THE ALEOUT ISLANDS 15 



from Siberia gives a clue to the lineage of the present 

 inhabitants of the country ; they are almost entirely 

 of a cross breed between the aborigines on one side 

 and Siberian emigrants and escaped convicts on the 

 other. Thoroughbred Kamchadales are practically 

 extinct. To this period belongs the first impulse 

 of private enterprise towards the fur-riches of the 

 district. The rescued members of the second Behring 

 expedition, amongst whom were Steller and Delille, 

 who returned to Avatcha Bay after the discovery of 

 the Commander Islands, where Behring himself found 

 his fate, brought back news of the existence there 

 of innumerable seals and otters. Kamchatka itself 

 swarmed with fox and sable. Some of the more enter- 

 prising local inhabitants risked their lives in order to 

 discover islands and regions along the coast abound- 

 ing in furs. A new class of men sprang up — merchants. 

 Owing to them the Aleout Islands were visited and 

 Alaska was reached. These facts have their import- 

 ance in the history of Kamchatka, because the latter 

 is now employed as a basis for trading operations ; 

 Okhotsk gradually sank into oblivion towards the 

 end of the eighteenth century. These traders, owing 

 to whose enterprise Russian authorities became ac- 

 quainted with the islands of the North Pacific and the 

 American continent, were now eners^eticallv backed 



