is 
Indians of the northwest, and many of them bear a close re¬ 
semblance to the less marked of the Japanese, so much so that 
a question at once arises whether this people has not been di¬ 
rectly derived from castaway or shipwrecked inhabitants of 
Japan, carried thither by the Kamschatka branch of the great 
Japanese stream. . . . They are quiet, patient people, gift¬ 
ed with a great deal of ingenuity, and always trusted by the 
Russians. The priest of the Unalaska district is an Aleut, and 
a man of more than ordinary ability and taste. The surgeon of 
the Company’s Service at Ilionlionk, now of the Coast Survey 
Tidal Observer, is also a full blooded native, who has acquitted 
himself creditably in his observations. Many of the block hou¬ 
ses of the Russian Company are constructed by the Aleutes, 
and the church at Ilionlionk is a good specimen of their work¬ 
manship ; even the capitals of the interior wooden columns 
were carved by them with rude means. They make skillful me¬ 
chanics, and the principal mechanician and instrument repairer 
at Sitka is an Aleut, who early displayed great talent, and was 
sent at the Company’s expense to St. Petersburg, where he 
learned the business of an optician. His workmanship exhibits 
talent that needed a large field to develop. . . . The thirty- 
eight charts of Tebenhoff \s atlas were drawn and engraved up¬ 
on copper by a half-breed ’ Aleut named Kadin. The bidarkas 
or skin canoes of the Aleutes, constructed for one, two or three 
persons, are fine specimens of ingenuity and form; the light 
frame is constructed of wood. ... In the management of 
those canoes they display cool courage and thorough knowledge 
of their capabilities. ... As models they are not excelled 
by any of those seen on the Pacific coast; and as simple me¬ 
chanical constructions, they are vastly superior to any south¬ 
ward. Their large skin boats, biadars, capable of carrying 
from forty to sixty persons, were used in trading between 
distant islands as far as St. Paul and St. George, when the 
Russians first reached the country. They are still in use, and 
were employed at Ulakhta harbor to coal the steamer. The 
Aleutes are very ingenious in their traps for catching the small 
fur-bearing animals—very neat in their spears, walrus barbs, 
and sinew-twine—and apt in adopting the simplest means to ob¬ 
tain their ends. . . . They sqon become very handy with 
the use of ordinary tools, do good blacksmith work, use the 
lathe, etc., but, unfortunately, have had few incentives to con- 
