At all seasons, the broken and accumulated ice in the chan- BOOK nels or gulfs, equally checks the passage of the adventurer LXXVI. on foot, whom it would instantly overwhelm, and of the mariner, by paralyzing the movements of his vessel.

Has any one the boldness to conceive the idea of a party Obstacles of a jourof travellers, traversing in sledges, this frozen sea, or the ney by icy land which occupies its imagined site? No doubt, cer- land, tain precautions might enable man to respire at the very pole itself; but, what means of transport would conduct him thither? The country, in all probability, rugged, and elevated, like Greenland, Spitzbergen, and New Siberia, would not admit of the passage of sledges. Neither does marine ice stretch out in uninterrupted plains. Overturned and accumulated in a thousand different ways, it frequently offers to the view castles of crystal in ruins, shattered pyramids and obelisks, arches and vaults suspended in the air. Very often, too, in order to cross the broad and deep fissures, facilities would be required, with which the traveller could not be supplied. Yet with what delightful emotions would he tread those regions that had never been impressed by the foot of man! How rich in curious observations would be a single day and night passed at the pole! This, however, is not the place to point out the arrangements that would be requisite for the performance of such a journey. We must hasten, therefore, to unite in a descriptive form, the observations that have been already collected. The second voyage of Parry has added but little to those of which we were formerly in possession.

gion.

The north-west region of America, the first we shall de- Northscribe, in all probability commences with the land of Li-west reaikhof, surnamed New Siberia; but, as this fact still remains to be established, we will confine ourselves to Russian America, into which we shall pass by Bhering's Straits, and the chain of the Aleutian Islands.

These islands are divided into several groups, of which the indigenous names are Chao, or the Aleutian, properly denominated by the Russians, Negho, or the Andreanowski, and Kawalang, or the Fox Islands. But the custom has

BOOK prevailed of comprising them all under the general name of LXXVI. the Aleutian Islands. In fact, they constitute one single and

Civil and

unique chain; and might be compared to the piles of an immense bridge, which has formerly been thrown across from continent to continent. They describe, between Kamtschatka, in Asia, and the promontory of Alaska, in America, an arc of a circle, which almost joins the two lands together. They are distinguished into twelve principal islands, accompanied with a very great number of lesser ones, and rocks. Copper Island, and Bhering's Isle, are a little detached from the rest, and approach the peninsula of Kamtschatka. Accordingly, we have already described them when speaking of Siberia.

The population of the whole of these islands does not at political condition. present exceed eleven hundred males, of whom, five hundred of the most robust, and most active, are employed by the Russian hunters. This people was formerly much more numerous. They had their chiefs, a particular government, and a national religion. But, with their population, the Russians have at the same time destroyed their manners, their customs, and their liberty.* Sent as slaves to hunt and to fish, these islanders perish in great numbers on the sea, and in ill-conducted hospitals.†

Their man. ners and customs

The island which appears to possess the greatest number of inhabitants is Oonalaschka, and next to it Sithanak, detailed. which is immediately adjoining. These islanders are of a moderate stature, and of a brown complexion. Their face is round, their nose small, and their eyes black. Their hair, likewise black, is harsh, and very strong. They have little beard on their chin, but a great deal on their upper lip. In general, they pierce their lower lips, as well as the cartilage which separates the nostrils, and wear as ornaments, little carved pieces of bone, or glass beads. The women have a roundness of form, without, however, being

Sarytchew's Voyage, v. XI. p. 22. (In Russian.)

+ Langsdorff's Voyage round the world, y. XI. p. 222, and p. 94. (English translation.)

LXXVI.

pretty. They tattoo their chin, arms, and cheeks. Mild BOOK and industrions, they manufacture mats and baskets with considerable art. They make curtains, seats, and beds, of their mats. Their dress of bear skin is worn with the hair outermost. The canoes of Oonalaschka are built with ingenuity. Their shape is picturesque. Through the transparent skin with which they are covered, the rowers and all their movements may be discovered. These islanders are addicted to superstitions which appear to resemble Schamanism.* They do not make use of any marriage ceremony. When they want a wife, they purchase her of her father and mother; and take as many as they can support. If they repent of their acquisition, they give back the woman to her parents, who are then obliged to restore a part of the price. The people of this Archipelago appear to be not entirely exempted from unnatural appetites. They render honour to the dead, and embalm their bodies. In this way, a mother often preserves her lifeless infant before she consigns it to the earth. The mortal remains of their chiefs and men of wealth, are not interred. Suspended in hammocks, they are gradually consumed by the air. The language of the Aleutians, different from that of Kamtschatka, appears to have some analogy with the idioms of Iesso, and the Kurile Islands. In the island of Oomanak, the largest, and nearest to the continent, the Russians have a Bishop, a monastery, a small garrison, and a dock-yard for building vessels.

