116 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



abundant here, is much smaller in average size than is the one com- 

 mon in Cook's Inlet it does not average ten pounds in weight. 

 But the rich red color of its flesh is an object of the canner, who 

 soon finds out what public taste prefers. 



The rough, rocky islands of Trinity, which constitute the ex- 

 treme southern limit of the Kadiak influence, are the chosen resort 

 of sea-lions and many of the rare sea-otter. Their capture lures 

 a few hardy natives to live in close juxtaposition to the favored 

 haunts of these much-prized animals, and they have a most extended 

 hunting range, reaching far away down to the westward and south- 

 ward as low as that remarkable barren island of Ookamok, where 

 the celebrated " Botany Bay," of the old Russian regime, was es- 

 tablished. That lonely, isolated, desolate spot was the point where 

 the old-time criminals who were guilty of murder, arson, and other 

 capital offences, were always shipped, and left largely to their own 

 devices for a livelihood. They were literally entombed alive on this 

 islet, where nothing but moss and lichens and scant sphagnum 

 could exist upon the rough, rocky surfaces, where the soil was 

 barely appreciable elsewhere there was none. But, strange to 

 say, upon this island great numbers of that lively little ground 

 squirrel, Parry's marmot, were found, and still continue to be 

 found, which were characterized then as now by a peculiar bluish 

 ground-tint to their fur. This color is most popular and the one 

 so highly prized in those universal coats or cloaks used by the 

 natives, and called " parkies " by them. 



Therefore the convicts were obliged, in order to get food of 

 their liking and many small luxuries, to diligently hunt these little 

 animals, which they did, not only for this reason alone, but in self- 

 defence to kill time as well. 



In 1870 the descendants of the original convicts, and survivors 

 of recent transportation by Russian order, learned in some way 

 or other that they might lead a free life ; so they then actually 

 removed en masse in two large skin bidarrahs, loaded to the 

 gunwales, and made in safety that long sea-voyage which inter- 

 venes between Ookamok and Kadiak Island. They had about one 

 chance in a hundred of getting over the route alive, for the least of 

 those chronic gales and storms that prevail here would have swept 



depth, with a three-and-a-half-inch mesh. The whole native population is 

 also employed in this fishery during the summer. 



