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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive

in 2008 witli funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/cruisesinberingsOOniedricii

CRUISES

IN

THE BERING SEA

BEING RECORDS OF FURTHER SPORT AND TRAVEL

BV

PAUL NIEDIECK

AUTHOR OF * WITH RIFLE IN FIVE CONTINENTS*

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN BV

R. A. PLOETZ, M.A.

WITH 7? FULL-PAGE PLATES, A MAP, AND 56 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT, REPRODUCED FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

LONDON: ROWLAND WARD, Limited

NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1909

[A a rights, inciudmg that of translation, reservetlX

iir

"•• . • .

TO

PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED-

BY

THE AUTHOR

I

228639

PREFACE

The kindly reception which my book fVith Rifle in Five Continents has met with in sporting circles, induces me now to publish, my last year's experiences in Siberia and Alaska. As this trip was the third occasion on which I visited the region of Alaska, and I had already, in the course of my previous visits, paid some attention both to the Indian aborigines and the natural resources of the country, I have interspersed my hunting experiences with some ethnological observations, and added a chapter on the products of Alaska ; for I am aware that very hazy notions on these subjects prevail among extensive circles of my countrymen.

While eminent explorers expend their best energies, and millions are squandered, in order to discover the North Pole, the regions which lie between the latter and the temperate zone remain neglected by Science ; for in the north of the continents of America and Asia there still lie immense tracts of unexplored country, from the opening up of which mankind would derive some benefit, whilst the discovery of the North and South Poles of the earth would only be of small value to Science and scarcely any to humanity at large.

The Bering Sea and the countries bordering upon it have

viii CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

been treated in a particularly niggardly manner by explorers. The charts of the Siberian coast are for the most part fancy pictures ; large tracts of land have never been geographically determined at all, and of the geology of the country we know next to nothing. During my sojourn in the Bering Sea I have paid particular attention to the fauna of the region, and have described it in these pages, while also giving some sketches of the tribes with whom I came in contact. I do not, however, lay the slightest claim to having enriched Science in general by this expedition.

The chart appended to this book was kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. E. G. M'Micken, Manager of the North- western Commercial Company in Seattle ; I have marked the route of my expedition upon it.

Part of the photographs reproduced in this volume were taken by my companion, Captain C. R. E. RadclyfFe.

PAUL NIEDIECK.

LOBBERICH, RhINELAND,

In the Spring a/" 1907.

CONTENTS

PART I. KAMSCHATKA CHAPTER I

PAGES

The Start, p. 3 ; Plans for the Expedition, p. + . 3-8

CHAPTER II

In Japan and among the Ainu, p. 9 . • • • 9'^°

CHAPTER III

To Kamschatka, p. 2 1 . . . . . 21-27

CHAPTER IV

In Kamschatka, p. 28 ; My First Bears, p. 30 . 28-38

CHAPTER V

Toilsome Boat-Voyage to Marsovya Bay, p. 39 . . 39"+5

CHAPTER VI

My Largest Bear, p. 46 ; a Splendid Bighorn, p. 66 ;

Return to Petropaulovsky, p. 71 . . . 4^-74

ix

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

CHAPTER VII

PAGES

Searching for Walrus, p. 75 ; Manner of Life of the

Kamschatdales and Koryaks, pp. 78, 79 . . 75-88

CHAPTER VIII

TcHUKTCHIS AND EsyUIMAUX, p. 89 ; UNSUCCESSFUL HuNT FOR

Walrus, p. 97 ; to Alaska, p. 107 . . . 89-107

PART II. ALASKA

CHAPTER IX History and Development, p. i i 1 . . . 111-121

CHAPTER X

Manners and Customs of thk Aborigines, p. 122 . . 122-142

■ . CHAPTER XI

Mythology, p. 143 . . . . . . 143-155

CHAPTER XII

Industries: Mining, p. 156; Salmon-Fishery, p. 160; Fox-

Breeuing, p. 162 ..... 156-164

CHAPTER XIII Fauna, p. 165 ; Climate, p. 169 . . . 165-170

CHAPTER XIV

The Esquimaux, p. 171 ; the Mining City of Nome, p.

177; Unalaska, p. 179 .... 171-182

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER XV

PAGES

In the Moose Country, p. 183; Homeward Bound, p. 215 183-219

APPENDIX

SYNOPSIS OF THE ANIMALS COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR DURING HIS EXPEDITION

A. Mammals. By Professor Paul Matschic . . . 223

B. Birds. By Professor Dr. Rcichenow . . . . . 240

C. Invhrtebrate Animals ..... 246

INDEX ........ 249

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES

The Author . . . Frontisf FACING	iea PAGE	FACING PAGE Drying the Bear-Skins in Mar-
The Stepney, the Steamer char- tered for the Trip Temple at Yokohama Street Scene in Tokio Triumphal Arch made of Pine-	7 10 I 2	sovya Bay .... Marsovya Bay My Record Bear . " Nameless " Bay . Drying the Clothes after the	4+ 47 +8 49
Leaves, at Tokio Russian Cossack Swords	' + i6	Shipwreck .... Drift-Wood used as Fuel	50 53
Ainu Men .... Ainu Women	i8 i8	Boat-Repairing When on the March the Big-	54
Ainu Women with Tattooed		horn Mutton is Roasted on a
Moustaches, engaged in grinding Corn The Ceremony of the Bear Harbour of Muroran	'9 '9 21	Wooden Spit Captain Radclyffe's Best Sheep .... The Guide Nicoly and m)	59 65
Ainu in Muroran .	23	Finest Bighorn .	66
Petropaulovsky My first Camp in Kamschatka	26 28	On Bear Lake On Bear Lake in July	67 68
The Beach along which I stalked the Bear . The only Trees I found in	3°	In Camp on Bear Bay — Degen, Nicoly, Captain RadclyfFe the Author, Schiissler	7«
Kamschatka north of Ava-		Our Trophies in Bighorn anc
tcha Bay were Ash-Trees, and		Bears	74
these only in Betchevinskaya Bay Betchevinskaya Bay	33 37	On Board the Stepney — Degen First Mate, Captain Rad- clyft'e, Schussler, the Author
A Dangerous Landing By Cape Shipunsky	39 42	Captain Irving, Storck Tchuktchi Types in Anadyr	82 85

XIV

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

FACING PAGE

Summer Dwellings ot" the Tchuktchis

Tchuktchis under a Boat made of Walrus-Hides ; on the left the Governor of" North- Eastern Siberia .

Young and Old in Anadyr

Salmon hung up to dry on the Banks of the River Anadyr .

Tchuktchis in Holy Cross Bay

Esquimaux House — Summer Habitation

Esquimaux House — Winter Habitation, in Course of Construction

Siberian Esquimaux (Photo- graphed by Noweli)

Nome .....

Departure from Ka-y-nc Island : Farewell to Asia

Unalaska ....

Juneau, Alaska

A Plentiful Supply of Water is the Chief Thing in the Ex- traction of Gold at Nome .

Gold-Washing by Hand, at Nome ....

Gold-Washing in the neigh- bourhood of Nome

86

89 9'

9^ 95

104 106

107 120 .56

'59 160

FACING

One of the Semidi Islands, where Foxes are Bred

On the Coast of Alaska .

In the Roadstead of Nome

In Winter the Mai! is brought to Nome on Dog- Sledges

Street in Nome

Dutch Harbour

Dutch Harbour

Unalaska

My Yacht, the Volunteer

Walruses in the Water

The Walrus take to the Water

Kodiak . .

The Moose arc fond of being Photographed

Where the Giant fell

A Spread of 77i Inches from Tip to Tip

Seldovia

The Steamer Portland

Fjord in Prince William Sound

Valdez in Spring .

The Columbia Glacier

Juneau, Alaska

Valdez in Summer

Fort Liscum, American

162 167

170

170 177 179 180 181

183 185 186 192

209 210

211

2'3 2J5 215 216 216 217 218

tary Post Valdez

Mili- in the Gulf of

TEXT FIGURES

The Empress of Japan

Religious Procession at Yoko- hama ....

Street in Yokohama

The Grand Review at Tokio .

Tokio — Canal with Naval School in Background

3	Large Siege -Gun	from	Port
	Arthur				1 +
10	Russian Naval Gun		.		15
1 1	Infantry Muskets .		.		16
12	Street in Tokio				•7
	The Stepney leaves us in	Bete he-
'3	vinskaya Bay				26

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

XV

Typical Rock Formations or

the Kamschatkan Coast A Prize Specimen . A Dangerous Coast The Bighorn were grazing on

this Rock, from which they

could only escape past the

Muzzles of our Rifles . The Home of the Bears . Building a Raft What a Bear's Head really

looks like . Our Raft

The Stranded Lifeboat . Radclyfte's Departure — with

God's Help round Cape

Shipunsky .... Nicoly with a Seal of his own

Shooting .... Our Stores of Bighorn Mutton After the Conflagration . Captain RadclyfFc's Bag before

Breakfast on the 20th of June 63

Baking Bread on Bear Lake

Catching Salmon .

Rock at the Entrance of Bear Bay, entirely tunnelled by the Breakers

The Boat of the "Baillie" of Karaga ....

From left toright: thc"Baillie" of Karaga, two Koryaks, two Kamschatdales ; in the fore- ground my Interpreter, Vladi- mir .....

Signs of Civilisation : Habita- tion of an aged Tchuktchi built of Canvas; on the right, Salmon hung up to dry

Hut of a Russian Doctor in Anadyr ; in the centre the Mammoth-Tusk of 130 lb. Weight, which is now on

4+ 49 52

53 54 55

57

58

59 62

66 68

76

11

90

View in the Royal Museum
at Berlin ....	91
We follow the Tchuktchis for
Hours, sailing in Search of
Walrus ....	93
The Bones of the Whale
erected as Tombstones (Ka-
y-ne Island)	105
Siberian Coast	"3
Valdez, Alaska, the Terminus
of the Railway .	"7
War-Canoe of the Thlinket
Indians ....	iig
Getting in the Anchored Boat,
in Kamschatka .	123
Landing in Marsovya Bay,
Kamschatka	129
Extraction of Gold by Means
of Water-Power	' 57
An Esquimaux Beauty from
Nome ....	'7z
Nome — a Primitive Manner of
extracting Gold .	»75
Russian Church in Unalaska .	180
Perry Island ....	181
The Three Newly Emerged
Islands ....	182
Walruses on Land .	1 8+
Sleeping Walruses .	.85
Sand Point ....	186
Pirate Cove ....	187
Arrival in Kodiak : the Author,
Captain Ross, Boatswain Al-
fred, Degen, Captain Rad-
clyfFe ....	189
Kenai .....	193
On the KusilofF River	194
On Lake Tustamcna	198
Absolutely Invalided	203
My First Moose	208
Rowing Home with the
Trophies ....	212
Mount Raimer, near Seattle .	218

PART I KAMSCHATKA

" THE KMPRKSS OF JAPAN '

CHAPTER I

THE START PLANS FOR THE JOURNEV

It was with very mixed feelings that on the 17th of March 1 906 I started from London on my expedition to Alaska and the Bering Sea. I was well acquainted with the country from my journeys to North-Western Alaska in the year 1903, and to Northern British Columbia in 1904. I knew that there the sun does not shine for weeks together ; I knew how the clouds droop down upon the earth, so as to keep the hunter imprisoned in his camp for days ; and I knew the monotonous pattering of the rain as it falls on the tightly stretched canvas of the tent. To make up for all this, Nature provides, on its few bright days, a magnificent scenery, perhaps the fairest on earth ; but unfortunately 1 am not one of those happy people

3

4 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

who can grow enthusiastic over the beauty of northern climes or go into raptures over endless ice and snow.

At the present day the interior of Alaska and Siberia is much less known than the inmost parts of Africa or the heart of Asia ; and no wonder, for the difficulties which, in the extreme north, beset the path of the explorer, make travelling in the African continent appear a mere picnic in comparison. Water has, from all antiquity, protected both men and beasts from the intrusion of strangers, and only by water can one reach the northern shores of the Pacific Ocean. Regular steamers there are none ; during the few months in which the Bering Sea is free from ice one cannot get far enough in a sailing ship without running the risk of being caught in the ice in autumn ; and but few explorers, and possibly even fewer sportsmen, would willingly undergo the rigours of an Arctic winter.

My original plan was to hunt bears during the spring months on the Alaskan peninsula, then to visit the St. Mathias and St. Lawrence Islands by means of a steamer, and in the autumn to shoot moose and bighorn on the Kenai peninsula. For more than two years I was in correspondence with different captains and owners of small steamers, which I tried to charter for the purpose of the expedition ; but finally all my plans came to nothing, partly because either the steamers were too small and could not carry sufficient coal, partly because, when they were large enough, the expense proved beyond my means. I therefore hired a small sailing yacht of some 30 tons, with which I was acquainted from my first voyage to Alaska. With this I intended attempting to cross the 450 nautical miles

THE START— MEETING WITH MR. STORCK 5

that separate Dutch Harbour from the St. Mathias Islands, and, if possible, to reach Siberia.

This was my plan when the little expedition, numbering four persons, left Europe. Captain T. E. RadclyfFe, of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards, was my guest ; the remaining members of the party were the professional taxidermist, C. Degen (a Swiss, who was recommended to me bv the head of the British Museum), and my servant, Carl SchOssler.

As had often proved the case before, so this time also chance was destined to cause an essential alteration in my plans. On board the steamer Campania, of the Cunard line, by which we travelled to New York, I met a Mr. G. H. Storck, whose name was already familiar to me, since the wild sheep discovered by him in Siberia has been named, in honour of the discoverer, Ovis storcki. This gentleman informed me that he intended going with his steamer by way of Japan to Kamschatka, where he had business relations with both Russians and natives. When I heard this I suddenly found myself within measurable distance of realising a dream which had been mine for many years, namely, that of visiting this interesting country, and even before we reached New York the contract was ready, all but the signatures.

Mr. Storck was the managing director of the Siberian Trading Company, which owns the steamer Stepney, and with this vessel we were to make the voyage from Hakodadi to Petropaulovsky, Anadyr, the Bering Straits, and the island of St. Lawrence, subsequently being landed at Nome in Alaska, whence the Stepney would return to Japan, while we journeyed via Dutch Harbour to Kenai. In spite of his being only

6 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

thirty-three years of age, Mr. Storclc had already an extremely interesting past. When fifteen years old he lost his entire family in Florida, during an epidemic of yellow fever. His father had been a taxidermist, and had initiated his son from an early age into all the mysteries of preparing and stuffing the skins of animals. Thus young Storck was naturally led to adopt this calling, and, in the first place, began to study sculpture, this being an art with which the modelling of animals is closely connected. For four years he was studying in the Quartier Latin at Paris, and meanwhile earning his livelihood by working as a taxidermist during his spare time. On his return to America he became so entranced by the study of Shakespeare's works, that he joined a troupe of stroll- ing players, with whom he acted the characters of Shylock, the King in Hamlet, lago in Othello, and other parts. When his ambition in the theatrical line was sated, he obtained an appointment as taxidermist at the Natural History Museum in New York, where he stuffed many specimens in a masterly manner. At the same time, however, he started a small furrier's store, which proved a success from the first. Then he hit upon the happy thought of purchasing the skins of the beasts on the spot, and directly from the natives, instead of through middlemen, so as to ensure a larger profit. The next appearance of our friend was in Siberia, where he travelled through the part which was at that time still closed to foreigners, in the character of a Russian assistant-postillion. Favoured by fortune, he made this journey annually for nine successive years, and in the year 1900, when crossing Northern Siberia on a dog-sledge, he discovered in Kamschatka the

BIOGRAPHY OF MR. STORCK 7

above-mentioned wild sheep, which was previously unknown to science.

In the year 1905 his furrier's trade had already grown to such proportions that he formed it into a company, which has its seat in London, with branches and agents in all the important places of Eastern Asia. For services formerly rendered he has lately been granted by the Russian Govern- ment a concession for trading in Eastern Siberia without having to pay any duty on the goods he imports. It is on one of these commercial expeditions that I intend to accompany Mr. Storclc, making one part of the trip as his passenger, and chartering the ship for my own purposes during the other half It should likewise be mentioned that Mr. Storck is one of the few persons who have worked in Siberia with any success : many other and wealthier companies have established commercial relations there, but have only succeeded in losing their ships and their capital in the venture ; so that at this date the Stepney is the only vessel which cruises regularly along the coasts of Kamschatka. Trading is only permitted in Siberia under a concession granted by the Russian Government ; with- out such grant, no one, more especially a non-Russian trader, is allowed to purchase skins or land goods on the Siberian coast.

Before Captain RadclyfFe and I left New York on our journey to the West, we had the honour of being received at Washington by President Roosevelt, who took great interest in the expedition we had planned ; unfortunately I was not able to observe the like interest in the German Ambassador to the U.S.A., and that although the whole enterprise is intended in the first place to serve the interests of science.

8 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

From Washington we travelled directly to Seattle, the chief town of the state of Washington, situated on the Pacific Ocean.

I know of no city where one can procure more quickly or satisfactorily an equipment for an expedition to the North. In two days I had collected all the provisions needed for eight months, tents, and the clothing requisite for the climate. The business part of the matter was settled with Mr. Storck, so that by the 9th of April we were able to leave Vancouver on board the steamer Empress of Japan.

CHAPTER II

IN JAPAN AND AMONG THE AINU

On the 23rd of April we reached Yokohama. Here we received the news that the Stepney, the vessel chartered for the trip, would arrive six days late at the place of rendezvous, viz. Hakodadi, on the island of Yezo, and thus we had the opportunity of enjoying a few days of the lovely Japanese spring. Since my visits to this country, in the years 1898 and 1900, no change has taken place in it. The relations between Japanese and foreigners, which were always friendly, have even improved since the war, as the great majority of the strangers present in Japan during that time took sides with the Japanese.

On the 30th of April I had the opportunity of witnessing the grand review of his victorious troops held by the Emperor of Japan at Tokio. Detachments of every regiment which had served in the war had been ordered up to Tokio, and now performed a kind of triumphal march, in which some 31,000 men took part. The day was the greatest national festival that the history of Japan knows of : business was at a standstill ; the post office stamp bore the impress " Triumphant Military Review " in the Japanese and English languages ; the

lO

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

nation acclaimed its heroes. The spectators' stands on the review ground were most peculiarly arranged. Immediately before the Grand Stand there was an open space of about 25 yards in breadth, then came a large court enclosed by canvas walls supported by pillars; in the centre of this

RELIOIOUS PROCKSSION AT YOKOHAMA.

court stood the imperial pavilion. The Emperor first drove past the front of all the troops in a landau, and then, sitting in his tent with his back to the Grand Stand, he made the troops march past at a considerable distance, which, measured from the stand, amounted to at least 200 yards. So one felt a complete outsider, standing as one

GRAND REVIEW AT TOKIO ii

did (for there were no seats) for five hours on this erection.

On the day before the review a report was spread every- where that talcing photographs on the review ground was

STREKT IN YOKOHAMA.

strictly forbidden, and that especially the Emperor's person was on no account to be introduced on any plate. However,^ the officer on duty at the entrance allowed me to take in my camera, and, on my making special inquiries, even to take photographs of anything at pleasure. When the review was at an end, I had a capital chance of taking a snapshot of the

12

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Emperor in his carriage, without His Majesty himself being aware of it. Great was, therefore, my chagrih when I found at the studio of the Japanese photographer, who had developed and printed the plates, that precisely those on which there was any trace of the imperial pavilion, of the court carriages, of the princes and princesses of the royal house, had one and all been spoilt by exposure to the light, whilst the Emperor himself was absolutely invisible in the picture. I was perfectly unable to account for these extraordinary failures, more

THE GRAND REVIEW AT TOKIO.

especially as all the other films had come out well, until some foreigners, who were intimately acquainted with the country, explained to me that the Japanese photographer had, from motives partly of envy, partly of patriotism, purposely spoilt the photograph of his Emperor, all the more because it had been taken by a Christian. Not all the Japanese are able to keep pace with the rapid progress in culture of the country, and doubtless my photographer is still one of the old school. In former times the Japanese were not even permitted to know the name of their sovereign ; it was only after his death that

• *■ t r o

GRAND REVIEW AT TOKIO

13

it was published. But a short time ago the lieges had to bow so low that they never set eyes upon their ruler, and to this day many of them cannot get used at all to the notion of their Mikado appearing in public.

One thing that struck me is that the Emperor bows to no one, neither to his officers when they salute him, nor to his people when they shout " Banzai," nor to the Europeans who,

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TOKIO — CANAL WITH NAVAL SCHOOL IN BACKGROUND.

according to the custom of their country, take off their hats to the sovereign. Everything else is copied pretty accurately from Europe, down to the minutest details, and I suppose the next generation will even learn to bow.

When, after the review was over, the troops marched back to the city, the people, who had poured in from the country around in thousands, gave them an ovation, making, however, a careful distinction between individual regiments, according

14

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA*

to their merits. But these demonstrations were by no means of a boisterous nature, as they would undoubtedly have been on any similar occasion in Europe. People waved their arms or took off their hats when some colours passed by of which all but a few tatters had been shot away, or some officer whose

LARGE SIKGE-GUN FROM PORT ARTHUR.

chest glittered with decorations; a few shouts of "Banzai" were raised ; but the whole behaviour of the crowd was calm, almost reserved.

By the way, " Banzai " is not, as is often assumed, an ancient war-cry of the Japanese ; on the contrary, it has only been invented a few years ago by some university professors, at the instance of the Government, and to form a substitute for

t , t * t r t r< «

TROPHIES OF THE WAR

15

the European " Hurrah." So it is literally a war-cry " made to order."

Most interesting was the display of a part of the military trophies won in the late war, in the great square in front of the imperial palace at Tokio — only a tenth, so I was assured, of those which were actually taken. Large siege-guns from Port Arthur, every kind of field-artillery, army-service carts.

RUSSIAN NAVAL OUN.

quick-firing cannon, naval guns, had been drawn up ; thousands of muskets and as many Cossack sabres and lances had been stacked here in the open air, to show the nation what their brave troops had achieved. In speechless astonishment the Japanese stood round these trophies ; but nowhere could one see or hear an expression of joy or excitement : the same equanimity which they displayed over their enormous losses in the murderous battles of the war now characterised them

i6

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

in the moment of victory. For the country people we Europeans with our cameras were a much greater attraction than the war trophies ; many of the peasants had doubtless never yet seen a European, and swarmed round us like bees as soon as we made an attempt to take a picture with the

INFAXTRV MUSKETS.

apparatus, though afterwards, at a mere sign, they willingly and politely drew aside.

On the 2nd of May we left Yokohama by rail, and after a nineteen hours' journey arrived in Aomori, the terminus of the railway of the island of Nippon. The landscape all through this stretch of country is delightful, especially at this season of the year, when the cherry-trees are in bloom, and

■a.

.* *\ • ' * •

\.

'!

;• :.• : ••

AINU WOMKN WITH TATTOOED MOUSTACHKS ENGA(.HD IN GRINDING CORN.

Facing pcjge 19.

■a, SO

JOURNEY THROUGH NIPPON 17

the young foliage of the alders and birches adds its lively colours to the sombre pine-woods. The land is like one huge garden ; the fields are cared for like garden borders, each single one being surrounded by a little ditch and dyke, by means of which they regulate the irrigation. The industrious

STREET IN TOKIO.

Japanese peasant, whose claims on life are uncommonly modest, mostly grows rice, where the soil is moist enough ; but rye, wheat, and cruciferas likewise flourish here, the last especially brightening the landscape with their luminous yellow blossoms.

Aomori is but a tiny town ; from here the steamer goes in seven hours to Hakodadi, the chief town of the island of

1 8 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Yezo, and a considerable port, from which all the fishing-boats start for the north. Yezo is the largest and the most southern island of the Kurile archipelago, which lies like a chain of outposts before the continent of Asia.

The Kuriles are of volcanic origin ; to this day the active volcanoes of the chain number as many as twenty, and they seem to form a link between the mighty craters of Kamschatka and those of Japan ; they are a part of the great volcanic range which stretches southward as far as the Philippines. Originally the Kuriles were Russian property ; then Russia exchanged these islands for the southern half of Saghalin, which quite lately has again passed into Japanese hands. The inhabitants of the Kuriles are the Ainu, of whom tradition says that they formerly inhabited the whole of Japan. To-day there ire only a few thousands of them left, although they are a vigorous race and considerably taller in stature than the Japanese. Their grade of culture is extremely low ; they mostly live in caves, feed on what the ebb-tide leaves on the beach, and, like all primitive races, are doomed to certain extinction.

Their tradition relates that one day an Ainu god dined with a Japanese god, on which occasion the Ainu got drunk and fell asleep ; thereupon the Japanese stole his confrere's grammar and alphabet, and taught his faithful worshippers the art of reading and writing, while the Ainu to this day are unacquainted with written characters.

Owing to infectious diseases and a penchant for strong alcoholic liquors, their numbers are rapidly diminishing ; moreover, the Japanese carry off the handsome women as

!»

«,

&«

«• 9 r t » t t

I

AMONG THE AINU 19

mistresses, so that there is but a scanty rising generation. Unlike the Japanese, the Ainu are very hairy, and their women consider this hairiness as such an ornament that they have a moustache tattooed on their upper and a beard on part of their lower lips. Their most striking feature is the beauty and softness of their large brown eyes, which agree but ill with their otherwise savage appearance. I visited a few of their squalid hovels, and found the people willing and ready to let themselves be photographed for a few coins.

The Ainu nation have even to this day retained many of their old manners and customs, which are apt to strike us with surprise. For instance, if an Ainu kills a female bear, he catches the cub and takes it to his village. Here the bear cub is suckled by the women until it has grown fat ; then a popular festival is arranged, the bear is surrounded by the whole population, shot with an arrow, and served up for dinner.

In Hakodadi I spent a whole week, much against my will. The steamer Stepney, which was to convey us to the north, had left Shanghai on April 28, and was due at Hakodadi on May 4 ; instead of which she only arrived on the 9th, when I was almost in despair and had already given up the whole trip to the Bering Sea. The very stay in a Japanese tea-house at Hakodadi made the situation even more hard to bear ; nobody spoke a word of English or any other language than Japanese. It was perfectly impossible to make oneself under- stood, especially as the Japanese womankind, who alone minister to one's wants, have been endowed by nature with an extraordinarily slender modicum of brains.

20 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

The north of Japan differs totally from the south, which is the part that travellers visit almost exclusively. While one sees but few poor or ill-clad people in Tokio, Yokohama, Kobe, or Kyoto, and is compelled to admire the almost painful neatness and cleanliness that reigns everywhere, the north affords plentiful examples of poverty, dirt, and odours, which would do honour to the Chinese towns of Canton and Amoy. Great was therefore the joy of all of us when the Stepney weighed anchor on May lo, in order to bring us nearer to the goal towards which we had been striving for the last seven weeks.

> ?'..'.

CHAPTER III

TO KAMSCHATKA

The Stepney is a screw-steamer built twenty years ago, of 442 tons' burden, and capable of doing 7 to 8 knots per hour in a smooth sea ; In length 160 feet, breadth 35 feet. It Is only since last year that the vessel navigates the Pacific Ocean ; before that time she was a collier, engaged in the English coasting trade. There is no accommodation for passengers ; we sleep, seven of us, packed like sardines, in the berths provided for the sailors, and immediately above the screw. The captain, the first mate, and the engineer are Englishmen, the second mate a German, and the rest of the crew, numbering twenty- eight persons, are Chinese.

Only a icw miles out from the harbour of Hakodadi we met a stifle north-easter, which gave the ship a chance of showing both her sea-going qualities and her capacity for pitching and rolling. In the latter form of motion especially the boat achieved a record, which is accounted for by the fact that her breadth is out of all proportion to her length, a circumstance which gives the ship the outward appearance of a bath-tub. We first made the port of Muroran, situated on the island of Yezo, farther north than Hakodadi, in

22 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

order to coal ; then we put out to sea, pointing for Petro- paulovslcy.

A lovely day, the sea as smooth as glass, the sun smiled in an azure sky and lured us out into the main ; but it was the calm which precedes the storm, for the barometer began to fall briskly, until it reached the lowest point ever registered. As a sort of overture, we were roused early in the morning of the second day out by a stiff breeze, which grew stronger every hour, until in the afternoon a gale like a hurricane was tossing our little ship about like a nutshell, and brought with it that most dreaded of all diseases, to wit, sea-sickness. After a night which I shall never forget, the tempest attained its climax on the following day, and the force of the waves at this point was such that, in order to save his ship from serious damage, the captain altered his course, and seeking shelter, steered straight for the Kurile Islands. <

Towards midnight, when only two miles distant from the island of Simushir, we began to feel the benefit of being under its lee, and making calmer weather, were released from the pangs of sea-sickness. In the last twenty-four hours we had gone 25 knots in the opposite direction to our proper course. The man who, like myself, has not yet managed, after some eighty odd voyages, to get used to the briny ocean, must indeed be inspired by a passionate love of sport to trust himself to one of the stormiest seas of the globe on such a cranky ship as this, and many a time during the last few days have I cursed the hour when I resolved upon this trip. But as soon as the turmoil is over and the sun shines once more, one forgets the sufferings and thinks only of the joy of the venture.

» C • !•

■a, feo

TO KAMSCHATKA 23

The gale was followed by a day of calm weather. But instead of being able to make up for some of the lost time, we now found that one of the boilers had become defective. One of the rivets with which the holes bored for inspection purposes by Lloyd's officers are closed up again, had given way, the water leaked into the furnace and put out the fire. In order to repair the damage the other boiler-fire had to be put out as well ; accordingly we drifted for six hours — thank Heaven it was towards the south-east and away from the Kurile Islands, on which the ship would surely have been wrecked had the wind been east or south. The repairs proved ineffective : in the night the rivet started again, and we drifted southward for another six hours. At last, on the seventh day, we sighted Cape Lopatka, the extreme southern point of the Kamschatkan peninsula: we had reached the Bering Sea, and on May 19, accompanied by a gale, which was in no way inferior in violence to the former one, we reached Petropaulovsky. We had taken exactly nine days and four hours to make the 11 00 nautical miles from Hakodadi.

Petropaulovsky is the capital of Kamschatka, numbers 250 inhabitants, and is picturesquely situated at the foot of some hills on Avatcha Bay. Here the governor inspected our passports over a bottle of champagne, and as he found every- thing in perfect order, we might now have started at once on our hunting trip, had I not suddenly found myself confronted by an almost insuperable difficulty.

Even in Japan and on the voyage, I had had difl^erences of opinion with Mr. Storck, the owner of the Stepney, in the course of which I had acquired the conviction that he was the

24 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

sort of man who, to express myself cautiously, spells money with a capital M, and whose statements must be taken cum gram salis. He is one of the class of self-made men whose education is by no means on a par with the wealth, apparently considerable and rapidly acquired, which they possess ; a class of persons more frequently met with in the United States than in other countries, for the Americans are, of all men, the finest exponents of the noble art of money-making, and their country affords them special and copious facilities for practising the same. My friend RadclyfFe is a man who generally manages to hit the right nail on the head, and at Petropaulovsky I overheard him give the following neat and appropriate reply to the question, " How are you getting along with Mr. Storck .'' " " During a somewhat varied career in many lands, I have encountered a number of men whose ancestors undoubtedly in former times hunted jackals round the walls of Jerusalem. Most of these men who can lay claim to such a descent have an eye to the main chance in business propositions when money matters are concerned. But seldom have I met one of them who was as sharp on the tracks of the almighty dollar as this worthy individual. He has also a somewhat exaggerated idea of his own accomplishments and abilities. In fact he is one of those men whom I should like to buy at my price and afterwards sell out at his own valuation, in order to make myself a small fortune quickly."

My original intention was to have myself conveyed by the Stepney from Petropaulovsky to a bay which lies between this place and Cape Lopatka, in order to land there and go shoot- ing for a couple of months. During this time the steamer was

DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT 25

to make a circular tour round the Sea of Okhotsk, go back to Japan for coaling purposes, and then return to Kamschatka with a view to taking us on to the north of Siberia. But the governor advised us not to go south, as there were several Russians hunting there already, and recommended the coast to the north, viz. the region of Cape Shipunsky. In any case we required a couple of boats, a large one and a small one, in which to row or sail along the coast from one shooting-ground to another, after the steamer had left us. Mr. Storck, who had been for years accurately acquainted with the condition of affairs in Petropaulovsky, had assured us that we should find the necessary vessels in that place, but on our arrival we could only hear of one small rowing-boat, and that not seaworthy, whilst the owners of larger craft refused to part with them at any price. Now Mr. Storck happened to have brought with him two small motor-boats from America ; unfortunately it turned out that the motors did not work, so that, in a place absolutely destitute of engineers, they only represented so much useless lumber. On the voyage to Kamschatka he offered to sell me one of these boats, without the motor, for use as a sailing-vessel, for the modest sum of ^^400. Quite apart from the question of price, it would have been utterly impossible to sail such a boat without first fitting it with a keel. But the owner had got it into his head that he would sell this craft — which had no sort of value for him — at this fancy price. Accordingly he was jubilant when I failed to secure a suitable boat at Petropaulovsky, and made sure he would be able to force me to agree to his terms. I, on the other hand, asked him to sell me one of the two lifeboats on

26

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the steamer. The answer was that ^^2000 would not buy it, as he dared not sell it, for fear of Infringing the regulations in force for ships sailing under the English flag. Thereupon I resolved to give up the idea of using boats altogether, and to go inland with pack-horses. But to part from me without having done a " deal " of some kind did not suit my friend's notions either. He next asked me what ofl^er I would make

THE "STEPNKV LEAVES US IN BETCHEVINSKAYA BAY.

him for one of the lifeboats, and when I replied that I was not a Jew huckster, he actually offered me the boat which, only yesterday, ;^2000 would not have bought, for the sum of j^ioo, with a rebate of £^0 on the boat being returned within two months. The cost price of such a vessel, by the way, is ;^I5. However, I closed with the bargain, the Stepney weighed anchor, and after a passage of eight hours we reached Betche- vinskaya Bay, forty-three nautical miles distant.

As there were no soundings marked on the chart the

LANDING IN BETCHEVINSKAYA BAY 27

steamer was unable to enter the bay. Our equipment had therefore to be transhipped into the lifeboat in the open roadstead, and now, at last, there was every prospect that our hunting trip was really going to begin. But once more Fate put a spoke in our wheel. As soon as the lifeboat was launched, it was apparent that it leaked. The loading was proceeded with nevertheless, but when, within a quarter of an hour, we found a foot of water in the bottom, I ordered every- thing to be taken out again, as the sea water threatened to spoil my provisions. The next thing was that, when they hoisted the boat back on board, the davits broke off short, the boat fell back into the water, and was smashed against the bows. Needless to say, I refused to complete the purchase, and the other lifeboat was accordingly launched. In this vessel we safely reached our first camping-place on Betche- vinskaya Bay, a fjord surrounded by lofty snow-clad hills.

In Petropaulovsky I had engaged a guide well acquainted with the country, by name Nicoly, and likewise an interpreter, called Wassily, who spoke English well. The former was a man of pure Russian blood, the latter the offspring of a Russian father and a Kamschatdale mother. Our total company now consisted of six persons. While on our way to the camping- ground, SchUssler and the two Russians caught sight of a couple of bears scraping about in the snow on the seashore ; but by the time I came up, these had disappeared. Yet I breathed more freely, when I heard the men's report, for it proved that there really were bears, the aim and object of my desires.

CHAPTER IV

IN KAMSCHATKA MY FIRST BEARS

On shore we found numerous evidences that this bay was formerly inhabited by Kamschatdales, the same as the country to the north and south. At the present day not the smallest settlement is to be found on this coast ; a few years after the Russian conquest have sufficed, by means of systematic plunder- ing, slaughter, and the importation of diseases and brandy, to exterminate the once populous nation of the Kamschatdales, with the exception of the small remnant that now inhabit the interior.

Since we left Yokohama the temperature has decreased very gradually ; here it is considerably warmer than I had expected, the thermometer hardly falling below freezing-point, and I fear that the bears have long ago woke up from their winter sleep and will soon lose their beautiful coat. As far as one can rely on the few statistics that are available about Kamschatka, the country has the worst climate imaginable. Spring and autumn there are none, only summer and winter, and the former is so short and cold that the season hardly deserves the name of summer. To-day, May 23, not the least

trace of green is visible ; even the willows have no buds

28

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^^m
"^^M	"'^%m^
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ON BETCHEVINSKAYA BAY 29

as yet, although the air is not particularly cold ; but the enormous masses of ice and snow, and the fact that beneath the surface the soil is still frozen hard, arrest the growth of vegetation. It has been calculated that in this country either rain, snow, or fog occurs on 322 days in the year, and to this category belonged the first two days that I spent in camp.

The tents were pitched on the sandhills in an absolutely exposed situation, where for two days a gale, more like a hurricane, threatened every moment to blow them away ; added to which there was a constant succession of alternate showers of hail, rain, and snow, so that my people, Degen and SchQssler, who had no previous experience of camping in the open in such weather, were somewhat downcast. For my own part, I rejoiced at being once more in camp afi:er eighteen months ; I found the same charm in this unfettered mode of life as I had ever done. To have to care for nothing and nobody, to be lord and master of one's time, one's movements, and one's actions, in that lies a great deal of the fascination which so many, besides myself, find in this nomad life. From a purely material point of view, it was refreshing once again to get food fit for human beings. At dishes cooked in rancid oil, such as were served at the Japanese tea-house in Hakodadi, the dogs at home would turn up their noses. In the galley on board the Stepney, ruled over by a Chinese chef, there reigned a chronic and disgusting state of dirt ; moreover, there was ever a " plentiful lack " of fresh water, a state of things which had an unpleasant effect upon the plates, etc. But here in camp it was splendid, even when the

30 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

wind howled round our ears, or when, as was the case in the first two nights, we were roused from sleep by powerful shocks of earthquake.

