Sannakh and Deer islands); m 1826 they had increased to nifiri!
tlian a hundred. Chickens were kept by many Russians and Aleuts, but in
Rmall number. Two pairs of ducks were landed at Unalaska in 1833, and in
the following year had increased to 100.

"A few yeaiB ago Palkner, Hell ft Co. of San FVancisco sent nbout l^O
sheep of the hardiest breed, in charge of a Scotch shepherd, to Colmo, Kadink,
a spot formerly selected by the Russians for farming purposes. The floi '
thrived remarkably in summer, but most of them perished during winter.

exf
sev
Isl£
cisc
P
Ale:
and
betw
Ther
^Vard
miles
A lit
cease;
along
•Sounc
Spr
attain;
ander
of the
saw-ni;
jected
not in
or van
tiful, ai
when,
fornia
abound!
superiof
Houses!
are seat,
gfeen f(]

The
's found
•^er Arc
and free
with a

„ "DavidJ

J/5feet in ||

LUMBER.

have little commercial value. There are at present no
exports of lumber, or none worthy of mention, while
several cargoes are shipped yearly to the Aleutian
Islands from Puget Sound, and even from San Fran-
cisco.

Forests clothe the valleys and mountain sides of the
Alexander Archipelago and the mainland adjacent,
and are found at intervals throughout the territory
between Cross Sound and the Kenai Peninsula,
Thence the timber belt extends westward and north-
\Vard at a distance of fifty to more than one hundred
miles from the coast, as far as the valley of the Yukon.
A little beyond this point the timber line practically
ceases, though clumps of stunted trees are met with
along the banks of rivers that discharge into Kotzebue
Sound and even into the Arctic.

Spruce is the most abundant timber in Alaska, and
attains its largest growth in the islands of the Alex-
ander Archipelago. On account of the slow growth
of the trees, the boards, after being put through tho
saw-mill, are found to be full of knots, and when sub-
jected to heat, exude gum or resin. Hence they arc
not in demand for cabinet or other work where paint
or varnish is applied. The hemlock-spruce is plen-
tiful, and its bark may be in demand for tanneries,
when, as is already threatened, the supplies of Cali-
fornia oak bark become exhausted. The white spruce
abounds in the Yukon district, and for spars has no
superior, though for masts most of it is too slender.
Houses built of this material will last, when the logs
are seasoned, for more than twenty years, and when
green for about fifteen years.

The most valaablo timber is yellow cedar, which
is found on some of the islands in the Alexan-
der Archipelago and in the neighborhood of Sitka,
and frequently attains a height of one hundred feet,
with a diameter of five or six feet." This wood is in

iili!

" Davidson, 8ci. Kxpcd., 471, aaya that trees have beea found uear Sitka
175 feet in licight.

Hist. Alaska. 4i

000

AGRICULTURE, SfflP-BUILDING, AND MINING.

demand by ship-builders and cabinet-makers on account
of its fine texture, durable quality, and aromatic odor.
The clumps of birch, poplar, maple, willow, and alder
found in some parts of the territory have little value,
though the inner bark of the willow is used for mak-
ing twine for fishing-nets, and both willow and alder
bark are used for coloring deer-skins.*'

There were, in 1880, only three saw-mills in opera-
tion throughout the territory — one at Sitka, one near
the northern point of Prince of Wales Island, and one
at Wood Island. All of them were closed during a
portion of the year. The first two were established
mainly to supply the limited demand for lumber at
Fort Wrangell and Sitka, and the last principally for
the making of sawdust for use in packing ice. In this
and other branches of industry, as in the manufacture
of bricks, flour, leather, machinery, and especially in
ship-building, there is less activity in Alaska at the
present day than there was during the Russian occu-
pation.**

During the company's second term ship-building
was a prominent industrj''. In 1821, the company's
fleet, apart from a few small craft, consisted only of
ten sea-going vessels, whose total measurement was

*' For further particulars as to the timber resources of Alaska, see Oolov-
nin, in Materialui, 110; Morris's Sept. Alaska, 10&-111; Petroff's Pop. Alaska,
6, 73-4.

" In 1833 a saw-mill was established at the Ozerskoi redoubt — the second
that was built on the Pacific coast — the first having been erected by the Hud-
son's Bay Company on the Columbia. Wrangell, Statist. undElhnoij., 14. Dur-
ing Voievodsky's administration it was worked by steam power. Tikhme.nef,
Istor. Gboa., ii. 245. In 1853 there was a saw-mill at Sitka, but it was ho
badly managed that lumber cost the company ^25 to $30 per M, though the
forest was close at hand. Ward's Three Weeks in Sitka, MS., 12. A saw-mill
was also erected on the Kirenskoy River near Sitka. Oolovnin, in Materialui,
72. At Karluck, Sitka, and Ooyak Bay, on the west coast of Kadiak, wcio
small tanneries. /(/., 74; Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 240; Davidson's Sri.
Exped., 473. There was also a flouring-mill at Sitka, and several brick-yards
and machine-shops in various parts of the colonies. With the exception <if
lumber, few of these branches of manufacture are now carried on. At Atklia

frass cloth and other articles manufactured of grass arc produced, as mats,
asketa, and cigar-holders, of superior workmanship. A number of Indian
carvings and manufactures were collected for the centennial exhibition by
Mr J. G. Swan, special commissioner for Indian affairs. A description uf
them is published in his Alaska Ind. Mamif., 7-8.

SHIP-BUILDING.

681

1,370 tons.** Between that date and 1820, the Uritp,
a tour-hundred-ton ship, and several smaller craft were
built.** In 1834 Wrangell ordered the colonial ship-
yards to be abandoned, with the exception of the one
at Sitka, where all the conveniences could be obtained,
and good mechanics were employed.*^ About the
year 1839 the brig Promissel, and between that date
and 1842 the steamer Nikolai I., of sixty horse-power,
and the steam-tug Muir, of eight horse-power, the first
vessels of the kind ever launched on colonial waters,
were constructed at the port.*^ The machinery for
the Nikolai I. was imported from Boston, but every-
thing needed for the tug was manufactured at Novo
Arkhangelsk, under the superintendence of the ma-
chinist Muir, after whom the craft was named.**

Although other sea-going craft were built in the
colonies between 1821 and 1842, while at least four
were constructed for the company elsewhere, and sev-
eral purchased, there were at the latter date only
fifteen vessels belonging to Alaskan waters;* many

♦''Between 1799 and 1821 five vessels were purchased by the company's
agents at Kronsdadt, eight in the colonies, and fifteen vero built at the colo-
nial dock at Okhotsk. During the same period sixteen were wrecked, five
were condemned, and three were sold. Tikhmenef, Istor. Oboa.,i. 235. In 1817-
19 the schooners Plato/ and liararwf were built at Novo Arkhangelsk, and
tlie brigantine Romamof and brig Dulclakof at Bodega.

*' Liitke, in Matericdui, Istor. Russ., part iv. 135; Tikhmen^, Istor. Obos.,
i. 330. The latter states that the Urup was a .300-ton ship, and that three
other vessels, the schooner Aktzia, 60 tons, the brig Polji/'em, 180 tons, and
the sloop Sitka, 230 tons, were built for the company at Okhotsk, between
1829 and 1832.

♦' The work was carried on under the superintendence of a native of St
Paul, the Creole NetzvetofT, who had learnecf his business in St Petersburg.
For the ribs, a kind of cypress was used, which was called dushnoie derevo,
fragrant wood, and was well adapted for the purpose on account of its den-
sity, dryness, and remarkable lightness. The outside planking was of larch,
and the upper works of hemlock; the latter, however, is not very durable, as
it grows in damp soil. WrangHl, Statist, und Eihnog., 20.

"Simpson, who sailed in the Nikolai I. to Fort Stikcen and back, states
that she made six to seven knots an hour, and had most of her machinery on
deck. Narr. Voy. round World, ii. 184. Besides the above-named vessels,
the company caused to be built at Abo the sailing ships Nikolai I., 400 tons,
and Crown Prince Alexander, 300 tons.

*'A considerable business was also done at Novo Arkhangelsk in re-
pairing vessels. During Wrangell's administration an American ship was
rctimbered at the wharf, and for some years later there was no other dock in
wliich vessels sailing in neighboring waters could bo repaired.

'"A list of 13 vessels lymg at Sitka in April, 1842, is given in Simpson'i
Jour, round World, ii. 198-9. Most of them belonged to the company.

AGRICULTURE, SHIPBUILDINa, AND MINING.

losses having occurred from shipwreck,** and some after
a few voyages proving worthless except for store-
ships. It was found that vessels could oe purchased
from foreigners, and especially from Americans, to
better advantage than they could be built in the col-
onies, and it is probable that the managers would
have saved money if no attempt at ship-building had
been made in Russian America, except perhaps for in-
tercolonial traffic. During the last term little was
attempted in this direction. In 1860 the company's
fleet consisted of only three steamers, four sailing
ships, two barks, two brigs, and one schooner," or
twelve vessels in all, of which but two were constructed
in the colonies. The schooner was built at Sitka in
1848, at a cost of more than three thousand roubles
per ton; while one of the barks, purchased in the Sand-
wich Islands during the same year, and built at Salem,
Massachusetts, in 1845, cost only about eighteen hun-
dred roubles a ton, and the other sailing craft were
purchased at about the same rate.

Since the time of the purchase, only a few small
coasting vessels have been built,^' though attempts
have been made to obtain from congress grants of
land and the right of cutting timber in certain locali-

•'The navigation of some portions of the Alaskan coast is exceedingly
dangerous, and the danger is increased by the want of reliable charts. At the
time of the purchase the charts then in existence were merely sectional, in-
cluding those of La P(5rou8e, Vancouver, Tebenkof, Liitke, Kashcvarof,
Tikhmenef, and others. Tebenkof's were probably the best, thmigh far from
being complete, and several others are of considerable value. Since the pur-
chase, better progress haa been made in this direction, but the work has bccu
of the same fragmentary nature. VVe may hope, however, that at no distant
day we shall have some approach to accurate charts of the entire Alaskan
coast. The coast-survey cnart of 1868 is almost worthless so far as inland
navigation is concerned, for few of the shoals and rocks appear on it. In
Morrin'a He/it., Alaska, 50, is a (lartial list of the wrecks that have occurred
in south-eastern Alaska during recent years. Two U. S. ships of war have
also been lost in Alaskan waters. In 1878 there was not a single light-house
in the territory. In Id., 21, several points are mentioned where light-houses
should be erected, and further mention of this matter is made in U. S. Fi-
i/avce Jiept., 186S, 391-4, and Sen. Ej: Doc, 40th Cmifj. 3d Sesn., 53.

'^ Also a steam-tug completed at Sitka in 1860. The list is given in Oolor-
ntn, in Materialui, app. , 1 52-5, where the armament and cost of each are stated .

"And a small stem- wheel steamer for trade on tlie Yukon aud other riv-
era, built in 1869.

til

sel

bui

disi

fort

able

tory

pecit

from

Yuk,

theb

Alas]

Coi

middl

Inlet,,

of Cc

l>JSt€

Siberi

"In-

W. F. B,
timber fo
Jildward j
pay for tj
same yeai
the right
Strait, fo
wore lant
best timb
ward limi
P'per, on
,. ^»Irou
discovereti

"Dall
ovre their
the genera

the revtnu
use of 8te)
•'eposit ne
S«-7. In.
"On thl

COAL-MINES. ■ ' ' m

ties," ostensibly for ship-building purposes. To pro-
cure at a nominal price a few thousand acres of the best
timber-lands in Alaska, on condition of building a ves-
sel or two, would doubtless be a profitable speculation,
but thus far no sale or lease of timber-lands has been
made. It is not improbable, however, that at no very
distant day ship-building may again rank among the
foremost industries in Alaska, for coal, iron,^^and suit-
able timber are found in several portions of the terri-
tory, within easy access of navigable water.

Lignitic, bituminous, and anthracite coal,*" but es-
pecially lignite, are found in many portions of Alaska,
from Prince of Wales Island to the banks of the
Yukon, and even on the shore of the Arctic Ocean,"
the best veins being found in southern and western
Alaska and the adjacent islands.

Coal-mining in Alaska was first begun about the
middle of the present century near the mouth of Cook
Inlet, or Kenai Bay, at a point that still bears the name
of Coal Harbor.*" Machinery was erected and run
by steam power; a force of laborers was obtained in
Siberia; several experienced miners were brought from

** In 1874, Senator Hager presented a petition, signed by Thomas Burling,
W. F. Babcock, John Parrott, and otliera, asking for the privilege of cutting
timber for ship-building on government lands in the neighborhood of Princo
Edward Island, where pine and yellow cedar are plentiful. They offered to
pay for the privilege, and to purchase the land as it was cleared. During th«
same year, Representative Piper introduced a bill, granting to certain partie.>»
the right to purchase, at $1.2j per acre, the island of Kou, north of Clarence
Strait, for ship-building purposes, and the privilege of taking up as mucli
more land as might be required. This modest demand, under wliich all the
best timber-lands in the territory might liave been appropriated, was after-
ward limited to 100,000 acres. An account of the second bill introduced by
Piper, on Dec. 20, 1876, is given in Morrii^a Rept. Alaska, 107-9.

^^ Iron is found in many portions of Alaska, but no deposit has yet been
discovered that will pay for working, under present conditions.

" Dall remarks that the specimens of anthracite coal found in Alaska may
owe their quality to local motaiiiorpliism of the rocks by heat, rather th; t»
the eeneral character of any large deposit. Ala^^ka, 475.

"In 1878 a vein was opened Ijeyond Cape Liabum by Captain Hooper of
the revenue marine, wlio claims that tlie coal mined easily and was lit for tho
use of steamers. PetroJPn Pep. Alanka, 74. In 1866 Dall inspected a coal
deposit near Nulato, but found it to lie of inconsiderable extent. Alaxka,
56-7. In Id., 47;}-4, is a list of the principal coal districts known in 1870.

'^ On the north side of English Bay.

l;(

AGRICULTURE, SHIPBUILDING. AND MINING.

Germany, and every available man in the Siberian
line battalion, then stationed at Sitka, was sent to aid
in the work. The prospect of furnishing the com-
pany's steamers with coal obtained in the colonies, and
of selling the surplus at high prices in San Francisco
and elsewhere, acted as a powerful incentive. In 1857
shafls had been sunk and a drift run into the vein for
a distance of nearly 1,700 feet, nearly all of which
was in coal. During this and the three following
years, over 2,700 tons were mined, the value of which
was estimated at nearly 46,000 roubles, but the result
was a net loss. The thickness of the vein was found
to vary from nine to twelve feet, carrying 70 per cent
of mineral, and its extent was practically unlimited;
but the coal was found to be entirely unfit for the use
of steamers, and a shipment of 500 tons forwarded to
San Francisco realized only twelve and a half roubles
per ton, or considerably less than cost."

It was hoped that as greater depth was attained
the vein at Coal Harbor would improve in strength
and quality, but there is no sufficient evidence that,
in this or other portions of Alaska, any considerable
quantity of marketable coal has yet been produced
except for local consumption. Nevertheless, there is
little doubt that it exists,** though whether in deposits
large enough to be of commercial value is a matter

»• Tihhmenef, Istor. Ohoa., ii. 250; KosUivltof, Report, 29-30; Doh, Kom.
Rum. Amer. KoL, i. 94. Oolovnin, in Materinlm, 108-9. According to the
last of these authorities, it was already known that coal-veins existed on the
Alaska peninsula, at Kttdiak, the smaller islands adjoininn;, and elsewhere.
In Rogers, Letters, MS., ii., we find the following, under date June 26, 18.")."):
'LUtke says: "On dit qu'il y a dans I'tle d'Akoun des couches de charbon do
terre." ' In the Sitka Archiven, MS., 1857, ii. 278, it is stated tliat the work of
getting out coal was very difficult on account of local circumstances.

*"(5»ptain White, in Morris's Rept. Ahska, 103, states that Cook Inlet coal
ia well suited for the use of steamers, that it leaves a clear, white ash, aud
does not coke. In DaH'n Alaska, 475, are analyses of coal from (Jook Inlet,
Nanaimo, Bellingham Bay, and C!oose Bay. The analysis of Alaskan conl
was made by Professor J. S. Newberry of the school of mines, Columbia Col
lege. New York. It was found to contain 49.89 per centof fixed carbon, 39.87
of volatile conbustible matter, 1.25 of moisture, 1.20 of sulphur, and 7.S'2 of
Mh. Its character was lignitic. The profef>aor remarks: 'This coal is fully
equal to any found on the west coast, not excepting those of Vancouver
Island and Bellingham Bay.' For a descriptiou of the Nanaimo mines (Vauo.
Isl. ), see my Hist, lirit. C'olumb. , 5ti9 et seq.

"In
o' June
as the
that$l(
it was c
tire coal
ply Call
which h
industri
since the
coal or .
long as

have

lagly riot

5 is

ter

'udl.

the

here.

coal
ami

Inlet,
coal

a Col
39.87

fully

jouvcr
Yawo-

COAL ATINES. 606

that has yet to be determined. Most of the coal so
far discovered in the territory belongs to the tertiary
system, and is deficient in thickness of seam. Nortli
of Coal Harbor, deposits are found almost as fti,r s^
Cape Ninilchik, but here as elsewhere they seldom
exceed seven feet of solid coal in thickness, and are
more frequently less than three feet. It is well known
that a vein of the latter kind, when situated at a
distance from market, is almost worthless.

At Oonga and several other points persistent at-
tempts have been made to work the mines at u profit,
but as yet without success. The coal was not iu
demand except for local consumption. When used
by steamers, it was found to burn so rap \\y as to eat
into the iron and endanger the boilers, so that many
vessels sailing for Alaska bring with them their own
fuel, or are supplied from tenders laden in British
Columbia.*^

It must be admitted, however, the mining pros-
pect in Alaska is far from discouraging. Petroleum
of good quality has been found floating on the surface
of a lake near Katmai in the Alaska Peninsula.*''
Long before the purchase native copper was obtained
from the Indians on the Atna or Copper River, be-
ing found occasionally in masses weighmg more than
thirty pounds. At Karta Bay, on Prince of Wales
Island, there is a valuable copper mine, which was
sold a few years ago to a San Francisco company."

*' In a despatch from Santa Barbara, published in the San Francuico Btdletin
of June 8, 1877, it is stated that three miles from the Oonga mine is one known
as the Big Bonanza with a vein 30 feet thick, of which 15 are solid coal;
that $10 per ton had been offered for the coal delivered in San Franciso; that
it was considered equal to the best English and Scotch coal; and that the en-
tire coal-Kelds of this district comprised 1,280 acres, and would suffice to sup-
ply California for generations. This may serve as a specimen of the nonsense
which has been published in some of the newspapers of this coast as to Alaskan
industries, though many valuable items have appeared iu them at intervals
since the purchase. There appears to be little probability that either Alaskan
coal or Alaskan timber will hnd a more general market on the Pacific coast so
long as there remain nearer and better sources of supply.

*' In Morris's Rept. Alaska, 103, it is stated that large deposits of petroleum
have been found on Copper River.

" Id., 102. Morris states that he saw sacks of the ore and found it exceed-
ingly rich. Metallic copper is found on Oonga and the north end of Admi^

••i-l;!

696

AGllICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDINQ, AND MINING.

Cinnabar is known to exist in the islands of thn Alex-
ander Archipelago, but the exact locality is as yet a
secret. Lead has been found on Baranof, Wrangell,
atid Kadiak islands, but not in large deposits. Native
sulphur is very plentiful, and this metal is nearly al-
ways found in solution at the mineral springs with
which the territory abounds.

Among the lead and copper deposits is sometimes
found a small percentage of silver," but if there be
any valuable silver mines in the territory they are
not yet discovered.

' From Golovnin Sound it was reported, in 1881, that
bilver ore, assaying a hundred and fifty dollars a ton,
arid easily worked, had been discovered so near to tide-
water, and in such abundance, that vessels could be
loaded with it as readily as with ballast. On May
5th of that year a schooner was despatched to the
sound by way of St Michael, and on her return it was
reported that the value of the mine had been not a
whit exaggerated, but that it was thirty miles from
tide- water.®* Of the 'mountain of silver' that was
supposed to exist in this neighborhood nothing fur-
ther has yet been heard.

Gold-mining has been a little more successful. In
1880, a former state geologist of California remarked
that "the gold of Alaska was still in the ground, all save
a few thousand ounces gathered here and there from
the more accessible veins and gravel-beds of the islands
and the mountains along the coast."®® In 1883 there
wore in operation several quartz and placer mines,
which gave fair returns, and in south-eastern Alaska

ralty Islands. The blue carbonate occurs on the Kuskovkim and near Cape
Rpmanzof, and snlphurets on the north coast of the peninsula. Ball's Alaska,
477.

•* A piece of ore taken from a mine near For. Wrangell, in 1873, assayed
26 per cent in copper, 20 per cent ia lead, and about 97 per ton in silver.
This was of course a choice specimen.

'^S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1881. The truth appears to be that near the
sound were base metal mines containing, in spots, a fair percentage of silver.

** Letter of John Muir, in Id., Jan. 10, 1880. The letter contains an in-
teresting and probably reliable account of the mines in Alaska at that date.

atingi
ent

"'MJ

1871.

«''Tli|

on Fehl

fggrcf,'a{
they ,1„1|

water ti J

GOLD AND SILVER.

697

:ed
ive
fom
Inds
lere
les,
[ska

ICapo

laakct,

sayed
lilver.

kr tho
tilver.
an in-
[date.

a trace of gold could bo obtained from the sands of
almost every stream that discharges into the Pacific.

Of the Stikeen River, or Cassiar, mines brief men-
tion will be made in the volume on British Columbia,
to which territory they belong.

Harrisburg was, in 1883, the mining centre of
Alaska. On Douglas Island, separated from the town
by a channel two miles in width, are several promising
quartz and surface mines. Among the former, the
Treadwell claim, owned by San Francisco capitalists,
was the only one thoroughly developed. Four tun-
nels had been run into the ledge, and a large body
of low-grade ore exposed. A five-stamp mill was in
operation, and sevoi'al bullion shipments were made
during the year.

Of the Takoo district, on the Takoo River, a few
miles from Harrisburg, great expectations were held,
but as yet they have not been realized.*^

On the 30th of January, 1877, the Alaska Gold
and Silver Mining Company®^ was incorporated, the
location being about fourteen miles to the south-oast
of Sitka. In 1880 rock was extracted from theled<jo
on three levels, averaging about $12 per ton, and at
that date a considerable body of ore had been exposed.
"The ledge is well defined," writes Walter, a practi-
cal mining engineer, in 1878, "runs east and west,
and is about 15 feet wide, with a fissure vein from
3^ to 4 feet in width. The rock is bluish gold-bear-
ing quartz, and lies in a slate formation." A ten-
stamp water-power mill was erected,™ and the returns
were for a time satisfactory, but the expense of oper-
ating a quartz mine under such conditions as at pres-
ent exist in the territory forbids the working of

"Mention of tbia district is made in Id., June 29, July 7, and Aug. 11,
1871.

"•Tlieir claim is usually called the Stewart tunnel.

^*JJorruK /{e/it. Alaska, 99. During a conversation held at my Library
on Feb. 3, 1879, M. P. Kerry stated tliat the mill did not do much in the
aggregate. 'Tlu'y have plenty of rock,' he remarked, 'and wliut milling
tliey d id allowed pretty well. IJut tlie wlieel did not carry the water uor the
water the wheel.' Dtvclopme.nl» in Alavku, MS., 11-12,

11...V !

l"--«t:«

11: tl:?

698

AGRICULTURE, SHIP-BUILDING, AND MINING.

veins that in more favored localities would be fairly
profitable. That valuable gold deposits exist is not
disputed ; but in a mountainous and densely wooded
territory such as is Alaska, and especially southern
Alaska, where the richest veins have been found,
mines are neglected which elsewhere oii this coast
would not lack capital for theii' development.^"

^^ Amonz other points gold has been discovered near the junction of the
Yukon and Felly rivers. Some of it was assayed in 1883 by H. G. Hanks,
state mineralogist of California, who t-eported that about one tenth of its
weight consisted of a coating of rust, which made it almost indifferent to the
action of quicksilver.

! »' i

3 fairly
is not

wooded

)uthern
found,

is coast

ctiou of the

G. Hanks,

tenth of its

ferent to th«

CHAPTER XXXII.

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

1795-1884,

The First CntTRCHES in Russian America— A Diocese Established^
Veniaminof — The Sitka Cathedral — Conversion of the Indians
— The Clergy Held in Contempt — Protestant Missions— Schoouj
— The Sitka Seminary — The General Colonial Institute- Me-
teorological — Diseases— Hospitals — The Company's Pmnsionehs —
Creoles — Bibliographical.

Glottof, it is claimed, one of the discoverers of
the Aleutian Islands, baptized at Oumnak in 1759
the first native admitted into the fold of the Greek
church. He was a chieftain's son, and a large cross
was erected on the spot where the ceremony was
performed; but timber was scarce in those treeless
regions, and soon after the Russian occupation the
wood was used for making sleighs.* Until nearly
half a century after Glottof's visit neither Aleuts nor
Koniagas received any regular religious instruction,
though Shelikof, as will bo remembered, affirmed
that he converted forty heathen soon after the con-
quest of Kadiak.

The labors of the first missionaries sent foith to
Alaska have already been related. In 1795, or per-
haps a year or two later, a chapel was built at Saint
Paul — the first in Russian America. At Sitka no
church was built until 1817, religious ceremonies be-
ing usually performed by one of the officials of the

' Veniaminof, Zapixki, 151-2. The boy was taken to Potropavlovsk,
where he learned the Rtiasian language, and returned with the dignity of
toyou over all the islands under tbe jurisdiction of Kamchatka.

(099)

1 1

700

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

Bufteian American Company, though meanwhile a
priest occasionally visited this settlement, and bap-
tisms were not infrequent.* In this year an ecclesi-
astic named Sokolof arrived, and a temporary build-
injj was at once erected, the altar beins: built of tim-
bers ca.st ashore after the wreck of the iYc^ya, "among
which," wrote Baranof, "shone the iruage of Saint
Michael." The vessels and utensils were of silver,
fciJaioned by colonial craftsmen, an<' Use robes and
drstat^rieH of Chinese silk.

In 1819 a church named Saint Peter's was built
at Saint Paul Island, and one at Saint George named
after Saint George the Victor, in 1833; at the village
of Unalaska a church was dedicated in 1826,^ and in
the samte year a chapel, named Saint Nikolai, was
built at Oumnak, where, as Veniaminof would have
us believe, sickness attacked the Russians, who made
sacrilegious use of the cross, while, for many years
later, the Aleuts did not dare to gather sticks or
boards in the neighborhood of this sanctuary.

A clause in the charter granted to the Russiaii
Amerif:«,n Company in 1821 provided that church
establishments should be supported throughout the
colonies/ and by order of the holy synod, in 1840,

' In the AInaka Arrliint*, Ml^ 1-13, is a list of aU the baptisms performed
at Sitka l)etween ISO.") and 1«1«

' In 1808 a log cliapel w»s bailt at Unalaska and torn down in 1826.
Veniaminof, Zapixki, 162

* As an illustration nl rlie condition of the colonial clergy at the end of
Chifltiakof 'b adminiHtratvin, may be mentioned the trial forsorccry of Fcodor
Baslimukof, a servitor at Novo Arkiiaiigelsk in 1829. The charge \v;w pre-
ferred ))j oin? Terenrv Lestnikof to tlie effect tliat Ba.shmakof, a native
Kolusli, l>apti/.ed at ^llvo Arkhangelsk in November I80o, ediiontod at tlio
parisli schixil, and admitted to the subordiuato pnesthood in January 18'27,
had been ()L>8er\ od by competent witnesses in the act of assisting at certain
pagan rites iutended to effect the cure of a sick native, and had been set'ii
' to go tlnotig!) tlie motions and steps of chamana or sorccicrs in the service
of Satan,' and alao of liaving at various times desecrated an orthodox shriu;
by taking iia>{»'i ch»rm8 into the lioly Avater blessed l)y the benediction of
the priest, iuiM of receiving payment in furs for such sacrilegious nctiiin. In
the opinion of Veniiiniinof, whicli was afterward approved by the holy
synod, IJishnmkoi' !*iiined more from i^'iioranoe tiian from malice, nnil ho
was difchiirgi'd with a severe rep-imand. Though infoniiod tiiat ho was
free to wturn to Novo Arkliangelsk. Baslunukof volnnt'irily entered tlic
convent of the Ascensional Nerciiinsk. Tho jiroceediugs in this case dis-
play a rouNM4ttkbl« d«greo of leniency on the part of tlio higiicr liussiuu

BISHOP VEMAMINOF.

701

while a
nd bap-
ecclesi-
-y buikl-
of tiiu-
" among
of Saint
ot' silver,
L>bes and

built
led

was

•ore nauH
he village
»6,^ and in
kolai, waB
ould have
vvlio made
lany years
• sticks or

try.

ae Russian
Liat church
ighout the
,d, in 1840,

tisms perfontied

down in 1826.

y at the end of
.orcery of Fcodor
clmrgc was P.'f"
miikof, a nntiyo
ediiented at the
u January 18'-i,
listing at certain
, liad been se'.'n
s in the bcrvicc
orthodox slirin '
,0 benediction ol
nioua action. 1"
Te.l bv the ho y
tnalioc, and U;
„o,l that ho NVjH
rily entered the
in this ea>>o dis
. higher liusswu

at which date there were four churches and eight
chapels in Russian America, they were formed into
a diocese, which included the Okhotsk and Kam-
chatka precincts, the first bishop, afterward met-
ropolitan of Moscow, being Father Venianiinof,
whom Sir Edward Belcher, writing in 1837,d(!scribes
as "a very formidable, athletic man, about forty-five
years of age, and standing in his boots about six feet
three inches; quite herculean, and very clever.""
"When he preaclied the word of God," says Kostro-
raitin, who was baptized by Father Joassaf in 1801,
"all the people listened, and listened without moving,
until he stopped. Nobody thouglit of fishing or
jiunting while he spoke, and nobody felt hungry or
thirsty as long as he was speaking — not even little
children."^

clergy, and are in remaritable contrast with the tribunals of tbe Roman
Catholic church in similar cases. It is doubtful, liowi ver, whetiier liash-
makof's retirement to one of the most desolate convents in Siberia was
entirely a voluntary act. Bashmakof, Sorcerij Trial, MS.

' A arr. Voy. round World, 98.

^ Earli) Time* in Aleut. Inlands, MS.. 5. Miracles were ascrilwd to him
by the superstitious, among whom was Kostromitin. There is no doubt,
however, tliat the bishop was a tnie and faithful pastor, thoui^h his writings
allow that ho himself jhared the superstition common to hi.s chnich. In his
Zapij<ki nb Ontrovakh Oiuiata-^hkinKkuvo Otdiala So-^tarfenmiia, or Letter.i con-
crning the Islands of t/ic Unalaska District, published at the expense of the
/ussian American Company, St Petersburg, 3 vols., 1840, Venianiiiiof shows
'at ho had become thoroughly acquainted with the Aleuts, tlioir language,
i.^toms, and history, and his work is the most reliable book on the subject.
U .ijf'ludes history, meteorology, geography, natural history, and ethnology;
but iiistorical material seems to have been scarce, or was perhaps slighted
by tho author. The second volume is devoted piin<:ipally to the manners and
•customs of the ancient and modern Aleuts, to legends and tales pi-eserved
among them by tradition, and to their relations with tho Russir.n Auierican
Comoany, and contains .a number of meteorological and statistical tables. The
thirtl \ olume is conrtne<l to a review of tho Aleuts of tho Atkha District, tho
Kolosh, and their respective dialects. The work on the Aleutian Islands w.is
partially reproduced in German, in Erennn, A ri-hii>/ciii. irisseii.-,ch(iftlich(: kuiide
von Russ'aiid, ii. 459, 1842. Ilis O/iuit Gramatiki Aliut-tko- Lissifv^kuv ) Ya-
zuika, or Attempt at a Grammar of the Lissicc- Aleutian Laiiiiuatje, St Peters-
burg, 184G, is confined to one dialect of tiio Aleutian language, spoken on
the Lissiev group, comprising tho islands between loO' and 1C9' w., and
with a population of nl>out '2,000 souls. 'I'he work is elaborate, though in
some cases the author .seems to have made more of the languugo than there
really was, and made inflections of which tho Aleuts had previously known
iiotlung. To indicate tlio pronunciation, the characters of tho Ciryllic alpha-
bet are u eJ. Tiio vocabulary anno.ved to the volume is cump'.cto but not
conveniently arranged, as tho Itussiau wonls refer only in nundjers to tlm
other portion. Tho Onkrzanie. Piiti v T.arttrie Xct>es!<noie, Po-nui- hcnie ii<i
AleutsLo-Lissievskoiii Yazuika. ssokhiueiinoie Sveslcfunmikom loannuia Veniam-

702

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

During Veniaminofs administration a Lutheran
clergyman was welcomed at Sitka/ and <he same
spirit of toleration was extended later to the Jesuits,
several Poles of that order being transferred from
Canada. On the 13th of October, 1867, the first
service at which an American officiated' was held
at Sitka, the congregation being composed of Rus-
sians, Finns, and Kolosh.

