Chapter XIV: Morse and Mahlemoöt (2)

There are probably six or seven thousand human beings in Alaska who live largely by virtue of the existence of _Rosmarus_, and every year, when the season opens, they gather together by settlements, as they are contiguous, and discuss the walrus chances for a coming year as earnestly and as wisely as our farmers who confer over their prospects for corn and potatoes. But an Eskimo hunter is a sadly improvident mortal, though he is not wasteful of morse life, while we are provident, and yet wasteful of our resources.

If the North Pole is ever reached by our people, they will do so only when they can eat walrus-meat and get plenty of it—at least that is my belief—and, knowing now what the diet is, I think the journey to that hyperborean _ultima_ is a long one, though there is plenty of meat and many men who want to try it.

An Active Volcanic Nodule near St. Matthew’s Island: (bearing W. N. W. 2m.)]

Unless we spend a winter in the Arctic Ocean above Bering Straits we will not be able to see a polar bear; but there is one place, and one place only, in Alaska where in midsummer we can land, and there behold on its swelling, green, and flowery uplands hundreds of these huge ursine brutes. That place is the island of St. Matthew, and it is right in our path as we leave St. Lawrence and head for Oonimak Pass and home.

[_An Innuit “double purchase.” St. Lawrence Island._]]

St. Matthew Island is an odd, jagged, straggling reach of bluffs and headlands, connected by bars and lowland spits. The former, seen at a little distance out at sea, resemble half a dozen distinct islands. The extreme length is twenty-two miles, and it is exceedingly narrow in proportion. Hall Island is a small one that lies west from it, separated from it by a strait (Sarichev) less than three miles in width, while the only other outlying land is a sharp, jagged pinnacle-rock, rearing itself over a thousand feet abruptly from the sea, standing five miles south of Sugar-loaf Cone on the main island. From a cleft and blackened fissure, near the summit of this serrated pinnacle-rock, volcanic fire and puffs of black smoke have been recorded as issuing when first discovered, and they have issued ever since.

Our first landing, early in the morning of August 5th, was at the spot under Cub Hill, near Cape Upright, the easternmost point of the island. The air came out from the northwest cold and chilly, and snow and ice were on the hill-sides and in the gullies. The sloping sides and summits of these hills were of a grayish, russet tinge, with deep-green swale flats running down into the lowlands, which are there more intensely green and warmer in tone. A pebble-bar formed by the sea between Cape Upright and Waterfall Head is covered with a deep stratum of glacial drift, carried down from the flanks of Polar and Cub Hills, and extending over two miles of this water-front to the westward, where it is met by a similar washing from that quarter. Back, and in the centre of this neck, are several small lakes and lagoons without fish; but emptying into them are a number of clear, lively brooks, in which were salmon-parr of fine quality. The little lakes undoubtedly receive them; hence they were land-locked salmon. A luxuriant growth of thick moss and grass, interspersed, existed almost everywhere on the lowest ground; and occasionally strange dome-like piles of peat were lifted four or five feet above marshy swales, and appeared so remarkably like abandoned barraboras that we repeatedly turned from our course to satisfy ourselves personally to the contrary.

As these lowlands ascend to the tops of higher hills, all vegetation changes rapidly to a simple coat of cryptogamic gray and light russet, with a slippery slide for the foot wherever a steep flight or climbing was made. Water oozes and trickles everywhere under foot, since an exhalation of frost is in progress all the time. Sometimes these swales rise and cross hill-summits to the valleys again without any interruption in their wet, swampy character. The action of ice in rounding down and grinding hills, chipping bluffs, and chiselling everywhere, carrying the soil and _débris_ into depressions and valleys, is most beautifully exhibited on St. Matthew. The hills at the foot of Sugar-loaf Cone are bare and literally polished by ice-sheets and slides of melting snow. Rocks and soil from these summits and slopes are carried down and “dumped,” as it were, in numberless little heaps beneath, so that the foot of every hill and out on the plain around strongly put us in mind of those refuse-piles which are dropped over the commons or dumping-grounds of a city. Nowhere can the work of ice be seen to finer advantage than here, aided and abetted, as it undoubtedly is, by the power of wind, especially with regard to that chiselling action of frost on the faces of ringing metallic porphyry cliffs.

The flora here is as extensive as on the Seal Islands, two hundred miles to the southward; but the species of _gramma_ are not near so varied. Indeed, there is very little grass around about. Wherever there is soil it seems to be converted by the abundant moisture into a swale or swamp, over which we travelled as on a quaking water-bed; but on the rounded hilltops and ridge-summits wind-driven and frost-splintered shingle makes good walking. Both of these climatic agencies evidently have a permanent iron grip on this island.

The west end of St. Matthew differs materially from the east. A fantastic weathering of the rocks at Cathedral Point, Hall Island, will strike the eye of a most casual observer as his ship enters the straits going south. This eastern wall of that point looms up from the water like a row of immense cedar-tree trunks. The scaling off of basaltic porphyry and a growth of yellowish-green and red mossy lichens made the effect most real, while a vast bank of fog lying just overhead seemed to shut out from our vision the foliage and branches that should be above. This north cape of Hall Island changes when approached, with every mile’s distance, to a new and altogether different profile.

