GOVERNMENT SURVEYS 189 



terrorized the survivors. Within the memory of living 

 men, the Aleutian mother quieted her fretful child by 

 calling on GlottofT and Drusenin, who were of those who 

 reigned in this hell they had created. As one island after 

 another was depleted of its furs, succeeding parties pushed 

 further and further eastward. 



In 1763 parties reached Kadiak and the peninsula of 

 Alaska. Here a more vigorous and courageous people, 

 true Eskimo, replace the Aleuts. Accustomed to meet 

 and conquer the mighty bears of the island, these people 

 resisted enslavement and slew many of their persecutors. 

 Moreover many of the Aleuts arose in desperation, happy 

 if in dying they could carry with them even one of their 

 tyrants. Many committed suicide; the population was 

 becoming scanty; the bands of Sibiriaks, too numerous to 

 be easily fed from the resources of the country, or to be 

 satisfied with the diminishing store of skins, turned their 

 arms sometimes upon each other. About this time the gov- 

 ernment began to send out officers to survey the new pos- 

 sessions and incidentally to establish order and secure the 

 imperial tribute. Among others Krenitzin and LevasherT, 

 two naval captains, after whom Captains Bay, Unalaska, 

 is named, wintered there in 1768. They made the first 

 charts of the archipelago and returned to Okhotsk in 1769. 



Somewhat checked by the presence of officials and the 

 other difficulties of the situation, the fur-traders began to 

 combine in companies and to systematize the business. 

 Several corporations were formed which soon began to 

 clash with each other. Still, the climax of the saturnalia 

 had passed and the half-insane orgies of the first years 

 were no longer repeated. 



The cream of the fur trade had been skimmed, the 

 Aleut nation diminished to a tenth of its original num- 

 ber. They were necessary to hunt the otter; it became 

 no longer profitable to waste the male population. 



