curing furs for the Ruffians : by thefe means, they
liegleCt to lay up a provilion of fiffi and roots; and
fuffer their children frequently to die of hunger..
Their principal food is fifb, which they catch with
bone hooks. Their boats, in which they row to a
great diftance from land, are made, like thofe of the
Innuet or Efquimaux, of thin flips of wood and flrinsr
thefe flrins cover the top as well as the fides of the
boat, and are drawn tight round the waift of the
rower.. The oar is a paddle, broad at both ends. Some-
of thek boats hold two perfons ; one of whom rows,,
and the other fifties : but thefe kind of boats feem
appropriated to thek chiefs. They have. alfo* large
boats capable of holding forty men. They kill birds-
and beafts with darts made of bone, or of wood tipped:
with fliarpened ftone they ufe thefe kind of darts in
war, which break with the blow given, by them, and.
leave the. point in the wound.
The manners, and character of thefe- people are what
‘we fhould expeCt from their neceflitous fituation, extremely
rude and favage. The inhabitants however o f
Ujaalaftika are fomewhat lefs barbarous in their manners
and behaviour to each other, and alfo more civil to
ftrangers than the natives of the other iflands; but
even
even they are engaged in frequent and bloody quarrels,
and commit murder without the leaft compunction.
Their difpofition engages them in continual wars, in
which they always . endeavour to gain their point, by
ftratagem. The inhabitants of Unimak are formidable
to all the reft ; they frequently invade the. other iflands,
and carry off women, the chief objecft .of their wars.
Alaxa is moil fubjeCt to thefe incurfions, probably be-
caufe it is more populous and extenfive. They all
join in hating the Ruffians, whom they confider as general
invaders, and therefore kill them wherever they
can. The people of Unalalhka however are more
friendly ; for Lieutenant Levafheff, being informed that
there was a Ruffian veffel in the ftraits of Alaxa,
prevailed on fome Unalafhkans to carry a letter, which,
they undertook, notwithftanding the. danger they were
expofed to from the inhabitants of the intervening,
fl ands..
The 'journalift fays, that thefe people have no kind
of religion,, nor any notion of a God. We obferve
however among them fufficient marks of fuch a religion
as might be expected from people in their fituation.
For the journalift informs us, that they have fortunetellers
employed by them at their feftivals. Thefe perfons
pretend to foretel events by the information, of the
Kurgans or Daemons. In their divinations they put on.
wooden;