iqo A V O Y A G E O F D I S C O V E R Y
»794. creating we refumed our wefterly courfè, with regular foundings from
'— ~v--- ' 7 to t 6 fathoms, in which latter depth the flood tide obliged us to anchor,
until with the afiiftaneé of the ebb tide, by five in the afternoon
we had nearly approached the north Foreland, when the Ruflian commandant
took his leave, with a promife o f returning in the evening.
We anchored again on the return of the flood, about a league to the
fouthward o f his refidence, but law nothing more of him; the other
Ruflian however remained on board, in order to conduct us to their
fettlement on the eaftern Ihore, whither we did not arrive, owing to faint
Saturday 10. variable winds, until faturday morning, when we anchored before a final!
creek in 10 fathoms water, fandy bottom. The eaft Foreland by compels
bore n . 34 w., the well Foreland, N..74W.; the volcano, s .g o w . ;
the fouthernmoft part o f the eaftern Ihore in fight, s. 25É. ; and the
creek, n. 70 e ., about a league diftant. In this fituation the obferved
latitude was 60° g y , longitude 209“ 21'.
Soon after we had anchored, the commanding officer at the place fent
a very civil meffage, requefting we would vifit their habitation, with
which after breakfaft, accompanied by Mr. Menzies and our Ruflian pafferiger,
I complied. As we drew near to the fhore the depth o f water
gradually decreafed, until in the entrance o f the creek we found but one
fathom from fide to fide. On our arrival here we were faluted by two
guns from a kind of balcony, above which the Ruflian flag Was difplayed
on the top of a houfe fituated on the cliffs, which in moft places compofe
the fhorés of the upper part of the inlet, rifing perpendicularly from a
beach, which generally commences at high water mark. The compliment
of two guns was repeated on our landing, where we met fome
Ruffians, who came to welcome and conduit us to their dwelling by a
very indifferent path, which was rendered more difagreeable by a moft
intolerable flench, the worft, excepting that of the fkunk, I had ever the
inconvenience of experiencing; Oecafioned I believe by a depofit. made
during the winter Of an immenfe colleffion of all kinds of filth, offal, &c.
that had now become a fluid- mafs of putrid matter, juft' without the railing
that inclofed the Ruffian factory, over which thefe noxious exhalations
fpread, andfeemedto become a. greater nuifance by their combination
R O U N D T H E W O R L D .
nation with the effluvia arifing from the houfes. We were however
conftrained to pafs fome time in this eftablilhment, which occupied a
fpace of about an hundred and twenty yards fquare, fenced in by a very
flout paling of fmall fpars of pine and birch, placed clofe together about
twelve feet high. Thefe were fixed firm in the ground, yet they appeared
to be a very defencelefs barricade againft any hoftile attempts,
even of the Indians, as the whole might eafily be reduced to afhes by fire
on the outfide, as could alfo their houfes within the fence, thofe being
built with wood and covered in with thatch. The largeft of thefe, re-
fembling in its fhape a barn, was' about thirty-five yards long, about as
many feet in breadth, and about ten o-r twelve feet high ; this was appropriated
to the refidence of thirty-fix Ruffians, who, with their commander
Mr. Stephen Zikoff, then on an excurfion to prince William’s found,
comprehended the total number of Ruffians at this ftation; all of whom
excepting the commander refide in this houfe, which principally con-
fids of one common room, anfwering all the purpofes of Ihelter, feeding,
and fleeping in.. For their better accommodation when at reft,
two platforms, each about eight feet wide, were raifed about eight or
nine inches from the ground or floor, and extended from end to end
on each fide of the room; there were divided into eighteen open partitions
or Halls, one of which was allotted to each perfbn, as his particular
apartment, the middle o f the room being common to them all..
The flails were divided like thofe in the ftables of public inns, by polls,
only, on which hung their fpare apparel, with their arms and accoutrements.
The room though unglazed was .tolerably light, as in the windows
a fubftitute for glafs was made ufe of, which we fuppofed to be a
thin membrane from the inteftines of the whale;- this admitted' a fuffi-
cient quantity oflight for all their purpofes, and excluded the wind and;
inclemency of the weather. The largeft of thefe windows was at the
furtheft or upper end, near which flood a very humble wooden table-
very rudely wrought, and furrounded by forms of the fame material. To
thefe we were conduced by two of the party who feemed to haveLome
fuperiority over the reft, one of whom appeared to be the principal
perfon in the abfence of Mr. Zikoff, the other a kind of fteward or perfon.