In 18G1 there were in the Russian American col-
onies seven churches and thirtj'^-five chapels, several
of them, including the cathedral, being built and kept
in repair by the Russian American Company. AH
were maintained by the contributions of parishioners
and the sale of candles and tapers.* About this date
the aggregate capital of the churches exceeded two
hundred and fifty-five thousand roubles, the funds be-
ing held by the company's treasurer and interest
allowed at five per cent.^°

The Sitka cathedral contained three altars, which
were separated from the body of the church by a par-
tition, the doors of which were gilt, and the pilasters
mounted with gold capitals. There were eight silver
candlesticks more than four feet in height, and a sil-
ver chandelier hanging from the centre of the dome

inovaim, or Guide on the Road to the Heavenly Kingdom, for instruction in tlie
Liasiev-Aleut Language, Complied by the Priest, loann Veniaminof, was pub-
lished by the holy synod of Russia, and was a translation from the Russinu
into Aleut by Veniaminof, and printed in Church-Slavic characters, which are
better adapted to express Aleutian words.

'' Simpavii's Narr. Journey round World, ii. 193. In 1857 Mr Winter,
pastor of the Lutheran church at Sitka, received a gift of 1,200 rouhies from
the Russian American Company, and during the same year was i-KHigago.i
at a salary of 2,000 roubles a year. SUka Archives, 1857, i. 31»j. 3t>4. ^»
1853 his flock numbered 120 to 150 souls. Ward's Three Weeks in Simu..
MS., 70.

° Mr Kayner, an army chaplain.

'Oolovnin, in Materialui, 75. In Dok. Kotn. Ruse. Amer. K^L, 76, aad ii.
Tihhmenef, Istor. Obos., ii. 270, nine churches are mentioned.

'" The contributions were made partly in money %nd p>ai'tly ik furs, the
company allowing the church 7 roubles, 14 kopeks. ' 24 roubles, 29 kopeks,
for sea-otter skins. The revenue from candies anv <ated to 5,900 tv«bles u
year. The company incurred an expense of 32,938 roubles » vwftr <
account. Sec Onlovnin, 75., where are given the salaries of tke "
ofBcials. The residence of the bishop was built by the compaiiraA
of 30,000 roubles. Tikhmtnef, htor. Oboa., ii. 268.

iitheran
e same
Jesuits,
ed from
;he first
ras held
of Bus-

ican col-
3, several
and kept

my. All
[•ishioners
this date
leded two
funds be-
\ interest

;ars, which

1 by a par-

e pilasters

ght silver

and a sil-

the dome

nstruction in tU
ninof, was pub-
)m the Russian
cters, which aw

57 Mr Winter.
;00 roubws from

was -rt-ugago.^
3H>. 304. ^^

Weeks %n SitHft.

X,i.,76,»ndi>'

ibl«^ "A» kopeks.
, ft,500 n "iWes .k
^ vear on o>Krv.

CONVERSION OF NATIVES.

703

which was supported by a number of columns of the
Byzantine order. On the altar was a miniature tomb
of the saviour in gold and silver. The vestments and
implements were also rich in gold and jewels. The
books were bound in gold and crimson velvet, and
adorned with miniatures of the evangelists set in ulka,-
monds. The communion cup was of gold, and similarly
embellished; the mitre was covered with pearls, rubies,
emeralds, and diamonds. The building was dedicated
to Saint Michael."

Veniaminof, after acquiring the Aleutian language,
translated into it a number of books t )uching on the
doctrines of his church; but with this exception few of
the ecclesiastics understooii the native dialects, while
the interpreters had little knowledge of Russian.
Between 1841 and 1860, 4,700 Indians were bap-
tized," and if we can believe Veniaminof, some of
them were converted. " I do not mean," he writes,
" that they knew how to make the sign of the cross,
and to bow, and mutter some prayer. No ! Some of
them can pray from their soul, not exhibiting them-
selves in the church and before the people, but often
in the seclusion of their chamber, with closed doors." '*
The bishop, who on his appointment adopted the title
of Innokenty, according to the custom of his church,
labored with marked success among the Kolosh. Be-
fore his arrival they had resisted all efforts at con-
version, those who were baptized submitting to the
ceremony only because they received presents of more
or less value."

" Ward's Three Weeks in Sitka, MS., 29-31, .S5-37. The cathedral was
roofed with iron, and the belfrj' and chimes cost S,."tOO rouMcsin silver. 7'ii'A-
menrf, Istor. Obos., ii. 268. The church nt St Paul, Kadiak, i." 'milt of hewn
tim'wr, the interstices being filled with moss. The interioi is well but
plainly furnished. Oliilden's Trip to Alaska, MS., \X

''■•A list of the converUi is given in Oolomiin, in MaterialHi, 147-150.
Tikhmenef claims that in l&TT there were in the colonies S.SS'i Christians, of
whom more than 7,000 were Indians. Iswr. Ohos., i. 296

" As a proof that the teaching of the priests was not winiout effect, it is
ft.ttcd in Id., 3(K\, that in 1827 the number of illegitimttse births among the
Aleuts was seven, while from that year till 1839 it averaged only one.

'*In tho record of baptisRM ut Bitka, in the Alaska Archiws, M.S., l-!3,
translateii from original dociuucnts in the S'tka Church Archives, MS., mcn>

lit

/I ■!

tll.'l

i Jill

704

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

I I

It must be admitted that the Greek church was a
failure throughout Russian America. We have seen
in what disrespect the priests were held by their own
countrymen in the time of Baranof, and it is nowhere
recorded, except by the priests themselves, that, with
the single exception of Veniaminof, the teaching of
tho ecclesiastics made much impression on the natives.
They squatted and smoked during service, listened,
bowed, crossed themselves, and laughed so uproariously
that the officiating priest was often interrupted in his
solemn duty. They cared not for religion, or at least
not for the doctrines of the Greek clergy. "If,"
writes Golovnin, "the object of a missionary be only
the baptizing of a few natives yearly, to show tho
country that the number of conversions increases, and
in visiting so many times a year such of the villages
as are situated in close proximity to redoubts and
trading posts, then the colonial missionaries perform
their duty with more or less zeal; but if the mission-
ary's duty is to spread among the pagans the teachings
of an evangelist, and to strive by word and example
to soften their hearts, to help them in their need, to
administer to their physical and moral diseases, to
persuade them gradually to lead a settled and indus-
trious life, and above all to labor for the education of
the children, and at last make the savages themselveh
wish for conversion, then not one of our former or
present missionaries has fuliilied his duty."^^

In 1880 the Russian church claimed 10,950 mem-
bers, but this number is pruuably at least 2,500 in ex-
cess of the actual figures. The bishop of the diocese

tion is made of thew presents, which nonnisted usually of tobacco, calico,
knives, cutlasses, and bluukets. Sometiiii«;H a. ritle was given. Cure waa
taken that the convert did not present hiinselt .. second time for baptisiii.

13 If we can Ijeiieve Sinmaon, Dall, and utiiers who travelled iu Alaska,
negligence waa not the only fault of which tho missionaries were guilty. Thi>
Litter remarks that all whom lie met in Alaska were inveterate topers, an'
mentions the case of one who iiad been engaged for seven years tis a niissioi.
ary on the Yukon, and who thanked Ood that Ite then luul an cpportuuty ot
returning to Bussia, where a glara of rum could Ue liad iur 25 kcpcks. AU.isku,
2i&.

MODERN EFFORTS.

705

was a
re seen
\v own
awhere
,t, with
liing of
natives.
Istened,
ariously
}d in his

at least
'. -If,"

be only
■how the
jases. and
e viB»ges
)ubts and
a perform

e missio"'
teachings

. example
.r need, to
diseases, to
,nd indus-
ucation ot
Aiemsclves
former or

1,950 mem-

1,500 in ex-

the diocese

[tobacco, calw«.

1 for baptisiii.
kled in Alaska,
^vcRuiUy- rho
irate topers, an-
fars Mb a UU8810I.
lucpponuwtyot
Ikcpcks. .4i..«^".

usually resides in San Francisco, whence he controls
affairs and supplies the funds needed by the various
parishes.^^ Service is at present conducted in Alaska
both in the Russian and Aleutian languages, but the
more distant settlements are visited only once a year
by a regularly ordained priest, by whom baptisms and
marriages are celebrated and the sacrament adminis-
tered to those who desire it.

When Alaska was transferred to the United States,
it was expected that the religious training of the 1 nd-
ians would not be neglected, but ten years passed by
and little was done. In 1877, however, a presbyte-
rian mission was established at Sitka. Two years
later a catholic mission was established at Fort
Wrangell," l>ut met with little success. Credit is also
due to the Church Missionary Society of London and
to the methodist church of Canada, both of which
have their representatives on the borders of Alaska.^"
For several years protestant missionaries of several
denominations, and especially the presbyterians, hav>d,
amid great discouragement, labored earnestly, and not
in vail!, to intruluce their faith among the natives of
Alaska. Meainvhile their efforts in the cause of edu-
cation have bocn no less persistent.

'•On the 12th of July, 1882, the bishop of the Greek church wa« drowned
■within twelve miles of Fort St Michael, either by accident or while uiidcr
Temporary aberration. The body was found. S. /'. C'hrunide, Auj;. 15, (.let.
30, 1882.

^"Jackmn's Alanka, 227. 'The catholics are invading our ground,' writes
Mt McFarland from Fort Wrangoll in May 1879. ' Among the passenger? on
the O/yiiijjia a week afio was a lloniish bishop and priest. They at onue os-
tabiiahed a mission. The bishop made an attack on Mr Young the following
sabbath morning, llo was trying to get the pc^oplo to make the sign of llio
cro«». Vjutnone wo'ild respond save Shustaks, the wicked chief. This niiule
the bishop angry, ap^l he broke out as follows: " Why don't you do as I told
you? Are you afraid of Mr Young? You are not Mr Young's slaves. Ho
is not a true minister, anj'way. No man can be a ti'ue minister and ha\e :;
wife. Look at nie; I nni a true minister; I am nil the same as Jesus Clir.st,
and 1 don't bavouuy wife." ' Id. Tlie reader will find many instances of sucli
unseemly squabbles in my History of Britixh Columhia, passim.

'" William Duncan, of the Church Missionary Society of London, of wliose
complicity in Bmugglintj operations mention has been made, built up dio
'•""'ian village of Metlahkatlah. About 1877 it contained 1,000 inhabitaiit-s.
^ .e r.ev. Thomas Crosby labored principally at Fort Simpson. Churclics
I'ud schools «ere of course establishetl at both points. Jackson's Alaska, 2U4,
302, et se(i.

Hut. AI.A8XA. 46

>';(!>

'iSl

di*3

;tii»?

706

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

Of the members of the Greek church only a small
proportion among the natives can read and write,
though in villages where parish churches have been
established, perhaps thirty per cent of the inhabi-
tants have acquired the rudiments of an education. It
was claimed bv Veniaminof that in some localities all
the Aleuts except young children could read fluently,
but there is no evidence to support this statement. It
was not until 1848 that printed books were issued in
the Kadiak language, and for several years later none
were circulated among the Kolosh. Those which
afterward made their appearance contained only trans-
lations of prayers, hymns, anthems, of two of the gos-
pels, the decalogue, and a small collection of words
and conversational phrases.'"

For half a century after the Russian occupation,
educational matters were little more advanced than in
the days of Shelikof, who established at Three Saints,
in 1785, the first school in Russian America, and him-
self instructed the pupils, in his own language, in arith-
metic and the precepts of Christianity. The labors
of Fathers Juvenal and German in this connection
have already been mentioned. In 1817, and probably
for some years later, the latter was still in charge of a
mission school at Yclovoi Island. In 1805 Rezanof
established a school for boys at Saint Paul, and dur-
ing his visit a girls' school was opened at this settle-
ment,^" but both fell into decay after the envoy's de-
parture, and were finally closed.

A few years later a school was opened at Sitka by
Baranof, but the instruction was very inefficient until
1833, when Etholin took charge of it and somewhat
improved its condition. At the end of their course,
the pupils served the company in various capacities.-'

"On the 15th of April, 1857, Voievodsky promises to send vocabularies
from all the stations of the Russian American Company. Sitka Archives,
MS., 1857, i. 111.

"" In charge of Mrs Banner. It opened with 16 Creole girls, four of whom
were sent to St Petersburg for further instruction. Tikhmenef, hlor. Ohoy.,
i. 140.

^' Of those who left in 18.37, four became sailors, four clerks, five mechau-
ics, a'kd three appreuticca ou board sliip. Golomin, in Malvrialut, 80-1.

«,0^:

J. small

write,

e been

inbabi-

on. It

itieg all
iuently,
lent. It
ssued in
ter none
e which
ly trans-
the gos-
of words

icupation,

id than in

ee Saints,

, and him-

3, in arith-

:he labors

:onnection

probably

|harge of a
5 Bezanof
I, and diir-
jhis settle-
invoy's de-

Lt Sitka by

icient until

somewhat

leir course,

japacities.'-^

Ind vocabularies
Sitka Arcliivi'-',

lis, fonr of whom
lie/, Utor. 0/jo.-.,

l-ks five mechau-
Llih 80-1-

EDUCATION.

707

In 1839 an institution was established at Sitka at
which the orphan daughters of the company's em
ployds were educated at the company's exi)ense. In
18G0 there were 22 inmates, and the expense for that
year was 6,364 roubles.'" About the same tlate a simi-
lar institution was opened for boys, to which were
admitted orphans, and the children of laborers and of
inferior officials. All were tau<;ht to read and write,
and there was a small class in arithmetic and gram-
mar. Their training of course included religious in-
struction. In 1860 there were 27 pupils, most of
whom were intended for mechanical pursuits.-'

It was not until 1841 that any attempt was made,
even at Sitka, to provide the means for a higher class
of education. In that year a church school was
opened, which, in 1845, was raised to the rank of a
seminary. "This institution was kept in good order,"
writes Ward in 1853, "the dormitories and class-
rooms being plainly but neatly furnished. One room
contained good philosophical apparatus, including air-
pumps, batteries, pulleys, levers, etc., and another a
good-sized library of Slavonic and Russian books. "^*
The course included the Russian and English lan-
guages, the elements of the pure mathematics, me-
chanics and astronomy, navigation, history, geogra-
phy, and book-keeping.'^^

In 1858, when the seat of the bishopric of Kam-
chatka was transferred to Yakoutsk, a vicariate being
established for the colonies, the seminary was also re-
moved to Yakoutsk. Soon afterward a school was

"Apart from fuel and lights, which wore furniahetl in kind. The insti-
tution had a special fund obtained from the sale of the pupils' handiwork,
from which each one received on marriage 150 to 300 roubles for her trous-
seau. Id., 84.

^^ On the 1st of May, 1853, this school had 33 pupils, and a year later 26.
lutka, Archk-eK, M.S., 1854, ii. Gl.

" Three Weeks in Sil.ka, MS., 25. On the 29th of October, 1857, Voievod-
sky acknowledges the receipt from the educational bureau of the holy synod
of 7,071 roubles, 50 kopeks, in silver, to be invested for the maintenance of the
seminary. Sdka Archiven, MS., 1857, i. 302.

■^* Ward also states that the higlier classes studied Latin and Greek, but
there ia no mention of this in the Russian authorities.

il lis

^ "4 L.

708>

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

HHi'

established under the name of the General Colonial
Institute, for the sons of officials who had rendered
faithful service to the company, all who could read
and write the Russian language and understood the
first four rules of arithmetic being admitted free to
lectures on the governor's recommendation. Tho
course of instruction was almost identical with that
of the three-class graduating schools in Siberia, and
differed little from the curriculum of the academy.^*
Navigation, commercial branches, and the English
language were taught by naval officers and others se-
lected from the company's employds. The children
of officials were usually supported at the company's
expense, in which case they were required, after grad-
uating, to enter its service for a term of ten years,
receiving a small salary,^'^ 500 roubles for outfit, and
honorable rank at the end of six years' service. In-
struction in theology and the Church-Slavic language
was also given to those destined for tho church, their
expenses being paid from the church funds. Thougli
the sum disbursed by the company for the support of
this school exceeded 24,000 roubles a year,^^ in addi-
tion to 3,750 roubles contributed by the holy synod,
thero were at its opening but 12 pupils, and in 18G2
the number was only 27. It would appear indeed to
have been founded mainly for the benefit of the
teaciiers, who received 13,450 roubles out of the fund.s
furnished by the company, the sum expended for all
other purposes being less that 11,000 roubles.

The most successful school in other portions of tho
colonies was the one founded at Unalaska, by Veni-
aminof. In 18G0, after it had been in existence for

*• A plan of tho studies for each of the three classes is given in Koatlivtzof,
Report, 18C0, app.,38.

"Only 100 to 3.">0 roubles (scrip) a year according to Dall, Alnska, 350;
but as I have before mentioned, Dall's historical summary is not v ry relialjlc.
He states, for instance, that the compulsory term of service was 15 years,
while 10 are mentioned by Golovnin, in Mulerialai, 81, and Tikhmenef, Intor.
OboK., ii. 27;").

'■•^Tlio exact amount, according to Golovnin, was 24,377 roubles and 77
kopeks. Tikhmenef, whose work was published in the same year, gives
it at 7,000 roubles silver, which would be 2G,250 roubles in scrip.

EDUCATION.

700

'i)lonial

iiidered

id read

)od tho

free to
The

th that

iria, and

ademy.'"

EngHsli

thers se-

children

)inpany'H

ter grad-

en yeurif,

utfit, and

rice. In-

languagc

rch, their

I Though

support of

28 in addi-

ily synod,
din 1862
indeed t;)
fit of the
the fund.s
led for all
es.

ons of the
,^ by Vcni-
stence for

in KoatlMzof,

7, Al'isl-a, 35-:;
otv ryrcliabli^-
) -was 15 years,
ikhmene/, htor.

roubles and 77
.me year, t;ivc3
hip.

35 years, there were On pupils of both .sexes. At the
same date one of the Kadiak schools was i-o-opoiuxi,
and there were primary schools on the island of Amla,
in the Atkha district, at the Nushagak and Kvikh-
pak missions, and at Bering Island, but all with a
meagre attendance. There was also a school-house on
the lower Yukon, but with no pupils.''*

After the purchase, even the few traces of enlight-
enment which the Russians had left beliind were in
danger of being obliterated, for the Russian schools
were closed, and for years there were none to take
their place. In 1869, Vincent Colyer, secretary of
the board of Indian commissioners, visited Alaska, and
mainly through his exertions the sum of !550,000 was
appropriated by congress for scliool purposes; but
there was no one to administer the fund, and it re-
mained intact. According to the terms of the contract,
two schools were maintained among the Aleuts, but
they existed only in name, and no further provision
was made by the United States government. It is
somewhat remarkable that a nation which ranks
among the foremost in wealth, culture, and charity, a
nation whose boast it is that education is free to all
her children, should have left the inhabitants of this
territory for more than half a generation in outer
darkness. To quote the words of the Rev. Shel-
don Jackson, superintendent of presbyterian missions
in the territories, "Russia gave them government,
schools, and the Greek religion, but when the country
passed from their possession they withdrew their rul-
ers, priests, and teachers, while the United States did
not send any others to take their places. Alaska, to-

" A8 to the cUacipline and hours of study enforced in these schools, we
liave few records. It is probable, however, that in the institute they were
about the same as in the naval school at Petropavlovsk, where the pupils rose
at 5.30 and retired at 9. At C..30 there was inspection, after wliicli came
breakfast and preparation for classes, which lasted from 8 to 11. Then drill
and play till noon — tho dinner liour, which was followed by two more hours
of play, and three of lectures or recitations. At 5 a meal of bread and milk
was served, and at 8 supper, the interval being taken up with lessons and
drill. Mor.-'koi Sbornik, x\i. ii, lo9 '!4. In tho colonies the principal food of
the students was salt fish.

!f:t

.^m^fi

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

1.25

14^118

1^ l^

'*' 140

1.4

2.2

IIM
1.6

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 877-4503

.^v

^9)

N"^.. ^\

710

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS. AND HOSPITALS.

day, has neither courts, rulers, ministers, nor teachers.
The only thing the United States have done for them
has been to introduce whiskey." *

Under the auspices of the presbyterian mission, a
school was established at Fort Wrangell, which in
1877 had about 30 pupils, and a home for the rescue
of young girls who would else have been sold into
prostitution by their parents; while at Sitka a school
was opened on the 17th of April, 1878, 50 scholars
being present the first day, and 60 the following year."'
All this was accomplished with very slender funds.
About the same date there were twenty-two children
in attendance at the two schools which the United
btates government promised to support, but which
are in fact supported at the expense of the Alaska
Commercial Cfompany.'"

During infancy, the natives of Alaska receive little
care or supervision from their parents. Until seven
or eight years of age the}' are more frequently naked
than clad at all seasons of the year, often sleeping
almost without shelter and with insufficient covering.
Under these conditions, living, as they do, in a coun-
try where snow is perpetually in sight, and where rain,
fileet, and fog are almost incessant, they grow up for
the most part a weakly and puny race. Even where
the skies are less inclement, this is still the case. The
cHmate of the Aleutian Islands does not differ essen-
tially from that of some portions of northern Scot-
land," and yet there are few more effeminate speci-

* U. 8. Edue. Rept., 1877, p. xxxii. The abore ia an extract from a let-
ter published in the report.

*■ Jackson's Alaska, 200, 2IS, 217, 228, 251 . In this work will be found a
full and interesting ocoount of the operations of the presbyterian miasiou.
The home had at first a sore struggle for existence.

*' There were also schools at Unuloska and Belkovsky, but the attendance
was Irss than ten of both sexes. Tliero were no scliools at the missions of tliu
Yukon, Nushagak, and KeuaJf. In a vilkge surrounding the first of thcHC
•ettlements, Petroif states tliat, apart from the attach*^ of the church, lie
found but one man who could speak the Uussian language. Pop. Alaska, H).

'*The mean annual tem|)erature of northern Scotland varies from 42° to
48*, and of the Aleutian district from 36° to 40^. The uvei-ago rainfall iu
Unalaska is probably little more thuu 40 inches, while in Stirlingshire it is

POPULATION.

711

mens of humanity than the Aleut, and none more
hardy than the Scotch highlander.

At Sitka, though the rains are excessive, averaging
nearly 83 inches in the year," the days on which snow
falls are seldom more than thirty; and, remarks Dali,
"the average of many years' observations places the
mean winter temperature about 33 Fahrenheit, which
is nearly that of Mannheim on the Rhine, and
warmer than Munich, Vienna, or Berlin. It is about
the same as that of Washington, 1,095 miles farther
south, and warmer than New York, Philadelphia, or
Baltimore. At Nulato the mean winter temperature
is 14 below zero, at Fort Yukon about 17, while at
both points the thermometer reaches 100 in summer."

I found a
miasiou.

tondaiice
na of t\i«
of these
lurch, he
a^ka, 70.
in 4-r t<>
Anfttll iu
^ire it i>

The census of 1880 gives the population of Alaska
at 33,426,*^ and this is probably little more than half
the number of inhabitants living during the early period
of the Russian occupation. Many causes were at work
to produce this result. Slavery in its worst form ex-
isted among the Alaskans. "A full third of the large
population of this coast," writes Simpson, "are slaves
of the most helpless and abject description. Some of
them are prisoners taken in war, but the majority
have been born in b(mdage. These wretches arc the
constant victims of cruelty, and often the instruments
of malice or revenge. If ordered to kill a man, they
umst do it or lose their own life."* The earth liut^
of the Aleuts were without ovens. There was always
a scarcity of wood and often of food. Sometimes

43 inches, in Bute about 40, and in the town of Inverness, in the same lati-
tude as Kadiak, it was 40.9 in 1821 and 47.50 in 1822. Dall'g Alaska,
445-8.

•*The average of twelve years, as given in Davidmn'n Set. Exprd., 481-2.
The greatcRt rainfall during this period was 95.8 inches in 1861, and tlie least
68.06 iu 1853. During August, September, and October, 1867, there were 52
inches.

"Of whom 24,101 lived west of Prince William Sound. 600 near the
sound, and 5,617 in south-eastern Alaska. Petroff'sPop. Alaiika, 85.

"Simpson'A Xarr. Jour, round World, i. 21 1. The custom of killing slaves
at the death of a chief prevails among the Kolosh, and in late years tho Rus-
sians had been in the lutbit of purchasing the victims selected for sacrifice.
lUoodgood, iu Overlatul Motithly, Feb. 1800.

,1 "

!r*ftj-!

ins

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

I I

their only diet was rotten fish, but those employed by
the company were well fed, housed, and claa.

Among the most fatal diseases were consumption,
gastric, bilious, typhus, and other fevers, syphilis, and
.scrofula.'^ For the sick there were hospitals at Sitka
and Saint Paul. In 1860 the former accommodated
1,400 patients, and was maintained at an expense of
about 45,000 roubles; the latter had 550 patients, and
the outlay was in a greater ratio.*^ There was also a
hospital for the treatment of skin diseases at the sul-
phur springs near Sitka.*" The steam bath was the

'' * In former times syphilitic diseases were very general amone the Aleuts,
but now they hardly exist on the islands. Now and then the disease is
brought to Kadiak by crews of the company's vessels which winter there, but
it is met with more and more rarely, because now the commanders of vessels
are strictly enjoined to inspect their crew on arrival in port. At Novo Arkh-
angelsk, on the contrary, this disease is yet very common in spite of all pre-
ventive measures taken by the colonial government It is communicated
to tho Russians by the Kolosh, who in their turn are infected by their coun-
trymen who live along the sounds, where it is carried by foreign ships which
carry on a contraband trade with the Kolosh. The Kolosh look at this dis-
ease with great indifference; they believe it to be an unavoidable evil, and
tako no measures whatever for its cure. Nearly all the women who proctiso
prostitution in sr'cret around the environs of Novo Arkhangelsk arc affected

■liy this disease. At one time the syphilitic disease prevailed to such an ex-

'tent among tho soldiers and laborers at Novo Arkhangelsk, that for its possi-
,ble prevention the then newly arrived administrator general (Rovcmor) felt
compelled to resort to the strongest measures. Ho caused to uo torn down
at once all huts erected near tho harbor, on the beach as well as in the wooils,
where the traffic of prostitution was secretly carried on.' Ooloimin, in Malrria-
lui, 87. 'After consumption, perhaps the largest list of death causes will he
laid at the door of scrofulous diseases, taking the form of malignant ulcers,
which eat into the vitals and destroy them. It renders whole settlements

. sometimes lepers in tlie eyes of the civilized visitor; and it is hard to find a
settlement in the whole country where at least one or more of the families
therein have not got the singularly prominent scars peculiar to the disease.'
Pelroff'a Pop. Ala8ka,%2. Li 1843-4, *;here was another outbreak of small-

. pox among tho Aleuts, but as most of them had been vaccinated, it was not
very destructive. Simpson states that hemoptysis was a common complaint.
Jour, round World, ii. 190.

^* Dok. Kom. Jfuaa. Amer. KoL, ii. 136; Kottlivtzof, ia Afaterialtti,ai)\}.,
41-2. 'In its wards,' writes Simpson, 'and, in short, in all tlio requisite ap-
pointments, the Sitka hospital would be no disgrace to England.' It had 40
beds. Near each was a table on which glasses and medicines were placed.
The diet was usually salt beef or fish, the soup made from them, mush of
rice or groats, bread, and tea. Of 1,400 patients admitted into the Sitka
hospital m 1800. only 22 died.

'•There were three largo springs close to each other. Tiie temperature
■was between 50 and 52° of l{<5aumer. Onlovnin, in Matrrialiii, 92-3. Dall gives
it at 122° of Falirenheit, which would be only 40 of Rdaumur. Alcmka, 353.
The waters were impregnated with sulphur, iron, mangiincso, and chlorine,
07 per cent of the mmeral matter being sulphur. During a visit to Atkha in

the

Sllpp(»

alwa^
to go

sistaii

CARV: OF THE SICK AND POOR.

great panacea of the natives, who before the Russian
occupation had no medicine, nor even knew of any
medicinal herb.

Sick, aged, and disabled servants were provided for
by the company, one half per cent of its profits being
appropriated for this purpose after 1 802. In later years
a tax of ten roubles was levied on each keg of liquor,
and of one rouble on each pound of tea sold by the
company. From the funds thus raised the deserving
poor were pensioned by the government, and in 18G0
there were 375 persons in the receipt of pensions, the
aggregate amount of which was 30,000 roubles a year.
The pensioners were lodged at the company's expense,
and the needy were also supplied with food from the
public kitchen. Those who wished it were made colo-
nial citizens, a class composed mainly of Russians and
Creoles. They were exempt from taxation, and had
the privilege of reentering the company's service at

Creoles — by which term is always meant the off-
spring of Russians or Siberians and native women,
none being the children of natives and of Russian
women — had all the rights of Russian subjects, and
were exempt from taxation or enforced service. Many
were educated at the company's expense, and were
afterward employed in various capacities, some of
them, among whom was Veniaminof, being trained for
the priesthood.**

The churches, schools, and hospitals of Alaska under
the Russian regime were supported mainly at the ex-
pense of the Russian American Company. At pres-
ent they exist on charity — charity so cold, that when

1873, Dall observed springs there the temperature of which was 192°. Near
them were the ruins of ilescrteil l)ath-hou8cs. Hept. CookI Sun^eij {\S'^), 114.

*"Thci-e were no iKjggars iii Aliujka until after the purchase. The Aleuts
supported their own poor. On returning from their expeditions, tiio hunters
always gave a part of their spoils to the young, sick, and aged, who were told
to go and help themselves from the hidiirkn, the owner of which was content
with what remained. It was a niro thiiii,' among them for any one to ask as-
sistance. Ho received it as iiis rigiit. Clulovniii, in Materialiii, 93-4.

*' Tikhmriii'/, I-'fnr. l)huK., app. part i. Tm; DoL Kom. JiuHS. Amer. KoL,
i. lOS-U; yermol JT, L'Amcri<jHe Jiu.ixe, Q'>. ,

714

CHURCHES. SCHOOLS. AND HOSPITALS.

the sum of fifty thousand dollars was voted by congress
for educational purposes, there were found none to ad-
minister it. What shall we do with the people of
Alaska now that they are manumitted? Let them sit
and gaze seaward with a steadfast stare, awaiting the
arrival of the steamer which, bearing the United States
flag, brings to them month by month their supply of
hootchenoo 1

"Thirteen governments," wrote John Adams, in
1786, "founded on the natural authority of the people
alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and
which are destined to spread over the northern part of
that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained
in favor of the rights of mankind." "Your best work
and most important endowment," said Charles Sum-
ner, addressing the United States senate in 1867,
"will be the republican government, which, looking to
a long future, you will organize with schools free to all,
and with equal laws, before which every citizen will
stand erect in the consciousness of manhood. Here
will be a motive power, without which coal itself will
be insufficient. Here will be a source of wealth more
inexhaustible than any fisheries. Bestow such a gov-
ernment, and you will bef?tow what is better than all
you can receive, whether quintals of fish, sands of
gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory. "*'^

" ' If,' rcmarka J. Ross Browne, ' Mr Secretary Seward had accomplisheil
nothing more in the course of iiis official career than the acquiaitiuu of
Alaska, he would for tliat act alone be entitled not only to the thanks of
every citizen of the Pacific coast, already awarded him, but to the gratitude
of millions yet unborn, by whom the boundless domain of the west i<
destined to be peopled.' Report on the Mineral Itesourcen of the Stairs and
territories IVent oj tite Rocky Mountaiim, .'>08. It would Ite difficult, at this
juncture, to find out in what res|)ect the millions bom, or to be born, havo
thus far Ixscn so greatly lienefited by the transfer.