Our visit at the west end of the island of St. Matthew was, geologically speaking, the most interesting experience I have ever had in Alaska. A geologist who may desire to study the greatest variety of igneous forms _in situ_, within a short and easy radius, can do no better than make his survey here. These rocks are not only varied by mineral colors, together with a fantastic arrangement of basalt and porphyry, but are rich and elegant in their tinting by the profuse growth of lichens—brown, yellow, green, and bronze.

An old Russian record prepared us, in landing, to find bears here, but it did not cause us to be equal to the sight we saw, for we met bears—yea, hundreds of them. I was going to say that I saw bears here as I had seen seals to the south, but that, of course, will not do, unless as a mere figure of speech. During the nine days that we were busy in surveying this island, we never were one moment, while on land, out of sight of a bear or bears; their white forms in the distance always answered to our search, though they ran from our immediate presence with a wild celerity, travelling in a swift, shambling gallop, or trotting off like elephants. Whether due to the fact that they were gorged with food, or that the warmer weather of summer subdued their temper, we never could coax one of these animals to show fight. Its first impulse and its last one, while within our influence, was flight—males, females, and cubs—all, when surprised by us, rushing with one accord right, left, and in every direction, over the hills and far away.

After shooting half a dozen, we destroyed no more, for we speedily found that we had made their acquaintance at the height of their shedding-season, and their snowy and highly prized winter-dress was a very different article from the dingy, saffron-colored, grayish fur that was flying like downy feathers in the wind, when ever rubbed or pulled by our hands. They never growled, or uttered any sound whatever, even when shot or wounded.

Here, on the highest points, where no moss ever grows, and nothing but a fine porphyritic shingle slides and rattles beneath our tread, are bear-roads leading from nest to nest, or stony lairs, which they have scooped out of frost-splintered _débris_ on the hill-sides, and where old she-bears undoubtedly bring forth their young: but it was not plain, because we saw them only sleeping, at this season of the year, on the lower ground; they seemed to delight in stretching themselves upon, and rolling over, the rankest vegetation.

They sleep soundly, but fitfully, rolling their heavy arms and legs about as they doze. For naps they seem to prefer little grassy depressions on the sunny hill-sides and along the numerous water-courses, and their paths were broad and well beaten all over the island. We could not have observed less than two hundred and fifty or three hundred of these animals while we were there; at one landing on Hall Island there were sixteen in full sight at one sweep of our eyes, scampering up and off from the approach of the ship’s boat.

Provided with more walrus-meat than he knows what to do with, the polar bear, in my opinion, has never cared much for the Seal Islands; the natives have seen them, however, on St. Paul, and its old men have their bear stories, which they tell to a rising generation. The last “medvait” killed on St. Paul Island was shot at Bogaslov in 1848; none have ever come down since, and very few were there before, but those few evidently originated at and made St. Matthew Island their point of departure. Hence I desire to notice this hitherto unexplored spot, standing, as it does, two hundred miles to the northward of St. Paul, and which, until Lieutenant Maynard and myself, in 1874, surveyed and walked over its entire coast-line, had not been trodden by white men, or by natives, since that dismal record made by a party of five Russians and seven Aleutes who passed the winter of 1810-11 on it, and who were so stricken down with scurvy as to cause the death of all the Russians save one, while the rest barely recovered and left early the following year. We found the ruins of those huts which had been occupied by this unfortunate and discomfited party of fur-hunters; they were landed there to secure polar bears in the depth of winter, when such shaggy coats should be the finest.

As we complete our review of St. Matthew and its ursine occupation, the circuit of Alaska has been made—its impression we have recorded, and the path from here home again is a bee-line to the Golden Gate over

“Nothing, nothing but the sea—
Vast in its immensity?”

FOOTNOTES:

[163] Captain F. W. Beechey H. M. S. _Blossom_, voyage 1825-28, inclusive. The seasons of 1826 and 1827 were passed in these waters. Murdoch, who passed the winters of 1881-83, inclusive, here, has given an interesting _résumé_ of the natural history, etc., of the spot. Beechey’s account of the people and country are confirmed by him.

[164] These favored basaltic tables are also commented upon in similar connection by an old writer in 1775, Shuldham, who calls them “echouries;” he is describing the Atlantic walrus as it appears at the Magdalen Islands: “The echouries are formed principally by nature, being a gradual slope of soft rock, with which the Magdalen Islands abound, about eighty to one hundred yards wide at the water-side, and spreading so as to contain, near the summit, a very considerable number.” The tables at Walrus Island and those at Southwest Point are very much less in area than those described by Shuldham, and are a small series of low, saw-tooth jetties of the harder basalt, washed in relief, from a tufa matrix; there is no room to the landward of them for many walruses to lie upon. The _Odobœnus_ does not like to haul up on loose or shingly shores, because it has the greatest difficulty in getting a solid hold for its fore flippers with which to pry up and move ahead its huge, clumsy body. When it hauls on a sand-beach, it never attempts to crawl out to the dry region back of the surf, but lies just awash, at high water. In this fashion they used to rest all along the sand-reaches of St. Paul prior to the Russian advent in 1786-87; and when Shuldham was inditing his letters on the habits of _Rosmarus_, _Odobœnus_ was then lying out in full force and great physical peace on the Pribylov Islands.

