A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xvi Part 25

I was in hopes to have had by him, the chart which his three countrymen had promised, but I was disappointed. However, he a.s.sured me I should have it; and he kept his word. I found that he was very well acquainted with the geography of these parts, and with all the discoveries that had been made in them by the Russians. On seeing the modern maps, he at once pointed out their errors. He told me, he had accompanied Lieutenant Syndo, or Synd as he called him, in his expedition to the north; and, according to his account, they did not proceed farther than the Tschukotskoi Noss, or rather than the bay of St Laurence, for he pointed on our chart to the very place where I landed. From thence, he said, they went to an island in lat.i.tude 63, upon which they did not land, nor could he tell me its name. But I should guess it to be the same to which I gave the name of Clerke's Island. To what place Synd went after that, or in what manner he spent the two years, during which, as Ismyloff said, his researches lasted, he either could not or would not inform us. Perhaps he did not comprehend our enquiries about this; and yet, in almost every other thing, we could make him understand us. This created a suspicion, that he had not really been in that expedition, notwithstanding his a.s.sertion.

Both Ismyloff and the others affirmed, that they knew nothing of the continent of America to the northward; and that neither Lieutenant Synd, nor any other Russian, had ever seen it. They call it by the same name which Mr Staehlin gives to his great island, that is Alaschka. Stachtan Nitada, as it is called in the modern maps, is a name quite unknown to these people, natives of the islands as well as Russians; but both, of them know it by the name of America. From what we could gather from Ismyloff and his countrymen, the Russians have made several attempts to get a footing upon that part of this continent that lies contiguous to Oonalashka and the adjoining islands, but have always been repulsed by the natives, whom they describe as a very treacherous people. They mentioned two or three captains, or chief men, who had been murdered by them; and some of the Russians shewed us wounds which, they said, they had received there.

Some other information which we got from Ismyloff is worth recording, whether true or false. He told us, that in the year 1773, an expedition had been made into the Frozen Sea in sledges, over the ice, to three large islands that lie opposite the mouth of the river Kovyma. We were in some doubt, whether he did not mean the same expedition of which Muller gives an account; and yet he wrote down the year, and marked the islands on the chart.[7] But a voyage which he himself had performed, engaged our attention more than any other. He said, that on the 12th of May, 1771, he sailed from Bolscheretzk, in a Russian vessel, to one of the Kuril islands, named Mareekan, in the lat.i.tude of 47, where there is a harbour, and a Russian settlement.

From this island, he proceeded to j.a.pan, where be seems to have made but a short stay. For when the j.a.panese came to know that he and his companions were Christians, they made signs for them to be gone; but did not, so far as we could understand him, offer any insult or force.

From j.a.pan, he got to Canton, and from thence to France, in a French s.h.i.+p. From France, he travelled to Petersburgh, and was afterward sent out again to Kamtschatka. What became of the vessel in which he first embarked, we could not learn, nor what was the princ.i.p.al object of the voyage. His not being able to speak one word of French, made this story a little suspicious. He did not even know the name of any one of the most common things that must have been in use every day, while he was on board the s.h.i.+p, and in France. And yet he seemed clear as to the times of his arriving at the different places, and of his leaving them, which he put down in writing.[8]

[Footnote 7: The latest expedition of this kind, taken notice of by Mr Muller, was in 1724. But in justice to Mr Ismyloff, it may be proper to mention, which is done on the authority of a MS. communicated by Mr Pennant, and the substance of which has been published by Mr c.o.xe, that, so late as 1768, the Governor of Siberia sent three young officers over the ice in sledges to the islands opposite the mouth of the Kovyma. There seems no reason for not supposing, that a subsequent expedition of this sort might also be undertaken in 1773. Mr c.o.xe, p.

324, places the expedition on sledges in 1764, but Mr Pennant's MS.

may be depended upon.--D.]

[Footnote 8: There is nothing at all unlikely in the voyage now spoken of. According to Captain Krusenstern, whose information is in all probability quite unexceptionable, the Kuril islands and Jesso have been often visited by Russian merchants since 1741, when Spanberg and Walton reached the coast of j.a.pan; though without any positive advantage, he says, accruing either to science or commerce from their visits.--E.]

