ALASKA. 4 



Q 



coast, rnnning into the uuinerous cauals, cbaunels, and harbors 

 so characteristic of the region, where they come to an anchor, 

 within easy reach of the shore, and wait for the natives to 

 come off to them iu their canoes laden with whatever they 

 may possess fit for barter. The trading itself is tedious be- 

 yond all measure. The natives will sit iu their canoes 

 around the vessel for hours before showing the least atten- 

 tion or desire for business; then when it does begin the 

 haggling baffles description; each Indian after the other try- 

 ing to get a little more than his predecessor, no matter how 

 slight or insignificant it may be. The traders of course dare 

 not, even to gain precious time, deviate i'rom an invariable 

 rule or tariff iu barter, and so the slow exchange goes on. The 

 Indians throughout this whole section are shrewd and artful 

 traders, and do not scruple to adopt any means by which they 

 can outwit or deceive the white trader, so that it is unfortu- 

 nately a case of diamond cut diamond wherever traders meet 

 the natives of the northwest coast to-day. 



With the Indians of the Territory trade is carried on with- 

 out the use of coin, but on the Aleutian Islands, among the 

 Ciiristiau Aleuts, the people take cash for their furs and \)'dy 

 over the counters of the different stores for their goods ; and 

 this necessitates the keeping of accounts, since the traders 

 often find it to their advantage to give credit to a penniless 

 hunter. These accounts the Aleuts keep in very good shape, 

 and thev are seldom in error over their reckoning. 



The liussiaus pursued a different course from our people iu 

 conducting their trade in this region, where they were free from 

 the competition of rival traders. Baranov, the real founder 

 and maker of the Russian American Company, was a man of 

 indomitable energy and foresight, and gave the afiairs of the 

 company his vigilant personal supervision everywhere and at 

 all times, but his successors were unlike him, and made no 

 exertiou to pay dividends to the stockholders, or to pay debts. 

 All of these gentlemen, with one exception. General Vivia- 

 tovskie, were officers of the imperial fleet, and lived in official 

 rotation at Sitka, which was selected in preference to Kudiak 

 as a better position in which to menace and repel the advances 

 of the Hudson's Bay people along the coast belonging to 

 Alaska. They were surrounded by a troop of subordinates, 

 living without regard to cost or expenditure of time or labor ; 

 a fleet of fourteen or fii'teeu vessels, steam and sail. Indeed, 