Upon the rain there followed, if not sunshine, at least somewhat more cheery weather. Radclyffe and I made an excursion on skis over the ice of the bay, one half of which was still frozen, and convinced ourselves that we should want a good deal more practice, before we acquired any pace with these snow-shoes. In the afternoon we rowed out into the bay, and I bagged a fox, my first prize ; it was on May 24, and the sixty-eighth day since my departure from London. Soon after, the guide Nicoly "spotted" a bear, who was feeding on seaweed on the beach. I was set ashore and tried to stalk him ; but as there was no cover whatever, the beast caught sight of me when I was still 150 yards off. My two first bullets failed to hit the mark ; then the bear came straight at me, not in order to attack me, for bears are, as is well known, peaceable animals and of an amiable disposition, but simply because he had no other way of escape. After going a few steps, he began to climb up the steep slope of the undercliff which was still buried deep in snow, con- stantly lessening the distance between myself and him, until a shot behind the shoulder-blade laid him low. While we were skinning the beast I caught sight of another bear against the sky-line, at a distance of a little over a mile, who was indulging in some remarkable capers. He had, however, got wind of us and took himself off speedily into the hills. When a bear gets wind of a suspicious scent, he frequently raises himself on his hind-legs in order to Investigate the current

A SUCCESSFUL DAY 31

of air immediately above him ; these are the same tactics that in Hlce case the elephant employs by means of his trunk. With the bear-skin stowed away in the boat we rowed on along the shore, when, to our astonishment, we suddenly saw three bighorn standing right above us on the precipitous cliffs. I fired almost vertically into the air, and at the shot saw a handful of wool fly from the coat of the ram, but immediately after the beast was gone. Unfortunately I dared not trust myself to follow him up, on account of my weak heart, for it was precisely while shooting bighorn — the most fatiguing sport of all — that I overtaxed that organ two years ago, and have ever since been obliged to exercise a certain amount of self-restraint in all my movements. Later in the afternoon another male bighorn came within range of my rifle, and this one I bagged.

The mountain-sheep or bighorn of Kamschatka, Ovis nivico/a, makes a magnificent trophy ; the horns resemble those of the American bighorn, Ovis montana, with a certain affinity to O. dalli. What disappointed us bitterly was that the animals were at this season feeding on a species of wild garlic, which rendered what is at other times the most delicate venison perfectly uneatable.

The next day brought good sport, producing as it did a bag of three fine bears. In spite of the cold breeze, the air in sheltered spots gave signs of the approach of summer, and the sun, shining in the sky, which was at least partially clear, allowed us for the first time to admire the splendid scenery of snow and ice, varied by dark rocks, which surrounded us. Soon we made out a bear on the seashore, and Radclyfl^e,

32 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

whose shot it was, bagged him easily. While we were stalking the bear together, the men in the boat had located another one high up on a hillside, and I started stalking it, but found it very, very hard work. Afterwards, however, I had not the least difficulty in bagging the beast, who was apparently asleep, and turned out a prize specimen. In the afternoon I got another bear, which I brought down from a rocky ledge, whence he tumbled dead into the sea. Having

TYPICAL ROCK FORMATIONS ON THE KAMSCHATKAN COAST.

thus secured four bears in the first two days' shooting, we had every reason to congratulate ourselves, the more so as the Russians told us that hereabouts there were only few bears, while farther north, for instance near Cape Kronoski, bears ran about like the dogs in Petropaulovsky. It is quite a month ago since a number of men started for Cape Kronoski, to shoot bears for the Russian fur company, which has a factory at that place. In previous years these people have come back with as many as fifty or sixty skins.

I!

< s-

INQUISITIVE SEALS 33

The fine weather continued, and every day I rowed along the coast of the bay and of the open sea ; even when no bears or bighorn were in sight, I found a pleasing occupation in watching the many birds, seals, and sea-lions which here peopled the rocks and the sea. The most amusing of these animals were the seals, who are extremely inquisitive. Many

A PRIZE SPF.CIMEN.

of them followed the boat for miles, coming to the surface every few minutes to breathe ; two of them even accompanied us to our camping-place and remained overnight, to escort us again next morning.

Now I have a confession of failure to make as well. I had climbed up a steep slope, at the top of which I had discovered a bear, and had hardly reached the crest, when I saw the beast gazing at me some 130 yards off. As a single leap would

34 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA .

have carried it out of sight, I had to fire on the spur of the moment, and the bear started off, hard hit. Following the blood-tracks, it was a pleasure to note that my guide Nicoly did not forsake me when pushing through the thicket, which here consists of a kind of fir-scrub whose boughs grow parallel with the ground, like those of the alders. Through a mass of this brushwood it is almost impossible for a man to force his way. One has to keep on swinging from one bough to the other ; one of them bears the weight of the body, while another gives way. At the same time one has to keep a sharp look-out, lest Master Bruin should be lying in wait to attack one, for it is in these thickets that he hides when wounded. Next day I followed the spoor of the wounded bear for several miles on snow-shoes, but I did not succeed in bagging him. On this occasion I saw a large bear with a peculiarly dark coat feeding on the beach on seaweed, the only food which the animals can find at this season. Slowly he wandered about among the boulders, getting farther and farther away, and looking back from time to time, but without taking any notice of me, although I was running towards him without any cover, but upwind. The visual powers of a bear are extremely poor, a fact that cost this particular one his life.

All the skins of the bears we have shot hitherto are in splendid condition as to coat, although the animals, judging by the great number of tracks, have been on the move a long time. One ought to be on this shooting-ground a full fortnight earlier than we were, but the ice round the island of Yezo and the Kurile archipelago seldom disappears before

L

HABITS OF THE KAMSCHATKAN BEAR 35

May 10, so that it is hardly possible to get here earlier, unless one travels overland from Russia or winters in Petropaulovsky. The manner of life of the bear in Kamschatka is the following : In the spring, when the first ray of warm sunshine announces the end of the long winter, he emerges from his lair, which he has entered in the autumn after the first heavy fall of snow. This lair is always situated in some spot sheltered from the wind, whether it be between rocks, a thick network of shrubs or aerial roots — in short, at a place where the first snowfall has already formed a kind of roof, and where consequently the beast finds some protection from the worst rigours of the weather.

It is a natural consequence of the climate that the bear, who is a denizen of the northern regions, must hibernate during the whole of the winter months, for otherwise he would perish miserably for want of food. When the ground is frozen hard, so that he is unable to scrape up roots, when snow many feet deep clothes the whole land, and the fish in the rivers are put out of his reach by the shield of ice that covers them, the bear must necessarily either starve or go to sleep.

It is a well-known fact that in human beings also there is a much smaller consumption of vital force during sleep ; on the other hand, every motion necessarily demands a fresh supply of fuel to replace the expended energy, i.e. food. In the Tropics, for instance in India, where there is no winter, and there is always a sufficiency of food available for the bear, he does not hibernate, but keeps on the move throughout the year.

36 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

In Kamschatka, as soon as the bear has left his lair in spring, he goes in search of food, and at that time of year he is unable to find anything but the seaweed on the shore, which the tides hereabouts leave behind them in great quantities. Little by little the sun thaws the snow on the south side of the hills, the young grass begins to sprout with startling rapidity, and then Bruin may be seen grazing with his family, like lambs in a pasture.

About the middle of June the salmon begin to go up the rivers in order to spawn, and from this time forward these fish form, both here and in Alaska, the staple food- supply of the great brown bear. The fish spawn in quite shallow, stagnant water, i.e. in small lagoons which branch off from the rivers, or from the lakes, in which the former rise. The bear enters the water and, with a smart blow of his paw, tosses the fish, as they swim past him, on to the dry land, where he afterwards devours them, one after another, at his leisure.

But vegetables also form an important item in the bear's bill of fare ; for in August he is fond of feeding on the wild peas that grow here in enormous abundance, until at last September supplies him with his favourite dish, namely, berries of every kind, which in this country possess a most exquisite flavour. By way of a ^onne bouche to wind up with, and before he retires to bed, the Alaskan bear betakes himself to the hills and here digs marmots (or susliks) out of the earth ; that is his dessert, and at the same time the only live mammal that he ever attacks ; for it is a well-known fact that the bear, that is to say, the bear who has not come in contact with (and

i

WE MOVE ON TO MARSOVYA BAY 37

been depraved by) civilisation, is no slayer of game, no beast of prey, but a vegetarian, who, it must be owned, eats fish when he gets the chance, and every now and then takes a bite out of any carrion that he finds by the way.

As in the case of every other quarry, a knowledge of the bear's habits is of the greatest importance to the hunter who wants to bag him. The skin is in the best condition on the day he leaves his sleeping-berth ; at this period it is thick and as soft as silk. After some four to six weeks he begins to shed the long winter coat and to put on instead his shorter summer one. Such a skin has no value at all. In late autumn the winter coat again makes its appearance, but the skin is not at that time in such good condition as in spring, after the long winter's rest.

RadclyfFe had meanwhile shot two additional bears ; one of them rolled down a precipice right on to the beach of the bay, and crawled into the water, so as to escape from his pursuers by swimming. RadclyiFe had soon caught him up with the boat ; the bear now began to belabour the latter with his claws and to attack the bows with his teeth, until a bullet through the skull put an end to his sufl^erings — and that not a moment too soon, for the heavy beast had nearly capsized the little boat.

We now resolved to move on to Marsovya Bay, thirty miles off. We were well aware of the difficulties which would attend this undertaking, for Betchevinskaya Bay lies in a south-east to north-west direction, while Marsovya Bay runs north and south. By land the two bays are only about six miles distant from one another, but it was out of the question for

38 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

us to carry our entire belongings over the lofty snow-covered mountains that separate them ; so there was nothing for it but to row — or if the wind would serve, to sail — round Cape Shipunsky. The first thing needful, however, was to repair our small boat, which had already sustained severe damage while landing on the rocky shore.

»

■a.

CHAPTER V

A TOILSOME BOAT-VOYAGE TO MARSOVVA BAY

We Started on May 28, a day of perfect calm and such glorious beauty, that one ought to thank one's Creator for being alive to enjoy it, and by nightfall we had travelled eight and a half nautical miles. We pitched a temporary camp ashore, and next day continued our voyage in the same manner. The little boat, rowed by three men, took the big boat in tow. At first all went well, then a head wind sprang up and we were forced to land ; the last half-mile had cost us one and a half hours of very hard work. The wind, blowing inland, increased in violence every minute, the surf rose in proportion, so that, when landing, our small boat was hurled ashore with considerable force by an overtopping roller. All too soon it became evident that our large boat, which was anchored at some distance from the shore, and was much too deeply-laden, would quickly fill, when all our provisions would be ruined. The question now was how to get our goods and chattels to land, in spite of the raging surf. Each man of us strained every nerve ; for three hours we were standing up to our hips in literally ice- cold water ; but we succeeded in our task, though, when all

was done, we found that the bumping on the beach had

39

40 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

knocked holes in the little boat, through which you could see daylight.

We had luckily escaped a great danger, for it is impossible to reach Petropaulovsky overland by reason of the many gullies, nor could we have got back without great difficulty to Betche- vinskaya Bay, where the Stepney was due to meet us on July 15. When in camp at this place, we stalked five bighorn, but could not get within 300 yards of them, owing to the difficult nature of the ground. While thus engaged, Nicoly drew our attention to a couple of dark dots on the hillside, which he suggested were bears ; but having carefully inspected them with the telescope, we declared them to be earth mounds. Our bullets missed the bighorn, and now the aforesaid dots proved to be bears after all, one of them being a real prize specimen, and by far the largest we had seen hitherto. He gave me a capital mark at some 11 00 yards, but my bullets went wide.

Although we were camping close upon the seashore, the surrounding landscape had all the characteristics of the loftiest mountain scenery. By our tents there rushed a rapid mountain torrent, whose waters, now blue, now boiling into snow-white foam, came roaring from a dark gully in the rocks. Above us in succession lay green alpine meadows gaily decked with the first flowers of spring, next gigantic masses of dark grey rocks, which in turn were topped by lofty snow-capped mountain crests.

The toil we had undergone had so thoroughly exhausted all of us, that on the following morning we did not get afloat before ten o'clock. The wind had gone down, but when we

HARDSHIPS OF THE VOYAGE 41

had cleared one of the many projecting tongues of land, it assailed us again, and we were compelled to land, after having gone barely a mile. I had left half our baggage in the last camp, as the large boat was so heavily loaded that it might easily have capsized, and now I can leave the boat with its lightened cargo out at anchor during the night. Here we camp on the open beach, where the wind assails us on every side ; the ground is rocky, so that driving pegs into it is impracticable, and one has to make the tent-ropes fast by weighting them with heavy stones. Last night one tent broke down in the gale, which was raging by this time, and we were on our legs half the night, trying to secure the others.

It would seem that on this trip also — just as on so many previous occasions — I am in for a constant struggle against Fate, which here has conspired with the elements as well to thwart me. Everything goes awry. Yesterday we had towed the boat up a small watercourse, in order to refit it, and were just about to start back, when the whole river-bank above us gave way, and buried our poor little craft beneath the debris. To-day, the weather being perfectly clear, I climbed up to the top of Cape Shipunsky, in order to have a look round and find out how rough the sea was on the other side ; but five minutes before I reached the summit, there came on such a dense fog that I was unable to see anything. Firewood for cooking purposes there is none growing in this region, but here and there one picks up chunks of wood which have drifted across from America ; yesterday we even found properly sawn logs, which must have come from some ship wrecked upon this coast. For three days the gale held us

42 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

captive here ; during this time I shot two bighorn — thank Heaven they were Christian ones, who had not tasted garlic, and thus formed a very welcome addition to our bill of fare. The little boat we have repaired as well as we could, nailing over the holes all the available bits of tin from our preserved meat cans. At 3 a.m. on June 2 the wind had gone down, and, in spite of the strong swell and high surf, we managed to get our belongings into the lifeboat, which lay at anchor outside, passing a hawser from the little boat to the big one ; one man remained in the small boat, and from time to time allowed the latter to drift, by means of the anchor rope, close to the shore, where the others stood ready to throw in the baggage ; last of all we jumped in ourselves, though we were already drenched to the skin by the spray of the surf spirting up, and reached the open sea without mishap.

We were all of us determined now to keep the sea until we had reached our goal, Marsovya Bay, where we would find shelter — even though we took days to get there ; for the repeated landings of the last few days had taxed our strength beyond human endurance. For the moment the breeze was favourable, and with its help we managed to round the ill- famed Cape Shipunsky ; but after a bare two hours it fell a calm, and we had to take to the oars.

From an artist's point of view, Cape Shipunsky, with the chain of rocks lying like outposts before it, is magnificent ; on these rocks were sprawling hundreds of sea-lions of all sizes, who received our boats with a chorus of loud bellowing, and over them flitted, in their incomparable elegance of motion, thousands of sea-gulls, protesting with discordant voices against

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SEA-LIONS AT CAPE SHIPUNSKY

43

the disturbers of their peace. The rocks we saw here were, most of them, entirely dark, which is the natural colour of the stone, but scattered among them were a few snow-white ones ; these are the ones on which the gulls have settled for hundreds, it may be thousands, of years. The sea-lions

A DANGEROUS COAST.

likewise are found crowding in great numbers on one particular rock, which is completely covered by them, while on the next, lying side by side with it, not a single animal is to be seen. Most interesting it was to watch the females of these animals and observe how, at the approach of our boats, they pushed their little ones down into the water with their snouts, so as

44

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

to get them out of harm's way. The pups, probably not understanding the object of this treatment, then attempted to climb back, but were again and again pushed into the water by their anxious mothers. When we drew still nearer, the cows also plunged into the sea, while the biggest and strongest male

THE BIGHORN WERE CRAZING ON THIS ROCK, FROM WHICH THEY COULD ONLY ESCAPE PAST THE MUZZLES OF OUR RIFLES.

remained above longest, and with thunderous bellowings sounded the alarm for his relations. Firing from the front, I succeeded, in spite of the rocking of the boat, in putting a bullet in the thick neck of one of these giants ; but the rock had a somewhat shelving slope, and before we could come up, the dead animal sank by its own weight into deep water, which my guide

» » , 1 » ) J J )

So

A HERD OF BIGHORN 45

assured me is invariably the case. The sea-lion appeared to me to be as large as a full-grown walrus from the Atlantic.

In spite of the calm there was a heavy swell, the after effects of the gale ; we scarcely progressed at the rate of two knots per hour. But the nearest place where we could land was Marsovya, for the coast here consists of a towering wall of precipitous cliffs, and knowing this, each man strained every nerve to push along. At 3 p.m. we had reached the entrance of the bay, and anchored at a place where we saw twenty bighorn grazing on a luxuriant meadow. Out of this herd my friend Radclyffe bagged one ram, and I a brace, one of which was a first-rate specimen. Then we rowed on into the long fjord, whose snow-capped mountains, lighted by the moon, presented such an enchanting scene that the enjoyment of the view repaid us to a certain extent for the toil and labour of the past days. It was ten in the evening before we reached our camping-place, having been six days on the way from Betchevinskaya Bay, and having rowed this day for eighteen hours.

CHAPTER VI

MY LARGEST BEAR A FIRST-RATE BIGHORN

RETURN TO PETROPAULOVSKY

Whitsunday was a day of rest, that is to say, we spent it in washing, mending, and cleaning. Curiously enough, we never saw a single bear on the beautiful Marsovya Bay ; wherefore I resolved to leave it and row to another inlet, lying eight nautical miles farther north, but whose name I was unable to learn. In order to travel more quickly, I left most of the boxes and the bear-skins at IVIarsovya, in charge of our taxidermist Degen, and took provisions for only a few days. On our way we started robbing the gulls' nests : we took six eggs from one rock, and eighty-three from another ; they are perfectly fresh at present and of excellent flavour. Having arrived at our new camp, I at once stalked a couple of bears who were holding their siesta on the snow of a hill-top two thousand feet high. The fatigue inseparable from such a stalk is almost indescribable ; when at last I got to leeward of the bears and caught sight of them, well below me, I was sitting some three feet above the ground, on fir boughs growing crossways, totally unable to fire. Before I could succeed in

getting clear of the entanglement the bears were more than three

46

>

AN ARDUOUS STALK . 47

hundred yards from me ; moreover, my aim was much interfered with by the numerous alder-bushes ; and the result was that I only bagged the male bear, while the female made off on three legs.

On the following day I pitched camp eight miles farther on, and, immediately after landing, climbed up the cliffs, which here form the coast-line. The scene which opened before my eyes was one of magic beauty — a lofty plateau of luscious green, on which some forty bighorn were peaceably grazing. These animals had obviously never seen a human being before, for they stood still quite unconcerned in immediate proximity to me ; only the old rams began working slowly up the steep slopes. Great meadows of daisies, violets, and snowdrops adorned the landscape ; even the alders, which have presented such a sombre appearance hitherto, show signs of life, being thickly hung with catkins, and here and there even a bud is peeping forth. The crown of all is a bear, who, one thousand feet above me, is sleeping in the snow. I left the bighorn in peace and at once started stalking the bear. The hill was exceedingly steep and difficult of access ; I had to make a long detour in order to get up at all from upwind. When I had been climbing for an hour, the bear rose from his couch, left the snow on which he had been lying, and went aside on to the short turf, where he began to scrape with all his might. I became at once aware that he was digging a sleeping-berth for himself, and so I quietly awaited developments. With a telescope I could see the clods of turf he had torn up with his fore-paws flying about far behind him, until at last he laid himself down in the hole he had dug and remained motionless.

48 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

I now continued my stalk, went past him higher up the hill, and then down the slope again straight towards him. A slight rise in the ground barred my outlook, so that I suddenly found myself only a few yards off the sleeping bear, who was uttering a series of grunts, which may have been expressions of contentment, or possibly mere snoring. I now moved a little on one side, to a place from which I could get a better shot, and let drive. The bear raised his head and presented to me his throat, in which at the same moment a deadly bullet found its billet. Judging by the teeth and size, this bear is a beast of great age, though not nearly so large as the one which a few days ago I took for a mound of earth. Standing upright the beast measures 7 feet 5f inches ; it is the best one which we bagged on this trip. Afterwards I shot three bighorn, two lambs and a ewe, with the intention of taking the animals away bodily for the Zoological Museum at Berlin, but found to my great regret that the skins were useless, as the wild sheep were just at this time exchanging their light-coloured winter coat for a darker and thinner summer suit.

The man who, like myself, is accustomed, from his experience in the Rocky Mountains, Cassiar, and Alaska, to consider the wild mountain-sheep as an extremely rare animal, lives here in a perfect Paradise ; for in this country, when travelling along the coast, one almost constantly sees bighorn in herds ranging up to several hundred head. The behaviour of the beasts is extremely various. Some of them make ofF into the hills, while our boat is yet a mile or two away ; others, again, remain standing quietly at gaze upon the shore.

On arriving in our new camp we were able at one and the

50 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

sea was running high and the surf was too violent. The little bay in which we are is absolutely unprotected and entirely open towards the sea ; outside, in the Bering Sea, the gales are only too frequent, and then we get a heavy swell in here, and with it the breaking surf.

In the afternoon we managed to get up the river on the top of the flood ; but when in the evening we attempted to make our way back on foot, so as to leave the boat at a sheltered spot in the river, we found the water at the above-mentioned cliff so deep that we could not get by, and had to go in the boat after all. This circumstance proved our undoing. Being without a coxwain — for we both had to row — we struggled on for an hour against the waves before we could cover the half-mile to our camp ; but it was when landing that the situation became truly critical. We tried to haul the boat up on the beach, but found that we had not strength enough. We tried to anchor the boat farther out at sea by making it fast to a large stone, but then we could not get back to the shore without swimming. Perhaps, after all, this would have been the best plan ; but with the heavy surf, which was now breaking, we stood a good chance of having our limbs shattered on the rocks which here line the shore. Finally, there was nothing for it but to anchor the boat in four feet of water, so that we could just manage to wade ashore ; then we left it to its fate. After a night spent in great anxiety on account of the craft, we found the latter at 3 a.m. lying stove in on the beach. The anchor had failed to hold, the stone had been dragged by the boat, and so the disaster had happened. With im- provised rollers we now hoisted the wreck higher up on the

• < ,«,<►' ' ' •

THE LIFEBOAT WRECKED 51

beach, but with only a very slight hope of ever being able to repair the enormous hole and the eight shattered ribs. But we had not yet drained to the dregs the cup which fate had mixed for us.

On the farther side the bears beckoned to me, and when the ebb was at its lowest I made my way to the river, with the intention of returning over the hills in the evening — an infernal journey, it is true, but the only chance of getting at the bears ; whilst Radclyffe took another direction. Unfortunately not a bear came within range of the river-bank, and I had no means of crossing the stream. When, late in the afternoon, I was preparing to start homeward over the hills, I sighted the big boat, which, coming from Marsovya, was just sailing into the bay. To save myself a tiring walk, I beckoned to the men to come and fetch me. I walked as far as I could out into the sea, and shouted to the crew to throw out the iron anchor, since the surf was pretty high ; and thus I managed to reach the boat, into which I was pulled by Nicoly. But hardly had I made good my footing in it when there came a breaker which raised the stern of the boat high up in the air, and Nicoly and I fell helter-skelter backwards into the sea, and with us my rifle. The anchor had failed to bite on the rocky bottom, the waves that followed flung the men down in the boat, the mast broke and came down upon us with a crash ; in a few seconds the boat lay broadside on to the waves, upon the rocks, which began to knock holes in its slender planks. We now unloaded the boat with feverish haste, baled out the water, and then using the tent-poles as levers, we hoisted the vessel higher up on the beach, where.

52

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

after two hours of superhuman labour, we got it into a place of safety. Eight ribs and three planks were smashed ; we had not a dry thread about us ; the provisions which were not contained in tins were ruined ; and what was most grievous of all to me, my rifle, that had been my sole love for years, was gone. But the wicked sea is at least honest : a

BUILDING A RAFT.

few hours afterwards it cast up, besides cooking-pots, plates, and other objects, my rifle, in a pitiful condition it is true, but still serviceable. We all of us ran up and down on the strand and took from the waves what they were willing to restore to us, until only a few objects were missing.

It is on occasions like this shipwreck that one has the best opportunity of proving what each man among one's companions is worth. Old Degen immediately lost his head and took no

REPAIRING THE DAMAGE

53

further interest in the subsequent proceedings after he had once reached terra firma ; the two Russians also were momentarily overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster and stood staring at me stupidly, without heeding my orders. Schiissler alone proved up to the mark ; it was mainly owing to his judicious

WHAT A RKAR S HKAD REALLY LOOKS LIKK.

and energetic exertions that this boat, which was now our only one, was not totally lost.

At sunrise next day we began repairing the boat ; our material is driftwood, which here is to be met with in great quantities ; as tools we have only axes and knives. The little boat the Russians declare to be absolutely done for.

The first thing we did was tb take out of the lifeboat the eight water-tight copper compartments, which are intended to

54

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

prevent the boat from sinking, in case it should fill with water during a shipwreck, and with four of these we constructed a capital raft, by whose means we could in future cross the river at any time. To prove that its dip in the sea had not injured it, my rifle bagged a couple of bears with the next three shots I

OUR RAFT.

fired. While I was stalking one ot them the other approached me from the side ; I promptly shot him, and then ran along the beach towards the slope, from which I then brought down number two.

The 1 2th of June was a rainy day, the first one we had had since May 23. The weather has been quite unexpectedly fine hitherto ; the temperature generally varies between 35 and

1

60

STALKING A SHE-BEAR AND CUBS

55

46° F. On rainy days the bear-hunter must be on the alert, for as soon as ever it stops raining, even for a little while, the bears come out of the wood and shake off the drops of wet, which seem to annoy them, especially when lodging in their ears — at least I judge so by the motions of the head. By the corpse of one of the bears I had lately shot, I came upon a

THE STRANDKI) LIFEBOAT.

female with her pair of two-year-old cubs (the bears only litter every other year, and then often have twins). I began the stalk, but by the time I had got near the spot the beasts had moved farther up the slope and into the alder scrub, a very unfavourable place for a shot, as the smallest twig diverts the course of the bullet and greatly weakens the penetration. Nevertheless I knocked all three beasts over with my three first bullets ; but they were soon on their legs again and made

56 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

off, going uphill. The last shots I had to fire at over 300 and 400 yards respectively, and the result was that two were bagged, while one young bear got away, roaring. The corpse of the bear I found to have been in great part devoured, and this fact finally settles the question whether the bear will eat the flesh of his own congeners.

On the day after, I had located no fewer than four bears in a small area of brushwood. I determined to try a little drive, with Nicoly as the sole driver and myself as the only gun. Nicoly was to enter the wood from the windward side, while I intended to take my post in a gully half-way up the hill, at a place where the bears were in the habit of passing. But we never had a chance of doing any driving. I had not yet reached my post, when I saw two bears above me scraping in the snow. The animals seemed to have been scared, for they walked up and down, and one of them, the female, rose several times on her haunches. They seemed, if they had not got my whole scent, at least to have got a whiff now and then from my direction. I lay down, making use of a bush as cover, and waited till I could get nearer, unseen ; then I crept forward on all fours, but only a few paces, for suddenly I caught sight, about eight yards off, of another bear gazing at me, whose approach I had not been able to perceive from my hiding-place. To see him and fire was the work of the same moment. And now it was lucky for me that the bear made his last convulsive leaps, on his hind-legs, up the slope ; else, in that narrow gully, he would have fallen straight on me. At the second shot he rolled over. Meanwhile, one of the bears I had been stalking originally had come racing through the

A PLETHORA OF BEARS

57

gully, and had disappeared on the other side ; but just as I had slipped fresh cartridges into my double-barrelled rifle, the other came on full tilt at me, and this one I succeeded in bringing down with a couple of bullets. A fourth and a fifth bear came out of the thicket higher up, but too far off for a shot.

Here at last there was an exciting episode, for all the bears

^LJk^

radclvffk's departlrk — WITH ood's help round cape shipunskv.

which I had shot hitherto had been bagged much too easily. One can form a fair idea to what extent bears swarm in this region when one remembers that on this ground we shot seven bears in four days, for RadclyfFe had also bagged one and missed another. The area on which they fell I do not estimate at more than 250 acres. At the end of the fjord on which we are camping lies a large lake called Bear Lake, which receives the waters of numerous mountain-streams. Its shores are

58 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

marshy, and it is an ideal place for the salmon, who come here to spawn, and, as is well known, form the staple food of the bears from the middle of June till the late autumn. These seem accordingly to have assembled here already, waiting for the good things that are to come ; but it is fully early yet

MCOLY WIIH A MAI. UK HIS OWN SHOOTINf..

for the fish : the bears have sat down at table before dinner has been served.

June 1 6. Having lost the toss, and thus been sentenced to do fatigue duty, RadclyfFe has to-day started with the two Russians and SchUssler on the long and toilsome voyage back to our provision dep6t, while I remain behind with Degen. We must have our provisions, and moreover leave instructions

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PHENOMENAL WEATHER 59

at the appointed place for the captain of the Stepney, to let him know where he is to look for us. That artist Nicoly has fitted three new planks into the boat, and also replaced all the broken ribs ; the craft, it is true, leaks badly, but at all events it is afloat again. Let us hope that the weather this time will be more favourable than when coming, for without

OUR STORES OF BIGHORN MUTTON.

the small boat, which still lies on the seashore, it is quite impossible to land in stormy weather and in a heavy swell. One has to pass the nights in the open sea, for there are no sheltered bays on the way round Cape Shipunsky.

The rain soon left ofF, and then there followed for three days a kind of weather such as I had never yet experienced. A gale like a hurricane blew uninterruptedly, with a perfectly clear sky and bright sunshine ; at the same time there appeared

6o CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

that curious phenomenon, which I once had occasion to witness in full perfection at Cape Town, and more frequently in Alaska, viz., that the clouds droop down upon certain hill-tops and there remain suspended motionless, while above them the air, right up to the firmament, is clear and transparent. All around my camp, and only at a height of looo feet above sea-level, the clouds hung for days, apparently untouched by the gale which was raging here below. For the sailor this phenomenon is a warning that dirty weather is coming ; the Aleuts of Alaska do not venture out until the last cloud has disappeared, and the seafaring inhabitants of Kamschatka are well aware of the threatening danger.

After the lovely days of mid-June a reaction was bound to come ; the weather had been too fine, the bag too abundant. Now it had turned bitterly cold once more ; Nature probably did not intend us to forget that we were in Siberia.

After all, the Bruin family now appeared to have become annoyed at so much gun-firing : for five days not a bear came in sight ; then I again saw a couple, but upon inaccessible heights.

On June 24 the boat had been gone eight days ; with a wind like this there was no prospect of its returning soon. Our scanty provisions were rapidly drawing to an end, especially the mutton, and I was getting anxious about the food-supply. A fortnight had elapsed since we finished the last of our sugar, a foodstuff which the body imperatively demands when one abstains entirely from alcoholic stimulant. All these circum- stances did not exactly tend to make existence more cheerful ; and, in fact, the leaden days had crept along slowly and

MY TENT IS BURNT DOWN 6i

monotonously, when suddenly the camp was enlivened by a fresh incident. I was just about to fry a few mutton-chops in the pan, when only a few yards away I suddenly beheld the canvas of my tent ablaze, close by the entrance, where the portable stove, the probable cause of the fire, stood. Owing to the violent gale I had driven the tent-pegs deep into the ground, and these for a long time baffled the desperate efforts I made to enter the tent from the rear. The first thing was to get out the cartridges (which were loaded with cordite, a material similar to dynamite), in order to avoid an awful explosion, and in this I succeeded, all being saved but one, whose bullet went whizzing through the air. In a few minutes the tent was burnt down, and with it all my clothes, with few exceptions ; some old friends, such as a fur-coat and a water- proof, which had been my cherished companions for years, here met their fate.

This perfectly desperate situation — for I might easily have lost in this conflagration all my cartridges and guns, in short, everything that I possessed — had, however, a comic side, and this was supplied by Degen. Of course he had, as usual, promptly lost his head ; and when, having succeeded in knock- ing the tent down, so as to smother the flames, I looked round for him, I observed my friend at a little distance per- forming a war-dance with the aid of my burning umbrella. When, later on, calm had been restored, and I asked him why he had executed such curious evolutions with a blazing umbrella instead of helping me to put out the flre, he explained that the umbrella, by reason of its crook, was specially adapted for hooking out objects from the burning tent, and that a

I

62

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

crook, particularly in the case of exploding cartridges, was of the greatest possible value.

Fanned by the wind, which blew like a hurricane, the heather and the surrounding scrub had now likewise caught fire. Thank Heaven we were on the lee-side of the remaining tents ; but the fire had to be put out nevertheless, for the wind

AFTKR THK CONFl,A(.R.\TIOX.

might change. So Degen fetched pailfuls ot water, while I armed myself with a long pole and attacked the flames with it. After the lapse of an hour we had got the upper hand of the fire, and I had gained a fresh experience.

This trip certainly provides plenty of variety : first the shipwreck, then a fire ; I wonder what is the next thing .''

These thoughts were just passing through my mind when I perceived my two Russians, on foot, coming down from the

GROUNDLESS FEARS

63

heights and towards my camp, and, according to previous agreement, they were only to return overland in case of the boat being lost. I therefore feared the worst, but even before they were within speaking distance their beaming faces told me — to my heartfelt joy — that nothing untoward had happened.

CAPTAIN RADCLVFFES BAG BEFORK BRKAKFAST ON THK 20TH OF JUNE.

On the contrary, my friend Radclyffe was sending them across, with a few provisions, in order to report. The men had been marching for fourteen hours, for the boat had been compelled by a gale to take refuge in Betchevinskaya Bay, where our first camp had been. A few provisions they had managed to fetch from the depot and carry overland to Betchevinskaya Bay, for at the former place the boat had been unable to land

64 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

on account of the surf. RadclyfFe wrote to tell me that he had shot a first-rate bear and three ditto bighorn, and I there- upon determined to go back with the Russians, leaving Degen behind, for, after all, I had only shot one good bighorn hitherto, and here there were none to be found. Early on the morning of June 25 I accordingly started with my men on the overland journey to Betchevinskaya Bay, with no notion that this march would be the longest and most fatiguing of all my life. We did twenty-six miles in eleven hours, inclusive of one hour's rest ; on the way we had to cross a couple of small watersheds. The ground we travelled over was mostly swamp, afterwards sand on the seashore, and the remainder alder and fir scrub. Rocks, which jutted far out into the sea, often barred our progress. In such places we hoisted up the first man, one standing on the other's shoulders, and were then in turn pulled up with a rope by him.

One of these acrobatic performances was watched with evident interest and at a short distance by six fine bighorn rams, one of whom I managed to bag. While my men were cutting up this animal, I walked slowly and with my eyes on the ground along the seashore, with a view to collecting shells. Startled by hearing a whistle, I turned and saw Nicoly pointing in my direction. I looked, and lo ! right in front of me, about 130 yards off, there stood a magnificent bear calmly gazing at me. I. wheeled round sharply and ran for my rifle, which I had unpardonably left behind about 300 yards or more away, the bear after me in long strides. As I was taking the cartridges out of my knapsack, the bear reared up before me on his hind-legs, then suddenly slewed round, and,

■a.

A RIDICULOUS MISADVENTURE 65

before I could fire, disappeared in the scrub close by, never to be seen again. One might suppose that the bear intended to attack me, but nothing could be more erroneous ; the beast merely wanted to satisfy his curiosity and turned to flight the moment he got scent of me ; for this was what happened as soon as he had reared up. Vile luclc ! for it was a very fine specimen, with a coat of creamy-brown colour.

From Betchevinskaya Bay we rowed to the provision store, and there pitched our camp at a spot where the surf was some- what broken by outlying rocks. On our way we saw three fine bighorn rams standing on the cliffs ; we cast anchor and allowed the boat to drift slowly with the flood-tide to the beach. Nicoly volunteered to carry me ashore on his shoulders through the surf, but just as I had mounted there came a huge breaker, the two oarsmen mistook the word of command — in short, Nicoly lost his footing, went down, and I with him. We now struggled for quite a while, repeatedly ducking each other, until at last I managed to recover my footing first and was able to help my companion in misfortune on to his legs. With about a quart of salt water in my stomach, which, by the way, did not disagree with me at all, I now ran up and down on the beach in order to restore the circulation, for it took some time before my friend Radclyffe succeeded in throwing me a change of clothing. Besides my rifle, which Nicoly was carrying- slung over his back, my Zeiss telescope shared in the dip this time, and, like the rifle, was choked with sand and water. But, after a tender and affectionate scouring, both these precious articles are once more in working order, for with the one I located and with

66

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the other bagged an excellent bighorn on the very next day. I had badly wounded the ram at a height of 2000 feet, and the beast, hard hit, made off down the precipitous slope towards the sea. When it had vanished from our sight I debated for some time with Nicoly, whether it would be possible for us to follow it without risking being smashed by the loose boulders

BAKING BREAD ON BEAR LAKE.

that would be sure to follow our descent. There was, however, no other way to reach the quarry, so we took hands and ran, sinking ankle-deep in the loose pebbly rubbish, and racing the numerous heavy boulders down the slope. The whole moun- tain seemed to be coming down on us with a deafening roar ; we were shrouded in such a cloud of dust that we could not even see where we went ; but finally we reached the beach without serious damage and found the ram lying there dead.