[165] It is, and always will be, a source of sincere regret to me and my friends that I did not bodily preserve this huge paunch and its contents. It would have filled a half-barrel very snugly, and then its mass of freshly swallowed clams (_Mya truncata_), filmy streaks of macerated kelp, and fragments of crustaceans, could have been carefully examined during a week of leisure at the Smithsonian Institution. It was, however, ripped open so quickly by one of the Aleutes, who kicked the contents out, that I hardly knew what had been done ere the strong-smelling subject was directly under my nose. The natives then were anxious that I should hurry through with my sketches, measurements, etc., so that they might the sooner push off their egg-laden bidarrah and cross back to the main island before the fogs would settle over our homeward track, or the rapidly rising wind shift to the northward and imperil our passage. Weighty reasons these, which so fully impressed me, that this unique stomach of a _carnivora_ was overlooked and left behind; hence, with the exception of curiously turning over the clams (especially those uncrushed specimens), which formed the great bulk of its contents, I have no memoranda or even distinct recollection of the other materials that were incorporated.

INDEX.

A

Adahk, island of, 183

Aggatoo, island of, 179

Agricultural features in Sitkan region, 18, 22, 24, 25, 35
in Kadiak region, 103, 106, 107
in Cook’s Inlet region, 83, 84, 85, 86
in Aleutian region, 184, 185
in Seal Islands, 204
in Yukon Valley and the North, 421, 443

Agents of the United States Government, 251, 252

Akootan, island of, 151, 153
volcano of, 153

Akoon, island of, 150, 154
wolves on, 156

Alaska, its area and population, 13, 14
its discovery, 1, 2, 3, 5
its purchase by United States Government, 11, 12

Alaska Commercial Company, its history, 224, 245, 247, 248, 249

Albinos and monstrosities, few among fur-seals, 306

Alexander Archipelago, its land and scenery, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
26, 271
its earliest white occupation, 28, 29, 30
all visitors necessarily go there, 14, 15

Alexandrovsk, established by Kolmakov (1834), 375, 376

Aleutes, traits, characteristics of, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168,
169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174

Algæ, or sea-weeds, those of Sitkan waters, 20
those of Aleutian waters, 182
those of Pribylov waters, 214, 215

American traders, business relations of Baranov with, 28
business methods in Sitkan region, 36, 37, 38, 39
business methods in Aleutian region, 129, 191
business methods in Yukon and Kuskokvim regions, 384, 414, 418, 424
business methods in Arctic Ocean, 425

Amchitka, island of, 181, 184

Amlia, island of, 182

Animals, fur-bearing and food, in the Sitkan region, 55, 61, 62
in the Cook’s Inlet region, 91
in the Aleutian region, 151, 156, 163, 178
in the Nooshagak region, 381, 382, 399
in the Kuskokvim region, 381, 382, 399
in the Yukon and Arctic region, 418, 425, 426, 440

Area and extent of Alaska, 13, 14

Arrie egg-shells, their toughness, 222

Atkha, island and natives of, 144, 180, 181, 182, 183

Attitudes and land postures of fur-seals, 280

Attoo, extreme western land of North American continent, 143, 179, 180

Auroral and nephelogical phenomena, 158, 198, 420

Autocratic powers of the old Russian American Company, 9

Avatanak, island of, 154

B

Bachelor, or “holluschiokie” fur-seals, 294, 295, 296, 297

Baird, Professor S. F., 190

Banks, codfishing, 122, 123, 124

Baranov, Alexander, character of, 6, 28

Barrabkie, a, how it is made, 135, 166, 167

Basking sharks and killer-whales, 325, 327

Bath, Innuit, vile methods, 387

Barrow, Point, 440

Battles of the fur-seals, 265, 266

Bays indenting coast of Kadiak, 115, 116
of Oonalashka, 159

Bear “Roads,” 89

Beaver Bay, Oonalashka Island, 176

Bering’s expedition of Alaskan discovery, 1, 2, 3
the discovery of Alaska, 2, 3
the ill-fated homeward voyage, 3, 4, 124
the shipwreck and escape of survivors, 4, 191

Bering Straits, 428, 429, 430, 431, 441

Belcovsky, village of, 119, 120

Bidarrah, use of, how it is made, 346, 347, 453, 454

Bidarka, use of, how it is made, 133

Birth of fur-seals, 282

Bishop Innocent Veniaminov, his labors, 309

Blubber of fur-seal, sea-lion, mahklok, and beluga, 292, 345, 405

Bogaslov Islet, volcanic eruption of, recently, 186, 167

Borka, village of, 176, 177

Bristol Bay, 118, 398

Breeding grounds, number of fur-seals on, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314,
315, 316, 317, 319, 320, 321
of sea-lions, 187, 310, 354, 356, 357, 358, 361
of hair-seals, 256
of sea-otters, 132
of water-fowl, 210, 211

