ited the Youkon country by the way of the Mackenzie river, and contributed to the Smithsonian Institution important information with regard to its geography and natural history, some of which will be found in their reports. Nature in novel forms was open to him. The birds here maintained their kingdom. All about him was the mysterious breeding-place of the canvas-back duck, whose eggs, never before seen by a naturalist, covered acres.

If we look to maps for information, here again we find ourselves disappointed. Latterly the coast is outlined and described with reasonable completeness; so also are the islands. This is the contribution of navigators and of recent Russian charts. But the interior is little more than a blank, calling to mind "the pathless downs," where, according to Prior, the old geographers "place elephants instead of towns. I have already referred to what purports to be a "General Map of the Russian Empire," published by the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg in 1776, and republished at London in 1787, where Russian America does not appear. I might mention also that Captain Cook complained in his day of the Russian maps as "wonderfully erroneous."

On his return English maps recorded his explorations and the names he assigned to different parts of the coast. These were reproduced in St. Petersburg, and the Russian copy was then reproduced in London, so that geographical knowledge was very little advanced. Some of the best maps of this region are by Germans, who always excel in maps. Here, for instance, is an excellent map of the Aleutian islands and the neighboring coasts, especially to illustrate their orography and geography, which will be found at the end of the volume of Transactions of the Imperial Mineralogical Society at St. Petersburg, to which I have already referred.

Late maps attest the tardiness of information. Here, for instance, is an excellent map of North America, purporting to be published by the Geographical Institute of Weimar as late as 1859, on which we have the Youkon pictured, very much like the Niger in Africa, as a large river meandering in the interior without any outlet to the sea. Here also is a Russian map of this very region, as late as 1861, in which the course of the Youkon is left in doubt. On other maps, as in the Atlas of Keith Johnston, it is pictured under another name as entering into the Frozen ocean. the secret is penetrated at last. Recent discovery by the enterprise of our citizens in the service of the Telegraph Company fixes that this river is an affluent of the Kwichpak, as the Missouri is an affluent of the Mississippi, and enters into Behring sea, by many mouths, between the parallels of 64° and 65°. After the death of Major Kennicott a division of his party, with nothing but a skin boat, ascended the river to Fort Youkon, where it bifurcates, and descended it again to Nulato, thus estab

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lishing the entire course from its sources in the Rocky mountains for a distance exceeding a thousand miles. I have before me now an outline map just prepared by our Coast Survey, where this correction is made. But this is only the harbinger of the maturer labors of our accomplished bureau when the coasts of this region are under the jurisdiction of the United States.

In closing this abstract of authorities, being the chief sources of original information on this subject, I cannot forbear expressing my satisfaction that, with the exception of a single work, all these may be found in the Congressional Library, now so happily enriched by the rare collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Sometimes individuals are like libraries; and this seems to be illustrated in the case of Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, who is thoroughly informed on all questions connected with the Natural History of Russian America, and also of George Gibbs, Esq., now of Washington, who is the depositary of valuable knowledge, the result of his own personal studies and observations, with regard to the native races.

CHARACTER AND VALUE OF RUSSIAN AMERICA.

I pass now to a consideration of the character and value of these possessions, as seen under these different heads: first, government; secondly, population; thirdly, climate; fourthly, vegetable products; fifthly, mineral products; sixthly, furs; and seventhly, fisheries. Of these I shall speak briefly in their order. There are certain words of a general character, which I introduce by way of preface. I quote from Blodgett on the Climatology of the United States and of the temperate Latitudes of the North American continent :

"It is most surprising that so little is known of the great islands and the long line of coast from Puget's sound to Sitka, ample as its resources must be even for recruiting the transient commerce of the Pacific, independent of its immense intrinsic value. To the region bordering the northern Pacific the finest maritime positions belong throughout its entire extent; and no part of the west of Europe exceeds it in the advantages of equable climate, fertile soil, and commercial accessibility of the coast. The western slope of the Rocky mountain system may be included as a part of this maritime region, embracing an immense area from the forty-fifth to the sixtieth parallel and five degrees of longitude in width. The cultivable service of this district cannot be much less than three hundred thousand square miles."

From this sketch, which is in the nature of a picture, I pass to the different heads.

Government.

