130 
DALL. 
The first codfisherman visited the Shumagin islands in 
1865. The whale fishery was wholly in the hands of Ameri¬ 
cans and other foreigners, uncontrolled by the Russians, and 
the timber was used only for local purposes. 
The main business of the company was done at its conti¬ 
nental trading posts in the northern part of the territory 
and in the Aleutian chain; its authority in the territory 
was as absolute as the presence of the uncivilized tribes would 
admit. Under the guns of the trading posts the company 
was master; out of their range every man was a law unto 
himself. 
After transacting its business at Sitka the expedition 
touched at the island of Unga to examine a coal mine, at 
Unalashka, the Pribiloff islands, and at Saint Michael’s, Nor¬ 
ton sound, where Kennicott and the explorers for the Yukon 
were landed. The speaker was put in charge of the scien¬ 
tific work of the expedition and remained with the fleet, 
visiting Bering strait, where landing places for the cable 
were searched for; and Petropavlovsk, the capital of Kam¬ 
chatka, where the Siberian parties were provided for; and 
then the vessels returned to San Francisco. 
The following year, on returning to Saint Michael’s, we 
were met by the news of Kennicott’s death from heart disease, 
brought on by over-exertion and anxiety. The Yukon ex¬ 
ploration was still incomplete, though information received 
made it certain that the Kwikhpak of the Russians and the 
Yukon and Pelly of the English were one and the same 
river. It remained to emphasize this information by a con¬ 
tinuous exploration which should cover the unmapped por¬ 
tion of this mighty stream. The scientific work in zoology 
projected by Kennicott had been left by his premature death 
unrealized. The speaker determined to carry out these plans 
and was authorized to remain in the country for that pur¬ 
pose. 
As soon as sufficient snow had fallen to render sledging 
practicable a portage from Norton sound to the Yukon river 
was traversed, a small boat transported on a sledge for use 