Elsewhere I have given a brief bibliography of Alaska np to the year
1867. After the purchase there are no complete records. The United States
government documents and a number of publications have iMsen consulted fur
the closing chapters of this volume. Among the newspapers, the San Fmu-
citco BnHetm, vail. Chronicle, and u4fta, the Ptrtland West Shore, Bee, Her-
ald, Oregonian, and Deutche Zeitumj, and the Ainxka Herald may l»e specially
mentioned. Among the government docum'jnts that furnish inforiuuticjii
is the report of William uouvi-rneur Morris, late collector at Sitka. Tlio
report is somewhat biased, nud contains man/ errors, of which I will quoto
oaf. 'The llusjians exorcised over the in habitants of Alaska dcspotio

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

710

Tress
oad-
le of
lai sit
g the
states
ply of

lis, in
people

y> ^^^
part of

gained

it work

J Sum-

i 18G7,

king to

se to all,

zen will

Here

elf will

1 more

a gov-

than all

sands of

.ccomplisbetl
cquisition of
,e thanks of
,he gratituilo
"the west n
. Slat>'» Olid
icult, at thw
bom, have

to the year
Jnited 8Ut«

consulted fur
tie San />«"-

re, lie<'> l'';-
y be specwlly
inforiuatuiii
Sitka. The
I will q«olu
ika despotio

■way, and held them in alwolute Bubjection. Thoy treated them as brutes,
anil flogged them unmercifullv for theft and petty iiiisdcmeauors. They
punished crime promptly with severe corporal chastisement or imprison-
in int, and regarded the Indians as not mure than one degree removed from
dumb beasts. They held the power of life and death over their subjects.
They had over two thousand soldiers, employes, and retainers ready to do
the bidd ng of the local supreme authority. Ships of war were always at
hand to lombard the villages into subniisiiion. ' p. 126. The reader will re-
member that no Russian vessel of war apjiearcd iii Alaskan waters until tlie
year 1850. p. 684, this vol. Notwithstanding errors, the report is very able,
and many were sorry to hear that the decease of William Gouvemeur Morris
occurred early in 18iS4. The report of I'tncrut Colyer on the Imlian Tribe*
oml their Surroundings in Aliuka Terrilori/ furnishes valuable information,
as do those of L. A. Brardslee on the Condition qf Affairs in Alaska, in Sen,
Ex, Doc., 44th Cong, Sd Sets., 105, and of lirynnt and Mclntyre, in >>«. L'x,
Doe., 4i*t Cong. Sd Sess,, 3J. Ilniry \V. E liotl's Hepnrt on the Scat Inlands oj
Alanka in tlie Tenth Census of the United Slates is probably the most reliable
publication on the Pribylof Islands, notwithstanding tlic abuse Ihat has lieen
freely bestowed on that gentleman. From Davidnon's Coast, Plot qf' AhisLa,
Sheldoii Jackson's Alaska, and Missions on the Aorth Pacific Coanl, and JJit-
lell's Co^mtrce and Industries of tlie Pacific Coast, items of interest have also
been gatliered. Among tliu most valuable works published on Alaska during
recent years are those of Alphonso I . Ptnart, including the Voyages il la
Cite Nord-Ouest de VAmiriqiie; Voyage d la C6le Nord-Ouest d' Amiriqtie
d'Ounalaahka d Kadiak; and Notes sur les Koloches. As their contents
are of a scientific nature, no use has been made of them in this volume.

For further references to authorities cousulteil for tlie last five chapters,
see Morri^i' Hept, Alaska, 4-7, 10-10, 21-30, 36-41, 65-<J, 69-63, 83-4, 90-4,
103-32; Colyer's lirpt, Ind. Aff., S37-9, 542, 554, 550, 50S-9, 572, 693;
Bryant and Mclntyre'a Rept, Alaska, 2-41; Elliott's Seal Islawls, Alaska,
20-2, 24-7, 105-8; U. S. Sen. Doc., 40th Cong,, 3d Sfss,, Nos. 42, 53; 41si
Cong,, 2d Sess,, 67, 68; 4£d Cong,, 1st Sess., 12; 44lh Cong., 1st Svsa., 12, 33,
4«; 44th Cong., 2d Sess,, 14; House Ex, Doc, 40th Cong,, 2d Sess,, 80, 105;
4M Cong., 2d Sess., 30; 41st Coik/.. 3d Sess., 108, 122; 42d Cong,, 1st Sess.,
5; 42d Cong., 2d Sess., 20, 197; 44th Cong., 1st Sess., 43, 83; ^<A Cong., 2d
Sess., 155, 217; 45lh Cong., 3d Sfss., 146; Senate Jour., 40th Cong., 2d Sfss.,
pp. 1097, 1221 ; 42d Cong., SdSest., 1224; 43d Cong., 1st Sess., 9o3; 44th Cong.,
Ixt Sess., 1047; llotue Jour., 41st Cong., 2d Sess., 13;M-6; 42d Cong., 2d
Sess., 1106; 43d Cong,, 1st Sess., 1302, 1427; 4Mh Cong., 1st Sess., 1501; 4Sth
Cong., 2d Sess., 1508-9; Sen, liepts,, 41st Cong., Sid Sess., No. 47, pp. 228-:J0;
House Comm, liepts., 40th Cong., 2d Sess., No. 37; 40lh Cong., 3d Sess., ,35;
44th Cong., 1st Seas., 023; House Misc, Doc., 40lh Cong., 2d .Sess., Nos. 130-1,
101; 42d Com/., 1st Sess., 5; Me-s. and Doc., 1807, i. pp. 475-88; lSCS-9
(abridgment), 852-8; Coast Survey Rept., 1867-8. pp. 41, 187, 264; 1872, 49;
1873,69-60, 122; 1874, 42; 1875,5-0,04-0,78; Agr, Rept., 1868, pp. 172-89;
Fin. Rept., 1808, pp. 391^; Sec. Int. Rept., 44th Cong., Isl Sess., i. pp. 704-7;
Post. Rept., 44th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 41; Land Off, Rept., 1809, pp. 201-7;
Rept. OH Ind. Aff., 1808, pp. 308-17; 1809, 41-2, 105-9; Educ. Rept., 41st
Cong., 3d .S>M.,pp. 330-7, :M5; 43d Cong., IstSos., 424; 44thCong., l»t S<ss.,
463-6; Cong. Globe, 1807-8, app., pp. 607-8; 1808-9, i. 100, .340-3; 1809-70,
app. 668-9, 075; 1871-2, app. 095; 1872-3, app. 274; Hansard's Pari. Deb.,
cixv. 1487-8, ccxvi. 1157; Sumner's Cess. Russ. Amer,, 8-1.3, 28-48; Seward's
Our N, Pac. Stales, 3-16; Zabriskie, Land Laws, 874-84, 887; Petroff^s Pop,
Alaska, 15-80; Davidson Scient, Exped., 471-7, 481-2; Smithsonian Rept.,
18C7,4:}-4; IF'Ay»i;>«rV^;fM/la, 86-8, 10.3-0; 253,258,274-5; ./.ici*.»'«^/a(ifai,
15-24,41-6,49-50, r29-.30, 140-327; Pall's Alaska, 50-7; 102-5, l.SI-2, 192-3,
204,220,251; HitteU's Com. and Ind. Pac. Conxt, .330-0, .375-0; Bron-ne's
Mineral Res., 697-004; Ronhamt, Les Regions Nouvelles, 0; Brockett's Our
Western Empire, 1271-5, 1277, 1279, 1281; McCal>e's Our Country and Its
Res., 1081-2; Pierrepont's Fifth Avenue to Alaska, 149-217; Niebaun)!'., Z tut-

111

I jli.t'Kijlii

His?

71fl

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

mml, MS., 3-18, 23-5, t4-61; Berry's Devel. in jilasla, MS., 2-13, 10-17;
JJaiicrojl'H Library Srrapk, I9-'21, 25-9, 30-7, 55-0.1, 05-0, 72-3,80, 125, 128,
134-45, 191-2, 100, 198, I'll, 2--o, 232, 200-7; Uonc/iarftdo, Scrap-ftook, \.
10, 14, 20, 34, 43, 46, 47, 61^, 00, 74-0. 80-1, 80-8, 09-101, 145; ii. 2, 8,
10-14, 23-4, 32-7, 112-13, 115; Aiiny and Navy Journal, May 1, 1809; llarr
ier'>i Ma<j., July, 1807, 170-85; N. Y. Forest and S.-rram, July 24, Aug. 14,
l>oo. 18, 1879, Mar. 4, 18, Ajjr. 22, May 13, Juno 24, July 8, Aug. 29, 1880,
Jan. 0, 20, 27, 1881; Altuka Jlirald, June 1, 15, Aug. 1, 15, Sipt. 1, Nov. 1,
loc. 1, 1.-). 1808, Feb. 1, Mar. 1, June 15, July 1, 15, Sept. 1, Oct. 1. 22, Nov.
20, 1809, Feb. 1, Oct. 1, 1870, July 15. Aug. 18, Oct. 20, Nov. 1, 1871, Fel.. 15,
July 24, 1872, Oct. 24. Nov. 25, 1873, Alar. 1, May 28, 1874, .^an. 15, Mar.
l.'>, Apr. 1, Oct 1, 1876; Sitka Times, Apr. 30, May 14, June 4, July 30, Aug.
13, Sept. 1,11, 25, Oct. 2.3, Nov. 13, Dec. 4, 1809, Jan. 15. Mar. 5, Apr. 10,
Juno 11, 1870; S. F. Overland Monthly (1809), ii. 175-80, (1870) v. 297-301;
Vmn. Herald, Apr. 14, 1808. Jan. 30. Apr. 30. 1809. Apr. 22. 29, 1870, Nov.
5, 1874; Mining and Set. Press, Apr. 20, 1872, Jan. 18, June 28, Aug. 2,
Sept. 20, 27, 1873, July 27, 1878; Alia, June 1, 27. July 2, 14, 20, Aug. 1,
Oct. 18, Nov. 3, 14, 10, 25, 29, 1807, Jan. 14, Mar. 27, Aug. 9, Oct. 20, Dec.
18, 1C08, Feb. 25, 27, Mar. 19, Sept. 1, Nov. 17, 1800, Mar. 22, 24, Oct. 9,
1870, July .3, 1871, Aug. 0, Sept. 5, 1873; Feb. 2, 1874, June 21, 1875; ntille-
till, July 1.3, 1807, May 2, 18, Aug. 1, 27, 1808, Jan. 30, Feb; 2, Apr. 13,
Dec. 10, 21, 1809. Jan. 0, 1870, Jan. 20, Feb. 20, June 15, Oct. 6, 12, 1871,
Aug. 1, 1872, Nov. 3, 1873, Feb. 10, 1875, June 22. 1877, Scj.t. 6, 1878, Mar.

18, Apr. 10, Oct. 30, 1879, Jan. 10, Feb. 2, Mar. 23. 1880, July 13. 21. 26,
Aug. 11, 10, 20, Sept. 23, 20, 27, Oct 1, 25. 27, 31, Nov. 25, Dec. 21, 1881,
May 11, 23, 24, 27, 1882, Apr. 20, May 3, Aug. 1, 2, Oct 0, Nov. £8, Dec. 29,
1883; Call, Nov. 14, 1867, Mar. 10, Aug. 17, Sept. 25, Oct 17, 1809, Feb. 10,
1870, Mar. 25, 1871, June 9, Sept 25, 1877; Chronicle, Sept. 2, Nov. 25, 1808,
Aug. 6, 1872, July 21, 187.3, Nov. 19. 1874. Sept 15, 1875, Sept. 28, Dec. 14,
1877, Jan. 20, 1878, Dec. 31. 1879, Nov. 17, Dec. 21, 1880, Juno 20, 1881, Oct
30, 1882; Post, Mar. 13, 1872, May 2, 9. 24, 28, July 1, 1873, Jan. 2, Sept.
24, Nov. 18, 1874, Feb. 26, Apr. 22, 1870. Feb. 14, Oct. 31. 1877; Sarramento
Union, May 6, Nov. 26, 1807, July 17, 1808, Mar. 27, Apr. 14, Oct 18, 1809,
July 9, 1870, Sept 9, Oct. 5, 24. 1871, Apr. 11, 1879; Sacramento Bee, Feb.
2, 1874, Feb. 22, 1879, Aug. 21, 1880; Portland West Shore, May, June, 1876,
June, 1878, Oct, Nov., 1879, Jan., 1880; Deiitche Zeituvii, Feb. 0, 1875, Feb.
22, Mar. 1, 1870; Oregonian, Sept. 28, 1877. Fob. 22, M"ar. 22. Apr. 19. July

19, Aug. 23. 1879, Dec. 3. 1883; Telegram, Feb. 6, Mar. 17, 20, May 6, July
9, 10, 10, 1879; Olympia Courier, Mar. 24, May 26. Aug. 11, 1,S, 1882; Stitnd-
ard, Jan. 6, Nov. 24, 1877; Seattle Intelligencer, Feb. 7, Apr. 24, Deo. 4, 1880;
Port Townsend Argus, Mar. 13, May 22, July 31, Sept. 4, 1879; Victoria
Briliah Colonist, Jan. 8, 29, Feb. 12, 1879.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

1883-1885.

Th« Oroanio Act — A Phantom of Civil Govbrnmknt— Proposed Indun
Besertationb — Eddoational Mattkrs — Appointmbnt op United
States Officials— Report of Oovxrnor Kinkead — His SnccEssoH
Appointed — Schwatka's Voyaob on a Raft— Everette's Explora>
TioN — Stonbt's Expedition— Mining on the Vokon and its Tribcta-
bibs — The Takoo Mines — Thr Tubadwbll Lode— Fihiuerib^— Com-
MBROB and Navigation.

The little that is to be said as to the action of con-
gress concerning Alaska during the opening years of
the present decade, and for several previous years,
may be summed up almost in ten words. Appropria-
tions were made for the salaries and expenses of agents
at the fur-seal grounds,* and, as will presently appear,
these salaries and expenses were voted with no nig-
gard hand. Yet, during the long period that had
now elapsed since the purchase of Russian America,
petitions without number had been presented to con-
gress, asking for some form of civil government. At
one time the few Russian residents still remaining in
Alaska were about to petition the tzar to secure for
them the privileges and immunities of citizens of the
United States, as guaranteed by the treaty. On
another occasion the commander of a Russian man-of-

' On the 3d of March, 1881, the sum of $8,000 was appropriated for the
repair and pre8er\'ation of publio buildings. U. S, Slat., 46th Cong. 3d Sess.,
436. In 1882 a few postal routes were established, as will be meutioned

Si-esently. With these exceptions, nothing was done in congress concerning
ilaaka, the salaries of the agents passing among the appropriations for the

miscellaneous civil expenses of eucli year.

(717)

718

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

war, stationed on the Pacific coast, had determined
to visit Sitka in order to inquire into the condition of
his couiitrymen, to whom had been granted neither
protection nor civil rights of any description. Each
year the president of the United States called atten-
tion to the matter, and almost every year resolutions
and bills were introduced in the senate for this pur-
pose, but without result. Most of them were tabled ;
a few were passed to committee, and all were rejected.
It was admitted that, as an abstract proposition, the
Russians and Creoles of this Ultima Thule were entitled
to protection; but abstract justice was now somewhat
out of date in congressional circles. Moreover, there
were many conflicting interests to be considered, some
parties desiring that settlement should be encouraged,
and others wishing to retain as much of the mainland
as possible for a stock-farm, and being therefore op-
posed to any legislation that would cause an influx of
settlers, as was the case some thirty years ago with
the Hudson's Bay Company in Vancouver Island and
New Caledonia. Meanwhile the outside world knew
nothing of Alaska. During this interregnum, if we may
believe Major Morris, dozens of letters were addressed
to the " United States Consul at Sitka," and many gov-
ernors of states and territories sent copies of their
thankagiving proclamations to the "Governor of
Alaska Territory," years before that country enjoyed
the presence of any such official.'

At length, on the 4th of December, 1883, Senator
Harrison introduced a bill to provide a civil govern-
ment for Alaska, which, with some amendnrents,
passed both houses, receiving the president's signa-
ture on the 17th of May, 1884. Thus, after many
years of waiting, this long-mooted measure took effect.

By the provisions of what we will call the organic
act, Alaska was organized as a civil and judicial dis-
trict, its seat being temporarily established at Sitka.
A governor was to be appointed, who should perform

*8cldnwrt't Alalia, 228.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

719

generally such duties as belonged to the chief magis-
trate of a territory, and make an annual report to the
president of his official acts, of the condition of the
district with reference to its resources, industries, and
population, and of the administration of civil govern-
ment therein, the president having the power to con-
firm or annul any of his proceedings.' A district
court was to be established, with the civil and crimi-
nal jurisdiction of United States district and circuit
courts, the judge to hold at least two terms in each
year — one at Sitka, beginning the first Monday in
May, and the other at Wrangell, beginning the first
Monday in November — together with special sessions
as they might be required for the despatch of busi-
ness, at such times and places as were deemed neces-
sary. The clerk of the court was to be ex officio
secretary and treasurer of the district, recorder of
deeds, mortgages, certificates of mining claims, and
contracts relating to real estate, and also registrar
of wills.* A marshal was to be appointed, having the
general authority and powers of United States mar-
shals, with the right of appointing four deputies, who
wero to reside respectively in the towns of Sitka,
Wrangell, Unalaska, and Juneau, and to peribrm the
duties of constables under the laws of Oregon.

There were also to be appointed four commission-
ers, one to reside in each of the four towns above
mentioned, and having the jurisdiction and powers of

* It was also a part of the governor's duties to inquire from time to time into
the operations of the Alaska Commercial Ck>., reporting thereon to congress,
and mentionintr all violations of the contract existing oetween the company
and the United States. How the governor was to inquire from time to time
is not explained in the text of the act, but on this matter he remarks in his
report to the president: "The far-seal islands are 1,600 miles to the westward
of Sitka. To reach them the government must famish transportation to
enable the governor to make such inquiries... .The United States ship
now at this station might be detailed for the purpose, carrying such offioera
of the civil government as might be necessary to gain the required informa-
tion.' S. F. Bulletin, Dea 18, 1884.

* He mast establish oflBces at Sitka and Wrangell for the safe-keeping of
all ofBcial records. Separate offices might also be established, at the discre-
tion of the court, at Wrangell, Unalaska, and Juneau, for the recording of
such instruments as pertained to the several natural divisions of the district,
their limits to be denned by the court.

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

commissionei's of United States circuit courts, to-
gether with those conferred on justices of the peace
under the laws of Oregon. They were also to have
jurisdiction, subject to the supervision of the district
judge, in all testamentary and probate mattern, and
for this purpose their courts were to be opened at stated
terms as courts of record.' The general laws of Ore-
gon, as they were then in force, were to be the law of
the district, so far as they were applicable, and did
not conflict with the provisions of the act or with the
laws of the United States. But the district court
was to have exclusive jurisdiction in all equity suits,
in all capital criminal cases, and in those involvin<;
questions of title to land or mining rights. In civil
cases, issues of fact might be determined by a jury at
the request of either party, and appeal lay from tho
decision of the commissioners to the district court,
in cases where the amount involved was $200 or
more, and in criminal cases where the sentence was
imprisonment," or a fine exceedi^ ^ $100.

Alaska was created a land district, with a United
States land-office, to be located at Sitka. The com-
missioner residing at that point, the clerk, and tho
marshal were to hold office respectively as registrar,
receiver of public moneys, and surveyor-general of the
district. The laws of the United States relating to
mining claims, and the rights incident thereto, were to
be in full force, subject to such regulations as might
be made by the secretary for the interior.^ Nothing

*They had power to grant writs of habeas oorpns, the writs being return-
able before the district judge, and like proceedings could be taken thereon as
though they had been granted by said judge. They had, moreover, the
powers of notaries public, and must keep a record of all deeds and otiier in-
struments acknowledged before them, relating to the title to or transfer of
pro]jerty within their district, this record to oe open to public inspection
They must also keep a list of all fines and forfeitures receiyed by them, paying
over the amount quarterly to the clerk of the district court.

*The jail in the town of Sitka was to be repaire<l and made suitable for a
penitentiary. For this purpose $1,000 waa appropriated. U. 8. Stat., 48lh
Cong. IHSeiu., 179.

' Provided that persons then in possession should not be disturbed in the
use or occupation of their lands, though the terms under which they might
acquire title were reserved for future leifislation. PeraoDS who bad located

PROVISIONS OF THE ORGANIC ACT.

containod in the act, however, was to be so construed
as to put in force within the district the general land
laws of the United States.

The governor, judge, district attorney, clerk, mar-
shal, and commissioners were to be appointed bv iho
president, and to hold office for four years, r jntil
their successors were appointed. The salaries of tliu
governor and ]• dge were to be each $3,000 u year, j^ 'id
of the distncc attorney, clerk, and marshal each ?2,500
a yei The commissioners were to receive the fees
usually pertaining to their office, and tojusticesof the
peace in Oregon, together with such fees for record-
ing instruments as are allowed by that state, and, in
addition, a fixed salary of $1,000 a year." The deputy
marshals were to receive salaries of $750 a year, be-
sides the usual fees of constables in Oregon.

The attorney-general was directed at once to com-
pile and cause to be printed, in pamphlet form, so
much of the laws of the United States as was appli-
cable to the duties of the several officials.* The secre-
tary for the interior was ordered to select two of the
officials to be appointed under the act, who, with the
governor, should constitute a commission "to examine
into and report upon the condition of the Indians re-
siding in said territory, what lands, if any, should be
reserved for their use, what provision shall be made
for their education, what rights of occupation by set-
tlers should be recognized, ' and other matters that
might enable congress to determine the lii itations and
conditions to be imposed when the land laws of the
United States should be extended to the district, lie
was also required to make temporary provision for the

minefl or mineral privileges under the laws of the U. S., or who had occupied',
improved, or exercised rights of ownership over such lands, were to be al-
lowed to perfect their titles. Lauds occupied as missionary stations, not
exceeding 040 acres to each station, with the improvements thereon, were also
to bo continued in the occupancy of the societies holding them.

* Each of the conimiscioncrs was required to file a bond in the penal Eum
of 13,000, and the clerk in the sum of $10,000.

•The sum of $500 was afterward appropriated for the purpose of printing
200 copies of the compiled laws, to bo distributed p.mong the officials. U. H.
Stat., 4Slh Cong. Jst Sesa., 223.
HiBT. Alaska. 40

f H

■^ 'I'M

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

education of all children of school age without reganl
to race, until a permanent school system should be
established, and for this purpose the sum of $25,000
was appropriated. Finally the manufacture, impor-
tation, and sale of intoxicating liquors, except for
medicinal, mechanical, and scientific purposes, were
forbidden, under the penalties provided in the revised
statutes of the United States.^

As a land purchase, Alaska had thus far proved a pay-
ing investment," though still undeveloped; and yet it
was but a phantom of a government which congress now
somewhat reluctantly bestowed upon it, a government
without representative institutions, or the privilege
of sending a delegate to congress. Meanwhile Rus-
sians, Creoles, and Americans, who, year by year, had
become more dissatisfied with the shadow of repub-
lican administration, expressed their contempt in no
measured phrase for the dilatory action of the national
legislature. Thankful for small mercies, however, they
still waited and hoped, believing that south-eastern
Alaska would, even in their generation, contain set-
tlers enough to warrant the erection of a territory,
though phantom rule might yet prevail in the unpeo-
pled solitudes of the north. At least one step was
gained, now that the drear interregnum of military
occupation or revenue-cutter rule, in the land which
the attorney-general declared to be Indian territory,
had given place to the semblance of civil law.

As to the condition, training, and proposed reserva-
tions for Indians mentioned somewhat neatly in the
text of the act, it is probable that the natives would
be only too glad to be left alone as severely in the fu-
ture as they have been in the past. Considering that
they received no portion of the purchase money of their
native soil, and, as yet, have reaped no benefit from that

'*'Seotioa IQ5^ For Und of the act proTiding a oivil government for
Alaska, see U. S. Stat., ^th Cong. IstSem., 24-8; SMdmore'a Aleuka, 32^-^8.

'■ The interest on $7,200,000 invoeted in U. S. fonr^per'^ont bonds at 91.23
would be about $235,000. The Alaska Commercial Company pays for its
lease and royalty about $317)000 a year.

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

728

Jrtirchase, save the art of manufacturing hootchenoo,
it would appear that this favor might at least be eon-
ceded. After the close of the military occupation,
Indian outbreaks were of rare occurrence, as I have
already mentioned, and in almost every instance were
I)rovoked by the misconduct of the white population.^^
What will be the result should they be placed ati
reservations, and under such treatment as seems in
stofe for them, is a question that the future may solve.
At present they are the most contented of all the
native tribes under American domination.*®

serva-
lin the
would
the fu-
ig that
f their
mthat

" See pp. 618-24, this vol. The latest instance of any serioirs tronble with
the natives occuiretl in October 1882. On the 23J of that month the super-
intendent of a fishing station at Killisnoo, l^elonging to the Northwest 'trad-
ing Company, arrived at Sitka and requested protection from Capt. Merri-
nion, tlie commander of the U. S. steamer Adams. He reported that on the
previous night, while the company's whaling-boat was fishing at Hootsnoo
(KoQtzenoo) laguon, a bomb, sliot from the boat at a whale, accidentally killed
One of the native crew, who happened to be a shaman. For this the Indiana
demanded 200 blankets, and at the same time seized the boat, nets, whaling
gear, and steam-launch belonging to the company, overpowering tiie two
white men in the boat, whom they held as prisoners. The tribe of Iloodsi-
noos, to which the shaman belonged, then threatened, if payment was not
made, to burn the company's store and buildings, destroy all their boats, and
put to death their captives. As the Adams was too large for such service,
the Corwin was despatched to the scene of the disturbance with Merriman on
board; whereupon the prisoners and property were at once surrendsred and
tome of tlve ringleaders captured. But in addition, Merriman demanded-
400 blankets as a punishment, and also as a guarantee for future good be-
havior. This beina refused, their con'ocs were destroyed; and the tribe being
still reffactory, their summer oainp at Killisnoo was burned. The cutter then
steamed out of the Kout/enoo lagoon, and a few hours later shelled their main
village, a party of mariuos landing under cover of the guns and setting fire to
the notisesr excepting those of triondly Indians. Reports of Lieut M. A.
Healy, commanding the Cormn, and Collector Win C. Morris, in Home Ex.
Doc., 9, parts 2-4, 47th Cong. Sid Seas., 0. With this exception, I find no men-
tion of Any serious Indian disturljance during recent years. In the spring of
1885 a party of 30 mining prospectors, bound for some point on the Yukon, was
stopped by the Chilkats, who demanded toll for admission into their country.
S. F. ChrmicU, May JW, 1885. But no trouble arose out of this matter.

'•'They are very cheei-ful and fond of dancing,' remarks J. C. Olidden, who
in the winter of 187(V-1 was in charge of a vessel bound for Kadiak and
Afognak, 'especially when they have plenty of kvass. More than half a
century has lapsed without a murder being committed on these islands, and
when one *a8 committ'sd, the inhabitants were horrified at the deed. A visit
to some of our cities would cause them to regard such deeds with the equa,'
nimity of civilized communities.'

Ina TriptoAlnska, byJ.C. Olidden, MS., I have been supplied with a venf
interesting manuscript, though one which I cannot use to advantage in this
volume, as the subject-mstter refers mainly to topics of which I have treated
in my Native Races. During his ^dsit the author attended divine service at
the chapel at St Paul, Kadiak, built, as the reader will remember, about the
year 1795, and the first in Russian America. His observations are worthy of

724

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

In considering the other provisions of the Harrison
bill, it must be admitted that in one respect they were
most liberal. For tlie salaries of the government offi-
cials of Alaska, with its handful of white inhabitants,
there was appropriated, in 1884, the sum of $20,500,
while for each of the territories of Washington, Wy-
oming, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico the appro-
priation for the same purpose was less than $14,000."
Moreover, there were appointed, ostensibly for the pro-
tection of the seal fisheries of Alaska, four government
agents, whose joint salaries and expenses amounted
for this year to $13,350, the chief agent receiving a
larger stipend than fell to the share of the governor;"
and to enable the secretary of the treasury to use
revenue steamers "for the protection of the interests
of government," was voted a further sum of $15,000.
But outside of the seal islands the government had
no interests to protect, for, as we have seen, apart from
the rent and royalty paid for these islands, the income
derived from the entire district was altogether inap-
preciable.

Thus we have, as the expenses of the so-called
government of this district, an appropriation for the
year of 1884 of about $50,000, or nearly four times
the amount voted for any territory in the union, and
this for the salaries and allowances of less than ii
score of officials, four of whom receive the lion's sharu
for keeping watch over the Prybilof Islands, and
whose operations have as yet resulted merely in the

Qote. 'It is built of hewn timber,' he says, 'the interstices being filled witli
moss. The interior was well but plainly finished. There were no seats, all
the audience standing during the services, which were conducted in Russian
by a priest whom we termea "the second mate of the church." The utmost
decorum prevailed. Each individual, upon entering, went down on the handx
and knees, putting the top of the head on the floor. This was repeated ii
number of times. Upou rising and during service they crossed themselves
frequently. All were dressed in their best apparel, that of the young children
being elaborately ornamented with gloss beads. Near the close of the services
tho priest placed a large book upon a desk, on the cover of whicli was a
metallic cross. All the worshippers reverently kissed the sacred symbol aii
they iiled past it in line; those who were not tall enough to reach it being
lifted to the requisite height by their parents or friends.

•« U. S. Slat., 4Slh Conff. Jst Sen^., 178-9.

'^ Tliree thousand six hundred and fifty dollara. /(/., 206.

OFFICIALS AND SCHOOLS.

725

lied
the

and
the

d with
ts, all
Russian
utmost
hands
ated It
selves
lildrcu
ervices
was a
ibol as
; being

finding of one slight discrepancy in the tale of skins,
and that due to the mistake of one of the agents."
After all, it is a far-away country, and government
could well enough afford to be liberal. Nevertheless,
why it is that the services of four highly paid agents
and of a revenue-cutter should be at all needed in
counting the tale of skins has never yet been explained.
It would appear that such surveillance is wasted on
a company which has paid within the past fifteen
years about the sum of $5,000,000 into the United
States treasury, and that, too, when it is directly
against the interests of the company to slaughter
more than the prescribed number of fur-seals. Con-
cerning the duties of these agents, however, the
statute is singularly reticent. Alaska has been usu-
ally regarded by government servants as a place in
which to save mono}', wear out old clothes, and as there
were no amusements, no newspapers, and but a single
monthly mail," to study fortitude in the endurance of
their high honors, and to show themselves indeed
patriots on small pay.

The appropriation of $25,000 for educational pur-
poses has thus far been of no practical benefit, for, as
with the one of double that amount made some years
before, it seemed no one's business to administer it.
No public schools were established as contemplated
by the provisions of the act, and up to the close of
1884 neither reports nor suggestions had been made
as to the disposition of the fund. In July 1884 a
further sum of $15,000 was appropriated by congress

"See p. 651, this vol.

" In an act raakins appropriations for the postal service, approved July
5, 1884, it is provided that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, the post-
master-general may contract under a miscellaneous advertisement for the mail
service of Alaska, as no newspapers are published in that territory. U. S. Stat.,
4Sth Cong. 1st Sem., 157. By act of Aug. 7, '882, postal routes were estab-
lished from Willard to Juneau, from Hoonyah to Juneau, from Jackson to
Wrangell, from Haines to Juneau, from Boyd to Juneau, and from Jackson
via lloberta to Wrangell Id., 47lh Cong. 1st Seii^., 351. In 1881 there were
only three post-oflBces • \.laaka, and those of the fourth class. In 1880 the
total number of letters ..lailed was 0,812, and the total number of pieces of
mail matter of all descriptions 7,592. Postmaiter-OeiiercU'a Rept., in Houm
ifX, Doc., 1, pt 4, 47 th Cong. 1st Sena., pp. 80-1, 88.

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

for the support and educf|,tion of Indian children of
both sexes at industrial schools. In this matter ac-
tion was at length taken, though of a sonjcwhat neg-
ative character. Through Mr Kendall, the presby-
terian hoard of missions a.t Sitka applied for a portion
of the fund. On the recommendatwn of the com-
missioner for Indian afiairs, the application was
granted/^ and a contract was made with the society
to provide for and educate one hundred children at
the rate of $120 a year per capita, such contract to
be annulled at two months' notice."

Within less than a decade more has been done by
this society to advance the cause of education in
Alaska than was otherwise accomplished during all
the years of American domination." Were it not

**In hU letter, the oommisBioner states that in conseqnence of the total
peglect of government to provide for the education of the Alaska Indiaus,
they have been solely indebted for such schoola as exist to religious societies,
and for most of them to the society represented by Mr Kendall. For the
^stablishmept and support of it« sohooll;, that society had expended during
the past year over $20,000, and for mission work $5,000. It had, therefore,
the first claim to assistance from the appropriation. Scidmore's Atanka, '234.

'*/(/., 235. It was the original intention to establish a government in-
dustrial school after the model of the institution at Carlisle, Fa.

'"In his letter to the commissioner, dated New York, Deo. 3), 1882, Shel-
don Jackson statef that there were seven good English schools in the Alex-
ander Archipelago, six of which were maintained at the expense of the board,
three of them having boarding and industrial departments. At Haines, iu
the Cbilkat country, near the head of the Lynn canal, a school was estab-

Kihed in 1880, a boarding department being added two years later, wlien the
tal attendance was abqut 75. At Willard, 80 miles up the Chilkat Riyer,
a branch school was opened ^itb native teachers, and an average attendance
of 60. Among the Hoonid tribe, a school was opened in 1881, at a station
lofiqied Boyd, 100 m|les south of Haines. Antong the Auks, »t the northern
portion of Admiralty Island, and at Tseknuksanky, on the mainland near by,
schools were opened between 1880 and 1882. At Jackson, in the southern
part of Pripce of Wales Is)andi <k school was opened in the spring of 1882,
with an attendance of 60 to 90. The institution established at Fort Wrangoll
in 1877, as already mentioned, had in 1882 from 75 to 90 pupils, of whom 50
yrere young eirU provided for at the expense of the piission, and thus res-
cued from a life of prostitution, into which they wonld otherwise have been
fK>ld by their parents. The Sitka school, opened in 1878, had, in 1880, 130
pupils. In July of this year the school wa? moved to the old hospital build-
ing. In November some of the pupils applied to the teacher for permission
to live A*: the school-house, for at home, they «^d, there was so much carous-
ing and disturbance that tliey could not study. The teacher answered that
there was neither food, bedding, nor accom mediation for them. Still they
pei-sisted, and let^ve being granted, seven Indian boys, about 13 or 14 years
pf a^e, bringing eacl^ his blanket, took up their quarters in a vacant room

frovided fur them. This was the origin of the boarding-school at Sitka, lu
'ebruary 1881 Capt. Glass established a rule making attendance at the day-

GOVERNOR KINKEAD.

for the efiforts of the board of missions, there would
probably have been no efficient school, and perhaps
no school of any kind, in the territory, apart from
those maintained by the Alaska Commercial Company.
It is claimed that the natives are quick to learn and
ea^er to be taught, not from any moral sense, for, ex-
cepting perhaps the Chinese, there is no living nation
in which the moral idea is so utterly dormant, but
because they appreciate the practical benefit of an
education. At the school maintained by the Alaska
Commercial Company at St Paul Island," one of the
pupils displayed such zeal and ability that he was sent
at the expense of the company to complete his educa-
tion at the state normal academy in Massachusetts,
and after completing his five years' course with credit,
was placed in charge of the schools at the Seal Islands.