The next morning, he would fain have made me a present of a sea-otter skin, which, he said, was worth eighty rubles at Kamtschatka. However, I thought proper to decline it; but I accepted of some dried fish, and several baskets of the lily, or _saranne_ root, which is described at large in the History of Kamtschatka.[9] In the afternoon, Mr Ismyloff, after dining with Captain Clerke, left us with all his retinue, promising to return in a few days. Accordingly, on the 19th, he made us another visit, and brought with him the charts before-mentioned, which he allowed me to copy, and the contents of which furnish matter for the following observations:--

There were two of them, both ma.n.u.scripts, and bearing every mark of authenticity. The first comprehended the _Penschinskian Sea_, the coast of Tartary, as low as the lat.i.tude of 41, the Kuril islands, and the peninsula of Kamtschatka. Since this map had been made, Wawseelee Irkecchoff, captain of the fleet, explored, in 1758, the coast of Tartary, from Okotsk, and the river Amur, to j.a.pan, or 41 of lat.i.tude. Mr Ismyloff also informed us, that great part of the sea-coast of the peninsula of Kamtschatka had been corrected by himself, and described the instrument he made use of, which must have been a _theodolite_. He also informed us, that there were only two harbours fit for s.h.i.+pping, on all the east coast of Kamtschatka, viz.

the bay of _Awatska_, and the river _Olutora_, in the bottom of the gulf of the same name, that there was not a single harbour upon its west coast, and that _Yamsk_ was the only one on all the west side of the Penschinskian Sea, except Okotsk, till we come to the river Amur.

The Kuril islands afford only one harbour, and that is on the N.E.

side of Mareekan, in the lat.i.tude of 47-1/2, where, as I have before observed, the Russians have a settlement.

[Footnote 9: English translation, p. 83, 84.]

The second chart was to me the most interesting; for it comprehended all the discoveries made by the Russians to the eastward of Kamtschatka, toward America, which, if we exclude the voyage of Beering and Tscherikoff, will amount to little or nothing. The part of the American coast, with which the latter fell in, is marked in this chart, between the lat.i.tude of 58 and 58-1/2, and 75 of longitude from Okotsk, or, 218-1/2 from Greenwich; and the place where the former anch.o.r.ed, in 59-1/2 of lat.i.tude, and 63-1/2 of longitude from Okotsk, or 207 from Greenwich. To say nothing of the longitude, which may be erroneous from many causes, the lat.i.tude of the coast, discovered by these two navigators, especially the part of it discovered by Tscherikoff, differs considerably from the account published by Mr Muller, and his chart. Indeed, whether Muller's chart, or this now produced by Mr Ismyloff, be most erroneous in this respect, it may be hard to determine, though it is not now a point worth discussing. But the islands that lie dispersed between 52 and 55 of lat.i.tude, in the s.p.a.ce between Kamtschatka and America, deserve some notice. According to Mr Ismyloff's account, neither the number nor the situation of these islands is well ascertained. He struck out about one-third of them, a.s.suring me they had no existence, and he altered the situation of others considerably, which, he said, was necessary, from his own observations. And there was no reason to doubt about this. As these islands lie all nearly under the same parallel, different navigators, being misled by their different reckonings, might easily mistake one island, or group of islands, for another, and fancy they had made a new discovery, when they had only found old ones in a different position from that a.s.signed to them by their former visitors.

The islands of St Macarius, St Stephen, St Theodore, St Abraham, Seduction Island, and some others, which are to be found in Mr Muller's chart, had no place in this now produced to us; nay, both Mr Ismyloff, and the others, a.s.sured me, that they had been several times sought for in vain. And yet it is difficult to believe how Mr Muller, from whom subsequent map-makers have adopted them, could place them in this chart without some authority. Relying, however, on the testimony of these people, whom I thought competent witnesses, I have left them out of my chart, and made such corrections amongst the other islands as I was told was necessary. I found there was wanting another correction; for the difference of longitude, between the Bay of Awatska, and the harbour of Samganoodha, according to astronomical observations, made at these two places, is greater by five degrees and a half, than it is by the chart. This error I have supposed to be infused throughout the whole, though it may not be so in reality.

There was also an error in the lat.i.tude of some places, but this hardly exceeded a quarter of a degree.

