THE WHALERS OF BERING SEA. 139 



'to be constructed for Naukum, and made him many presents. A draughtsman attached 

 to the party made a sketch, " A Dream of the Future," which was a lively representation 

 of the future prospects of Naukum and his family. The room was picturesque with 

 paddles, skins, brand-new Henry rifles, preserved meat tins, &c. ; and civilisation was 

 triumphant. 



Although Plover Bay is almost in sight of the Arctic Ocean, very little snow remained 

 on the barren country round it, except on the distant mountains, or in deep ravines, where 

 it has lain for ages. "That there snow," said one of the sailors, pointing to such a spot, 

 "is three hundred years old if it's a day. Why, don't you see the wrinkles all over the 

 face of it ? " Wrinkles and ridges are common enough in snow ; but the idea of associating 

 age with them was original. 



The whalers are often very successful in and outside Plover Bay in securing 

 their prey. Each boat is known by its own private mark a cross, red stripes, or what 

 not on its sail, so that at a distance they can be distinguished from their respective 

 vessels. When the whale is harpooned, often a long and dangerous job, and is floating 

 dead in the water, a small flag is planted in it. After the monster is towed alongside 

 the vessel, it is cut up into large rectangular chunks, and it is a curious and not 

 altogether pleasant sight to witness the deck of a whaling ship covered with blubber. 

 This can be either barreled, or the oil "tryed out" on the spot. If the latter, the 

 blubber is cut into " mincemeat," and chopping knives, and even mincing machines, are 

 employed. The oil is boiled out on board, and the vessel when seen at a distance 

 looks as if on fire. On these occasions the sailors have a feast of dough-nuts, which 

 ;are cooked in boiling whale-oil, fritters of whale brain, and other dishes. The writer 

 has tasted whale in various shapes, but although it is eatable, it is by no means luxurious 

 food. 



It was in these waters of Bering Sea and the Arctic that the Shenandoah played such 

 .havoc during the American war. In 1865 she burned thirty American whalers, taking 

 off the officers and crews, and sending them down to San Francisco. The captain of an 

 English whaler, the Robert Taw us, of Sydney, had warned and saved some American 

 vessels, and was in consequence threatened by the pirate captain. The writer was an 

 eye-witness of the results of this wanton destruction of private property. The coasts 

 were strewed with the remains of the burned vessels, while the natives had boats, spars, &c., 

 in numbers. 



But Plover Bay has an interest attaching to it of far more importance than anything 

 to be said about whaling or Arctic expeditions. It is more than probable that from or 

 near that bay the wandering Tunguse, or Tchuktchi, crossed Bering Straits, and peopled 

 America. The latter, in canoes holding fifteen or twenty persons, do it now ; why not 

 in the "long ago?" The writer has, in common with many who have visited Alaska 

 (formerly Russian- America, before the country was purchased by the United States), 

 remarked the almost Chinese or Japanese cast of features possessed by the coast natives 

 of that country. Their Asiatic origin could not be doubted, and, on the other hand, 

 Aleuts natives of the Aleutian Islands, which stretch out in a grand chain from Alaska 

 who had shipped as sailors on the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition, and a Tchuktchi 