In the autumn of 1884 the officials who had been
appointed by the president reached their several sta-
tions. John H. Kinkead, ex-governor of Nevada,
who had formerly resided at Sitka as merchant and
postmaster, was chief magistrate;^' Ward McAllis-

bchool compulsory. Forcing the natives to cleanse, drain, whitewash, and
ijuin''- r the .dwellings in their viLnge, he took an accurate census of the in-
mate \; taen caused a tin label to be tied round the neck of each child,
on wL.i ii woro two numbers, one of the house where he lived, and the other
of the child. If a pupil was found on the streets during school hours, the
numbers on his t.ig were reported to the teacher by a native policeman, ap-
pointed for the purpose; and unless his absence was sat) jiactorily explained,
the parent, or cniet Indian of that house, was fined. In a few weeks the
attendance ran up to 250.

"In 1881, 45 pupils were enrolled at this school, with an average attend-
ance of 42. Schools were also maintained by the company at Unolaska and
Kadiak. Home Ex. Doc, 1, pt 5, 47th Comj. 2d Sens., pp. 278, 282.

•* John Henry Kinkead, a native of Fayette co., ronn., where he was
bora in 1823, crossed the plains from St Louis to Salt Lake City in 1849, and
there engaged in business for several years, proceeding to California in 1854,
after which date he had occasion to travel extensively over the Pacific coast.
In 1860 we find him in Carson City, on the eve of the admission of Nevada
as a territory. Of the part that he played in connection with the political
annals of that state mention is made in its place. In 1807 Kinkead was a
member of the expedition which sailed for Sitka on board the John L.
Stephens a few weeks after the purchase. My description of the transfer,
after the arrival of the Ompee, though written previous to my interview
with Gov. Kinkea<l, coincides with the account ho gave me. In 1871 he
returned to Nevada, residing at Unionville, Humboldt co., until 1878, whea
he was elected governor of tlie state.

In Kinkecul'a Nevada ami Alaska, MS., the author has furnished me with

ifl

'ill

' ' Ml

ihl,„;;i

728

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

ter,^ district judge; E. W. Haskell, district attorney;
Andrew T. Lewis, clerk of court; M. C. Hilly er,"
marshal; and as commissioners, John G. Brady at
Sitka, Henry States at Juneau, George P. Ihrie at
Wrangell, and Chester Seeber at Unalaska.

On the 1st of October, 1884, some three weeks
after his arrival, Governor Kinkead made his report
to the president." On the 15th of September the
commander of the United States naval forces ''" relin-

a manuscript which, when compared with other sources of information,
varies so little that his statements cannot but be accepted as true. Among
other topics, he touches on education, mining, agriculture, and the present
condition of the native tribes in Alaska. 'Ihe Indians appeared to have a
very good idea of business,' he remarks. 'The women were in a butter con-
dition and better treated than those of any other tribes of the United States
that I have seen, the men generally carrying the children and other burdens,
and apparently aflfectionate to their wives and children, the women mostly
doing the trading with the whites.' As to the future of Alaska, he is of
opinion that the south-eastern portion of the territory is better adapted to the
support of a moderate white population than Norway or Sweden.

During tlie period of the occujjation of Sitka by U. S. troops, all the wood
supplied the garrison was cut and delivered by Indian labor.

'^^ Formerly assistant U. S. attorney, a resident of San Francisco, and a
relative of Hall McAllister, one of the most prominent and highly respected
Bttorneys in that city.

'* Munson C. Hillyer, a native of Granville, Ohio, was brother of Curtis
J. Hillyer and Edgar \V. Hillyer, the former an eminent lawyi r, and the
latter, at the time of his death, U. S. jud<^'e in Nevada. Munson came to
Cal. ill early times and became a flour merchant, and later a mining superin-
tendent — a man of broad experience, warm heart, and having many friends.

'* The report was presented at Washington on the 17th of Dec. S. F. Bul-
letin, Dec. 18, 1884.

** Lieut H. E. Nichols, commanding the U. S. steamer Pinta, her comple-
ment consisting of 7 officers, 40 seamen, and 30 marines for shore duty at
Sitka. Nichols had for several years done good service in the soathern part
of the Alexander Archipelago, while in command of the HaMler, his surveys
having been made the nasis for several of the new charts published in the
Alaska CoaH Pilot of 1883, and compiled by William H. Dall. The Pitita is
somewhat famous in the annals of the U. S. navy, though her fame is a little
unsavory. One of fifteen despatch-boats built during the war, she was sta-
itioned for several years at the Brooklyn navy-yard. In 1882, after an uncon-
scionable sum had been spent in repairing her at Norfolk, a board of officers
condemned the work, and pronounced the boat unseaworthy. A second sur-
vey was then called, and a trial trip being ordered, it was found that she
could make but four knots an hu..r. Soon afterward the Pinta was sent to
'IJoston, where she distinguished herself by running down the brig Tallii-Ho,
her officers being in consequence brought before a board of inquiry. Finally
a man was found daring enough to peril his life by taking her round Cape
Horn, her armament being sent ashore until she reached California. Arriv-
ing at the Mare Island navy-yard after a six months' voyage, she was again
repaired, and her guns being mounted, this much-tinkered vessel was ordered
to Sitka. Among the naval officers in command at Sitka before the appoint-
ment of Nichols may be mentioned Captain Ueardslec, who, in charge of the
Jamestown, cruised in all parts of the Alexander Archipelago, kept the Indians

THE GOVERNOR'S SUGGESTIONS.

729

Capo
Krriv-

)oint-
{ the
diaus

quished to him all civil authority, his duties in that
direction being now at an end. The complete organ-
ization of the civil government was delayed for a time
by the absence of the district judge and the commis-
sioner for Sitka, the former being detained at San
Francisco through illness. Meanwhile the board of
Indian commissioners assumed judicial authority, set-
tling disputes to the satisfaction of the parties inter-
ested.'' The governor expressed the opinion that
mining bade fair to rank foremost among the resources
of the territory, and that within the next dtcade the
output of precious metals in Alaska would form no
unimportant factor in the finances of the general gov-
ernment. This industry has languished, he says,
mainly for the reason that no title to raining lands,
other than that of force, has thus far been recogrnized.
For the same reason the grazing and agricultural ca-
pabilities of the territory, which he considered full
of promise, were yet undeveloped. He urged that
timber tracts, building-lots, agricultural areas, and
mining lands be made subject to legal titles, for, with-
out such titles, the progress of settlement must be
slow and uncertain.

Ho recommended, also, that mail facilities be
increased. There should be at least semi-monthly

in subjection, and afterward made a valuable official report, which has already
been quoted in these pages. To him succeeded Captain Glass, an officer of
marked ability, who by his firmuess and humanity won the respect of the
natives, and made several treaties of peace between hostile Indian tribes,
maintaining a protectorate over tlie various settlements until relieved, in
1881, by Commander Lull in tlie steamer H'achufiett. In the autumn of 1882
Captain Merriman, in charge of the Ailams, was detailed for the Alaska sta-
tion, and discliarged his manifold duties as umpire, judge, referee, and pre-
server of the peace, with considerable tact and discretion. Not infrequently
he was called upon to save the lives of persons doomed to death for witch-
craft, and to prevent the slaughter of slaves at funerals and potlatclics. Mer-
riman was superseded in command of the Adams by Capt. J. B. Coghlan,
who, finding the Indians peaceable, devoted his leisure to a survey of the
most frequented channels of the inside passage, marking off wiih buoys the
channel through Wran" ". Narrows and Peril Straits, and designating un-
known rocks in Saginaw Channel and Neva Strait. In August 18S4 the
Adams was replaced by the Piitla. Scidmore's Alaska, 219-23; Sacramento
Union, May 20, 1881.

" Tiie governor also reinstated the Indian police, discharged by Captain
Nlcliols, after t)eing carried for some jo.u-s on the nay-rolls of the navy, a«
he considered them necessary to inspire duo respect lor the civil autiiority.

I'll

T80

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

communication with Port Townsend, and a monthly
mail-steamer should run between Sitka and Unalaska,
touching at several intervening porta. The distance
between these ports is twelve hundred miles, but as
there is no direct communication, persons wishing t-o
avail themselves of the district court tribunal estab-
lished at the capital i^iUst travel by way of San Fran-
cisco, and return by the same route, the entire
journey being nearly eight thousand miles. The dis-
tricts of Kadiak and Kenai, which were altogether
ignored in the organic act, should be placed under the
prote( ■ ion of the civil authority; for m those districts
were several hundred Russians and Creoles, who were

Eeaceable, industrious, and eager to share in the
ene6t8 of American progress.
The customs service could not be efficiently carried
on with the means then at command. For this purpose
it was necessary that at least one revenue-cutter should
be constantly employed in cruising among the chan-
nels and inlets of the coast. At this time illicit traffic
Prevailed in many portions of the territory. The
oundary line between the Portland canal and Mount
St Elias should be speedily and definitely settled by
a joint survey of the British and American govern-
ments, for several of the highways leading into Brit-
ish Columbia lie partly within the limits of Alaska,
among them being the one leading to the Stikeeu
Kiver mines.

On the subject of education the governor remarked
that Alaska was entirely without schools for white
children, the missionary schools being attended only
by natives. The former were growing up in total
ignorance, though their parents wei'e most anxious to
give them education, and would gladly pay for the
services of teachers.

Finally, with regard to traffic in spirituous liquor,
he stated that the military commander of the division
of the Pacific had the right to grant permits for ita
introduction into the territory. Whether, or to what

its
rhat

SALE OF UQUORS. |||

extent, the commander exercised that power, he was not
aware; but, with or without permission, a very large
quantity of liquor found its way into Alaska. The law
forbade its introduction, except for certain purposes,
but did not forbid its sale after it was introduced, and
liquor was openly sold in all the principal settlements;
though, on account of the severe penalties enforced by
the naval and customs authorities, little of it was dis-
posed of among the natives.** The utmost vigilance
on the part of officials could not entirely prevent this
traffic, for countless devices were practised whereby the
law was evaded; but in order to regulate it, the gov-
ernor suggested the appointment of an executive coun-
cil, with full power to act in the matter. He also
recommended that saloon-keepers, tradesmen, and
others should contribute, by a license, tax, or other-
wise, to the support of government, paying at least
enough to maintain the police and to keep the streets
and sidewalks in repair.'"

It will be observed that, while the governor made
some excellent suggestions as to what congress ought
to do, he said nothing about what he himself intended
to do. As ruler of a country so vast in extent, and
containing such varied and conflicting interests, he was
necessarily intrusted with discretionary powers. He
appears to have fully understood the needs of the
country, and had he continued in power, it is not im-
probable that he might have made some effort to sup-
ply them. He did not remain long enough in the terri-
tory, however, to frame any important measures, or
at least to carry them into effect, although it was pro-
vided in the organic act that he should reside within
the district dunng his term of office.

A few weeks after the inauguration of President
Cleveland, Kinkead was requested to send in his resig-

"The goyeraor atated tliat, through the efforts of the same authorities, the
manufacture of hootcheuoo hail been almost entirely broken up in the neigh*
borliood of Sitka and other parts of the archipelago.

"Tlie text of the governor's report, with gome slight oraiasious, will be
found in tite S. F. JiuUetin, Dec. 18. 1884.

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICUL DISTRICT.

nation, A. P. Swinefortl of Michigan being appointed
in his stead on the 9th of Mav, 1885.

In the exploration of the interior of Alaska and
the survey of its coasts, bays, and rivers, considerable
progress lias been made during recent years, consider-
ing the iinnienso area to be explored. Numerous
expeditions have been undertaken m addition to thoso
mentioned in a previous chapter,"" and many charts
have been published, some of them valuable, and
others so utterly worthless that the captain who
should follow them would run his vessel at various
points into the mountains of the mainland. Reports
without number have been made by navigators as to
the difficultitd encountered among these intricate
channels and dangerous harbors," but no reliable
charts of the entire coast have as yet been made.

In the summer of 1883 Lieutenant Schwatka and
six others'" traversed the upper Yukon by raft from
its source to Fort Selkirk, a distance of about five
hundred miles, their object being to gather informa-
tion as to the Indian tribes of that region, and for
geographical exploration. The middle Yukon, as far
as the junction of that river with the Porcupine, and
the lower Yukon, extending from this point to the
delta, had already been explored, as we have seen, by
the servants of the Russian American Company, who
occasionally ascended the stream from the direction
of St Michael sometimes possibly as far as the present
site of Fort Reliance, and thence made their way
partly overland to the Lynn canal. In the summer
of 1883 the lieutenant set forth to explore the river

"See pp. 628-9, this vol.

•'Among others may lie mentioned the case of .T. C. Gliddon, 1*110, in the
summer of 1 870, was in command of a vessel voyaging to the gulf of Nusha-

fak, between the parallels of 68° 25' and 09° 2' n. and the meridians of 158°
' and 158° 43' w. according to Russian surveys. Ho reports its cntr.iuce ob-
structed by bars and quicksands, which rendered its navigation diflicult and
dangerous, though a pilot could usually be obtained at Cape Konstantin.
Tiin to AlaHLa,Mfi., 1, 0-7.

" Dr Wilson, Topographical assistant Homan, Sergeant Gloster, Corporal
ShircliflF, Private Roth, and a Mr Mcintosh. Century Mag., 1885, 739, 819.

SCHWATKA'S EXPEDITION.

733

pral
^19.

from its source to its mouth, the basin of the upper
Yukon being, as he thought, a terra incognita.

Leaving Chilkat on the 7th of Juno with thirteen
canoes towed by a steam-launch belonging to the
Northwest Trading Company, he passed through the
Lynn canal and the Chilkoot Iniet, arriving at the
mouth of a swift-running stream, some ninety feet
in width, called by the Indians the Dayay. Here ho
took leave of the launch, and at this point, as ho
claims, his exploration commenced, though in fact ho
was on ground perfectly familiar to the Russians, even
in the days of Baranof. Reaching the head of navi-
gation on the 10th, the canoes were unloaded and
their three or four tons of freight packed on the backs
of seventy Indians, the party reaching, the same
night, the head waters of the stream, under banks of
snow, and at the foot of a pass about three thousand
feet in height, which the lieutenant named Perrier
Pass,** and where, he says, "long finger-like glaciers
of clear blue ice extended down the granite gulches to
our very level."

The ascent was a difficult one and not unattended
with danger. In places the mountain side appeared
almost perpendicular, and a few stunted juniper roots
protruding through a thin covering of snow afforded
the only support. The footsteps of the guides were
turned inward and planted deep, thus giving a firm
hold, and the remainder followed in their tracks, some
of them using rough alpen-stocks, for the least slip
would have dashed them down the precipitous slope
hundreds of feet into the valley below. Arriving at
the summit without mishap, the party found them-
selves in a drifting fog, such as many of my readers
may have observed hanging in summer for days at a
time over Snowdon or Ben Nevis, both of which
mountains are but three or four degrees south of the

*" Why he so called it he does not state. I do not find the pass named or
even marked in any of the maps published before 1883, though it is certain
that the lieutenant was not the first white man who made tlio ascent of the
Dayay River or portage.

734

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTIUCT.

point where they now stood. Descendinpf the pass,
the lieutenant afterward came in sight of two large
lakes connected by a channel about a mile in length,
and which he named lakes Lindermann and Bennett.**

On the shore of the latter he built his raft, some
fifteen by forty feet, with decks fore and aft, space
being left for oars at the bow, stern, and sides, so that
when laden it could be pulled in still water at a rate
of more than half a mile an hour. Behind the for-
ward deck was hoisted a nine-foot mast, a wall-tent
serving for a sail, and for a yard its ridge-pole, while
the projecting logs that supported the deck were used
as belaying-pins. In this strange craft, built in the
ice-cold water of the lake, the lieutenant launched
forth on the morning of the 19th of June on his ex-
ploration of the upper Yukon.

The outset of the voyage was by no means propi-
tious. The wind at first blew gently from the south,
and hoisting sail, he mad3 from two to three miles an
hour; but the wind freshened into a gale and the gale
increased to a cyclone, threatening to carry away the
mast, while the waves swept the frail bark fore and
aft, delugiug all on boc fd, so that rowing became im-
possible.

On the following aftv ^oon the party reached the
northern end of Lake L.. nett, and thence, without
special adventure, made the. way, by the route known
as the Indian portage, to t point which Schwatka
terms the grand caiion of the Yukon, where are
rapids some five miles in length, in places shoal
and dangerous even for the navigation of a canoe.
At first the waters pour in troubled foam between
basaltic pillars, about seventy feet apart, then widen
into a basin filled with eddies and whirlpools, and
again pass through a second cafion, almost the coun-
terpart of the first. Thus the river flows onward for
several miles, after which it narrows almost into a

** Both of these lakes, which form a port of the Indian portage, are marked
on the U. S. Coast Survey map of 1860.

DOWN THE YUKON.

738

cascade, less than thirty feet wide and with waves
running five feet high. So swift and turbulent is the
stream at this point, that, as the lieutenant relates,
its waters dash up the banks on either side, falling
back in solid sheets into the seething caldron below.

Stationing a few men below the cascade to render
assistance, as the raft shot past them, Schwatka
turned its head toward the outlet of the grand caiion
of the Yukon, through which he passed.^'

The party had now overcome their greatest difficul-
ties. Kepairing the raft, on the 5th of July they
passed the mouth of the Tahkeena River,** and thence,
without further incident worthy of note, voyaged
down the stream to Fort Selkirk, completing the
journey mainly by raft down the middle and Tower
Yukon, and thence proceeded to St Michael, where
they were met by the revenue-cutter Cormn^'

In 1884 and 1885 several expeditions were under-
taken by order of General Miles, then in charge of
the department of the Columbia, which includes
Alaska. In February of the former year Doctor
Everette set forth from Vancouver Barracks for the
purpose of exploring a portion of the Yukon, and the
section of territory near the head of Copper River.
Procuring Indian guides at Juneau, he proceeded to
Chilkat, and there remained for three months, study-
ing the language of the tribe. Thence, reaching the
head waters of the Yukon by way of the Lynn canal
and the Dayay River, following about the same route
as was taken by Schwatka's party in 1883, he voyaged
down the stream, in a boat of his own construction,
as far as the first fur-trading station. Here he
awaited the arrival of the steamer from the Bering
Sea, and being abandoned by his pack Indians, and
unable to obtain a supply of provisions for winter use,
he had no alternative but to complete his journey on
board that vessel, arriving at St Michael during the

'^The lieut christened his craft the ResolvU.

** Now usually called the Tahk.

•» CtiUury Mag., Sept. Oot.1885, 739-61, 819-29; Seidmore's Alaska, p. 120.

lii i«i;

:ili^|

736

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

autumn, and reaching San Francisco on the 29th of
August, 1885.

Thus, as he claims, Doctor Everette made a running
survey of the entire stream, from which, and from tho
information furnished by fur-traders, he prepared
charts of the river, of his route, extending over
twenty-six hundred miles, of the Yukon Lake system,
of the greater portion of the Tennanah River, of the
entire Kuskokvim River, and of many smaller streams
in a region which had not yet been explored except by
fur-traders, together with itineraries on a tabulated
scale, accompanying the charts and showing every
point of interest between Chilkat and St Michael.
The doctor also states that he collected statistics
concerning all the explorations made on the Yukon
since the year 1865, together with a mass of in-
formation setting forth the name, occupation, date of
arrival and departure of every missionary, miner, ami
trader who had been on the Yukon since the date of
the transfer. Finally, he collected the dialects of all
the leading tribes in Alaska, from Chilkat through
the interior to St Michael, thence north to Kotzebuo
Sound, and from that point southward to the Aleutian
Archipelago.'^

In the summer of 1885 the Corwin was again em-
ployed in explorations on the Alaskan coast, and it
was proposed that her trip should extend as far north-
ward as Kotzebue Sound. At Hotham Inlet Lieu-
tenant Cantwell was sent to explore the Kowak River
as far, if possible, as its head waters^ and a second
expedition, in charge of Engineer McLenegan, wan
onlered to explore tho Noitak. In the spring of 1885
Lieutenant Stoney, Ensign Parcell, Engineer Zane,
Surgeon Nash, and some ten others, set forth to
explore the Putnam River on board the schooner
Viking, a steam-launch, having been built for that
purpose at Mare Island. Procuring Indian guides

"(S. F, Chronicle, Aug. 30, 1385. The statement published in this issue
was pronounced to be correct by Dr Everette, who called at my Library a few
daya later.

LATE EXPLORATIONS.

Ith-
leu-

Ivcr
.ml

1885
.ne.
to
iner
,hat
idos

■ issue
,few

and dogs at St Michael, where they arrived after a
tedious voyage caused by light and contrary winds,
they proceeded to St Lawrence Bay, and there ob-
tained a supply of furs and warm clothing. The
season v^'as an open one, St Michael being clear of ice
at the end of May, and it was hoped that at least two
hundred and fifty miles of the stream could be ex-
plored before the expedition went into winter quarters
about the 1st of October, after which the work of
exploration was to be carried on by means of sledges.
When the launch could proceed no farther she was to
be employed in conveying provisions for the winter
camp, and her engines and boilers were afterward to
be used in running a saw-mill, by which timber could
be cut for the construction of frame houses. In May
1886 Captain Stoney proposed to descend the river,
returning to San Francisco in the autumn of that
year.^

During recent years frequent explorations of the
interior have been made by raining prospectors, espe-
cially in the direction of the Yukon River and its
tributaries. In 1878 and 1880 parties left for the
head waters of that stream, and through the influence
brought to bear by Captain Beardslee of the Jaines-
town were k'ndly received by the Chilkats, who, being
assured that they would not interfere with their fur
trade, guided them through their territory, indica-
tions of gold and large gravel deposits being dis-
covered. In 1882 a band of forty-five prospectors
from Arizona left Juneau for the same point, and
returning in the autumn, reported discoveries of gold,
silver, nickel, copper, and coal in the district be-
tween the Lewis and Copper rivers. In March
1882, Ed. Scliieff*elin, the discoverer of Tombstone,
Arizona, wont witli his brother to Jui.eau, to pros-
pect during the summer, but not wishing to mako

**S. F. Chronicle, Feb. 5, 1885; 6'. F. Call, Aug. 20, 1885. News of tho
progress of this expedition was brotight by L'eut Purcell, wiio returned to
Baa FrancJaco Aug. 2.3, 1885, being disabled through sicknew.

Hin. a'.ABKA. 47

1'tl

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

the long portage to the Yukon and there build
boats, they returned to San Francisco on the steamer
by which they had come. Building a small steamer,
the New Racket, Ed. Schieffelin outfitted a party of
five, and reached St Michaels in July, then steamed
up the Yukon one thousand miles to Nulukaiet. Mak-
ing their winter quarters there, they commenced pros-
pecting. In October they found some coarse "shot"
gold in the Lower Ramparts, sixty miles above Nul-
ukaiet ; everything was frozen up, but they continued
prospecting, with a good showing, until August 1883,
when they returned to San Francisco." Between 1880
and 1883 more than two hundred prospectors visited
the Yukon district, the Chilkats keeping control of
the travel, and charging six to ten dollars for each
hundred pounds of baggage conveyed over the port-
age between the river and the lakes.**

The maps of the upper Yukon district made since
the purchase have not changed materially the charts
made by the Russians. Among them is one prepared
by a native named Kloh-Kutz *' for Professor David-
son, which has been made the basis for an official
chart. From the maps and publications of two doc-
tors of the names of Krause, belonging to the geo-
graphical society of Bremen, who recently explored
the neighborhood of the Yukon portages, the coast
survey has gathered information of considerable value.

The Takoo mines, and especially those in the neigh-
borhood of Harrisburg, or Juneau,*' and the quartz

** In Scliieffelin's oi>inion there are undoubtedly gold deposits in the Yukon
country, though he thinks no extensive ones, L.nn I " '

probably no quartz ledges.
II ii party was the only one that found coarse cold T/hile they were there ; all
other prospectors who were in the country then came by way of Juneau,
making the portage with tlie aid of the Indians, and the only prospects that
were found by thes« were of fine 'flour ' and 'scale ' gold; but nothing any-
where that was thought worth while working under the great disadvantages.
Owing to the shortness of the working season, and the difficulty in getting
supplies, a prospect would have to be very rich to pay for working. Ice
formed about October 1st, and broke up the first of June; then followed
high water till the middle of July, leaving a very short season for work.
The country was full of mosquitos, very brushy and very wet.

*'Tbe father of Klohkutz, a chief fur-trader, was among the baud uf
Cbilkats who burned Fort Selkirk in 1851, in consei^uence of the interference
of the Hudson's Bay Company with their trade. Sculmore's Alaska, 121.

** The name Juneau was formally adopted at a meeting of niinera held in

pl-
at

ALASKA GOLD &IINB8.

rtaud of
•{ereuce
21.
held ill

veins on Douglas Island, have attracted the most at-
tention within recent years, and are the only districts
that require further mention. The bars and shores
of Takoo River have been searched for miles beyond
the Takoo Inlet, and in most of the adjacent streams
fine gold has been discovered, carried down by the
glaciers that now lie amid the ravines and fiords of
this region.

In 1879 Professor Muir expressed his belief that
valuable quartz leads would be found on the mainland
east of Baranof Island, and that the true mineral belt
would follow the trend of the shore. His prediction
was soon verified. In the following autumn a pros-
pecting party left Sitka in charge of Joseph Juneau
and Richard Harris, and encamping on the present
site of the town of Juneau, followed up a large creek
which discharges into the channel near that point.
Here they found rich placers and several promising
ledges. On their return to Sitka, with sacks full of
specimens, a rush was made for this district, and dur-
ing the winter a camp was established, which after-
ward developed into a town, among its inhabitants
being a number of miners from Arizona and British
Columbia. From the placers in this neighborhood it
is estimated that about $300,000 had been obtained
up to the close of 1883.** The correct figures, how-
ever, cannot be ascertained even approximately, for,
on account of the heavy express charges, many of the
miners, proceeding to Wrangell, Victoria, San Fran-
cisco, or wherever they pass the winter, carry with

May 18S2, though botli are still nsed. In 1884 the town contained about 50
houses, and there was an ludian village on both aides of it. Scidmore'a Alcuka,
82-3.

**Aa an instance of the little that is known in Washington oouceroing the
resources of Alaska, it nmy be mentioned that for the fiacal year ending June
80, 1880, the total bullion product of Alaska was estimated by the director of
the mint at (6,000, and for the ensning year at $7,000. House Ex. Doc, 47th
Cong. Ist Sens., xiv., p. 269. In Scidmore't Alaska, 86, the product of the
placer mines in the Takoo district alone is given for ISSl at$135,000, for 1882
at 1260,000, and for 1883 at (400,000. These figures are doubtless too high.
During the seasons of 1881-3 there were probably some 200 miners at work
in this district, and estimating their average earnings at9800eaQhferae<MOn,
we have a total of about $500,000 for tho three years.

'""t I

740

ALASKA AS A CTVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

them their own gold-dust. In 1884 the surface
deposits showed signs of exhaustion, and many of
the claims were abandoned, though some that were
still partially worked yielded fair returns. Mean-
while prospecting was continued, and tunnels, run
a short distance into several quartz ledges, disclosed
a moderate amount of low-grade gold ore, but noth-
ing that, under existing conditions, would pay for
working.

In 1885 the most prominent mine in Alaska, and
one of the most promment on the Pacific coast, was
the Treadwell, or as it is now usually termed, the
Paris lode, at Douglas Island, discovered** and re-
corded in May 1881, and deeded in November of
that year to Mr John Treadwell. The property was
afterward transferred to an incorporation styled the
Alaska Mill and Mining Company, of which, in 1885,
Mr Treadwell was superintendent," and under whose
direction $400,000 had been expended on the develop-
ment of the property.** The results, however, fully
justified the outlay/^

A sh jrt time after the company took possession of
its property two tunnels were run into the ledge, and
thence and from the surface ore was extracted and
worked in a five-stamp mill, for the purpose of thor-
oughly testing the mine. The returns being satisfac-
tory, a third tunnel was run, at a vertical depth of 250
feet. An uprise of 275 feet at the foot- wall, having
been made to the surface, is now used for an ore chute.
The wiith of the ledge was found to be 450 feet, the

^By Pierre Joseph Emsara. Freeborn's Alaska Mill and Mining Co.,
MS.

^Receiving this appointment under the first organization, when James
Freeborn was chosen president, the directors being J. D. Fry, E. M. Fry, H.
L. Hill, and 11. H. Sbinn. In October I8S5 the proprietors were Senator J.
P. Jones, Messrs Freeborn, Treadwell, Hill, Shxnn, J. D. Fry, and E. M.
Fry, all of these gentlemen, with the exception of the first, who held a sixth
interest in the property, being still oiBce'n of the company. Id.

"By the company. Id. In Kihkead's Nemda and Alaska, MS., 15, the
total outlay, including what was expended before the transfer of the property
by Mr Treadwell, is given at $500,000.

" In the iS^. F. Chronicle, Nov. 17, 1884, it is stated that there was at this
date $12,000,000 in sight. I give the statement for what it is worth.

GOLD YIELD.

7*1

and

lor-

fac-

250

ving

lute.

the

James
Yy, H.

at this

ore-body averaging $8.50 per ton in free gold and five
per cent of sulpliurets, with an assay value of $100 per
ton. Thereupon the company decided to erect a 120-
stanip mill, with a capacity of 300 tons per day, and
with 48 Frue concentrators and 24 Challenge ore-
feeders, the mill being completed in the summer of
1885. Between June 19th and September 19th of
that year the aggregate yield amounted to $^56,000,"
though for various reasons, the principal one being an
unusually dry season, and the fact that during the sum-
mer the snow and ice disappeared altogether from the
neighboring mountains, the mill stood idle for one third
of this period." About the close of 1885, or early in
the following year, the superintendent proposed to
erect two additional furnaces, and to place electric
lights in the mine, mill, and surrounding works.""

Adjoining the Paris ledge, and a continuation of
the same vein, was the Bear ledge,** believed to be

**For the month ending July 19th, $35,000, and for the other two months
$60,000 and $41,000 respectively, the yield being entirely from free gold and
apart from sulphurets. Freeborn's Alaska Mill and MiniiKj Co., MS.

'" Soon afterward a despatch was received from the superintendent, stat-
ing that there was a plentiful supply of water, that the works were all in
running order, and that the next bullion shipment would probably be the
largest yet made from the mine. Id.

6" The frame- work of the mill was built of lumber cut by the company's
saw-mill, which, up to September 1885, hud turned out some 2,250,000 feet,
the remainder being used for chlorination-works and the usual buildings
needed for a mine of this description, among them being boarding-houses for
the men, of whom nearly 300 were employed at good wages, the Indians
receiving |60 per month, and white men in proportion. A tramway had
been constructed for hauling ore from the chute to the mill, and hydraulio
machinery has been forwarded for that purpose, which has greatly reduced
the cost of transporting the ore. The mine, some IGO miles north-east from
Sitka, is 350 yards from the shore of Gastineaux Channel, and the mill 860
feet from the foot of the chute. The president states that during two seasons
the companv was robbed at least to the amount of $120,000 by surface-miners,
who washed off the top of the ledge, and as there were no laws, or none iu
f jrce, did very much as they pleased.

In Freeborn's Alaska Mill and Mining Co., MS., I have been furnished
by the president of the company with a terse and reliable statement as to tiie
condition and working of this mine, from which the above facts and figures
are taken.

In this connection may be mentioned recent advices from Kadiak, under
date Sept. 22, 1885, according to which this section of Alaska had been
totally neglected by the United States and district authorities. From the
civil government at Sitka nothing had been heard, and the people were still
without official notification of its existence 18 months after the passage of the
act creating Alaska a civil and judicial district. S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 5, 1885.

*' Owned in 1884 by Carroll and his partners.

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

also a valuable property, though as yet the latter
has been but little developed. Elsewhere among
the mountains that ridge Douglas Island from end
to end are quartz lodes innumerable, some of which
seem promismg enough to warrant the investment
of capital. That the most permanent mines so far
discovered in Alaska should be found on an island
— the island surveyed by Vancouver more than
ninety years ago — is somewhat of an anomaly i;. ^nin-
ing annals; but Alaska, with her inland seas, her
glaciers, her midnight suns in midsummer, her phantom
auroras in midwinter, and her phantom government
at all seasons of the year, is the land of anomalies.

