APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 293 



which would make us tremble if the " wolves" of the poet were numer- 

 ous. He says that 'Ho all appearance they are the most peaceable, 

 inoffensive people he ever met with;" and Cook had been at Otaheite. 

 "No such thing- as an offeusive or defensive weapon was seen amongst 

 the natives of Ounalaska." {Ibid., i)p. 50'.), 515.) Then, at least, the 

 inhabitants did not share the ferocity of the "wolves" and of the 

 climate. Another navigator fascinates us by a description of the boats 

 of Ounalaska, which struck him "with amazement beyond expression;" 

 and he goes on to sny, "if perfect symmetry, smoothness, and pTopor- 

 tion constitute beauty, they are beautiful beyond anything- that I ever 

 beheld. I have seen some of them as transparent as oiled paper." 

 (" Billing's Voyages," p. 15.) But these are the very boats that buffet 

 "the wave's tumultuous roar," while "the breezes " waft the "wolf's 

 long howl." This same navigator introduces another feature. According 

 to him the Bussians sojourning there " seem to have no desire to leave 

 this place, where they enjoy that indolence so pleasing to their nnnds." 

 (Page 101.) The lotus eaters of Homer were no better off. Tiie picture 

 is completed by another touch from Liitke. Admitting- the want of 

 trees on the island, the Admiral suggests that their place is supplied 

 not only by luxuriant giass, but by wood thrown upon the coast, includ- 

 ing trunks of cam])lior from (Jhinese and Japanese waters, and "a tree 

 Avhich gives forth the o<lour of the rose." ("Voyage," Tom. 1, p. 132.) 

 Such is a small portion of the testimony, most of which was in print 

 before tlie i)oet wrote. 



JSTothing has been written about this region, whether the coast or the 

 islands, more autlieiitic or interesting than the narrative of Captain 

 Cook on his third and last voyage. He saw witli intelligence, and 

 described with clearness almost elegant. The record of Captain Port- 

 lock's voyage from London to the north-west coast in 1780, 1787, and 

 1788 seems to be honest and is instructive. Ca])tain Meares, whose 

 voyage was contemporaiu'cms, saw and exi)osed the importance of trade 

 between the northwest coast and China. Vancouver, who came a little 

 later, has descril)ed some parts of this coast. La Peronse, the unfortu- 

 nate French navigator, has afforded another i»icture of the coast pain ted 

 with French colors. Before him was La Maurelle, a Frenchman sailing 

 in the service of Spain, who was on the coast in 1779, a portion of whose 

 journal is preserved in the Appendix to the volumes of La 

 59 Peronse. After him was Marchand, also a Frenchman, who, 

 during a voyage round the world, stopped here in 1791. The 

 voyage of the latter, published in three quartos, is accompanied by an 

 "Historical Introduction," which is a mine of information on all the 

 voyages to this coast. Then came the several successive Bussian voj- 

 ages already mentioned. Later came the "Voyage round the World" 

 by Captain Belcher, Avith a familiar sketch of life at Sitka, where he 

 stopped in 1837, and an engraving representing the arsenal and light- 

 house there. Then came tiie "Journey round the World" in 1841 and 

 1842 by Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-chief of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, containing an account of a visit to Sitka and the hospitality 

 of its Governor. To these J may add "The Nautical Magazine" for 

 1849, vol. xviii, which contains a few excellent pages about Sitka; the 

 "Journal of the London Geographical Society" for 1841, vol. xi, and for 

 1852, vol. xii, where this region is treated under the head of Arctic lan- 

 guages and animal life ; Burney's " Bussian and North-eastern Voyages ;" 

 the magnificent work entitled "Les Peuples de la Eiissie," which 

 appeared at St. Petersburgh in 1802, on the Tenth Centennial Anni- 

 versary of the foundation of the Bussian Empire, a copy of which is in 



