392 VOYAGE TO THE 



cunning and invention were further exhibited in 

 the great pains which they took to make us under- 

 i826 S . ' stand, before we parted, that the flour had been 

 stolen by a party who had absconded on seeing the 

 ship. Their gestures clearly intimated to us that 

 the attention of this party had been attracted to the 

 spot by the newly turned earth, though we had re- 

 placed it very carefully ; on which, it appears, they 

 began to dig, and, to their great surprise and joy 

 no doubt, they soon discovered the cask. They 

 knocked off the hoops with a large stone, and then 

 tasted the contents, which they intimated were very 

 nauseous. The thieves then packed up the hoops, 

 and carried them over the hills to another part of 

 the country. 



We patiently heard the whole of this circumstan- 

 tial account, which we had afterwards great reason 

 to believe was an invention of their own, and that 

 they had some of the flour secreted in their tents, 

 which, no doubt, was the reason of their dislike to 

 our approaching them. 



In the forenoon one of our seamen found a piece 

 of board upon Chamisso Island, upon which was 

 written, in Russian characters, " Rurick, July 28th, 

 1816," and underneath it " Blaganome erinoy, 

 1820." The former was of course cut by Kotzebue 

 when he visited the island ; and the latter, I 

 suppose, by Captain Von Basilief Schismareff, his 

 lieutenant, who paid this island a second visit in 

 1820. 



Upon the low point of this island there was an- 

 other party of Esquimaux, who differed in several 

 particulars from those upon the peninsula. I was 

 about to pay them a visit, but early in the morning 



