1780.] STATE OF THE FUR TRADE. 161 



generally diffused before the publication of the journals, and it did 

 not fail to attract the attention of enterprising men in all maritime 

 countries. The trade in furs had been conducted, almost wholly, 

 by the British and the Russians, between whom, however, there had 

 been no opportunity for competition. The Russians procured their 

 furs chiefly in the northern parts of their own empire ; and they 

 exported to China, by land, all such as were not required for their 

 own use. The British market was supplied entirely from Hudson's 

 Bay and Canada ; and a great portion of the skins there collected 

 was sent to Russia, whence many of them found their way to China, 

 though none had ever been shipped directly for the latter country. 

 That the furs of Canada and Hudson's Bay might be sold advan- 

 tageously at Canton was certain, from a comparison between the 

 prices of those articles in London and in Canton ; and it was also 

 clear that still greater profits might be secured by means of a direct 

 trade between China and the north-west coasts of America, where 

 the finest furs were to be obtained more easily than in any other 

 part of the world. There could be, nevertheless, no doubt that, after 

 the opening of such a trade, the prices in China would fall, while 

 the difficulties and expenses of collecting the furs in America would 

 be increased ; and it was, therefore, material that those who wished 

 to reap the fullest harvests in this new field, should begin their 

 labors as speedily as possible. 



The Russians were the first to avail themselves of Cook's dis- 

 coveries, respecting which they had derived much information 

 during the stay of the British ships at Petropawlowsk and Unalash- 

 ka. In 1781, an association was formed between Gregory Scheli- 

 kof, Ivan Gollikof, and other principal fur merchants of Siberia and 

 Kamtchatka, for the more extensive and effective conduct of their 

 business ; and three vessels, equipped by them for a long voyage of, 

 trade and exploration, sailed from Ochotsk, in August, 1783, under 

 the command of Schelikof. In this expedition they were absent 

 three years, in the course of which the shores of the American 

 continent and islands, between the south-west extremity of Aliaska 

 and Prince William's Sound, were examined, and several colonies 

 or factories were established, particularly on the large island of 

 Kuktok, or Kodiak, near the entrance of the bay called Cook's 

 River. Schelikof was a man of great intrepidity and perseverance, 

 well acquainted with the business in which he was engaged, and 

 apparently never troubled by scruples as to the morality or humanity 

 of any measure, after he had satisfied himself of its expediency. 

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