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DANGERS OF THE KAMSCHATKAN COAST 67

Before this trip there was nothing I was more fond of in Nature than listening to the noise of the breakers on the shore. I have been a lover of the sea ; to-day I hate it. The man whose acquaintance with this element is limited to gazing at it from the terrace of the Hotel de la Plage or the hurricane deck of a transatlantic steamer can have no notion what malice and what terrific powers it holds concealed. For the first time in my experience the question of sport has had again and again during this expedition to give way to the question of existence. Sometimes Radclyffe and I sit together for hours and take counsel, not as to when and where we are going to hunt bears and bighorn, but where we had better go so as not to be shipwrecked. The danger lies in the total lack of any sheltered inlets ; even the Betchevinskaya and the Marsovya Bays are too large to give any real shelter to a rowing-boat, and the rest of the coast consists of clifFs and reefs, on which our fragile craft risks being shattered to bits every time it is launched. The nearer we get to the 15th of July, the day on which we expect the Stepney, the more urgent becomes the question : How are we going to get our trophies and equipment on board the steamer, from which we cannot expect the least assistance ? We have determined to leave part in Betchevinskaya Bay, and then to sail once more round Cape Shipunsky to Bear Lake, where a small river, at high water, permits of our anchoring the boat in a favourable spot, whereas here, after every landing, we are obliged to pull the heavy boat up on the beach.

We took two days, each time being on the water for eleven hours, to accomplish this voyage. On our arrival at

68

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the camp of Bear Lake we were received by some long- expected, but none the more welcome guests, namely, the mosquitoes ; but as a set-off they had brought with them the salmon, who are now swarming up the rivers in order to spawn. Just like the Indians in America, the Russians here kill the fish at this season with a gaff. The flesh of the fish

CATCHING SALMON.

is just as dry and tasteless as that of the salmon on the American coasts, who is really of no other practical use than to serve as a model for still-life studies.

On one of the following days I shot a bear on the shore of the Bear Lake. Then I made an excursion along the coast, but found no bighorn ; the animals have deserted the lower hills by the sea, and have retired into the interior on

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INSECT PESTS 69

to great heights, where they spend the summer on inaccessible plateaux. My stay in this country is at an end ; the bighorn have withdrawn out of range of my rifle, and the bear-skins are getting worthless, as the bears are beginning to shed their winter coat freely. I made one more excursion to a neighbour- ing bay and surprised a couple of bears who were catching salmon, and whom I bagged with a right and left. But the skins are no longer any use, only the heads still show a. thick growth of hair. On our way back we had another fight with the sea. We had started in an absolute calm, when, with the suddenness of the Alpine F'dhn, a breeze sprang up, which quickly grew into a gale, so that we had to wrestle with the waves for three hours before we reached our camp. Had we started but a little later, we should not have been able to land at all ; the wind would have prevented us from reaching our goal, while in the bay from which we came the surf would have smashed the boat upon the beach. The weather in this country changes as rapidly as the temperature, which in a f^vr hours drops from boiling heat to bitter cold — one has all the time to be prepared for anything. I am really longing now for the Stepney, which is due in a week, so as to get quit of this country ; for these everlasting contrary winds and the many mishaps at sea are enough to break the heart of even the pluckiest of men.

There is one other thing which I must not pass over without mention, and that is the tortures we endured from insects. There are first and foremost the mosquitoes, who are present in literally countless millions, and ruin all one's enjoyment both of life and Nature. Their fellow-workers

70 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

are the big horse-flies, of whom RadclyfFe says that they are the size of rabbits, and Degen declares that their bite is as bad as a dog's. Even our sport is spoilt by these vermin, for these pests assail beasts just as much as men. I have watched bears and bighorn rushing back headlong into the scrub when these bloodsuckers have attacked them in some open spot ;

ROCK AT THE ENTRANCE OF BKAR BAY, ENTIRELY TUNNELLED BY THE BREAKERS.

on the shores of the lake the bears brush the insects trom their faces with their paws, remain only a short time on the margin, and then vanish again into the dense underwood.

Under these circumstances our joy was great when, on July 14, one day before the appointed time, the Stepney steamed into our bay ; still greater would have been that joy had Mr. Storck not been on board. I was most bitterly disappointed in the hope of finding him missing, and all the

1°

BACK TO PETROPAULOVSKY 71

more so, as he intends to accompany us on the voyage all the way to Nome. In the first place, we went back to Petropaulovslcy, there to take leave of the Governor, in accordance with the regulations. Our course was parallel with the shore, which here, as in the north, consists of steep and towering walls of rock formed of dark masses of greyish-brown basalt. The cliffs rise up to a height of 1000 feet, and in front of them innumerable boulders, crags, and reefs jut out of the water and stretch far out to sea. Some of these isolated rocks are indeed small islands in size, as for instance the islet at the entrance of Bear Bay, which, through the constant assaults of the waves, has been hollowed out into a great arch. These rocks are the breeding-places of thousands of gulls, auks, and other sea-fowl, which on our approach rise into the air with a deafening chorus of croaks and cries.

The capital of Kamschatka, which bears the proud name of City of St. Peter and St. Paul, lies on the northern shore of Avatcha Bay, in a short, narrow valley, bounded at the northern end by a large freshwater lake. The bay now offered a much more charming aspect than it did two months ago. The luxurious forests were in full foliage, the hills decked with many-coloured flowers and luscious grass, the bells were ringing for the Sunday Mass — in short, it was a perfect picture of peace ; and what a contrast to the news which awaited us here, of the progress of the revolution in Russia and the horrors enacted at Vladivostock !

For a town of such small extent and population, Petro- paulovsky has many monuments, which remind us of its history and the visits of famous men. On the sand-spit lying outside

72 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the little harbour there stands a handsome monument erected in honour of the warriors who gained so unexpected a victory during the Crimean War, in 1854, over the combined French and English fleets. On the other side of the bay, by the harbour of Tareinska, are the graves of the enemy who fell on that occasion, among whom was the English Admiral Price ; pillars have also been erected with inscriptions to commemorate and honour the famous explorers La P^rouse and Vitus Bering. The view from the hill, at the foot of which lies the tiny town, is 'glorious ; Avatcha Bay with the surrounding green hills is like an oasis in the desert, which here consists of towering mountain-tops clad in eternal snow. In former years the port of St. Peter and St. Paul had a greater importance than nowadays, for the Russians were in the habit of putting in here on their voyages round the world and to the former Russian colonies in North-West America. But when these colonies had been 'sold to the United States of North America, and the Russians took possession of the Amoor territory, first Nicolaieffsk and afterwards Vladivostock became the chief port of the Russian Empire in the Pacific, and Petropaulovsky soon fell entirely into oblivion.

The scanty population of Petropaulovsky gives one an impression of a contented people ; they appear to be extremely lazy and disinclined to work ; even the promise of high wages would hardly induce the men to work for us. Strangers are received in the most amiable and hospitable fashion ; in the street almost every man takes off his hat to them, and in any house they enter, tea and cigarettes, or even beer and champagne, are at once set before them. During our stay in Petro-

SEA-OTTERS AT CAPE LOPATKA 73

paulovslcy we did not see a single Kamschatdale — the aborigines of Southern Kamschatka ; they do not come to the coast, but live, with their herds of reindeer, in the interior of the country, mostly on the banks of the Kamschatka River. Owing to the bad and inconsiderate treatment which these people have under- gone for generations at the hands of the Russian officials, they have become timid and mistrustful, and avoid coming near the residence of their oppressors.

My intention of buying furs, and particularly sables, in Petropaulovsky was frustrated by the exorbitant prices ; the dealers would only sell in parcels of 100 skins, good, bad, and indifferent, lumped together, and demanded for picked, dark sable skins the same prices as the furriers at home. From my guide Nicoly I purchased a fine sea-otter skin, which he had bagged in the spring near Cape Lopatka. Such an opportunity offers but seldom, for the Government has reserved the annual shooting of these valuable animals for itself, and every year sends out seven men to Cape Lopatka, the only place on the Asiatic coast, besides the Kommandorski Islands, where these creatures are still to be found, when they are allowed to kill fourteen otters. The skins are then put up to public auction ; the Government keeps one half of the proceeds, while the other half goes to the hunters.

Cape Lopatka, the extreme southern point of the Kam- schatkan peninsula, is constantly guarded by Cossacks, in order to keep off the Japanese who come poaching here. Now, during the Russo-Japanese War the Governor of Petropaulovsky had no steamer available wherewith to relieve the Cossacks at Lopatka, and as these did not return he despatched Nicoly

74 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

with two other men, in order to ascertain what had become of them. As a reward he permitted them to shoot and keep one sea-otter. The expedition found the Cossacks perfectly well and happy ; they had made a bag of nine Japanese poachers. However, the sea-otters are as good as exterminated, as the Russians, since the war, have no longer any ships to guard Lopatka with, and the Japanese can now sail across with ease from the Kurile Islands, in order to practise their thieving. Mr. Storck had asked me not to trade in furs, so as not to spoil his market ; on the other hand, he had promised to part with some skins to me. But, as on so many other occasions, he broke his word — first bought up all the skins he could find, sent them to Europe vid Japan, and then generously cancelled our agreement.

;".'. i>, >

CHAPTER VII

ON THE SEARCH FOR WALRUS MANNER OF LIFE

OF THE KAMSCHATDALES AND KORYAKS

With our return to Petropaulovsky the first part of my hunting-trip had come to an end, and I was well pleased with the bag, as regards bears and bighorn. The loss of the small rowing-boat was responsible for the fact that the collection of marine mammals and birds for the Museum proved so scanty ; for, wanting this, I was unable to get near the rocks, which are the exclusive habitat of these animals.

The question now was, to find and shoot walrus between Petropaulovsky and Nome, the final point to which the Stepney was to take us. In spite of the most minute inquiries in Japan and Kamschatka, I had not succeeded in finding anybody who could give me any information as to the place where the walrus in the Bering Sea disport themselves at this time of year.

When, on the afternoon of July 15, we left Petropaulov- sky we were starting for an absolutely unknown destination ; I ordered the Stepney, which was now sailing under my charter, to shape her course to the north-east, i.e. along the coast. As interpreter I had engaged a Russian, Vladimir by name,

75

76 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

who spoke broken English. He was to return from Nome to Petropaulovsky with the Stepney. We first made Karaginsky Bay, 467 miles distant, where lies a small village called Karaga, in the hope of obtaining some information about the walrus from the natives. Entering this bay was both a difficult and dangerous business, for on both sides of it the coast was indicated on the chart bv a dotted line, i.e. it has never been

THE BOAT OF THE "BAILLIE OF KARAGA.

geographically surveyed ; the bay itself was outlined in such a manner that one could hardly recognise it, and the soundings were not marked. Nevertheless our excellent captain steamed at low speed and using the lead continually into the broad bay, and cast anchor two miles from Karaga. By the side of us were anchored a couple of Japanese sailing-vessels, pirates or poachers, whichever you like to call them, who were catching and smoking salmon in this place ; gentry of whom it is well known that they walk ofF with any loose property that is lying around. The mere fact that they were fishing

NO WALRUS AT KARAGA

. 77

here was an infringement of the law, and the ships might accordingly be instantly seized as prizes, but the Japanese know only too well that poor Russia nowadays has no ships with which to enforce her laws. I took a boat and rowed up to the larger of the two sailing-ships, and I fancy the captain, an ex-officer of the Japanese navy, who spoke excellent English,

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: THE "baILLIE" OF KARAGA, TWO KORYAKS, TWO KAMSCHATDALF.S ; IN THE FOREGROUND MY INTERPRETER, VLADIMIR.

breathed again and was much relieved to learn that we were harmless walrus-hunters and no Russians. Meanwhile a boat came out from Karaga to meet us, having on board the "baillie" of the village, who spoke Russian, and with whom we were able to communicate through the interpreter we had brought with us from Petropaulovsky. This gentleman informed us that the last walrus had been shot six years ago on the neighbouring Karaginsky Island, and that none of these

78 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

beasts had been seen there since ; he advised us to go farther north to the Gulf of Anadyr, and Bering Straits.

The " baillie's " boat was manned by natives, who were partly Kamschatdales, partly Koryaks. The Kamschatdales inhabit the greater part of the Kamschatkan peninsula, namely, the land' extending from Cape Lopatka, the southernmost point, to the Ukoi River, which flows only a short distance south of Karaga. Those who are acquainted with these people describe them as inoffensive and peaceable ; next to doing nothing their greatest ambition is to get drunk, for with them, as with most northern nations, brandy-drinking ' is the ruling passion. The dwellings of the Kamschatdales are underground, i.e. they dig a big hole, and roof it in with logs covered with earth and turf ; in the centre they leave a square opening, which serves as window, door, and smoke- flue ; immediately underneath they build the fire, round which the entire family lie stretched. In summer the Kamschatdales leave these habitations and build light huts above the ground with poles and brushwood, in the vicinity of the sea or of the rivers, where they catch the fish that form their chief food-supply. Both men and women are clothed from tip to toe, winter and summer alike, in furs, mostly reindeer-skins, which, to judge ' by their awful griminess, they; never take off. Their original religion consisted principally in superstitions of the most childish nature ; they believe in a resurrection and a life eternal, in which the rich will be poor, and the poor rich. At the present day many of them have been converted to the Greek Catholic faith ; but their notions of virtue and vice are still extremely hazy.

' The " brandy " used throughout Siberia is rye-spirit.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE KORYAKS 79

The Koryaks inhabit the great region which extends from the Ukoi to the Anadyr River ; they are partly nomads, partly settled, and in the latter case live, like the Kamschatdales, in underground huts, while the nomad tribes, with their large herds of reindeer, wander about the whole country, frequenting mostly those regions where there is plenty of moss, the reindeer's principal food. The latter represent the national wealth of the Koryaks ; without these animals neither they nor the other nations of Lapland and Siberia could exist ; for the reindeer provides them with food, clothing, house, furniture, household utensils, and means of transport. Its milk and flesh furnish the food ; the marrow and the tongue are delicacies ; the blood, mixed with the contents of the stomach, forms their favourite dish, a sort of haggis called " Mangalla " ; the intestines are cleansed and, filled with fat, are served up as sausages ; with the hide the people manufacture clothes, beds, tents, reindeer-harness, ropes, string, and fishing-lines; from the tough skin of the fore-legs they contrive to make capital snow- shoes. De Lesseps, the companion of the French explorer La Perouse, who has thoroughly studied the manners and customs of the Koryaks, describes these people as follows : — " The settled and the nomad Koryaks are much alike in many respects ; it is all the more wonderful that such a want of concord or rather such chronic misunderstanding should reign between them. The moral qualities of the nomad Koryaks are not calculated to command our esteem, for they are false, mistrustful, and avari- cious. They have all the vices of the northern Asiatic nations, without their virtues ; they are inclined to thieving, suspicious, cruel, and know neither benevolence nor compassion."

8o CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Hunting and fishing are the ordinary occupations of the settled Koryalcs, which, however, they cannot carry on at all seasons of the year. In their spare time they bury themselves in their subterranean dwellings, sleep, smoke, and get drunk. The Koryaks hate work, and, like the Kamschatdales, live on dried fish, and on the flesh and the blubber of whales and seals. They also feed on vegetables, and in the autumn gather several kinds of berries, from some of which they manufacture beverages. Their passion for strong liquors, which is only exasperated by the high price of brandy and the difficulty of procuring it to their heart's content, owing to the great distances, has led them to invent an equally intoxicating drink as a substitute. They distil this liquor from a kind of red fungus, which is known in Russia as a powerful poison and is used in the houses of that country for the purpose of killing insect pests. The juice of this fungus they squeeze into a vessel, add a few fruits, and hardly wait long enough for the mixture to clear. Now the friends of the proprietor are convened, and the guests, as it were, vie with one another as to who can put away the greatest quantity of their host's nectar. The banquet lasts one, two, or three days, until the whole supply has been consumed. In order to make all the more certain of losing their reason, they frequently eat the aforesaid fungus raw. In such orgies men only seek oblivion of self, a complete bestial torpor, the annihilation of being : that is their sole enjoyment and their height of happiness.

Their burial -ceremonies have much resemblance to the old pagan customs, which are also in vogue among several primitive nations in America. When a Koryak has died, his

I

THEIR FUNERAL RITES AND RELIGION 8i

relatives and friends assemble to pay him their last devoirs. They proceed to erect a funeral pyre, and upon it lay a portion of the dead man's wealth and a supply of provisions, e.g. reindeer-meat, fish, brandy — in a word, everything they think he might need for a long journey, and to keep him from starving in another world. A nomad Koryak is borne to the pyre by a team of his reindeer, a settled Koryak by a team of his sledge-dogs, or else carried thither on the shoulders of his relatives. The dead man, clothed in his best attire, is laid into a kind of coffin. Then his relations, each bearing a torch in his hand, take leave of him, and within a short space of time convert their relative and friend into ashes. It is only his absence they regret, not an eternal separation. Of mourning they know nothing, and the funeral generally ends with a drinking-bout of the whole family, in the course of which the vapours of the liquor and tobacco little by little wipe out the memory of the dead. Widows are permitted to marry again after the lapse of a few months.

The whole theology of the Koryaks, which is likewise that of the Tchuktchis, and was that of the Kamschatdales before the introduction of Christianity, is limited to the following articles of faith : — They acknowledge a Supreme Being, who has created all things. According to their notions, he inhabits the sun, which they consider the palace and the throne of the Lord of Nature. The source of evil, according to them, is a wicked spirit, who shares the dominion over Nature with the beneficent Being. Their power is equal ; just in proportion as the one busies himself to secure the happiness of mankind, the other tries to make them wretched. Diseases, storms,

82 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

famine — all these scourges are owing to him, and are the instruments of his revenge. The terror which this dread deity inspires in every heart causes him to be worshipped ; and to appease his wrath men propitiate him with oblations, which consist of new-born animals, dogs, reindeer, the first-fruits of the chase and of fishing — in short, of all the wealth that they possess. Temples or sanctuaries there are none, in which the worshippers of this fabulous deity have to assemble ; honour can be paid to him everywhere. He hears the Koryak, who prays to him in the solitude of the desert, just as much as the entire family, who seek his favour by piously getting drunk within their yourt ; for getting drunk has with this people become a religious function, and the chief object in ail their solemn festivals.

We now returned on board the Stepney, although I would have liked to collect a i&fi zoological specimens on shore, and take some photographs ; but in that case we should have had to stay till next morning, on account of the darkness setting in. So we weighed anchor again, and set our course directly for Anadyr.

Meanwhile I have again had many a sharp set-to with Mr. Storck. He now refuses to assist us, according to promise, in our walrus-hunt, by putting at our disposal a part of the ship for the preparation of the walruses we may possibly shoot. Moreover, the two motor-boats, which we were to use in hunting, still refuse to act, although the first engineer might easily put them in working order ; but he won't do this to please Mr. Storck, being, like all the rest of the crew, at daggers drawn with him. A pretty state of things ! We have nothing to live on but tinned provisions and salt pork.

THE CREW OF THE "STEPNEY" 83

while a number of geese and fowls are apparently being reserved for festive occasions. When the ship was at Hako- dadi, during the time we were shooting, the second mate and the whole Chinese crew deserted. The latter were arrested and brought back handcuffed on board the steamer ; but in the darkness of night the Celestials bolted once more, and small blame to them, say I. The present crew consists entirely of Japanese, who have never been to sea before. One of them is a hairdresser by trade ; another a riksha coolie ; others, again, dock-workers — all about thirteen to nineteen years of age. To see one of these fellows steer a steamer is a sight for gods and men ; if we could trace our zigzag course on the chart, one would not believe it possible that such a craft could dare to wobble around in the Bering Sea under the proud flag of Britain. These Japs are children of nature in the true sense of the word. They have no sort of confidence in our worthy captain, and when he roars at the helmsman from the bridge to alter course, the latter promptly runs into the chart-room to convince himself that the order is all right. But our captain knows a remedy. When the little beggars get too uppish and keep on steering towards the land, he jumps down from the bridge and kicks his helmsman in the ribs on the right or left, according as he wants him to port or starboard his helm, until the Jap turns the wheel in the desired direction. The new second mate is also a Japanese, who does not speak or understand a word of English, and with whom the captain can only communicate by means of gestures. I must record my admiration for the latter for having got as far as this with such a crew.

84

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

The weather is glorious — bright sunshine with rather low temperature ; the coast only looms in sight every now and then, when we are nearing some projecting headland. Moun- tains rising to a height of 3000 feet here form the coast-line ; they rise abruptly from the sea, and are entirely covered with snow — a splendid landscape, but too far off to photograph. On the afternoon of July 2 i we steamed past Cape Navarin, a spot where, it is said, a few years ago bighorn were seen on the beach ; and I would only too gladly have gone ashore here, for it may be that this wild sheep is not the Ovis nivicola of South Kamschatka, but another, possibly as yet undiscovered, kind. " But landing was out of the question ; for there was no bay, no chart which gave any soundings, and, in addition to all this, a strong breeze was blowing, which caused a heavy surf. The temperature suddenly changed from an agreeable warmth to bitter cold ; but, speaking generally, 1 have hitherto found Siberia much warmer than I expected.

On the following day we slowly steamed into the broad waters of the Gulf of Anadyr. Not far from the entrance we saw a tent and a human being. Instead of landing and asking the man about the position of the settlement, which must lie somewhere hereabouts, but is not marked on the map, we steamed on in the direction of the Anadyr River. The sound- ings kept on getting more and more shallow as we advanced, until, having reached thirteen feet (the Stepney has a draught of twelve feet), we were obliged to turn, and not a bit too soon, for only a few minutes later our keel scraped the sand. Putting on full steam, we got off again, and now went back to the

FIRST INTERVIEW WITH TCHUKTCHIS 85

place where the tent stood. In this we found three Tchuktchi women, who were occupied here with catching and drying salmon. Unfortunately we could not make ourselves under- stood by them, as they only knew their own language, and no Russian. However, they kept on pointing in a southerly direction, from which we concluded that their village must lie there. We obtained some salmon in exchange for quids of tobacco, which the fair ones greedily stuffed into their mouths and began to chew with visible content.

Soon after, we observed on the land some huts, called yourts, which seemed inhabited. Having arrived opposite them, we found them tenanted by some twenty Tchuktchi men, women, and children, who received us very kindly. They were all clothed in reindeer skins, which was likewise the material out of which the yo,urts were constructed. One sees at the first glance that these people have come but little in contact with civilisation. The only object which might be taken as evidence of the latter was an empty tin, labelled syrup. I thought these Tchuktchis extremely mercurial people for a nation living so far north ; they talked a lot, and when I tried to impersonate a walrus and imitate its bellowing, they all broke out into a chorus of Homeric laughter. We found the skull of a walrus, and, pointing to it, they kept on motioning towards the south, as the women of the tent had also done previously ; but here also we could not make ourselves understood, as not one of them knew a word of Russian. One of the men was ready, without the least ado, to accompany us on board the steamer, in order to act as our pilot and point out the navigable channel, through which we might reach the

86 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

chief settlement ; for these huts only constituted their summer dwellings.

This man first piloted the steamer far out into the gulf, then he ordered a sharp turn, and after some hours we found ourselves back again at the spot where, in the morning and during the ebb, we had gone aground. We had to turn back, because a stiff breeze had set in from the east, and, having reached deeper water, we cast anchor. It seemed as if, without a reliable pilot, we should never be able to reach the settlement, which the Tchuktchi informed us lay behind a cape, about thirty nautical miles distant ; it was obvious that we should have to row or sail there, to gather information about the walrus. And now arose an argument between myself and Mr. Storck, as to whether he should undertake this arduous task, since it was part and parcel of the steamer's navigation, or whether I ought to go, on the ground that this trip was already part of the walrus-hunting. Whilst 1 insisted on being taken, as stipulated, right up to the mouth of the Anadyr River, Mr. Storck asserted that we had arrived there, and this, although we are not even able to see the river-mouth, and it must be at least 30 to 40 miles off. That there is a deep channel leading to the mouth of the river is very probable, since in former years Russian ships have actually gone up to Anadyr. Moreover, our friend has omitted to secure an American map, which is extant of this region, and on which the soundings of this broad gulf are doubtless marked. I would willingly start at once with my hunting-gear in the direction where, to judge by the gestures of the natives, the walrus are supposed to be ; but there would be no object at all in shooting the animals if

«, Nl

• v •

A HOPELESS OUTLOOK 87

the steamer cannot get somewhere near the beasts we bag, since I cannot carry the walrus-hides, each weighing many hundred pounds, to the steamer over forty miles and more in my rowing-boat. On the other hand, the steamer dare not go south, as there are sandbanks marked on the chart, while the coast-line itself is not determined.

The chief object of the whole voyage to this inhospitable country is that of securing at least a couple of walruses for the Zoological Museum at Berlin, and to prepare them for stuffing. There are no Zoological Gardens in which the animals are represented, and, up to date, only one stuffed specimen is to be found in the Smithsonian Museum at Washington. I should note here that I am speaking of the walrus of the Pacific, which is a different breed from that of its smaller congener in the Atlantic. Even before I could come to an agreement with Mr. Storck as to who should go to Anadyr, the wind had increased in force to a hurricane ; a voyage in a small boat was out of the question, and we were compelled to remain lying idly at anchor. For two days the gale raged and kept us prisoners on the steamer. These were gloomy hours ; my friend Radclyffe and I sat the whole time in the little cabin, like badgers in their earth, the smoking-out being done or attempted by the diminutive cabin stove. Outside the tempest was roaring ; it was bitterly cold, rain and snow fell in turn ; we were, moreover, considerably depressed, for, after a ten days' voyage, we had not even been able to get any news of the walrus.

When the gale had at last abated, we made a third attempt to get the steamer over the shallows, and this succeeded. The

88 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

captain found the channel, which closely skirted the land, and in the course of the morning we cast anchor at the mouth of the Anadyr River, opposite the settlement of Nowo Mariinsky, which is the summer residence of the Governor of North- Eastern Siberia.

,•''<: f' .,'" '.-

t • . t • <

6«

CHAPTER VIII

TCHUKTCHIS AND ESQUIMAUX UNSUCCESSFUL

WALRUS-HUNT TO ALASKA

The province of North-Eastern Siberia, comprising 154,400

square miles, has about twelve thousand inhabitants, about a

thousand of whom are Esquimaux and the rest Tchuktchis ;

the capital is Markowo, lying on the river Anadyr and about

five hundred miles from its mouth. In the person of the

Governor, Mr. Sokolnikoff, we found not only an exceedingly

amiable man, but also a person of high scientific attainments,

and an enthusiastic collector of zoological and ethnological

specimens. As he had travelled over every quarter of his

province during the past nine years, he was able to give us

reliable intelligence about the walrus — making use of the

French language for the purpose. Ever since the breaking out

of the Russo-Japanese War, not another ship had come to Anadyr,

and the Governor seemed sincerely pleased at being able once

more to exchange a few words with a white man. I have to thank

him for twenty-five bird-skins from the Anadyr valley, which

might prove very welcome to the Berlin Museum. On my

own part I shot, besides, twelve birds of different species,

and purchased a mammoth-tusk weighing 130 lb., a great

many examples of which are found in this part of Asia. The

89

90

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

village of Anadyr consists only of a few houses and yourts, the latter inhabited by Tchuktchis, who are here catching their supply of fish for the winter ; for in this place, also, great multitudes of salmon ascend the river to spawn.

The Governor was kind enough to give me some facts about the denizens of this country, the Tchuktchis and Esquimaux. Like the Koryaks and Kamschatdales, the

SIC.NS OF CIVILISATION : HABITATION OF AN AGED TCHUKTCHI BUILT OF CANVAS ; ON THE RIGHT, SALMON HUNG UP TO DRV.

former keep large herds of reindeer, and use the animals for transport, harnessing them to their sledges. These trained reindeer are not only fed with vegetable foodstuffs, but, when in hard work, are put on a diet of fish and seal-flesh as well. They are possessed of such staying powers, that they can travel as many as eighty-three miles a day. The harness is made of reindeer leather ; instead of a bit, some sharp bones are fastened upon the forehead of the animal, which, when

^V'r::^^,;? .\

■a.

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF THE TCHUKTCHIS 91

the reins are tightened, pierce the skin and soon bring the beast to a halt.

Although the Tchuktchis have long been subject to the Russians, they still remain in the lowest imaginable grade of culture. For instance, they have not sense enough to catch

HLT OK A RUSSIAN DOCTOR IN ANADYR ; IN THK CKNTRE THK MAMMOTH- TUSK OF 150 I,B. WEIGHT, WHICH IS NOW ON VIKW IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM AT BERLIN.

sufficient fish in summer, when there is a plethora of them, to last them through the hard winter, when no food is obtainable. The Russian Government have therefore built great storehouses in the capital, Markowo, and compel the natives to fill these with dried fish during the summer, in order thus to avert the famine which would otherwise infallibly visit the land. Towards strangers the Tchuktchis are extremely

92 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

hospitable ; they give them what they have, slaughter their very best reindeer for their benefit, even offer them their wives and daughters as bedfellows, and feel grossly insulted if this offer is not accepted. I should always assume a decidedly negative attitude in the case of such a proppsition, even at the risk of alienating the friendship of these people ; for, as a necessary preliminary, certain formalities have to be gone through : there is a kind of etiquette to be observed on these occasions, which for us Europeans has, to say the least of it, something repulsive, but is quite characteristic of this people, which, as stated above, still stands very low in the scale of civilisation.

Just as among the Kamschatdales and Koryaks, there exists among them the custom that old people, who can no longer work and are only a burden to their relations, kill themselves or are put out of the way by their relatives ; the latter occurs most frequently among the Esquimaux. If a child is born under unfavourable circumstances, the mother kills it, or it is thrown alive to the dogs. This practice, and the little care which they bestow on nursing their children, explains the scanty numbers of the native population of Siberia. It would be a misnomer to talk of anything like religion in connection with them ; they have no god, and believe only in evil spirits and devils, to whom they offer sacrifices in order to stave off calamity from themselves.

From Anadyr we steamed straightway to the nearest place where, according to the Governor's statement, we were likely to find walrus, viz. Cape Meechken, the western point of a sand-spit, lying off the mainland at the entrance of Holy Cross

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tewt. t

FIRST SIGHT OF THE WALRUS

93

Bay. Nearing the land, we saw even from the steamer's deck a shoal of walrus, numbering forty or fifty head, who were disporting themselves in the water near the shore. We landed in the vicinity of a Tchuktchi village, but it was in vain that we attempted to explain to the natives that we wanted to shoot

WE FOLLOW THE TCHUKTCHIS FOR HOURS, SAILING IN SEARCH OF WALRUS.

the walrus, and find out when and where the animals haul up on land. The people thought we wanted to trade with them, and at once showed us whole sacks full of tusks of freshly killed walruses ; that anybody should want to take the trouble of killing these animals for himself when there is a plentiful supply of tusks to be had, they cannot realise. Of these tusks

94 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

I purchased thirty-two, giving the men a small box of plug tobacco, two pounds of tea, and a couple of old pipes in exchange ; but they declined to listen to any proposals of joining in a hunt, and I got the impression that they even intended to prevent us hunting the beasts ; in short, I did not like the whole attitude of the people in the village, and the walruses had meanwhile disappeared ; I could not fancy that they would haul up on shore in the neighbourhood of the settlements, of which there were several on the sand-spit, and determined to try my luck in another place.

We stood into Holy Cross Bay for a distance of forty miles, and had hardly cast anchor, when two boats full of Tchuktchis came aboard, who, after lengthy explanations, seemed at last to comprehend our purpose. We followed their boats for many miles, until they landed at a spot where they dug up several chunks of partly decomposed walrus -flesh and then proceeded to devour these raw. Then two of them desired us to follow them, and we began a stalk along the seashore over uneven ground, under the idea that we were near- ing the walruses, who were most likely lying on shore behind a rise in the ground. After a while our guides began to crawl along carefully on all fours ; we made our way as noiselessly as possible up to a hillock of stones ; the rifles were loaded and cocked, RadcIyfFe was to fire to the left, I to the right. Suddenly the foremost Tchuktchi, cautiously raising his head over the crest of the hillock, pointed to — a flight of ducks, and signed to us to shoot ; of walrus not a trace ! It was enough to drive one to despair. After another lengthy palaver, they seemed at last to have grasped the situation ;

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THE AUTHOR PRODUCES A PANTOMIME 95

we re-entered our boats and rowed on, until we were twenty-two miles distant from the steamer. Even on the way we had noticed that these people were steering towards some yourts visible in the distance, and, when we had landed, they brought us with beaming faces a sackful of walrus- tusks, of which I bought eight for twenty-four plugs of tobacco.

Not only these savages, nay, quite civilised Russians like the two who had accompanied us in Kamschatka, could not understand that people should come all the way to this country in order to shoot animals for purposes of sport or science ; for the Russians asked me repeatedly, " How much do you get at home for these bear-skins and sheeps'-heads ? " They assumed, as a self-evident proposition, that we traded in these things like themselves.

Whether we liked it or not, we were now forced to give up all hope of making ourselves understood by the natives, and speedily started on the journey back to the steamer, lest we should be prevented from returning by a gale. When about half-way, we encamped on a sand-spit, and were at once visited there by about twenty Tchuktchis, who, like all the rest, wanted to trade walrus-tusks for tobacco. Some of these people seemed more intelligent than those we had met with hitherto, and so Radclyffe and I determined to make an attempt at explaining our purpose of killing the walrus our- selves, by means of a grand pantomime in dumb show. I took a pair of walrus-tusks, and, holding these under my chin, waded into the sea with my indiarubber boots ; then, turning back, I slowly crawled to the land, bellowing loudly meanwhile, and, when on shore, soon fell asleep. RadclyfFe meanwhile was

96 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

impersonating a hunter stalking game, and had, by means of the telescope, discovered me, the sleeping walrus. He crept up cautiously ; at his shots, ping ! ping ! I fell down dead and rolled over. Thereupon RadclyfTe pulled out a knife and began to skin me, the skin consisting of my coat, which he prepared for removal by salting. The whole of the flesh was distributed among the natives, who received besides two boxes of tobacco, while the intestines were thrown into the sea. This one-act drama had evoked boisterous mirth among these children of nature ; they evinced their comprehension by con- tinually nodding their heads, but, next morning, they turned up again with the inevitable walrus-tusks.

The Tchuktchis appear to possess a very inquiring — not to say inquisitive — mind, for they want to look at and taste everything which we have in the camp. As there is no water fit to drink hereabouts, we carry Japanese mineral water with us in bottles, one of which I gave to these people ; and it was too comical to watch their grimaces when the carbonic acid, as they drank it, took away their breath. A raw onion was likewise an untasted novelty to them, but they assured us, with streaming eyes, that it was uncommonly good. A striking feature among all Tchuktchis is the small size of their hands and feet. Although many of them were far taller than I, I could not find a pair of gloves or shoes — that is mocassins — which fitted me. Besides the flesh of the walrus, seaweed forms the chief sustenance of the denizens of Holy Cross Bay in summer. The people collect the seaweed on the beach and devour it uncooked by the yard, flavouring this diet with putrid walrus-flesh, which we dared not approach within fifty yards.

(

WE SIGHT THE WALRUS AT LAST 97

When one sees and smells such things, one really begins to have doubts as to whether these creatures are human beings like ourselves.

Their graves the Tchuktchis deck with walrus-tusks, the only valuables which they possess ; I found several thus decorated, a proof that they honour their dead, just as we do by the erection of tombstones in our cemeteries. Although the Tchuktchis have a sufficient supply of food, owing to their large herds of reindeer and the walrus-flesh they secure in summer, they are fond of catching whales, using the harpoon in the pursuit of these creatures, as Europeans do. The blubber of these animals they consider a delicacy, and use the train-oil, owing to the scarcity of wood, as fuel. From the guts they make excellent waterproof shirts, and also use them as canvas for their boats.

After we had spent the night sleeping on the sand (and there is no harder mattress, even stones being soft in compari- son), we broke camp in the morning, having had to do without water, wood, or fire, and sailed along the sand-spit in the direction of the steamer. Suddenly my companions plainly heard the voice of the walrus, a dull kind of roar, with which we had become familiar two days before, by Cape Meechken, and I at once put the head of the boat in the direction from which the sounds had come. The notes grew louder and louder, without our being able to see a sign of the animals, until it flashed across us that the shoal must be on the opposite side of the narrow sand-spit we were coasting. So we went ashore, and there, sure enough, we did see from forty to fifty walruses, who were disporting themselves close to the

98 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

beach, bellowing loudly and cutting the funniest kind of capers ,'

in the water. We retired and anchored the boat at a place on / the leeward side, in order to give the walruses a chance of \ hauling up on shore for their siesta, as is said to be their custom. Some of them, towards noon, actually shuffled up the sandy beach, and our hopes of at last attaining our object rose higher from hour to hour. Then suddenly there appeared on the horizon two boats manned by Tchuktchis, whose occupants had probably likewise heard the bellowing of the animals. To my intense horror, the boats landed directly opposite the walruses, and, to make matters worse, on the windward side of them. They brought out an old Winchester rifle and a harpoon, and were for rushing straight at the walruses who had hauled up on shore. It was only with the greatest trouble and a considerable display of energy, that I succeeded in getting the men away from the windward side, and in preventing them from carrying out their design ; for, being the first-comer, I considered that I had first claim to the sport, and therefore took the whole company away with me to our anchoring place, where I kept them, as it were, in durance vile.

