THE GREAT ISLAND OF KADIAK. 115 



Meanwhile the dusky sub-deacon still tolls and chimes away long 

 after every inhabitant has been gathered in. These men and 

 women who, with bowed heads and fervent crossings, bend and 

 kneel as they enter that place of worship, are the children of the 

 " blood-thirsty and implacable " Kaniags of whom Shellikov gave so 

 vivid a picture to the Empress of all the Eussias just a century ago. 



They are hunting sea-otters, however, just as they did then, 

 and living in precisely the same manner, save the variations of out- 

 ward demeanor and intercourse due to the teachings of the Greek 

 Church. But if you go among them and strive to have them tell 

 you of the heroic battle made by their ancestors on the Oogak 

 "kekour," you will be rewarded by either a stupid stare of vacancy 

 or a muttered "Bogue ezniet" (God knows) ! 



The deep recess of Eagle Harbor, which lies between this 

 point of earliest Russian occupation and Kadiak village, affords the 

 location of another large native village, and its region is called the 

 best grazing ground in all Alaska. On the surf-beaten islets at the 

 mouth of the inlet a great many sea-lions are always found, and 

 thus yield to these hunters of Orlova a rich return in hides and 

 sinews so essential for the construction of the " bidarka." A few 

 families of Creoles also reside here, who attend to a small herd of 

 cattle, keep fowls, and generally look after their commissions as 

 middle-men in the sea-otter revenues. 



From the earliest colonial time to the present the little village 

 of Karlook, on the north side of the island, has been the busiest 

 spot in the country. Here is a salmon-fishing settlement right on 

 the coast at the mouth of a small river, where from the ancient date 

 of Russian occupation there has been a salt house and packing es- 

 tablishment, in which the salt and dried fish used throughout the 

 entire Alaskan region was annually secured and prepared. To-day 

 we find two large canning establishments set up and sustained by 

 San Francisco merchants. The run of salmon into this river of 

 Karlook at the height of the season is so great that it interferes 

 with the free movement of canoes in crossing the stream ; while the 

 fishermen of long experience in such matters say that twenty thousand 

 barrels of the red-meated flesh could be easily secured and packed 

 away at Karlook every summer and autumn. This salmon,* so 



* Oncorynchus nerka. The fishing is done entirely with seines, floating 

 across the river twenty to twenty-five fathoms in length, three fathoms in 



