oaobe’r in S adventurers advanced alfo as fa r Eaft as Shumagin’s
— i— i Iflands (fo called by Beering), the largeft o f w hich is named
Kodiak. But here, as w e ll as on the continent at Alafka,
they met with fo warm a reception in their attempts to
compel the payment o f a tribute, that they never afterward
ventured fo far. However they conquered and made tributary
the three groups before mentioned.
In the Ruffian charts, the whole fea between Kamtfchatka
and America is covered with iilands ; for the adventurers in
thefe expeditions frequently fa llin g in with land, which
they imagined did not agree with the fituation o f other
laid down b y preceding voyagers, immediately concluded
it muft be a new difcovery, and reported it as fuch on their
re tu rn ; and fince the vefiels employed in thefe expeditions
were ufually out three or fou r years, and oftentimes longer,
thefe miftakes were not in the w ay o f being foon re&ified.
It is however now pretty certain, that the iflands already
enumerated are all that have yet been difeovered, by
the Ruffians, in that fea, to the Southward o f 60° o f latitude.
It is from thefe iflands that the fea-otter ikins, the moil
valuable article o f the fu r trade, are fo r the moil part
drawn ; and as they are brought completely under the Ruffian
dominion, the merchants have fettlements upon them,
where their faiiors refide, for the purpofe o f bartering with
the natives. It was with a view to the farther increafe and
extenfion o f this trade, that the Admiralty o f Okotlk fitted
out an expedition for the purpofe o f making difcoveries to
the North and North Eaft o f the iflands above-mentioned,
and gave the command o f it, as I have already obferved, to
Lieutenant Synd. T his gentleman, having direilcd his
Courfe
courfe too fa r to the Northward, failed in the o bjeil o f his '779-
voyage ; for, as we never faw the fea-otter to the North- ‘ »
ward o f Briftol Bay, it feems probable, that they ihun thofe
latitudes where the larger kind o f amphibious fea-animals
abound. This was the laft expedition undertaken by the
Ruffians for profecuting difcoveries to the Eaftward; but
they w ill undoubtedly make a proper ufe o f the advantages
we have opened to them, by the difcovery o f Cook’s
river.
Notwithftanding the general intercourfe that, for the
laft forty years, hath taken place between the natives, the
Ruffians, and Coffacks, the former are not more diftih-
gu ilhed from the latter by their features and general figure,
than by their habits and eaft o f mind. O f the perfons o f
the natives, a defcription hath been already given, and I
lha ll only add, that their ftature is much below the common
fize. This Major Behm attributes, in a great meafure,
to their marrying fo e a r ly ; both fexes generally entering
into the conjugal Hate at the age o f thirteen or fourteen.
T he ir induftry is abundantly confpicuous, without being
contrafted w ith the lazinefs o f their Ruffian and Coflack inmates,
who are fond o f intermarrying with them, and, as
it Ihould feem, for no other reafon, but that they may be
fupported in floth and inactivity. T o this want o f bodily
exertion may be attributed thofe dreadful fcorbutic complaints,
which none o f them efcape; whilft the natives,
b y conftant exercife and toil in the open air, are intirely
free from them.
Referring the reader for an account o f the manners, cuf-
toms, and fuperftitions o f the Kamtfchadales, at the time
the Ruffians became firft acquainted with this country, to
1 KrafcheninicofF,