At present it may be said that the mining interests
of Alaska are mainly centred in Douglas Island.
Elsewhere there may be large deposits of ore, but none
of them have yet been extensively worked. Those in
northern and central Alaska are too remote to be made
available, and the lodes discovered near Sitka have
proved of little value, the gold-bearing ore being of low
grade and the veins broken in formation. In a country
where travel is difficult and the cost of transportation
excessive, only those mines can be made to pay which
are situated near the coast, unless they be exception-
ally rich. Moreover, on account of the forests and
the dense growth of moss which hide the surface,
Alaska is a very difficult country to prospect. As a
rule, outcroppings are rarely found, and leads are
usually discovered by following float ore and tracing it
up stream to the main body. That the territory will,
however, at some future date, contain a not inconsider-
able mining population, is almost beyond a peradven-
ture. Provisioms are much cheaper than in most of
the mining districts of British Columbia, and fish and
game can be had for nothing. The main drawback
appears to be that in Alaska miners are not content
with such earnings as would elsewhere be considered
a reasonable retura for their labor.

FISHERIES.

ConcerniDg the fisheries of Alaska, a few items re-
main to be added to those which have been already
mentioned. The cannery established by Cutting and
Company, at Kasiloff River, on Cook Inlet, in 188?,
has been fairly successful, considering the diflSculty in
establishing a new enterprise of this description, the
pack, after the first year, averaging some 20,000 cases.
The varieties packed are the king salmon, the silver
salmon, and what is known as the red fish, the last
being similar to the red salmon of the Fraser River.
The Kasiloff is not a navigable stream, its source being
a lake about twenty miles from its outlet. Vessels
freighted with goods for the cannery, or waiting for
the season's pack, are compelled to lie in an open road-
stead, where there is a heavy fall and rise of the tide.
Notwithstanding this drawback, however, the firm is
satisfied with results so far, considering the depressed
condition of the market. The Alaska Salmon Pack-
ing and Fur Company, at Naha Bay, has also been
measurably successful, though in 1885 the pack was
only of salt salmon. At that date there were twc
other canneries in operation, one at Bristol Bay, named
the Arctic Packing Company, and the other at Karluk
on Kadiak Island, the pack of the latter for 1885 beiu«
about 3G,000 cases.

The total pack of Alaska salmon was estimated fow
the year 1885 at about 65,000 cases, and the fact
that, in the face of extremely low prices, this industry
has not only held its own, but increased considerably,
while on the Columbia there has been a considerable
decrease in the output, is significant of its future suc-
cess. Thus far, however, profits have been very light.
The amount of capital needed to establish and con-
duct the business is disproportionately large. Pay-
ments for uMiterial must be made at least four or five
months before the product is laid down in San Fran-
cisco or in other markets, and it is found necessary to
carry a large surplus stock of stores. The cost of the
passage of employes is paid at all the Alaska canneries^

744

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICTAL DISTRICT.

together with their wages while journeying to and fro;
and i,he repair of machinery is an unusually expen"*-
ive item. The prospects of the business depend, of
course, mainly on the continuance of heavy runs of fish
on the Columbia River, and it is stated that the enor-
mous catch year by year has already begun to tell
very seriously on the run.** The supply of salmon in
the waters of Alaska is practically unlimited, and it
is probable that the take is more than offset by the
destruction of fur-seals, which devour the food-6sh
that frequent her shores, as salmon, smelt, and mack-
erel, each one consuming, it is said, no less than sixty
pounds a day.

At Killisnoo, on the island of Kenashoo, originally
a whaling-station, the Northwest Trading Company
had, in 1885, a large establishment where codfish
were dried, and herring and dog-fish oil, and fish guano
manufactured. Large warehouses and works were
built, near which was a village of Indians employed
as fishermen, and receiving two cents apiece for the
catch of codfish, boats bemg provided by the com-
pany. About $100,000 was invested in this enter-
prise, the oil-works alone having cost $70,000. The
cod in these waters average about four pounds in
weight, and as many as eight thousand ere sometimes
taken in a single day, producing about fifteen hun-
dred boxes of the dried fish. Of herring, as many
as five hundred barrels are occasionally caught at a
single haul of the seine, each barrel yielding about
three gallons of oil.

Thus it would appear that the fisheries of Alaska
alone might furnish the basis of a considerable com-
merce; but under such conditions as now exist in that
district, there is little field for commercial or in-
dustrial enterprise, and it may be said that com-
merce, in its legitimate sense, does not exist. Im-
ports of duty-paying goods, which, as I have said,

** Cutting and Co.' B Alaskn Salmon Fishnif.B, MS. In this manuscript I
have been furnished with a brief and impartial account of the condition and
prospects of the Alaska canneries.

COMMERCE.

749

for the twelve months ending March 1, 1878, were
$3,295, amounted, for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1882, to $8,484; and meanwhile domestic exports
showed a slight increase.** For the latter year, if we
can believe official reports, the entire foreign trade
was with British Columbia, though, during that year,
fifteen American vessels, with an aggregate measure-
ment of 9,461 tons, and twenty-nine foreign vessels
of 8,073 tons, entered Alaskan ports, while the clear-
ances were twelve American vessels of 8,993 tors,
and twenty-nine foreign vessels of 8,156 tons."
Meanwhile the ship-building industry had fallen some-
what into decadence. In 1882 there was built a
single vessel, probably a fishing-smack, with a meas-
urement of 6.43 tons — somewhat of a contrast, com-
pared with the days of the Russian American Com-
pany, when, as we have seen, a fleet of sea-going
ships was launched in Alaskan waters.

A country where there is no commerce, where there
are few industries, where there are no schools except
those supported by charity, where.no title can be had
to land, where there are no representative institutions
and no settled administration, and where the rainfall
is from five to eight feet a year, does not, of course, hold
out any very strong inducements to settlers. Of G90
persons who arrived at Alaskan ports during the year
ending June 30, 1880, 583 were merely passengers, the
remaining 107 being miners from British Columbia.
For the year ending June 30, 1882, matters were
still worse, the total arrivals mustering only 27, of
whom 17 were miners, while the departures for that
year were 387." These, however, are merely the re-
turns forwarded from the customs districts, and I give
them for what they are worth.

"In the report on commerce and navigation, in House Ex. Doc., 7, ji7th
Confj, 2d iSV-vn., 24, domestic exports for the year ending June 30, 1882, are
stated at$;)8,.")'2(); and in Id., 7, 4tiift Cong. Sd H'evs., xvi, 24, for tlie year end-
ing June 30, 1880, at §31,54.3.

" rd., 1,47th Coiiij. M Sesx., 73G, 739.

"Report on conunerce and navigation, in House Ex. Doc, 7, JiSth Cong,
SdSeM., 688, 703; 47th Cowj. M Sais., Id., 7, 678, 696, 730.

746

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT,

While Alaska remains, as it is to-day, little more
than a customs district, though in name a civil and
judicial district, do better results need be anticipated.
If it should happen that in the year 1890, when the
lease of the Alaska Commercial Company expires, its
privileges be divided, then there would doi btless be a
considerable influx of population; but whether such
influx would, under present conditions, be of benefit
to the territory or to the United States is a somewhat
doubtful question. Laying aside, however, the com-
ments of the press, and of disappointed political adven-
turers, it would seem to an in)partial observer that the
claims of the company are not altogether unworthy of
recognition. Leasing a few leagues of rock, hanging
almost midway between thocontinents,they have, while
making larger returns to stockholders year by year
than were made by the Russian American Company
in a decade, paid over to the United States almost the
face of the purchase money, and by their forethought
and business tact furnished, though perhaps incident-
ally, means for wasteful extravagance in other sections
of the territory. It is probable that the lessees of
the Prybilof Islands were at first no less sorely dis-
appointed with their bargain than were the purchasers
of the Treadwell lode, and it is almost certain that in
neither instance did the parties foresee the difficulticj*
that lay before them. The fact that they have con-
fronted and overcome those difficulties, and while
doing so have laid bare some of the resources of
Alaska, is one that needs not be pleaded against them.
What there is to be pleaded against them, save
perhaps their success as a business association — the
fact that in 1885 they gathered nine tenths of the
world's supply of sea-otter skins and three fourths of
its supply of fur-seal skins, their chain of posts ex-
tending from Kamchatka" far inland to the wilder-
ness on the purchase of which the secretary of state

" Where they collect a few sea-otter akini, a large number of sables, and
from 1,500 to 3,000 blue fox skins, tho fur of the last, though of a dingy
aUte color, being considered almost as valuable as that of the white fox.

A GOOD BARGAIN.

747

was accused of wasting $7,200,000; that when they
entered upon this business seal-skins were barely sala-
ble at a dollar, and have since found a ready market
at from twelve to twenty dollars — the reader will
judge for himself from the statements that I have
laid before him."

Excepting, perhaps, Mr Seward, none whose names
are known in Alaskan annals provoked about the
year 1870 so much of cheap ridicule as did the firm
that now controls the seal islands. "What, Mr
Seward," asked a friend, " do you consider the most
important measure of your political career?" "The
purchase of Alaska," he replied; " but it will take the
people a generation to find it out.""

"Of land p«ltry th« bulk was still gathered in 1885 by the Hudson's
Bay Co., which collected 2oO,000 to 300,000 mink skins, against perhaps
15,000 or 20,000 purchased by the Alaska Commercial Co., the latter also
gathering 8,0U0 or 10,000 beaver, .3,000 or 4,000 marten, 2,000 bear, and 5,000
or 6,000 Tox skins.

^ Presenting to the reader the facts now laid before him and the con-
clusions at which I have arrived, it remains only to be said that both have
been stated not without research and hesitation. Whether these facts and
conclusions arc such as he will indorse is a matter now submitted to his con-
sideration. Concerning the annals of Alaska after the transfer, there are many
conflicting opinions, and even as to the military occupation there is some lit-
tle conflict of opinion. Says Capt. J. W, White of the rerenne service, who
was ordered to Alaska in 18C7, in command of the CMtter Liiicolii, bearing
Professor Davidson, senior coast survey otBcer, and in charge of the party:
'As I understood at the time from my own observations, aud from intercourse
with the Russiaos who could speak Englisli and understood tlie language,
the trouble there was caused by the fact that Prince Maksutof did not liap-
pen to bo versed in the English language, aud there being no tinistworthy
interpreter present, did not know what he transferred to the United States
authorities. His people would go to him and say: "This was m^ house; the
Rus&ian American Company aonated it to me. I am informed it belongs to
the American government, and am ordered out oflScially." He would reply:
"Go out othcially, then." Who the parties were that took possession of the
houses I don't know. They miglit have been government officials, or per-
haps mere adventurers; many were renegades from all parts of the world.'
White's Statement, MS., 5-0.

Captain J. W. White, a native of old Virginia, and by profession a sea- far-
ins? man, entered the government serrice in 1855, being uien in his 26th year.
During the civil war his vessel was stationed at the mouth of the Potomac,
and, as ho relates, 'would drop inside the enemy's lines at night and pick up
the mail-bags.' In command of the U. S. steamer Lincoln he voyaged round
tlie Horn in 18G5, and returning to California, superintended the build-
ing of all tbo life-boat stations on tlio Pacific coast, also the construction of
nine steamers for the government. Ordered to A.laska in 1SG7, it remains
only to bo said of this well-known officer that, arriving at the Prj'bilof Islands
at a somewhat critical juncture, he interfered very reluctantly, tliough at
length decisively, to stop all sealing then and there, only granting the natives

748

ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

tSc privilege of killing what tlipy needed for foo<l, and recoinmendod that St
(icorgo aiiu St I'uul bo made a govuruinrnt rusurvo, whirh woa ucuorUiugly
done.

As M'ith the five preceding chapters, I have been compelled to rely mainly
on the reports of congress, magazines, newspapers, an<l in this instance the
United States statute relating to Alaska, in presenting to the reader the re-
cent annals of the territory

With the exce;.ti(jn of AltuLa, It» Southern Coaul and the Silkan Archipel-
ago, by E. J'niiainah ScUlrnorr, I am not nware of any work, apart from tliose of
a scientific nature, published witiiin the lust two or three years, tiiat cuntributea
anything worthy of note to the small stock of information which the Ameri-
can pulilio now possess concerning their possessions in the far north-weft.
Most of the above work was first jmblished in serial form in tlie columns uf
the St Louin Globe- Demoerat and the New York Timen, during the years
1883-4; to which are added the author's notes of a trip made to the Sitkan
Archipelago during the summer of the latter year, with brief paragraphs
containing information to a later date.

Subjoined I give a more complete list of the authorities consulted in the
closing chapter: //. Ex. Doc., 7, 46th Coiiff. Sd Se.M., pt 1, 1-25, 80-130,
.T20-41, 068-90. 70.3, 740, 743, 8.S4, 842; Id., 1, pt 2, 47th Comj. 1st Se»$.,
190-3, C04, 708-89; Id., l,vt 4, 80-1, 88; Id., 1, ptC, 278, .361; /d., 2, 2011;
/./., 1, pt fi, 47lh Cong. Sd Sms., 84, 212; Id., pt 5, 278-82; Id , 7, pt 4, 4-24,
00-135, 222-77, 680, 001-6, 736, 840, 888; 11. Miae. Doc, 42, 47lh Conq. 2d
SeMi., 1-80, 93-6, 124-77; //. Com. L'epts, 47th Covg. Int Sens., 236, 1106;
If. Jour., 4Stli Cong, ht Sesa., 1282; S. Ex. Doc., 46th Cong. Sd SfM., no. 12,
p. 45, 67; Id., 4^th Cong, l»t Stas., 30; U. 8. Slat, at Large, 1882-3, 612;
Id., 18S:J-4, 24, 20, 01, 157. 179, 206, 223; U. S. 10th Cenmu>, i. 695-9; Cir
eidar Bureau Educ, no. 2, 1882, 61-75; Kinkead's Nevatia and Alanka,
MS., 5, 15; liurchartl, Rrport, etc., 1881, 160-71; Id., 1882, 184; /(/., 1883,
17-35; lieporl Direc. of the Mint, 1881, 19; Id., 1882, 14; Conlemiioraneom
liiog., ii. 3.S3-5; Scidmore, Alanka, 81 etseq^, 03etBeq., 194-5, 240-7» 260,
307; The Mines, Miners, *(c.,507; Elliott A Cu. Hist. Ariz., 1, 200; N. ilex.
Rfvisita Cat., 1S83, 279; Tiu-sou, Fronterizo, J >x\. 57, 18'{2; Salt Lake Tribune,
Juno 5, 188.3; San Francisco Alia, Mpt. 2!, 5'>8 , Sapt. 25, Nov. 12, 1882;
ilulletin, 1881, Mar. 12, 30, May 11, 21, Juno 2, :3, 17; 1882, Apr. 24; 1884,
June 3, July 29, Aug. 19, Dec. 18; Call, ISSW, May 14, July 30, Oct. 28; Post,
May 6, 1885; Chronicle, 1882, Jan. 17: UvJi, J.;ne30, Oct. 28, 29, Nov. 5, 10,
17, 23; 1885, Jan. 22, 20, Feb. 5, May 8, 30; Sacramento Kerord- Union, 1881,
May 20, 21. Aug. 20; 1883. Deo. 31; 1884, Feb. 18, June 28.

INDEX.

Abo, whaling establiBhed at, 684.

"Abram." BBip, 114.

Acapulco, Malaspina at, 274.

Achaki . Island, lamallof at, 268.

Ailakli Island, natives of, 72;Tul8tykh
at, 128; expedt. at, 131.

"Adams," U. S. steamer, 723.

AfTauossic, missionary, 360.

Aflleck Canal, 2V7.

Aio^'nalc, settlement, 208, 228, 229,
682; Ageic at, 687, 088.

Afognak Island, settlement at, 230,
287; trees on, 329; chief of, 349;
fort on, 414; locality favored, 080.

Agatoo, hunting expedt. at, 102; na-
tives attacked, 103.

Aglegnutes, natives, 144, 320; fight
with, 326, 346.

Agriculture, soil, 3; experiments, 300,
355; settlements for, 352, 353, 390;
at Ross Colony, 48.3-5.

Aguirre, Juan fiautista, in Spanish
erpedt., 218.

Aiaklitalik, village, 143, 308.

Aiakhtalik Island, expedt. at, 146; viK
luge at, 230.

Akamok Island, 278.

Akun. 209.

Akun Island, villages on, 5G2.

Akutan, expedt at, 154; attack on,
165.

Akutan Pass, 353.

Alaska, geng. division, 1, 2; climate,
2-5; discovered 1740-1, 6.3-74;
Spanish at, 197-202; ofil explora-
tions, 203-20; colonies, 224-32,
350-61, 490-.')09; fur trade. 232-
54; mission work, 360-74; as a U.
S. colony, 590-629; commerce, 630-
69; fisheries, 660-70; settlements,
671-86; agrio. resources, 687-9;
ai ning, 693-8; as a civil and ju-
di !ial district, 717-48; profits of

!)urchase, 722; interior explored,
32-0.

Alaska Conimercial Co., actions of,
1809-84, 630-59; charges against,
imiuiry into, 64.3-61; lease granted
to, 644; stores of, 681 ; payments to
govmt, 722; claims of, 740, 747.

Alaska Mill and Mining Co., o\)ereL-
tions of, 740-1.

Alaska Salmon Packing and Fur Co.,
743.

Alaskan Mts, descrip., 2, 3.

Alaska Traders' Protective Assoctn,
actions of, 649.

Al.iva Point, origin of name, 277.

"Albatross," voy. of, 480.

"Alert," ship, at Sitka. 406.

Aleut, origin of word, 106.

Alieutian Islands, vegetation of, 4;
visitors at. 111; expedts at, 130,
137; shipments from, 242; map,
297, 683; discovered, 375; industries
of, 627; surveyed, 629; whaling-
ground, 6G8.

Aleuts, hunting expedts, 235, 236,
286; desfwndency of, 289; treat-
ment of, 291, 310, 313, 603; tribute
paid, 297, 639-41; character of.
642.

Alexander I., visits Kruseustem, 423.

Alexander Archipelago,foreign traders
ia, 321, 325.

"Alexandr," ship, 426, 414; wrecked,
494.

"Alexandr Nevaki," ship, 185, 187.

Alexandi'ovsk, trading post, 202, 321,
079; Shclikof Co. at, 334,335; Bar-
anof at, 395; Russians at, 522.

Alexandrovsk Fort, named, 522.

Alexeief, Fedot, expedt., death of,
22-4.

Alexeief, Ivan, at Unalaska, 291.

Alin, Luka, partnership with Sheli-
kof, 182.

Aliaeia region, Cossacks subdue, 1640,
21.

Aliseia River, 30.

Alitak Bay, 145.

Aliulik Cai>e, 144, 145.

(749)

760

INDEX.

Allegretti, Peter, in Billings' expedt.,
283, 291, 294.

Almirante, Boca del, named, 218.

Althorp, Port, Vancouver, at, 279.

Ainchitka Island, 181, 285.

American Russ. Commcr. Co. with-
draws bid, 644.

Americana in Alexander Archipelago,
321; forestall Baranof, 834; en-
croachments of, 398, 399.

"Amethyst," voy. of, 481.

Amik Island, 191.

Aminak, Arsenti, deposition of, 144-7.

Amla Island, school on, 709.

Amlag Island, 128.

Amlia Island, 122, 12S, 280.

Amoor River, silver mines on, 20.

Araossof, expedt. of 1723-4, 30, 31.

Amukhta Island, expedt. at, 164.

Anadir River, expedt. at, 1648, 1728,
22-4, 37; Spanberg at, 41; Cos-
sacks of, 292; Baranof at, 314; trad-
ing post on, 316.

Anad'.rsh, expedt. from 1669, 24.

Anadirskoi, Pavlutzki at, 1730, 41.

Ananli, tribe, 23.

Anchor Point, Cook names, 208.

Anchugof, expedt. of, 90.

"Andreian i Natalia," ship, wreck of,
117. 127-9.

"Andreian i Natalia," new ship, 140;
voy. of, 1(58.

Andreianof Island, 676.

Auilreianovski Islands, origin of name,
129, 181, 5.36.

Andreief station destroyed, 676.

Audreief, Vassili, ia expedt., 93.

Aiigarka river, Billings at, 296.

Ankudinof, Cerash'm, expedt., death
of, 1808, 22-4.

Anti-monopoly Aasootn of Pac. Coast,
actions of, 649.

Anvik river, expedt. at, 549.

"Apollon," sloop of war, 639.

Apraxin, Count, instructions to, 36.

"Arab," voy. of, 538.

"Aranzazu," ship, 275.

Arbusof, Lieut, attack on Kolosh,
429-30.

Argflello, Alf., Ross Colony offered
to, 488.

Argflello, Concepsion de, quarrel with
Rezanof, 457.

"Arkhangel Mikhail," ahip, 60, 07;
voy. of, 170, 171.

Armeuus, Moritz, in expedt., 94.

Arti^aga, Ignacio, expedt. of, 1776,
217-21; takes possession of latitude
69 deg. 8 niin., 220.

"Arthur," ship, 280.

Ashley, James Xf., Introduces bill to

organize t«r., 620.
Asiak Island, 648.
Askolkuf, Afanassiy, in hunting ex«

{«dt., 17.i9, 123.
A8tolal)e, ship, 265.
Astor, sends exnedt. to Alaska, 463-

71.
Astrakhan, English at, 1573, 9.
Asuncion, puerto de la, named, 218.
Atach Island, 128.

" AtaUualpa," Baranof purchases, 472.
Atchu Island, 128.
Atkha Island discovered, 112.
Atkha, manufacture at, 690.
Atkha Island, ex^iedt. at, 121, 123;

outbreak of natives, 122; Shelikof

at, 223; agent's cruelty, 448.
Atlasaof, conquest of Kamchatka,

1706, 24-6.
Atnah River. See Copper BiTer.
"Atrevida," ship, 274.
Attoo Island, 73, 93, 116. 127, 131,

170, 173; fight at, 102, 104, 105.
"Aurora," frigate, 571.
Avatanok Isluid, village on, 562.
Avatolia Bay, expedts at, 64, 66, 67,

74, 93, 131, 290, 295; coast ex-
plored, 95.
Ayres Oeo., expedt. to Cal., 479-80;

purchases from, 529.

Babcock, petition of, 1874, 693.

BafiBn Bay, 203, 216, 354.

Bagial, puerto del, named, 218.

Baginef Alexei, in hunting expedt, 112.

Baikal Lake, Russians at, 20.

Brainbridge, Port, named, 278.

Baker Point, 277.

Bakof, Afaniissi, in expedts, 109, 283,
294, 296.

Bakulin, in expedt., 294, 296.

Bakutun, native chief, 128.

Balochef, Ivan, in expedt., 549.

Balleman, Count, at St Helena, 602.

Balin, Vassili, hunting expedt., 108,
117.

Baltimore, BenyoTski, at, 182.

Balusbin, Amos, in expedt., 3<^;
treatment of natives, 340; in con-
trol, 342; commn., 345.

Bancas, las. Bay, named, 274.

Banks, Point, 206, 208.

Banko, Port, named, 259, 266.

Banner, Ivan Ivanoyicb, biog. of, 416;
at St Paul, 425, 448; Boranof's
treatment of, 515.

INDEX.

751

Banner, Mrs, in charge nf school, 706.

"Baranof," ship, voy. of, 540.

Baranof, Alexander, Aleuts in service
of, 238, 239; confidence of, 299; treat-
ment of, 302; on tlie Anadir, 314;
career and traits of, 315-33; pacific
attitude, 337, 338; policv, 340-4;
offl acts of, 352-74, 413^20, 453-
7, 491-3, 604-9; troubles with mis-
sionaries, 360-74; founds Sitka,
384-400; sickness, 3S4; desires re-
lief, 394, 493; tour of colonies, 394-
8; instructions to, 414; promoted,
410, 462; narrow escape, 426, 427;
defeat of, 430; conspiracy against,
463-5; contracts for Cal. furs, 477-
80; founds Ross Colony, 481; dis-
pute with Lozaref, 504; clo"" of ad-
ministration, 510-29; death, bit;
character, 514-20.

Baranof Island, map of, 676; lead
found on, 696.

Barber, Capt,, at Port Althorp, 280.

Barclay, Capt., visit of, 244, 295, 296.

Barentz, Witldm, in expedt., death,
11-13.

Baranovich, Charles V. , smuggling by,
635.

Barber, Capt., conduct at Kadiak, 413;
at St Paul, 461; wrecked, 462.

" Barfolomei i Varuabao," ship, "oy-
nge of, 183.

Barnabas, Cape, 208.

Barnard, Lieut, fate of, 572 4.

Bamashef, in expedt., 136; >l<)ath of,
143.

Barren Ifsland, 208, 287-

Burton, Anier. whaler at Novo Ark-
hangelsk, 583.

Bashmakof, Feodor, trial of, 700,
701.

Biishnakof, Petr, in hunting expedt.,
115; wrecked, 116.

Bfl' : f, Dmitri, in expedt., 94.

Basa.., voyage of, 1743,99, 102; death
of, 101.

Bfttakof, in expedts, 23.*^, 293.

Batavia, Ilagemeiater at, 527.

Baturin, Col, in conspir.icy, 175, 178;
escapes, 405,

Bay lilt Bazan, harbor named, 275.

Bcaoii Cape. 265.

BeanUleo,Capt., cruise of, 728; charts
of, 029.

Bear ledge, acct of, 741.

Bears, black, scarcity of, 254.

Beaton Island, 277.

"Beaver," ship, 472.

Beaver Day, Meares at, 260; Eezanof
at, 445.

Beayers, on Cook Inlet, 254; ship*

ment oi furs, 659.
Bechevin, expedt. of, 122, 165.
Bcde, Point, Cook names, 208.
Beechey Cape, 553.
Beechey, Capt, visit of, 547, 572.
Behm Canal, 276, 277.
Belim, Magnus Carl von, comdt of

Kamchatka 1772, 118, 182; Cook's

visit, 213.
Beketof, Ostrog built, 1632, 18.
Beliaief, Alexei, explores Attoo, 104;

attacks natives, 105, 106.
Beliaief, Larion, in hunting expedt.,

102.
Belkovisky, school at, 10.
Belui", Ivan in expedt., 93.
Bcnnet, Capt., expedt. of, 503, 604.
Tteunett Lake named, 734.
Benijovski, Count, conspiracy of, 153,

175-182, 318; fate of, 182.
Bercuseu, William, in expedt, 93.
Berezof, natives of, tribute from, 232.
Berezovsky reveals conspiracy, 464.
Bergman, Isaac, councilman of Sitka,

601.
Berg, Vassili, authority, 99.
Bering Bay, 204, 256. 548.
Bering, Lt C., in expedt., 283, 294.
Bering Island, named, 02; expedts at,

109, 114, 116, 120, 121, 127, 136,

140, 164, 168, 173, 181, 190, 223;

wreck at, 114.
Bering Sea, pass into, 209; survey of,

547.
Bering Strait, 157, 216, 292, 473, 53A

5.36, 548, 553, 676.
Bering, Vitus, voy. and expedts of, 13,

36-02, 04, 75-98; docs of, 43; char-

acter, 46, 48, 67; family of, 48; char-
acter investigated, 59 ; separates from

Cherikof. 68; death, 89.
Berkhan, Johann, in expedt., 94.
Berrer's Bay named, 279.
Berry, Major, request for U. S. ship,

619.
Betge, Matthias, in expedt., 64, 90, 94.
Biatzinin, Andrei, i.j .onspiracy, 179.
Bielski, Kasimir, in couhpira'-y, 179.
Billings, Capt., voy., ard expedts of,

13. 42, 190,273, 25 ;-.S04; promotion,

288, 291 ; result of e.i,pedt., 296-299.
Biref, ivsn, ic, expe-U, 93.
Blake, survey of, 67S.
Blanchard, hur"' g o::pedt. to Cal.

1811,48:.
Blashhe, Dr, medical service of 561-2.
Blishie Island, in A'kha district, 536.
Blishni, Island group, 102.
"Blossom, "ship, 547.

Hi!

752

INDEX.

BobroToi Bay, Billings' expedt. at,

286.
Bocas de Qaadra, 277.
Bocharof, explor. expedts, 230, 26A-

70, 318-20, 324, 340, 385.
Bodega Bav, Ayrea at, 480; Kuskof

at, 482.
Bolsheretsk, ships wrecked at, Gl, 1G2;

school at, 02; oxpedts at, 64, 163,

17U, 230, 200; coast explored, Oo;

conapirators at, 177, 181.
"Bolsheretsk," ship, 97.
Bolsheretsk, Ivan, in trading CO., 186.
"Bordelais," French ship, voy. of,

622-5.
Borde, Boutervilliers de la, death of,

259.
Borde, Marchanville de la, death of,

259.
" Boris i Gleb," ship, 112, 114.
Bomovolokof, Counsellor, drowning

of, 493.
Borrowe, Lt, actions at Fort Wran-

gell, 614, 615.
" Boston," ship, voy. of, 478, 502.
Boston, trade with, 446, 454.
"Boussole," ship, 255.
Boutwell, Geo. S., testimony of, 643,

645.
Bowles, Capt., in N. W. trade, 406.
Bradiield Caual, 277.
Brady, John G., Commr at Sitka,

728.
Bragin, in expedt., I31~5; map of,

172.
Brandorp, Julicn, in oonspiracy, 179.
Braut, Mikhail, in expedt., 04.
Brauner, Peter, in expedt., 93.
Brest, La Perouso leaves, 255.
Bristol Bay, 200, 287, 521, 536, 562,

685; surveyed, 546; agric. at, 687;

cannery at, 743.
Bristow, B. H., examination of, 643;

testimony of, 647, 650.
"Brutus," Amer. ship, 625.
Brounikof, Sergei', in Billings' expedt.,

233; death of, 290.
Brook Cove, 263, 267.
Brougiiton, W. R., Lieut, in Vancou-
ver a expedt., 276.
Brown, Capt., expedt. of, 239, 277,

279, 348, 349.
Buaclie, defence of Maldonado, 274.
Bubnof, sliip-buililer, 156.
Bucareli Sound, 201, 217.
Bucareli Port, 2.-)0, 2J9, 273, 277.
Budishchcf, Peter, in trading co., 186.
Bugor, Vassili, at the Lena, 1628, 18.
Buldakof, Mikhail, director Russ.

Amer. Co., 416.

Bnlkley, C. S., Capt., expedt. of,

1865, 677.
BuUdir Island, 128.
Bullion, production, 739.
Burakof, Spiridon, in trading oo.,

186.
Burenin, owned ship, 171.
Burling Thomas, petition of, 603.
Burrough Bay, 277.
Busa, at the Yama 1638, 10.
Bush, voyage to Kamcliatka, 1716, 3L
Butzovski, William, in expedt., 93.

Caamafio Cape, explored, 277.

Caamafto, Jacinto, voyage of, 1702,
275.

Caldera, pnerto de la, named, 218.

Caldwell, Lt, explor. expedt. of, 733.

California, explor. of coast, 44; coant
N.W. of exploi-ed, 195; Vancouver
at, 277; trade with, 453, .587;
"Juno "sent to, 456.

California, fur-hunting in, 478-8S;
crop failure, 1829, 537-8; trade
with Siberia, 630.

Callao, Lozaref at, 505.

Camacho Island, named, 273.

Caniocho, Jos^, in Spanish expedt.,
218.

Camacho, Teniente, expedt. pre-
vented, 270.

Camden, Port, named, 280.

Campbell, Capt., expedt. of, 416, 402,
479,490-2.

Canada, furs f'^m, 242.

Candle-fish, doscription of, 6C6-7.

Canning-Stratford, Lord, at conven-
tion, 1825, 54.3.

Canton, Lisiansky at, 439.

Captain Bay surveyed, 296.

Captain Harbor, expedt. at, 164-5,
190; Ledyard at, 212.

"Captain Cook," ship, voyage of, 243,
260.

Carmen Island named, 219.

"Caroline," ship, 388.

Caspian, robbers infesting, 9.

"Cathmue," voy. of, 481.

Catherine I., tsar's iu»rructior."» (>">,
30.

Catlierine II., orders o*, JJ2-3', peti-
tion to, 352; death, ''."Jl.

Catherinelmrg arsenal. . >'.

Cedar, yellow, value of, 639-90.

C(^notaphe, L'IsIe du, named, 259.

Census 1880, 711.

Chageluk River, natives from, 550.

INDEX.

70S

pet>

Chaglokof, in expedt., 1740, 64.

Chalraera, Port, 278.

Chamisso, Bcientist with Kotzubae,
494.

Chamisso Island discovered, 495.

Cliancellor, Richard, iu Eassi*, 8.

Chaplin at Okhotsk, 97.

" Charon." voy. of, 481.

Chart, Gvozdef'8 land, 39.

"Chatham," ship, 276, 348.

Chatham, Port, 679.

Chatham Strait, 279, 390, 437.

Chebaievskni, Afanassi, permit to,
101.

Chebaievski, Terentiy, at Attoo Isl-
and, 128; bunting expedt., 1760,
130; bnilt ship, 140.

Chebykin, Ssava, in trading co., 180.

Checherin, Dennis Ivanoviob, em-
press' order to, 130.

Chekin, Nikifor, in expedt., 94.

Cbeluisken, Semen, iu expedt., 93.

Cheredof, Capt., in commd of Kam-
chatka, 111.

