CHAP. XI.] DEATH OF MAJOR KENNICOTT. 125 bottom at a mile or more from the coast. The wind, blowing off land, reduces its depth very perceptibly, and completely bares sand-bars at the mouths of the rivers entering it. The wind, too, very quickly raises a bad sea. On the night of the 28-29th a strong gale blew from the north-east, and our largest vessel, the 'Nightingale' (drawing 16 feet), touched bottom at stern or bows each time she pitched. Men on board were thrown off their feet, and out of their berths, and but for the soft mud bottom she must have sustained injury. Here we met the explorers left the preceding season; and very shaggy and unkempt they looked, though, with one or two exceptions, in excellent health. But with the pleasure of meeting them was mingled one sad regret. Poor Kennicott had died suddenly at Nulato, on the Yukon, on the 13th May, 1866. His kind-heartedness, zeal, and earnestness, had endeared him to all of us who knew him, and it was believed that anxiety for the welfare and success of his party had accelerated his death. Kennicott's name, by no means unknown in England, is much better known in the United States as that of an indefatigable traveller and collector. In 1859 he started on a prolonged exploration of the Hudson's Bay territory, and spent nearly four years in his favourite pursuit as a naturalist. The results of his labour have enriched the collections of the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, and the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Through the former institution (which owes its existence to the bequest of an Englishman, Mr. Smithson), other museums, in both the old and new world, have benefited; and his services in the cause of Science entitle him to the grateful remembrance of his fellow men. His party had followed out his instructions to the letter. Ketchum and Labarge had made the first trip through from the coast to Fort Yukon, and Ennis had explored the country north of Norton Sound as far as Port Clarence. On the 1st October, we saw the last of the Telegraph fleet, and watched the Nightingale' till she was out of sight, knowing that for nearly a year our vessels could not return. The lateness of the season admonished us to make a rapid move for Unalachleet-the head-quarters of this section-as "between the seasons" there would be a period when travelling would be much impeded or wholly stopped. We therefore immediately commenced our preparations for leaving St. Michael's. CHAP. XII.] REDOUBT ST. MICHAEL'S. 127 CHAPTER XII. RUSSIAN AND INDIAN SETTLEMENTS.-NORTON SOUND. St. Michael's - The fort and its inhabitants The "Provalishik "Russian steam-bath "Total immersion"-The island- Incident of break-up of ice- Arrival of dead Indian sledge-driver- Steamboat trip Steamer laid up - Russian post at Unalachleet - Malemute and Kaveak Indians — Skin clothing — Inter-tribal commerce Trade with the Tchuktchis—Underground houses - Fishing through the ice. -- REDOUBT ST. MICHAEL'S, or Michaelovski, the principal station of the Russian American Fur Company in this northern section of "Walrus-sia," deserves something more than a passing notice. It is not merely the best point for a vessel to touch at, in order to land goods for the interior, including that great tract of country watered by the Yukon; but it has been, and is, to a great extent, a central post for Indian trade, and for the collection of furs from distant and interior posts. It has been already proposed-since the American occupation-to make it a military station; we may, not improbably, live to hear of a town springing up on the borders of the Arctic, and within 200 miles of Bering Straits. * After what has been said about the shallow nature of Norton Sound, this might be considered open to doubt; the practical experience of our expedition proved, however, that both the mouths of the Yukon, or Kwich-pak, and the northern part of Norton Sound, were even worse, and St. Michael's was for over two years our base of supplies. Port Clarence was too far north for the goods intended for the Yukon, but is for certain parts of the country an excellent place for a station. See Appendix (IV.). St. Michael's is (on the authority of Zagoskin) in lat. 63° 28′ N., and long. 161° 44' W. of Greenwich. It is situated on the south-east side of the island of the same name, and was founded in 1833, by Michael Tebenkoff, an energetic employé of the Russian Fur Company. The station is built on the model of a Hudson's Bay Co.'s Fort, with enclosure of pickets, and with bastions flanking it. Inside are the store-houses and dwellings of the employés, including the "casine" (caserne), or general barrack, bath and cook-houses. These painted yellow, and surmounted by red roofs, gave it rather a gay appearance. The inhabitants of the fort-all servants of the companywere a very mixed crowd, including pure Russians and Finlanders, Yakutz, from Eastern Siberia, Aleuts, from the islands, and creoles from all parts. They were not a very CHAP. XII.] THE "PROVALISHIK.” 129 satisfactory body of men; in point of fact, it is said that some of them had been criminals, who had been convicted in St. Petersburgh, and offered the alternative of going to prison, or into the service of the Russian American Company! We found them—as did Zagoskin years before-much given to laziness and drunkenness. Fortunately, their opportunity for this latter indulgence was limited, usually, to one bout per annum, on the arrival of the Russian ship from Sitka with their supplies; whilst the "Provalishik," Mr. Stephanoff, the commander of this fort, who had charge of the whole district, stood no nonsense with them, and was ever ready to make them yield assistance. His arguments were of a forcible character: I believe the knout formed no part of his establishment, but he used his fists with great effect! To this gentleman we were all very much indebted, for enforcing the orders of the Russian Company in our behalf; often to the sacrifice of his own comfort, to say nothing of the skin from his knuckles. The Russian American Company, however, gave these men salaries proportioned to their deserts: 1 poods of coarse flour (about 60 pounds) per month, and from 5d. to 10d. per day was the average allowance, and most of them were hopelessly in debt to the Company. Fish and game at this post were not reliable resources; and their pay would barely keep them in tea, sugar, tobacco, and clothing. The tea used was of a superior and expensive kind (worth 58. to 5s. 10d. a pound in the Company's store). The true "Russian steam-bath" was always to be obtained at these posts, as at every other settlement we visited, and it was very popular among us. The bath-house consisted always of two or more chambers, the first used for undressing, &c. The inner room had a stone furnace, in which a fire was lighted K |