Meanwhile all the beasts had hauled ashore, one of them a long way ahead, while three others remained in the water at a certain distance ; these were the look-out men, who, on the approach of danger, sound the alarm. We had hitherto received no really credible intelligence, based upon actual personal observation, about the manner of life and habits of the walrus ; only, the Governor of Anadyr had assured me that the animals haul up on shore, when the sea is calm and

HABITS OF THE WALRUS 99

the tide coming in, crawling higher up with the rising tide, and then going to sleep, when the ebb sets in. We were told that they often remain on land for days (as many as seven were mentioned), without taking any nourishment, and that, at the end of this period, they are particularly easy to kill, because a circumstance, which I cannot very well mention here, interferes to such an extent with their powers of locomotion, that they can scarcely rise from their resting-place, and in this condition fall an easy prey to the hunter. We could not, of course, wait quite as long as this, but intended to let the sea go down to low-water mark before we went to work, in the hope that, during the ebb, we should be able to cut the animals off from the water.

For hours we watched the huge beasts, at a distance of about 1000 yards, and observed how the whole shoal from time to time rushed back into the sea, for some reason unknown to us, only to come to land again in the same spot ; but they never went higher up the beach than where the surf died away. The feelings which possessed me during these weary hours, might be likened to those of a suitor before he makes his proposal of marriage to the chosen fair ; for the result of the attack was doubtful, and for the last fortnight all my thoughts and wishes had been centred on this single object.

I had been advised not to try stalking the walrus, or shoot- ing at them from a distance, but to make a rush and fire at them point-blank. RadclyfFe and I, therefore, crept up to within fifty yards of them, and then ran for the herd as fast as we could ; but the creatures must somehow have got wind of us, for when I caught sight of them they were already

loo CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

scrambling towards the sea, in a close and seething mass. I fired my two bullets (double-barrelled rifle, .450-.500 calibre, cordite powder, and solid steel bullets), from a distance of twenty-two yards, at the massive neck of a walrus ; the animal broke down in front, but immediately shuffled on again and disappeared in the water like the rest. Whilst the shoal was swimming out to sea under water, the wounded beast, a huge bull, went on one side, and kept showing his head at short intervals over water, which, as with the hippo, was a sure sign that it was badly hit ; for the beasts, when in this state, are forced to come up to breathe more frequently, while a walrus in normal condition is said to remain under water any time up to fifteen minutes (this statement, however, I should not like to pledge myself to). There would have been no object in- now firing at the head, for, once they are dead, these animals sink straightway to the bottom. The only thing was to procure a boat, fire the final shot from this, and fasten a harpoon, such as the natives use, into the animal's flesh. Unfortunately it took the Tchuktchis a whole hour to get a boat to the spot. During this time, a second walrus, which Radclyfi^e had shot at and wounded, had joined mine ; both now remained per- manently at the surface, and with the naked eye one could observe one of the beasts spirting blood from his nostrils. But when, at last, I was settled in the boat with four natives, I could no longer see the wounded beasts ; they had doubtless breathed their last and had sunk. To my intense surprise the whole shoal had now returned from the open sea and swam round our boat, puffing and grunting. I had taken up my post in the bows ; behind me stood a Tchuktchi, harpoon in

A WALRUS CHASE loi

hand. This weapon consists of a barbed prong of iron or bone, fastened to the end of a lo-foot pole, to whose other end are attached about loo feet of leather thongs, cut out of walrus-hide. To this is tied a reindeer or dog's skin, filled with air. When the harpoon has been cast and has bitten, one can trace the course of the animal by this floating air-bladder.

The walrus seemed to have no sort of fear of the boat. They came into close proximity — not to say uncomfortably close quarters, when one remembers Nansen's tales about these animals. To be ready for all emergencies I got rid of my heavy clothing and took off my boots ; for if it should please one of these giants to play at ball with this slight skifF made of walrus-hide, I wanted at least to be able to swim ; in water of such low temperature a man cannot live long anyhow. The Tchuktchi gave me all sorts of instructions, of which, of course, I did not understand a word ; but I made out from his gestures that I was to fire from the shortest possible dis- tance, while he would cast the harpoon directly after the shot.

This sort of chase was quite to my liking ; the prospect of being towed over the sea by a wounded walrus fastened to a harpoon-line was, from the point of view of sport, a most alluring one. Whilst I was indulging in these thoughts, a couple of walruses suddenly detached themselves from a neighbouring shoal and came at a great pace straight at the boat. I aimed at the forehead of one of them and pressed the trigger, but the rifle did not go off; it was set at "Safety." Only a few feet from the bows of the boat the animals dived, and I saw my native friends point laughingly to the bottom of the sea, where I saw a dark mass moving. Immediately after

I02 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

I fired a point-blank shot at the neck of another walrus ; where the bullet went to I do not know ; the beast dived ; accurate shooting is out of the question from a boat in which four other people are constantly going through all sorts of motions, to say nothing of the rocking of the waves. But the firing annoyed the company ; there must have been some forty head around me at one time ; now they all dived and only rose again a long way off. So we had once more to encamp on the narrow sand -spit, without any shelter from wind and weather ; it was a wretched night. Not a walrus bagged, our chances spoilt, rain falling in torrents.

The steamer had, according to my orders, cast anchor far out in the bay, so that the smoke should not scare the walruses, and when on the following day we tried to reach it by rowing, we found the distance too far, owing to the high sea which was running, and had to turn back again. We spent the whole day anchored close inshore, under a persistent downpour of rain, which was assisted by an icy wind to demonstrate the pleasures that, in the height of summer, Siberia has to offer to the sportsman. In the evening we reached the Stepney, after having rowed hard for hours, the richer only by another bitter disappointment.

The Tchuktchis kill the walrus on land with spears, with which they pierce the animal's flanks, and since they have come into the possession of a few firearms, also by means of these, in conjunction with the harpoon, in the manner just described. If our bullets had reached the heart, brain, or spine of the animals when we first fired at them, they would certainly have been brought to bag ; but in the hurry and

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THE ESQUIMAUX OF SIBERIA ■ 103

hopeless confusion in which the beasts were rushing to the water, these spots are difficult to hit. At the next encounter they shall be carefully stalked, and only shot at after taking careful aim, like any other quarry. But shall we ever have the luck to catch them on land again ?

We now left Holy Cross Bay and went back to the eastern end of the sand-spit of Meechken, but were unable to land here by reason of the heavy swell. Leaving this place, we steamed into Providence Bay, where an American company has established a trading-station ; hence the English name of the bay. Here we came in contact for the first time with the Esquimaux, who form the aboriginal population of the extreme north-east of Siberia. Their number is but small, the whole tribe only amounting to one thousand souls, who, distributed among nine settlements, inhabit the Asiatic continent. Men and women are clothed in reindeer-skins, with the hairy side (swarming with vermin) next to the body ; they are always scratching themselves, and when they have caught a parasite they put it between their teeth and end its career with a hearty nip. The men shave the top of the head, so as to form a large tonsure, but at the sides the hair hangs down in long whisps like a curtain fringe. The walls of the Esquimaux winter- habitations are built of whale-ribs, which are stuck vertically into the ground at intervals of a couple of feet. The inter- stices are filled up with earth and moss, whilst the roof consists mostly of walrus- hides. The summer- habitations are con- structed of skins stretched over a wooden framework.

Unlike the neighbouring Tchuktchis, the Esquimaux of the Siberian coasts have already to a considerable extent come

104 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

in touch with civilisation, owing to the boats of whale-ships which trequently visit these parts. Many of them speak English ; a good many have been taken by whalers as far as San Francisco, and the consequence of this direct contact with white men is their rapid decadenc?. The unscrupulous crews of the numerous whale -ships have introduced large quantities of the worst possible description of brandy into the country, which they barter for walrus-tusks and hides ; they

4

have presented the Esquimaux with sexual diseases, with which they were previously unacquainted, and have thus brought a healthy and cheerful race to the verge of ruin, which will, in course of time, infallibly overtake them all.

One of the Esquimaux ofFered to show us some walrus near the entrance of Providence Bay ; he suggested that we had only to wait long enough on the sand-spit, while drinking whisky. I agreed to his proposition, minus the whisky part. But when we neared the sand-spit, we were unable to land on account of the surf I now ordered the steamer to take us to Ka-y-ne Island, the last place where the Governor had predicted that we should find walrus. This island lies in Bering Straits, close to the mainland of Asia, and, like Holy Cross Bay, is a real Paradise for the ornithologist. Here hundreds of birds, particularly sea-fowl and ducks, have their breeding-places, and among these the handsome eider-duck is represented in greatest numbers. I found many nests with eggs, and cannot make out how the young birds, which now (at the beginning of August) are not even hatched, can possibly live, when, not later than six to eight weeks hence, winter in all its severity will set in in these parts. Ka-y-ne

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KA-Y-NE ISLAND 105

Island seems to have been in former days a favourite landing- place of the whalers, for at every step one finds the bones of the whale, that giant of the deep, lying around. An evidence of the enormous dimensions of these animals are the ribs, which the Esquimaux here have planted upright in the earth as ornaments of the graves of their relations.

We were lost in admiration before the flora of this island.

THE BONES OF THE WHALE ERECTED AS TOMBSTONES (kA-Y-NE ISLAND).

The ground was decked with flowers of every colour, such as I never saw before and the names of which 1 did not know. We stood amazed before all this splendour, and asked ourselves how it was possible that these plants should attain such perfect growth and glorious colouring only a few miles south of the Arctic Circle and on a soil which but a few weeks ago was still covered with snow, and even now was only thawed for a few inches underneath the surface. We found here, too, some flowers of our native land in great numbers, such as

io6 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

forget-me-nots, campanulas, iris, and many others ; they were all taller and much more intense in colouring than at home ; by their side grew ice-plants, with little blossoms of tender pink, and sky-blue, set in a frame of a particularly delicate species of fern.

During our first shoot we came upon an Esquimaux family, who were busy dragging a freshly killed bull-walrus ashore out of the surf They had already severed the animal's head from the body and cut off his flippers ; an awful pity, for if I had only arrived on the scene a few hours earlier, I might easily have prepared this specimen for the Museum.

We remained three days on the island, and conscientiously patrolled the shore, but no walrus put in an appearance. To make our position still more unpleasant, a strong, cold wind blew persistently from the north ; rain fell ; no tree, no bush, gave any shelter ; it seemed as if the elements had sworn to drive us from Siberia. The Esquimaux came to visit us in camp, but only brought four walrus-tusks to trade with, from which I concluded that these creatures land but seldom on the island. The gale did not abate, the surf was so heavy that no walrus could have hauled up on shore without injury. The time for which I had chartered the steamer was up ; according to the contract I was bound to replace the coals consumed if I continued the voyage, and coals at Nome cost ^4 per ton. Twenty-four days we had spent in our search for walrus, and used our best energies to attain our object. Want of informa- tion about the habitat of the animals, total ignorance of their habits and of the best manner of hunting them, were the cause of this complete and ignominious failure. On the morning of

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FAREWELL TO SIBERIA 107

August 3 we returned to the steamer, and with broken heart I gave orders to the captain to set the ship's course for Nome. The expedition to Siberia had come to an end.

We thought we should reach Nome in a few days, but here we had reckoned without our host, to wit, the Bering Sea. Through Bering Straits a hurricane was blowing from the north ; the waves dashed in cataracts over the wretched Stepney, carrying everything away from the deck. We had to alter our course and put the ship's head to the gale, with the result that on the , second day we found ourselves near Cape Prince of Wales, the extreme western point of America, and 1 20 nautical miles out of our course.

When I set foot on land at Nome I thought that I might breathe again, since the parting from the Stepney also meant release from the absolutely unbearable society of Mr. Storck ; but our excellent friend had not yet given us the full measure of his- — shall I say "smartness".'' In consequence of a difference of opinion over the settling, which I proposed to submit to the arbitration of an English judge, he kept back the whole of our baggage and all our trophies on board his ship — a perfectly illegal proceeding, against which, however, we were powerless, not having the help of a German or English Consul. We might have recovered possession of our property through the agency of the American authorities, i.e. by means of a civil action, but this would have taken at least three weeks, and we could not spare this time. So things were settled by a compromise, of which I got decidedly the worst.

PART II ALASKA

CHAPTER IX

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Alaska, derived from the Indian word Al-ak-shak, the great mainland, is a country about which even the educated world of Europe knew nothing till a very few years ago. When I exhibited in Berlin the large heads of moose which I had shot in this territory in 1903, and gave numerous inquirers some information as to where these animals came from, I was able to read on many faces the unspoken question : Wherever is Alaska ?

If we turn in the first place to the history of the country, we find that the Russians were the first Europeans to visit Alaska. To them belongs the credit of having been foremost in the Pacific Ocean in helping to link together the two greatest continents of our planet, just as to Spain is due the honour of having shown the Old World the way to the New. We may divide the history of Alaska into three periods, viz. that of the voyages of discovery, 1741-1784; that of the Russian rule, 1784-1867 ; and that of the American dominion. As early as the year 1582 the King of Spain despatched an expedition to the north of the Pacific Ocean, in order to ascertain whether Asia was connected with America, or whether

112 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

a strait existed between these two continents. This research expedition did not solve the problem, although it reached the coast of America. Then Alaska again fell into oblivion for nearly two centuries ; there are only extant a few narratives of voyages, which the Spaniards undertook from California to the North, but these are mostly of a fanciful nature. Then, at the command of Peter the Great, the famous navigator, Vitus Bering, in 1725, made his first expedition to the sea which has after him been named Bering's Sea; in 1741 he undertook the second, and it is only from this time forward that we have any definite information about the north-west coast of America. Bering was shipwrecked and died on Bering Island, which lies off the coast of Kamschatka ; but the rest of the crew were saved from starvation by the abundant animal life (mostly marine mammalia) which they found upon the island, and, having survived the rigours of the winter they spent there, returned in the following year to Kamschatka in a boat they had constructed from the wreckage of the stranded ship.

The reports which the explorers who had returned in safety made of the wealth in peltry of the newly discovered countries, induced Russian merchants to enter upon numerous commercial ventures, which, with Okhotsk as their base, were limited at first to the Aleutian Islands, but later on were extended farther east, from island to island, until the peninsula of Alaska and the adjacent coasts of the American continent were reached. These merchants had their settlements and factories at different points, for instance on the island of Kodiak and in Yakutat ; here the reports of all the other

FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN COMPANY 113

districts came in, and the whole produce of the chase was collected. In the year 1798 these separate ventures were amalgamated in the Russian American Company, which now made Kodiak its chief emporium. Later on the company, under the management of an able director, named Baranow, extended its possessions farther south, and Sitka, the present

SIBERIAN COAST.

capital of Alaska, became the centre of the colony. In the beginning, barter was carried on with the natives, who exchanged the valuable furs of the sea-otter and fur-seal (sealskin) for provisions, tools, and superfluities ; later on, it was the officers of the company themselves who caused a fearful destruction among the marine animals of Sitka, and especially on St. Paul's Island, in the Bering Sea.

Little by little the immense treasures in furs which

114 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Alaska contained became known in Europe, and Englishmen, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Americans began sending ships thither, and entering into friendly rivalry with the Russians. Famous explorers like Cook, La Perouse, and Vancouver visited the new country and furnished Europe with the first reliable maps.

7'he Russians had to fight many battles with the natives during the first twenty years of the existence of the company ; not until the year 1818 were law and order established in the land. Alaska, from Bristol Bay in the north to Sitka in the south, was now under Russian rule. The number of English and American vessels which frequented the country increased steadily about this time ; they distributed firearms among the natives, incited them to kill the valuable fur-producing animals with these, and thus prepared the ruin of the fur-trade, on which the prosperity of the whole colony depended. It was in vain that the Russians despatched men-of-war to stop the importation of firearms ; in the 'thirties of the nineteenth century the sea-otters were as good as exterminated, and all the tribes round about were so thoroughly provided with guns, that they had completely unlearned the use of their ancient weapons, and, without a gun, were unable to kill a single animal.

We have here a striking example — and there are many others — of the way in which the native, placed in possession of firearms, destroys the game of a country, thus undermining its prosperity, and even, as in the present case, bringing the whole settlement to the brink of ruin. And yet our colonial authorities at home have not learnt a lesson from these

NATIVES CHIEF DESTROYERS OF GAME 115

examples ; modern quick-firing guns continue to make their way to Africa and into the hands of the natives, who, with their aid, exterminate the defenceless beasts, and, when occasion arises, even turn the rifles against their oppressors. Although circumstances in Africa are difi^erent, since the game animals do not represent, as was then the case in Alaska, the sole produce of the country, I should not like to miss this opportunity of stating my emphatic conviction that the real destroyers of the game in every land are the natives, mis- directed by an incompetent bureaucracy, and of meeting with a flat denial the accusations of those people who make the white hunter or explorer responsible for the rapid diminution of the head of game — persons who are either themselves fattening on the proceeds of the wholesale massacre perpetrated by the natives, or are mere amiable sentimentalists, absolutely and hopelessly ignorant of the facts of the case.

.Let my readers compare with the views I have expressed above the opinions which Mr. C. G. Schilling has published in his well-known works, M^ith Flashlight and Rifle and The Magic of the Elelescho. I repeat it, the true destroyers of the game and of the fauna in all parts of the world are mainly the natives, either misdirected or unchecked by proper supervision. This view ought all the more to command universal assent since, among others, a man like Theodore Roosevelt, late President of the United States, and all those men in England who have any real knowledge of the conditions of the game animals of the globe, have expressed agreement with it. The head of game of foreign countries is just as much a constituent part of their natural wealth as any other source of revenue ;

ii8

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Canada, and the Esquimaux, who have their home in the lands washed by the Arctic Ocean, but little is known.

Concerning the first appearance of the Russians in Alaska, the explorer Holmberg was told the following story by an aged Konjak : — " I was a boy of nine or ten years of age — for I was already set to paddle in the baidar (the Aleutian

WAR-CANOE OF THK THLIXKET INDIANS.

canoe made of the hides of seals) — when the first Russian ship, a two-master, appeared near Cape Aljuklik. Before this time we had never seen a ship. It is true we had some intercourse with the Aglegmjuts (inhabitants of the peninsula of Alaska), Thuainas, and Kolosch ; aged wise men among us even knew of Californian Indians, but ships and white men we had no knowledge of. When we caught sight of the ship in the distance we thought it was an enormous whale, and curiosity

KONJAK ACCOUNT OF THE RUSSIANS 119

impelled us to examine it more closely. So we paddled out in our baidars, and soon saw that it was no whale, but another kind of monster, such as we had never set eyes upon yet, that frightened us, and whose stink (the smell of tar) made us feel sick. The people on board the ship had knobs {i.e. buttons) on their clothes, and we therefore took them for cuttle - fish, but when we saw that they took fire into their mouths and blew forth smoke — tobacco we did not know — we naturally concluded that they were devils.

" The ship sailed by the island of Ajachtalik (one of the Goose Islands), on which there was at that time a large settle- ment, where my father lived among others, and past Cape Aljuklik to Vanjatchen Bay (the eastern part of Alitok or Analjukak Bay), where it cast anchor and lowered its boats. We followed timidly, though at the same time curious to see what would come of the extraordinary apparition, but did not dare to board the ships. Among our men there was a warrior, a hero by name Tschinik, who was distinguished for bravery, so that he was not afraid of anything on earth. He undertook to board the ship, and returned to his people on shore with presents of a red shirt, a hat of the Fox-Aleuts, and various glass-beads. ' There is nothing to be afraid of there,' he said ; ' they only want to buy our sea-otter skins, and we shall receive in return glass-beads and other treasures.' But we did not trust his words. The aged and wise men of our settlement took counsel in the Kashim (a sort of club), and this was their decision : ' Who knows what diseases they will bring us.'' Better await them on shore ; then if they will buy

I20 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

our skins on advantageous terms, well, we will trade with them.'

" Our nation was at that time at enmity with the Fox-Aleuts, whom we called ' Tajauth.' My father once went on a raid to Unalaska. Among the booty he brought back there was a little girl, whom her parents had left behind in their flight. Being a prisoner of war she was our slave, but my father treated her as a daughter and brought her up with the rest of his children. We called her Plju, which means ' ashes,' because she had been carried off out of the ashes of her hut. Now, on the Russian ship, which came from Unalaska, there were many Fox-Aleuts, and among others also the father of our slave-girl. The latter came to visit my father, and when he saw that his daughter was not treated as a slave, but well brought up, he, out of gratitude, told him in confidence that the Russians would take the sea-otter skins and give us nothing in return. This warning, accordingly, saved my father, who, it is true, did not put entire faith in the Fox-Aleuts' words, but who was a prudent man. The Russians came ashore with the Fox- Aleuts ; the latter persuaded our people to begin trading, and said, ' Why are you afraid of the Russians ? behold, we hve with them, and they do us no harm.' Our men, dazzled by the multitude of wares, left their weapons in the baidars and went with their furs to meet the Russians. While they were engaged in lively bargaining, the Fox-Aleuts, at a sign of the Russians, fell upon our people with arms they had concealed about them, murdered some thirty men, and took their sfea-otter skins. A few who had, from motives of prudence, looked on from a little distance, to await the issue of the first trading, and among

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MASSACRE OF THE KONJAKS 121

them my father, jumped into their baidars and fled, but were overtaken by the Fox-Aleuts, and likewise slain. My father alone was saved, and owed his life to the father of our slave- girl, for, when his own baidar was pierced with arrows and about to sink, the latter gave him his canoe and thus enabled him to escape to Achiok."

CHAPTER X

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABORIGINES

•

The people with whom the Russians first came into touch were the Aleuts, and they suffered much ill-usage from the crews of the first ships, as these consisted mostly of adventurers, who did not shrink from carrying murder and manslaughter into the midst of the peaceful island population, nor scruple to take the skins they possessed from them without any payment. Of all the people the Aleuts were the last who ought to have been subjected to such treatment ; for it was only at first, and when roused by ill-treatment, that they showed fight ; afterwards they resignedly submitted to their tormentors. The character of the ancient Aleuts is painted by travellers in the most rosy colours. They were honest, always contented with their lot, endowed with a patience bordering upon imbecility, at the same time capable of great endurance, and conscientious in carrying out orders ; reserved natures, that displayed no emotion of either joy or sorrow, kind and affectionate towards their children. They were extremely secretive, and refused to talk about things which in their opinion were not fit to be repeated ; and that is just the reason why we are so imper- fectly acquainted with the religion they professed before their

CONVERSION OF THE ALEUTS 123

conversion to the Greek. Catholic faith at the hands of the Russians. More rapidly and willingly than perhaps any other savage nation did the Aleuts and the inhabitants of the Alaska and Kenai peninsulas allow themselves to be converted to Christianity ; and that not merely as a matter of form, for they displayed an extraordinary zeal in the fulfilment of their religious duties and acknowledged the priests as their absolute

GKTTIXC IN THK AXCHORHD BOAT, IN KAMSCHATKA.

rulers. To this day, after forty years of American dominion in Alaska, the Russian priests still exercise considerable influence over the Indians of North-Western Alaska ; where there are churches the faithful crowd to mass, and they are fond of singing psalms they have learnt from the clergy.

The next-door neighbours of the Aleuts are the Konjaks, the inhabitants of the isle of Kodiak and the adjacent islands. We are better informed about the manners and customs of this people than about those of the Aleuts, owing

124 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

to the descriptions of the explorer Holmberg. The Konjaks were converted to Christianity at an early period, and the culture which began with this conversion, together with the compulsory labour which the Russian company enforced, obliged them to divest themselves of many of their ancestral customs, so that the present generation knows nothing of the faith and but little of the manners and customs of their forefathers.

Polygamy was universal in former times among the Konjaks ; rich men might own as many as five wives. Their weddings were performed with but few ceremonies. The suitor betook himself to the father of the bride, and when he had been accepted, was obliged himself to carry wood to the hut and heat the bathroom, where he and his father-in-law then took a bath together. Meanwhile the relations of the bride assembled in the hut and sat down to banquet. After the bridegroom had come out of the bath with his prospective father-in-law, he adopted the latter's name and handed over his wedding gifts, and having done this, he left the house with his bride and repaired to his own dwelling. The first wife always ranked above the others. The heritage went in the first place to the brother of the dead man, and only from him to whatever son the latter had selected, according to his conduct, to be his heir.

In Kodiak, women did not play the same subordinate part as among other primitive tribes of America ; rather did they enjoy considerable respect, and had so much power that they kept so-called " auxiliary husbands " by the side of and, it must be owned, with the consent of the husbands. Such an

AUXILIARY HUSBANDS 125

" auxiliary " had the right, in the absence of the legitimate husband, to assume his place and privileges with his wife, but had to vacate both when husband No. i returned.

A thing worthy of notice is that both among Aleuts and Konjaks the so-called Grecian love (paiiderastia) was an indigenous custom. Davydoff's account of this is as follows :

" There are here (on the island of Kodialc) men with a tattooed chin, who only do women's work, always live together with the women, and like them have husbands, sometimes even two at a time. Such creatures are called Achnutschik. They are anything but despised ; rather do they enjoy consideration in the settlements, and are mostly sorcerers. The Konjak who, instead of a wife, has an Achnutschik is even regarded as a happy man. If a boy appears to be particularly girlish, his father or his mother destine him from earliest childhood to the profession of Achnutschik. Sometimes it happens that the parents fancy beforehand that a daughter is going to be born to them, and when they find themselves disappointed in their hopes they make their new-born son an Achnutschik."

Both among the Konjaks and the Thlinkets we find the same cruel treatment of women when they are just attaining the age of puberty. At this period a small hut was built for the virgin, in which she had to spend half a year, kneeling in a stooping position. After this time the hut was slightly enlarged, so that, while still on her knees, she could at least keep her back upright, and in this attitude she had to remain another six months. After the lapse of a whole year the parents took her home again, when a great feast celebrated the occasion.

126 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

The dead were shrouded in laftak {i.e. the hide of seals or sea-lions) and buried with their arrows and baidars, and, if they were rich men, with many sea-otter skins as well. At the graveside they wept and sang in turn, praising the dead man for his prowess in the chase, so that the whole settlement might hear of his renown. On these occasions the relatives cut their hair off and painted their faces black. If the dead man had been a wealthy one, his widow gave a great feast, at which there was dancing, as well as eating and drinking. After death, according to their belief, every man became a devil ; sometimes he appeared to his relatives, and when he did, that was an omen of good luck. The house in which a man had died might no longer be inhabited ; it was pulled down and a new one built in its stead.

The Konjaks are desperate gamblers ; it is by no means a rare occurrence for one of them to lose his whole goods and chattels at the game they call Kaganakt. This game is played in the following manner : — They spread a couple of tanned seal-hides out on the ground at a distance of two or three yards one from the other, and lay on each a flat round piece of bone, about the size of a silver 'rouble, whose edge is marked with four black dots. The players are generally only two in number ; when there are four, which is the limit, they divide into two sides ; and, whether one or two a side, each side stakes various objects on the game. Each player has five round wooden disks, all of the same size, which he throws from the end of the one hide at the bone disk on the other, so as to cover it, if possible. When there are only two players, they both throw together ; but if there are four, one

GAMBLING AMONG THE KONJAKS 127

side plays first. When all the disks, which are each marked with the token of the owner, have been thrown, the players move over to the other skin to see how they are lying. If a wooden disk covers the bone disk entirely, the owner receives from each player on the other side three bone sticks or counters — each man having at the beginning of the game started with an equal number of these. If the disk only covers one of the black dots, it wins two counters ; of the rest of the disks only the one lying nearest gets one counter. Then the second side goes through the same performance, and when, after many changes, one side has lost all its counters, the things which have been staked are likewise lost.

In the year 1903 I had an opportunity on the Kenai peninsula of admiring the endurance which the Indians display at gaming. On rainy days I have seen them for as many as nine hours at a stretch play the same game of cards, and a game of spilikins, much like the Chinese one, with the result that, at the end of my hunting trip, one of my men had won all the clothes of his companions, besides having previously relieved them of the whole of their wages. I had strong suspicions that the winner was a cheat, but, in spite of keeping a sharp eye on his proceedings, I was never able to catch him in the act.

The festivals of the Konjaks, which play a great part in the life of these and all other Indians, began in December. The explorer DavydofF, who had the opportunity of being present at them at the beginning of the last century, describes one of these feasts as follows : — " Five men appeared one after another, all disguised in various masks, some of which were fringed

128 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

with fern-leaves. They blew small whistles, which were fastened with twine in the hole of the nasal cartilage, and went through various contortions, each one having a style of his own. One was painted with red paint, another with charcoal ; two were clad in Parks (loose fur-cloaks), and the fifth one in a Kamleika (a waterproof manufactured of animal intestines) ; all had a sort of castanets in their hands. The two first and the one in the Kamleika had devised a sort of dress made of birds' feathers, which hung down to their knees. By the lamp sat two Americans {i.e. Konjaks in their everyday costume). What this performance was intended for, I was unable to learn. The interpreter told me that they were devils, who deceived men, but he did not seem to know any more about it himself ; for of the traditions of such festivals, and in particular those relating to the spirit world, only the men whom the natives of these islands call ' Kasjati ' know anything ; these are wise men, who invent such performances, and who can tell tales of the past history of the inhabitants of Kodiak and the adjacent islands, of devils, and such like. When a native cannot answer a question put to him, he says : ' The Kasjat knows ! '

" After the devils had taken themselves off with some more contortions, the men began to drive away their wives and children. This they do after those festivals to which guests from different settlements have gathered, for these now converse on matters affecting the common weal, on which occasions women and children may not be present ; but as on this occasion this custom could not be the cause, and their expulsion probably had reference to some sort of superstition, I was very

FESTIVALS AND WARS OF KONJAKS 129

desirous of learning something more definite on this point. When all who were not wanted had gone, there appeared a man with quite a peculiar mask on his face and with a set of ' bones ' in his hands, who apparently was intended to represent the evil spirit. He yelled and danced about, keeping

LANDrNG IN MARSOVYA BAY, KAMSCHATKA.

time to the song which was sung by the spectators, one of whom also beat a drum."

The wars of the Konjaks were raids ; the prisoners they made in their course were partly tortured to death, partly reduced to slavery. They did not war only with foreign tribes, but with each other, and it is asserted that, in the last few years before the advent of the Russians, these native wars had grown to such a pitch, that in the summer the inhabitants

I30 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

of each settlement entrenched themselves on some precipitous rock surrounded by the sea ; of such there is no lack near the island of Kodiak, but they are often totally devoid of fresh water, so that in order to obtain some, both men and baidars had to be lowered from the cliffs and pulled up again with ropes. This precaution is quite intelligible when one remembers that in summer the majority of the men in each settlement were engaged in hunting or fishing in distant quarters, so that those who remained behind were unable to defend themselves in case of a sudden raid.

I now come to the Thlinkets, with whose ancient manners and customs, religion and myths, we are best acquainted of all the tribes of North- Western America. In the year 1 8 80-81 Dr. Amel Krause, commissioned by the Geographical Society of Bremen, made a scientific expedition to the country of the Thlinkets. The descriptions which follow below are founded to a great extent on his work, on the researches of the priest Weniaminow, and of the explorer Helmdorf ^

While Alaska was under Russian rule, the race of the Aleuts was estimated at about 1 500 souls, that of the Konjaks at still less, and that of the Thlinkets at 20,000 to 25,000. Since that time the population has considerably decreased, either through disease, or the too plentiful absorption of bad spirits, or owing to the " civiHsation," which is sooner or later the ruin of all primitive races. The word Thlinket, in the language of the Indians, means "man."

According to their origin, all the Thlinkets are divided

' On the manners and customs of the modern Thlinkets, see the two last paragraphs of Chapter XI. pp. 154, 155.

CLANS OF THE THLINKETS 131

into two principal clans, viz. the Raven-clan and the Wolf-clan. Their myths tell of two heroes or gods who in the beginning of time procured by their deeds and supernatural powers for the human race those advantages and commodities which it enjoys at present, and from this heroic pair the Thlinkets trace their descent. These heroes were " Jeshl," the ancestor of the Raven- clan, and " Khanukt," the progenitor of the Wolf-clan. Both Raven- and Wolf-clan afterwards divided into several different septs, which are named after various animals. Thus, for instance, the branches of the Raven-clan take their names from the raven, the frog, the goose, the sea-lion, the owl, etc. ; those of the Wolf-clan, on the other hand, from the wolf, the bear, the eagle, etc. Each of these septs, again, is subdivided into sub-septs or families, which are mostly known by the name of localities. Although, generally speaking, the Raven-clan, tracing, as it does, its pedigree to Jeshl, the benefactor of the human race, enjoys the greatest consideration, the Wolf-clan also has earned such, both by reason of its larger numbers, its greater courage, and the deeds of daring performed by its warriors. Each clan bears a coat of arms, i.e. they adorn themselves with at least some easily distinguished part of the animal whose name they bear.

Without reference to clan or sept, the families are divided into two castes or orders : the chiefs (or nobility) forming a class apart from the common people. This nobility is hereditary in certain families, but the respect it inspires is based solely upon wealth, or, in other words, on the number of their slaves. If we can number the latter among the Thlinkets at all — for originally they were prisoners of war, and often came from the

132 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Oregon territory or even from California — they form, so to speak, a third hereditary caste, for the children of a female slave are slaves, and remain such.

The chief external characteristics of the Thlinket are the following : coarse, jet-black hair ; slight, dark eye -brows ; black eyes that are both larger and brighter than the average, and which form the best feature of his face ; prominent cheek- bones ; thick, full lips — those of the women being, moreover, adorned with bones or wooden saucers ; the nasal cartilage of the men pierced and elongated owing to the heavy weights attached to it ; fine white teeth ; ears that have frequently been pierced with holes all round ; add to this a somewhat dark complexion, middle height, and in the men a proud and erect carriage.

Before they became acquainted with the Russians their only clothing consisted of skins sewn together, which they cast around them in order to cover and protect the body, which was otherwise quite bare. On solemn occasions they wore, besides this, blankets made of the hair of the wild goat. The Thlinket is by nature indolent ; the ebbing tide leaves behind it sufficient food for him to gather without any special trouble. The only exertion which in former times he had to undergo was that of the chase, the rigour of the climate compelling him to protect his body with beast-skins.

Both men and women dye and paint their faces, which would not be so ugly in themselves, but owing to this practice assume a frightful aspect. Black and red, i.e. charcoal and cinnabar, two articles which the Russian American Company sold with great profit to itself, are the favourite colours..

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF THE THLINKETS 133

They are rubbed into the skin with the oil of the seal, so that the whole face is covered, and are then scraped off in certain places with a wooden stick, so as to produce various lighter- coloured figures and patterns. The wealthy Thlinket paints his face daily, the poor one only when the paint begins to fade of its own accord. In order to wash off the greasy mass of paint from their faces they use their own urine, and this is what gives them that repulsive odour which nauseates the stranger who approaches them unawares.

The men pierce the cartilage of the nose, in order by this means to retain the good graces of the ladies, since fashion demands this sacrifice. This operation is performed at once on the new-born boy. In the hole which has been bored they wear a large silver ring, which frequently covers the whole mouth, but other trinkets, such as feathers, etc., are used for the same object. They likewise pierce the lobes of the ears, and in them they wear shark's teeth, sea-shells, and suchlike "objects of bigotry and virtue."

What is perhaps more characteristic of the external appear- ance of this people than anything else are the labial ornaments of the women. When the first signs of puberty appear in a girl, her under-lip is pierced and a pointed bone or silver rod inserted in the opening ; she wears this as long as she remains unmarried, but if she gets a husband, a larger ornament of wood or bone, which on the inner side, i.e. towards the teeth, is hollowed out in the manner of a saucer, is pressed into the aperture.

The Thlinkets, as well as all the nations of the north-west coast of America generally, might be called coast- or sea-

134 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

nomads, because they only have settled habitations in winter, and otten spend the greater part of the summer in very distant regions, there to gather stores of food for the winter. The sea, on whose shores they invariably dwell, provides them with their chief sustenance ; a few roots, herbs, and berries are merely summer luxuries. In these regions the sea has an infinite wealth not only of fish, but also of all sorts of inferior animals ; and Nature herself favours man and enables him to catch these more easily, inasmuch as the ebb-tide lowers the sea-level twice in every twenty-four hours. But the larger marine animals also, such as seals, sea-lions, sea-otters and dolphins, whose pursuit, it is true, is often attended with great difficulties and labour, play an important part in the domestic economy of the Thlinkets.

While the summer habitations are merely flimsy huts, erected with poles and the bark of trees, the winter residences are built, with great care, of heavy beams laid across one another ; long poles meeting at the top form the roof, which is made water-tight by a thatching of bark. Above, in the centre of the roof, there is a great square opening, which serves both as window and smoke-flue, and in the middle of the floor a fire is constantly kept burning, round which the family sit during the day, and lie stretched at night. Among all the utensils and tools of the Thlinkets — considered as products of their art and industry — the boats or canoes attract the greatest attention, not to say admiration. They are made of the wood of a great pine-tree, and never out of several pieces, but always of a single trunk. When the tree has been selected with a view to the size of the canoe to be

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS OF THE THLINKETS 135

built, it is felled and hollowed out in the shape of a narrow trough. Into this cavity water is then poured, and brought up to boiling point by means of red-hot stones ; little by little this softens the wood and makes it malleable, after which the trunk is hewn to the required shape.

