TO kotzebue's sound. 235 



this manner an arduons enterprize may be under- 

 taken with Russian sailors with pleasure. At five 

 o'clock, A. M., when the wind had quite abated, 

 we received a visit from the Americans in two 

 baydares, who tried to cheat us every way in the 

 sale of some of their small works, and laughed 

 heartily when they could not succeed. They have 

 probably learnt the common rule in trade, to show 

 the worst goods first, from the Tschukutskoi, as the 

 latter from the Russian merchants. As we would 

 liave nothing more from them, they took from the 

 lower part of their boats some black fox-skins, but 

 these we could not obtain, as we had no large 

 knives. One of them, a robust young man, whom 

 I took to be the chief, as all his commands were 

 •punctually obeyed, ventured on deck, after we had 

 invited him and given him many presents. He was 

 the only one of the inhabitants of the sound that 

 shewed this courage. His astonishment at the 

 sight of so many foreign objects was inconceivable ; 

 he looked around on all sides without speaking, 

 and went away in a quarter of an hour to entertain 

 his attentive companions with all the w^onders he 

 had seen. We gave him a slate, making him com- 

 prehend that we wished him to draw the direction 

 of the cape ; he took the pencil, and really drew 

 the cape at the southern entrance of the sound, 

 which he represented as a bending point of land. 

 Upon this he drew a number of habitations, which 

 he called Kegi, whither he, in a friendly manner. 



