272 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



A BAIDAR. 



The shores of Bering Sea are naked and bleak, and the, numerous volca- 

 noes of the Aleutian chain pour out their lava-streams over unknown wilder- 

 nesses. But the waters of the sea are teeming with life. Gigantic algae, such 

 as are never seen in the torrid zone, form, round the rocky coasts, vast sub- 

 marine forests. A host of fishes, whales, walruses, and seals, fill the sea and 

 its shores, and innumerable sea-birds occupy the clifl*s. But these treasures 

 of the ocean, which for ages furnished the Aleuts and other wild tribes with 

 the means of existence, have also been the cause of their servitude. Had the 

 sea-otter not existed, the wild children of the soil might possibly still be in 

 possession of their ancient freedom ; and but for the sea-bear and the walrus, 

 the whale and the seal, the banners of the Czar would scarcely have met the 

 flag of England on the continent of America. 



As the whole fur-trade of the Hudson's Bay Territory is concentrated in 

 the hands of one mighty company, thus also one powerful association enjoys 

 the exclusive commerce of the eastern possession of Russia. The regions un- 

 der the authority of the Russian Fur Company* occupy an immense space, as 

 they comprise not only all the islands of Bering Sea, but also the American 

 coasts down to 55° N. lat. The extreme points of this vast territory are situ- 

 ated at a greater distance from each other than London from Tobolsk, but the 

 importance of its trade bears no proportion to its extent. 



The company, which was founded in the year 1799, under the Emperor 

 Paul, had, in 1839, thirty-six hunting settlements on its own territory (the 

 Kurile Islands, the Aleutic chain, Aliaska, Bristol Bay, Cook's Inlet, Norton 

 Sound, etc.), besides a chain of agencies from Ochotsk to St. Petersburg. Its 

 chief seat is New Archangel, on Sitka, one of the many islands of King 

 George III.'s Archipelago, first accurately explored by Vancouver. The mag- 

 nificent Bay of Norfolk, at the head of which the small town is situated, 

 greatly resembles a Norwegian fjord, as we here find the same steep rock- 



* Since last year [1867] the Russian Government has sold her American possessions to the United 

 States, but as it is not yet known how far the interests of the Russian Fur Company have been affected 

 by the change, I may be allowed to speak of her in the present tense. 