Cherepapof, Stepan, hunting expedt.,
1739, 123.

•'Chnruni Orel," ship, 293, 295.

CL.M-i 01, fcxpedt. of, 553.

Ch'ruo>r. '^van, Kolosh hostage, 438.

Cii'rvnya'iei, Count, examines furtrade,

• Of "c;.ii«of," voy. of, 547-8.

C}-^;!-^5r^ Island, 200, 279.

iJh'hAiurroi, j.iei^*^, expedt. of, 160, 194.

CHioh*' i/i, (jri v., expedt. arranged by,
luC.

Chikhaohcl, Ivan, in expedt., 1740, )'4,
93; death, 73.

Cliilc, furs from, 245.

Chilkat Inds., hostility of, 1869, 612.

Chilkat River, exploration of, 629.

China, trade with, 241-3, 469; trade
with Okhotsk, 422.

Chinese, sea-otter trade, 8S.

C'liiii'V^ioi, in expedt., 160.

'jhiniak, trading ]iost at, 230

^.uiiiiatsk Cape, 208.

Ci in'atz, native from, 404.

( ,: .,'jioi, Alexei, expedts of, 36,48,
43, 59, Gl, 68, 74, 79, 93, 94; dis-
covers Alaska, 67-74; character, 67;
sick, 73; in Siberia, 06; mishap to,
196.

Ghirikof Bay, 258.

Chirikof Cape, 259.

Ghirikof luiaud named, 278.

Chistiakof, Lieut, voy. of, 637; ap-
pointed governor, 639; rule of, 539-
48, 682-3.

Choglokof, Agafon, in expedt, 93.
Hist. AiaiXA. 48

Cholcheka, trouble with, 609^11.

Cholnioudeley Sound, 277.

Choris, artist with Kotzebue, 494.

Christian Sound named, 259.

Chugaohuik Gulf, 300; Baranof on,
325.

Chugatsches, attack of, 187; natives,
228, 313; station in country of,
230; in hunting expeditions, 236-7:
treachery of, 2&S; dread of Russians,
325; feud with, 343; in Yakutat ex-
pedt, 345; triMling with Lebedef
Co., 346; submission of, 357; forts
in territory of, 414; with Baranof,
438.

Chugatsch Mts, 350.

Chugatz Gulf, 345, 670; decrease of
fur yield, 528; in Kadiak district,
536.

Chukchi, land of, described, 21 ; fight
with, 1648, 23; refuse to pay trib-
ute, 1711, 27; fights of, 1730-1,
41-2.

Chukchi, country of, 283, 291; treaofa.
ery of, 295-7, 315.

Chukotcha River, 30.

Chukotsk Cape surveyed, 547.

Chukotskoi Noss, cape, 27; battle at,
1730, 42.

Chuprof, Nikolai, in hunting expedt.,
1745, 102-5; iu expedition, 1758.
119.

Chuprof, Yakof, in hunting expedt.,
101-5; outrages on natives, 119.

Churches, first built, 699; diocese es-
tablished, 701; cathedral, 702-3.

Churin, Ivan, in conspiracy, 179-

Cinnabar, 696.

Civil government, phantom of, 718-
20.

Clarke, Capt, journey, death, 214-16.

Clark Bay, Dixon at, 265.

Clark Island, Cook names, 211.

Clear Cape, 267.

Clergy, condition of, 700-1.

Cleveland, Capt., at Norfolk Sound,
388.

Climate, rainfall, 711.

Coal found in ter., 693-5.

Coal Harbor named, 262; Fidalgo
visits, 273; mining at, 693-4.

Cod-banks, extent of, 663, 664.

Cod-fishery, 663-6.

Coghlan, Capt. I. B., servions of, 729.

Cole, Senator, efforts of, 693.

Collins, Major, project of, 576.

Colonization, 1783-7, 222-31; 1794-8,
351-60.

Columbia River, 277; Astor abandons
post, 472.

I6i

INDEX.

7&1-4,

oeta of,
,300.

Colyer, Vincent, visit of, 709.

Commander Island, expedt. at, 1746,
108; expedt. at, T91; in Atkha
district, 5.36.

Companies, strife < ""
334-50.

Comptroller Bay, 204; x
239; adapted to agricuic

Conclusion Island, ^7.

Conclusion Fort, Vancoover at, 280.

Conde Island, 273.

Congress, measures of, 603-4.

Constantino and Helen, fort, 414.

Cook, interpreter at Sandwich Island,
498.

Cook, Capt., voyage of, 1778-9, 190,
202-14, 219, 277, 498; speculations,
240; opinions, 251; at Unalaska,
286; at Montague Island, 288; sur-
veys of, 296.

Cook Inle* 206, 236, 240, 262-3, 273,
278, 291, 301, 315, 530, 562; attack
of natives, 137; station established,
228; fort abandoned, 229; Meares
at, 260; settlement at, 271; Spanish
■hip at, 287; sea-otters in, 314; ex-
pedt. to, 321, 681; permanent estab-
lishmt in, 334; hostilities in, 336-9;
Russians at, 522; leading industry
of, 627; cannery removed to, 662;
settlement at, 671.

Cook river, 256.

Copenhagen, Krusenstem's expedt.
at, 424.

Copper, 695-6.

Copper Island, 128; abundance of fur,
100; expedition at, 108; Glottof at,
140; visits to forbidden, 141; hunt-
era at, 168; expedition at, 170;
Shelikof at, 223.

Copper River. 187, 191, 208, 219, 278,
326, 345, 346, 384, 451, 525, 576;
copper obtained on, 696.

Coronation Island, 277.

"Corwin," U. S. ship, voy. of, 619,
736, 737.

Cossacks, attack of, 1573, 9; century-
march, 1578-1724, 14-34; character,
16-17.

Cowan, Lt, shooting of, 617.

Coxe, Capt., at Aleutian Isknds, 285;
with Prybilof, 298, 299.

Cross, Cape, 264, 279.

Cross Sound, 204, 220, 236, 259, 264,
265, 274, 279.

Croy^re, Ilse de la, named, '^9,

Croy^re, Louis, in expedts, 52-61, 64-
6, 94; maps of, 65, 76; death, 74;
widow marries, 96.

" Cruiser, " frigate, 539.

Cruzof Island, 676.

Crymakoo, visit to Hageroeister, 491.

Cnadra y Bodega, expedt. of, 197-302,

204, 217-21; map of voy., 198.
Cuadra Island, named, 273.
Currency among Inds, 635.
Custom service, gov. report, 730.
Cutting & Co., canneries, 662, 743,

Dall, W. H., Alaska, 674 et aeq.; ap-
pointment of, 677; survey of, 629;
statement, 687.

Dashkof, advice to Astor, 468.

Dauerkin, in expedt., 292, 293.

Davidof, Lt, in Kuss. Amer. Co., 363;
instructions to, 450; fate of, 458,
459.

Davidson, Geo., report of, 629.

Davidson, Professor, survey of, 612,
613.

Davis, expedt. of, 481, 629.

Davis, Gen., comd of troops, 609;
trouble with Inds, 609-12.

Dealarof, Eustrate, director Bnss.
Amer, Co., 416.

De Fonte, discoveries of, 277.

De Fuca, discoveries of, 277.

Do Langle, in La Perouse's expedt,
255.

Delarof, Eustrate, expedt. of, 185,
187-90, 228; entertains Meares,
260; interview with Spanish, 271-
3; corad of colony, 286; confi-
dence of, 299; character of, 320,
321; biog., 314, 315.

Delarof, Port, fort at, 414.

De Lesseps, with La P^rouse, 312.

" Dolphin," ship, 333, 355.

Delusive Island, search for, 102.

Dementief, in expedts, 64, 03; capture
of, 69-71.

Demianenkof, disaster of, 455, 456,
515.

Do Montamal, death of, 259.

De Monti Bay, named, 256.

Denbigh, Cape, Cook names, 210.

Dennis, I. G., deputy collector, 620,
625.

Dennison, W. H., Col., narrow escape
of. 617.

De Pierrevert, death of, 259.

Derby, Cape, Cook names, 210.

Deriabin, fate of, 572-4.

Dershabin, Vassili, in expedt., 649.

"Descubierta," ship, 274.

D'Escures, death of, 259.

DesengaQo, Port, named, 274.

INDEX.

785

Beshnef, Simeon, expedt. o! 1648-€0,

12, 22-4.
Deahurinskoi, Grigor, in trading co.,

186.
Despotiain, benefits of, 113.
Destruction, Strait, origin of name, 390.
Desty, Robert, charges against Alaslta

Gammer. Co., 648-9; retracts, 650.
Duvi^re, comdr at Olihotsk, 1741,

61-2; biog.,61.
Dial^onof, Vassily,- in Billings' ex-
pedt., 283.
"Diana," Ru8.Bloopof war, 466-9,571.
Dioiiiede Islands, 38, 41.
"Discovery," ship, 202, 276.
Dixon, Capt., voy. of 1785-6, 240, 251,

261-5; furs collected by, 244.
Dixon Sound, 196, 530.
Dixun Strait, 275.

" Dobraia Namarenia," ship, 285, 526.
Dodge, first mayor of Sitka, 601; acct

of mil. occupation, GOO, 607.
Dokiiturof, Lieut, sent from Batavia

to colonies, 627.
Dolores, puerto de los, named, 218,
Donskoi, Vassili, in expedt., 549.
Douglas, Cape, 206, 208.
Douglas, Capt., mistake of, 248; at

Spring Corner Cove, 267.
Douglas Island, named, 280; mining

at, 697, 740-2.
Douglas, Sir James, actions of, 557-8.
Drake, landing of, at Point Reyes,

1589, 481.
Drunkard's Bay, Lisiansky's visit to,

434.
Drushinnin AlexeY, voy. and expedt.,

114, 121, 131-3; death, 133.
Dudin (1st), in expedt., 160.
Dudin (2d), in expedt., 160.
Duke of Clarence Strait, 276, 277.
Duke of York Island, 277.
Duncan Canal, 277.
Duncan, Rev. Wm, smuggling by,

635
Durnef, Radion, bunting expedt. 1757,

114.
Durygin, in trading co., 186.
Dushakof) Mikhail, in trading co., 186.

East, Cape, 210.

East India Co., ship of, 230; privi-
leges to, 245.

Ebbets, Capt., voy. of, 468-471.

"Eclipse," ship, 478; wrecked, 479.

Edgbcomlie, Cape, 204, 259, 274, 275,
350, 676.

Edgecombe, Moant, 265, 437, 49S,

674.
Education, advance of, 706-10; ap-
propriation for, 725; miss, work,

726, 727; gov. rept on, 730.
Egoochshac Bay, Cook names, 211.
"Ekaterina," ship, 352, 356, 404.

426.
" Elena," ship, voy. of, 637, 539.
Eleonof, Major, comdt at Nishne-

kamtchatsk, 312.
Eliot, voy. toCal, 493,497; captivity,

494; at Sandwich Isls, 499.
"Eliza," ship, 389.
Elizabeth, (Jape, 206, 208. 220, 271,

273, 278.
Elizabeth, Empress, instructions to,

36; orders of, 107; report to, 127.
" Eliza"eta," ship, 97, 181, 385, 414,

443; voy. of, 536, 537; wreck of,

455, 515.
Elliott, H. W., statement of, 652,

653.
Endogarof, Li«!nt, in expedt., 52, 93.
Eugafto, Cabo de, 199, 204, 259.
England, Kotzcbi: 'a reception in, 602;

war with Russia, 670-2.
English, expedts of, 8-10, 259-65,

321, ,348, 349; in Russ. employ, 341,

342; aggressiveness of, 247, 248,

384, 396; claims of, 400.
" Enterprise," ship, 389, 469, 672.
Erling, left at Illiuliuk Bay, 294.
Ei^chscboltz Bay, named, 496.
Eschscholtz, Dr, with Kotzebue, 494)

discovery of, 436.
Eaelberg, Andrei'an, in expedt, 6i

93.
Eskimos, hostility of, 553.
Esquivel, bahia de, named, 218.
Estrella, puerto de la, named, 218.
Etches, Port, named, 263; Portlockat

264; station at, 339.
Etolin, Lieut, voy. of, 638, 54ft-8t

apptd gov., 659; offl acts of, 662.

5, 583.
Eudokia Island, discovered, 82.
Everette, Dr, explor. of, 735, 736; v.

mining outlook, 738.
" Experiment," ship, 243, 260.
Explorations, official, 1773-9, 194-221

Fairweather, Cape, 256.
Fairweather, Mt, 204, 264.
Falklatid Islands, furs from, 246.
Falmoith, Krusenstem'a expedt. aX,
424.

79»

INDEX.

FaralloaM, huntingxport eatablished,

487-8.
Fvnuin, Russel, ioumey of, 472-3.
Fjedor, Attack onRussianp, 451.
Fedorof, Ivan, in e;cpedt., 17'i7-30,37

-40; biog., 40; ezplor. of, 44.
Feich, CaBpar, in expedt., 1740, 64-03.
*'Fenik8,''^8l)ip, 365; wrecked, 394,

305.
Fidajgo Volcano, 2)3.
Fidalgo Inlet named, 278.
Eidalgo, Salvador ezplor. expedK of^

273-1.
Figil, coaat explored 1742, 95.
Vigueroa, Qov., demands of, 554.
Fileveki, raimionary, 68.
"Finland," Amer. ship, 525.
Fischer, Johann, in expedt., 04.
Fish, abundance of, 4; salmon, 228.
Fisher, in expedt., 52.
Fisheries 1867-84, 660-70; canneries,

744; salmon supply, 745.
Flassan, death of, 259.
Flores, Viceroy, cc»umu. to king, 272,

273.
Flores, Canal de, named, 271.
Flores, Puerto de, named, 271,
Florida Blanca named, 271.
Foggy Island discovered, 82; Cook at,

S)8.
Fomin, at Bristol B^y, 562.
Forrester Island, 196, 201.
"Fortuna," ship, 36, 38, 97; wrecked,

60.
Fox, black, catch of, 659.
Pox, blue, catch of, 659.
Fox Island, 115, 145, 191.
Fox, silver-gray, catch of, 659.
Francais, Port des, 243, 256, 257, 270.
Franklin, Sir John, search for, 572.
Frederick, Port, named, 279.
Freeborn, James, presdt of mining

CO., 740; statement of, 740-1.
French, int in N. VV., 255, 275, 276;

ftt Petropavlovsk, 296; in Alexan-

ander Archipelago, 321; visit Nor-
folk Sound, 622; conduct cf, 1854,

571.
Fry, E. M., direotor of mining co.,

740.
Fry, J. D., direotor of mining co.,

740.
Fuchs, state counsellor, picture of,

-49.
Fi zitive, village, 434.
Fuller, I. A., oounailman, 601; sur*

veyor, 801.
Furs, Knss. trade, 7-10; yield, 581,

582.
Fiir Seal Islands, discovery, 185, 101.

Fvr.trade, skins collected, 100, 10ft-
12, 1 15-25; at Cupper Isl., 100; on
Olutorsk River, 106; first moo oi>oly,
110; shares of crew, 114; first black
fox skins, 120; statement of Push-
karef, 121; end of private expcdts,
166; sea-otter prices, 216; 1783-7,
231-54; exam, into, 308; expedt. of
Lukhaiuin, 314; prices paid U. S.,
6.S8; in London, flial; skins colleoted
1885, 747.

Furuhelm elected gov.. 685.

Qagnrin, Prince Matvei Petrovich,

governor of Yakutsk, 27.
Gagarin, Vassili I vanovich, at Yakutsk,

27.
Oalaktianof, party of attacked, 340.
Gali, Francisco, discovery claimed, 79.
Gama, land of, 66.

Garcia, Juan, in Spanish expedt., 218.
Gardebol, Simon, in expedt., 04,
Garfield, Delegate, bill of, 620.
Gaston Island, named, 273.
"Gavril," ship, voy. of, 37, 38,60,

122, 123, 162.
Geographical result of Billings' ex-
pedt., 296-8.
German, Father, at Pavlovsk, 360,367.
Gibson, Lieut, exploration of, 570.
Gideon, Father, 360.
Gideon, native, fate of, 462.
Gigedo, Revilla, viceroy of Mex., 195.
Gileief, inland expedt., 293.
Glacier Bay, 279.

Glass, Capt., treatment of Inds, 729.
Glass factory at Irkutsk, 316, .394.
Glazachef establishes iron- works, 1 IS.
Glazanof, Audrei, expedt. of, 649-52.
Glazuf, Ussip, iu expedt,, 9.S.
Glidden, J. C, Trip to Alaaha, 723;

report of, 732.
Gloster, Sergt, in Scbwatkaexpedt, 732.
Glottof, Ivan, Aleut interpreter, 141,

in expedt., 149.
Glottof, Stepan, hunting expedt.,

1758-62, 120; voy. of, 1762-5, 131,

140-9.
Gmelin, Johann, in expedt., 52-5, 94;

biog., 53.
Gold discoveries, 696-8, 737-40.
Goldstone, Louis, exam, of, 643; bid

of, 644-6; letter of, 647.
Golikof, Ivan L., collector at Irkutsk,

184; fits out expedt, 184, 185, 223;

at court, 306, 307; rewards to, 300;

request for missionaries, 352.

INDEX.

Oolodof, Nikofor, in hunting expedt.,

1759, 123; fate of, 124.
Goloni Bay, 210.
Oolovin, Marko, in expedt., 98.
Golovin, Count, of Admiralty Oollege,

45.
•• Golovnin," ship, 646.
Golovniu, Capt., inspects colonies

1818, 306; report of, 358, 359, 531,

532; advice to Baranof, 513, 614;

investigations of, 578, 579.
Golovnin Sound, silver found, 696.
Goose Islands, 145.
Gofe, Capt., takes Cook's expedt.

home, 216.
Gore Island, Cook names, 211.
Gorlanof, in expedt., 1740, 64.
Gorloriof, Aletel, in expedt., 94.
Gortschakof, Prince, despatch of, S92.
Goviatskoi, Cape, renamed, 306.
Graham Bay, named, 262.
"Gd Duke Konstantin," voy. of, 659.
Gravlna Bay, named, 273.
Gravina Island, 277.
Gray Harbor, "Nikolai" mocked,

481.
Gray, Thonxta. av^ct of Famum's jour-
ney, 473.
Grekof Island, Yiikutatexpedt. at, 345.
Gren, Sim, in expedt., 93.
Grindall, Port, 27 V,
Ground-squirrel. See Fnr-trad&
Greville, Cape, 208, 306.
Guadahipo Bay, discovered, 199.
Guise, Capt., voyage of 260.
Guibert, Port, 259.
Giinther, Elias, in expedt., 94.
Gvozdef Mikhail, in expedts, 37-40,

44, 79,94; chart, 39; biog.,40.
Owin, Senator, interviews with Russ.

tnin., 692.

Haenke Island, named, 274.
Hagemeister, at Novo Arkhangelsk,

402; at Sandwich Islands, 490-2,

498; receives Roquefeuil, 523-5;

sails for Russia, 626-27; succeeds

Baranof, 510-12, 534; exijedt. of,

547; praise of, 631.
Hagemeister Island, named, 547.
Hager, Senator, petition presented by,

693.
Haiden, Port, named, 547.
'" Haloyon," ship, 295.
Halibut, range of fishery, 665.
Halibut Island, natives of, 209.
Hall, Lieut, in Billings' expeilt, 282-

9; efforts against scurvy, 298.

Hamond, Cnpe, named, 279.
Hanna, Capt., expedt. of, 242-3.
Hanse, the, in Baltic, 8.
Haro, Gonzalo Lopes de, voyage ol^

1788, 270-2.
Harris, Rich, prospecting party o^

739.
Harrisburg, descript. of, 679; mining

centre, 697.
Haskell, E. W., distatty, 728.
Hawaiian Islands, Cook at, 214; Port-
lock at, 263-264; Vancouver at, 277j

Krusenstem at, 424; O'Cain at, 478|

Kotzebue at, 497.
Hawkins Island, named, 278.
Hayward, with Portlock, 264
Hazy Islands, 259.
Hebel, Henrieh, in expedt., 94.
Heceta, Bruno, expedt. of, 197.
Hector, Cape, 259.
Hcemskerk, in expedt., 1595, II.
Heer, Andreas, in expedt., 94.
Helstedt, J., oouncilman of Sitka«

601.
Hens, Jacob, in expedt., 1727-30, 37t

40, 44.
"Herald," ship, 572.
Herdebal, in expedt., 1727-30, 87.
Herman, monk, death of, 682. >

Hermogen, Cape, named, 306.
Herring fishery, 665-6.
Hill, H. L., director of mining ca,

740.
Hillyer, M. C, marshal, biog., 728.
Hinchinbrook Island, natives from,

187.
Hinchinbrook, Cape, named, 205.
Hinchinbrook Island, 219, 267, 278;

cross on, 281.
Hoffman, Dr, in conspiracy, 176; fAte

of, 176.
Holkham Bay named, 280.
Holland, expedt. of, 1594-7, 10-12.
Holmberg, researches of, 144.
Homan, in Schwatka expedt. , 732.
Honcharenko, A., agitation of, 602;

publishes newspaper, 677.
Houtshnoo, village, 437.
Hood Bay, named, 279.
Hooper, Capt. , visit of, 526, 619; open*

coal mine, 693. '

Hootchenoo, village, 619, 624.
Horticulture at Ross Colony, 485-d.
Houghton, Port, named, 280.
Hovins, Heinrioh, in expedt., 93.
Howard, Gen., recommendation of,

626.
Hudson, voyage of, 1608-9, 12.
Hudson Bay, passage into, 203; for

shipments, 242.

INDEX.

Hndaon's Bay Oo., post of, I90t Ron
Colony offered to, 488; dispatetwith,
655-60; contract with, 666; leaae
granted, 693; surrender poasenion,
633; fur shipments, 659.

Hunt, Wilson B., at Novo Arkhan-
gelsk, 472; on Baranof 's character,
617.

Hunting, method of conducting, 232-6.

Hutchins, Capt, at Spring Comer
Cove, 267.

Hutchinson, at Sitka, 636.

Hutchinson, Kohl, ft Co., Russian
property sold to, 636; interest sold
Alaska Commer. Co., 637, 664.

Icy Bay, Yakntat ezpedt. at, 347.

Icy Cape, 210, 216.

Igak, Lisiansky visit to, 433.

Ignatief, IsaX, ivory search of. 21.

Ihrie, Qeo. P., commr at Wrangell,

. 728.

Iliamna Lake, 228.

Eiamna, volcano, 208, 220.

Ilkhak, Tblinkeet chief, 2G9.

Dliuliuk, Ledyard at, 212; Rezanof at,
445.

Hliuliuk Bay, expedt. at, 165.

niiuliuk, harbor. Billings' ezpedt. at,
291, 293; surveyed, 296.

Hliuliuk, Port, 682, 683.

"Ilmen," ship, 49.3, 609.

Ilyanina, viUage, 340; natives of, 369;
massacre at, 392-4; ezpedt. at,
621.

Imperial efforts and failures, 1764-79,
157-74.

Indian reservation, proposed, 722-3.

Indigirka River, 19; Cossacks at, 1640,
20-1; island on, 30.

Innuit, natives, 207.

"Intrepid," ship, 182.

',< Investigator, at K(
572.

"loa Krestitel," packet-boat, 97.

" Iphigenia," ship, 267.

Irbit, fair at, 242.

Irkutsk, founded, 17; native educa-
tion, 230; Shelikof at, 231, 310, .377;
shipments to, 242; Billings at, 283,
285, 298; glass factory, 316, 391.

Iron, works, 118; attempt to extract,
330.

Irtish River, ship built on, 66.

Irving, Washington, on Baranofs char-
acter, 617, 518.

"Isabella," voy. of, 481, 606.

I Kotzebue Sound,

Ishig, Baraoofs brother at, 513.

Ishinik, native warrior, 145, 146.

Islands, Bay of, named, 204.

Ismailof, Gerrassim 0., orders to, 126}
at Kurile IsL, 182; expedt. of, 183,
266-70, 278, 325; visits Capt. Cook,
213, 214; in Shelikof 's voy., 223; at
Trekh Sviatiteli, 286.

Issaief, Mikhail, in tnuiing coy, 186.

Issanakh Strait, Baranof at, 320.

Itcha River. 32.

Ivanof , Sotnik, at source of the Yama,
19.

Ivanof, A., in expedt., 64, 94; pro-
moted, 96.

Ivanof, Ignatiy, fur-trade monopoly,
110.

Ivanof, Luka, in expedt., 04.

Ivashening, Stepan, in ezpedt., 03.

Ivory, deposits of, 21.

•' JackaH," ship, 279, 348-9.

lacobi, Ivan B., report of, 262; in-
struetiona, 266; medal sent by, 268;
approves Shelikof's scheme, 305-8.

"Jamestown," ship, 626.

Jansen, Niels, in expedt., 64, 9.3.

Japan, O'Cain's voy. to, 478, 479; re-
ception of embassy, 444, 445.

Japan current, effect on climate, 4.

Japanese in Kamchatka, 25.

Japanovsky, settlement, 450.

"Jenny," ship, at Norfolk Sound, 408.

" loanu Oustioushki," ship, 156.

"loann Predtecha," ship, 156.

loassaf. Bishop, suptd. of missions,
304; mediations of, 343; ofll acts,
360-5; fate of, 365, 414; in Russ.-
Amer. Co., 459.

Johnstone, Master, at Prince Freder-
ick Sound, 280.

Jones, J. P., mine-owner, 740.

Judicial dists, to be established, 719.

Juneau, Joseph, prospecting party of,
739.

"Juno," ship, 443, -^54, 456; wrecked,
473-5.

Juvenal, missionary, 360; career and
death, 365-74.

Kabanof, death of, 403-6.

Kahorof, Lieut, comdt at Petropav-

lovsk, 312.
Kachikof, in expedt., 1740, 64; r- s^th.

73.

INDEX.

■m

"KacHak,"8hip, 462, 481, 482,602.

Kadiftk laUnd, 128, 206, 208, 236, 271,
306, 676; as a grazing country, 3,
4; discovery of, 141; expedta at,
131, 171, 181, 213, 266, 273, 278,
314, 320, 332, 334, 337, 376, 425,

■ 432, 492. 622, 647; conflict with
natiTes, 187, 142, 143; on Coolc's
chart, 208; settlement at, 224, 286,
295, 305, 385; climate, 300; natives

. of,302, 313,345;treeBon,329:agrio.
at, 351, 687, 688; exiles at, 355; pop-
ulation, 356; massacre at, 392; ice
trade, 687; sea-otter catch, 659; map
of, 680; lead found, G96.

Kadlikof, Gapt, report of, 683.

Kadn, native with Kotzebue, 601.

Kaguiak Bay, 208.

Kaigan, Cape, 259.

Kaigaus, treachery of, 623-6.

Kake Indians, troubles with, 611-12.

Kaknu River, 335, 342, 395

Kalatcheva Bay, expedt. at, 125.

Kalekhtah Bay, 211.

Kalekhtah, expedt. at, 134.

Kalgin Island, seal hunt on, 368.

Kalinin, pilot of the "Neva,"
drowned, 493.

Kalistrat, native, fato of, 462.

Kaljushes, native hunters, 191, 238,
347; intercourse with traders, 240,
241; trouble with, 326, 327, 340-4,
M9.

Kamchatka, occupation of, 1706, 24-
26; expedts at, 31-2, 35-62, 64,
93, 112, 114, 127, 169, .S03, 492;

• Aleut baptized at, 142; small-pox
ravages, 164; shipments from, 242;
tradmg post, 316: coast of, 377;
conspirators at, 465.

Kamehameha, native king, 491, 492,
497-9.

Kamiiishak Bay, trading post at, 230;
ship driven into, 357.

Kanaga Island, 128, 129.

Kauiak Island, expedt. at, 346.

Kaniat Bay, 145.

Kanishchef, Fedor, in expedt., 93.

Kapitan Bay, expedt. at, 135, 154.

"Kapiton," ship, 118.

Karaoelnikof, ravel, in hunting ex-
pedt., 102.

Karaghiuski, hunting expedt. at, 106.

Karagiu Island, 157.

Karluk, tr<vding post, 230, 357; tan-
nery at, 693.

Karmanof , Lazar, in hunting expedt.
102.

Karpof, Feodor, in Billings' expedt.
283.

Karta Bay, copper mine at, 695.

Kashelef, Ivan, in expedt., 93.

Kashevarof, Alexander, o» Golovnin's
report, 631; expedt. of 639, 552,
653; exposes abuses, 679; charts of,
692.

Kashima, meaning of, 145.

Kashmak, interpreter, 138.

Kashunuk, mouth of Yukon, 651.

Kassilof River, establishment on, 334,
335; cannery on, 743.

Kataief Krost, cross erected, 29.

Katlean. See Katleut.

Katleut, Sitkan chief, 387-8.

Katlewah, native, 369; baptized, 372.

Katmai, Russians at, 622; petroleum
found at, 695.

Katmak, trading post at, 230.

Katmala Bay, trading post, 230.

Kanai Island, king of, 506.

Kayak, coast of, 386.

Kaye Island, 187, 204, 219, 288, 289.

Kaziinerof, Lev, in expedt., 93.

Kenni, natives of, 207, 228, 300, 345;
station in, 230; attack on, 394.

Kenai' Bay, 394, 414, 576; coal-min-
ing at, 693.

Kenai, Gape, fort at, 414.

Kenai Gulf, .321, 328, 334, 338, 367.
636; trouble with natives, 395; Eng-
lish claim to, 400; decrease of fur
yield, 628.

Kenai Mtn, 350.

Kenai River, Juvenal at, 368.

Keniiicott, journey of, 576.

Kiializof, Master, at Novo Arkhan-
gelsk, 539.

Kharinzobka River, 32.

Khariiizof River, expedt. at, 157.

Khitrof, in expedt., 1740, 64. 80; jour-
nal, 67; in expedt., 1741-2, 92, 93.

Khlebnikof, version of massacre, 410-
12; with Baranof, 426; rancho at
Bodega, 489; of Rusr Amer. Co.,
512; opinion of Baranof, 514, 515.

Khmetevski, Vassili, in expedt., 93;
wrecked, 97.

Kholcbevnikof, Ivan, in hunting ex-
pedt., 102.

Kbolodilof, Feodor, expedt., 1746, 108;
1753-4, 115-116.

Khotiaintzof, mate, death, 90.

Khotiaintzof, Nikita, in expedt., 64,
93.

Khotumzevskoi, baptizes native ofi
Attoo, 105.

Khramchemka, mate with Kutzebneh
494.

Khramchenko, expedt of, 646.

Khroma River, 29.

fID

INDEX.

Khta-alak iBlftnd. SMNuchek Island.
Khudiakof, expedt. of, 132-4.
Khvottof, Lieut, in Bubs. Amer. Co.,

363, 414; fate, 458, 459.
Kuikbta, Shelikof luavea, 182; over-
land trade to, 242, 306; trade with

China, 422.
Kigikhtowik, expedt. at, 649.
Kildu vn Bajr, Bijp at, 1597, 12.
Kiliuda, nanva from, 404.
Killuda Bay, Linianaky's viait to. 434.
Kinaios, natives, 191.
Kinkaid, G. A., ooanoiknan of Sitka,

601.
Kinkead, J. H., apptd gov., biog.,727;

report of, 728-^.
Kincliarof, Ivan, in expedt., 94.
King, Capt, with Cook, 208; exaot-

incs Norton Bay, 211.
" King George." ship, 244, 262-4.
King (leorge Island, 279.
King George Sound, f ors oolleoted at,

242, 243.
ELing Island, discovered, 210.
Kinik River, Cook at, 207.
Kirby, journey of, 576.
Kircnskoy Biver, saw-mill on, 690.
Kirilof, supports expedt., 1731, 45.
Kisselef, at Aleutian Islea, 321; at

Prince William Sound, 344.
Kialika Island, 85.
Kisslakovaky, acting master, voy. of,

630-7.
Kitlitz, Von, report of, 547.
"Kliment," ship, voyage of, 184; at

Kadiak, 221.
Klimoffsky, Andrei', Kolosh hostage,

438.
Kloh, Kutz, native map-maker, 738.
Klokachef Sound, entrance to, 200,

364.
Klotchof, Master, voy. of, 636-7.
Klowak, cannery built at, 662.
Kluchevskaia, eruption of volcano,

161.
Knagge, Jacob, in expedt., 649.
Kobelef, in Billings' expedt., 292, 293.
Koch, death of, biog., 492-3.
Kodichef, wrecked, 61.
Koiychak river, 326.
Kokovin, in expedt., 133-6; with So-

lovief, 161.
KoHina, Cossack subdue, 1646, 21;

expedts from, 1868, 1711, 22-4,

28 29
Kolitna Biver, 19, 283.
Kolmakof , Alexander, in expedt., 647.
Kolomin, Perodovchik, at Kadiak,

314; expedt. of, 334-8; commn to

Purtof, 345.

Kolosbes, natives, 144; attack expedt;,
386. 887; friendly, 400; revolt ot,
401; massacre their children, 431;
treaty with, 438, 439; trouble with,
463. 473, 674; trade with, 628; re-
moval of, 635; liquor traffic among,
659, 660; small-pox among, 660;
education of, 706.

Kolychef, Fedor, in expedt., 93.

