The Kadiak Bear and his Home 



ness permeates the island and its people; it is a 

 place so apart that outside happenings awaken but 

 little interest, and time is not weighed in the 

 balance. Some of the rare old Kadiak repose 

 seems to have come down to the present people 

 from the time when Lisiansky first visited the 

 island and found the natives sitting on their mud 

 houses, or on the shore, gazing into space, with 

 apparent satisfaction. 



On the other hand, if there is any sailing, fish- 

 ing or shooting to be done, you will find the 

 Kadiakers keen enough, and in trying situations 

 they will command your respect, and will quite 

 reverse your impression of them, gathered in the 

 village life. The Eskimo inhabitants of the old 

 times are gone, and the population is now made 

 up of Russians, Creoles (part Russian and part 

 Aleut), and a handful of Americans. 



The natives are good-natured but not pre- 

 possessing in looks or cleanly. They live in dwell- 

 ings kept very hot, and both men and women injure 

 themselves by immoderate indulgence in the banya, 

 a small Turkish bath, often attached to the bara- 

 baras, or native huts. It is made like a small bara- 

 bara, except there is no smoke hole, has a 

 similar frame, is thatched with straw, and can be 

 made air-tight. The necessary steam is furnished 



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