I shall now give some account of the islands, beginning with those that lie nearest to Kamtschatka, and reckoning the longitude from the harbour of Petropaulowska, in the Bay of Awatska. The first is _Beering's Island_, in 55 of lat.i.tude, and 6 of longitude. Ten leagues from the south end of this, in the direction of E. by S., or E.S.E., lies _Meidenoi Ostroff_, or the Copper Island. The next island is _Atakou_, laid down in 52 45' of lat.i.tude, and in 15 or 16 of longitude. This island is about eighteen leagues in extent, in the direction of E. and W., and seems to be the same land which Beering fell in with, and named _Mount St John_. But there are no islands about it, except two inconsiderable ones, lying three or four leagues from the east end, in the direction of E.N.E.

We next come to a group, consisting of six or more islands, two of which, _Atghka_ and _Amluk_ are tolerably large, and in each of them is a good harbour. The middle of this group lies in the lat.i.tude of 52 30', and 28 of longitude from Awatska, and its extent, E. and W., is four degrees. These are the isles that Mr Ismyloff said were to be removed four degrees to the E., which was done. And in the situation they have in my chart, was a group, consisting of ten small islands, which, I was told, were wholly to be struck out, and also two islands lying between them and the group to which Oonalashka belongs. In the place of these two, an island called Amoghta (which in the chart was situated in the lat.i.tude of 51 45', and 4 of longitude to the W.) was brought.

Nothing more need be said to shew how erroneous the situation of many of these islands may be, and for which I am in nowise accountable. But the position of the largest group, of which Oonalashka is one of the princ.i.p.al islands, and the only one in which there is a harbour, is not liable to any such errors. Most of these islands were seen by us, and consequently their lat.i.tude and longitude were pretty exactly determined, particularly the harbour of Samganoodha in Oonalashka, which must be looked upon as a fixed point. This group of islands maybe said to extend as far as Halibut Isles, which are forty leagues from Oonalashka toward the E.N.E. Within these isles, a pa.s.sage was marked in Ismyloff's chart, communicating with Bristol Bay, which converts about fifteen leagues of the coast, that I had supposed to belong to the continent, into an island, distinguished by the name of _Ooneemak_. This pa.s.sage might easily escape us, as we were informed, that it is very narrow, shallow, and only to be navigated through with boats, or very small vessels.[10]

[Footnote 10: This pa.s.sage is marked on all the modern maps, no doubt on the somewhat scanty authority here given. With respect to most of the islands now alluded to, the opinion entertained of their utter insignificance, will account for and perhaps justify the sparing solicitude we have used to ascertain their number and position. Some less suspicious data than are to be met with in the accounts of early Russian voyages, would be requisite, to induce much attention to a subject of even greater importance.--E.]

It appeared by the chart, as well as by the testimony of Ismyloff and the other Russians, that this is as far as their countrymen have made any discoveries, or have extended themselves, since Beering's time.

They all said, that no Russians had settled themselves so far to the east as the place where the natives gave the note to Captain Clerke, which Mr Ismyloff, to whom I delivered it, on perusing it, said, had been written at Oomanak. It was, however, from him that we got the name of _Kodiak_, the largest of Schumagin's Islands; for it had no name upon the chart produced by him.[11] The names of all the other islands were taken from it, and we wrote them down as p.r.o.nounced by him. He said, they were all such as the natives themselves called their islands by; but, if so, some of the names seem to have been strangely altered. It is worth observing, that no names were put to the islands which Ismyloff told us were to be struck out of the chart, and I considered this as some confirmation that they have no existence.

[Footnote 11: A Russian s.h.i.+p had been at Kodiak in 1776, as appears from a MS. obligingly communicated by Mr Pennant.--D.]

I have already observed, that the American continent is here called by the Russians, as well as by the islanders, Alaschka; which name, though it properly belong only to the country adjoining to Oonemak, is used by them when speaking of the American continent in general, which they know perfectly well to be a great land.

This is all the information I got from these people, relating to the geography of this part of the world; and I have reason to believe that this was all the information they were able to give. For they a.s.sured me, over and over again, that they knew of no other islands, besides those which were laid down upon this chart; and that no Russian had ever seen any part of the continent of America to the northward, except that which lies opposite the country of the Tschutskis.

If Mr Staehlin was not grossly imposed upon, what could induce him to publish a map so singularly erroneous, and in which many of these islands are jumbled together in regular confusion, without the least regard to truth; and yet he is pleased to call it _a very accurate little map_.[12] Indeed, it is a map to which the most illiterate of his illiterate sea-faring countrymen would have been ashamed to set his name.