I. The Russian settlements were for a long time without any regular Government. They were little more than temporary lodgments for purposes of trade, where the will of the stronger prevailed. The natives, who had enslaved each other, became in turn the slaves of these mercenary adventurers. Captain Cook records "the great subjection" of the natives at Ounalaska when he was there in

1778, and a Russian navigator, twenty years later, describes the islands generally as under the sway of roving hunters more savage than any tribes he had hitherto met with." (Billings's Voyage, p. 274.) At Ounalaska the Russians for a long time employed all the men in the chase, "taking the fruits of their labor to themselves."

The first trace of government which I find was in 1790, at the important island of Kodiak, or the Great Island, as it was called, where a Russian company was established under the direction of a Greek by the name of Delareff, who, according to the partial report of a Russian navigator, "governed with the strictest justice, as well natives as Russians, and established a school, where the young natives were taught the Russian language, reading, and writing. (Billings, p. 171.) Here were about fifty Russians, including officers of the company, and another person described as there "on the part of Government to collect tribute." The establishment consisted of five houses after the Russian fashion; barracks laid out on either side somewhat like the boxes at a coffee-house, with different offices, which are represented as follows: "An office of appeal to settle disputes, levy fines, and punish offenders by a regular trial; here Delareff presides; and I believe that few courts of justice pass a sentence with more impartiality; an office of receival and delivery, both for the company and for tribute; the commissary's department; counting-house; all in this building, at one end of which is Delareff's habitation." (Ibid., p. 173.) If this picture is not overdrawn, and it surely is, affairs here did not improve with time.

It seems that there were various small companies, of which that at Kodiak was the most considerable, all of which were finally fused into one large Trading Company, known as the Russian American Company, which was organized in 1799, under a charter from the Emperor Paul, with the power of administration throughout the whole region, including the coasts and the islands. In this respect it was not unlike the East India Company, which has played such a part in English history; but it may be more properly compared to the Hudson Bay Company, of which it was a Russian counterpart. The charter was for a term of years, but it has been from time to time extended, and, as I understand, is now on the point of expiring. The powers of the company are sententiously described by the Almanach de Gotha for 1867, where, under the head of Russia, it says that "to the present time Russian America has been the property of a company.'

I know no limitation upon the company, except that latterly it has been bound to appoint its chief functionary, called "Administrator General," from the higher officers of the Imperial navy, when he becomes invested with what are declared the prerogatives of a gov

ernor in Siberia. This requirement has doubtless secured the superior order of magistrates which the country has latterly enjoyed. Among these have been Baron Wrangel, an admiral, who was there at the time of the treaty with Great Britain in 1825; Captain Koupreanoff, who had commanded the Azof, a ship of the line, in the Black sea, and spoke English well; Captain Etholine; Admiral Fujurelm, who, after being there five years, was made gov ernor of the province of the Amoor; Admiral Wodski and Prince Macksoutoff, an admiral also, who is the present Administrator General. The term of service is ordinarily five years.

The seat of government is the town of New Archangel, better known by its aboriginal name of Sitka, with a harbor as smooth and safe as a pond. Its present population cannot be far from one thousand souls, although even this is changeable. In the spring, when sailors leave for the sea and trappers for the chase, it has been reduced to as few as one hundred and eighty. It was not without a question that Sitka at last prevailed as the metropolis. Lütke sets forth reasons elaborately urged in favor of St. Paul on the island of Kodiak. (Voyage, Tom. 1, p. 153.)

The first settlement there was in 1800 by Baranow, the superintendent of the company, whose life was passed in this country, and whose name has been given to the island. But the settlement made sw progress. Lisiansky who was there in 1804, records that "from his entrance into Sitka sound there was not to be seen on the shore the least vestige of habita tion." (P. 145.) The natives had set them selves against a settlement there. Meanwhile the seat of government was at Kodiak, of which we have an early and friendly glimpse. I quote what Lisiansky says, as exhibiting in a favorable light the beginning of that govern ment which has been transferred to the United States:

