NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND — COLLINS  IQ 
it  three  elevated  rocks.  Both  the  greater  island,  and  this  smaller  one, 
were  inhabited."    (Cook,  vol.  3,  p.  84.) 
St.  Lawrence  Island  was  next  visited  in  1791  by  Commodore  Jo- 
seph Billings,  in  command  of  an  exploring  and  surveying  expedition 
sent  out  by  the  Empress  of  Russia.  Billings  himself  published  no 
report  of  the  expedition,  and  the  account  by  Martin  Sauer,  secretary 
to  Billings,  contains  nothing  of  particular  interest  concerning  the 
island. 
The  first  circmnstantial  account  of  St.  Lawrence  Island  and  its 
people  is  that  given  by  Kotzebue,  who  sailed  around  the  western  end 
of  the  island  in  July  181 6  and  the  eastern  end  in  the  same  month 
of  the  following  year.  On  July  27,  1816,  Kotzebue  landed  on  the 
southwestern  coast  of  the  island  and  gives  the  following  account 
of  his  visit : 
.  .  .  .  We  observed  people  and  tents  on  the  shore;  and  the  wish  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  inhabitants  of  this  island,  who  had  never  been  visited  by 
any  navigator,  and  also  to  give  our  naturalists  an  opportunity  of  examining 
this  unknown  country,  induced  me  to  pay  it  a  visit.  Two  of  our  four-oared 
boats  were  directly  put  into  the  water,  and  we  set  out,  well  armed  with  pistols, 
sabres,  and  guns At  a  small  distance  from  the  shore,  we  were  met  by 
a  baydare,  (boat,)  with  ten  islanders,  who  approached  us  without  fear,  calling 
aloud  to  us,  and  making  the  most  singular  motions,  holding  fox-skins  in  the 
air,  with  which  they  eagerly  beckoned  us.  We  easily  perceived  their  arms 
hidden  in  their  baydare,  and  therefore  observed  the  greatest  caution.  After 
some  salutations,  according  to  their  custom,  which  consisted  in  stroking  them- 
selves several  times  with  both  their  hands,  from  the  face  to  the  belly,  their  first 
word  was  Tobacco! — of  which  I  had  some  leaves,  handed  to  them,  which  they 
immediately  put  into  their  mouths.  I  afterwards  saw  them  smoking  out  of 
small  stone  pipes,  about  the  size  of  a  thimble :  they  repaid  my  presents  with 
different  articles  of  their  workmanship.  After  this  friendly  barter,  I  continued 
my  way  to  the  shore,  which  seemed  to  frighten  them  very  much,  as  they  ran 
anxiously  to  and  fro,  and  some,  probably  only  women,  fled  into  the  mountains. 
Some  of  them  came  up  to  us  bravely  enough ;  but  their  fear,  which  they  in 
vain  strove  to  hide  under  the  mask  of  friendship,  was  visible.  At  every  thing 
we  did  they  laughed  without  bounds  ;  but  as  soon  as  any  of  our  motions  excited 
the  least  suspicion  of  hostility,  they  assumed  a  fierce  look ;  they  prepared  them- 
selves partly  for  flight  and  partly  for  resistance.  Their  friendship,  however, 
returned  when  they  perceived  their  error,  and  this  sudden  change  from  laughing 
to  seriousness,  gave  their  faces,  which  were  smeared  with  train-oil,  an  extremely 
comical  appearance.  We  landed  opposite  to  the  tents,  followed  by  the  islanders ; 
ten  or  fifteen  of  whom  assisted  us,  with  great  readiness,  to  draw  our  boats  on 
shore.  This  place  appeared  to  us  to  be  visited  only  in  the  summer,  when  the 
islanders  employ  themselves  in  the  whale,  morse,  and  seal  fishery,  as  we  perceived 
no  settled  dwellings,  only  several  small  tents,  built  of  the  ribs  of  whales,  and 
covered  with  the  skin  of  the  morse,  which  indicate  only  a  short  stay.  A  deep 
cellar  dug  in  the  earth,  filled  with  train-oil,  blubber,  dried  seals'  flesh,  and 
morses'  teeth,  likewise  shows  that  they  only  collect  their  winter  provisions  here. 