Hunting and fishing form the chief occupation of the Thlinkets ; but their original weapons, the bow and arrow, have long vanished from use and even fi-om memory, and we have no tradition of how the chase of the different animals was carried on in former times. The bear is killed "but rarely, and only in case of necessity, for he is thought to be a man who has assumed the shape of this beast. The legend relates that a certain chieftain's daughter first revealed this secret by coming into contact with such a man who had been turned into a bear. It tells how once, when seeking berries in the forest, she made merry over the uncouth footprints the bear had left behind him ; after which she lost her way and fell right into the bear's lair. As punishment for her flippancy she was compelled to marry the lord of the forest, and herself to assume the shape of a bear. After her spouse, the bear, and her bear-cubs had been killed by her own Thlinket brothers, on which occasion she narrowly escaped with her life, she returned home in the form of a human being, and told every one of the adventure she had been through.

In the matrimonial unions of the Thlinkets, which, by the way, are celebrated without any religious rites, they strictly observe the rule that the contracting parties must never belong to the same clan ; or, in other words, a Thlinket. of the Raven- clan must choose a wife from the Wolf-clan, and vice versd.

136 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Polygamy is universal, especially among the rich, but the first wife always retains a certain amount of authority over the others. When a Thlinket has selected a bride according to his own taste and pleasure, he sends a marriage-broker to her parents, or, if these be no longer alive, to her nearest relations. Should he receive a favourable answer from them and from the bride, he sends his future father-in-law as many presents as he can afford to buy, and then starts for the wedding in person. The father of the bride, meanwhile, invites for the appointed day both the relatives of the bridegroom and his own, and, after the guests have assembled, the bridegroom advances to the middle of the floor and squats down with his back to the door. Now the guests intone a chant, accompanied by dances, in order, as they say, to lure the bride, who has hitherto been sitting in a corner of the room, from her hiding-place. After the chant, which is only composed for such occasions, is at an end, the floor is covered all the way from the bride's corner to where the bridegroom is sitting with stuffs, furs, and all sorts of goods, whereupon the bride, in festal attire, is escorted across all these valuables, and set down at the side of the bridegroom. During all this time and the following ceremonies, it is a strict rule of etiquette that the bride shall not raise her head but keep it bowed. Thereupon fresh dances and songs begin, in which all join except the young couple, and, after the guests have danced themselves to a standstill, refreshments are handed round, of which, however, neither the bride nor the bridegroom may partake. For, in order that the newly-wedded pair shall enjoy all the more happiness in their married life, superstition decrees that they shall fast two whole days. After this

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 137

time they receive a small portion of food, but are then made to go empty again for the same period. Only after this four days' starvation treatment are they allowed to enjoy each other's society for good, though the mystic rites of hymen are only permitted to them after the lapse of four weeks.

A marriage can be dissolved by mutual agreement, on the parties separating of their own free will, in which case neither wedding gifts nor dowry are returned. If the husband is not satisfied with the wife he sends her home, but is bound in that case to return her dowry, without having any claim to a return of his presents. If the wife should prove unfaithful, the husband has a right, on her departure, to claim the return of his gifts, but need not part with her dowry. In every case of separation the children remain with the mother. As among the Konjaks, so among the Thlinkets, there are auxiliary husbands, or, so to speak, official lovers, who are kept by the women. This post, among the Thlinkets, is always held by the brother or a near relative of the husband.

After the death of the husband the custom of the country demands that his brother or his sister's son shall marry the widow ; should this duty not be performed, its omission often causes sanguinary wars. If, however, neither of these persons are alive, the widow has the right of choosing whom she will out of the strange clan.

If the seducer of a woman escapes the dagger of the husband, he has to propitiate the man he has dishonoured by a payment of goods (damages), that is in case he is not nearly related to him ; but should the last be the case, he is obliged

138 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

to assume the office of auxiliary husband and at the same time contribute one-half to the support of the wife.

The education of the children is very similar to the methods adopted by the ancient Spartans. When the child is a few weeks old it is wrapped in skins and tied to a board, which the mother always carries about with her. The first solid nourish- ment it receives is generally the raw blubber of some marine animal, excepting only that of the whale. When the child first begins to walk, it is bathed daily in the sea, quite irrespective of the season. This may possibly explain, on the one hand, the extreme hardihood of body of the Thlinket, when he has once safely survived the tender years of childhood ; on the other, the scanty numbers of the population, since probably only the smaller half of all the children born survives this treatment. The Thlinkets in general bathe in the sea daily, however severe the winter may be ; should a boy refuse to go into the cold water, he is thrashed with a stick till he does so. This, however, is the only case in which corporal punishment is ever practised, for the Thlinket considers this as the greatest dishonour which can be offered to a free son of Nature. Theft, in their opinion, is no particular crime ; if a thief is caught, he is only compelled either to restore the stolen property or to pay its value instead. Murder is avenged by murder ; for the law holds good : Blood calls for blood.

The wars of the Thlinkets are of either a tribal or a private character ; the tribal ones are only carried on by sudden raids, and there is no lack of cruelty on these occasions. The captured enemies are made slaves of; the slain are scalped and their scalps kept as trophies of war, being used on festive

WARS AND FUNERAL RITES 139

occasions as leg-ornaments. The display of a number of these proclaims the heroic deeds of the wearer. The private wars or feuds are merely quarrels between individual septs or families, and are generally settled by single combat, unless the feud should degenerate into a tribal war. In the former case each party chooses a champion from their midst to fight their battle. The lines of warriors are drawn up on both sides in battle-array ; the chosen champions are clad in thick armour made of tanned moose-hide or bear-skin, and wear wooden helmets shaped like the head of the beast, which serves as the family crest, for a protection to their heads. The only weapon employed in the duel is the dagger, and the whole combat is accompanied by song and dance, which change in character according to the victory or defeat of the side. When peace is concluded at the end of either kind of war, hostages are mutually exchanged, who are only allowed to eat left-handed for several days, because, during the battle, they bore arms in their right. Each one of them has two men appointed as escort from the hostile side, who have to keep guard over him, but must be of at least equal rank.

The Thlinkets cremate the corpses of their dead on funeral pyres, excepting, however, those of their sorcerers, whom they call Schamans, and who are entombed in a large sarcophagus, resting upon four lofty posts. A slave is not thought worthy of either honour, for his corpse, like that of a dog, is cast into the sea. When a Thlinket has died, his relatives prepare a great feast and invite a number of guests, especially if the dead man was a chief or otherwise a rich or respected person. The guests must always belong to a different clan, so that, if,

140 .CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

e.g., the dead man belonged to the Raven-clan, they are taken from the Wolf-clan, and vice versth For the cremation and the banquet no special time is appointed ; it takes place according to the progress, rapid or otherwise, of the preparations, so that it happens not infrequently that the corpse is in an advanced stage of decomposition when burnt. The funeral pyre is erected in the vicinity of the settlement inhabited by the dead man. Poor men, who are unable to bear the expense of such a banquet, drive out with the corpse to some distant inlet and cremate it there.

When all the guests are assembled and the funeral pyre is erected, the corpse is borne out from the village by the guests and laid upon the wood. They also set fire to the latter in presence of the friends and relations, whose function is merely to weep, or, to speak more correctly, to howl. On such an occasion, many of the latter also burn their hair, putting their whole head into the flames ; others merely cut it short, and besmear their faces with the ashes of the dead.

After the rite of cremation is accomplished, the guests repair to the dwelling of the dead man and sit down with the widow, who by birth belongs to their clan, round the walls of the yourt. Hereupon the relatives appear with hair singed or shorn off, and blackened faces, and stand upright in the centre, where, with bowed head and leaning upon long sticks, they raise the dirge with weeping and howling. The guests join in and swell the volume of the song, which lasts for four successive nights and is only interrupted occasionally for a short time by their taking some refreshment. During this

SLAVERY AMONG THE THLINKETS 141

time the relatives slaughter one or two slaves, in proportion to the wealth and dignity of the dead man, so that, as they put it, he may have some one to serve him in that other world. This indicates among the Thlinkets, at least, an inkling of a future life.

At the end of the time of mourning, or on the fourth day after the cremation, the relatives wash their blackened faces, paint themselves afresh with other colours, and give presents to all the guests, but especially to those who assisted with the cremation of the body. Then these are feasted for the last time, and the whole ceremony is ended. The next of kin of the dead man is his sister's son, or, if there should be none, his younger brother. That the heir is obliged to marry the widow is the law, as it is among the Konjaks.

The slaves of the Thlinkets are, according to their origin, either prisoners of war, men purchased from other tribes, or, lastly, children born of slave women. The slave enjoys no civil rights among the Thlinkets ; he may not own anything, and should it happen that he has managed to acquire something or has received it as a present, this is the property of his master. A freedman has the rights of an ordinary Thlinket, and is counted as a member of the tribe to which his mother belongs. It is rarely or scarcely ever the case that a slave is killed, except at the above-mentioned solemnities, representing, as he does, a valuable asset, and one moreover which it is very difficult to replace. If the slave selected as a victim succeeds in escaping or concealing himself, his life is spared, and he is permitted after the conclusion of the funeral banquet to return to the house of his master with impunity. It even happens

142 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

frequently, that distinguished chiefs offer a good and favourite slave a fair opportunity of running away. Generally speaking, it is a rule only to tell off such slaves for slaughter as are old or sickly, or. have some other failing which renders them rather burdensome than serviceable to their masters.

CHAPTER XI

MYTHOLOGY

Of great interest is the mythology of the Thlinkets, a subject on which we have copious information, thanks to the early researches of the priest Weniaminow. In the theogony of the Thlinkets it is " Jeshl " who plays the part of creator of all beings and things. His power is unlimited. He created everything in the world — the earth, the human race, plants, etc., and fixed sun, moon, and stars in their places. He loves mankind indeed, but in his anger he often sends down dire diseases and misfortunes upon them. He existed even before he was born, never grows old, and never dies. It is from the east wind that the Thlinkets get news of his existence. His dwelling is where the east wind blows, and this the Thlinkets place near the sources of the river Nass, which, about the middle of the last century, formed the boundary between the Russian American Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, or, in other words, between Russian and English territory. Jeshl has a son, whose mother and birth are alike unknown. This son loves mankind even more than his father does, and it often happens that by his intercession he saves them from the latter's anger. He it is, too, who grants sustenance to

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144 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

mankind. The life and deeds of Jeshl form the sole dogmas in the creed of the Thlinkets, and their whole system of ethics is contained in the following doctrine : " As Jeshl lived and did, so do we live and do."

There was a time when the world was not, and mankind lived in darkness. At this same time there lived a Thlinket who possessed a wife and a sister. He was so fond of the former that he never allowed her to do anything, but the whole livelong day she used to sit either at home in the hut or outside upon a knoll — just as to this day the Thlinkets are in the habit of killing time by idling. She had always eight live birds around her, red of plumage, who are, properly speaking, natives of California and are called " Kun " by the Thlinkets ; and whenever she held even the most innocent of conversations with another Thlinket, these birds flew off and thus acquainted the jealous husband with the fact. But his jealousy went even further than this : whenever he went into the forest to build canoes — for he was a master of this art — he used to shut his wife up in a chest, which he locked. His sister had several sons, but the suspicious uncle killed them one after the other. For when he noticed that his nephew, having grown up to be a youth, began to cast glances at his wife, he took him out fishing with him, and, when they had got a long way from shore, upset the boat in which the nephew was, thus ridding himself each time of an obnoxious rival. The mother, dis- consolate at the loss of her children, went to the shore to weep. There she saw a multitude of great dolphins swimming by the shore, one of whom stopped land entered into conversa- tion with her. When he had learned the reason of her sorrow^

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESHL 145

he advised her to enter the water, pick, up a pebble from the bottom, swallow it, and then drink some sea-water. Immedi- ately the animal had gone, the woman followed its advice, and the consequence was that she felt herself to be pregnant, and, after eight months, brought forth a son, whom she took to be an ordinary human being, but who was in fact Jeshl. Before his birth the mother hid from her brother.

And when Jeshl grew up, his mother made him a bow and arrows and taught him to use them. Jeshl soon became a practised shot, and so skilful was he, that no bird on the wing could escape him. As a proof of his skill in shooting, it is related that his mother made herself a cloak of the skins of the humming-birds which her son had bagged. When Jeshl arose one morning, he saw sitting before the door of his hut a large bird, who had, like the magpie, a long shiny beak, as strong as iron. This bird the Thlinkets called Kutzgatushl, i.e. a crane, who can soar up to heaven. Jeshl killed and carefully skinned it, donned the coat of feathers, and felt both the desire and the power to fly. He at once rose into the air, and flew up so high that with his beak he knocked against the clouds, and that so hard that his beak stuck in one of them, and he was hardly able to release himself from this unpleasant position. When, however, he had got free, he returned to his hut, pulled ofi^ the skin, and hid it. Another time he killed a large duck in the same manner, and thus endowed his mother with the power of swimming and flying.

And when Jeshl had grown up to be a man, he learnt from his mother his uncle's misdeeds and the sad fate of his brethren. At once he set oiF to take revenge, and reached the hut of his

L

146 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

uncle at a time when the latter was engaged on his work in the forest. Here he opened the chest in which the uncle's wife was locked up, and lo ! her birds flew up and away. The uncle returned home and was beside himself with rage at what had happened, but Jeshl kept sitting quietly in his place and did not move. Thereupon the uncle called him forth from the hut, entered a boat with him, rowed out to a place where a lot of marine monsters were to be found, and there threw him into the water. Thus he imagined that he had once more got rid of an enemy, but Jeshl strolled along the bottom of the sea, till he came to land, and again made his appearance at his uncle's. The latter, being now well aware that he could not make away with his nephew by ordinary means, spoke in his anger, " Let there be a flood ! " and lo ! the sea rose above its limits, higher and ever higher ; but Jeshl again donned his bird-skin, flew up to the clouds, as he had done before, and remained hanging on there with his beak, like the first time, until the flood, which covered all the mountains and even touched his wings, had subsided. Then he descended as swiftly as an arrow, but fell into the sea on a bed of seaweed, whence a sea-otter brought him ashore.

Then begin his travels through the world, which are so rich in adventures that, as the Thlinkets express it, one man cannot know them all. Once he raised up some boys from the dead by tickling their nose with a hair ; another time he rescued the fish Ssakt by starting a quarrel between the sea-gull and the heron ; but the most noteworthy of his achievements was that he fixed the light in its proper place.

Until this time, you must know, there were neither sun.

LIFE AND DEEDS OF JESHL 147

nor moon, nor stars shining in the heavens ; they lay packed in three different chests at the house of a rich and powerful chieftain, and these chests he guarded in such wise that no one was allowed to touch them. When Jeshl learned this, the desire of obtaining them took possession of him. Here follows the narrative of how he attained this object.

The above-mentioned chief had a daughter, whom he loved and spoiled to such an extent, that she was not allowed to eat or drink anything that her father had not previously inspected. Jeshl, having become apprised of this state of things, soon realised that only a grandson of the chief would be able to obtain the light, and so he resolved to be born again as a child of the chief's daughter. This might be thought a somewhat difficult problem, but it was an easy one for Jeshl to solve, as he was able to assume any shape he pleased. He therefore changed himself into a blade of grass, leant against the vessel from which the chiefs daughter was wont to drink, and when, after the usual inspection, she took up the vessel, Jeshl, in the form of the blade of grass, slipped down her throat and was swallowed. The result was that she became pregnant. And when the time of her delivery drew nigh, her father spread out for her a number of sea-otter skins ; but, in spite of all the exertions and assistance of her servants, she could not be delivered. Then an old, old dame led her into the forest, and as soon as she had lain down there upon a bed of moss, she brought forth a son.

No one knew that the new-born child was Jeshl. The grandfather rejoiced greatly at the birth of a grandson, and got to love him more almost than his daughter. Once Jeshl

148 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

began to cry violently, so that no one could soothe him ; whatever they gave him he threw away, crying all the louder, and only pointing to the place where the chests with the heavenly lights were hung up. But to give him these without his grandfather's leave was impossible. When, however, there was no end of the crying, the old man gave him one of the chests, and lo ! Jeshl at once left off crying and began to play with it merrily. Thus he dragged the chest, while playing, into the courtyard, and when he saw that he was not being strictly watched, he opened the lid, and — all at once stars appeared in the sky ; but the chest was empty. The old man's chagrin at the loss of his treasure was unspeakable, yet he did not scold his beloved grandchild, who, soon after, adopted a similar stratagem in order to obtain the second chest, in which the moon was hidden.

Finally, he wanted also to get the last chest, the most precious of all, which held the sun concealed within it ; but the old trick no longer served ; the grandfather remained unmoved. Then Jeshl began to cry so dreadfully that he neither ate nor drank, and, owing to this, fell very ill. At last the grandfather was so sorry for the child, that he gave him the remaining chest, with strict injunctions, however, to see to it that the lid was not opened. But when Jeshl reached the courtyard with the chest, he turned himself into a raven and flew ofi^ with it. On his way he heard voices, yet he could not see any human beings, because as yet no light illuminated the earth. However, he asked them, 'whether they did not wish that there should be light. But they answered him : " You are deceiving us, for you are not

ORIGIN OF FIRE AND WATER 149

Jeshl, who alone can bring us light." In order to convince the unbelievers, Jeshl raised the lid, and — the sun shone in the heavens in all its glory. But the men ran ofF in different directions, some to the mountains, others into the forest, and yet others into the water, and they were turned into various kinds of animals, according to their place of abode.

Fire was not known as yet, but was to be found only on an island in the sea. Jeshl flew thither in his bird-skin, took a brand, that was still blazing, in his beak and hastened back as swiftly as he could ; but the way was so long that nearly all the wood and even part of his beak were burnt away. As soon, however, as he reached the shore, he threw the remaining embers down upon the earth, and the. scattered sparks fell, some upon wood, some upon stone. Hence, so the Thlinkets say, these two substances still bear fire concealed within them ; for out of stone you can strike fire with steel, and two pieces of wood rubbed against one another will produce fire.

Fresh water was not extant either, neither on the islands nor on the mainland, but was found in a well on a small islet a little way east of the island of Sitka ; this a watchman, by name Khanukt, the ancestor of the Wolf-clan, guarded day and night. In the mythology of the Thlinkets this Khanukt is a mysterious personage, without beginning or end, older and more powerful than Jeshl ; yet, strictly speaking, it is only in this tale of the water that he plays an important part. He was, like Jeshl, a human being, and lived in the aforesaid island, where there is a square-shaped well, built of stone and

I50 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

provided with a stone lid. Inside, there is to be seen a narrow coloured line, which did not exist at first, but is said to have been produced at the time when Jeshl stole the water. This water possesses peculiar properties. If, for instance, an impure person washes his hands in it, the water disappears from the well and collects on the sea-beach. The whole region is still called Khanuktin, i.e. Water of Khanukt, because at the time when Jeshl undertook his adventures for the benefit of mankind, Khanukt guarded the well so strictly that he built his hut on it, and slept on the lid. Jeshl once more employed a stratagem in order to lure Khanukt from his post, a stratagem of so indelicate a nature that I cannot very well relate it in detail. When he had succeeded in his design, he hastened to the well, raised the lid and took Into his mouth as much water as he could. Then he changed himself into a raven and tried to escape through the slot of the hut, but was caught there in something or other. Soon Khanukt returned, and, immediately recognising his guest in the struggling raven, lit a fire and began to smoke Jeshl. That is the reason, say the Thlinkets, why the raven became black, for until this time he is said to have been white. Probably Khanukt got tired in the end, so that Jeshl escaped, flew off to the islands and the mainland, and in his flight let fall a few drops of water here and there. Where small drops fell there are springs and brooks flowing now, but where he threw down large ones, rivers and lakes came into being.

Another story the Thlinkets tell of Khanukt and Jeshl is the following : —

Once Khanukt was sailing about on the sea with his boat,

KHANUKT AND JESHL 151

and meeting Jeshl, who was likewise in his boat, he asked him : " How long have you been living in the world ? " Jeshl answered that he was born already when the earth as yet was not fixed in its place. " But how long have you been living in the world ? " Jeshl asked him in turn. " Since the time," replied Khanukt, "when the liver came out from below." ' Ah well," said Jeshl, " then you are older than I." Thus, bragging against one another, they little by little drifted away from the shore. And Khanukt, who wanted to show off the fullness of his power and strength before Jeshl, pulled off his hat, whereupon there at once arose a thick fog, under cover of which Khanukt withdrew a little from his companion, so that the latter could no longer see him. Then Jeshl became afraid, and he began to call out to Khanukt by name ; but the latter remained silent and kept himself hidden. Now, when Jeshl saw that he could do nothing in the fog, he at last began to weep and to howl. Then Khanukt came to him again and said : " Well, whatever are you weeping for ? " With these words he put on his hat again, and the fog vanished ; and by this action he forced from Jeshl the exclamation : " Truly you are mightier than I."

The Thlinkets believe in the immortality of the soul and the migration of souls. According to their belief, however, the soul is not transferred to animals, but to human beings, and generally to relatives of the female sex. If, for instance, a pregnant woman sees one of her dead relations in a dream, they say that the soul of this man has come to visit her. Or if the new-born child displays some likeness or other to some dead person, they firmly believe that the latter has returned to earth,

152 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

whereupon the new-born infant receives the same name. Frequently one hears a Thlinket say : " When I die, I should like to be born again in this family." Others exclaim : " Would that I were killed soon ! then I might perhaps return to the world with better chances." The souls of those who are burnt enjoy warmth in the next world ; the rest have to suffer in it from frost. The souls of those in whose honour slaves are sacrificed, need not do their own menial offices when they get there.

The myths of the Thlinkets, like those of other nations, speak of a universal flood or deluge, during which men saved themselves in a great floating structure. As the waters receded, this structure stranded on a rock beneath the surface, and, by reason of its weight, broke in two pieces, when the water had fallen to its former level. Hence the variety of languages, the Thlinkets having remained on one half, and all the other tribes of the earth on the other.

At the beginning of this flood a brother and sister were forced to separate. The brother was called Chethl, i.e. Thunder or Lightning, the sister Aghischanukhu, i.e. Subter- ranean Woman. When they parted from each other, Chethl said to his sister : " You will never see me more in future, but you will hear me as long as I am alive." Thereupon he donned the skin of a huge bird, and, clothed in it, flew to that quarter of the world which we call south-west. But the sister, after the parting, climbed up to the crest of Mount Edgecumbe, situated near Sitka. Its top opened, and the mountain swallowed her up. That is the cause of the big hole still to be seen on this mountain (viz. the crater, for

THLINKET MYTHS 153

Mount Edgecumbe is an extinct volcano). And as Chethl promised, he did not forget his sister, but every year he comes flying to Sitka : the thunder is the noise of his wings, the lightning the flashing of his eyes.

By the continuance of the sister's life in the interior of the mountain the myth alludes to the latter 's volcanic nature. According to the notions of the Thlinkets, the earth is a plane disk resting upon a pillar, which keeps it in equilibrium. This pillar is held firm and guarded by Aghischanukhu, who loves mankind, so that the earth may not capsize and fall into the water. But when deities who hate the human race struggle with her for the possession of this pillar, in order to destroy the earth and its inhabitants, then the earth trembles (the earthquake) ; but she is strong enough to defend her pillar.

Besides the myths and legends mentioned above, the Thlinkets have many others, to relate which, in their entirety, would go much beyond the scope of this work. What will necessarily- strike the reader is the strong resemblance which their religious dogmas and traditions bear to the Old and New Testament ; and this may fairly give rise to the suspicion that these materials are not original, but in great part derived from Scripture history. We find among the Thlinkets a deity who has neither beginning nor end ; a deluge, the sequel of which is the splitting up of the human race into different tribes speaking various languages, and we naturally compare this event with the building of the Tower of Babel. Jeshl is the Christ of the Thlinkets, who comes down upon earth, performs miracles, and devotes his life to the service of man-

154 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

kind. Lastly, they believe in the immortality of the soul and the migration of souls.

As among most northern nations, so among the Thlinkets, the sorcerers (here called Scham^ns) play a great part ; they take to a certain extent the place of the priest, and their words and actions are considered as infallible by the faithful.

As a contrast to the Aleuts and Konjaks, the Thlinket has a character which can only excite our disgust. He lies, he steals, he is underhand, malicious and selfish to the last degree ; he gambles, he drinks, he has absolutely no moral sense ; in short, all the evil qualities that a man can have appear to have met in him. I could not imagine a worse punishment than to have to spend another six months — as I did in 1904 — among these ruffians, and to be dependent upon them.

When the Americans took possession of Alaska, this event produced an absolute revolution in the country ; for, while the Russians adapted themselves to the manners and customs of the aborigines, the Americans did nothing of the kind ; the Indians rapidly lost their individuality and appropriated all the bad qualities of the new arrivals, until at the present day there is nothing left of the old Thlinkets. The majority of them have become converts to Christianity, without attaching any . kind of importance to their new religion ; of the traditions of their fathers not a trace is left among them ; their body has become effeminate ; they never by any chance bathe in the sea as of old ; they wear only European clothes, and think they have a right to all the necessaries as well as luxuries of the white man. One can hardly make the Americans responsible

MODERN THLINKETS 155

for the total moral ruin of this people, for the conditions in British Columbia, which is administered by the best colonisers in the world, viz. the English, are equally hopeless, and one can only suppose that the material was originally the very worst possible for the reception of culture.

CHAPTER XII

INDUSTRIES : MINING SALMON-FISHERY FOX-BREEDING

There is no country on earth where men have found valuable minerals distributed over so large an area as in Alaska. We have seen that the Russian American Company for nearly a century exported immense riches from the country in the shape of furs, but these were of small account in comparison to the mineral wealth which Alaska contains. The coasts of the country, 26,500 miles in length, the rivers, bays, and lakes teem with fish, while thousands of valleys and as many hills of the interior are covered with splendid forests, whose value only the future can show.

In all parts of the land gold has been found, from Juneau to Kotzebue Sound, from the Canadian frontier to the sea, and mostly in such quantities that it pays to work the fields. In the extreme north-west of Alaska large deposits of tin have been discovered ; and silver, copper, lead, cinnabar, graphite, and bismuth are likewise represented in the country.

The discovery of these minerals, and particularly that of the auriferous quartz beds, soon attracted a legion of adventurers, who, in the pursuit of wealth, explored the whole country. In 1875 we hear of the first gold-mines on Dease Lake, in British

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MINING

157

Columbia ; next, the rich gold-fields on the Yukon River were discovered, viz. the now world-famed Dawson City; in 1898 there followed Nome with its unexpected treasures ; and lastly, Fairbanks, on the Xanana River, discovered only four years

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ago, and, as it would seem, destined to be a new Eldorado for the miner. The Russian trading-station situated farthest north had been Michaelovsky, at the mouth of the Yukon River, nowadays called St. Michael. At the time when the United States took over the territory of Alaska, the country

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GOLD-WASHING AT NOME 159

"rocker," a kind of sieve, which is moved up and down, and at the bottom of which the gold is caught and retained by quicksilver. It is related that a miner purchased an old apparatus of this sort from an Esquimaux for the sum of one shilling, and then let it out to four other miners for one half of the gold to be extracted with its help. After thirteen days his share amounted to ^^560. On another part of the beach, two workmen in three days got pure gold to the value of ll^o.

The existence of gold in the shore-sand is explained by the fact that for centuries many small streams have been depositing auriferous alluvium at their mouth, while at the same time the sea has been slowly receding. The gold output of the district of Nome has increased year by year ; last year (1906) it amounted to ^^ 1,000,000, and this year's yield (1907) is estimated at ^^ 1,200,000. These figures do not strike one as particularly large ; but one must bear in mind that, on account of the rigour of the climate, there are not on an average more than a hundred working days in the year, and that to secure this yield of ;^ 1,200,000 only an extremely small capital in proportion has been needed. For the sum of j^ 2,000,000 the whole of the gold-mines and reserved claims in Nome could be bought up at the present day ; so that, taking the annual yield at one million, the entire purchase- money would be recovered in a couple of years. In the year 1899 the export of gold from Alaska amounted to ^^480,000, in the year 1905 to ^^3,000,000. These figures, however, are certainly inaccurate, representing, as they do, only the gold officially registered, while hundreds of thousands of

i6o CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

pounds' worth in addition, which never appear in the statistics, are exported personally by the miners.

In many parts of Alaska, especially on the peninsula of that name, coal has been found, both of good and bad quality. But when these coal-fields were first discovered, people went to work without reflection and sank much money in worthless pits, which caused the good ones to suffer in reputation as well, so that at this day no coal is worked in Alaska except for local purposes. The oil industry is still in its infancy ; oil has been bored successfully on Kayak Island, but the wells have not been worked as a commercial undertaking.

Next to the production of minerals, the most important industry of Alaska is the salmon-fishery and the canning of these fish. In the Atlantic Ocean we find only one species of salmon, while the Pacific supplies six species, five of which frequent the American coast and one the Japanese. All salmon are saltwater fish, who only ascend the rivers for the purpose of spawning ; bred in the rivers, they at once go down to the sea, where they remain from three to four years ; then they ascend the rivers again, invariably returning to the one in which they were bred. While the Atlantic salmon during its sojourn in the rivers takes nourishment and, after it has done spawning, returns again to the sea, the salmon of the Pacific Ocean takes no nourishment while in the rivers, and in every case dies of exhaustion, after he has completed his spawning-time in the fresh water. The stranger who, in the late autumn, visits the banks of a river or a lake in Alaska in which salmon are in the habit of spawning, may see countless millions of these fish floating dead in the water or putrefying

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SALMON-FISHERIES i6i

on the bank — -a miserable sight, and one, moreover, which is accompanied by an intolerable stench.

As soon as the Alaskan rivers are free from ice, i.e. at the end of May or the beginning of June, the salmon begin their journey upstream, trying to get as far as ever they can. In the height of summer one finds them at the head-waters of the Columbia, Sacramento, Nass, Stikine, and other rivers ; but the greatest distance is that covered by the salmon who ascend the Yukon River, where they reach Bennett Lake, which lies 2980 miles from the mouth. The spectacle presented by a river in which the salmon are rushing upstream to their certain doom must be seen to be believed : the whole river-bed is one seething mass of fish. Thousands of them perish even on the way up, either through want of water or through wounds they have inflicted on themselves by rushing on sharp stones in their mad desire to push on.

The capture of the salmon is effected at the mouths of the rivers by fixing up a number of nets, along which the fish are forced to swim until they enter the so-called " pot," from which there is no escape. The " pot " consists of a square net, measuring twenty-four feet each way, and this is raised by steam-cranes twice a day during the ebb, when the fish are thrown into boats, which are towed by steam-launches to the factory.

The other method of capturing the salmon is by means of steam-trawlers, which tow behind them large trawling-nets. A few years ago 100,000 fish were caught in this manner at a single draught at Karluk, on the island of Kodiak ; but the average take is from 15,000 to 25,000 fish. As soon as the

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1 62 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

boat with the fish has reached the factory, these are thrown, still living, by means of a gaff into baskets, which a steam-crane empties out on to an inclined plane. Along this they slide straight into the factory building, where they are likewise received with gaffs. In the course of only four minutes the fish have been cut open, disembowelled, cleaned, and soldered in cans, by machines ; next the cans are boiled, and are then ready for export. The value of the salmon canned in this manner and put upon the market amounted in the year 1 903 to two and a half million pounds.

The fact that year by year the number of good skins, whether otter, seal, sable, or fox, which are placed upon the markets of the world is rapidly diminishing, has caused the Americans to hit upon the idea of breeding these animals in the vicinity of their native land, and thus saving them at the same time from complete extermination. About twenty years ago twenty foxes were caught on St. Paul's Island and set free upon the island of North Semidi ; they were blue foxes, of whom it was known, through long-continued observation, that they were tamer than their congeners of different hues ; thus one could experiment all the more easily in what numerical proportion of males to females they bred most readily, and what kind of food suited them best and was at the same time cheap enough to allow of the undertaking showing a profit. The offspring of these twenty foxes were again set free on other islands, until at the present day foxes are being bred on about fifty of them. At first, while the necessary amount of experience was still lacking, great difficulties were met

FOX-BREEDING 163

with ; but the favourable results achieved on individual islands went far to show that this bold project was not without some prospect of success. The foxes are fed, by men specially appointed for the purpose, mostly on dried and salted fish and flour ; they soon get to know their feeding-place, and once a day regularly make their appearance there for dinner. The vixens drop their young in May, mostly five to eight cubs in one litter ; but it is calculated that of these only four grow up to breed, although as many as eleven cubs have been found in one earth. While the cubs are still small, the food is not taken only to the feeding-place, but distributed about the whole island, partly because the dam does not like leaving her offspring for any length of time, partly because the dog- fox frequently kills the cubs if he finds them deserted by their dam.

The foxes are caught during the winter months, when their coats are in the best condition, in traps with trap-doors ; the best ones are set free again for breeding purposes after they have been marked by docking the brush. The Aleutian archipelago and the numerous uninhabited islands lying off the mainland — and there are hundreds of them — are let for a moderate rent by the United States to the breeders, who are frequently Europeans or Americans who have married Indian women, and have retired to this place because at home their wives would not be received in society. Besides the blue fox, attempts have also been made to breed the silver fox, which is a far more valuable animal. But the latter is not nearly so venturesome and refuses to enter the trap, so that one has to catch him in a steel snare, which has the inevitable disadvantage

1 64 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

that one is always obliged to kill the beast, and cannot set the good specimens free for breeding purposes. Till lately it was assumed that foxes were wicked polygamists, and five vixens were reckoned to one dog-fox ; but experience has taught men that Reynard is a much more moral character than they thought, and they have since then secured better results by allowing him fewer concubines.

CHAPTER XIII

FAUNA CLIMATE

Alaska is blessed with a magnificent fauna, which is as varied as it is valuable, affording immense profit to the trader in furs and making the sportsman's heart beat more quickly. At the head of the game animals stands the elk or moose, a relation of the European and the Eastern American kinds, but scien- tifically distinct. Nowhere else does the animal attain such dimensions, either as regards bulk of body or spread of antlers, as in this country. The moose is found only in the interior, not on the coasts ; the Kenai peninsula alone forming an exception to this rule. Here there were no moose till about twenty years ago. Old Indians still remember the time when the first moose was killed on the Kenai Lake ; the flesh was thrown to the dogs, as the beast was an unknown one. Only when it did not disagree with these did men begin to hunt the moose for the sake of their venison. What caused the moose to migrate to the Kenai peninsula no man can say ; they seem to feel quite happy here, increase considerably in number year by year, and there is hardly another region where the moose are to be met with in such multitudes as on Kenai. While the moose migrated to the peninsula, the reindeer

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i66 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

or caribou quitted the land, which consists in great part of tilndra, the favourite feeding-ground of these animals. The reindeer are found distributed more or less over the whole of Alaska ; but they are continually migrating, disappearing entirely for a time from one district and making their appearance in another. There are two distinct kinds of reindeer, viz. the reindeer of the tundra, or, as the Canadians say, the barren grounds, and the woodland reindeer. The former are the kind most extensively distributed ; in the summer they live mostly on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and in autumn repair to the forests, while the latter kind inhabits wooded districts and migrates south in spring.

One of the finest trophies the sportsman can secure in Alaska is the bighorn, which occurs everywhere throughout the region where there are lofty mountains. On the Kenai peninsula, where the wild mountain-sheep are easy to get at, this splendid game has already been considerably reduced in numbers by the keenness the Indian hunters display in its pursuit ; though farther inland the existence of great herds is still reported by the few gold-diggers who have penetrated so far.

Bears there are everywhere in Alaska — one might almost assert, in every square mile, except the extreme north. Black and brown bears live together in the same district, both in forests and on the timdra ; while the polar bear is only found in the extreme north, in the vicinity of the Arctic circle.

In the way of valuable fur-producing animals, Alaska contains the fox, mink, sable, lynx, beaver, ermine, and land- otter. In the sea are found the walrus, sea-lion, fur-seal, hair-seal, and sea- otter. Of the marine animals the fur-seals

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SEA-OTTER AND FUR-SEAL 167

or sea-bears, who supply us with the so-called sealskin, and the sea-otter are the most valuable. When the Indians hunt the sea-otter they paddle out to sea in perfectly calm weather, with as many baidars as possible. Then, when the sea-otter comes to the surface to breathe, they shoot at it, formerly with arrows, nowadays with shot-guns. On account of its valuable fur (a good sea-otter's skin is worth from ^200 to ;{^25o) the animal has been so mercilessly persecuted, that only a few specimens are still bagged in the neighbourhood of the Aleutian Islands and near Cape Lopatka, the southernmost point of Kamschatka.

