302 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



time of Admiral Wraiigel, wliose wife, possessing- a liigh education, 

 embellished this wilderness by her presence, and exhibited tlie exaui[)le 

 of a refined and happy household. His account of Sitkan hos[)itality 

 differs in some respects from that of the English writers who succeeded. 

 He records that fish was the staple dish at the tables of functiouaries 

 as well as of the poor, and that the chief functionary himself was rarely 

 able to have meat for dinner. During the winter a species of wild sheep, 

 the " musiinon" or " argalis," also known in [Siberia and hunted in the 

 forest, furnished an occasional supi)ly. But a fish diet did not prevent 

 his house from being delightful. 



Sir Edward Belcher, the English circumnavigator, while on his voy- 

 age round the world, stopped there. From him we have an account of 

 the Executive Mansion and fortiiications, which will not be out of 

 place in this attempt to portray the existing Government. The house 

 is of wood, described as ''solid," 140 feet in length by 70 feet wide, of 

 two stories, with lofts, capped by a lighthouse in the center of the roof 

 which is covered with sheet iron. It is about 00 feet above the seti- 

 level, and completely commands all the anchorages in the neighbour- 

 hood. Behiiul is a line of i)icketed logs 25 feet in height, flanked at 

 the angles by block-houses, loop-holed and furnished with small guns 

 and swivels. The fortifications when complete "will conii)rise five 

 sides, upon which forty x>ieces of cannon will be mounted, i)rincipally 

 old ship guns, varying from 12- to 24-pounders." The arsenal is 

 praised for the best of cordage in ample stores, and for the best of 

 artificers in every department. The interior of the Greek church was 

 found to be "sj)lendid, quite beyond conception in such a place as this." 

 The school and hospital had " a comparative cleanliness and much to 

 admire, although a man of- war's man's ideas of cleanliness are occa- 

 sionally acute." But it is the social life which seems to have most sur- 

 prised the gallant Captain. After telling us that " on Sunday all the 

 officers, civil and military, dine at the Governor's," he intrciduces us to an 

 evening party and dance, which the latter gave to show his English 

 guest" the female society of Sitka," and records that everything "passed 

 delightfully," especially that "the ladies, although self-taught, acquitted 

 themselves with all the ease and elegance comnumicated by i^^uropean 

 instruction." Sir Edward adds that "the society is indebted prin- 

 cipally to the Governor's elegant aiul accom})lished lady, who is of one 

 of the first Russian families, for much of this polish." And he des(-ribes 

 sym])athetically her long journey through Siberia with her husband, 

 "on horseback or mules, enduring great hardships in a most critical 

 moment, in order to share with him the privations of this barbarous 

 region." But according to him barbarism is disappearing; and he con- 

 cludes by declaring that "the whole establishment ai)pears to be rap- 

 idly on the advance, and at no distant period we may hear of a trip to 

 IS^orfolk Sound through America as little more than a summer excur« 

 sion." (Belcher's "Voyage," vol. i, p. 107.) Is not this time near at 

 hand? 



Shortly afterwards. Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-chief of 

 05 the Hudson Bay Company, on his overland journey round the 

 world, stoi>ped at Sitka. He had Just crossecl the contiiient by 

 way of the iUnl Itiver Settlements to Vancouver, He, too, seems to 

 have been pleased. He shows us in the harbour " five sailing-vessels, 

 ranging between 200 and 350 tons, besides a large bark in the ofiing in 

 tow of a steamer," and he carries us to the l^Lxecutive Mansion, already 

 described, which reappears as "a suite of apartments, coninumicating, 

 according to the Russian fashion, with each other, all of the public 



