I 
508 AVOYAGETO 
I 
1778. otter. I never heard them inquire after any other animal; 
t —^_ cr h though thofe, whofe Runs are of inferior value, are alfo 
made part of their cargoes. I never thought to aik how 
long they have had a fettlement upon Oonalaflika, and the 
neighbouring ifles; but, to judge from the great fubjedtion 
the natives are under, this cannot be of a very late date*. All 
thefe furriers are relieved, from time to time, by others. 
Thofe we met with arrived here from Okotik, in 1776, and 
are to return in 1781; fo that their flay at the ill and will be 
four years at leaft. 
It is now time to give fome account of the native in¬ 
habitants. To all appearance, they are the mod; peace¬ 
able, inoffenlive people, I ever met with. And, as to 
honefty, they might ferve as a pattern to the moll civi¬ 
lized nation upon earth. But, from what I faw of their 
neighbours, with whom the Ruffians have no connexion, 
I doubt whether this was their original difpolition; and 
rather think that it has been the confequence of their 
prefent Rate of fubjedtion. Indeed, if fome of our gen¬ 
tlemen did not mifunderftand the Ruffians, they had 
been obliged to make fome fevere examples t, before they 
could bring the illanders into any order. If there were 
feverities inflidted at firft, the bell apology for them is, 
that they have produced the happieffc confequences ; and, 
at prefent, the greateffc harmony fubffils between the two 
nations. The natives have their own Chiefs in each illand, 
and feem to enjoy liberty and property unmolefted. But 
whether or no they are tributaries to the Ruffians, we 
* The Ruffians began to frequent Oonalafhka in 1762. See Caxe’s Ruffian Difcove- 
rtes , ch. viii. p. 80. 
t See the particulars of hoftilities between the Ruffians and natives, in Coxe, as cited 
above. 
10 
could 