desc.ip

The climate is more disagreeable on account of its mois- Physical ture, than the intensity of the cold. The snow, which falls tion. in great quantity, does not disappear till the month of May. Almost all the islands contain very lofty mountains, which are composed of a species of jasper, partly of a green and red colour, but, in general, of a yellow tint; with veins of a transparent stone, which resembles chalcedony. The island of Tanaga contains lakes of fresh Volcanoes, * See vol. I. part I. p. 557.

+ Georgi, the Russian nations, p. 373.

&c.

www

BOOK LXXVI.

Island of
Kodiak.

water.

There are volcanoes also, some of which are extinguished, others in activity. These latter are found in the islands of Takawangha, Kanaghi, Atchan, and Oomanak. In this latter island, in that of Kanaghi, as well as in that of Oonalaschka, boiling springs issue from their frozen soil, in which the natives cook their meat and fish.

The only quadrupeds met with on these islands are foxes and mice. Among the birds, are observed ducks, partridges, teal, cormorants, gulls, and eagles.

The islands that are nearest to America produce some pines, larches, and oaks. On the western islands, nothing is met with but stunted willows. The verdure exhibits considerable richness. The mountains produce brambles, and the valleys wild rasps, which are of a white colour, and have an insipid taste.

The island of Kodiak is mountainous, and intersected with valleys. Its inhabitants, who call themselves Koniaghes, are about two thousand five hundred in number, without reckoning the Russians, who have fixed their principal establishment here. The habitations of the islanders. of Kodiak, less sunk in the ground than those of the Aleutians, partake, at the same time, of the nature of caverns and of huts. They have even introduced the luxury of an opening, for the escape of the smoke. The women absolutely idolize their children. Some of them educate them In a very effeminate manner. They allow their chiefs to select them as the objects of a depraved passion. These young people are then dressed like women, and are employed in all the domestic occupations of the household.

The vegetable productions of the island of Kodiak are the alder, an immense quantity of rasp and gooseberry bushes, and a great variety of roots, which, together with fish, constitute the food of the inhabitants. In the interior of the island, the pine tree forms very extensive forests, and furnishes excellent timber for building.*

Stæhlin's Description of Kodiak, &c. p. 32-34.

Physical

America.

That part of the continent comprehended under the BOOK name of Russian America, the sovereignty of which has LXXVI. been claimed by the court of Russia, as a land first discovered and occupied by Russian subjects, presents on every account of side the most savage and gloomy appearance. Above a Russian range of hills covered with pines and birch, rise naked mountains, crowned with enormous masses of ice, which often detach themselves, and roll down with a dreadful noise into the valleys below, which they entirely fill up, or into the rivers and bays, where, remaining without melting, they rise in banks of crystal. When such a mass falls, the crashing forests are torn up by the roots, and scattered to a distance; the echoes resound along the shores with the noise of thunder, the sea rises up in foam, ships experience a violent concussion, and the affrighted navigator, witnesses, almost in the middle of the sea, a renewal of those terrific scenes which sometimes spread such devastation in Alpine regions.* Between the foot of these mountains and the sea, there extends a stripe of low land, the soil of which is almost every where a black and marshy earth. This ground is only calculated for producing coarse, though numerous mosses, very short grass, vaccinias, and some other little plants. Some of these marshes, hanging on the side of the hills, retain the water like a spunge, while their verdure makes them appear like solid ground; but, in attempting to pass them, the traveller sinks up to the mid-leg.t Nevertheless, the pine tree acquires a great size upon these gloomy rocks. Next to the fir, the most common species is that of the alder. In many places nothing is to be seen but dwarf trees and shrubs. Upon no coast with which we are acquainted, have there been remarked such rapid encroachments of the sea upon the land. The trunks of trees that had been cut down by European navigators,

Vancouver, t. V. p. 57, &c. Billings, v. XI. p. 133. Cook's Third