New Archangel is situated in Norfolk Sound, lat. 57deg 2' N., long.
135deg 50' W. It was the head-quarters of the different colonies of the
Russian Fur Company, and the common rendezvous of the American vessels
trading along the coast.
The Beaver met with nothing worthy of particular mention in her voyage,
and arrived at New Archangel on the 19th of August. The place at that
time was the residence of Count Baranoff, the governor of the different
colonies; a rough, rugged, hospitable, hard-drinking old Russian;
somewhat of a soldier; somewhat of a trader; above all, a boon companion
of the old roystering school, with a strong cross of the bear.
Mr. Hunt found this hyperborean veteran ensconced in a fort which
crested the whole of a rocky promontory. It mounted one hundred guns,
large and small, and was impregnable to Indian attack, unaided by
artillery. Here the old governor lorded it over sixty Russians, who
formed the corps of the trading establishment, besides an indefinite
number of Indian hunters of the Kodiak tribe, who were continually
coming and going, or lounging and loitering about the fort like so many
hounds round a sportsman's hunting quarters. Though a loose liver among
his guests, the governor was a strict disciplinarian among his men;
keeping them in perfect subjection, and having seven on guard night and
day.
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