The sea-bear or fur-seal is more valuable than all the other fur-producing animals put together. The capture of these animals is carried on principally on the Kommandorski and Pribylov Islands. The former belong to Russia and lie off the coast of Kamschatka, the latter are American and lie north of the Alaskan peninsula. The full-grown males, or bulls, are called Sekatsch by the Indians, when they have attained the age of six years or more, and possess, or are in a position to possess, a harem of females ; in bulk they are three or four times the size of the latter. In the spring the Sekatsch, or bulls, migrate northwards, and, swimming through the Unimak Passage, reach the Pribylov Islands, on whose rocky shores they lie down to sleep immediately after landing. In the middle of the month of May the cows begin to arrive at the islands, and now the Sekatsch swims out to sea in order to gather in as many of them as he can for his harem ; and he is said occasionally to achieve the respectable number of 150 concubines. During the month of June the cows give birth

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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

to their young, as a rule a single pup, only exceptionally a couple, and as soon as they have recovered from their lying-in, the breeding-season begins for them. The Sekatsch, who during the whole of this time has jealously guarded the herd of his fair ones, and has brought back any deserters by force, now covers one after another of them a single time ; but he is said to be able to repeat this performance from twelve to twenty-five times in the twenty-four hours.

The " take " of the fur-seals begins in September, when a number of men, armed with clubs, repair to the " rookery," where their first business is to cut off the animals from the sea and drive them farther inland. Then the beasts are sorted ; that is to say, those which are to be reserved for breeding purposes are driven back into the sea, while the rest, i.e. the young bulls, are knocked on the head. During the month of October all the fur-seals desert the northern islands once more and migrate southwards, but where they go to nobody knows ; they vanish, as it were, from the face of the earth till the following spring, when each animal returns again to its wonted place on the Kommandorski or Pribylov Islands.

After purchasing Alaska from the Russians, the United States had let the privilege of taking the fur-seals on the Pribylov Islands (the animals repair exclusively to these, and no other islands of the American possessions) for the next twenty years to the Alaska Commercial Company of San Francisco, at an annual rental of ^T 10,000 and a royalty of I OS. 6d. for every fur-seal taken. At the end of this period the company had paid the purchase-money of the entire country of Alaska, viz. £ i ,400,000, to the States, and had themselves

CLIMATE OF ALASKA 169

earned many hundred thousand pounds from the sale of the pelts. For many years 100,000 fur-seals were slaughtered annually. In the year 1906 the number of the animals taken had sunk to 15,300. Since 1891 the Alaska Commercial Company has ceded the islands to the North-American Com- mercial Company, and the latter at the present day pays the state a yearly rental of ^^5000, with a royalty of £2 : 6s. for each pelt.

American cruisers guard the islands during the summer, and take care that no interloper shall land on them and make a raid on the animals ; while carrying out this duty during the present year, a man-of-war caught many Japanese in the act of poaching and killed ten of them. The Russians have stationed Cossacks on the Kommandorski Islands, who straightway fire on any approaching vessel ; and this is the only rational and effective manner of keeping the impudent nation of the Japanese at a distance.

As the meteorological conditions are very various in a country like Alaska, which extends over twenty-one degrees of latitude, we must distinguish between three separate climates, namely, that of the coast of the Pacific Ocean, that of the Bering Sea, and that of the interior. The great mountain-chain which forms the coastline of South- Western Alaska is covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and the warm current, Kuro Sivo, which comes across from Japan, here produces a mild climate and an equable temperature. The annual mean temperature of Sitka, the capital of the country, is about 39° F., and the varia- tion between summer and winter temperature scarcely amounts to 21° F. The atmosphere is almost constantly charged with

lyo CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

moisture ; the warm south winds bear with them enormous masses of damp mists, which subsequently fall in the form of rain or snow 6n the coast, whose lofty mountain-crest they are unable to cross. Thus it happens that on this coast one has to reckon on a rainfall of 90 to 100 inches per annum. Sunny days are rarities, and on 271 days in the year it either rains or snows.

Although this climate is not particularly alluring for human beings, the conditions we find in the Bering Sea are far worse. Here fog and mist is the normal state of things, the mean temperature is much lower, and the variation between summer and winter amounts to 108" F.

It is different again in the interior. Here but little rain falls, and the climate is arctic, for the soil remains frozen the whole year through at a depth of only one foot beneath the surface. The summer is warmer and the winter colder, since the earth gets heated and cooled considerably more quickly than the sea, whose influence generally has a tendency to modify both high and low temperatures.

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CHAPTER XIV

THE ESQUIMAUX- THE MINING CITY OF NOME UNALASKA

The stranger who approaches the Seward peninsula — at whose

south-western point lies Nome — from the sea, does not gaze

upon mountains towering up to heaven, as he would on the

Siberian coast, but sees spreading far before his eyes a desolate,

moss-grown plain, called tundra. On the horizon he beholds

the crest of a low range of hills. No tree, no shrub delights

the eye, the seashore is flat and sandy, the line that divides

land and sea is scarcely perceptible at a distance. Nome has

no communication with the outside world except from the end

of June to the middle of August ; for the whole rest of the year

the Bering Sea Is not navigable. Twice during the winter the

mail is carried overland by means of sledges, a distance of many

thousand miles. The sledges are drawn by dogs, who are worth

from ^50 to j^ioo a-piece ; for only dogs of a particular breed,

and of these only picked specimens, are equal to such a task.

The aborigines of this region are the Esquimaux, a name

which means " fish-eaters," and is said to have been given to

them as a quasi-opprobrious cognomen by the Indians of the

interior ; for they call themselves " Innuit," which in their

language means " the people." The Esquimaux external

171

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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

appearance bears a distinct resemblance to that of the Japanese, and there are anthropologists who maintain the theory that the former are descended from the latter. According to them, the ancestors of the modern Esquimaux migrated through Asia,

AN ESQUIMAUX BEAUTY FROM NOME.

that cradle of nations, reached the narrow Bering Straits, which are frequently frozen over completely in winter, and thus arrived on the American continent. According to others, the Esquimaux emigrated to the North from Mexico, and are descended from one common stock with the Indians, the

ESQUIMAUX OF ALASKA 173

difference in their physical appearance being due to the variety of their environment. The Esquimaux are men of stubborn endurance, and capable of bearing a considerable amount of hardship ; the daily struggle for existence makes them such, for Nature here in the extreme North is a hard mother and does not spoil her human children with her gifts. The winter habitations of the Esquimaux are, like those of the Siberian nations, underground dwellings, differing only in this respect that the entrance to the house is a low tunnel, while the Asiatics descend through the opening in the roof. The summer habita- tions nowadays are canvas tents, but before this people came in contact with white men they were manufactured of the skins of beasts. Although not absolutely a nomad, the Esquimaux is fond of travel. In the summer he frequently stows the whole of his family and all his goods and chattels away into large boats made of walrus-hides and betakes himself to distant lands for the purpose of trading. Formerly Hotham Bay was the ordinary meeting-place of all the Esquimaux of North- Western America ; but since Nome has risen so much in import- ance they come here to sell their wares, and their presence gives quite a peculiar stamp to the streets of the city, in which they move about freely and quite at their ease.

Their character is peaceable and truthful ; they have a sunny temperament and are always contented with their lot. Sailors who have suffered shipwreck on the shores of their country describe the Esquimaux as being generous and hospit- able, reliable and obliging.

In his work entitled Nome and Seward Peninsula, Mr. E. S. Harrison has a chapter about the folklore of the Esquimaux,

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174 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

from which I quote the following : — " The traditions of this people know of a creation of the world, and of a deluge ; we find the story of Jonah and other legends, which remind us of Scripture history. But it is difficult at the present day to determine how much of this is original Esquimaux folklore and how much must be ascribed to the Christian missionaries, whose doctrines these people have modified and embellished to suit their own taste."

The story of the creation of the earth told by the Esquimaux is different from that of the Bible. According to them, the earth was at first in a fluid state, and only became solid, fair, and perfect at a later stage. Then man was created, and had at first a double face, so that he could walk backwards or forwards at pleasure. His creator gave him directions how to live and what to do, and then left him alone to enjoy the delights of life. However, when the creator had departed, there appeared a crow, who flew over the land, and in his flight dropped something from his beak upon the earth : this was the evil spirit, whom they call "Tunrak." Tunrak takes the place of the Serpent in Paradise. He persuades the man, who has hitherto been perfect, not to obey the commands of his creator ; and when the latter, on his return, becomes aware of the disobedience of his creature, he is wroth, causes the man to fall asleep, and then cuts him into two pieces. Since that time the man was no longer a double being, but there were two parts, one of whom was man and the other woman.

Then the creator again becomes reconciled to the human beings, who promise to obey him in future. But the evil spirit, Tunrak, appears once more, teaches them the difference

ESQUIMAUX TRADITIONS 175

of the sexes and seduces them to evil ; whereupon the creator withdraws his favour from them. Then the earth grows cold, vegetation disappears, and the descendants of the first pair become wicked and corrupt. There follows the deluge, which swallows up everything ; only the whale is able to save himself, being half fish, half beast. After the waters have

NOME — A PRIMITIVE MANNER OF EXTRACTING GOLD.

subsided, the crow, who among the Esquimaux always plays the part of the messenger, and whom they venerate to the present day, sees a small boy on the earth who is still alive. It looks after him and procures for him a female companion ; and these are the progenitors of the present human race.

The Esquimaux are on the way to extinction ; their history is the same as that of the American Indians. Through coming

176 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

in contact with civilisation they have altered their mode of life ; through the importation of alcoholic beverages by the white men they have become demoralised. The propensity to drink to excess which we find among ail savage nations, is particularly marked in the Esquimaux. When they have once tasted the fire-water they have become, body and soul, the prey of the whisky-demon ; all they think of and dream of henceforth is to get hold of liquor. Unscrupulous traders and the crews of the whale-ships import great quantities of the worst possible description of brandy into the country, and the Esquimaux sees in the skins, the train-oil, the ivory of the walrus — all things which he barters for whisky — only a medium for getting drunk, and pursues the animals in such merciless fashion that he undermines his own existence by the wholesale destruction of the creatures that supply him with food.

It is said that in former times the Seward peninsula was very populous ; to-day there are only feeble remnants left of the many tribes that peopled it ; settlements that once numbered thousands, have dwindled down to a few hundreds ; others have completely vanished from the face of the earth. The whole and sole blame for this lies at the door of our civilisation. Of old the Esquimaux lived on the whale, the walrus, the seals of the coast, the fish of their rivers, and the reindeer of the tdndra. The whalers followed the whales from the Pacific Ocean into the Bering Sea, and from there into the Arctic Ocean ; hundreds of thousands were slaughtered, until at the present day the whale has withdrawn entirely out ot range of the Esquimaux pursuit. As the buffaloes of the

c etc c c e C

NOME 177

western prairies were once exterminated for the sake of their hides and tongues, so at this day the white man destroys the whales for the sake of the train-oil and whalebone, and the walrus for their ivory. The canned-meat factories net the fish wholesale ; and the reindeer, being persistently pursued with firearms, have vanished from the land.

In order to ameliorate the lot of the wretched natives, the United States have, in very praiseworthy manner, introduced tame reindeer into Alaska from Siberia, which are increasing rapidly, as the climatic conditions and the food materials are identical in both countries.

Even before setting foot on land at Nome, one becomes aware of the fact that one is approaching a mining camp, where the prices demanded are proverbially high. The owner of the motor-boat demands 8s. for taking the traveller a few hundred yards from the steamer to the shore, and when one expresses astonishment at this excessive tariff, one is informed that things have now become quite cheap at Nome, and that only a short time ago the passage used to cost £^. The agent who conveyed the baggage to the hotel, over a distance measuring little more than 300 yards, relieved me of 28s. for his services ; the price of a beefsteak is 6s. ; that of a bottle of champagne, £2 ; and of everything else, in proportion.

At the time of my visit, i.e. in summer, Nome numbered 6000 inhabitants. Among these is to be found the genuine type of the so-called " prospector," an appellation which is bestowed on all those men who come into the country to make " a strike," i.e. in order to find gold, silver, oil, coal, or any

N

1 78 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

other material, and work the same for profit. All nations are represented, and most of the individuals have had some reason or other for leaving home, this reason being frequently of a painful nature ; but in these parts no one asks you, " Who are you ? and where do you come from ? " one is hail- fellow-well-met with everybody. The race of prospectors is quite a peculiar species of the genus homo, and to be met with nowhere else in the world. In most cases he has burnt his ships before setting out for the n^'fi country. With pick and shovel he starts on his hunt after fortune, determined to succeed or die in the attempt. Only a very small percentage have the luck to find really rich deposits ; the majority return to the ports, not discouraged, for their narratives are always full of fresh hopes and good prospects for "next time." In all the ports where the coasting steamers touch, a number of these fortune -seekers are to be found in the " bar " or the shops of the place, which form the usual meeting-ground of all the inhabitants ; one after another pulls a piece of ore or a gold nugget out of his pocket ; it is appraised and discussed ; stories that would make your hair stand on end are told — on which occasions the majority of the narrators display an absolutely startling disregard of all probability.

One of the most characteristic qualities of the prospector is his hospitable nature and his obliging manner towards strangers. He will share his last loaf with a fellow-sufferer in adversity, and hand over his last " two bits " (one shilling) in order to have a drink at a bar, whether with a friend or a stranger.

In Nome we were lucky enough to meet with Mr. Hoggatt, the new Governor of Alaska, whom we had got to know at

■a.

A SELF-MADE GENTLEMAN 179

Washington through the President. He is a self-made man who has risen from the ranks, and who at the present day owns a mine in the neighbourhood of Juneau which produces millions. After his great successes he devotes himself to the exacting service of the country to which he owes his wealth, and the American Government is wise enough to appoint to the governorship a man who, it is true, has not a notion of bureaucratic administration, who has never even seen a board of green cloth, but who is intimately acquainted with the conditions of the country from personal observation, and is in a position to take adequate measures for the furtherance of the mining industry.

Through the instrumentality of this amiable gentleman we soon got to know many of the most interesting personalities of the mining city ; we were overwhelmed with attentions, were provided with all the information we asked for ; in short, after only a few hours we felt perfectly at home in Nome ; we were to a certain extent considered as the suests of the community ; neither the harbour- master nor the leading lawyer in the place, gentlemen whose services we had to claim repeatedly, would hear a word about fees.

From Nome our next destination was Dutch Harbour, situated on the island of Unalaska ; this was the place where by my orders the sailing yacht Volunteer, on which we intended to make the voyage to the Kenai, and later on to the Alaskan peninsula, was to meet us. The steamers which go from Nome to Seattle do not touch at Dutch Harbour, though it lies on their route ; and so we had to induce the company, by

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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

means of an extra cash payment, to make an exception in our case and put in at that port. On the morning of August 1 3 our steamer stood into a picturesque fjord, at the head of which lies Dutch Harbour, on an islet of its own, while the little town of Unalaska is situated on the main island close by.

Considered as a landscape this fjord is a scene of enchanting

RUSSIAN CHURCH IN UNALASKA.

beauty. The hills on one side of it take the form ot solid masses of rock ; on the other, of luscious green Alpine meadows, which are overtopped by snow-capped peaks. Wedged in between them lie the two little towns, looking rather over- whelmed by their gigantic neighbours. Both Unalaska and Dutch Harbour are calculated to recall the traveller to Switzerland. Both are totally different from all other American settlements, which are mostly distinguished by anything rather

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UNALASKA

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tHan picturesque charm, having been built solely to serve some practical purpose and with no reference to the pleasure of the eye. The houses are wooden structures, rising from the green turf, and connected with one another by a plank footpath ; but they are empty, with few exceptions ; only here and there one sees a human being in the settlement, of which some stray horses, dogs, pigs, and fowls seem to have taken possession ; we feel as if we were in a fairy tale ; we are in a city of the dead.

PKRRV ISLAND.

Yet only a few years ago this township teemed with busy life — at the time, that is, when the goldfields of Nome had been discovered, and navigation was started on the Yukon River. In those days these places played an important part as coaling- stations, and most of the craft which at the present time carry on the traffic on the Yukon were built here. To-day the only importance of Unalaska lies in being a naval station of the Americans ; but even of this it will shortly be bereft, when the station is moved farther west to Kvsko Island, and then

1 82 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

no one will be left here except a few Indians with their Russian priest.

The Aleutian Islands, of which Unaiaslca is one, are, like the Kuriles, of volcanic origin. On both groups of islands considerable changes in the outline of the land take place even at the present day. One island is raised up out of the sea, while another one disappears, and volcanic eruptions are of

THE THREE NEWLY EMERGED ISLANDS.

constant occurrence. While on the Kuriles but little observa- tion has been kept on these highly interesting phenomena of nature, something more is known about those changes which have lately taken place in the Aleutian archipelago.

It is definitely known of three islands that they emerged from the sea in the years 1779, 1883, and 1905 respectively. From the last one, viz. Perry Island, vast clouds of smoke are emitted to this day, and little by little the subterranean powers are linking the three new islands together by a strip of terra firma.

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Facing page 183.

CHAPTER XV

IN THE MOOSE COUNTRY HOMEWARD BOUND

Much to our delight we found the yacht Volunteer in the

harbour and soon started on our voyage. The boat is 25 feet

long, of about 30 tons' burden, and is schooner-rigged. The

crew consists of the captain, a Dane ; the boatswain, a Swede ;

the under-boatswain, an Aleut ; and the cook, who is a

half-breed, i.e. the offspring of a white man and an Indian

woman. When I asked the captain if he had good charts

of the seas we were about to navigate, he remarked that the

charts of this part of the globe were not much good, that there

were everywhere high peaks, which served as landmarks to

steer by, and that at night and in foggy weather navigation

was a matter of instinct anyway. Neither he nor the boatswain

have the right to take passengers on their yacht, as they neither

of them have any papers, but the captain has been sailing for

eighteen years in these parts, and it is to be hoped that he will

be able to keep his ship above water in this year as well.

As we had pknty of time to spare, we intended, in the

first place, to have one more try at finding walrus in the

Bering Sea. Such a small sailing-vessel as this is a handy

craft ; it only draws a few feet of water and can easily go

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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

to a lot of places where a steamer would run aground. So, putting our trust in Providence, we set out — at first with a pleasant breeze, which, however, turned into a gale later on ; and once more that dread phantom, sea-sickness, invaded my cabin. When afterwards the wind had gone down, the poor

WALRUSES ON LAND.

little ship was tossed about in a pitiful manner by the high seas that were running ; the only wonder was that both the masts did not come tumbling about our ears.

So we rambled about many days in our nut-shell on the most dreaded of all the seas on the globe ; but we were rewarded. Late one afternoon from fifteen to twenty walruses were snorting and puffing round our boat. Not long after-

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SNAPSHOTTING THE WALRUS

185

wards we cast anchor close to land, and early next morning I located, with the aid of the telescope, a whole shoal of walrus sleeping on the beach. I at once started stalking them, in order to secure a photograph. On the first day I did not succeed in snapshotting the shoal, which, on my approach.

SLEEPING WALRUSES.

rushed into the water ; but the following day I managed to get within twenty yards before the sentinel noticed me and sounded the alarm. After the animals had taken refuge in the sea, I remained sitting quietly on the beach, in order to watch their amusing gambols, when suddenly, to my amaze- ment, some of them began to crawl ashore again at the very place they had left. Little by little they all came ashore, with

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CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the exception of the two look-outs, who kept watch in the water close by. I now began to creep up closer, and finally I succeeded in taking a dozen pictures from a distance of about ten and eight yards, without the animals taking any special notice of my presence — and I had no cover whatever. Some of them turned over on one side and apparently went

SAXD POINT.

fast asleep, others hacked at each other with their tremendous tusks, and only the sentinel, posted on the highest point on land, kept his eye on me more or less persistently, and, when I drew still closer to them, gave the signal for seeking safety in deep water. For over an hour I had found entertainment in watching these interesting animals, which the hunter so seldom has an opportunity of observing, especially from near at hand, and the remembrance of the scene is among the most

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GOOD-BYE TO BERING'S SEA

187

pleasant memories of my life as a sportsman. The walruses, who every year come from the extreme North to spend the summer here, are one and all full-grown bulls ; in the autumn they return to the ice, and visit their wives for the breeding-season.

We now continued our voyage and stood through the so-called " False Passage," i.e. between the mainland of Alaska

PIRATE COVE.

and the eastern side of the Unimak Islands, into the Pacific Ocean. The Volunteer, drawing only five feet of water, can make this strait, while larger sailing-ships and steamers use the Unimak Passage, which lies between the western side of Unimak Island and Akun Island. I was glad at being able to say good-bye to Bering's Sea after more than three months ; I have spent many evil hours on its fickle waves, but in return 1 carry away with me most interesting memories. My hopes

1 88 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

of meeting with more favourable weather in the Pacific Ocean were soon bitterly disappointed. We had to stand right out to sea and away from land in order to find more wind ; but there fell a perfect calm for three days, during which the ship lay rolling in the trough of a heavy swell. It took us a week, to reach Sand Point, where we intended to take in fresh water ; but here we found that the water-pipes had been damaged, and were obliged to sail on to Pirate Cove, a settlement of cod- fishers, situated in a picturesque spot behind a projecting rock.

The scenery of the peninsula of Alaska is wild and romantic ; innumerable islets and rocks of white granite lie oflF the mainland ; there is no tree to be seen far and wide, but only here and there a green mountain-meadow. The whole coast is of volcanic origin ; the lofty hills consist of a ruddy-brown rock ; most of them look as if some one had poured a thick chocolate-coloured broth over them, which had afterwards flowed down part of the mountain and become crusted. In the distance rises the volcano of St. Paul, from whose snow-capped summit huge yellow clouds of smoke are wafted up to heaven.

The Alaskan peninsula has, it is true, been cursed by Nature with an abominable climate ; but, to make up for this, it is endowed with such an abundance of animals as scarcely any other quarter of the globe has to show. Both white men and Indians can live here on the fat of the land throughout the year without doing a stroke of work, a state of things of which both races take the fullest advantage. In the spring the bears, who are plentiful here, furnish the larder with meat, which is highly esteemed by many, though not by me, — to say

GAME AND FISH IN ALASKA

189

nothing ot the valuable skin. During the summer, millions of salmon ascend the rivers, which are, besides, tenanted by trout of various kinds. Close by the shore, on the so-called Cod-banks, any one has the chance of catching in a short time a large supply of cod, which, when

. :i -vUDIAK : THH AUTHOR, CAHI\I\ KO>S, BOATSWAIN ALFRED,

DEGEN, CAPTAIN RADCLYFFE.

smoked, make excellent stock-fish. Ptarmigan occur in multitudes over the whole peninsula, and are easily killed with stones ; the marshes and lagoons are the breeding-places of countless geese, ducks, and snipe ; and lastly, there are to be found everywhere herds of wild reindeer, which number thousands, and, by their excellent venison, furnish the inhabit- ants of the country during the whole year with food in

I90 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

unlimited quantities. Add to this many different sorts of berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, bilberries, black and red currants, cranberries, and blackberries, all of the most delicate flavour, and which grow in such multitudes that the whole earth seems but a colour-scheme of red and blue.

The distance between Pirate Cove and Kodiak we accom- plished in five days. For the first time we had the wind in our favour, and the Volunteer showed its appreciation of the fact by achieving a record of ten miles an hour. As soon as one approaches Kodiak Island the landscape changes, losing its gloomy character. The place of the rugged rocks of the west is taken by gently swelling hills, clothed in luxuriant green, and decked with flowers of every possible colour. The climate also is much milder. People are fond of likening Kodiak Island to the Isle of Wight. The warm sunshine and genial air for which Kodiak is noted were most grateful to us ; and I must add that the town of Kodiak, which the Russians called St. Paul, is decidedly the pearl of Alaska. Unfortunately I was not able to make a long stay here, for it was the first of September, the day on which moose- and bighorn-shooting begins. To my regret my travelling com- panion. Captain RadclyfFe, left me at Kodiak, in order to shoot bears on the island and wapiti stags in British Columbia, while the giant antlers of the moose once more drew me to the Kenai peninsula. My goal was the mouth of the KusilofF River, which flows into Cook Inlet.

Although the distance from Kodiak to this place is only 190 miles, I was four days on the way ; I once more fell in with a gale, became sea-sick again, suffered unspeakable agonies.

DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT 191

and horror overcame me when I remembered that only one-half of the voyage on the little yacht was over. When hunting in Alaska the difficulties of transport are the worst you have to encounter. If you intend to shoot in more than one part of the country, you are obliged to use the small steamers, which are supposed once a month to make the run along the coast from east to west and west to east ; but you waste a lot of time by waiting in the small ports ; and very frequently the steamers do not run at all for a whole month, that is, when they have either broken down or stranded, which is a daily occurrence in these parts. Knowing the state of afFairs in Alaska from my visits in the years 1903- 1904, I had chartered the sailing yacht Volunteer, in order thus to secure liberty of going where I pleased, but have arrived at the conclusion that this is not the right method either, for you can place no reliance on wind, and if, like myself, you are not a good sailor, you suffer the torments of hell when, during a calm, the boat is tossed about by the waves for days without even having the satisfaction of knowing that you are getting nearer your goal.

To say nothing of the enormous expense, it is not advisable to charter a steamer for these trips, because these have too great a draught when they are large enough to sail these tempestuous seas. The only kind of craft adapted to these waters is, there- fore, the so-called " auxiliary schooner," a two-masted vessel of 60 to 80 tons, which has a motor of from 40 to 60 horse-power fitted into it, so that in case of calm one can still make from six to seven miles an hour by its aid. Such a ship is a far better sea-boat than a steamer of the same tonnage ; I should not mind undertaking a voyage round the world in such a craft.

192 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Other advantages are the shallow draught, amounting to but five or six feet, and the considerable saving in the cost when compared with the working expenses of a steamer. One nuisance is this, that at least the captain and the engineer must be men holding Government^ certificates. But such men who also know the coast are not easy to find up here, and even when found are mostly unreliable persons, who drink and are insubordinate on principle, as, for the matter of that, are the whole white population of Alaska, with very few exceptions.

During the entire passage from the entrance of Cook Inlet to KusilofF, there reigned an absolute calm ; the boat only drifted on slowly with the flood-tide, and when the ebb set in we cast anchor, so as not to lose the ground which we had gained. That, possibly, sounds very simple, but it was not so simple for those who had to wind up the anchor, a process which sometimes took an hour or more.

The weather was lovely, the air clear and transparent, so that I had an excellent opportunity of enjoying the imposing scenery, which I had already been able to admire in the year 1903, and which I believe to be the most beautiful in Alaska — and that perhaps means the fairest on earth. To my left an island emerged from the deep green sea, a solitary mountain, shaped like a pyramid ; it was the crater St. Augustine. Behind it, on the mainland, stood in all his glory the volcano Iliamna, 12,000 feet high, from whose summit a tiny cloud of smoke was rising ; then there followed along the coast a chain of snow-capped mountains, overtopped by the active volcano Redoubt. On the right lay the Kenai peninsula, a gently rising ground, clothed down to the water's edge with pines,

■a, SO

KUSILOFF AND KENAI

193

whose sombre green was enlivened by the lighter foliage of the birches and poplars. Far off snow -covered mountains and glaciers stood up like islands from a sea of green — the home of the bighorn and my goal.

KusilofF is a small Indian settlement, situated on the river of the same name, on whose right bank stands the large build- ing of the KusilofF tinned-salmon factory. Here the year's

^m	H ^^ .^jismkm.
■■m^^. ■■Ki

work is already finished ; the workmen have returned to the South on the sailing-vessel which in the spring brought them hither from San Francisco ; and with them went the produce, viz. 35,000 chests of canned salmon. Only one man remains behind as custodian of the buildings. I soon proceeded to Kenai, which lies twelve miles farther on, in order there to engage a guide and an Indian, for whose services I had to pay perfectly awful prices. The crew for the two boats with which I intended to travel up the Kenai River to its source in the Tustamena Lake, I made up with the two sailors, Alfred

194

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

and Nelson, from the Volunteer, and started on the journey in a downpour of rain. For a few miles one is able to get on by rowing, but after that the current becomes so swift that one is obliged to tow the boats. The banks of the river are here strewn with the corpses of salmon of all sizes ; countless numbers of them are struggling in their death-throes in the

ON THK KUSILOFF RIVER.

water, a pitiful spectacle ; all of them have, after the end of the spawning time, to pay for the act of love with their life.

The farther one goes up the river the more rapid the current becomes ; the thickly-wooded banks and the overhang- ing bushes make the work of tugging at the tow-line — which is hard enough in itself — still harder, and as if this were not enough, there are many places where one has to wade knee- deep in mud and water. On the second day the sailor Alfred struck and refused to do his work, although, according to

THE SERVANT QUESTION IN ALASKA 195

contract, it is his duty ; he declared that he intended to go back on board the Volunteer, there to await my return at leisure ; this is the manoeuvre which in these parts they call " to quit."

Far greater than the hardships he has to bear are the difficulties which beset every employer of labour in Alaska when dealing with the men he has engaged. These call themselves " independent " [a word for which there is no exact equivalent in German], the comparative of which is something like " tough," and the superlative " rowdy." Even in the Eastern States of the Union it is a real punishment for us Europeans, who at home are still accustomed to find something like subordination, to be forced to have anything to do with hired men ; the farther West you go the more insubordinate and impudent do the domestics become, till, finally, in Alaska the " servant question " is capable of turning one's whole enjoyment of life to gall and wormwood. Be it said in justice to the real Americans, that only a small minority of the white men in this country are natives of America ; the great majority of them are foreigners, particularly Scandinavians, Russian Finns, and Germans, who, having reached San Francisco in sailing-ships, and heard there of the enormous wages paid in Alaska, have been induced by these reports to emigrate to that country. If one is lucky enough to catch a fresh arrival, there is at least a possibility of getting on with him, thanks to his European training ; but only too soon the older immigrants among his countrymen educate him into " independence," which consists in getting as much money as possible out of his employer and doing as little as may be in return — this is called "graft" ; in constantly, and, as it were, on principle, making complaints

196 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

and stirring up strife — this is called " to kick." My sailor, Alfred, was a typical example of this class of men. He imagines that, having resided a few years on American soil, he is an honest American, and, in spite of his faulty English and vile accent, he has completely renounced his native land — a pro- pensity which, as is well known, and much to be regretted, is also highly characteristic of the Germans.

When, a fortnight ago, I was compelled to put into the harbour of Sand Point in order to take in water, and early in the morning wanted to start again, I found the captain of the Volunteer lying in a state of helpless intoxication on land. He was, of course, unable to go on duty, slept through the day, and, when at last he had become sober again, answered my remonstrances with insolent retorts. The man thinks that he has a perfect right to behave in this way, and should I refuse to pay him, every judge in Alaska would condemn me to do so. In Kodiak, an Indian who assisted as sailor on the ship left me, for no other reason than this, that the voyage to the Kenai peninsula did not suit him. In his place I engaged a white man, of the name of Nelson ; this honest Swede secretly introduced such a quantum of whisky on board, and applied himself so diligently to its consumption, that he very soon got delirium tremens and was incapable of doing any work during the whole voyage, in spite of which I am obliged to keep him on, for fear of faring even worse if I send him off. The Indians, corrupted by the example of the white men, are just as bad ; they consider themselves as one's equals, although their culture is not even skin-deep, and demand exactly the same treatment in respect of pay and rations.

ANOTHER BOATING DISASTER 197

Accordingly the Indian portion of my crew at once joined in the protests of the sailor, and declared themselves unable to exist on corned beef, tea, and bread and butter for lunch — creatures whose forefathers lived exclusively on a diet of fish and seaweed ! It was only by dint of promises, fair words, and har- nessing myself to the tow-line that I managed to get the boats on at all ; but that is not nearly the end of mv tale of woe.

On the third day I was walking at the head of the tow-line, at a place where the river makes a bend, when I was suddenly pulled backwards by a sharp tug at the cord ; I turned, and saw part of my belongings floating down the river, and, when I hastily ran back, found that the big boat had capsized ; the coxswain had saved his life by a bold leap ashore. I dashed into the little boat, and, with one other oarsman, raced after my goods and chattels, which the swift current was rapidly carrying down stream. I succeeded in rescuing my kit bag, with the field-glasses and cigars, and my bed, from the waters ; then with the devil's help — for Heaven has long ago forsaken me — I rowed down through the dangerous rocks and reefs straight back to KusilolF, where I arrived within an hour ; shortly afterwards the crew also returned, with the empty boat. I lost the whole of my outfit : except the beds, which had floated on the water, nothing had been saved ; three rifles and my valuable photographic apparatus had gone to perdition ; the camera that was recovered was ruined by water ; added to which was the loss — a most .irritating one — of a great portion of the manuscript of the present book, which I am now compelled to write over again. I could have cried, but there was no time for that ; twenty-two hours after the disaster

198 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

I was on my way up stream once more, with a fresh outfit, a better crew, and armed with a rusty old Winchester rifle.

This time the river voyage prospered ; having reached Lake Tustamena, I sent back the greater part of the crew, and only kept the guide and one Indian, besides SchUssler and Degen. On the lake I had, of course, to struggle against

ON LAKK TUSTAMENA,

head-winds again, and it took me two days to reach the camp, from which I intended to climb the hills, there to hunt the fine white mountain-sheep, Ovis dalli. For the first time during this trip we had to carry tents and provisions, in short every- thing, on our backs into the hills, the most fatiguing of all processes of transport, and that on steep, rough paths, and constantly annoyed by the little black flies, which, on account of their white legs, are here called " white stockings."

FRUITLESS CLIMB AFTER BIGHORN 199

Until now it had been raining' persistently, but during my first stalk the sun broke through the clouds, and from the crest of the hills I was able to enjoy the splendid vista over the lake and the forests far below, and all around over the mountains clad in eternal snow. A nine hours' tramp did not bring me near the bighorn ; I only saw a few in the distance. On my way back I found a dead bighorn and the remains of another, which had only lately been shot. The Indians had already been hunting here for weeks, and had driven the animals far back into the glaciers, where they withdraw from the pursuit of men on to inaccessible cliffs. On the follow- ing day I made one more attempt, but found that my weak heart was no longer up to this mountain-climbing ; my pulse began to throb feverishly, and I had to turn back, the richer only by one more bitter disappointment. The Indians, who are armed with Winchester rifles and are good marksmen, prove terrible destroyers of game in these parts ; with their light baidars they can make the trip from Kenai hither in two days, and bring the bighorn venison to market in that place at ^d. a pound. Like everywhere else, we here find the native put in possession of firearms to be the arch-enemy of the fauna of a region.

On my way back to the lake I met a couple of Indians, who told me that on the KusilofF River they had noticed something unusual at the bottom while pushing off with an oar, had fished it up, and brought to light — a gun ; and when I reached the lake, there, sure enough, was my double-barrelled .450-.500 rifle, apparently uninjured. Great was thereupon my disappointment when on trial both barrels missed fire ; my guide, however, was equal to the task of taking the heavy rifle to pieces with

200 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the aid of a knife, and of oiling the rusty locks ; and, lo and behold ! the rifle shoots as well as ever. It was a bright moment in the almost endless chain of misfortunes which pursued me during this trip when the hills re-echoed with the two trial shots.

I now turned to the moose region, which lies between the lake and the limit of arboreal vegetation, a gently rising, undulating ground, thinly studded with copses of pines, firs, poplars, and birches, a paradise for the deer-stalker. The moss-grown soil is swampy and affords copious nourishment to the little shrubs and willows which in many places are a serious hindrance to walking. Numerous small lakes give the moose a chance of wallowing in mud, and also of feeding on the water-lilies that grow here and are their favourite food.

We unpacked our camping-gear a five hours' march inland from the lake-shore, and pitched our camp, as the numerous tracks showed, right among the moose. Even on our way I saw three young bulls, which I left, of course, in peace, for I am only trying for antlers that have a spread of 70 inches or above. The first stalking-day was a splendid one : in the small hours the thermometer had sunk several degrees below freezing ; at six o'clock the sun rose, and shone the whole day long in a cloudless sky, diffusing a genial warmth, in which I revelled after the many cold and cloudy days spent on Bering's Sea. In the morning, two not very desirable moose came within range ; in the evenmg, the guide shot a middling-sized bull close by the camp, in order to secure some venison for himself. These men, who don't always get fresh meat at home, and live on tinned food during a great part of the year, will not be denied the right of knocking a beast over at the

A SERIOUS MISHAP 201

first chance, so as, for once, to eat their fill — a proceeding which, if not very sportsmanlike, is at least extremely human.

Next morning, while I was helping to skin the moose, I was unlucky enough to drive the sharp blade of a knife into the anterior muscles of my right thigh, severing them right down to the bone. This is an extremely awkward kind of injury, as muscles take some time to heal, and inflammation often sets in. My guide, to whom I showed the wound, talked of lying up for two months, which, of course, I did not believe ; but I must confess that I felt I had been hardly used by fate, when, in severe pain, I crept under the blankets in my tent. Fortunately I had some small bandages with me, but no disinfectant to cleanse the wound with, which greatly increased the chances of inflammation or other complications arising. It is not a very pleasant thing to have to remain in bed even at home, much less so in a tent and without a fire ; and, anyhow, I cannot imagine a more depressing situation than being handicapped in this manner on a hunting expedition like the present. It is true that, speaking generally, I have not much to complain of in this respect ; for in the course of nine years this is, apart from attacks of fever, only the second time that I have had to take to my bed in camp. The first time was four years ago in the Sudan, when my left foot was crushed by an elephant.

On the second day after the mishap I went for a short stalk, hobbling with a stick, but had soon to come back. On the two following days, yielding to over -great keenness for sport, I tramped each time some seven hours ; the only result achieved being that I got an inflammation of the groin, and the wound began to suppurate.