Burials and funerals of the Sitkans or Thlinkets, 50
of the Innuits or Eskimo, 389, 410
of the Aleutes, 178

Burnt or Brulé districts, 408, 409

C

Camps, Innuit summer, 381, 426
Kenaitze hunting, 91

Canoes, Sitkan, 62, 63
Ingaleek, 417

Carousals, Aleutian beer orgies, 137, 174, 175

Carving bone and ivory, skill of Innuits, 384
wood, skill of Haidahs, 49

Cape Prince of Wales, 428, 429, 431

Capture of sea-otters, 128, 191, 133
of sea-lions, 364, 365

Carcasses of slaughtered fur-seals, 350, 351, 352, 353

Cassiar Gold-diggings, 17, 18, 25

Cattle in Alaska, 86, 106, 107, 178, 184

Cereals, total failure in Alaska, 107

Chernaboor islets, 138, 141

Christianity among the Aleutes and Kadiakers, 115, 116, 171, 172,
241, 246
among the Innuits, 410
among the Thlinkets, 40, 41, 42

Church, Greek, 40, 41, 120, 121, 137, 164, 174, 178, 241, 388

Clans, the several Sitkan tribes, 43

Climate of the Sitkan region, 24
of the Mount St. Elias region, 72, 77
of the Cook’s Inlet region, 93
of the Kadiak region (see Cook’s Inlet)
of the Aleutian Islands, 158, 185
of the Pribylov Islands, 194, 195, 196, 197
of the Nooshagak region, 382, 404
of the Kuskokvim region, 382, 404, 407
of Michaelovsky and the Yukon, 421, 422, 424
of Arctic coast of Alaska, 427

Coal in Cook’s Inlet, 125
in the Arctic, 125, 438
in Shoomagin Group, 125
in Sitkan region, 70, 71

Coins, Russian names and values of, 8

Codfish, industry of, at Oonga, 122, 123, 124

Companies, rival trading, 191

Consumption, chief cause of death-rate among natives, 110

Cook’s Inlet, characteristics of, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87
country north of, 87

Copper River, its character, 76, 77

Cossacks, Russian and Siberian, 128, 159

Courage of fur-seals, 279

Creoles, what they are, 108

Crillon, Mount, 72

Cruelties inflicted by Russian traders upon natives, 6, 128, 147, 159

Curing and dressing fur-seal skins, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349

D

Dangers of Alaskan coast navigation, 76, 83, 117, 123, 218, 219, 374,
375, 395, 440, 442
to which young fur-seals are exposed, 283, 329, 330

Death, natural, of fur-seals, 307

Decay of the Russian American Company after Baranov’s removal, 11

Deer, Sitkan, 55, 62
Rein, 121, 122, 397, 418

Definition of technical terms on Seal Islands, 320, 321

Delta of the Copper River, 75, 77
of the Yukon River, 414, 415

Deschnev, Simeon, his remarkable voyage (1648), 429

Diet of natives of the Sitkan region, 58
of the Cook’s Inlet region, 95
of the Kadiak region, 136, 137
of the Aleutian region, 168
of the Seal Islands, 241, 242, 243
of the Innuits, 382, 383, 454, 455, 456

Diomedes, islands of, Bering Straits, 430, 431, 432, 441

Diseases, natives most afflicted with, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 238

Docility of fur-seals when driven, and being killed, 335

Dogs, Eskimo, 388
Sitkan, 61
none on the Aleutian Chain, 158

Dressing fur-seal skins, 348, 349

Driving fur-seals, 333, 334, 336
sea-lions, 366, 367, 368

Dwellings of the Aleutes, 133, 166, 167
of the Innuits, 378, 379, 380, 381, 426
of the Cook’s Inlet Kenaitze, 91, 92, 93
of the Sitkans or Thlinkets, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 60, 64
of the Seal Islanders, 232, 233
of the white fur-traders, 36, 175

E

Earthquakes, 146, 147, 148, 161, 186, 189

Eggs, water-fowl, gastronomic value of, 211

Epidemic among seals, 324

Employés, superannuated “old colonial settlers,” 85, 86

Eskimo of Alaska (see Innuits)

Experiments with fur-seals, 263, 264

Extermination of fur-seals, 231, 307, 308, 309, 324
of sea-otters, 129
of walrus, 458, 459

Extent and area of Alaska, 13, 14

Eyes of fur-seals, beauty of, 291
of fur-seals, lurid lights in, 341
of sea-lion, ferocity of, 355
of walrus, grotesqueness of, 449

F

Fairweather, Mount, 71, 72

Familiar flowering plants on the Seal Islands, 200, 201, 202, 203
on the Arctic coast of Alaska, 440