Kompakooa Biver, 32.

Kondakof, Oerassin, Kolosh hoetage,
438.

Koniagas, natives, 191; attaok Bus-
sians, 226, 226.

Konnygen, Ivan, statement, 674.

KonovMof, Origcw, hunting expedt.,
conduct of, 335-42.

"Konstantin," sloop, at Kadiak, 386.

Konstantme, Fort, 357, 622.

Konstantinovsk, redoubt built, 326;
Koloshes attack, 451, 462.

Kooskoff, with Liaiansky, 428.

Kopai, pay tribute, 1724, 30, 31.

Kopilof, Andrei', at Pacific, 1639. 20.

Korasakovsky, expedt. of, 521-2.

Korelin, Stepan, rescue of, 131; in
expedt., 132-135.

Koreuef, in expedt., 150..

Koriaks, treatment of expedt., 106.

Korostlef, Dmitri, in expedt, 64, 93.

Korotaief, Ivan, in trading co., 186.

Korovin, expedt. of, 131, 135-40,
148-9; witlk Solovief, 151; letters,
132.

Korzakof, Alexander, Prince, con-
ducts inquiry against Bechevin, 126.

Koshigin Bay, Baranof wrecked, 318.

Koshigin, Yefim, in expedt., 132.

Kostromitin, Peter, statement of. 603,
683-4.

Kotelnikof, party of, captured, 340.

Kotovchikof, death of, 328.

Kotzebue, Otto von, expedt. of, 494-
502; returns to Bussia, .502; family
of, 503; second expedt , 1823-6, 640,
641.

Kotzebue Sound, 563, 572; map of,
495.

Kou Island, Oen. Davis expedt to,
612.

Kovima Biver, 283, 284. 292, 295,
296.

Koyukans, outbreak of, 572-4.

Koyukuk Biver, explored, 553.

Kozantzof, accusations of, 68, 59.

Kozlof, Feodor, ship-builder, 47; in
expedt., 9.3.

Kozlof, Kiril, in hunting expedt., 102.

Kozlof- Ugreuin, Grigor, comdt of
Okhotsk, orders of, 310-12.

INDEX.

761

Konnin, ship-builder, 07.
Kointiug, Andrei', in expedt, 93.
Krasheucikof, student, 61; ia expedt.,

04, 160.
Knuinoyarak, Reianofs death at, 460.
Krassilnikof, Andreli, in expedt., 64,

04.
Krassilnikof, S., iu hunting expedts,

115-17, 120, 123, 155.
Krenitzin, Petr Kuroich, expedt. of,

1764-71, 159-67; death of, 167.
Krestovsky Bay, expedt. at, 423.
Krissie laknd, in Atkha district, 636.
Krivishin, Vasaili, in trading co., 186.
KriTorotoif, tits out expedt., 185.
Kronotzkoi, Cape, coast explored,

1742, 92.
Kronstadt, return of expedt. to, 440;

Kotzebue leaves, 494; supplies sent

from, 536; expedU from, 1821-40,

566.
"Krotky," voy. of, 647.
Kruikof, orders to, 601.
Kruaenstern, Cape, named, 496.
Kruseustern, Lieut, expedt. and pro-

t'ect of, 421-6; return to St Peters-
mrg, 440-2.
Krustief, iu conspiracy, 178.
Krutogorova Biver, 32.
Kruzof Island, 200, 437, 674; map of,

676.
Kuchekmak Bay, trading post at, 340.
Kuichak River, Korasakovsky expedt.

on, 621.
Kuikhtak Island, discovery of, 306.
Kulikatof, in expedt., 344; punisb-

meut of, 448.
Kulkof, hunting expedt., 1759, 123;

ship-owner, 131; rewarded, 155; in

trading go., 186.
Kumen, Afanassiy, in conspiracy, 179.
Kuprianof, Gov., appt. govr, 554.
Kuprianof Island, 280.
Kurilo, 'listrict, 536.
Kurile Islands, 32, 44, 97, 181, 223,

307, 310, 35.^ 377, 416, 445, 494,

632, 545; map, 545.
Kurile Straits, 676.
Kuskof, at Kadiak, biog., 356; ex-
pedts, 387, 481, 483< comd at St

Koiistantin, 395; ship-building, 420;

comd at Novo Arkhangelsk, 4G1;

promoted, 402; founds lioss Colony,

482.
Kuskokvim, expedt. at, 622.
Kuskokvim lU^^r, 5, 209, 211, 536,

640, 547, 553.
Kuskovkim Valley, 685.
Kustatan, (Jook at, 207.
"Kutusof," ship, 604, 610, 611, 614.

Kuznetzof, Anenins, expedt. of, 184t

in trading CO., 180.
Kuznetzof, Dmitri, in conspiracy, 179.
Kuznetzof, Yetim, with Bassof, 101.
Kvass, descpt. of, 233.
Kvichak River, in Mikailof district,

536.
Kvigin River, 647.
Kvikhpak, school at, 709.
Kvigym Painagmute, expedt. at, 662.
Kvosdof, Lt, instructions to, 450.
Kvosdof, Rezauuf'a instructions to,

460.
Kyak Ishwd, 78, 268; map, 219.
Kyginik, native, 162.

Lackman, partner of Baranof, 894.
" Ladoga, sloop of war, 639.
Laduiguin, Stepau, trader, 368.
" Lady," ship, 472.
"LaFlavia.''ship, 269.
Lagunof, in expedt,, 1740, 64.
Lakhamit, natives, 191.
Land dist created, 720.
Langsdorff, O. H. von, in expedt,

416, 424, 443; voyages and travels,
441-2.

La Perouse, meets Frybilof, 193;

voyage of, 1785-6, 243. 244, 255-

9, 282, 312; iustructious to, 256;

charts of, 692.
Lapin, Ivan, statement of, 121; oukaz

issued to, 126; expedt. of, 1762, 130;

forms CO., 153, 1^; iita out expedt,

169; at St Petersburg, 174.
Laptief, Lt Dmitri, in expedt, 62,03.
Laptief, Lt Uariton, iu expedt., 62,

93.
Lariou, attack on Nulato, 673-4.
Larionof, Ivan, petition of, 392;

troubles of, 396; agent at Unalaska,

417, 447, 448.

"Lark," ship, wrecked, 231, 472.

Lossenius, Lt, in expedt, 51, 93; ap-
pointment of, 52; ou Lena River, 56.

Lalsauf, Anton Ivauovich, at Irkusk,
1770, 126.

Lau, Johaun, in expedt, 64, 94.

Lavashof, expedt. ot, 194.

Law and protection, country without,
C04-6.

Lazaref, Maxim, iu expedt, 116, 127,

Lead discovered, 696.

Lobedef, Capt, voy. of, 1745, 101.
conidr of Kamchatka, 1 10.

Lobedef, Ekaterina, testimony of,
407-10.

INDEX.

Lebedef, Lutoobkin, fits ont expedt.,

180.
Leiwdef Co., organized, 186; tranaoo-

tions of, 290. 314. 334-339, 345, :V>1;

troubles with Shelikoff Ck>., 339-

42, 376, 395; fall of, 343.
Ledianof Sound, 420.
Ledyard, Corpl, exp«dt. of, 183.
Ledyard, John, journey of, 212-18.
Leman, in land expedt., 293.
L« Mesurier Point, 277.
Lena lliver, Cossack's reach, 1628, 18.
Leontief, killed by conspirators, 179.
Leshchinsky, reveals conspiracy, 404-

S.
Leskin, Agapiua, in expedt., 94.
Lestuikof, Terenty, charge preferred

by, 700.
Levashef, Capt., expedt. of, 164, 169-

67; sufferings of, 294.
Lewis, Andrew T., clerk of court,

728.
Library at Sitka, 677«
Lima, Hagemeister at, 611; Roque-

feuil at, 522.
•• Lincoln," ship, 628.
Lindemiann Lake named, 734.
Linschoteu. in expedt., 1594-5, 10, 11.
Liquor traffic, gov. report, 730, 731.
LisDume, Cape, 210.
Lisiansky, Capt., expedt. of, 422-42;

biog., 441.
L'Isle, Joseph de, compiles map, 61.
Liasiev Island, in Unalaska district,

536.
Live-stock, 688.
Lliamna Lake, 287, 325.
Lobaskhef, Prokop, in hunting ex

pedt, 1759, 123; fate of, 124.
Lobcliof, Origor, in conspiracy, 179.
London, H. B. Co. furs at, 242; Re-

xanof, 452; fur-dyeing industry,

658.
Lonegan, explor. expedt. of, 736.
Lopatka, Cape, 64.
Lorokin, Dmitri, in trading co.. 186.
Los Kemedios, Port, 256.
Lossef, in Kouovalof expedt. 337.
Loucks, Lt, actions at Fort VVran-

gell, 613.
Louthan, Frank K., experiences of,

612.
Lower Volga, robbers infesting, 9.
Lowry, Capt., voyage of, 260.
Lozaref, Capt., voy. of, 604-6; dis-

putea with Baranof, 604.
Ltua, natives from, 239, 348.
Ltua Bay, La Perouse at, 243; de-
scribed, 256, 257; sea-otter hunting

at, 357; English claim to, 400.

Lukanin, orders to. 126; with Innal>
lof, 183; treatment of natives, 2SH,

Lukin. in expedt., 661-2.

Lursenino, Jolmnn, in expedt., 94.

iiUahin, Fedor, mission of, 1719-21,
32,44.

Lfltke. Capt. von, expedt. of, 1826,
64&-7; ctiart of, 692.

Lynn Canal, explored, 279.

Lynx. See Fur-trade.

Maager, fate of, 1869, 611-12.
Macao, conspirators arrive at, 182|

sale of furs, 244; Marchand at, 246.
Mackerel fishery, 660.
Mada^^ascar, Beuyovski at, 182.
Modro do Dios, named, 218.
Mahoney, Frank, councilman of Sitka

1807, 001.
Mails, SOT. report on, 729.
Main, John, in expedts, 283, 293.
Makar, Jerumonakh, missionary, 360;

acts in Unalaska, 304-5.
Makaria, furs sent to, 242.
Makshei'ef, Aloxei, in expedt., 94.
Maksutof, Prince, in charge of afifaira,

679-80; negotiations with, 036.
Makushin, expedt. at, 135; village,

152.
Makushin, volcano, 683.
Malacca, Mearcs sails from, 200.
Malakhof, expedt. of, 526-6, 653.
Malakbof, Vassili, aeent, 305.
Malaspina, Alejandro, voyage of,

1791, 274-6.
Maldonado, passage explored, 274.
Malevinskoi, Yakof, expedt. and

death, 140.
Malraeabury, Port, named. 280.
Maltzof, Petr, fur-trade monopoly,

no.

Malygin, Stepan, Lieut, in expedt., 93.

Maps. £astern Siberia, 19; Qvozdef'a
Land, 39; Kyak Island, 78; scune of
conflict, 137; of Bragins, 172; Cua-
dra's voy., 198; Cook's voy,, 215,
216; Yakutht settlement, .391; Kot-
zebue Sound, 495; Korasakovaky
expedt., 621; Kurile Island, 545;
Glazanof'a expedt., 651 ; Nulato, 572;
Baranof Island, 673; Kadiak Isl-
ands, 680; Aleutian Isliuids, 683.

Marchand, Etienne, voy. of, 1791, 245,
276, 276.

"Maria," ship, 443, 492; wrecked.
605.

Markof, experiences of, 669, 670.

INDEX.

761

Marrnot Island, 206.

Marseilleg, Marchand leaves, 275.

Martinez, E. Jot6, Toyage of, 1788,
270-2.

Maaliin, Lt, conduct of, 4u8; at Novo
Arkhangelsk, C39.

Maurelle, Alf., expedt. prevented, 270.

Maurellc, Antonio, in expedt., 197.

Maurelle, Fraucisco, in Spanish ex-
pedt. 218.

Mazarredo liuy, named, 273.

McAllister, Ward, district judge, 727,
728.

Mcintosh, trader, 315.

Mcintosh, in Schwatka expedt., 732.

McKnight, O. R., councilman, 601.

McLoughlin, I., comd at Stikeen, 657;
fate of, 658.

Meares, Capt., expedt. of, 100; collects
furs, 244; iuatnictious to, 247; treat-
ment of natives, 248; voyage of,
260-2.

Mechanics arrive at Pavlovsk, 352.

Mcder, Magnus, in conspiracy, 170.

Medvedef, expedt.. 131, 13U; letters
from, 132; search for, 139-140; fate
of, 140; remains of party discovered,
147.

Medvedef, Zakar, in expedt., 94.

Medvednikof, Vossili, fate of, 402-3,
407-11.

Meek, hunting expedt. to Cal., 1811,
481.

Mektar, missionary, 360.

Mendocino, Cape, Arteaga sails for,
220.

Menendez Bay named, 273.

Merck, Dr, in expedts, 283, 293.

" Mercury," ship, 285, 298, 479, 480.

Mertens, report of, 647.

Merriraan, Capt., expedt. of, 1882, 610;
attack on natives, 723.

Metlahkatlah, population, 705.

Meygin, Lieut, appointment of, 62,

Miatlef, gov. of Siberia, 1754, 43.

Michael, fort erected, 390.

Middleton Island, 268.

Mikaielovsk, trading post, 651, 685.

Mikhaielovsk Island named, 648.

Mika'ilof district, 636.

Miles, Qeu., orders expedts, 735.

Military occupation, evil effects of,
606-9.

Miller, Gen. John F., presdt Alaska
Com. Co., examined, 643; testi-
mony, 645, 646, 650.

Minin, Fedor, in expedt., 62, 93.

Mining Co., incoriwrated 1877, 697.

Mintokh Lake, murder of party at,
672.

Minnkhin, Ivan, hnnting expedt

1750-2, 112.
Miranda, volcano, 220, 271.
Missionaries, for Kamchatka, 57, 68;

efforU of, 303, 304; at Pavlovsk,

352; report on, 450.
Mitchell, Senator, bill of, 1875, 620.
Moira Sound, 277.

Molef, Alexander, attack on, 318-19,
" Mttller," voy. of, 547.
MoUer, port named, 647.
Molvee, supercargo with Lozaref, 604.
Monoply, inception of, 299; organized,

1787-95, 305-33.
Montague Island, 189, W 262, 267,

271, 278, 288, 326, 345, iiUl.
Montagu Sound named, 205.
Monterey, Martinez at, 272; trade

with, 540.
Moore, Capt., meets Baranof, 325,

326.
Moore, Joseph S., testimony uf, 647.
Moral, sanctuary, 499.
Mordvinof, Admiral, agitation of, 644.
Morolief. See Vorobief, 112.
Morosko, Luka, left Auadirsh, 1669,

24.
Morris, Wm G., request for U. 8. ship,

619; death of, 715.
Moscow, furs sent to, 242.
Moss, Mora J., contract of, 687, nego-

tiations of, 636.
Motora, on the Anadir, 1850, 23.
Moukhin, Nikolai, sent as Baranofa

substitute, 396.
Muilnikof, enterprise of, 377.
"Muir," steam-tug, built, 1842, 691.
Mulgrave, Cape, 210.
Mulgrave, Port, 256, 265, 274.
Miiller, Gerhard, in expedt., 52-5, 65,

94; biog. 63; at St. Petersburg, 98.
Mulovski, Capt. proposed expedt. of.

307.
Muravief, N. N., gov. -general E.

Siberia, 43.
Muravief, Stepan, Lieut, in expedt.,

62, 93.
Murphy, T. Q., newspaper of, 677.
Murza, Botcha, created prince, 231.
" Myrtle," ship, 461.

Nacaa, Ijsiansky joins Emsenstem
at 440.

"Nadeshda," ship, voyage of, 60, 97,
422-4, 443-5, 454.

Nagaief, Admiral, chart of, 101; dis-
covers Copper River, 187-&

INDEX.

Nagaief, Lcontiy, 312.

Naha Harbor, cauuery at, 662.

Nakvassin, death of, 403.

Nanaimo, coal at, 694.

Nangasaki, Rezanof at, 444.

Naoumof, wrecked, 97.

Naplavkof, consj^iracy cf, 463-5.

Nariahkin, Capt., of naval academy,
1723, 45.

Nash, surgeon, in expedt, 736.

Natchik l^y, native name, 347.

Nati\re8, tribute paid by, 112; iin>
perial oukaz on treatment, 126; of
Nuchck Bay, 205; aboae of, 247-^1.

Naumof, Stepan, buried at East Cape,
626.

"Navarin," corvette, 571.

Nay, Gomelis, expedt. of, 1594, 10, 11.

Nazigak Island, 208.

Neiker, Port, 259.

Nerodof, survivor from ' * Neva" wreck,
494.

Nerstof, Rosma, hunting expedt., 108.

NetzvetofF, native ship-builder, 691.

Neue Nacbrichten, 131.

" Neva," ship, leaves Kronstadt, 422-
4; voyages of, i62, 49C, 510; wreck
of, 4D3.

Neviashin, Vassili, in trading co.,
186.

Novodchikof, MikhaSl, iu hunting ex-
pedt., 102, 104; appointment of, 107;
visits Aleutian Islands, 111.

Nevodchikof, Pavel, baptism of Tein-
nak, 105.

New Albion, trade with, 453; signifi-
cance of term, 481 ; Kaskof on coaat,
481-3,

New Bedford, ship purchased at, 637.

New Columbia Island, named, 1881,
6W.

New Cornwall, 277.

New Eddystone Rock, 277.

Newenham, Cape, 209, 822, 546.

New Georgia, furs from, 245.

New Ilonovor, 277.

Newspaper, 677.

New Year Island named, 499.

Niasnikh, iu expedt., 131-2.

Nichols, Lt H. E., services of, 728,
729.

"Nieinen," transport, 571.

Nikiliuich, Mikliail, hunting expedt.,
108.

Nikita boy baptized, 369.

Nikotoi'of, liuutiiiK-expedt,, 120; ves-
sel of, at Umuak, 123; rewards to,
155.

Nikolai, Russians at, 522.

"NikoUi," wreck of, 481. -

"Nikolai I.," voy. of, 569; steamer

built, 1842, 691.
Nikolaievsk, expedt. from, 625.
Nikolai, Pavlovitch, Grandduke, Kot>

zebue reed by, 502.
Nikulinskoi, Feodor, in trading co.,

186.
Nilof, Afanaasia, betrothed to Ben>

yovski, 180.
Nilof, Capt., comdt of OkhoUk, 116,

153; comdt of Kamchatka, 177;

treatment of conspirators, 177-80;

fate of, 180.
Ninilchik, village, 680.
Ninilchik, Cape, coal at, 695.
Nishnekamschatsk, 40, 97, 105, 108,

111, 116, 118, 120, 158. 163, 171,

183, 191, 235, 290, 312.
Nishnekovima, Billings' expedt. at,

284.
Nizovtzof , Grigor, hnntingexpedt. 111.
" Nootka," ship, 261.
Nootka, station at, 271; Spanish

occupy, 273; Malaspina at, 274;

Caamafla leaves, 275; Vancouver

at, 277, 281; ceded to English, 400.
Nootka Sound, Portlock at, 263; Rus-
sian claim to, 414; aea-ottcr plenti-
ful, 528.
Nordenskjald, voyage of, 1879, 13.
Nnrdiviuoif, Admiral, minister of

marine, 422,
Norfolk .Sound, 246, 259, 234-5, 275,

.358, 385-90, 408, 437, 455, 522.
Norahevoi, settlement of, 124.
North American Co., 354.
North, Cape, Cook names, 210.
North Pacific, storm iu, 500, 501.
Northumberland, Cape, 277.
Northwest Trading Co., establishment

of, 764.
Norton Bay, 576.
Norton Sound, desorpt. of, 41; Cook

at, 210; in Mikhailof district, 536;

explored, 546-8.
Noahkof, explor. of, 97.
Nouraviuf, M. N., elected chief man-
ager 1821, 534; actiuu:? of, 5.')4-41.
Novgorod, decline of, S.
Novikof, Ivan, hunting txpedt.,

1747-9, 109; expedt. of, 1772, 174.
Novo Arkhangelsk, 4.12, 437, 443,

452, 454-0, 401, 403, 460-8, 478,

492-3, 504, 511-2, 522-3, 528, 5.34,

S."?, 539, 543, 560-1, 667, 571, 575,

&i7, 599, 691.
Nucliek Bav, Panof Co. at, 188; Cook

at, 205; Portlock at, 203.
Nuohek Island, 187, 205, 207, 326-7,

339. 342. 357. 386, 395, 414, 451.

IXDEX.

76S

Nalato, fort built at, 653; map of,
67'2; massacre at, 1851, 572-4; pop-
ulation of, 680; mean temperature,
711.

Nuiiivak Island, 211.

!Nushagak, village of, 340; Rnssiana
at, 622; school at, 709.

Nuabagak Kiver, fort built on, 521;
in Kadiak district, 63B; expedt. to,
547.

Nye, Capt., trouble with Koloah, 525.

Oahn, Kotzebuo at, 502.

Ob Hiver, Coaaaakaat, 1578, 15; ships
built on, 56.

Obiukhof, Venedict, in expedt. 1750-
8, 117.

Observxtory Inlet, 277.

O'Cain, expedt. to Cal. aud Japan,
477-9.

♦•O'Cain," ship, 471; Toyage of, 480.

Ocliek Inland, 268.

Ocharedin, Afanasaiy, expedt of,
154.

Ocheredin, Boris, fate of, 154.

Ochotskui, expedt. from, 158.

Odintzof, Dmitri, in expedt., 94.

Otter, sea, catch of, and value, 658,
659.

Okhotin, Capt., meets Benyovski,
181.

Okhotsk, founded 1639, 17, 20; ex-
pedts and visitom at, 36, 38, 56,
67, 131, 157, 160, 109, 178, 182,

, 231, 266, 283, 238, 295, 333, 459,

^ 667; troubles at, 65; impetus to,
96; ship-bnilling at, 90, 97, 235,
352; govmt of, 153; education at,
230, 313; prisoners at, 301, 3.55; in-
snrrection at, 1771, 318; trial of
Konovalof, 342; Chinese trade, 41^2;
-: value of furs exported, 477; closed
as naval station, 571, whaung-

§ rounds, 668.
khotsk,"galiot, 07, 116.
Okhotsk Sea, new route, 53; reoou'

noissance in 1740, 95.
Okoshitiikol, owned ship, 169.
•'Oktruitie,"8hip, 606.
Ola, river, 32.
Oleaaof deposed. 229.
"OIga,"ship. 333, 356,417.
Olutorakoi Islands, 128.
OIntorsk Uiver, Deshnef at, 1648, 23;

tribe on, 106, 107; fur-trade, lOB.
Olutoraki, the, attack Eussiftas, 1727,

106, 107.

323;

Ommaney Cape u&med, 259, 576.

Onslow Point, 277.

Ontok River, Krenitzen wrecked,
162.

Oojak Bay, 171.

Ookamok Islands, Russians at, £22;
in Kadiak district, 630.

Ookivok Island, 548.

Oouimak, volcanic disturbance at,
684.

Oonga, coal at, 695.

Ooyak Bay, tannery at, 690.

Orekhof, oukaz issu-sd to, 126, forma
CO., 153; rewards to, 155; de-
spatches expedition, 169; at St
Petersburg, 174; on Aleutian Isl-
ands, 321.

Orekhof Co., at Prince William
Sound, 339, 344.

"Orel,"8hip, 328, 341.

Organic Act, provisions of, 718, 719.

Orlof at Bristol Bay, 562.

Orlova, settlement, 171.

"Osprey," Eng. man-of-war at Sitka,
620.

Ostrogin, Peodor, bravery of,
agent at Alexandrofifsk, 305.

"Othry tie, "ship, built, 461.

Otter-hunting in Cal., 478-84.

Otter Bay, sea-otter plentiful, 528.

Ouda River, wreck at, 109.

Oudsk, ships built at, 97.

Ouka River, expedt. at, 157.

Oiiledovski, expedt. of, 149.

OumnaU, volcanic eruption, 1825,
GS4; native baptized at, 1759, 699;
chapel built at, 1826, 700.

"Oiironp," 1829, ship built, 691.

Oitruiuusir Island, Benyovski at, 181.

Ourupa, settlement bombarded, 571.

" Ourupa," voy. of, 548.

Ourupa Island, 532, 545, 576.

OushaUof, Moissci, explorations of,
94-5.

Ouvarof, actions of, 451-2.

OvsiauuiUof, Stepan, in expedt., 94.

Ovtzin, Lieut, 52, 56, 64, 92-3, 96.

Owliyee, Do Scheifer at, 499.

Ozerakoi, attack of Kolosh, 57-* -6.

Ozerskoi redoubt, saw-mill nt, 690.

Pai'kof, Dmitri, hunting expedt,, 1753,

120-4.
" Pallas," ship, 284.
Pallia, r, H., 203.
Puulilof, Creole interpreter, 144.
Pankof, reward from empMor, 448.

INDEX.

Panof, 155, 176, 178, 321.

Panof Bros, fit out uxpedt, 183-5.

Panof Co., fisht with natives, 188, 9;

sloop owned by, 221; Aleuts search

for, 286; on Prince William Sound,

344.
Pantojo, Juan, in Spanish expedt.,

218.
Paranchin, put ashore on Knrile Isl-
ands, 182.
Paris ledge, acct of, 740, 741.
Parker, James C, 1869, trial of, Gn.
Parrott, John, petition of, 603.
Parrott & Co. , of Alaska Gommer. Co. ,

646.
Paspelof, death of, 328.
Passage Canal named, 278.
Paul I., character, grants oukaz to

Iluss. Amer. Co., 378-80; orders to

naval officers, 392.
Pavlof, Mikhail, Lieut in expedt.,

52-93.
Pavlovsk, settlement at, 324, 414;

Baranof at, 328, 384; Juvenal at,

367; Lisianskyat, 425.
Pavlutski, Dmitri, in expedt., 37-8;

death of, 41-2.
Paxin, Ivan, in expedt., 94.
Pazniakof, Peter, in expedt., 93.
} king, Russian infiuenceat, 245.
Felly River, gold diacovered, 698.
PonMbigak, adventures of, 145-6.
Peredovchiki, regulations of, 233.
Perenago, Vassih, in expedt., 93.
Perez, Juan, expedts. of, 1774-9, 195-

202.
Perez Strait named, 275.
Peril Strait. See Destruction Strait,

390.
Permakof, Yakov, discovers island,

1710, 28; death of, 29.
Perrier Pass named, 733.
Persia, Russian trade with, 10.
Pi38tchourof, Alexei, Gapt, fius. oom-

niis. at 8itka, 599.
Peter the Great, purposes of, 35; ex-
pedt. to Kamonatka, 36; death of,

36.
Peters, capt. of English ship, 230.
Petrie Sound named, 260.
Pctrof, Afauassi, builds ostrog, killed,

100.
Petrof, MatveY, in expedt., 93.
Petrof, Ivan, descript. of climate,

1880, 6; chart compiled, 79; visit

to Sanighanooda Bay, 1878, 211;

statement of, 358.
Petrof, mate with Kotzebue, 494.
Petrof, master of the " Maria," 405.
Petroleum, 695.

Philip, agricultural etperimenti oC

355.
Philippine Islands, trade wi. .o3.
" Phoenix," ship, 325, 331-3.
Pinart, Alphonse, attempt ascent of

Mt Shishaldin, 629.
"Pinta," U. S. steamer, 728.
Pisaref, Stormakof, comdr Okhotsk

1731, 45, 8, 57; biog., 45; accusa-
tions of, 58; relieved, 61.
Pitt Archipelago, 277.
Plenisner, GoL, 64, 90, 126, 153, 161,

176-7.
Plioo, native of Unalaska, 145-6.
Plotnikof, AbroBsim, testimony ol,

402-7.
Plotnitzki, Kiril, builds ship, 97.
" Plover " at Kotzebue Sound, 572.
Plunting, Mikhail, 48, 62, 69, 64, 73,

93.
Podushkin, Lieut, comdr of the

"Neva," 493; comdr of the "Ot-

krytie," 606.
Pogibshie Strait, see Destruction

Strait, 390.
Point Reyes, landing of Drake 1589,

481.
Polevoi, Alexei, in trading co., 186.
Polevoi, Simeon, in hunting expedt.

1759, 121-2.
Polomoshnoi, actions and death of,

390-1; troubles at YakuUt, 396.
Poloponissof, expedt. sent by, 156.

169.
Poloskof, expedt. of, 154.
Polossof, Lt, in Billings' expedt., 283.
Polutof, Dmitri, expe<lt. of, 170-1;

fate of, 187-90; visit to Kadiak,

1776, 213; treatment of natives,

288
"Polyfem," voy. of, 553.
Ponahdin, Lieut, expedt. of, 527.
Ponobasew, expedt. of, 194.
Ponomaref, Savs, map by, 120; in

hunting expedition, 1758^-62, 120;

collects tribute, 136.
Popof, in conspiracy, 464-6.
Popof, Alexander, baptized, 142.
Popof, Alexetef, attacked by natives,

190.
PopofiT, AndreY, admitted to oitisan

ship 1868, 602.
Popof, Fedor, in expedt., 94.
Popof, Ivan, built sliip, 140; expedt.

of, 156.
Popof, Leonti, in conspiracy, 179.
Popof, Peter Elianovioh, deposition

of, 27.
Popof, Vassili, hunting expedt. , 1760,

130, 140.

INDEX.

Popof, Yefim, !n trading co., 186.

Poi-tillo, Canal de, named, 218.

Portland Canal, 277.

Portland Inlet, Vancouver at, 278.

Portlock, hunting expedt, 236; furs
collected by, 244; trade with na-
tives, 249; at Cook Inlet, 1786, 251;
voyage of 1785-6, 262-4.

Port Mary Bay, 199.

Poabarkof, YasBili, exploration of,
1643-6, 20.

Possession, Point, Cook names, 208.

Postal routes established, 725.

Postels, report of, 547.

Postnikof, hunting expedt., 1759, 123;
at Attoo Island, 128.

Povalishin, Lieut, fate of, 430.

" Predpriatie," voyage of, 1823-6,
540.

Predtetcha Co. on Prybilof Island,
354.

Prianishnikof, Fedor, in expedt., 94.

Price, Admiral, suicide of, 571.

Prince Edward Island, timber on, 693.

Prince Ernest Sound, 277.

Prince Frederick Sound, 1883, herring-
oil estab. at, 666.

"Prince of Wales," ship, 267.

Prince of Wales Island, references to,
196, 201, 218, 236, 277, 523-4, 662,
687, 690, 695.

"Princesa," ship left Nuchek, 267,
270-2.

Prince William Sound, 187, 190-1,
206, 209, 220, 228, 236, 239-40, 243,
249, 256, 260, 271, 274, 287, 301,
321, 325, 329, 339-40, 343, 385-7,
390, 400, 530.

Prokofief, statement of, 541.

"Prokop i Zand," ship, 109.

Promchishchef, Vassil, in expedt., 93.

"Pioiuissel," 1839, ship built, 691.

Promyshleniki, Cossack advance
guard, 18j swarming of, 1743-67,
99-156; system of, 235-7; treat-
ment of natives, 286, 295; end of
rule, 207-8; priests among, 352.

Pronchishchef, Lieut, appointment of ,
62; on Lena River, 1735, 56.

Protassof, Yakof, 130, 136, 184, 186.

Protection, Port, 277.

Protestant clergy at Sitka, 702; mis-
sion established, 1877, 705.

Protodiakonof, owned ship, 169; fitted
out expedition, 174.

Protopof, Alexei, in conspiracy, 179.

Prybilof discovers Fur Seal Islands,
185; leftatIllinlinkBay,294;repCirt

: of, 298; discoveries of, 321 ; death of,
86fi.

Prybilof, Oerassim, expedt. of, 192-3;

in Billings' expedt., 290.
Prybilof Islands, references to, 211,

292. 472, 505, 536, 647, 562, 682,

598, 638, 641, 646-7, 652.
Puget, Lieut, at Yakutat Bay, 239,

348.
Purcell, Ensign, in expedt., 736.
Purchase money paid for territory,

597-8.
Purtof assisted by Puget and Brown,

239; hunting party of, 279.
Pushkaref, Gavril, with Bering, 121;

in hunting expedt., 1759, 123;

cruelties of, 125; expedt. of, 165.
Pustozersk, traders of, 232.
Patman River, explored, 736, 737.
Putof, expedt. to Yakutat Bay, 344-60;

resolute conduct of, 345.

"Queen Charlotte," ship, 244, 261,

262-6.
Queen Charlotte Island, 196, 259, 265;

explored, 275, 276; native attack

on Kuskof, 482; sea-otter abound,

528.

Rada, Cabo de, settlement at, 271.

Radionof, at Kadiak, 357.

Raymond, Charles W., expedt. of,
1869, 629.

Real, Marina, puerto de la, named,
218.

Refugio, puerto del, named, 218.

Regla, Isla de la, Arteaga takes pos-
session of, 220.

Remedios, Spanish land at, 200.

Repin, of Lebedef Co., 349.

Repin, Ivan, news sent by, 451.

"Resolution," ship of Capt. Cook,
202.

Revenue, custom receipts, 1869-78,
626: 1868-73, 631-2.

Revilia Gigedo Island, 276.

Revilla Gigedo Bay named, 273.