202 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

My guide told me that, while he was cutting up the moose he had shot, a fine bull with a good set of antlers had looked on for a long time and at a distance of a few yards, and had only slowly taken his departure on his making energetic demonstra- tions with the axe. The rutting season is now at its height, and it is well known that during this time the bulls entirely lose both their reason and their fear of man ; the Indians tell of many cases when, to their knowledge, moose have attacked men without any provocation. Last night my look-out man, posted on a lofty tree, discovered a moose in the distance ; the man knocked a couple of dry sticks together in order to imitate the noise which the antlers make when crashing through the wood, and in fact the moose did come straight towards our tents, although the smoke of the camp-fire was drifting in V - - ^^^ his direction. Soon a second one appeared, but as darkness KvsLS setting in I was unable to make sure of the size of the antil.'?'-s. In any case, they were young bulls who had got the worst di/ the fighting, for the big ones are now with the cows ; and the iknmediate question is to find out their present where- abouts as so^on as possible.

Three hofrtrs' walk from the camp, and near the timber- line, I to-day (t«-he date is already September 23) found the first cow, accompanied by two bulls; at the largest of these, standing head on I'^o me, I fired my two bullets at about 150 yards. I found' a handful of cut hair, but did not bag the quarry. To think; that after a long stalk like that, and one made in consideraBsIe pain, I should make my miserable plight worse by bad marksmanship 1

After a sleepless nigH\t I determined to give the wound

IN THE MOOSE COUNTRY

203

another day's rest ; but at eight in the morning my guide put his head in at the tent-door and said only : " Big horns ! Hurry up ! " After but a few minutes the stalk began. I managed, too, to get quite near to a cow and a young bull ; but the antler-bearer, in whose company these two had been, had vanished without leaving a trace. A short time after, another antlered bull was reported as standing with the cow on

ARSOLUTKI.V INVALlDK.n.

a hill which was divided from me by a deep gully. I might have fired from the hither side, but the distance was at least 440 yards, and so I would not risk the shot, especially with so heavy a calibre, but preferred to try stalking the animals by taking the rough way through the valley. In a thick copse of young fir-trees I came upon the cow and a young bull ; but before I caught sight of the animal I was searching for, the beasts got wind of me and made off.

' Already, during my first hunting-trip in Alaska, it had struck

204 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

me as curious that during the rutting season the moose mostly go about in threes — he, she, and // ; // being a very young bull. Whether the latter is considered harmless by the lord and master on account of his youth, or whether he plays the part of ap- prentice, or even of " tame cat," I am not in a position to say ; at all events I consider the matter suspicious, and, supposing that the moose race is as fond of scandal as the human, this odd com- bination is calculated to give rise to much gossip among them.

I spent another two days in camp in a disconsolate state of mind ; in spite of the rest, the wound assumed an increasingly ugly look, so that at last I gave way to the urgent advice of my guide and beat a retreat. I intended to go back to Kenai and there have the wound properly dressed by the Russian priest, who was in possession of medical stores ; then my guide was to take me up the river Kenai to Moose River, the Eldorado of the whole Kenai peninsula, so he assured me, where I could easily secure everything I wished for in a few days.

When we once more reached the shores of Lake Tusta- mena, Nature, as if intending to console me, offered me a magnificent sight. The sun was setting on this evening in unequalled splendour behind the volcano Redoubt, and cast a radiant halo of blood -red flame round this and the other snow-clad mountains ; the reflection threw upon the clouds that hung above them all the colours of the rainbow, and in particular a green and a violet of such vivid hue as not even the most lively imagination of my reader can depict. Not a ripple curled the surface of the great lake, so that this majestic scene was mirrored in the waters close before my eyes : it was a twofold pleasure. Next morning I was already on the move

UP THE KENAI RIVER 205

before daybreak, and when the sun rose from behind a glittering glacier which lay behind me, the same mountains were lighted up by the delicate flush of the dawn, the cloudless sky was tinted a tender green — it was a spectacle equal to that of yesterday.

In Kenai I got some carbolic and iodoform, and a German chemist squeezed and washed my wound so energetically that, for the first time in my life, I felt on the point of fainting. Two days after I was on my way to the Moose River. The Kenai River, like the KusilofF, rises in a lake, viz. Lake Kenai ; it is less rapid, but makes up for that by being much longer, for one wants at least five days to go up it. The banks of the river are thickly covered with the corpses of salmon, which poison both the water and the air in the most unpleasant manner ; thousands of dead fish are floating down the stream — an eloquent proof of the cruelty with which Nature sometimes treats her creatures.

To sit for days in a downpour of rain and a slowly crawl- ing boat is a thing that sorely taxes one's patience, especially when the whole expedition is a futile one, as I was soon to learn. On our way I met two Indians who were coming down stream, and with whom my guide held a long conference ; as this is usually the case, I paid no further attention to the con- versation, which was carried on in Russian and was unintelligible to me. On the third day the guide informed me that there was no use in going farther up to Moose River, as the above- mentioned Indians had just come from there, but had seen no game whatever, the reason being that a couple of stray dogs were barking in the forests and had scared all the moose away. I did not believe one word of this story and insisted on rowing

2o6 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

on, but the men, including the two Indians, refused to go to Moose River. I now hunted for two days at the place where we camped, that is to say, the guide galloped me through the forest for endless distances ; I did find some fresh tracks, but the ground was far too thickly set with pine and other wood to be any good for stalking, especially as my object was, not to kill the first moose that came within range, but to try and find one with a fine set of " shovels." My guide's idea, on the other hand, was to wear me out with these fatiguing marches and so compel me to give up . the chase ; and in this he was successful, for I resolved to return to Kenai, and from thence go back to Lake Tustamena, where I knew for certain that I should find some moose.

In Kenai I soon learnt the truth about the dogs on Moose River. Last year an Indian had shot a comrade there, through taking him for a moose, and the story goes that the ghost of the man who was shot haunts the place and comes into camp at night, in order to cast a spell over the souls of those present. The Indians are extraordinarily superstitious, and I presume that the two whom we met told my men they had seen the ghost. My guide, it is true, is a white man, born in the country ; his father was a Scotsman and his mother a Russian ; but he has married an Indian girl, and, like most of the men who do this, has altogether joined the Indians. The men who make a mixed marriage of this kind go by the name of " squaw men" ; they soon adopt all the bad habits of the red race and are therefore looked down upon by the other white men.

My endeavours to hire another guide in Kenai were fruitless ; almost all the inhabitants were laid up in consequence of an

AN INQUISITIVE MOOSE 207

epidemic of influenza. So I had no choice but to keep on the same guide, whom I had not only to pay at the rate of 1 6s. a day, but to keep in good-humour as well. On October 3, four weeks after I had gone up the river KusilofF for the first time, I found myself for the fourth time on its waters, bound for the moose country. For a whole month I had had a severe struggle against Fate, which treated me very badly in every particular ; but to give up the quest on that account was a course I could not make up my mind to.

The voyage was smooth and prosperous, and I pitched my camp a few miles from the lake and about eight miles west of the spot where I had hunted at first. On the way to camp I found countless fresh spoors, and, by means of my olfactory organs, was several times able to " spot " places where the moose only a short time before had rested. When we were pitching the tents, a three-year-old moose, attracted by the ringing strokes of the axes, came up and stood at gaze for a long time ; obviously he was quite unable to account for the presence of such extraordinary creatures as we men were in his preserve. The very next morning, after hunting about only a short time, I came upon a trio of moose — a fine antlered bull, a cow, and a young bull ; and soon after, I was able to count twelve head gathered on a small area, and among them two fine antlered ones. Stalking them was made considerably more difficult by the number of the moose ; sometimes I had to be careful of the direction of the wind, sometimes young cows and calves barred my way to the big bulls. From the neighbouring forest the dull sound of horns clashing against one another was borne

208

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

across to me ; there the strongest were fighting for supremacy in the district. After an hour two cows who stood in my immediate proximity had begun to take notice of and move slowly towards me ; at the same moment a bull with long tines on the palmated horns stepped out from behind an alder

MY FIRST MOOSE.

bush. I could not see very well, as he stood sideways to me, how large the spread of the antlers was, but I fired, since my position in the middle of all these animals was no longer tenable without attracting their notice. When the bull came down, things became lively around me : from every side the moose strolled up, some twenty in number ; they stood and

. ) »f e c «» «

MY FIRST MOOSE 209

gazed at me, each one wanting to satisfy his curiosity ; one cow

came straight at me, as if she meant to avenge her fallen lover,

and only moved ofF when my guide threw sticks at her. I

was still busy cutting out the antlers, which measured 65

inches across, when a smaller bull came upon the scene. He

gave me time to slip a fresh film into the camera, and I was

able to photograph him several times. In the afternoon I

came upon two big solitary bulls, a sure sign that for many

of them the rutting season is already at an end. I did not

fire, as I had hopes of meeting with a still bigger set of antlers.

Afterwards, however, I regretted this, for who knows whether

I shall really find that bigger one ; and if not, then I have

missed an excellent chance. It is difficult to estimate the spread

of a pair of antlers correctly at a glance, especially when seen

sideways. Moreover, the size of the palmated horns varies

from year to vear — what to-day must be defined as large may

be only small next year ; the climatic conditions and the food

make an essential difference in this respect. I expect to

find very big antlers this year, as not a shot has been fired

in this district for three years, and the moose have therefore

had sufficient time to develop large antlers. The Indians,

who hunt merely for the sake of venison, never go up as far

as the Tustamena Lake for moose, because they find plenty

of them in the vicinity of their own dwellings.

On the following day also I was favoured by the most splendid weather. At night the thermometer sinks to several degrees below freezing-point, whilst, thanks to the bright sun- shine, the days are warm and summer-like. In consequence of the frosts, the trees, which only a fortnight ago stood in all the

2IO CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

glory of their foliage, are now completely bare. Here there is no spring and no autumn, but only a short summer and a long winter. On this day I saw eighteen moose ; some of them again came quite close to me, and that not unawares, but ostentatiously, and were only with difficulty induced by shouts, gestures, and missiles to move off a few yards. When three years ago I was hunting in this neighbourhood, I did not find the moose nearly so familiar ; it is true I did not see so many. My guide asserts that he has never known the game to be so fearless as in this year. Unfortunately there was never a sufficiently thick tree near at hand for cover when the moose came towards me, apparently with the inten- tion of charging ; else I should have liked, instead of scaring them away, to wait and see whether they really have the pluck to charge a man, as has often been stated.

A ten hours' tramp did not bring a single good bull within range, although I could hear the beasts crashing almost continuously in the underwood. The moose take up their abode by preference in those forests which have been burnt down some time before, and where the roots have put forth new shoots. What was formerly the forest lies on the ground, blown down by the wind, as a chaotic jumble ; a thousand times in a day one has to clamber over fallen tree-trunks, a kind of gymnastics which I found peculiarly irksome, owing to my leg not being yet perfectly healed. On October 9 1 tracked a good bull for a long time. He seemed to have some particular object in view, for he went slinging along at the same even pace for a full hour in front of me through the brushwood, without my being able to gain on him in the

■a.

I'h^HV

212

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

betaken themselves to the hills, where they are busy digging marmots (or suslik) out of the ground and devouring them, until enough snow has fallen to induce them to retire into

ROWING HOME WITH THE TROPHIES.

winter quarters, and so to sleep. I therefore resolved to sail back to Kodiak, and there make an attempt to bag the famous Kodiak bear, an animal about whose pedigree and relationship to the bears of the mainland learned zoologists are not yet agreed. In any case, it is a bear which attains a tremendous

I!

ON THE WAY TO KODIAK 213

size ; but as there are not many left on the island, the chances of successfully hunting and bagging one, particularly at this advanced season of the year, are not good.

We had need to make all haste ; all the greater was, therefore, my disappointment at finding, on my return to the Volunteer, my captain laid up with pneumonia and my boatswain down with influenza. I resolved, in the first place, to sail the yacht myself, as far as Kodiak, with the assistance of my servant Schiissler, who is a master of all crafts — the distance itself only amounts to 1 90 miles ; but I was deterred from this plan by being informed that at this time of year there are frequently thick fogs, and in the event of such a one or of a gale coming on, I should probably not have been equal to the task, as I know next to nothing of sailing. There was no difficulty in finding a suitable man who was able to navigate the boat ; but the steamer which serves Cook Inlet does not run any longer after this date, and so the man in question would not be able to return to his home before spring. Thus I found myself once more confronted by a problem. I finally engaged a Swede who understood sailing-boats, and then sailed to Seldovia, a place situated at the entrance of Cook Inlet, and some 90 miles on the way to Kodiak. From thence my navigator could return this same autumn to KusilofF, and I would chance the question of how to get from Seldovia to Kodiak.

During the whole time I spent ashore the wind had been blowing from the north, that is to say, it was with us, as we were going south ; but in the very hour in which I weighed anchor it veered and then fell altogether, so that I lay a whole

214 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

day at the entrance of Seldovia harbour, only the distance of a rifle-shot from my goal.

The ill-luck which has been pursuing me now for seven months — I have not mentioned innumerable srtiall contrarieties, in order not to weary my readers — is beginning at last to get on my nerves ; but that is no use whatever in these parts ; the only thing here is to stick to it, as there is no other way. — Our first attempt at getting away from Seldovia was a failure ; owing to a calm I was obliged to let the ship drift back into the harbour with the flood. The second time we were driven towards the rocks outside the harbour and had to take shelter in Graham Bay, where we lay for the next two days. Then there arose a wind, which in the neighbourhood of the Barren Isles freshened into a gale ; the yacht was racing through the waves at the rate of twelve miles an hour. I sufi^ered worse than ever, and in this night I made a holy vow never again to set foot on the deck of a sailing-boat. It was only after six days and a half that I reached Kodiak.

In Seldovia I had heard the news that the steamer Santa Anna, with which I had intended starting on the homeward voyage on November i , had been wrecked ; so I was com- pelled to take a passage on the steamer Portland, which was due on October 23, and between now and then there was not time enough left to go bear-hunting.

I made use of my stay in Kodiak to pay a visit to the neighbouring Wood Island, which I had frequently heard praised for the beauty of its scenery ; yet, when I reached it, my highest expectations were far surpassed. Here, in a region where the eye is not spoilt by a luxuriant arboreal vegetation, is

'•• ; I ..!<*. '.<

THE STEAMER " PORTLAND."

Facing pagt 215.

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w f w , — » ■>■ . ;,v«m — : ■ 1
	1 • .:■ t ■	. A •.
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WOOD ISLAND 215

found a splendid forest of lofty firs, containing trees many hundreds of years old, and worthy of being ranked with the most magnificent giants of the Black Forest. The soil is clothed with moss of that intense green which only the high northern latitudes can produce. The country is intersected by numerous ravines, whose sides are thickly clothed with ferns, while at the bottom meander streams of clearest crystal. In the rocks of brown lava, overgrown with creepers, are to be seen many caves, which may once upon a time have been the dwelling-place of bears. The beach is sandy, but far into the sea there jut out crags and rocks everlastingly washed by the breakers, and in and out among them many kinds of ducks and divers are frolicking about. The island is only inhabited by a few Aleuts and Creoles ; but there is a mission-school, kept by a missionary and his family, which forms, at the same time, a kind of home for poor and orphaned Indian children. From Wood Island one has a lovely view of Kodiak and a number of other islets, with their hills tinted purple by the bloom of the heather, while the background is formed by towering snow-clad mountains. Never have I seen a spot so well adapted by nature for a deer-park. In the rushes and reeds of the numerous lakes ducks and geese are nesting ; moose, reindeer, red deer, pheasants, and ptarmigan would flourish in such a place ; and a stay in late summer in this beautiful climate, which seems to breathe new life into body and soul, can only be compared to a sojourn in Paradise.

On October 24 I began my return voyage to Seattle on the steamer Portland. As the ship called at several ports in Prince William Sound, and then took the so-called inside passage, i.e.

2i6 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

steered a course between the continent of America and the chain of islands lying in front of it, I had the welcome oppor- tunity of enjoying this lovely scenery once more. There are other places where one can see mountains, glaciers, and fjords, but nowhere on earth will you find such a profusion of natural beauty, the grandeur of which is at times absolutely overwhelm- ing. Alaska's greatest ^wealth ., does not lie in its minerals, forests, and fisheries, but in its scenery ; for thousands of miles the coast-line is one great panorama, and it is only a question of time when this beautiful region will be thrown open to the tourist, and crowds of nature's lovers will make the pilgrimage to worship at her shrine.

The steamer. In the first place, went to Seward, which lies at the farther end of a fjord twenty miles long, and is the terminus of the new railway to the Tanana valley, with its rich gold deposits ; then to the island of Latouche, where lately enormous beds of copper have been discovered, which promise abundant returns. Prince William Sound in shape resembles a huge spider, whose legs are formed by channels, bays, and fjords, most of them with a glacier at their upper end. We sailed past the Columbia glacier, one of the most extensive of the country, and then reached Valdez, which is called the " gulf of the gods," and well deserves the name.

• Short visits were paid to the small mining-camps, Ellamar and Orca ; then the ship left the sound and stood out to sea, pointing its course to Kayak Island, on which petroleum springs have been found. Scarcely had we left the shelter of Orca Bay when a gale set in of such violence that our pilot, with his experience of sixty-two years, affirmed that he had never

:< '<..'. 'c' < «.it" •

ALASKAN SCENERY 217

seen the like. For three days the struggle with the elements went on ; for a long time it was doubtful whether these or the shipbuilder would come out victorious. The old wooden hull was creaking in every joint ; we scarcely made a mile an hour, and all were deeply thankful to our excellent captain when he had managed to bring his ship under the lee of the sheltering hills of Kayak Island. The harbour we could not enter, on account of the gale ; the anchor could not be let go, as the seas were running too high ; and so we steamed for thirty hours up and down between the island and the mainland, until the fury of the hurricane had spent itself

Before getting to Yakutat, you pass Mount St. Elias and the Malaspina glacier, which lies in front of it ; the latter covers an area of i 500 square miles, stretches 30 miles inland from the shore, and runs parallel with the coast for 50 miles. Only a few hours later one has the chance, at Yakutat, of walking in a splendid forest of firs, whose sombre green, when seen against a background of glittering snow-mountains, pro- duces a wonderful effect of colour.

Soon after quitting Yakutat, the steamer left the open sea and passed behind the islands of the Alexander archipelago, in order to touch at the picturesquely situated town of Juneau, which had only recently become the capital of Alaska. From Juneau to Seattle the route lay all the way between the main- land and numerous islands ; the gales that were raging outside at this season did not touch us, and one could enjoy the in- comparable beauty of the scene in peace. In many places the islands skirted the land so closely that only quite a narrow channel remained. One might think that one was on a river.

2l8

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

In other places, again, we were surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains, and were apparently sailing on an in- land lake. On both sides the shore was decked with splendid forests of firs, while the soil was covered with a moss of emerald green.

It was the fourteenth day since my de- parture from Kodiak when Mount Raimer hove in sight, and a few hours afterwards we stood into the harbour of Seattle. From here I went to

SAN FRANCISCO— HOMEWARD BOUND 219

San Francisco, and found the destruction wrought by the earth- quake of April 18, and the subsequent conflagration, much more considerable than one could imagine from the reports or even from photographs. Journalists, and more particularly American ones, have, in their accounts of minor events, so accustomed the public to superlatives, that they would now have to invent new words in order to do justice to the vast extent of the calamity. ^ man who, like myself, has known San Francisco before the earthquake, must be overcome with sadness at the sight of the shattered city, even though he may not be mourning for friends or relations buried under the ruins, or have financial losses to bewail. Hardly another city in the world enjoyed to the same degree the sympathy of all nations that had once been her guests. I am not able to describe its charm ; but " Frisco " was anything rather than American ; an oriental atmosphere pervaded its streets ; it was not the number of her inhabitants, but her intellect, which made her a world-city that one can fearlessly rank with the foremost cities of the globe.

In San Francisco I turned my back upon the Pacific Ocean and set my face towards the East, to the Great Divide, the endless prairies, the splendid Sierra, and lastly, homewards, in order there to gather fresh strength for another expedition.

I I»»,l^ J3_

■a, 50

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

SYNOPSIS OF THE ANIMALS COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR DURING HIS EXPEDITION

A.—MjIMMALS

By Professor Paul Matschie, Curator of the Royal Zoological Museum, Berlin

There is doubtless a good deal of pleasure to be derived from hunting in foreign lands. The trophies there obtained bring back, even after the lapse of years, memories of happy hours, of moments of peril, of obstacles successfully overcome, of privations endured, and of the supreme joy which the sportsman feels when he gazes upon the prize he has secured. But the value of such trophies is considerably enhanced when they are of interest not only to the happy owner but to the public at large ; when they have contributed to solve some scientific problem or other. The man who thinks only of himself, and values the outside world solely by the profit or loss he makes out of it, may possibly be content with the knowledge that he has laid low with his rifle a respectable number of creatures in such and such countries ; he will, perhaps, boast that no one else possesses such fine sets of antlers and horns. It is surely a nobler pleasure which is felt by the man who rejoices to think that his own hunting trophies have also been of use to science ; but the greatest satisfaction will be his who in his hunting-trips has missed no opportunity of collecting by the way all sorts of large and small game, which may not be greatly esteemed by him as trophies, but are valuable contributions to the advancement

223

224 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

of science. This is what Mr. Paul Niedieck has done : the animals collected by him from nortJi- western North America and the eastern- most parts of Northern Asia, which are now in the possession of the Berlin Zoological Museum, comprise almost exclusively species which have hitherto been unrepresented in any Germa;i museum, and therefore supply a great and long-felt want. Besides being, on this account, a highly valuable addition to a German collection of animals, these rare and beautiful specimens possess a peculiar interest from the fact that they come from regions which have hitherto been but imperfectly explored, and have thus contributed in no slight measure to a better and more accurate knowledge of those distant parts.

Therefore our hearty thanks are due to Mr. Niedieck ; may the advancement of science be, in the future also, a source of pleasure to him.

The mammals collected by Mr. Paul Niedieck were derived from verv different regions : one portion was obtained on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska, a second in Kamschatka, a third at the mouth of the river Anadyr, on the island of Ka-y-ne and on the Semidi Islands. A synopsis of these species is given below, a few short notes being added in most cases. Mr. Paul Niedieck has very generously presented the specimens here enumerated to the Berlin Zoological Museum.

I. Alces gigas. Miller. The giant moose or elk of the Kenai peninsula, Alaska.

One skull with antlers, and a complete skin with the leg-bones.

Very little is known at present about the several species of moose.

Three species are generally enumerated in the more recent works on the Natural History of Mammals : Jlces alces (Linn^), from Northern Europe and Northern Asia ; Alces americanus (Jardine), from Canada ; and Alces gigas (Miller), from Lake Tustamena, on the Kenai peninsula, in Alaska.

A fourth kind has been constitutea as a separate species by Mr. Lydekker in the year 1902, viz. a Siberian moose, which he has

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 225

named bedfordlee. But this by no means exhausts the number of exist- ing species, which are in fact distinct. If one may draw conclusions from the distribution of other mammals to that of the moose— as one probably can — there must be quite a number of distinct species of moose extant at the present day, and, on the other hand, not a few species are already extinct. I have recently [Das IVeidwerk In Wort und B'tld^ xvi. Nr. 12, p. 214) drawn attention to the fact that even in Scandinavia two distinct types of palmated horns are met with, and I do not mean " prong-antlered " moose and " shovel-antlered " moose, but palms or "shovels," which are distinguished from one another by a difference in the curvature of the broad surface. In my opinion it will be found that the moose which inhabit the regions draining to the west, are different from the moose of those parts of Scandinavia which drain into the Gulf of Bothnia. There is need of much more diligent research before we shall be in a position to state with certainty how many distinct species of moose exist in the immense territory which spreads from Scandinavia eastward to the east coast of America. In all probability we shall find that each great river-basin, such as e.g. those of the Obi, Yenisei, Lena, Yukon, etc., possesses a species marked by peculiar characteristics in the colouring of the coat, shape of body, and formation of the antlers.

2. Ovis kenaiensis, Allen. The white bighorn or wild sheep of

the Kenai peninsula, Alaska.

Four skulls, some of them with very fine horns, and a complete skin, now adorn the collections of the Zoological Museum of Berlin — all of them gifts of Mr. Paul Niedieck.

3. Ovis nivicola, Eschscholtz. The bighorn or wild sheep of the

east coast of Kamschatka. One skin and five skulls.

Dr. J.- A. Allen has described in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, xx. 1904, pp. 293-298, a hitherto unknown species of wild sheep from Fort Tigil, on the west coast of Kamschatka, under the name Ovis storcki. It differs from the east Kamschatkan wild sheep living in the neighbourhood of Cape Shipunsky,

Q

226 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

which has been described and figured by Eschscholtz as Ovis nivicola, in that the horns do not spread far outwards, but lie close to the head, and are curved strongly forward?, with only the tip bent sharply out- wards. The horns form a spiral of one and a half turns.

The horns of Ovis nivicola are much more like those of the Kenai bighorn, but differ from them by their flat (not rounded) inner surface and by shorter tips.

In Kamschatka there exist, therefore, two very different species of bighorn, one on the west coast, the other on the east. Here, again, we observe that two distinct drainage areas, namely, the basins of the Sea of Okhotsk and of the Bering Sea, are likewise inhabited by two separate species of mountain-sheep.

Dr. Allen has proved that on the Taiganose peninsula, on the Gulf of Gichiginski, the extreme northern point of the Sea of Okhotsk, there exists yet another bighorn, whose horns do not form even one complete spiral turn, and resemble those of the wild sheep of the Himalayas, Ovis hodgsoni^ but curve outwards from the skull in a wider arch.

He denominates it provisionally Ovis borealis, although he is of opinion that probably it cannot be identified with this species. Ovis borealis has been described by Severtzow as a denizen of the highlands lying between the Pjasina and Chatanga, that is to say, in the vicinity of the Byrranga mountains, south of the Taimyr peninsula, between the mouths of the Yenisei and the Lena. Dr. Allen is of opinion that the genuine Ovis borealis was a native of the Yana region. That, however, is not correct ; its original home must be sought much farther west.

It will be desirable, in order to avoid confusion, to designate the wild sheep of the Taiganose peninsula mentioned by Dr. Allen, of which he has figured the skull on page 295, Fig. 3, by a separate name, and I suggest for it Ovis alleni.

4. Dicydotherium aff. primigenius, Blumenbach. Mammoth. One tusk, purchased at the mouth of the river Anadyr.

This magnificent specimen, which now adorns the collection of the

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 227

Berlin Natural History Museum, has a length of 263 cm., with a girth at the alveolus of 40 cm., and of 37 cm. at a distance (measured in a straight line) of about 80 cm. from the tip. The diameter of the alveolus is 13 cm., the shortest distance from the tip to the free margin of the alveolus 154 cm., while from the extreme outer edge of the tusk at the point of highest curvature (about 50 cm. from the tip, measured in a straight line) to the free margin of the alveolus is a minimum distance of 150 cm.

The tusk has its pointed half strongly bent outwards, while the root half shows a slight inclination inwards. If allowance be made for this double deviation, the pointed half of the tusk 'does not form more than one-third of a circle, which is much less of a curve than that shown by the tusks of the skeleton figured by G. Cuvier in his Recherches sur les Ossements fossiles, i. tab. xi. p. 204.

This mammoth, with extremely curved tusks, came from the mouth of the Lena; the tusk brought to Europe bv Mr. Niedieck was taken to Anadyr from some place in the interior. It agrees very well in its curvature with the most recent specimen from the Kolyma set up at St. Petersburg ; perhaps it came itself from the same district.

The differences in the curvature of the tusks may be taken as very useful characters in difFerentiating the various kinds of African elephants ; from the curve and shape of the tusk one can establish with certainty the habitat of the elephant that furnished them, and determine to what special variety he belonged.

As in the case of the African elephant, so in that of the mammoth, we shall probably have to distinguish between a considerable number of different kinds, which locally take each other's place, each variety being limited to one particular river-basin. A comparison of the mammoth-tusks preserved in different palasontological and zoological collections will doubtless confirm my conjectures.

5. Citellus huxtoni, Allen (.?). Suslik or Siberian marmot.

Three skins, without skulls, bought on the river Anadyr. Three skins and two skulls from Ka-y-ne Island, north of the Tchuktchi peninsula.

Dr. Allen has described two new species of suslik in his paper

228 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

(pp. 139-144) : Citellus stejnegerl, from the district of Petropaulovsky, in South-Eastern Kamschatka; and Citellus buxtoni, based on many speci- mens from the Gishiga, on tlie northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, and from Indian Point, Cape Chaplin, on the east coast of the Tchuk- tchi peninsula. Unfortunately no description has been given of the appearance of the seven susliks from Cape Chaplin, mentioned by Dr. Allen ; he has only described an old male bagged on August 13 on the Gishiga, and has then mentioned in a general way the characteristics which the animals exhibit at different seasons of the year. According to his account these vary in an extraordinary degree. I could almost believe that Dr. Allen has had before him two distinct species, and that the Gishiga susliks are specifically distinct from those of Cape Chaplin.

The susliks collected by Mr. Niedieck appear to confirm this conjecture. The three skins bought on August I, 1906, on the banks of the Anadyr agree generally with Dr. Allen's description of Citellus buxtorn\ but have no ochre-coloured flanks and belly, only the middle of the bellv and a longitudinal band down the breast being of this colour. The other parts of the lower surface are whitish grey, and the flanks a dirty yellowish grey, with white and black tips to the hairs. The tip and sides of the nose, the chin, and throat are not " deep buff"," but whitish grey.

Two of these susliks are much alike. In these the upper surface of the head, almost as far as the ears, is a rich rusty-brown ; the ground- colour of the back, ochre; and the upper side of the tail, above the black tip, a beautiful orange, like the under side. In the third specimen the rusty-brown tint is confined to the region in front of the eyes, and rendered indistinct by many black-tipped hairs ; the back has a paler, greyer ground-colour ; and the upper surface of the tail is of the same colour as the back.

Quite different is the appearance of the three susliks from Ka-y-ne Island, collected on August 3, 1906. They are very short-haired ; the upper surface grey, mingled with darker tints of the same ; the under surface blackish grey, mixed in one specimen with yellowish grey. On the back, light-coloured spots are faintly indicated. The upper surface

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 229

of the head has a tinge of rusty-brown. The upper side of the feet is pale ochre-grey. The flanks are ashy grey, and the light tips of the tail-hairs yellowish white. In the measurements they agree approxi- mately with the Anadyr susliks and Citellus huxton't. Only the skulls are somewhat shorter, measuring 54.6 mm. in length, while the row of molars, with a length of 12.2 mm., seems rather longer.

It will probably be found that in the extreme north of East Asia there are at least six distinct species of suslik, which are localised as follows : one species, Citellus stejnegeri^ Allen, on the east side of Kamschatka ; a second on the west side of Kamschatka ; a third, C huxtoni, on the west and north coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk ; a fourth in the basin of the river Anadyr ; a fifth in the basin of the river Kolyma ; a sixth on the shores of the Tchuktchi peninsula washed by the Arctic Ocean. The above-mentioned susliks from Ka-y-ne Island, as I have just explained, are very unlike the Anadyr suslik. It is quite possible that they belong to another species, and that this species is identical with the one inhabiting tiie shores of the Arctic Ocean.

A solution of this question will only become possible when a larger number of susliks from these regions are available for comparison, collected from as many localities as possible, of different ages, and taken at different seasons of the year.

6. Evotomys area, Merriam. Kenai red mouse.

Four skins with skulls: three males, September 15, 18, and 23, 1906, Lake Kusiloff, Kenai peninsula, Alaska, and one female, September 30, 1906, Kenai peninsula, Alaska.

One female specimen in spirits of wine, October 19, igo6. Lake Kusiloff, Kenai peninsula, Alaska.

7. Microtus iiiMschaticus, Polyakoff. Kamschatkan field-mouse

or vole.

Fourteen skins with skulls, Marsovya Bay, in the neighbour- hood of Cape Shipunsky, east coast of Kamschatka : four males on July 3, 4, 7, and 8, 1906 ; ten females on June 24, July 4, 5, 7i •'"'i ^5 1906-

230 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

The largest male has a dorsal length of 175 mm., while the caudal vertebra; measure 45 mm., and its hind-foot with claws 21.4 mm. ; the largest female measuring, dorsal length 175 mm., caudal vertebr.f 55 mm., hind-foot with claws, 21.8 mm.

In colouring, these voles vary greatly : some are a bright yellowish brown, others a dark greyish brown ; many have a yellowish grey under-surface, while among others it is whitish-grey, and among others again silver-grey.

Dr. Allen mentions that neither he nor Mr. Gerritt S. Miller could succeed in establishing any specific difference between field-mice from Markowo, in the basin of the river Anadyr, from the river Gishiga, on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, from Cape Chaplin (Indian Point), on the Tchuktchi peninsula, and from Petropaulovsky, in Kamschatka. On the other hand, Mr. G. S. Miller has described, under the name Microtus tschuitsc/iorum, a vole from Plover Bay, in Eastern Siberia, close by Cape Chaplin, which, according to his statements, is very like Af. kamschaticus^ but exhibits some essential differences in the structure of the skull. It is possible that, as is the casein Alaska, two distinct species of voles exist there side bv side.

8. Mus aff'. deciimanus, Pallas. Brown rat.

A male, October 20, 1906, Kodiak, Alaska ; a female, October 22, igo6, Kodiak, Alaska.

Both tiiese brown rats diff'er from those of the Mark Brandenburg, in that the dorsal colouring shows very little yellowish brown, and in- clines more to greyish brown, with a strong admixture of blackish tints.

The tail is blackish grey, somewhat lighter on the under side ; the hind-feet are whitish grey, the fore-feet blackish grev with light tips to the hairs.

Whence this brown rat has come to Alaska must be left to further research to determine ; perhaps it is a native of Eastern Asia.

9. Dicrostonyx spec. aff'. nelsoni, Merriam. Parti-coloured lemming.

One skin, purchased on the river Anadyr.

This skin agrees fairly well in colouring witii the description of

APPENDIX— MAMMALS

231

D. ne/sont, but has no dark dorsal stripe, nor are the roots of the hair mottled with white dots. The under surface of the body is whitish grey ; between the fore-legs a reddish-brown spot is visible. The feet are white. Towards the tail the dorsal colouring loses much of its reddish-brown tinge, which is here replaced by a mixture of black, brown, and white. On the upper part of the thighs this colouring is sharply separated by an ill-defined black band from the white, mingled below with black, of the rest of the hams. The dorsal colour extends, as a band of 12.5 mm. in width, to the short tail, which terminates in a brush of long white hairs. The sides of the head are grey, as in D. nehonl.

On the evidence of this single specimen, in which, moreover, the skull is lacking, I cannot venture to name this apparently new species.

10. Lepus niediecki, Matschie, spec. nov. Kenai snow-hare.

One skin with skull. Male, taken on Lake Kusilofl", Kenai peninsula, Alaska, October 9, igob. Besides this, two skulls of this species, purchased on the Kenai peninsula, are available.

Dr. Allen has, in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (vol. XX. 1904, pp. 282, 283), identified the snow-hare of Barabori and Sheep Creek on the Kenai peninsula with Lepus americanus dalli, Merriam, although with some hesitation. Lepus americanus dalli has been established on the evidence of a skull from the Nulato River.

This skull exhibits, in comparison with those collected by Mr. Niedieck, the following dimensions [Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. ii. 1900, p. 30) : —

Basal length . . Anterior zygomatic width Middle „ „ . . . . Post-palatal length ..... Frontal width measured across centre of post-orbital processes .... Hind width ot nasals .... Front „ „

	6		9
L. dalli.	KusilofF	£	W.
mm.	Lake. mm.	Kenai.	Kenai.
mm.	mm.
65	66.4	64	61.2
37.5	37-1	35-8	34-5
38	38.4	38.5	37-9
33.5	33-3	33-4-	31.9
21	22	21.8	20.4
•5	16. 1	■7	16
1 1	10.2	10.8	9-5

232 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

From this comparative table of measurements it is evident that the skulls of the Kenai snow-hare are distinguishable from that of the Nulato snow-hare by the nasals being broader behind but narrower in front, while the zygomatic arches are more curved out, and the forehead is wider.

For further comparison I add yet other measurements ; the skulls being taken in the same order as before :- -

Maximum length : So, 78, 74..8 mm. Basal length : 62.+, 59.7, 57.5 mm.

Foramen magnum to posterior margin of palate : 30, 26.5, 26.3 mm. Minimum length of palate : 7.4, 5.8, 5.5 mm. Length of foramen incisorum : 18.9, 18.5, 18.5 mm. Maximum width of same : 7.9, 7.8, 7 8 mm. Length of upper diastema : 21.4, 20.3, 20.1 mm. Length of lower diastema : 16.9, 16.4, 16.2 mm. Minimum inter-orbital breadth: 17.2, 16.5, 16.5 mm. Minimum post-orbital breadth : 12.9, 13.1, 12.2 mm. Maximum width of skull : 27.5, 29, 27.8 mm. Maximum nasal length : 33.9, 33.9, 31 mm.

Height of skull at anterior margin of basioccipital : 24.2, 24.4, 23.4 mm. Length of upper row of inolars : 15.3, i5.3> 15.3 """■ Length of lower row of molars : 15.2, 15.2, 15 mm.

Maximum length of lower jaw from anterior margin of mandible to posterior margin of coronoid process : 63.2, 59.5, 58.2 mm.

