180 CALIFORNIA. 



entered except by vessels of a small draft of water. From what 1 

 understood from the officers who had been in charge of it, it had been 

 a very considerable expense to the Russian American Company to 

 fortify it; and the disposal of the whole, on almost any terms, must 

 have been advantageous. Captain Suter had commenced removing the 

 stock and transporting the guns, &c, to his establishment. 



The buildings at the two posts numbered from fifty to sixty, and they 

 frequently contained a population of four or five hundred souls. Since 

 the breaking up of the establishment, the majority of the Russians 

 returned to Sitka ; the rest have remained in the employ of the present 

 owner. 



During our stay, there was much apprehension on the part of some 

 that the present governor of the district next west of New Helvetia, 

 felt jealous of the power and influence that Captain Suter was obtaining 

 in the country ; and it was thought that had it not been for the force 

 which the latter could bring to oppose any attempt to dislodge him, it 

 would have been tried. In the mean time Captain Suter is using all 

 his energies to render himself impregnable. 



In his manners, Captain Suter is frank and prepossessing; he has 

 much intelligence, is conversant with several languages, and withal not 

 a little enthusiastic : he generally wears a kind of undress uniform, with 

 his side-arms buckled around him. He has a wife and daughter whom 

 he expects soon to join him. 



New Helvetia was found to be in latitude 38° 33' 45" N., and longi- 

 tude 121° 20' 05" W. 



According to this gentleman, there are nine different tribes of Indians 

 that are now in his neighbourhood, and within a short distance of his 

 territory. 



In the evening our party were favoured with a dance by Indian boys, 

 who, before they began, ornamented themselves with white masks, and 

 decked their bodies each according to his own taste. The music was 

 vocal, and several joined in the song. Their motions were thought to 

 resemble the Pawnees' mode of dancing. Their music was more in 

 harmony than among the other tribes we had seen; neither has their 

 language any of the harsh guttural sounds found in those of the Oregon 

 Indians. Every word of their language appears to terminate with a 

 vowel, after the manner of the Polynesian dialects, which gives their 

 voices much more softness than the tribes to the north, to whom they 

 have no resemblance whatever, though they are said to be somewhat 

 like the Shoshones. 



They wear fillets of leaves around their heads, and often tie on them 

 a piece of cotton, after the manner of the Polynesians. These Indians 