"The island of Kodiak, with the rest of the Russian

settlements along the northwest coast of America, are superintended by a kind of governor general or commander-in-chief, who has agents under him, appointed, like himself, by the company at Petersburg. The smaller settlements have each a Russian overseer. These overseers are chosen by the governor. and are selected for the office in consequence of their long services and orderly conduct. They have the power of punishing, to a certain extent, those whom they superintend; but are themselves amenable to the governor if they abuse their power by acts of injustice. The seat of government is on the harbor of St. Paul, which has a barrack, different storehouses, several respectable wooden habitations, and a church, the only one to be found on the coast."-Ibid., p. 214.

their orders.' (Ibid., 153.) From another source I learn that the inhabitants of Kodiak and of the Aleutian islands were regarded as "immediate subjects of the company;" the males from eighteen. to fifty being bound to serve it for the term of three years each. They were employed in the chase. The population of Alaska and of the two great bays, Cook's inlet and Prince William sound, were also subject to the company; but they were held to a yearly tax in furs without any regular service, and they could trade only with the company. Otherwise they were independent. This seems to have been before the division of the whole into districts, all under the company, which, though primarily for the business of the company, may be regarded as so many distinct jurisdictions, each with local powers of government.

Among these were two districts which I mention only to put aside, as not included in the present cession: (1.) The Kurile Islands, being the group nestling near the coast of Japan, on the Asiatic side of the dividing line between the two continents. (2.) The Ross settlement in California, now abandoned.

There remain five other districts: (1.) The District of Atcha, with the bureau at this island, embracing the two western groups of the Aleutians known as the Andreanowsky islands and the Rat islands; and also the group about Behring's island, which is not embraced in the present cession. (2.) The District of Ounalaska, with the bureau at this island, embracing the Fox islands, the peninsula of Alaska to the meridian of the Shumagin islands, including these and also the Prybelov islands to the north of the peninsula. (3.) The District of Kodiak, embracing the peninsula of Alaska east of the meridian of the Shumagin islands, and the coast westward to Mount St. Elias, with the adjacent islands, including Kodiak, Cook's inlet, and Prince William sound; then northward along the coast of Bristol bay, and the country watered by the Nushagak and Kuskokwim rivers; all of which is governed from Kodiak with redoubts or palisaded stations at Nushagak, Cook's inlet, and Prince William sound. (4.) The Northern District, embracing the country of the Kwichpak and of Norton's sound, under the direction of the commander of the redoubt at St. Michaels; leaving the country northward, with the islands St. Lawrence and St. Mathews, not embraced in this district, but visited direct from Sitka. (5.) The District of Sitka, embracing the coast from Mount St. Elias, where the Kodiak district ends, southward to the latitude of 54° 40', with the adjacent islands. But this district has been curtailed by a lease of the Russian American Company in 1839, for the space of ten years, and subsequently renewed, in which this company, in consideration of the annual payment of two thousand otter skins of Columbia river, underlets to the Hudson Bay Company all its franchise for the strip of continent between Cape

Spencer at the north and the latitude of 54° 40, excluding the adjacent islands.

The central government of all these districts is at Sitka, from which emanates all orders and instructions. Here also is he chief factory, from which supplies are forwarded to different places, and where the proceeds of the trade are collected.

The operations of the Government may be seen in its receipts and expenditures, including its salaries and allowances. In the absence of a complete series of such statistics to the present time, I mass together what I have been able to glean in different fields, relating to particular years, knowing well its unsatisfactory character. But each item has its instruction for us.

The capital of the company, in buildings, wares, and vessels, in 1833, was said to be 3,658,577 rubles. In 1838 the company possessed twelve vessels, amounting together to fifteen hundred and fifty-six tons, most of which were built at Sitka. According to Wappaus, who follows Wrangel, the salaries of the officers and workmen of the company in 1832 amounted to 442,877 rubles. At that time the persons in its service numbered 1,025, of whom 556 were Russians, 152 Creoles, and 317 Aleutians. In 1851 there were in the service of the company 1 staff officer, 3 officers of the Imperial navy, 1 officer of engineers, 4 civil officers, 30 religious officers, and 686 servants. The expenses of the company from 1826 to 1833, a period of seven years, were 6,608,077 rubles. These become interesting to us when it is considered that, besides what was paid on account of furs, and the support of the persons in the service of the company, were other items incident to government, such as ship-building, navigation, fortifications, hospitals, schools, and churches. From a later authority it appears that the receipts of the company, reported at St, Petersburg for the year 1855, was 832,749 rubles, against expenses, 683,892 rubles, incurred for "administration in Russia and the colonies," insurance, transportation, and duties. relative proportion of these different expenses does not appear. I have another report for 1857, where the revenue was 832,749 rubles, with expenditures of 683,892 rubles, leaving the difference for dividends, which were fixed at 18 rubles a share.

