To add to the delay he was to be paid for
his cargo in seal skins. Now it so happened that there was none of this
kind of peltry at the fort of old Baranoff. It was necessary, therefore,
for Mr. Hunt to proceed to a seal-catching establishment, which
the Russian company had at the island of St. Paul, in the Sea of
Kamtschatka. He accordingly set sail on the 4th of October, after having
spent forty-five days at New Archangel boosing and bargaining with its
roystering commander, and right glad was he to escape from the clutches
of "this old man of the sea."
The Beaver arrived at St. Paul's on the 31st of October; by which time,
according to arrangement, he ought to have been back at Astoria. The
island of St. Paul is in latitude 57deg N., longitude 170deg or 171deg
W. Its shores, in certain places, and at certain seasons, are covered
with seals, while others are playing about in the water. Of these, the
Russians take only the small ones, from seven to ten months old, and
carefully select the males, giving the females their freedom, that the
breed may not be diminished. The islanders, however, kill the large
ones for provisions, and for skins wherewith to cover their canoes. They
drive them from the shore over the rocks, until within a short distance
of their habitations, where they kill them.
Pages:
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633