188 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



The fact was that the natives, incensed by the numerous raids, were using their, 

 guns freely during 1881. Thus, earlier in the season the Annie Gashman, of San 

 Francisco, went to Copper Island, and Mr. E. P. Miner states (Fur Seal Arb., viii, 

 p. 701) : 



We landed there one clear day, and in one and a. half hours took 250 seals, and had them all on 

 board before the natives came to where we were. We went away then, but came back the next night. 

 We were fired on by the natives, and did not laud. 



It went particular hard with the British schooner Diana, Captain Petersen, sailing 

 from Yokohama earlier in the season. She had been raiding various rookeries and 

 tinally went to Copper Island, where she came to grief. She anchored off Zapalata 

 and a boat was immediately sent ashore. They did not reach it, however, for behind 

 the rocks a large band of natives, under command of the kossak, Mkolai Selivanof, 

 were lying in wait. When the boat was well within range, the kossak gave the signal 

 and a complete rain of bullets struck the unfortunate boat. One man was killed, one 

 severely wounded, and the boat, nearly sinking, made the schooner with the greatest 

 difficulty. It is said that fully 300 shots were fired by the natives. The Diana, now 

 severely crippled, sought safety in flight, but on the way to Petropaulski unfortu^iately 

 fell in with a Russian man-of-war — the Strelok, if I remember rightly. The suspicion 

 of the commander was aroused, an investigation made, which resulted in the 

 imprisonment of the crew and the confiscation ot the vessel with a cargo of about 570 

 skins, which Captain Snow states were taken on Bering Island, in spite of the plea 

 of the captain that no raid was intended and that the boat was sent ashore only to 

 take water, of which the schooner was short. 



The case was made the subject of diplomatic correspondence between Great 

 Britain and Eussia, and the latter power sent a revisor to Copper Island in 1882 to 

 investigate the matter. His report was favorable to the natives, no doubt, for the 

 Eussian Government, in recognition of tbeir meritorious conduct, invested the native 

 chief of Copper Island with a silver-laced kaftan, while Selivanof was promoted to be 

 a sergeant and a beautiful Toledo blade was presented to him upon which was engraved 

 a suitable inscription commemorative of the occasion. 



It was plain that something would have to be done to check this growing evil, 

 which had already been assuming alarming proportions, but the authorities were 

 puzzled how to proceed effectively. One or two large war vessels were already 

 patrolling the region, but their service was very ineffective, as they did not take the 

 risk of going close under the foggy and dangerous coasts of the islands. It was 

 thought, however, that strict regulations for the whole traffic of trading and hunting 

 in Eussian waters, which would leave the schooners no excuses or technical loop holes, 

 would deter the marauders, especially in view of the past experience, and seeing that 

 the Eussian Government was in earnest in backing up the natives in their defense of 

 the rookeries. A proclamation was therefore prepared and issued, first by the Eussian 

 consul at Yokohama and afterwards also by the Eussian consul in San Francisco, the 

 publication being specifically authorized by the Imperial Eussian Ministry of Foreign 

 Affairs. The consular warning was as follows : 



NOTICE. 



At the request of the local authorities of Bering and other islands, the undersigned hereby 

 notifies that the Eussian Imperial Government publishes, for general knowledge, the following : 