Fasting, long-protracted, of male fur-seals, 272, 273

Festivals, native Innuit, 390, 391, 392, 393, 423

First school in Alaska, 102

First mission in Alaska, 102

Fishing industries of the Sitkans, 59
of the Aleutes, 168
of the Shoomagin Islands, 122, 123, 124
of the Kuskokvim and Yukon, 404
of the Arctic, 434, 435
of Americans at Cook’s Inlet, 93
of Americans at Kadiak Island, 115, 116

Flowers, wild, great abundance of, 177, 420

Forest trees of Alaska, 21, 22, 79, 85, 103, 104, 105, 157, 408, 409,
416, 424

Forests of Alaska, 21, 71, 408, 409

Foxes, blue (_Vulpes lagopus_), 180, 205, 206
red, 180, 206

Four Peaks, or “Cheetiery Sopochnie,” 186

Fruits indigenous to Sitkan district, 22, 23
indigenous to Aleutian district, 168
indigenous to Kuskokvim district, 411
indigenous to Seal Islands, 201

Fur-seal, arrival of at breeding grounds, 292, 293-297
boldness of, 129, 331
description of adult male, 258, 259, 260, 261
description of adult female, 273, 274, 275, 276
description of “pups,” 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289
odor and noise of, 265, 270, 281
erroneous ideas of its skin, 347, 348
effect of warm weather on, 306
first arrival at the islands, 262
food of, 328, 329
healthiness of, 324
high order of instinct of, 258, 301
numbers of, 310-313, 324, 326
increase or diminution or, 317, 318, 328, 333
in the waters around the islands, 286, 299, 300, 302, 331, 361
manner of killing and skinning, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342
manner of salting, dressing, and shipping skins of, 345-349
meat of, 344
method of land travel, 260
natural enemies of, 325, 327, 330
noise on the breeding rookeries, 270, 271
movements on land and in water, 286, 289, 298, 362
pelagic range of, in search of food, 329, 330
“podding” of its “pups,” 289
polygamous and angry males, 275, 276, 277, 278
position and selection of hauling-grounds, 295, 296
power of land locomotion, 267
pre-emption of rookeries, 265, 276
prostration of, by heat or driving, 271, 272
range of vision of, 291
relative growth and weight of, 304, 305
sanguinary combats of, 265, 266
shedding of hair and fur, 285, 290, 302, 303
sleep of, 280, 281
sleep on land of, 280, 281
skill in selecting rookeries, 277
strength and courage of the male, 265, 267
tabulated result of surveys, 312
vitality of, 283, 323
voice of, 268, 269, 270

G

Games, festivals, etc., of the Aleutes, 239, 240, 241
of the Innuits, 393, 423
of the Thlinkets or Sitkans, 65

Glaciers of the Aleutian Islands, 183
of Cook’s Inlet, 84
of Prince William Sound, 78
of the Sitkan Archipelago and Cross Sound, 19, 20
of Mount St. Elias region, 75
of Copper River region, 76
easy approach to Grand, Icy Bay, 19, 20

Gold-bearing quartz, Sitkan Archipelago, 69, 70
Cook’s Inlet, 96, 97

Golovin Bay, Norton’s Sound, mines in, 424

Goreloi, island of, 183, 184

Government, civil laws, etc., for Alaska, 42

Greek Church, in Alaska, 40, 41, 120, 121, 137, 164, 174, 178, 388

Guano, accumulation prevented, 221

H

Haidah Indians, best savages of the Sitkan region, 44
house, or “rancherie,” 46, 47, 48, 49, 51

Hair-seal, description of, 255, 256, 257, 332
picture of _Phoca-fœtida_, 441
picture of _E. barbatus_, 383

Halibut, Sitkan natives fishing for, 55, 63
Aleutes fishing for, 212, 213

Hauling grounds, selection of, by fur-seals, 294, 295, 296

Hogs, 108, 208

Hot springs, near Sitka, 68
Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, 122, 183, 184

Homeward voyage and shipwreck of Bering, 3, 4

Human protection of fur-seals, 373

Hunting sea-otter, 127, 128, 129, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139,
140, 141, 142, 143, 144

Hutchinson, H.M., his labors, 247, 248

I

Ice Company, San Francisco, 105

Icy Bay, grand glacier in, 19, 20

Ilyamna, volcano of, 87
lake, 396

Implements, agricultural, manufacture of, at Sitka, 33

Indians of the Sitkan region, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54,
59, 60, 64, 65

Ingaleek, or Interior Indians of Alaska, 408, 417, 418

Innuits, or Eskimo, characteristics of, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381,
382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394,
411, 426, 431, 432, 437, 456, 457, 458

Intoxication among Alaskan natives, 66, 137, 174, 175, 235

J

Japanese and Aleutian facial resemblance, 163

Jumping out of water by fur-seals, 300, 301

Juneau, gold mining at, 69

Juvenal, tragic death of Father, 396, 397

K

Kadiak, the island of, 98, 99, 103
sheep raising, 107
old colonial citizens of, 104
sea-otter hunting by natives of, 116
old ship-building industry, 105, 106
Ice Company of San Francisco, 105
timber line drawn upon, 103
wars of early Russian traders, 102, 103
visit, and establishment of Shellikov, 99, 100, 101, 102