Rezanof supports Shelikof 's petition,
377-9; ambassador to Japan, 423;
visits Alaska, 440, 443-60; visits
Cal., 457; complaints of naval offi-
cers, 457-8; death of, 460.

Ricord, Lieut, with Golovnin, 470.

Rijp, Comelis, expedt. of, 1595-6, 11,
12.

Robeck, surgeon, 283- rt ^lliulink
Bay, 294; at Petropu,vio\ck, 296.

768

INDSX.

" Robert and Ann," ship, 182.

Rockwell. 8ee Harrisburff.

Rodianhf, agent at Nucbek, 390.

Rodiohef, Emilia, in ezpedt., 93.

Rodney, Cape, 202.

Rogacnef, ship-builder, 97.

Roquefeuil, Caimile, voyage of, 522-5.

Rumanof, Count, equips veasel for
north-eaat passage, 4M.

Roaenburg, Lieut, temporary gov.,
686; contract of, 587.

Roas, with Oapt. Meares, 262.

Ross Colony founded, result and fail-
ure, 483-0; confereuca at, 497; Rus-
sians at, 622.

RossiliuB, in expedta, 1740-i!, 64^
90.

Rossysky, mate with Lozaref, 604.

"Rostislaf," ship bnUt at Yakutat,
420.

Rousseau, L. H., Genl, U. S. commis.
at Sitka, 1867, 500; orders of, 1869,
636.

Roth, private in Sehwatka expedt.,
732.

Rowan, Capt., at Kadiak, 389.

Rtishchef, m expedt% 1740, 64,93; de-
tained in Siberia, 96; superseded,
161.

Rudakof, temporary gov., 686.

Rudnef, Gavril, in expedt., 93.

Ruroiantzof, Count, meeting at oflBce
of, 416.

Rumiantzof B^y named, 482.

"Rurik,"voy.of, 1816,494-501; voy.
of, 1821, 636-7.

Russia, claim to N. W. Amer., 98;
supremacy in N. W., 194.

Russian American Co. , Aleuts in ser-
vice of, 237; prices paid for furs,
241; organized 1796-9, 375-84;
new charter, 416; losses, '*87, 609;
capital and earnings, 627, 628; sec-
ond period, 1821-42, 630-67; last
?eriod, 184!^-66, 568-569; revenue
841-62, 699.

Russian Fiiiland Whaling Co. estab-
lished, 584, 686.

Russian River, Russian colony on,
485.

Russians in XVI. oentory, 6-8; fur
trade of, 7-10; comma, with Cook,
208, 209, 212.

Ryin, P. B., constable for Sitka 1867,
601.

Rybenskoi, Andrei, hunting expedt.,
1746, 107-8.

Rybinakoi, Ivan, hunting expedts,
1747-49, 100, 112; builds ship,
123.

Saghalin Islands, Rezanof at, 448.
'• Saginaw," U. S. ship, 612.
Saimonof, Gov., at Tobolk, 1750, 43}

proknior of senate, 1723, 45; orders

expedt., 16V.
St Augustine, Mt, Cook names, 208.
St Coiistantine Cove named, 267.
St Dionys Fort named, 536; salutes

Eng. Hag, 557.
St Elias Cape, fort at, 229, 414; lo-
cated, 288; sbip-bnilding at, 300;

colony at, 352, 353, 356, 400.
St Elias Mtn, 78, 219, 5:{6; sighted

by Cook, 204; by La Peronse, 265.
"St George," ship, 335.
St George, condition of, 641-2.
St George Island named, 192; dis-

covered, 290; settlement at, 334;

fort at, 414; seal catch, 638; diurch

built, 700.
St Helena, Kotzebne at, 502.
St Helena Cove named, 267.
St Herniogen Island, 128.
St Herm(^nes, Cape, 206.
St John Mtn named, 85.
St KoDstantin, fort establishsd at,

395.
St Lawrence Bay, 210, 291, 292, 296.
St Lawrence Island, 37, 211, 501,

648.
St Makrius, land named, 85.
St Matthew Island, 211, 292, 547.
St Michael, descript. of, 685.
St Nicholas, Fort, 335, 414; warnings

sent to, 337-8; Konovalov at, 342.
St Paul, settlement, 385; fort at, 414;

visitors at, 437, 445, 448, 461, 479;

hospital, 468; population, 46i, 462;

removal from, 680, 681; church

built, 699; school at, 706.
St Paul Harbor, Lisiansky at, 425.
St Paul M&ad, discovery of, 103,

290; Benuetat, 503; fur-ssal catch,

638,640.
St Petersburg, political changes at,

175; H. B. Co. furs at, 342; acta of

authorities, 376; shares in Russ.

Amei\ Co., 381.
•' Sv Alexel," ship, 185, 187.
"Sv Aexiu8,"ship, 190.
"Sv Andrei," ship, voya^ of, I60l
" Sv Andrei' Pervosvannni," ship, voy-
age of, 1G9, 184.
"Sv Ekaterina,"8hip, voyage of, 157.

162, IQH.
"Sv Gavril," ship, 97.
" Sv Georgiy," ship, voyage of, 186,

191-3.

INDEX.

7C9

"Sv loann," at Nishekamchatsk,

1754, 111.
"Sv loann Predtecha," ship, voyage

of, 185.
" Sv loanu Rylskoi," ship, voyage of,

185.
"Sv Ivan," reenforcement by, ,341.
••Sv Mikhail," ship, 187, 223, 3-24.
8v Mikhail, Fort, attack on, 402-13;

cannery at, G02.
"Sv Nikolai," ship, voyage of, 114,

169. 184.
••Sv Pavel," 8hip, voy. of, 64, 67,

97. 1C2, 153, 154, 157, I8:{, 314, 334,
" Sv Petr," ship, G4, CG-8, 97, 153.
"Sv Petr i Sv I'avel," ship, 123, 131,

156; secured by conspirators, 180,

181.
"Sv Prokop," ship, voyage of, 169,

185.
"Sv Simeon," ship, 223, 325.
'•Sv Simeon i Anna," ship, 112.
"Sv Troitska," sliip, voyage of, 131,

135-8.
"Sv Viadimir," ship, voyage of,

170-4.
"Sv Yevpl," ship, voyage of, 171-3,

185.
Salmon Packing, 1880-3, 6G0-1.
Samgliunooda l>ay. Cook ut, 209, 211.
y.uuoilof, instructions to, 229-30,

312-13; in Lebedef Co., 300.
/.iinsonof, cadet with Lozartf, 504.
San Alberto, bahia de, nainotl, 218.
San Antoido, Arteaga's expedt. at, 219.
San Antonio, puerto da, named, 218.
San Bias, Santiago sails from, 195,

197; Martinez at, 270; Caamaaoat,

275; Wraiigell ut, 5j4.
San liias Island named, 201.
"San Carlos," thip, T,0.
San Cristul)al, canal do, named, 218.
Sanderson, contract of, 587.
San Diego, O'Caiu at, 478; Ayres at,

480.
Sand.vich, Lord, 203.
Sandwich Islands, Hagemeister at,

490-2; Kotzebue at, 497-500; trade

with, 538.
San Fernando Islands named 218.
San Francisco, Ayres at, 430; Kotze-

buo at, 497; Lazarcf at, 505; trade

with, 1817-25, 540; expedt. from,

628-9; slieep from, 088.
San Ignacio Island, named, 218.
San Jacinto, Mt, 199, 204, 250.
San Juan Bautista .Island named, 218.
San Juan de Fuca, Spanish claim to,

488.
San LuisObispo, Eliotcaptured at, 494.

Hisi. AiiASEA. 49

Sannakh Island, 128, 286, 470, GS.*?;

hostilities at, 141; uaiives of, 209,
San Nicoliis, puerto de, nained, 218.
Santa Barbara, Eliot taken to, 494.
Santa Cathariua, Kruseusteru's ex-
pedt. at, 424.
Santa Cristina Island, 201.
Santa Cruz, tradu with, 1817-23, 540.
Santa Cruz Bay, Arteaga names, 217.
Santa Magdalena Point named, 195.
Santa Margarita Point named, 195.
Santa Rita Island named, 218.
"Santiago," Spaniali ship, 195-7.
Santiago, Port, 219,273.
Sapoehnikof, Y. I., expedt. of, 183;

at Unga, 214.
Saranibo, Dionys, Lieut, expedt. of,

556-7.
Sarana, liquor from, f.7.
Sarychcf, Admiral, mistake of, 79.
Saryolief, Lieut, in Billings' expedt.,

282-96; eflforts against scurvy, 298;

charts of, 297.
Sauer, Martin, at Prince William

Sound, 190; prediction of, 252; in

expedt., 2S3-.mi; at Illiuliuk Bay,

294; report of, 301.
Savelief, Sido, in expedt., J740, 64-93;

captured, 70-1
SchaH'or, lleinricli, in expedt., 94.
Schietfelin, Ed., iuexpdt., 7H7-38.
Sclielil, lOlias, m expedt., 94.
ScliLltiiig, AleXPi, in expedt., 40, 51,

52, 93.
Schctler, Dr, actions of, 498-9, 503-9.
Schcrbinin, Milihail, in exiicdt., 93.
Seluschmaref, Lieut, with Kotzebue,

494.
Sciiool in Kamchatka 1741, 02; first

started, 227; established by Shell-

kof, 313.
Sell veikovsky, Lieut, with Lozarcf,504.
Schwatka, Lt, \ oyagc of, 732-5.
Scurvy, suflferings from, 261, 294, 298,

;J02, 357.
Scutdoo, outrage by, 1869, 614-15.
Seals, wholesale slaughter, 445, 416,

646; in Cal., 487, 488; habits, driv-
ing, and slaughtering, 654-8;

slaughtered, 18G8, 658.
Seal fisheries, threatened exhaustion of,

370; act to prevent destruction, 638.
Seal Islands, Bussiana at, 522.
Seal oil, yiehl and value, G39.
"Sea Otter," ship, 260.
Sea-otter, abundance of, 4, 7.3, 314;

Chinese trade, 88, 216; expedts for,

99-100, 350; at Gore Island, 211;

at Ltua Bay, 357; at Norfolk Sound,

358.

770

INDEX.

Seeber, Chester, oommr at Unalaska,
728.

Selawik, river, 5.

Seidell, Capt., report of , 620.

Seldovia, settlement, 679-80.

8elifontof, Vassili, in expedt., 94,

Seniiehi Island, 85.

Seniidi Islands, in Eadiak district,
530.

Seniavin, recommendationa of, 47-9.

"Seniavin," \oy. of, 547.

Suniavin, (Jape, named, 547.

Sercbrennikof, Andrei, of Moscow,
100; expedt. of, 1735, 115--J3.

Sercbiennikof, N., owned ship, 1G9; in
conspiracj', 179.

Seward, Mr, visit, 598, 599; opinion
of Alaska, 747.

Seymor Canal named, 280.

Sliadovski qiiarrcla with Pisaref, 57.

Shakmut, chief of Ilyamnas, 3G9, .170.

ShalaQrof, voyage of, 13; death of,
284.

Sliantar Inlands, expedt. to, 1742, 40;
explored, 97.

Sliapkiu, Vassili, in trading co., 18G.

Sharipof, Yakof, in hunting expedt.,
1759, 123.

Shashin, fate of, 411.

Shavrigin, Ivan, in expedt., 94.

Shdauof, Andrei, in hunting expedt.,
1759, 123.

Shebauof, in expedt., 160.

ShefTcr, Dr, with Lozaref, 504; biog.,
507.

Shehorbakof, MatveY, fur-trade mo-
nopoly, 110.

Shcldiurdin, in hunting expedt,, 103,
105.

Shckalef, Petr, in expedt., death of,
132, 133.

Shelages, tribe, 31.

Shclikof, Grigor Ivanovich, first men-
tioned, 182-85; tits out expedt.,
184; voy. of, 222-31; character of,
241, 299-300; plans and projects of,
2C6, 295, 297, 305-9, 352-4; cs-
tablisliment of, 286, 295; at court,
307; rewards to, 309; Baranof with,
315, 317; organizes central office,
354, 355; death, 365, 377; settle-
ments made by, 335; petition for
grant, 370.
Shclikof, Madame, manager of Russ.

Amer. Co.. 359, 360, 377, 382.
Shclikof Hay, 109.

Shelikof Co., Baranof at head, 320;
quarrels with Lcl;edcf Co., 339-42,
357, 376; Golovin's report, 358, 359;
operations of, 527-

Shelikof Sound, 2G0.
Shclikof Strait, 271, 2S7.
Shemchushuykof, Kiril, in expedt.,

94.
Shestakof, Afanassij', at St Peters-
burg, 37; expedt of, 37-40; result
of, 44.
Shestakof, Ivan, expedt. of 1729, 38.
Shi'tilof, Vassili, in expedt., 94.
i'- vyrin, in huutiug expedu, 10.*),

104, 114. 120-4.
Shields, ship-builder, 279, 32S-33;
expedta of, 331, 358; treatment of,
415, 416.
Shinganof, Andre, in expedt., 1740,

04, 93.
Shilkin, Ivan, hunting expcidts, 109,

112, 118-19.
Shilof, oukaz issued to, 126; forms
CO., 153; at St Petersburg, 155;
rcod by empress, 163; tits out ex-
pedt., 109.
Shiluf & Lapin Co., Zaikof in services

of, 170.
Shinn, H. U., director of mining co.,

740.
Sliip-lmilding, difficulties of Baranof,

32S-31; at Uuss Colony, 484.
Shircliir, Corp., in Scliwatka expedt..

732.
Shiuhaldin Mtn, 629.
Shislikin, Peter, map by, 120.
Shitikas, dcscript., 100.
Sinnalef, Capt., on Cook's expedt.,
213; commu. with Billings, 283, 284;
conid at Pctropavlovsk, 296, 312.
Shoalncss, point, 211.
Shoetzof, expedt. to Cal., 477-S, 48.".
Shoshin, in expedt., 170.
Shuiak Island, on Cook's chart. 208;
expedt. to, 228; trading postal, 2.'!0.
Shukof, Feodor, hunting expedt.. 108,

117.
Shuluk Sound, 205.
Shumagin, death of, 83
Shumagin Island, 2.>6, 286, 314, 5,30,
570; explored, 214; surveyed 1871-
2, 029; cod banks at, 604.
Shuralef, fits out expedt., 185.
Sibaief, Ivan, in conspiracy, 179.
Siberia, descript., 16; map of, 19;
famine 1743, 90-9; merchants of,
107; special privileges, 370; trade
with Cal. 1883, 630.
Sibiriaks, fear of Spauberg, 50.
Sidorof reveals conspiracy, 404.
Sicvcrs, recommendations of, 47-9.
Signam Island, expedt. at, 104.
Silver mines on tho Amoor, 20.
"Simeon," shin, 183.

INDEX.

771

Simeon, Father, agricultural experi-
ments of, 355.

Siinpaon, Sir George, actions of, 538-
60; yarrative of, 1841-2, 667.

Simuair ImIuuJ, colony formed, 545-6.

Si«son, Wallace, & Co., cannery of,

61 ;2.

Sitka, founding of, 179S-1801, 384-
400: massacre at, 1802, 401-20;
recaptured 1803-5, 421-42; U. 8.
in possession 1867, 559-600; offi-
cials, 601; riot at, 609-11; out-
rages on natives, 617-18; mail ser-
vice to, 628; settlement, 672-7;
social life at, 674-7; saw-mill,
630; church services at, 699-700;
Kchool at, 706.

"Sitka," ship, 461; wrecked, 462.

Sitka Bay, 230, 629.

Sitkans, treaty with, 3S7-8.

8itkhalidak Island, 208, 4.34, 4.35.

Sitkhin Island, Drushinnin stationed
at, 121.

Sitkliinak Island, 208.

Siwau, 1869, actions and fate of, 613.

.'^kaoushleoot, treachery of, 412.

Skilakh, lake, discontent of tribes at,
343.

Skipunskoi, Capo, wreck at, 153.

Skobeltzin, Peter, in expedt., 94.

Skuratof, Alexeif, Lieut, iu expedt.,
52, 93.

" Slava Rosaie," ship, 285-95.

Slaviauka River. See Russian River.

Sledge Island, Cook names, 210.

SloboJchikof, Pavel, expedt. to Cal.,
471.

Small-pox among natives, 350; epi-
demic, 560-3.

Smith, Leon, fate of, 014.

Smuggling, 633-5.

Snettisham, Port, named, 280.

Snug Corner Cove, Cook at, 203; dis-
covered, 200.

Soil, descript., 3.

Sokolof, Kosma, at Okhotsk 1714, 31.

Solmanof, Stepanof.iu consi)iracy, 178.

Solovief, Feodor, monopoly of, 110;
impressions, 129; expedt., 149-53,
1G9; infamies of, 150-1 ; fate, 154.

Somof, Vassili, in expedt, 94.

"So:'ora,"8hipin Spanish expedt, 197.

Sookiu, Lieut, conduct of, 457.

Sopohnikof, expedt. of, 155.

Sopronof, in conspiracy, 175.

South Shetland, furs from, 245.

Soaiu, explor. expedts, 1773-9, 194-
202, 217-21; expedt. to N. W.,
'70-5; frigate at Cook Inlot, 287:
iaims of, 444.

Spanberg, Capt. M., expcfits. of, .Sii,
41-59, 93, 9(3; biog., 50; recou-
noisaance of, 05.
Spencer, Cape, 203, 204, 279, 556,
"Sphanef," ship built, 07.
SjjiriJof, Sergei, in expedt., 93.
Spring Corner Cove, 207.
Spruce, abundance of, 6S9.
Spruce Island, village at, 682.
Sralef, in expedt., 160.
Stadukhiu, Mikhail, expedt. of 1650,

23.
Stadukhiu, Vassili, expedt. of 1711,29.
StfBhlin, maps of, 128, 211.
Stael, Frederich, in expedt., 53.
Stakihn River, 402.
Staniukovich, Capt., expedt. of 1828,

547.
States, Ky., commr at Junean, 728.
Steller, G. W., in expedts, 1740-1,
52-4, CI, 64, 60, 88-9, 92, 204;
biog., 53; joins Bering, 05; at Kyak,
80-1.
Stepauuf, in expedt., 160; in conspir-
acy, 175.
Stephanotf, comdr at St Michael,

6S5.
Stephens, Ph., 203.
Sterlegof, Dmitri, in expedt., 93.
Stevan, Jerodiakon, missionary, 300.
Stewart, Port, 277.
Stewart River, mining on, 737-8.
Stikcen Fort, attack on, 55S-9
Stikeeu River, English tradinf post

on, 55.5-6; surveyed, 570.
Stock-raising at Ross colony, 48G-7.
Strebykhin, Matvci", 1711 commandur

of Ani^irsh, 27.
Stroganoi, Anika, salt-works of, 15.
Stoney Lt, explor. expedt. of, 730,

737.
Stuart Island, 546, 538, 576.
Studentzof, attack ".>y natives, 119.
Stungel, Baron, oommd. at Petropav-

lovsk, 230-1.
Stupin, Ivan, in expedt., 93.
Sturgis, statement of, 408-9.
Suckling Cape, named, 204; nunters

lost at, 386.
Sukhotin, Ivan, Lieut, in expedt., 9.^.
Sukli Island, 576.

Sunda Straits, burial of Baranof, 514.
Sunkof, Sergei, in expedt., 93.
Sushetno River, explored 1843, 570.
Sutkhumokoi, Russians at, 522.
Sutter, .lohn A., purchases Ross

colony, 4S9.
" Suvarof," ihip, 504; voy. of, 510,

511.
Svistuuof, Ivan, in expedt., 94.

INDEX.

Sweden, war with Russia, 285.
Swineford, A. P., apptd govr, 732i
Rykes Toint, 277.
Sylva, Dr, with Lozaref, 604.
8ynd, Joann, iu expedt., 64, 93; pro-
moted, 96; expedtsof, 153, 167, 158.

Tabomkin, in expedt., 164.
Tagalak Island, 128.
Takoo Mines, 738, 739.
Takoo River, fort built on, 657; min-
ing on, 697.
Talin, behavior to Baranof, 391.
Tamary, King, troubles with, 499,

506-9.
Tamena, visit to Ha^emeister, 491.
Tanaga Island, Billings' expedt. at,

290.
Taniaky oatrog, 32.
Tatikhlck, village of, 260.
Tatitliatzk, Russians at, 345.
Tayatoot, natives, 145.
Taylor, Thomas, suit against Alacka

Commer. Co., 650.
Tcheclnua Island, 12&
Tchiukitdnd Sound, Indian name,

•275.
Tclutchinoff, Zakahai, sufferings on

Farallones, 487; Adventurea of,

MS., 520.
Tebenkof, Lieut, expedt. of, 548; gov.

1852, offl acts, 576, 684; founds

port, 685; charts of, 692.
Tegaldtt Island, village on, 562.
Tehukotsk, Cape, 354.
Temnak taken from Attoo, IDS.
Teneriffe, Krusenatern's expedt. of,

424.
Tereshkin, Yukaaiir Ivan Vassilievich,

deposition of, 1711, 27.
Terpigoref, survivor from " Neva "

wreck, 494.
Terra «lel Fuego, furs from, 245.
Thlinkeets, ncrccness, 239; inter-
course with UuBS., 2G8-9; sack

Vakutat, 300; promises of, 350;

surprise hunters, 384.
Three Saints, settlement, 320, 324,

414; first church at, 362; storehouses

at, 389; school at, 706.
Three Saints Bay, 228, 230, 434, 433.
Tigil River, 31, 157.
Tiulimenef, character of Rezanof, 460,
Timber, resources of, 688-90.
Timofeief, journey to Pacific, 9.
Tinnohs, natives, 207.
Tuaianas, natives, 144.

Tobobk, Fort, 17; expedta at, 38, 66,

160.
Togiak River, Korasakovsky expedt.

at, 521.
Tolbukbin, investigation by, 1739,

59.
Toldin, Yegor Vassilievich, 1711, de.

position of, 27.
Tolstykh, AndreY, hunting expedt.,

1749, 108, 111, 116; expedt., 1760-

4, 127-.S0, 153, 168.
Tomari, King, domain of, 606.
Tomsk, founded, 17; Siberian contin-
gent at, 96.
Tongass, suffering at settlement, 660.
Tongass Fort, U. S. military post,

679.
Torckler, trade of at Petropaulovsk,

296.
Toyunok, outrage on party from, 336.
Trading Bay, Portlock at, 262.
Traitor Cove, origin of na^e, 277.
Trapezuikof, Arkhip, permit to, 101;

monopoly, 110.
Trapezuikof, Nikofor, partner with

Bassof, 100; hunting expedta, 1746,

1752-8,62, 108, 111, 112, 114, 117,

120, 1.30, 131; voy. of, 112; enter-
prise, 135.
Trauemicht, sends expeiU., 1711, 28.
Treadwell, mine owner, 740.
Tredwell mine, account of, 740-2.
Treaty, signed and ratified 1867, 594.
"Trekh Sviatitch," ship, 183, 223,

266, 352, 355-7; wrecked, 318.
Tretiakof, Alexei, in expedt., 94.
Treveuen, Lieut, with Cook, 307.
Tribute, collecting of, 130, 168, 231-

7; from Aleuts, 294; end of system,

297-8.
Trinidad, Cape, 145.
Trinity Island, 208, 271.
Trocadero, Caiios de la, named, 218.
Trupisohef, Tryfon, orders to, 1730,

33.
Tschemich, rancho at 6odeg.i, 439.
Tubinskoi, Mikhail, in trauiug co.,

186.
Tugidak Island, natives from, 366.
Tuniakaif, fate of, 407-11.
Tumannoi Island, discovered, 62; Cook

at, 208.
Tunguse, order preserved among, 232.
Tunulgasan, native chief, 1 18, 128.
Turn-again River, Cook names, 208.
TuyursKoi, in expedt., 184.
Two-headed Cape, 208.
Tyrin, Stenheu.hunting expedt., 1747-

9, 109, 111
Tzaklie Island, 288.

INDEX.

7TS

Uganak, trading post at, 230.
Ugak Bay, trading post at, 230.
Ulga Island, village on, 562.
Umnak Island, expedts at, 123, 131,

136, 147, 154, 164, 168; Korovin

wrecked, 138; coast surveyed, 148;

Zalikof at, 173.
Unkovsky, Lieut, with Lozaref, 504.
Unalaska, trade with natives, 120;

expedt. and visitors at, 132, 164-5,

168, 171, 182, 183, 23.S, 260. 272, 295,

600, 647; massacre at, 133-40, 145,

154; natives submit, 152; church,

700; school, 708-9; rainfall, 710.
Unalaska Island, 72, 128, 296, 576;

expedts at, 137, 285, 291; black

foxes, 141; village, 562.
Uualakleet, village of, 574.
Unalga, attack of natives, 165.
Unalga Island, village on, 662.
Unalga Strait, 209.
Unga Island, 300; Mole! escapes to,

319.
"Unicom," ship, at Sitka, 406.
Uuimak, expedt. 165; village, 562,
Unimak Strait, Za'ikof residence at,

213.
Unimak, volcano, 209, 272.
Unimaks, the chief of, at Amik, 191.
United American Co., confirmed

by imperial decree, 378-83; name

changed, 379.
United States, treaty with, 542.
United States officials, appointment

of, 727, 728.
Unmak, villages at, 662.
Ust-Yana, commanders of, 1710, 28.
Ust-Yanskoie Simovie, expedt. from,

1712, 29.

, . ' ?•

Vagin, Merkuri, expedt., death of,
1711-12,28-9.

Valile's Bay, named, 273.

Vallenar Pdint, 277.

Vancouver, Geo., voyag- c*. 1791-4,
276-81, 348, 498; observations, 79;
hunting parties, 239; on competi-
tion, 249-50; on Kaknu river, 336;
charts of, 692.

Vancouver Island, 244, 532,

Varonin, Luka, in expedts, 283, 293.

Vassilaief, expedt. cf, 1829, 546, 547.

Vassih, in conspiracy, 178,

Vassilievich, Ivan, Tartar yoke, 5,

Vass utiiiski, Petr, in expedt., 127,
129, 130.

Velikopolski, AndreT, in expedt., 93.
Veniaminof, missionary career, 364-^}

statement, 684; bishop, 701-4.
Vereslichagin, Ivan, in expedt,, 92.
Verkhneikamchatsk, 312.
Verkhnoi Kovima, Billings at, 284.
Verstovoi, expedt. at, 388.
Verstovoi, Mt, 674.
Vilegin, visits Kopaf, 1724, 31.
Viliuya River, "Juno" wrecked on,

474.
Vinzent, Thomas, in expedt., 03.
" Vladimir," ship, 120, 155.
Voievodsky, Capt,, elected gov. 1850,

585.
Volkof, Ivan, in conspiracy, 179.
Von Verd, mate to Bering, 47,
Vorobief, Alexeli, in hunting expedt.,

112.
Vosikof, Mikhail, in expedt., 93.
Voskressenski, "The Orel" at, 331;

ship-building at, 341, 351, 355.
Voskressenski Bay, Yakutat expedt.

at, 345; Baranof at, 357, 395,
Vosnessensky Island, Pinart at, 629.
"Vostochnui Gavril,"8hip, 97.
Vsevidof, Andrei, hunting expedt.,

108.
Vtoruikh, death of, 108,
Vtroushin, Luka, expedt. of, 144,
Vuikhodzef, Mikhail, in expedt,, 94.

Walker, fate of, 1869, 611-12.

Walker Cove. 277.

Walton, William, lieut in expedt,, 51,
52, 93.

Warren Island, 277.

Waxel,Lt,in expedts, 1740-2,62,64,
79-96; journal, 67; cart, 79,

Wedge Island, 277.

Weidnl, Friedrioh, in expedt,, 94.

Wells, Port. I'amed, 278,

Westciabl, Ferdinand, statement of,
677-8.

Western Fur and Trading Co., stores
of, 681.

Western Union Telegraph Co,, opera-
tions of, 576-8,

Whale Bay, 2r,9, 265.

Whale, humpback, 669.

Whale, sperm, 669.

Whaling, descript. and value, 582-
3, 668-670.

Whidbey, Lieut, passed up Stephens-
Passage, 280.

White, Capt. J. W,, acct of natives,
619; actions, 637; stetement, 747.

774

INDEX.

White Point, named, 265.

Whitsunday, Cape, 208.

Whymper, at St Michael, 685.

Williams, Haven, & Co., of Alaska
Commer. Co., 646.

Williamson, Lieut, at Cape Newen-
ham, 209.

Willougbby, Sir Hugh, voyage, 1653,
8.

Wilson, Dr, in Schwatka expedt.,
7.32.

Windblath, Major, in conspiracy, 175,
178.

Winshin, John, hunting expedt. to
Cal., 1809, 480.

Winship, Nathan, hunting expedt. to
Cal., 1810, 480-1.

Winter, Lutheran pastor at Sitka,
702.

Wittemore, hunting expedt. to Cal.,
1812, 481.

Woahoo, Dr Soheffer at, 499.

"Wolcott," ship, 620.

Wolf, Capt., supplies purchased of,
629.

Wood, voyage of, 1676, 13.

Wood, W. H., mayor of Sitka, 1867,
601.

Wood Island, ice trade, 587; settle-
ment, 681, 682; saw-mill, 690.

Wonnskloid, scientist with Kotzebue,
494.

Wosdwith, Capt., joins adversaries of
Scheffer, 508.

Wolves. See Fur-trade.

Wiaugell, Baron, travels of, 22; rec-
ommend, of, 463; in Cal., 485; mis-
sion to Mex., 1838, 488; apptd govr,
548; offl acts of,- 548-56, 691.

Wrangell, Fort, troubles at, 613-16,
6-3^; description, 677-9; agric.
at, 587; school, 710.

Wrangell Island renamed, 619; lead
found, 696.

Wymea, fort erected at, 508.

Yago, Dmitri, fur-trade monopoly,
110.

Yakhontof, Ilia, in expedt., 94.

Yakovlef, Petr, investigations of,
14!.

Yakonts.-, school at, 707.

YakuUt, disasters at, 252, 300, 451,
455, 515; agric. at, 300; convict col-
ony, 358; settlement at, 896. 401;
■hip-buiiding at, 420.

Yakutat Bay, expedts at, 204, 26.1,
344, 3.")0; "Tlirekh Sviatittli" at,
268: colony, 352; Baranof at. S'lli;
suflferings on, 357; map, 390; forts
on, 414.

Yakutat tribe, 239; engagements with,
32G-7.

Yakutsk founded, 17, 18; expedts at,
56, 57, 160, 284, 298; conspiracy at,
176.

Yana, expedt. from, 28-9.

Yaua River, 19; island on, .30.

Yanovsky, Lieut, Hageincister's repre-
sentative, 511; report of, 522; acting
chief manager, 6.34.

" Yasatchnoi,^' ship, 284.

Yatof, Radion,inhuntini;expedt.,102.

Yeames, Lamb, ship-builder, 283.

Yelagin, in expedt., 1740, 64, 65, 74,
93; explorations, 1739, 95; pro-
moted, 96.

Yelovoi Island, school at, 706.

Yenissei River information of, 1595,
11; ship built on, 56.

Yenisseisk, fouuded, 17; contingent
at, 96.

"Yeremy,"ship, 112.

"Yermak," ship built at Yakutat, 420.

Yermak Timofoief, visits Strogivuof,
1578, 15.

Yerinola, baptized, 122.

Yevdokia, shitika built, 102.

Yevreinof, Ivan, expedt. 1719-21, .32,
33, 44.

Young, Capt., cruising for Rusa.
Amer. Co., 525.

Yugof, Emilian, traffic monopoly,
death, 110, 111.

Yukon, Fort, population of, 686; tem-
perature, 711.

Yukon River, 211, 530, 550, 55.3, 576,
629; source of, 4, 5; shoals, 41;
salmon run, 661, 662; mining; on,
698, 737, 738; Schwutka explore,
732-5; Everett explors. 735-0.

"Yulian,"8hip, 120.

Yullits, natives, 191.

Yunaska Islniid, 128.

Yurlof, death of, 108.

Yurlof, Audrei'an, in expedt., 93

Yurlof, Moissei, in expedt., 93.

Yushin, Kharlam, 64, 93.

Zadskoi, Heraclius, in conspiracy, 179.
Zagoskin, Lieut, expedt. of, lb42,
653-4.

INDEX.

ZaYkof, Potop, cxpedta of, 1772-5,
1783, 170. 173. 186, 191, 219; report
of, 141; in trading Co., 186; at Un-
alaalia, 214, 272; meets Vancouver,
278; map, 214.

Za'i'kof, Stepan, expedt. of, 185; chief
at St Nicolas, 342; character of,
343.

" Zakher i Elizaveta," voyage of, 123;
1.30-5.

Zakhmilin, bravery of, 328.

Zand, in expedt., 1741-2, 00.
Zano, engineer, in expedt., 736.
Zaaheivei'Hk, liaunur inspector ut, 416.
Zavailof, Elias, in trading co., 186.
Zokharin, Lieut, with Kotzubue, 494.
" Zossima i Savatiu," ship, voyage of,

184.
Zubof, Count, settlers sent by, ,399.
Zubot, Sava, Capt.-Iieut, signs oukaz,

120.
Zybin, Capt, comdt at Okhotsk, 153.