242 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



before the year 1786; Mate G. Pribilof,' then in the service of a swan- 

 hnnting company, first, in the Russian name, found them, but at the 

 same time he was not the first discoverer, because, as before said (Part 

 I, chap. 1), on one of them (southwest side of St. Paul) signs, such as 

 a pipe, brass knife handle, and traces of fire, were found, indicating 

 that people had been there before, but not long, as places were observed 

 where the grass had been burned and scorched. But if we can believe 

 the Aleuts in what they relate, the islands were known to them long 

 before they were visited by the Russians. They knew and called them 

 '' Ateek," after having heard about them. 



Eegaddahgeek, the son of a Unimak chief by the name of Ahkak- 

 neekak, was taken out to sea in a bidarkie by a storm, the wind blow- 

 ing strong from the south. He could not get back to the beach, nor 

 could he make any other landing, and was obliged to run before the 

 wind three or four days, when he brought up on St. Paul Island, north 

 from the land which he had been compelled to leave. Here he remained 

 until autumn and became acquainted with the hunting of different 

 animals. Elegant weather one day setting in he saw the peaks of 

 Unimak. He then resolved to put to sea, and return to receive the 

 thanks of his people there, and after three or four days of traveling he 

 arrived at Unimak, with many otter tails and snouts,- 



No VEGETATION ON THE ISLANDS. — The islands wcie both at first 

 without vegetation, with the exception of St. I'aul, where there was a 

 small talneek creeping along on the ground; and on St. George, if we 

 believe the accounts of the first ones there to see, nothing grew, even 

 grass, except on the places where the carcasses of dead animals rotted. 

 In the course of time both islands were covered with grass, a great part 

 of it being of the sedge kind. On them are two varieties of berries, etc. 



Early status of the colonists.— The Aleuts serving the com- 

 pany here sustained the following relations between themselves and it, 

 to wit: Each of them worked without solicitation and at whatever was 

 found and to which they were directed, or at that which they understood. 

 Payment for their toil was not established by the day or by the year, 

 but in general for each thing taken by them or standing or put to their 

 credit by the company. For instance, especially the skins of animals, 

 the teeth of walrus, barrels of oil, etc. These sums, whatever they 



iGehrman Pribilof, the discoverer of the seal islands, was a native of "old Rus- 

 sia;" his father was one of the surviving sailors of the *'<. Peter, which was wrecked, 

 with Bering in command, November 4, 1741, on Bering Island. The only reference 

 which I can find to him is the vague incidental expressions nsed here and there 

 thronghont an extended series of lengthy Russian letters, published by Techmainov, 

 as illustrative of the condition of attairs in regard to the Russian American Com- 

 pany. Pribilof was, when cruising in 1783-1786 for the rnmored seal grounds, merely 

 the first mate of the sloop .S7. Geovfie. The captain and part owner was one jM. Zubov, 

 who was a member of a trading association then (juite well organized in Alaska, and 

 known as the Laibcdev Lastochin Company. It does not appear that Pribilof took 

 any part in the business of sealing, other than that of remaining in charge of the 

 company's vessels. He died while in discharge of these duties, at Sitka, March, 

 1796, on his ship. The Three Saints ("Tree Svaytoi"). 



Pribilof, himself, called these islands of his discovery after Zubov; but the Rus- 

 sians then, and soon, unanimously indicated the group by its present well-deserved 

 title, "Ostiovie Pribylova."— H. W. E. 



- Here Veniaminov says that he does feel inclined to believe this story, as the peak 

 of Unimak can be seen'occasionally from St. Paul. I have no hesitation in saying 

 that they were never observed by any mortal eye from the Pribilof group. The wide 

 expanse of water between these points and the^ thick, foggy air of Bering Sea, 

 especially so at the season mentioned in this story al)ove, will always make the 

 mountains of Unimak invisible to the eye from St Paul Island. A mirage is almost 

 an impossibility; it may have been much more probable if the date was a winter 

 one.— H. W. E.' 