Kanaga, island of, 181, 183

Kaniags, natives of Kadiak, 109, 110

Kamlayka, the water-proof, 371

Kashga, the Innuit, 385, 386, 387

Kenai Peninsula, 84, 85, 86

Kenaitze Indians, habits and appearance of, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93
queer architecture of, 92

Killer whales, their ferocity, 325, 327, 330

Killing grounds, Seal Islands, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341

Killing sea-lions, method of natives, 368, 369

Kings Island, or Ookivok, 425, 426

Kotzebue Sound, characteristics of, 432, 433, 434

Kolmakovsky, trading-post of, 406

Krenitzin Group of Islands, 148

Kuskokvim region, characteristics of, 402, 403, 404, 405
density of population of, 403, 404
commercial poverty of it, 407, 408
prevalence of mosquitoes in it, 405, 406

L

Land and scenery of the Sitkan region, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 27
of the Mount St. Elias region, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75
of the Cook’s Inlet, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86
of the Kadiak district, 98, 99, 100, 103, 104, 105, 106, 117
of the Aleutian district, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156,
157, 162, 163
of the Pribylov Islands, 215, 226, 227
of the Nooshagak region, 374, 375, 376, 395
of the Kuskokvim region, 395, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407
of the Yukon region, 395
of the Bering Sea Islands, 425, 426, 427, 430, 442, 443, 461, 462
of the Alaskan Arctic region, 424, 425, 434, 436, 437, 438, 439,
440

Law, natural, obeyed among the fur-seals, 310
protecting the seal islands, 250

Lead, ore of, miner’s prospecting for, 424

Lease of the Seal Islands, 250

M

Mackerel, Atkhan, or “yellow-fish,” 181, 182

Mahklok, big hair-seal (_Erignathus_), 382, 383

Makooshin, volcano of, 160, 161

Mammoth and mastodon, fossil remains of, 424, 434

Massacre of Baranov’s Sitkan garrison (1801), 28
of Drooshinnin’s party, 159
of Seribniekov’s party, 76
by Glottov, of Oonalaskhan natives, 160
by Glottov, of Four Mountain natives, 186

Measles and typhoid-pneumonia in, 64, 112, 113

Medicines and pathology of Alaskan savages, 112

Michaelovsky, trading-post of, 413, 419

Mirage, the Arctic, 421

Missionaries, Russian, labors of, 99, 106, 121, 388

Moose, hunting of, 407

Morgan, Captain E., labors of, 247, 248

Morserovia, village of, 121

Morse (see Walrus)

Mosses, Alaskan, 22, 38, 149, 155, 163, 200, 318, 398, 403, 420,
442, 462

Mosquitoes, curse of Alaska, 405, 406
none on Seal Islands, 204

Mummies, Aleutian, 186

Mushrooms, on the Seal Island, 203, 204

Musk-ox not found in Alaska, 418

Mutilation of female fur-seals, 276

N

Nephelogical and auroral phenomena, 158, 198, 420

Niebaum, Captain G., labors of, 247

Nikolsky, village of, 184

Nooshagak region and village of, 374, 375, 376, 398

Nomenclature of fur-seal rookeries, 320

Norton Sound, 424

O

Occupation of Alaska by Americans (1867), 12
of Alaska by Russians (1745-63), 128
of the Seal Islands by Russians (1786), 192, 193
of the Seal Islands by Americans (1868), 247, 248

Odor from the killing grounds, 350, 351
from the fur-seal blubber, 292, 372

Oil, fur-seal and sea-lion, 372
oolachan grease, 57
herring, 57
beluga and mahklok, 405
coal, use of by Aleutes, 167

