HISTORY OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLES, OR ALEUTIA. 195 



of Bering. In 1757 Ivan Nikiferoff sailed as far east as Unak, being the first 

 Russian to do so, except those of Bering's Expedition, who did not land on any 

 of the Andreanoff group, though in 1741 they saw the shores of numerous inde- 

 terminate islands from a distance. The earliest date, therefore, which we can 

 assign to these remains would be 1756, making the oldest of them about one 

 hundred and twenty years old. 



" At all events they possess great interest as the best preserved relics of the 

 state of things as they existed immediately prior to the Russian occupation, and 

 when their pursuits and handiwork had not been modified by the introduction of 

 any of the adjuncts of civilization." 



The two specimens were preserved, each in an excellent case with glass 

 cover. No implements whatever were found. No. i contained the skeleton of 

 a man, and No. 2 contained the skeleton of a woman. This latter had been dis- 

 turbed and the strappings of the package were off. The former was yet intact 

 and its original binding unbroken. The odor was strong and penetrating, not 

 that of putrefaction, but like creosote ; not unlike that of buffalo robes smoke- 

 dried by the North American Indians in their wigwams, only much more pungent. 

 Large quantities of the larvae of insects were in the cases, showing that animal 

 life had been busy in the bodies. 



The hope was now entertained that we possessed, perhaps, the remains of 

 the distinguished toyon, or toygon, Kat-haya-Koochak, the renowned Aleut chief, 

 famous for his courage, enterprise, riches, and love of family. (See Ball's Re- 

 port, page 9.) But this chief is described as "a very small man," while our chief 

 measures 5 feet 9 inches in the bones. Two units being allowed for skin, flesh, 

 and general shrinkage between vertebrae, would give 71 inches, or 5 feet 11 

 inches. His cerements are of the simplest kind, while one of the mummies de- 

 scribed by Ball was clothed in the finest wrought and most costly fabrics. Hence 

 ours cannot be the remains of this great Aleut. 



The strappings of the packages being taken off^ a large sealskin envelope 

 carefully wrapping the bodies, and much deteriorated by time was unfolded. 

 Within this, and covering closely the anterior part of the body was the spoiled 

 and disintegrated skin of some large bird, some of the feathers of which were 

 still clinging to the rotted fibres of the skin. The bodies now exposed were yet 

 in some places covered with the skin ; in other parts the bones were entirely de- 

 nuded. The skin was dark colored, desiccated and of pachydermic toughness, 

 requiring the saw, rather than the knife, to divide it. It was also perforated 

 with numerous little round holes made by some boring insect. No traces of 

 viscera remained, but the thoraces.were not opened. Whether evisceration had 

 been practiced at the time of embalming, or whether the mtrusive animal life had 

 consumed them, was not easy to determine, but the crania were entirely empty, 

 and we can hardly believe that the embalmer removed the brain. The limbs 

 were carefully and most compactly folded on the body, apparently to make the 

 embalmed package as tight and small as possible, and might be laid flat or placed 

 in a sitting posture. The heads were depressed so that the chin settled down 



