Journey of the sloop Good Intent to explore the Asiatic and American shores of Bering Strait, 1819 to 1822. Part two

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the shore at the foot of high mountains surrounding the whole harbor, and is located directly opposite the middle passage into the harbor. It consists of two parts, the upper and the lower. The upper fort lies on an enormous flat rock, about 60 or more feet high, called in those regions, Kekur [Baranof Hill].² It is surrounded by a continuous fence of thick plank timber, about nine feet high, with gun embrasures cut in it here and there. It is protected by two sextagonal towers, into which cannons are set in two tiers. On one of these towers the flag of the [Russian-]American Company is raised. In the upper fort is located the two-story house of the commander of the colonies, and the principal storehouses. The lower part of the fort joins the upper one on three sides and consists of the same plank timber fence, protected by several towers. It contains within its walls, barracks, wharf, various workshops, and the hospital, placed on an elevated blockship on the shore. Behind the fortress on the shore is a settlement consisting of a church, windmill, and 12 residential houses, occupied by employees of the Company. In this settlement quarters were allocated, also, to our Lieutenant Ignatev. All these buildings are wooden, and were mostly at that time in decaying condition, and if the procuring of iron, copper, and rigging were not accompanied by such difficulties and expense, it would have been possible to build the largest ships here because there is an inexhaustible abundance of the best bulding wood. On that account, the Company seldom built new ships at that time, and the dockyard was more adapted for repairing those

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already existing.

There were then in Novo-Arkhangelsk about 300 residents, the majority of whom consisted of Aleuts that had been transported there from the Fox Islands [the Aleutian Islands] ³ and Kadiak Island. The rest were Russian traders employed in the work of the dockyards and serving as sailors on the vessels of the Company. The Aleuts, however, caught fish and went in their baidars into the strais of the archipelago to catch beavers [i.e. sea otters]. Their toions [leaders] came to our sloop every Sunday to wish the captain a good holiday and to receive a glass of rum and a few leaves of tobacco.

The condition of the colony at that time, with reference to stores of provisions, was very good. The grain storehouses were full, but despite that, they allowed only one pood of wheat flour per person from the stores, and the management sent the office manager, Mr. Khlebnikov, on a large ship to California for the purchase of new provisions. Such precaution was necessary in colonies not producing their own grain because if the California monks suddenly decided not to sell wheat, or if the ship sent our should encounter a misfortune, then the residents would have to feed themselves with just yukola [dried fish] and fish, qjite inadequate for so many people. And this time these measures proved beneficial. Mr. Khlebnikov, who was expected back in the middle of September, did not return, and came back only at the end of January of the next year. He suffered a shipwreck near Bodiaga

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[Bodega], the place whre our California colony by the name of "Ross Settlement" was situated. All the people were saved; [---] the ship, the cargo, and the time were lost. With the greatest dispatch he began building a new ship, and in a short time, from August to December, succeeded in this, loaded the ship in Port San Francisco with wheat and salt beef, and, as stated, arrived in Sitka in January. To ward off hunger in such cases, it should have been possible to engage in cattle breeding, but it was hindered, on the one hand, by lack of pastureland and hayfields, and on the other, by Koloshi, who suddenly broke the concluded peace and had no mercy even for the people, not to mention the cattle belonging to the settlers.

Thes people, by nature most brutal and crafty, lead a nomadic life, coming in spring and summer to the seashores to catch herring and other fish, and withdrawng in winter to the interior of the land. When we arrived at Sitka, only two tribes remaind near the fort. Their leaders or toions by the names of Katlian and Saginak⁴ often visited us, each in a separate boat hollowed out of a huge tree, which carried ten or more people. Coming on deck, they immediately began to dance and to sing, when sat down in a circle and waited in order to be served with a glass of rum and a few leaves of tobacco. Having eaten and drunk, they returned to shore, each chief to his own settlement, one on one side of the fort, and the other, on the other side. Katlian's settlement, which we visited now and then, was located on the seashore a few hundred sazhens from the hospital blockship and consisted of

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five yurts. They were built of a few poles stuck into the ground, and tied together at the height of a man with crossbeams against which were leaned three or four such poles that served for the support of spruce bark, which covered the walls and roof. The shape of these yurts was quadrangular, the size, about two square sazhens. The side of each facing the sea was completely open.

The Koloshi are, for the most part, taller than medium height, wide-shouldered, and very well built. Their facial features are more good looking than ugly, but have some kind of brutish expression, making them very unpleasant. The chiefs, whom we saw, wore men's shorts of cloth or ticking, and across their shoulders, as a mantle, animal skins or blankets of their own manufacture from the wool of argali or wild sheep with yellow and black embroidery on the edges. Otherwise, the rest of the body was naked. Their hair is black, long, and stiff like horsehair. During wars or festivals they put hats on their heads, very artfully cut out of wood, depicting the heads of various animals and birds such as bears, foxes, and eagles. During dances, they do not wear these hats, but sprinkle their hair with eagle down. The faces of the women are not so repulsive, and some could even be called pleasant if they would not disfigure them with a most hideous ornament. They insert into the lower lip a small board, one and onehalf inches in length and one inch in width, and the bigger this board, which they call "kaluga," the better the decoration. The mouth, for this reason, is always open, and they

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cannot retain the flow of saliva. It is so repugnant that it is impossible to look at them with indifference. Besides this, they paint their forehead, nose and chin with red and black paint. The clothing of the wives of the chiefs is exactly the same as of the chiefs themselves, but the common folk of both sexes wear only the above-described blankets. Their slaves, called "kalga"⁵ walk around altogether naked, and wear only a strip around the body covering the lower part of the stomach down to the knees. These slaves, or "kalga," are bought from neighboring islanders, or become slaves from being war prisoners. Their existence is the most miserable in the world. They are very poorly kept, and are treated, not like human beings, but like cattle, and finally, in the event of war or change of domicile, are offered as a sacrifice to the gods. The whole creed of the Koloshi consists of offering sacrifices to some kind of evil spirit, which does not even have a name. The ceremony of the sacrificial offering takes place without any preparations or formalities. When one of these events is impending, a victim is selected, generally from the "kalgas" of the chief, and who remains ignorent of his fate up to the moment of the offering of the sacrifice. Then he is surreptitiously attacked, knocked off his feet with a club, and then struck with a wide double-bladed dagger, the handle of which is in the middle. The body is left in the same place where it was deprived of life, to be eaten by birds and animals.

In summer they live on fish, and in winter, prepared