“Old colonial settlers,” 85, 86

Ommaney, Cape, 27

Oomnak, island of, 184, 185

Oonalashka, village and island of, 139, 156, 157, 158

Oonimak, island of, 145, 146, 147

Oonga, village and fisheries, 122, 123, 124

Ookamok, island and penal settlement on, 116, 117

Ookivok, island and village of, 425, 426

Oogashik, village of, 119

Oonalga, island of, 155

Oogalgan, island of, 155

Oogamok, island of, 148

Otter Island, or “Bobrovia,” 219

Otter, sea, hunting, 120, 179
a description of it, 130, 131, 132

P

Parka, the Innuit garment, 377, 378, 410, 411

Pelagic fur sealing, 452, 453

Peninsula of Alaska, 82, 117, 118

Penal settlement, R. A. Co. on Ookamok, 116, 117

Pneumonia, typhoid, scourge of, recently, 112, 113

Pogromnia Sopka, volcano of, 146

Polar bears, on the Seal Islands, 194, 464
on St. Matthew’s Island, 463, 464

Poonook, islets and village of, 444

Population of Alaska, 13, 14

Poultry kept in Alaska, 107, 185

Port Clarence, description of, 427, 428

Potatoes, how cultivated, and where, 60, 61, 106, 421

Powers and privileges of old Russian Company, 9, 10, 11

Pribylov, Gerassim, the discoverer of the Seal Islands, 191, 192, 323

Pribylov Islands, agriculture on, 204
algæ of the, 214, 215
animals and birds, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 223, 224
churches and schools, 241, 246
climate and winds, 194, 195, 196, 197
colonization, 193, 230, 231
creature-comforts of natives now, 232, 233
description of natives of, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239
dimensions and contour of, 215, 226, 227
disappearance of seals and birds in winter, 305, 306, 327
discussion of seal life, 255, 258, 292, 293, 294
eligibility of, 229, 230
flowering plants, etc., of, 200, 201, 202, 203
fogs and mists of, 194, 195, 306
gastronomic value of water-fowl eggs, 211
general business methods of sealing, 234, 237, 245, 246, 252
geographical position of, 194
geological structure of, 199, 215, 216, 217, 224, 225, 227, 228
grand total of fur-seals on, 312
isolation of rookeries on, 191, 193, 194
insects of, 204
lack of harbors in the, 217, 218
land animals of the, 205, 206, 207
peculiar advantages of, to fur-seals, 194, 195, 230

Pribylov Islands, peculiar cats on the, 207
polar bears on the, 194, 464
poultry kept on the, 208
remarks on walrus of the, 255, 332
Russian slaughter on, 316
scarcity of fish around the, 212
status of early colonists, 231, 232
sheep, on the rookeries, 270
stock-raising on the, 207, 208
vast numbers of water-fowl on the, 220, 221, 222
Veniaminov’s account of the, 194, 200
vigilance of the natives, 253
weight, growth, etc., of fur-seals on the 278, 279, 304, 305

Prince Frederick Sound, its awful scenic grandeur, 23

Prince William Sound, its gloomy scenic character, 78

Prince of Wales Island, 15, 99

Prostration of natives in sunshine, 197
of fur-seals, when driven, 336

Protection of fur-seals, 326, 327, 332, 373

Pups, fur-seal, description of, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287
learning to swim, 287, 288, 289

Q

Quartz mines near Sitka, 69, 70
on Douglas Island, 70

R

Reindeer, 121, 122, 397, 418
marked difference from that of Siberia, 397, 398

Rocks of St. Matthew’s Island, beauty of, 463

Rookeries, Pribylov Islands, 292, 293, 294, 310, 311, 312

Resurrection Bay, first Alaskan shipyard there, 79

Russian-American Company, its history, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 103

Russian coins, their names and value, 8
exploration and traders, bad record of, 4, 5, 6
rival companies (1745-1786), 191
seal islands, Bering and Copper, 327, 373
Governors living at Sitka, 34

Russians, as they lived at Sitka, 32, 33

S

Saanak, great sea-otter camp of, 138, 141, 142

Saint Elias, Mount, 73
George Village, Pribylov Group, 352
Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, 442, 443
Matthew’s Island, Bering Sea, 461, 462, 463
Michaels, post of, 413, 419

Saint Nicholas, redoubt, Kenai, 84
Paul Village, Pribylov Group, 352

Salmon in the Sitkan region, 56
in Cook’s Inlet, Sitkan region, 87, 94, 95, 96
in the Kadiak district, 115, 116
in the Aleutian district, 168, 185
in the Nooshagak district, 398, 399, 400
in the Kuskokvim district, 404
in the Yukon district, 417, 418
in the Alaskan Arctic, 434, 435

Salt House, work in, at Saint Paul, 345, 346

Semeisopochnoi, islands of, 181

Schools, 120, 173

Scrofula, virulence of, among Alaskan natives, 111

Sea-cow, _Rhytina stelleri_, 4

Seal (see Fur-seal, Hair-seal)

Seal Islands (see Pribylov Islands)

Seal and walrus hunting, Innuit, 400, 426, 440, 441, 460, 461

Sea-otter, a description of it, 130, 131, 132
early Russian hunt for, 128, 191
native hunters of, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 179, 181

Sea-lions, arrival at breeding grounds, 357
_Eumetopias stelleri_, adult males, 354, 355, 356, 357
_Eumetopias stelleri_, adult females, 357
description of a fight between rivals, 355, 356
general uses of, to natives, 363, 369
natives driving the, 364, 365, 366, 367
manner of capture of, 364, 365
manner of penning or coralling, 365
manner of killing them on St. Paul, 368, 369
meat, good quality of, 372
sites of their abandoned rookeries, 321, 322
St. George, the last resort for, 362, 363
shedding hair, 360
shyness and relative cowardice, 332, 356

Shamans, their services, 50, 112

Sheep, trial, and failure to raise in Alaska, 107

Shellikov, Grigoria, his labors, 99, 100, 101, 102

Shipbuilding in Alaska, 79, 80, 105, 106

Shipyard at Sitka, 32

Shishaldin, beautiful volcano of, 146

Shoomagin Islands, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126

Siberian coast, Bering Straits’ shore, 429

Sitka, its history, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32
as it is to-day, 33, 34, 35

Small-pox, epidemic of, 64, 113, 421

Soil and climate, not favorable to agriculture (see Agriculture)

