APPENDIX TO CASE OF GRP:AT BRITAIN. 319 



instruction. I refer to these, and also to the Essay of Hinds on the 

 " Eegionsof Vegetation," the latter tobe found at the end of the volumes 

 containing Belcher's "Voyage." 



In turning from the vegetable products of this region, it will not be 

 out of place if I refer for one moment to its domestic animals, for these 

 are necessarily associated with such i^roducts. Some time ago it was 

 stated that cattle had not flourished at Sitka owing to the want of 

 proper pasturage and the difficulty of making hay in a climate of such 

 moisture. Hogs are more easily sustained, but feeding on tish, instead 

 of vegetable products, their flesh acquires a fishy taste, which does not 

 recommend it. Nor has there been greater success with poultry, for 

 this becomes the prey of the crow, whose voracity here is absolutely 

 fabulous. A Koloschian tribe traces its origin to this bird, which in 

 this neighbourhood might be a fit progenitor, Not content with swoop- 

 ing upon hens and chickens, it descends u])on hogs to nibble at their 

 tails, and so successfully " that the hogs here are without tails," and 

 then it scours the streets so well that it is called the scavenger of Sitka. 

 But there are other places more favoured. The grass at Kodiak is well 

 suited to cattle, and it is supposed that sheep would thrive there. The 

 grass at Ouualaska is famous, and Cook thought the climate good for 

 cattle, of which we have at least one illustration. Langsdorf reports 

 that "a cow grazed there luxuriously for several years, and then was 

 lost in the mountains." That grazing animal is a good witness. Per- 

 haps also it is typical of the peaceful inhabitants. 



MINERAL PRODUCTS. 



V. In considering the Mineral Products I shall first ask attention to 

 such indications as are afforded by the early navigators. They were 

 not geologists. Indeed, geology was at that time unknown. They saw 

 only what was exposed. And yet during the long interval that has 

 elapsed not very much has been added to their conclusions. The exist- 

 ence of iron is hardly less uncertain now than then. The existence of 

 copper is hardly more certain now than then. Gold, which is so often 

 a dangerous ignis fatuus, did not appear to deceive them. But coal, 

 which is much more desirable than gold, was reported by several, and 

 once at least with reasonable certainty. 



The boat that landed from Behring, when he discovered the coast, 

 found among other things "a whetstone on which it ai)i)eared thatcoj)- 

 per knives had been sharpened," This was the first sign of that mineral 

 wealth which already excites such an interest. At another point where 

 Behring landed " one of the Americans had a knife hanging by his side, 

 of which his people took notice on account of its unusual make," Ic 

 has been supposed that this knife was of iron. Next came Cook, who, 

 when in Prince William Sound, saw " copper and iron," In his judg- 

 ment the iron came through the intervention of Indian tribes from Hud- 

 son Bay or the Settlements on the Canadian lakes, and his editor refers 

 in a note to the knife seen by Behring as coming from the same (piarter; 

 but Cook thought that the copper was obtained near at home, as the 

 natives, when engaged in barter, gave the idea " that having so much 

 of this metal of their own, they wanted no more," Naturally enough, 

 for they were not far from the Co])per River. Maurelle, the French 

 officer in the service of Spain, landed in sight of Mount St. Elias in 

 1779, and he reports Indians with arrow-heads of copper, "which made 

 the Spaniards suspect mines of this metal there," La Perouse, who 

 was also in this neighbourhood, after mentioning that the naturalists 