[Footnote 12: Staehlin's New Northern Archipelago, p. 15.]

Mr Ismyloff remained with us till the 21st, in the evening, when he took his final leave. To his care I intrusted a letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in which was inclosed a chart of all the northern coasts I had visited. He said there would be an opportunity of sending it to Kamtschatka, or Okotsk, the ensuing spring, and that it would be at Petersburg the following winter. He gave me a letter to Major Behm, governor of Kamtschatka, who resides at Bolscheretsk, and another to the commanding officer, at Petropaulowska. Mr Ismyloff seemed to have abilities that might ent.i.tle him to a higher station in life, than that in which we found him. He was tolerably well versed in astronomy, and in the most useful branches of the mathematics. I made him a present of an Hadley's octant; and though, probably, it was the first he had ever seen, he made himself acquainted, in a very short time, with most of the uses to which that instrument can be applied.

In the morning of the 22d, we made an attempt to get to sea, with the wind at S.E., which miscarried. The following afternoon, we were visited by one Jacob Ivanovitch Soposnicoff, a Russian, who commanded a boat, or small vessel, at Oomanak. This man had a great share of modesty, and would drink no strong liquor, of which the rest of his countrymen, whom we had met with here, were immoderately fond. He seemed to know more accurately what supplies could be got at the harbour of Petropaulowska, and the price of the different articles, than Mr Ismyloff. But, by all accounts, every thing we should want at that place was very scarce, and bore a high price. Flour, for instance, was from three to five roubles the pood,[13] and deer from three to five roubles each. This man told us that he was to be at Petropaulowska in May next, and, as I understood, was to have the charge of my letter. He seemed to be exceedingly desirous of having some token from me to carry to Major Behm, and to gratify him, I sent a small spying-gla.s.s.

[Footnote 13: 36 lb.]

After we became acquainted with these Russians, some of our gentlemen, at different times, visited their settlement on the island, where they always met with a hearty welcome. This settlement consisted of a dwelling-house and two store-houses. And, besides the Russians, there was a number of the Kamtschadales, and of the natives, as servants, or slaves, to the former. Some others of the natives, who seemed independent of the Russians, lived at the same place. Such of them as belonged to the Russians were all males, and they are taken, or perhaps purchased, from their parents when young. There was, at this time, about twenty of these, who could be looked upon in no other light than, as children. They all live in the same house; the Russians at the upper end, the Kamtschadales in the middle, and the natives at the lower end, where is fixed a large boiler for preparing their food, which consists chiefly of what the sea produces, with the addition of wild roots and berries. There is little difference between the first and last table, besides what is produced by cookery, in which the Russians have the art to make indifferent things palatable. I have eat whale's flesh of their dressing, which I thought very good; and they made a kind of pan-pudding of salmon roe, beaten up fine, and fried, that is no bad _succedaneum_ for bread. They may, now and then, taste real bread, or have a dish in which flour is an ingredient; but this can only be an occasional luxury. If we except the juice of berries which they sip at their meals, they have no other liquor besides pure water; and it seems to be very happy for them that they have nothing stronger.

As the island supplies them with food, so it does, in a great measure, with clothing. This consists chiefly of skins, and is, perhaps, the best they could have. The upper garment is made like our waggoner's frock, and reaches as low as the knee. Besides this, they wear a waistcoat or two, a pair of breeches, a fur cap, and a pair of boots, the soles and upper leathers of which are of Russian leather, but the legs are made of some kind of strong gut. Their two chiefs, Ismyoff and Ivanovitch, wore each a calico frock, and they, as well as some others, had s.h.i.+rts, which were of silk. These, perhaps, were the only part of their dress not made amongst themselves.

There are Russians settled upon all the princ.i.p.al islands between Oonalashka and Kamtschatka, for the sole purpose of collecting furs.

Their great object is the sea-beaver or otter. I never heard them enquire after any other animal; though those, whose skins are of inferior value, are also made part of their cargoes. I never thought to ask how long they have had a settlement upon Oonalashka, and the neighbouring isles; but to judge from the great subjection the natives are under, this cannot be of a very late date.[14] All these furriers are relieved, from time to time, by others. Those we met with arrived here from Okotsk, in 1776, and are to return in 1781; so that their stay at the island will be four years at least.[15]

[Footnote 14: The Russians began to frequent Oonalashka in 1762. See _c.o.xe's Russian Discoveries_, ch. viii. p. 80.--D.]