Special Agents of the Treasury Department, 251, 252

Sports and pastimes of the natives, 65, 175
of the young fur-seals, 298, 299, 300

Steamers, trading, on the Yukon, 414

Steller, George W., his labors, 189

Stench arising from fur-seal carcasses, 350, 351
from decaying salmon and its roe, 57, 399

Superstitions of the natives, 80, 81, 90

Surveys of the fur-seal breeding grounds, 310, 311, 312

Swans, capture of, 399

Swimming feats of fur-seals, 300, 301, 302

T

Tanaga, island of, 181, 183

Telegraph, Collins Overland, 427, 428

Thlinkets, or Sitkan Archipelago Indians, 43, 44, 45, 52, 53, 54,
59, 60

Tidal phenomena of Cook’s Inlet, 83, 87
of Bristol Bay, 374, 375
of Kuskokvim River, 400
uncertainties in Bering Sea, 197, 198

Tigalda, island of, 154, 155

Timber of Alexander Archipelago, 21, 22, 71
of Mount St. Elias region, 72, 77
of Cook’s Inlet region, 85
of Kadiak District region, 103, 104, 105
of Aleutian District region, 157
of Alaskan Interior region, 395, 408, 409, 416
of Alaskan Arctic region, 425, 439, 443

Tinneh, or Ingaleeks of Alaska, 408

Timidity and shyness of pinnipeds at sea, 331

Togiaks, Quaker-like Innuits, 401, 402

Treasury Department, its control of Seal Islands, 250, 251, 252

Totem and totemic posts, 49

Transfer of Alaska, cause why so done, 11, 12

Traffic by traders in the Sitkan region, 36, 37, 38, 39
in the Kadiak region, 119, 120, 129
in the Aleutian region, 129, 191
in the Yukon, Nooshagak, and Kuskokvim region, 384, 414, 418
in the Bering Sea and the Arctic, 425

Treadwell Gold-mining Stamp Mill, 69, 71

Tusks of the Walrus, 450, 451

U

Ugiak, Eskimo sea-god, 393, 423

Uses of sea-lion skins in making boats, 370, 371
of walrus-skins in making boats, 454
of walrus-teeth, 404

V

Veniaminov, the distinguished Russian priest, 37, 309

Volcanic region of Cook’s Inlet, 87
region of Oonimak, 146, 147, 148
region of Atkha, 183
region of Oomnak, 161

Volcanic elevation of Bogaslov Islet recently, 186, 187

Voyage of Captain Cook (1778), 83, 176, 430
of Veit Bering (1741), 1, 2, 3, 4, 73, 74
of Tscherikov (1741), 1, 73, 74
of Shellikov (1782-84), 99, 100, 102
of Simeon Deschnev (1648), 429

W

Walker, Lake, 399, 400

Walrus, a description of, 444, 445, 446, 447, 449
in Bristol Bay, 399
alarm when approached in boats, 332
in Arctic, 425, 444

Walrus Islet, a description of, 220, 444, 445
visit to, gathering eggs, 210, 220, 221, 222, 223

Walrus and seal-hunting and hunters, 400, 426, 440, 441, 460, 461

Wars of the Thlinkets, 44
of the Innuits, 417
of the Russian traders, 6, 29, 30, 101

Water-craft of the Sitkans, 62, 63
of the Aleutes, 33
of the Ingaleeks, 417
of the Innuits, 411, 427, 453, 454

Weaving, grass baskets, hats, etc., by Aleutians, 181
grass and bark, by Sitkans, 52

Whaling, Aleutian, 151, 152, 153
Americans, 71, 72, 440, 441
Innuit, 439

Wolves, none on the Aleutian Chain now, 156

Wrangel, Mount, the highest North American peak, 77
town of, 17, 18, 25

Y

Yukon, the river, its characteristics, 413, 413, 414, 415, 416, 419
contiguous country to, 415, 416
its people, 417, 418, 419

Z

Zagoskin, Lieutenant, his labors (1841-1845), 422

Zarenbo, island of, 27
Lieutenant, 25

_Zalophus_ and _Eumetopias_, differences between, 362

Transcriber’s Notes

pg 94 footnote Changed: Oncorynchus chouicha
to: Oncorhynchus chouicha

pg 127 Removed extra word “the” from: possession of the the
sea-otter’s coat

pg 217 Changed: came to these islands Novastoshna
to: came to these islands Novastoshnah

pg 219 Changed: six miles south of St. Panl
to: six miles south of St. Paul

pg 229 Changed: Pribylov Islands where any palæntological
to: Pribylov Islands where any palæontological

pg 248 Changed: though they have station sscattered
to: though they have stations scattered

pg 284 Changed: and bathing quite frequnetly
to: and bathing quite frequently

pg 313 Changed: margins of that immmense
to: margins of that immense

pg 328 Changed: as they passsed into
to: as they passed into

pg 343 Changed: this blubber thins out very preceptibly
to: this blubber thins out very perceptibly

pg 351 Changed: stench within is deordorized
to: stench within is deodorized