The

In

In Russia the churches belong to the Government, and this rule prevails in these districts, where there are four Greek churches and five Greek chapels. There is also a Protestant church at Sitka. I am glad to add that at the latter place there is a public library, which some years ago contained seventeen hundred volumes, together with journals, maps, atlases, and mathematical instruments. Atcha, Ounalaska, Kodiak, and Sitka schools are said to have been maintained at the expense of the company, though not on a very comprehensive scale; for Admiral Wrangel mentions only ninety boys as enjoying these advantages in 1839. In Ounalaska and Kodiak there were at the same time orphan asylums for girls, where there were in all about thirty. But the admiral adds that "these useful institutions will, without doubt, be improved to the utmost." Besides these, which are confined to particular localities, there is said to be a hospital near every factory in all the districts.

I have no means of knowing if these territorial subdivisions have undergone any recent modifications. They will be found in the Russichen Besitzungen of Wrangel, published in 1839; in the Geographie of Wappaus in 1856, and in the Archiv von Russland of 1863, containing the article on the report of Golowin. I am thus particular with regard to them from a double motive. Besides helping to an understanding of the existing government they may afford suggestions of practical importance in any future organization.

The company has not been without criticism. Some of the pictures of it are by no means

rose color. These, too, may furnish instruction for the future. Early in the century its administration was the occasion of open and repeated complaint. It was pronounced harsh and despotic. Langsdorf is indignant that "a free-trading company should exist independent of the Government, not confined within any definite regulations, but who can exercise their authority free and uncontrolled, nay, even unpunished, over so vast an extent of country." In stating the case he adds that "the Russian subject here enjoys no protection of his property, lives in no security, and if oppressed has no one to whom he can apply for justice. The agents of the factories and their subordinates, influenced by humor or interest, decide everything arbitrarily." (Voyages, vol. 2, p. 70.) And this arbitrary power seemed to prevail wherever a factory was established: "the stewardship in each single establishment is entirely despotic; though nominally depending upon the principal factory these stewards do just what they please, without the possibil ity of being called to account." (Ibid., vol. 2, p. 69.) If such was the condition of Russians, what must have been that of the natives? Here the witness answers: "I have seen the Russian fur-hunters dispose of the lives of the natives solely according to their own arbitrary will, and put these defenseless creatures to death in the most horrible manner." (P. 70.) Kru senstern concurs in this testimony, and, if possible, darkens the coors. According to him every one must obey the iron rule of the agent of the American company; nor can there be either personal property or individual security where there are no laws. The chief agent of the American company is the boundless despot over an extent of country which, comprising the Aleutian islands, stretches from 57° to 60° of latitude and from 130° to 190° of east longitude;" and he adds, in a note, "there are no courts of justice in Kodiak, nor any of the company's possessions." (Voyages, vol. 2, p. 107.) Kotzebue, who came later, while confessing his incompetency to speak on the treatment of the natives by the company, declares his "wounded feelings and commiseration." (Voyage, vol. 3, p. 314.) It is too probable that the melancholy story of our own aborigines has been repeated here. As these criticisms were by Russian officers they must have had a certain effect. I cannot believe that the recent government, administered by the enlightened magistrates of whom we have heard, has been obnoxious to such terrible accusations; nor must it be forgotten that the report of Lisiansky, the other Russian officer, who was there at the same time, is much less painful.

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Baranow, who had been so long superin tendent, retired in 1818. He is praised much by Langsdorf, who saw him in 1806, and by Lütke, who was at Sitka in 1828. Both attrib ute to him a genius for his place and a disin terested devotion to the interests of the com·

pany, whose confidence he enjoyed to the end. Although administering affairs here for more than a generation without rendering any accounts, he died poor. He was succeeded by Captain Haguemeister. Since then, according to Lütke, an infinity of reforms has taken place by which order and system have been introduced into the government.

