30 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



securing of proper materials for the building of safe vessels and the procuring of 

 trained seamen. ]:5oat8 were hastil3'^ constructed of planks fastened together with 

 rawhide or seal-skin thongs. In these unseaworthy boats, without charts or comiiass, 

 they boldly ventured to sea, and the half of them found a watery grave. Those who 

 did return in' .safety with a fair cargo received from 2,000 to 3,000 rubles each as 

 their share of the profit. 



On the 26th of September, 1745, for the first time the discharge of firearms was heard 

 on the Aleutian Islands. A native was shot on the island of Agoto by a party of Rus- 

 sians under Cbuprof. Then commenced a reign of lust, robbery, and blood.shed, which 

 lasted for fiftj- years. One Feodor Solovief is reported to have alone killed 3,000 

 Aleuts. Veniaminof, who was the leading Greek priest and first bishop of Alaska, 

 declares that during that dreadful period Aleuts were used as targets for Russian 

 practice in firing. In 1764 Captain Solovief formed a settlement. His stay on the 

 island was marked by such bloody atrocities that the few who survived were com- 

 pletely subjugated. His name has come through a hundred j-ears of local tradition 

 as the synonym of cruelty. Among other things it is said that he exjierimented upon 

 the penetrative power of his bullets bj' binding twelve Aleuts in a row and then 

 firing through them at short range. The bullet stopped at the ninth man In 1770, 

 Avhen the American colonists were preparing themselves for the struggle lor inde- 

 pendence, the struggle of the Aleuts was ending. They had given their lives in vam. 

 The few who were left could no longer maintain the unequal conflict and were 

 reduced to practical slavery. 



During the first week of June the fleet of vessels which was to i^atrol 

 Bering Sea rendezvoused at Unalaska. Officers and sailors gave life 

 to the hitherto deserted street, dainty revenue cutters and a trimly 

 built British gunboat rode at anchor in the harbor; saucy little 

 steam launches and nattj^, white boats darted about; bugle calls floated 

 out over the tranquil waters, now and then jets of flame and columns 

 of smoke would shoot from the side of some vessel at target practice 

 and a spurt of dust on the mountain side show where the shot had 

 struck. All was life and action, where there had been silence and stag- 

 nation. There were calls upon the officers of the various ships, photo- 

 graphic excursions, climbing of mountains whose ravines still held the 

 winter snows, balls, and even a wedding at high noon in which the con- 

 tracting ])arties were Miss Short, who had Ijeen the public-school 

 teacher at TTnalaska during the past year, and Mr. Hastings, one of 

 the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company. 



On the 10th of June the United States revenue cutter Bear 

 steamed into the harbor. On this famous vessel I was to spend the 

 summer among the ships of the Arctic whaling fleet, to cruise in 

 uncharted seas whose waters are disturbed only by the skin canoes of 

 the natives and by huge ice floes, to visit the school teachers and mis- 

 sionaries exiled on the shores of the frozen ocean, and see the under- 

 ground dwellers in the Land of the Midnight Sun and the long Arctic 

 night. 



Tlie annual crnise of the Bear is unique in its multifarious duties and 

 its practical usefulness. In northern Bering Sea and in the Arctic 

 Ocean, and along vast stretches of coast unknown to civilization, the 

 flag of the Bear is the only evidence of the authority of the United 



