1897] The Commander Islands 



listening to his varied stories of seas and seaports. 

 Beginning as a youth with no schooling, he had 

 gradually risen to the command of a second-rate 

 man-of-war. At bottom a simple-hearted and kindly British 

 man, he nevertheless gave orders in a loud voice so dlscl P linf 

 that "every petty officer's knees should knock to- 

 gether " when he strode forth on deck. "The 

 proudest moment in his life" was when he ceased 

 to be a subordinate and could say, "Thank God, 

 Pm a commander!" 



On the Satellite, gin and whisky were much in 

 evidence, several of the officers taking nips at in- 

 tervals throughout the day. But the master gunner, 

 one of the most competent men on board, confided 

 to me his firm belief that serving grog to sailors 

 a part of his own duty was a most mischievous 

 custom. 



Our first stop was at Nikolski on Bering Island, 

 the larger of the two composing the Commander 

 group. Nikolski was built by the Russian au- 

 thorities to house the Aleuts employed at the Sever- 

 noye (north) Rookery, which, by the way, is the 

 largest in any sea; being about twenty miles away, 

 it is commonly reached by sleds drawn by noisy 

 Siberian dogs seemingly but half tamed and very 

 wolf-like. The little town is surpassingly gay with The gay 

 red, yellow, green, and blue, each house being 

 painted in one or more rainbow tints, while on the 

 parti-colored church no joyous hue has been over- 

 looked. 



The quaint, bright-colored shawls worn by the 

 women caught my eye, but having bought a few 

 of them as curiosities from a remote land, I noticed 

 on the box from which they were taken the words 



C 5893 