The Russian officer, Captain Golowin, who visited these possessions in 1860, has recommended certain institutional reforms, which are not without interest to us at this time. His recommendations concern the governor and the people. According to him the governor should be appointed by the Crown with the concur rence of the company, removable only when his continuance is plainly injurious to the colony; he should be subject only to the Crown, and his powers should be limited, especially in regard to the natives; he should provide protection for the colonists by means of cruisers, and should personally visit every district annually; the colonists, creoles, and subject natives, such as the Aleutians, should be governed by magistrates of their own selection; the name of "free creole" should cease; all disputes should be settled by the local magistrates unless the parties desire an appeal to the governor; schools should be encouraged, and, if necessary, provided at the public expense. Surely these suggestions, which are in the nature of a Reform Bill, foreshadow a condition of self-government in harmony with republican institutions.

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It is evident that these Russian settlements, distributed through an immense region and far from any civilized neighborhood, have little in common with those of European nations elsewhere, unless we except those of Denmark on the west coast of Greenland. Nearly all are on the coast or the islands. They are nothing but villages" or factories," under the protection of palisades. Sitka is an exception, due unquestionably to its selection as the headquarters of the government, and also to the eminent character of the governors who have made it their home. The Executive Mansion and the social life there have been described by recent visitors, who acknowledged the charms of politeness on this distant northwestern coast. Lütke describes life among its fogs, and especially the attractions of the governor's house. This was in the time of Admiral Wrangel, whose wife, possessing a high education, embellished this wilderness by her presence, and exhibited the example of a refined and happy household. His account of Sitkan hospitality differs in some respects from that of the English writers who succeeded. He records that fish was the staple dish at the tables of functionaries as well as of the poor, and that the chief functionary himself was rarely able to have meat for dinner. During the winter a species of wild sheep, the Musimon or Argalis, also known in Siberia and hunted in the forests, furnished an occasional supply. But a fish diet did not prevent his house from being delightful.

solid,"

Sir Edward Belcher, the English circumnavigator, while on his voyage round the world, stopped there. From him we have an account of the Executive Mansion and fortifications, which will not be out of place in this attempt to portray the existing government. The house is of wood, described as one hundred and forty feet in length by seventy feet wide, of two stories, with lofts, capped by a light-house in the center of the roof which is covered with sheet iron. It is about sixty feet above the sea level, and completely commands all the anchorages in the neighborhood. Behind is a line of picketed logs twenty-five feet in height, flanked at the angles by blockhouses, loop-holed and furnished with small guns and swivels. The fortifications when complete I will comprise five sides, upon which forty pieces of cannon will be mounted, principally old ship guns, varying from twelve to twenty-four pounders." The arsenal is praised for the best of cordage in ample stores and for the best of artificers in every department. The interior of the Greek church was found to be "splendid, quite beyond conception in such a place as this." The school and hospital had "a comparative cleanliness and much to admire, although a man-of-war's man's ideas of cleanliness are occasionally acute." But it is the social life which seems to have most surprised the gallant captain. After telling us that on Sunday all the officers, civil and military, dine at the governor's," he introduces us to an evening party and dance, which the latter gave to show his English guest "the female society of Sitka," and records that everything "passed delightfully," especially that the ladies, although self-taught, acquitted themselves with all the ease and elegance communicated by European instruction." Sir Edward adds that "the society is indebted principally to the governor's elegant and accomplished lady, who is of one of the first Russian families, for much of this polish." And he describes sympathetically her long journey through Siberia with her husband, "on horseback or mules, enduring great hardships in a most critical moment, in order to share with him the privations of this barbarous region." But according to him barbarism is disappearing; and he concludes by declaring that "the whole establishment appears to be rapidly on the advance, and at no distant period we may hear of a trip to Norfolk sound through America as little more than a summer excursion." (Belcher's Voyage, vol. 1, p. 107.) Is not this time near at hand?

Shortly afterwards, Sir George Simpson, governor-in-chief of the Hudson Bay Company, on his overland journey round the world, stopped at Sitka. He had just crossed the continent by way of the Red river settlements to Vancouver. He, too, seems to have been pleased. He shows us in the harbor "five sailing vessels, ranging between two hundred and three hundred and fifty tons, besides a large