[Footnote 15: Captain Cook says nothing of the condition of these furriers, and probably indeed knew nothing of it. According to Krusenstern, who cannot be supposed to seek for occasion to censure his countrymen, it is wretched in the extreme. He himself admits that his transcript, though softened down from his original notes made at the time, will nevertheless expose him to the anger of a number of persons for whom, in other respects, he entertains the highest regard.

But one may question if any of the accounts that have been given of the African slave-trade produce greater horror than this modified description occasions. The reader must not imagine that the physical difficulties of the climate const.i.tute the misery of these deluded beings. These are certainly very formidable, and of themselves present a sufficient barrier to the enjoyment of any thing bearing the shape of comfort. But evils of another sort, arising from avarice and the abuse of power, are so galling, as would induce a man "to fly from even the most beautiful and the best-gifted country," if his residence in it subjected him to their tyranny. The agents of the Russian-American Company, as the reader will instantly divine, are chargeable with the enormous barbarity and injustice to which these remarks apply; and the fearless seaman does not scruple to expose them to public indignation, in consequence. We shall communicate a few particulars, referring those who desire more information on the subject to the work itself. The persons who engage in the Company's service, we are informed, are vagabonds and adventurers,--but not criminals, be it remembered,--to whom the fabulous reports of the state of affluence to be easily attained, which are industriously circulated, operate as an incentive to sail to America in the condition of Promiischleniks, a word originally signifying any who carry on a trade, but here, as it is the only occupation, restricted to those who collect furs. Their misery commences with their voyage, which is generally performed in vessels so exceedingly crowded, that a large proportion of the pa.s.sengers are necessitated to sleep upon the deck, which, in such a climate, it is obvious, must expose them to almost certain disease and death. This last, indeed, is the most desirable destiny they can experience, as those who have the misfortune to survive are subjected to almost incalculable calamities from the want of proper food and clothing, under the rigours of the climate, and the still more relentless severity of their task-masters.

From the treatment which the sick receive, we may perhaps, with some exercise of imagination, infer, what the mode of life must be, of those whom superior force of const.i.tution preserves in health.

Speaking of a particular case which he had an opportunity of witnessing, Captain K. says, "We went to visit the sick, and it is impossible for me to describe the shocking, the disgusting state in which we found them; nearly all appeared to labour under incurable s...o...b..tic and venereal sores, although they had been ten months on sh.o.r.e, and had enjoyed the a.s.sistance of the surgeon of St Peter and St Paul. Even of this they were now about to be deprived, and on the point of being removed, by a long and tedious navigation, to places where they must either forego all surgical attendance, or obtain it from people totally unskilled in the practice. I was curious to learn on what food the sick were kept, and was shewn two casks of salt meat destined for them. I requested to see a piece of it; but, on opening the cask, so disgusting and pestilential a smell took possession of the hold as compelled me instantly to quit it. Two tons of this stinking salt meat, and some sacks of mouldy black biscuit, were the only nouris.h.i.+ng provisions on board for twenty invalids, for, to this number, (out of seventy,) they actually amounted before the Maria (the vessel they were on board) left St Peter and St Paul (for Kodiak)."

Was not the practice said to have been adopted at Jaffa by an extraordinary character, to be esteemed for mercifulness in comparison of this? Train oil and the flesh of the sea-lion, with a mixture of rye-meal and water, form the choicest provisions of those who are well, either on board a s.h.i.+p or on sh.o.r.e; these, it must be owned, are quite suitable to the iron rule of the agent, under whom there can be neither personal property nor individual security, because he is subject to no law, and there are no courts of justice in Kodiak, or any other of the company's possessions. Few of these wretched outcasts ever again reach Russian ground, very few indeed attain the object of their wishes (we dare not say hopes) to return to Europe. Disease, disappointment, innumerable sufferings, continual drunkenness, the only solace in which, for obvious reasons, they are indulged, bring them speedily to the end of their unhappy existence, and leave a vacant stage for the miseries of new victims. Should a remnant have a more lengthened career, and having, by infinite pain and trouble, ama.s.sed a little property, get back to Ochotsk, thinking to return home and spend their days in comfort with their relatives, they are beset by fresh and perhaps still more aggravated vexations. They cannot leave that place, it seems, till they have closed accounts with the agents, and, as this is frequently protracted, no doubt with the most diabolical design, they become idle, spend what they had acquired, run into debt, (for sufficient credit is allowed them), and at last are necessitated to revert to their former slavery with perhaps far less ability than formerly, and with no other expectation of relief than what is afforded by the certainty of their dissolution.

