296 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



libraries ; and tliis seems to be ilkistrated in tlie case of Professor Baird, 

 of the Snutlisoniaii Iiistitutioii, wlio is tliorougldy informed on all qnes- 

 tions connected with tlie natnral history of Knssian America, and also 

 of George Gibbs, Esq., now of Washington, who is the depositary of 

 valnable knowledge, the result of his own personal studies and obser- 

 vations, with regard to the native races. 



CHARACTER AND VALUE OE RUSSIAN AMEUTCA. 



I pass now to a consideration of the character and value of these 

 ])ossessions, as seen under tliese different heads: (1) government; (15) 

 l)opu]ation; (;>) climate; (4) vegetable products; (5) mineral i)roducts; 

 (0) furs; and (7) tisheries. Of these I shall speak brielly in their order. 

 There are certain words of a general character, which 1 introduce by 

 way of i)reface. I quote from Blodgett on the "Climatology of the 

 United States and of the Tcmpeiate Latitudes of the North Anierican 

 Continent": 



It is most surprising that so little is known of the <ircat islands and the long lino 

 of coast from Pnget's Sound to Sitkn, ample as its resources must be even lor recruit- 

 ing the transient commerco^ of the I'acilic, independent of its immense intrinsic value. 

 To the rcgiou bordering the Northern Pacific the finest miiritime positions belong 

 thnmghout its entire extent; and no part of the west of Europe, exceeds it in the 

 advantages of equa))le cliiniite, fertile soil, and commercial accessil)ility of the coast. 

 1'lie western sIojk^ of the Rocky Mountain system may be includ(Ml as a ])art of this 

 inaritiirse region, (Mubracing an immense area from tiuj Ifdh to the OOth parallel, and 

 .5 tlegrees of longitude in width. The cultivable surface of this district cannot be 

 much less than H0(),000 square miles. 



Fiom this sketch, whicb is in the nature of a picture, I pass to the 

 different heads. 



GOVERNMENT. 



I. The Eussian Settlements were for a long time without any regu- 

 lar Goi'crnment. Tliey were little more than temporary lodgments for 

 ])urposes of trade, where the will of the stronger i)revailed. Tlie 

 initiv'es, who had enslaved each other, became iu turn the slaves of 

 these mercenary adventurers. Captain Cook records " the great sub- 

 jection " of the natives at Ounalaska when he was there iu 1778, and a 

 liussian navigator, twenty years later, describes the islands generally 

 as " under the sway of roving hunters more savage than any tribes he 

 had hitherto met witli.'" (" Billings' Voyage," p. 1^74.) At Ounalaska 

 the Jlussians for a long time employed all thenu'u iu the ciiase, " taking 

 the fruits of their labour to themselves." 



The lirst trace of government which I find was in 1700, at the 

 im])ortant Island of Kodiak, or the Great Island, as it was 

 Gl called, where a Jiussian Company was established, under the 

 direction of a Greek by the name of Delareif, who, according to 

 the partial re])ortof a Knssian navigator, "governed with the strictest 

 justice, as well natives as llussiaus, and established a school, where 

 the young natives were taught the llussian language, reading, and 

 writing." (" Billings," p. 171.) Here were about fifty llussians, includ- 

 ing officers of the ( 'ompany, and another person described as there 

 "on the X)art of Government to collect tribute." The establishm , 

 consisted of five houses after the Knssian fashion;, barracks laid oui. 

 on either side somewhat like the boxes at a coffee house, Avith different 

 ofiices, whi(5h are represented as follows: "An office of appeal to settle 

 disputes, levy fines, and i)unish otfendcrs by a regular trial; here 

 Delareif presides; and I believe that few (Courts of . Justice pass a sen- 

 tence with more impartiality; an oflice of recei\al and delivery, botii 