The only skin available for comparison is a very dark-coloured one, dark greyish brown, with fawn-brown hair-tips, which present the appearaiY;e of long thin streaks. Over the middle of the back there extends from the shoulder to the root of the tail a dark-brown, somewhat ill-defined streak, only clearly visible in a certain light. The flanks and chest are somewhat greyer, the crown and cheeks being more yellowish brown, with a slighter admixture of black. Around the eyes there runs a fawn-brown, rather inconspicuous ring, which is continued towards the temples in the form of a short light band.

The ears are almost white, and only have an admixture of black and yellow on the inner margin of the edge, and of many black hairs amidst the white ones at the tip. On the crown there are only a few white hairs among the yellowish-brown ones. The tail is coloured above like the back, but is white below, and so are the lips, the chin, the whole under-surface except the chest, the lower thighs, and fore- and

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 233

hind-feet. The fore-part of the thighs is white, with a slight admixture of cinnamon ; the upper thighs, whitish grey, with a mixture of yellowish brown.

To this strikingly coloured hare I give the name of L. niediecki, in memory of the services rendered to science by Mr. Niedieck's researches into the natural history of the mammals of the Kenai peninsula.

11. Erethizon myops^yierniim (J). Kenai tree-porcupine.

Two skins and nine skulls, three of the latter from Lake Kusiloff.

As I am not in a position to make an ocular comparison with the species described by Dr. Merriam from Portage Bav in the Alaskan peninsula as Erethizott epixanthus wyops, 1 am unable to decide whether the Kenai porcupines can really be identified with E. myops, as Dr. Allen has done. Unfortunately only those features have been mentioned in the original description by which myops differs from epixanthus. The skull dimensions and a description of the colour markings are wanting.

12. Phoca larglui, Pallas. Kamschatkan hair-seal.

Three skins, one skeleton, and one skull, Cajie Shipunsky, Betchevinskaya Bav.

These accord well with Pallas's description.

The intermaxillaries join on to the nasals and terminate at tlie upper end in a sharply cut straight line. The sutura naso-frontalis is longer than the distance from its anterior end to the tip of the free edge of the nasal. The upper molars are three-cusped, the lower four- cusped. The premolars are set in somewhat slanting position to the line of the edge of the jaw ; even the first molar projects somewhat from the row.

Basal skull-length : 19S, 182 mm.

Maximum width of skull : 139, 119 mm.

Length of upper row ot molars : 43/44, 43.6/43.6 mm.

Maximum occipital width measured across bulla- : 120, 116 mm.

Length of nasals : 53.3, 50.4 mm.

Maximum skull-length : 210, 196 mm.

234 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Length of tronto-nasal suture ; 29, 27.5 mm.

Minimum inter-orbital width : 16.2, 14.2 mm.

Length of last upper molar : 7.7, 7.7 mm.

Length of penultimate upper molar : 8.2, 8.2 mm. ^

13. Phoca richardsi. Gray. Alaskan hair-seal.

One skull — wanting lower jaw — of a very young seal from Yzembeck Bay, in the neighbourhood of Moller Bay, on the Alaskan peninsula.

The intermaxillaries join on to the nasals and terminate at the

upper end in a sharp point ; the sutura naso-frontaiis is shorter than

the distance between its anterior end and the tip of the free edge of

the nasal. The upper molars are four-cusped.

Maximum wiiith ot skull : 93.8 mm.

Length of upper row of molars : 35.1 mm.

Maximum occipital width measured across bullar : 104.3 iii>"-

Maximum length of skull : 155 mm.

Length of nasals : 38.6 mm.

Length of fronto-nasal suture : 17.1 mm.

Minimum inter-orbital width : i 2.5 mm.

Length of last upper molar : 7.9 mm.

Length of penultimate upper molar : S mm.

14. Trichechus ohesus^ Illiger. Walrus.

Two great tusks from Holv Cross Bay. Length, 73 cm. ; from edge of gum, 55 cm. ; maximum breadth, 5 cm. ; maximum thickness, 7 cm. ; maximum girth, 19.5 cm.

15. Canis aff. lupus, L. Wolf.

Skin of a very light-coloured wolf from Cape Shipunsky, in Kamschatka.

Probably this belongs to an undescribed species of wolf. It is to be hoped that soon skulls and skins will be obtained from the different regions of Eastern Asia for scientific investigation. Then the question can be solved, among others, whether the wolf of the Anadyr basin does not belong to another species than the East Kamschatkan one.

16. Vulpes aff. anadyrensis, Allen. Kamschatkan red fox.

Skin with skull from Cape Shipunsky, in Kamschatka. I am not sure that the fox from the east coast of Kamschatka

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 235

belongs to the same species as the one described from the Anadyr River. Unfortunately only a single skull and a single skin are available for comparison.

17. Vulpes kenaiensis, Merriam. Kenai red fox.

Five skulls purchased on the Kenai peninsula.

18. Leucocyon a^. beringeHsis, Nlernam. Arctic and blue fox.

One skin of a white Arctic fox, and one of a blue fox from the river Anadyr.

19. Leucocyon spec. Blue fox.

Skin and skull from Unimak Island, ofl' the peninsula of Alaska.

20. Ursus gyas, Merriam. Giant bear.

One skull, wanting lower jaw, found on the extremity of the Alaskan peninsula at Yzembeck Bay, close by Moller Bay.

This skull is very large, has far-projecting zygomatic arches and a very broad muzzle, as well as a greater occipital length than any other North American bear-skull recorded in literature.

From Alaska the following species of brown bear have been described up to date : — (i) Ursus gyeis, Merriam, from Favlof Bay, on the south side of the peninsula, opposite Moller Bay. (2) Ursus tnerriami, Allen, from Portage Bay, south of the mouth of the Kuskokwim. (3) Ursus kidderi, Merriam, from Chinitna Bay, on Cook Inlet. (4) Ursus middendorffii, Merriam, from Kodiak Island. (5) Ursus eu/op/ius,M.emam, from Admiralty Island, in the neighbourhood of Sitka. (6) Ursus pliteonyx, Merriam, from the neighbourhood of Eagle, on the Upper Yukon. (7) Ursus kenaiensis, Merriam, from Cape Elizabeth, on the western point of the Alaskan peninsula. (8) Ursus alascensis, Merriam, from Norton Sound. (g) Ursus dalli^ Merriam, from Yakutat Bav, somewhat north of Sitka. (10) Ursus sitkensis, Merriam, from Sitka.

Of these ten species, five appear to be local forms of the grizzly bear, viz. alascens'tSy merriami., k'ldderl, kenaiensis, phaonyx ; the huge U. middendorffii perhaps occupies a separate position ; and gyas, dalli, sltkensis, and eulophus certainly form a distinct group of gigantic bears, of which each probably belongs to a separate locality.

236

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

The skull obtained by Mr. Niedieck belongs to a gigantic bear ; it has a maximum length of 440 cm. and a maximum width of 294 cm.

Of bears whose maximum skull-width exceeds 250 cm. only three species have been described up to date, viz. Ursus gyas, dalli, and mlddendorjffi'i. In columns I to 3 of the following synopsis the skull measurements of these three species, as given in the original description, are collated with those of the skull under discussion ; the remaining columns contain the dimensions of two other bear-skulls.

				.^
	cm.	i cm.	^■1	Yzenibec B.iy.	1"	M 0
	cm.	cm.	cm.	cm.
Distance of the anterior margin of
the intermaxillary from the pos-
terior margin of the occipital
ridge	424.		440	440	447	43'
Distance of the same place from
the posterior margin of the
occipital processes	400		39^	400	408	400
Distance of the same place from
the anterior margin of the
foramen occipit. magnum	366	390	377	387	387	370
Distance of the anterior margin of
the nasals from the posterior end
of the occi )ital ridge	360		358	j8o	385	365
Distance of the anterior margin of
the foramen occipit. magnum
from the suture between the two				obliter-
parts of the sphenoid bone	107	1 12	105	ated	,07	107
Length of the bony palate .		212		204	21 I	206
Distance of the posterior margin
of the bony palate from the
anterior margin of the foramen
occipit. magnum	172	177	.67	■85	'75	■ 66
Distance of the anterior margin of
the foramen occipit. magnum
from a plane laid through the
anterior margins ofthe last molars	242		238	262	263	246
Maximuin width of skull at the
zygomatic arches	269	285	277	295	260	302
Minimum inter-orbital width of
skull .....	92		98	9^	92	101
Interval between the summits of
the post-orbital processes .	■ 34		132-5	ca. 138	141	,42

From these measurements it is clear that the skull from Yzembeck

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 237

Bay agrees very fairly in general characters with the one from the neighbouring Moller Bay.

It cannot be classed under U. middendorffii, because the occipital length of the latter is proportionately much smaller. The distance of the posterior margin of the bony palate from the anterior margin of the foramen magnum is much less in U. middendorffii ; on the other hand, the forehead is broader.

There remain to be discussed U. dalli and V. gyas. From the synopsis of measurements we may conclude that the two skulls from Yzembeclc and Moller Bay can by no possibility be identified with C/. dalli ; for, in spite of their greater length, they have an equally broad forehead, but longer post-orbital processes. On the other hand, their measurements agree satisfactorily with those given for U. gyas. This species has been first described from Pavlof Bay, which lies opposite Moller Bay, and therefore in immediate proximity.

The skull under discussion has extraordinarily large zygomatic arches, their breadth at the widest point being 53 mm., at the narrowest 33 mm. ; they curve outwards almost as much as the largest known specimen of U. middendorffii.

I may take this opportunity of pointing out that on p. 287, vol. xx. of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (1904), the two lower figures have been transposed. The middle figure represents the skull of U. middendorffii and the lower one that of U. gyas.

21. Danis ienaiensis, Merriam. Kenai grizzly bear.

Two skins with skulls from the Kenai peninsula.

22. Euarctos aff". hylodromus^ Elliot. Kenai baribaj.

Skin with skull from the Kenai peninsula.

Unfortunately I am unable to determine from this single specimen whether the Kenai baribal, as might certainly be expected, belongs to a distinct species of Euarctos.

23. Danis piscator., Pucheran. Kamschatkan brown bear.

One skull from Cape Shipunsky.

Among the bears shot by Mr. Niedieck are two verv distinct

238 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

varieties — one^with light-, the other with dark-coloured back. Dr. Allen reports at length in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, xix. (1903) pp. 163-166, about these variations. Perhaps there exists in Kamschatka, as in Alaska, a gigantic bear by the side of the ordinary brown bear. The skull under discussion certainly belongs to the species which Pucheran has called piscator, on the evidence of the specimen figured in the Voyage autour du monde sur la frigate " La Fenus" Atlas, Tab. 4. It came from Kamschatka.

For the darker kind of giant bears the name Ursus beringianus, proposed by Th. v. MiddendorfF cannot, in my opinion, be adopted, because on Tab. i of his travels the skulls of two different species of bear have been depicted under one and the same name, neither of whom comes from Kamschatka, but from the western shore of tlie Sea of Okhotsk and Shantar Island respectively, localities which are probably inhabited by species of bears differing from those of the eastern side of Kamschatka.

24. Gulo aff. luscus^ L. Glutton or wolverine.

One skin purchased in the Kenai peninsula.

25. Lynx aff. moHipilosus, Stone. Red lynx.

Eight skulls purchased in the Kenai peninsula.

They are rather small, their basal length ranging from 101.9 to

1 10.4 mm. in adult specimens, and the occipito- nasal length from

111. 5 to 120.8 mm. The occiput is particularly short, the distance from the last molar to the foramen magnum ranging from 62.8 to 67.8 mm.

These measurements alone are sufficient to lead to the conjecture that the lynx of the Kenai peninsula forms a distinct species ; but for its determination there is required a more copious material in North American lynx-skulls than the Berlin Museum possesses.

26. Mustela kenaiensis, Elliot. Kenai marten.

Three skulls purchased in the Kenai peninsula.

27. Lutreola melampeplus, Elliot. Kenai sable.

Six skulls purchased in the Kenai peninsula.

APPENDIX— MAMMALS 239

28. Sorex aff. arcticus, Merriam. Arctic shrew-mouse. One specimen in spirits of wine.

This shrew belongs to the peisonatus group ; a more accurate determination is impossible for the present, as there are too few North American shrew-mice available for comparison in the Berlin Zoological Museum.

B.— BIRDS

By Professor A. Reichenow, Sub-Director of the Zoological Museum, Berlin'

I. FROM KAMSCHATKA

Larid^ (Gulls)

1. Liii-us glaucus, Briiiin. Ka-y-ne Island, Bering Strait, August 5 ;

Holy Cross Bay, July 28, 1906. Eyes, beak, and legs reddish white.

2. Larus vega, Palmcn. Anadyr Bay, July 25.

3. Larus schistasagus, Stejneger. Marsovya Bay, Kamschatlca, July

12. Eyes straw-yellow; beak yellow, with a red spot at the tip of the lower mandible ; feet pale flesh-colour. Also two chicks in down.

4. Larus canus, Linn. Betchevinskaya Bay, Kamschatka, May 25.

Eyes dark bronze-colour ; feet and beak greenish yellow.

5. Rissa hrevirostris (Bruch.) Ka-y-ne Island, August 5. Eyes dark

blue ; beak citron-yellow ; feet slaty black.

6. Xema sahinei (Sabine). Kresta Bay, on the coast of East Siberia,

July 28.

7. Stercorarius longicauda, Vieill. Anadyr Valley.

8. Sterna macrura, Naumann. Anadyr Bay, July 23. Eyes dark

steel-blue.

Anatidj^ (Duck Group)

9. Mergus >nerganser^ Linn. Anadyr Valley.

10. Mergus albellus, Linn. Anadyr Valley.

11. Somateria spectahilis (Linn). Kresta Bay, July 28.

240

APPENDIX— BIRDS 241

12. Heniconetta stelleri (PMzs). Ka-y-ne Island, August 3. Eyes dark

lead-colour ; beak brownish ; feet dark grey.

13. Histrionicus histrionicus (Linn.). Anadyr Valley.

14. Nyroca ?narila (Linn.). Anadyr Valley.

15. Nyroca hyetnalis (Linn.). Anadyr Valley, July 25 ; Ka-y-ne Island,

August 2. Eyes ochre-yellow ; feet grey.

16. Anas pene/ope, Linn. Anadyr Valley.

17. Jnas acuta, Linn. Anadyr Valley.

18. j^nas crecca, Linn. Anadyr Valley.

19. Anas fornma, Georgi. Anadyr Valley,

20. Amer serrirostris, Swinhoe. Anadyr Valley.

2 1 . Anser albifrons (Scopoli). Anadyr Valley.

22. Philacte canagica (Sevast). Anadyr Valley.

CharadriidjI (Plover Tribe)

23. Arenaria intei-pres (Linn.). Ka-y-ne Island, August 2 ; Kresta

Bay, July 28. Beak brown to dark olive-brown ; feet ochre- yellow to scarlet.

24. Charadrius fulvus, Gmelin. Anadyr Valley.

25. Charadrius liiaticu/a, Linn. Anadyr Valley.

ScolopacidtE (Snipe Group)

26. Phalaropus lobatus (Linn.). Anadyr Valley.

27. Phalaropus fulicarius (Linn.). Kresta Bay, July 28. Upper half

of beak brown, lower half yellowish ; feet greenish grey.

28. Tringa a/pina, Linn. Holy Cross Bay, July 28 ; Anadyr Bay,

July 23 ; Ka-y-ne Island, August 3.

29. Tringa tetnmincki, Leisler. Anadyr Bay, July 23.

30. Tatanus pugnax (Linn.). Anadyr Valley.

31. Eurynorhynchus pygmaus (Linn.). Holy Cross Bay, July 28.

Gruidje (Crake Family)

32. Grus niediecii, Reichenow. Anadyr Valley.

This species, discovered by Mr. Niedieck and named in his honour, comes nearest to Grus canadensis, but is much smaller, with

242 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

the beak and legs notably shorter, and the cheeks and throat whitish grey. The general tone of the plumage is grey, with the cheeks and throat a lighter whitish grey ; primary quills black ; forehead, crown, lores, and region of the ears naked, reddish, with sparsely distributed black bristles ; beak and feet black, tip of the former lighter grey. Length about 850, wing 430, tail 150, beak 88, and leg 165 millimetres.

33. Lagopus lagopus [LAnn.). Marsovya Bay, June 19.

34. Lagopus rupestris (Linn.). Betchevinskaya Bay, Kamschatka, June

5 and 20.

CorvidjE (Crow Family)

35. Corvus corax^ Linn. Betchevinskaya Bay, May 2.

Fringillidje (Finches)

36. Emberiza nival'ts (Linn.). Anadyr Vallev, Ka-y-ne Island, August

3, 1906.

37. Calcarius calcaratus {T!tmm\ncV.). Anadyr Bay, July 23 ; Ka-y-ne

Island, August 3.

38. Phiicola ennucleator (Linn.). .Anadyr Valley.

MoTACiLLiD^ (Wagtail Group)

39. Motacilla lugens, Kittl. Marsovya Bay, June 14 to 25.

40. Budytes favus (Linn.). Anadyr Bay, July 23; Marsovya Bay,

June 20.

41. Jnthus cervinus, Pallas. Marsovya Bay, June 20 to 26.

Sylviidje (Warblers)

42. Calliope calliope (Pallas). Marsovya Bay, June 18 to July I, 1906.

II. FROM ALASKA AND THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

AlcidjE (Auk Group)

1. Uria columha (Pallas). Kodiak Island, Alaska, October 22, 1906.

2. Uria snowi (Stejneger). Kenai River, August 7. Eyes bluish

black ; beak and feet slaty black.

APPENDIX— BIRDS 243

3. Fratercula corniculata (Naumaiin). Clerk Island, September 5.

Eyes black ; eyelids scarlet ; feet orange-yellow.

4. Ptychorhamphus aleuUcus (Pallas). Ongar Sound, August 26.

Eyes white ; feet light slaty grey.

5. Slmorhynchus cristatellus (Pallas). Ongar Sound, August 26.

Eyes bright brown ; feet light slaty grey.

ColymbidjE (Divers)

6. Colymhus auritus, Linn. Kodiak Island, October 22. Eyes ochre-

yellow ; feet light green.

Procellarid^ (Petrel Group)

7. Diomedia nigripes, Audubon. Aniakehak Bay, August 29. Eves

and beak brown ; feet blackish slate-colour.

Larid^ (Gulls)

^. Larus glaucescens, Naumann. Dutch Harbour, Aleutians, August 14, 1906 ; Unimak, Aleutians, August 25. Eyes straw yellow ; feet flesh-colour. 9. Larus smithsonianus, Coues. Kodiak Island, August 30. Eyes

straw-yellow ; feet flesh-coloured. 10. Larus Philadelphia (Ord). Kenai River, September 6 and

October 9. Eyes black ; beak brown ; feet light flesh-colour. J I. Larus atricilla, Linn. Kenai River, October 6. Beak brown; feet flesh-colour.

Anatidje (Duck Group)

12. Oidemia deglandi^ Bonaparte. Yakutat Bay.

Charadriidj« (Plover Tribe)

13. Squatorola squatorola (Linn.). Kenai River, October 7, 1906.

Eyes black ; feet grey. J4. Charadrius dominicus (St. Miiller). Kenai River, October 7. Feet grey.

244 CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

ScoLopAciDJE (Snipe Group)

1 5. I'ringa couesi (Ridgway). Kenai River, October 7 ; Yzembeck Bay,

August 22. Beak and feet olive-grey.

16. Tr'tnga pacifica, Coues. Kenai River, October 7.

17. Tringoides macular'ms (Linn.). Kenai River, November 14.

FalcomdjI (Falcon Group)

18. Circus hudsonius (Linn.). Kenai River, October 6.

Strigid^ (Owls)

19. Bubo arcticus, Swainson. Kenai River, September 5, 1906.

20. Syrnium cineriimi (Gmelin). Kenai River, October 3. Eyes

yellow.

PiciD.* (Woodpeckers)

21. Picoides alascensis (Nelson). Kenai River, September 15 and

October 4, 1906.

CoRviDii: (Crow Family)

22. Corvus principalis, Ridgway. Yakutat Bay, November i, 1906.

23. Corvus caurinus (Baird). Kodiak Island, October 18 to 20.

24. Pica hudsonica (Sabine). Kodiak Island, October 18 to 20.

25. Perisoreus fumifrons, Ridgway. Kenai River, November 13 to 26.

Icterid.* (Hang-Nests)

26. Scolecophagiis carolinus (Miiller). Kodiak Island, October 22.

FRINGILLIDiE (FiNCHES)

27. Pinicola alascensis (Ridgway). Kenai, October 4, 1906.

28. Loxia leucopUra (Gmelin). Kenai, October 4.

29. Montifringilla griseonucha (Brandt). Dutch Harbour, Aleutian

Islands, August 14 and 15.

30. Acanthis linaria (Linn.). Kodiak Island, October 19.

31. Calcarius alascensis, Ridgway. Dutch Harbour, August 15;

Unimak, Aleutians, August 23.

APPENDIX— BIRDS 245

32. Jmmodramus sandwichensis [Gmtixn). Dutch Harbour, August 15.

33. 'Junco oregonus (Townsend). Kenai, September 17.

MoTAciLLiD^ (Wagtail Group)

34. yfnt/iiis pennsi/vaniius (Luthom). Yzembeck Bay, August 22, 1906.

PARiDit (Tit-Mice)

35. Parus septentrionalis ( Harris). Kenai, September 1 7.

36. Parus evura, Coues. Kenai River, September 29.

C.—lNFERTEBRArES Determined in the Royal Zoological Museum, Berlin.

Vermes (Worms)

Ascarii adunca^ Rud, from a species of Gadus. Oxyuris, sp. from Erethizon myops.

Arachnoidea (Spiders) An incompletely developed specimen of Lycosida.

DiPTERA (Flies)

Calliplwra vomitans (Linn.).

Lucilia regine, Meig.

Scatoplwga stercoraria (Linn.). Alaska.

Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Larentta unangulata, Hw.

Larentia munitata, Hb.

Pieris napi, Linn.

Papilio machaon kamschatdalus, Alph.

Brenthis euphrosyne, Linn. Marsovya Bay.

Hymenoptera (Bees and Ants) Formica fusca, Linn. Kenai Peninsula, etc.

Pediculid^ (Lice)

Hamatopinus, sp. Alaska.

246

APPENDIX— INVERTEBRATES 247

COLEOPTERA (BeETLEs)

Upis ceramhoides^ Linn.

Stenotrachelus arctatus^ Say. Kamschatka.

Crustacea (Crabs, etc.)

Pandalus dance, Stimps.

Pandalus annuUcornii, F.

Rocinela belliceps, Stimps, from haddock.

Lepeophtheirus, sp. from haddock.

INDEX

Aborigines, festivals of, 19, 127. 128

funeral rites, 80, 126, 139

marriage customs, 124, 135, 136

myths, 18, 14.3, 150, 174

religious beliefs, 78, 81, 92, 151

slavery among, 141 Aborigines of Alaska, 117, 123, 130 Aborigines of Kamschatka, 28, 78, 85, 89 Aborigines of Kurile Islands, 18 Achnutschik, sex anomaly, 123 Ainu of the Kuriles, 18 Alaska, 4, iii, 114

bears, 166, 235, 237

climate, 169, 188, 215

Commercial Company, 168

fauna, 165, 188

industries, 156, 160

moose, 165

North-West, goldfields of, 158

scenery, 180, 188, 192, 216

servant question in, 195

sold to United States, i 16

whale-fishery of, 158 Alcidx, 242

Aleutian Islands, 112, 117, 182 Aleuts, Alaskan, 117, 122

converted to Christianity, 123, 215 Alexander Archipelago, 217 Allen, Dr. J. A., 225 Ambassador, German, at Washington, 7 Anadyr, 90 Anadyr Bay, 86 Anadyr River, 79, 88

cruise to, 84 Anatid^e, 240, 243 Aomori, 16 Arachnoidea, 246

Arboreal vegetation, 34, 200, 215 ' Athabascoes, 1 17

Atmospherical phenomenon, 59, 204 Auxiliary husbands, 124, 137 Avatcha Bay, 23, 71

" Baillie " of Karaga, the, 77

" Banzai," origin of, 14

Baranow, Mr., 113

Baribal, Kenai [Euarctos aff. hylodromui), 257

Barren Isles, 214

Bear, Alaskan, 166, 235, 237

giant {Ursus gyas)^ 235

Kamschatkan brown [Dtinis /tiscator), 237 habits, 30, 35, 47, 55, 56 -hunting, 30, 34, 46, 48, 54, 64, 69

Kenai grizzly [Danii kenaiensis)^ 237

Kodiak, 212 Bear Lake, 57, 68

cruise to, 67 Bennett, Lake, 161 Bering Island, 1 12

Sea, 23, 112, 187

Straits, 104, 107 Bering, Vitus, explorer, 72, 112 Berlin Natural History Museum, 227

Zoological Museum, 87, 224, 240, 246 Betchevinskaya Bay, 26. 63, 65

camp, 27

misadventure in, 65

overland journey to, 64 Bighorn, Alaskan white mountain {Oi'is JaiH)^ 198

American [O-vis montana)., 3 1

Kamschatkan {Ot'is nii-icola)^ 31, 84, 225 habits, 48, 66 -hunting, 31, 40, 45, 48, 64

Kenai white {Otis kenaiensis)^ 166. 22^ Birds, collection of, 104, 240 Brandy-drinking by aborigines, iS, 78, 104 Bremen, Geographical Society of, 1 30 Bristol Bay, Alaska, 114

Campania^ 5

Cape Kronoski, 32

Cape Lopatka, 23, 73, 167

Cape Meechken, 97

Cape Prince of Wales 107

Cape Shipunsky, 41, 67

Cape Vararin, 84

Charadriidae, 241, 243

Clans, Indian, i 30

Climate of Alaska, 169, 188,215

Climate of Kamschatka, 28, 59

Coal-pits of Alaska, 160

Coast, dangers of Kamschatkan, 67

Coleoptera, 247

249

250

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Columbia Glacier, 216

River, 1 17, 161 Colymbidae, 243 Cook, explorer, 114, 116 Cook Inlet, 213 Corvidae, 242, 244

Creation, belief concerning the, 144, 174 Cremation in Alaska, 139 Cruises to

Anadyr River, 84

Bear Lake, 67

Betchevinskaya Bay, 26

Cape Meechken, 92

Ka-y-ne Island, 104

Kodiak, 190, 213

Marsovya Bay, 37

Providence Bay, 103

Seldovia, 213 Crustacea, 247 Cuvier, G., 227

Davydoff", explorer, 125, 127

Degen, C, taxidermist, 5, 46

De Lesseps, 79

Deluge, belief concerning the, 152, 174

Diptera, 246

Divorce customs In Alaska, 137

Dogs, sledge-, 171

Dutch Harbour, 179

Education in Alaska, 138 EUamar mining-camp, 216 Emperor of Japan, 9, 12 Empress ofjapan^ 8 Esquimaux, 89, 117, 171

alcohol-drinking, 104, 176

Creation-myth, 174

Deluge-myth, 175

habits, 103, 173

religious beliefs, 92

self-destruction, 92

Falconidae, 244

Fall, mythical story of the, 174 "False Passage," 187 Fauna of Alaska, 165, 188 Festivals, native, 19, 127, 128 Firearms imported to Alaska, 114 Fire, mythical origin of, 149 Flood, In<lian myth of the, 146, 152 Flora, 17, 47, 105

Fox, Arctic and blue [Leucocyon aff. ber'wg- ensis\ 235

blue [Leucocyort spec,)^ 162, 235

-breeding, 162

Kamschatkan red [Fulpes aff. atia({yremh\ 234

Kenai red {P'ulpes kenaiensis)^ 235 Fringillida?, 242, 244 Funeral rites, native, 80, 126, 139 Fur-seal, 166

Gambling among aborigines, 126

Game, natives chief destroyers of, 1 14, 176, J99

Geographical Society of Bremen, 130

German Ambassador at Washington, 7

Glutton [Guh aff. luscus), 238

Goldfields of Alaska, 156, 158

Graham Bay, 214

Gruidie, 241

Gulls' nests, robbing, 46

Hair-seal, 166, 233, 234

Hakodadi, 17

Hare, Kenai snow- {Lepus niediccki\ 231

Harrison, Mr. E. S., 173

Helms<lorf, explorer, 130

Hoggatt, Mr., 17S

Hoimberg, explorer, 116, 118, 124

Holy Cross Bay, 92, 94

Hotham Bay, 173

Hudson's Bay Company, 143

Husbands, auxiliary, 124, 137

Hymenoptera, 246

Icteridae, 244

Iliamna volcano, 192

Industries of Alaska, 156, 160, 216

Insect life, 68, 69, 198

Invertebrate animals, 246

Islands, three new, 182

Japan, Emperor of, 9

North and South contrasted, 20 Japanese flora, 17

military trophies, 15

tea-house, 19

troops, grand review of, 9 JeshI, birth and childhood, 145

miracles of, 146

a mythical Christ, 131, 143, 153 Juneau, 1 56, 217

Kaganakt, a game of chance, 126 Kamschatdales and brandy-drinking, 78

habits, 28, 73, 78

religious beliefs, 78 Kamschatka, climate of, 28, 59

voyage to, 21 Kamschatkan coast, dangers of, 67 Karaga, 76

Karaga, the " baillie " of, 77 Karaginsky Bay, 76 Karluk, 161

Kasjati, Indian sorcerers, 128 Kayak Island, 216 Ka-y-ne Island, 104 Kenai, 193, 205

Lake, 205

peninsula, 165, 190, 204

River, 205 Khanukt, a mythical being, 131, 150 Kodiak bear, 212

INDEX

251

Kodiak Island, 112, 190

cruise to, 213 Kommandorski Islands, 167 Konjaks, 1 17, 123

allegetl massacre of, 120

converted to Christianity, 124

festivals of, 127, 128

funeral rites, 126

marriage ceremonies, 124 Koryaks, funeral rites, 80

habits, 79, 80

** intoxicating liquor," 80

religious beliefs, 81 Kotzebue Sound, 156 Krause, Dr. Amel, 130 Kurile archipelago, 18 Kuro Sivo, the, 169 Kusiloff, 193

River, 193, 199, 207 Kysko Island, iSi

Lake Kenai, 205

Lake Tustamena, 198, 204

La Perouse, explorer, 72, 114, 116

Laridae, 240, 243

Latouche, 216

Laws, moral, of aborigines, 138

Lemming [Dicrostoiiyx sf>ec. aff. nchoni)^ 230

Lepidoptera, 246

Lopatka, Cape, 23, 73, 167

Ldtke, explorer, 1 16

Lydekker, Mr., 224

Lynx, red {Lynx aff. moUipilosus), 238

Magic of the Elelescho^ T/ie, 1 1 5

Malaspina glacier, 217

Mammals, collection of, 224

Mammoth [Dicyclotherium aff. primigenius)^ 226

-tusk, 89, 226 Marine animals, 33, 166 Markowo, 89, 91

Marmot, Siberian [Citel/us buxtoni), 212, 227 Marriage customs of aborigines, 124, 135, 136 Marsovya Bay, 37, 45 Marten, Kenai [Muitela kenaiensis)^ 238 Matschie, Prof. Paul, 223 Middendorff, Th. von, 238 Miller, G. S., 230 Minerals of Alaska, 156 Modern Thlinkets, 154 Moon, mythical origin of, 148 Moose, Alaskan, 165

habits, 202, 204. 207

-hunting, 200, 206, 208, 210

Kenai giant [Alces gigas)^ 224 Moose River, 205 Mosquitoes, 68 Motacillidae, 242, 245 Mount Raimer, 218 Mount St. Elias, 117, 217 Mouse, Arctic shrew- [Sorex aff. arcticus)^ 239

Mouse, field- [Microtus katmchutkus)^ 229

Kenai red [£i-otomys orca), 229 Muroran, 21 Mythology of aborigines, 18, 143, 174

** Nameless " Bay, 50

Nass River, 143, 161

New York, 7

Nicolaieftsk, 72

Nicoly, guide, 27

Nippon Island, 16

Nomadic aborigines, 133

Nome, 107, 157, 171, 177

Nome and Sezvarii Peninsu/a, 173

North American Commercial Company, 169

North Semidi Island, 162

Nowo Mariinsky, 88

Oil industry of Alaska, 160 Orca Bay, 2 16 Orca mining-camp, 216 Okhotsk, 112

Pacific walrus, 87, 93

Psederastia, 125

Paridic, 245

Pediculid*, 246

Peltry, 112

Perry Island, 182

Peter the Great and Bering Sea, 1 12

Petropaulovsky, 23, 40, 71

Picid*, 244

Pirate Cove, 188

Polygamy, 124, 1 ^6

Porcupine, Kenai tree- {Erahhon ^lyops)^ 233

Fordumi^ 2 1 5

Pribylov Islands, 167

Price, Admiral, death recalled, 72

Prince William Sound, 215

Procellari<l», 243

Providence Bay, 103

Radclyfte, Capt. C. R. E., 5, 24, 36 et seq.

Rat, brown [Mus aff. Jecumanus), 230

Redoubt volcano, 192, 204

Reichenow, Prof. A., 240

Reindeer, 166, 177

Religious beliefs of aborigines, 78, Si, 92, 151

Review, grand, of Japanese troops, 9

Roosevelt, President, 7, 1 1 5

Russian American Company, 113, 143, 156

Russians in Alaska, a story of, 118

Sable, Kenai {Lurreo/a melampeplus), 238 Sacramento River, 161 St. Augustine crater, 192 St, Paul's Island, 113, 162 Salmon-fishing, 68, 76, 160 Salmon industry, 161 Sand Point, 188, 196 ■ San Francisco, 2 19

252

CRUISES IN THE BERING SEA

Schamans, sorcerers, 154 Schilling, Mr. C. G., 115 Schiissler, Carl, servant, i Scolopacidaf, 241, Z44 Sea-bear, 166 Seal, Alaskan hair- [Phoca

27, 29 et Sep

■ic/iari/si), 234

fur-, breeding of. 167 et seq. Kamschatkan hair- [Phoca largha), 233 Sea-lions, 42, 4;, 166

Seals, inquisitivL'ncss of,. 33

Sea-otter, 166

Sea-sickness, 22, 184, 190

Seattle, 8, 21S

Sekatsch, sea-bear bull. 167

Seldovia, 2 14

Self-destruction by aborigines, 92

Seward, 2 16

Seward peninsula, 158, 171, 176

Sex anomaly, 125

Sheep. Kamschatkan mountain- {Ofis nii'i- cola)^ 31, 225 Kenai [Ot-is kenaiends\ 166, 225 Siberian wild [O'vis storcki), 5, 225 white mountain- {Ofis dalli), 31, 198

Siberia, North-Enstcrn, 89

Siberian Trading Company 5

Simushir Islaml, 22

Sitka, 1 13, 1 14, 169

Skis, excursion on, 30

Slavery, native, in Alaska, 141

Smithsonian Museum, Washington, 87

Sokolnikoff, Mr., 89

Squaws of Alaska, 206

Stars, mythical origin of the, 148

Stepney, 7, 20, 70, 82, 102, 107

Stikine River, 161

Storck, Mr. G. H., 5, 23, 70, 74, 82, 86, 107

Strigidae, 244

Sun, mythical origin of, 149

Suslik [Citcllus buxtoni), 36, 212, 227

Sylviiiise, 242

Tanana Valley, 216 Tareinska Harbour, 72 Tchuktchis, 85, 89, 93

habits, 90

religious rites, 92

self-destruction, 92 Telescope, Zeiss, 65 Thlinkct Indians, 117 Thlinkets, clans of, 130

Flood-myth, 146, 152

habits, 133

low morality of, 1 54

marriage system, 135

modern, 154

Thlinkets, mythology, 143, n^z

religious beliefs, 151, 1154 Tokio, grand review at, 9 "■Tunrak," an evil spirit, 174 Tustamena Lake, 193, 198, 204

Ukoi River, 79 Unalaska Island, 179, 181 Unimak Passage. 167, 187 United States purchase Alaska, 116

Valdez, 216

Vancouver, 8

Vancouver, explorer, 114, 116

Vegetation, arboreal, 34, 200, 215

Vermes, 246

Vladimir, interpreter, 75

Vladivostock, 72

Volcanic islan<ls, new, 182

Vdunttir^ 179, 183, 191, 213

Voyages to

Kamschatka, 21

Karaginsky Bay, 76

New York, 5

Nome, 75, 107

Seattle, 215

Yokohama, g

Walrus, habits, 98, 184

hunting, 97, 101

Pacific, 87, 93

snapshotting, 185

Trichechm obesus^ 234 Wars of aborigines, 129, 138 Washington, 7 Wassily, interpreter, 27 Water, mythical origin of, 149 Weather in Alaska, 200, 209 Weather in Bering Sea, 170 Weather In Kamschatka, 29, 41, 54, 69, 84 Weniamlnow, Russian priest, 116, 130, 143 Whale-fishery of Alaska, i 58 Winchester rifle, 98, 199 PVith Flashlight and Rifle^ 115 Wolf {Cants aff. lupus), 234 Wolverine [Gitlo aff. luscus), 238 Women, cruel treatment of, 125 Wood Island, 214

Yakutat, 112, 217 Yezo, 18 Yokohama, 9 Yukon River, 161, 181

Zeiss telescope, 65

Zoological Museum, Berlin, 48, ^jj 223

Printed by R. &c R. Clark, Limitep, Edir.burgh.

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