It is impossible to contemplate this distressing picture a moment longer. Let us leave it.--E.]

It is now time to give some account of the native inhabitants. To all appearance, they are the most peaceable, inoffensive people, I ever met with. And, as to honesty, they might serve as a pattern to the most civilized nation upon earth. But, from what I saw of their neighbours, with whom the Russians have no connection, I doubt whether this was their original disposition, and rather think that it has been the consequence of their present state of subjection. Indeed, if some of our gentlemen did not misunderstand the Russians, they had been obliged to make some severe examples, before they could bring the islanders into any order. If there were severities inflicted at first, the best apology for them is, that they have produced the happiest consequences, and, at present, the greatest harmony subsists between the two nations. The natives have their own chiefs in each island, and seem to enjoy liberty and property unmolested. But whether or no they are tributaries to the Russians, we could never find out. There was some reason to think that they are.[16]

[Footnote 16: See the particulars of hostilities between the Russians and the natives, in c.o.xe, as cited above.--D.

It will readily be inferred from what has already been mentioned of the conduct of the Russian agents towards their own countrymen, that the circ.u.mstance of the unfortunate islanders, who are also subjected to their sway, cannot be very eligible. A single quotation from the work referred to, will answer every purpose we can have in view in alluding to them in this place. "The chief agent of the American Company is the boundless despot over an extent of country, which, comprising the Aleutic islands, stretches from 57 to 61 degrees of lat.i.tude, and from 130 to 190 degrees of east longitude. The population of the islanders annually decreasing, and the wretched condition of the Russians living there, sufficiently proves, that, from their first migration to these islands and to the American coast, up to the present moment, the Company's possessions have been entrusted to people, who were, indeed, zealous for its own advantage, but frequently more so for that of a few subordinate agents." A Lieutenant Davidoff, he gives us to understand, had collected some very important notices respecting these possessions of the Company, and had imparted to him a fragment of them relative to the situation of the islanders and their conquerors. This however is not communicated, apparently for a reason mentioned, viz. that this officer proposed publis.h.i.+ng on the subject when he returned to St Petersburg; and that though unfortunately he lost his life in the Neva before that took place, his ma.n.u.script, which was in the hands of Admiral Schischkoff, will be printed by the Admiralty. We shall wonder if it be so, concluding as to its contents from what is already made known. Though it is possible, indeed, to imagine, that it may be made use of as a testimony against the bad management and inhuman conduct of the agents of the Company, in order to justify the interference of the legislature in their concerns, which certainly appears to be much wanted. Altogether, it is obvious then, that the statement of matters which Captain Cook has given in the text, applies to a golden age, in comparison of what we are a.s.sured was lately existing in these regions. What changes have been wrought by the representations of Krusenstern we have not heard.--E.]

These people are rather low of stature, but plump and well-shaped, with rather short necks, swarthy chubby faces, black eyes, small beards, and long, straight, black hair, which the men wear loose behind and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.

Their dress has been occasionally mentioned. Both s.e.xes wear the same in fas.h.i.+on, the only difference is in the materials. The women's frock is made of seal-skin, and that of the men, of the skins of birds, both reaching below the knee. This is the whole dress of the women. But over their frock, the men wear another made of gut, which resists water, and has a hood to it, which draws over the head. Some of them wear boots, and all of them have a kind of oval snouted cap, made of wood, with a rim to admit the head. These caps are dyed with green and other colours; and round the upper part of the rim are stuck the long bristles of some sea-animal, on which are strung gla.s.s-beads, and on the front is a small image or two made of bone.

They make use of no paint; but the women puncture their faces slightly; and both men and women bore the under-lip, to which they fix pieces of bone. But it is as uncommon, at Oonalashka, to see a man with this ornament, as to see a woman without it. Some fix beads to the upper-lip, under the nostrils; and all of them hang ornaments in their ears.

Their food consists of fish, sea-animals, birds, roots, and berries, and even of sea-weed. They dry large quant.i.ties of fish in summer, which they lay up in small huts for winter use; and probably they preserve roots and berries for the same time of scarcity. They eat almost every thing raw. Boiling and broiling were the only methods of cookery that I saw them make use of; and the first was probably learnt from the Russians. Some have got little bra.s.s-kettles; and those who have not, make one of a flat stone, with sides of clay, not unlike a standing pye.

I was once present, when the chief of Oonalashka made his dinner of the raw head of a large halibut, just caught. Before any was given to the chief, two of his servants eat the gills, without any other dressing, besides squeezing out the slime. This done, one of them cut off the head of the fish, took it to the sea and washed it, then came with it, and sat down by the chief, first pulling up some gra.s.s, upon a part of which the head was laid, and the rest was strewed before the chief. He then cut large pieces of the cheeks, and laid these within the reach of the great man, who swallowed them with as much satisfaction as we should do raw oysters. When he had done, the remains of the head were cut in pieces, and given to the attendants, who tore off the meat with their teeth, and gnawed the bones like so many dogs.

As these people use no paint, they are not so dirty in their persons as the savages who thus besmear themselves; but they are full as lousy and filthy in their houses. Their method of building is as follows: They dig in the ground an oblong square pit, the length of which seldom exceeds fifty feet, and the breadth twenty; but in general the dimensions are smaller. Over this excavation they form the roof of wood which the sea throws ash.o.r.e. This roof is covered first with gra.s.s, and then with earth, so that the outward appearance is like a dunghill. In the middle of the roof, toward each end, is left a square opening, by which the light is admitted; one of these openings being for this purpose only, and the other being also used to go in and out by, with the help of a ladder, or rather a post, with steps cut in it.[17] In some houses there is another entrance below; but this is not common. Round the sides and ends of the huts, the families, (for several are lodged together) have their separate apartments, where they sleep, and sit at work, not upon benches, but in a kind of concave trench, which is dug all round the inside of the house, and covered with mats; so that this part is kept tolerably decent. But the middle of the house, which is common to all the families, is far otherwise. For, although it be covered with dry gra.s.s, it is a receptacle for dirt of every kind, and the place for the urine trough; the stench of which is not mended by raw hides, or leather being almost continually steeped in it. Behind and over the trench, are placed the few effects they are possessed of, such as their cloathing, mats, and skins.

[Footnote 17: Mr c.o.xe's description of the habitations of the natives of Oonalashka, and the other Fox Islands, in general, agrees with Captain Cook's. See _Russian Discoveries_, p. 149. See also _Histoire des differents Peuples soumis a la Domination des Russes_, par M.

Levesque, tom. i. p. 40, 41.--D.]

Their household furniture consists of bowls, spoons, buckets, piggins or cans, matted-baskets, and perhaps a Russian kettle or pot. All these utensils are very neatly made, and well formed; and yet we saw no other tools among them but the knife and the hatchet, that is, a small flat piece of iron, made like an adze, by fitting it into a crooked wooden handle. These were the only instruments we met with there made of iron. For although the Russians live amongst them, we found much less of this metal in their possession, than we had met with in the possession of other tribes on the American continent, who had never seen, nor perhaps had any intercourse with, the Russians.

Probably a few beads, a little tobacco, and snuff, purchase all they have to spare. There are few, if any of them, that do not both smoke and chew tobacco, and take snuff; a luxury that bids fair to keep them always poor.

They did not seem to wish for more iron, or to want any other instruments, except sewing-needles, their own being made of bone. With these they not only sew their canoes, and make their clothes, but also very curious embroidery. Instead of thread they use the fibres of sinews, which they split to the thickness which each sort of work requires. All sewing is performed by the women. They are the tailors, shoe-makers, and boat-builders, or boat-coverers; for the men, most probably, construct the frame of wood over which the skins are sewed.

They make mats and baskets of gra.s.s, that are both beautiful and strong. Indeed, there is a neatness and perfection in most of their work, that shews they neither want ingenuity nor perseverance.

I saw not a fire-place in any one of their houses; they are lighted as well as heated, by lamps, which are simple, and yet answer the purpose very well. They are made of a flat stone, hollowed on one side like a plate, and about the same size, or rather larger. In the hollow part they put the oil, mixed with a little dry gra.s.s, which serves the purpose of a wick. Both men and women frequently warm their bodies over one of these lamps, by placing it between their legs, under their garments, and sitting thus over it for a few minutes.