USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 17
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145
AMINAK'S STORY.
afraid, and the smell of which (tar probably) made us sick. The people on the ship had buttons on their clothes, and at first we thought they must be cuttle- fish, but when we saw them put fire into their mouth and blow out smoke we knew they must be devils, as we did not know tobacco then. The ship sailed by the island of Aiakhtalik, one of the Goose Islands at the south end of Kadiak, where then a large village was situated, and then passed by the Cape Aliulik (Cape Trinidad) into Kaniat (Alitak) Bay, where it anch- ored and lowered the boats. We followed full of fear, and at the same time curious to see what would become of the strange apparition, but we did not dare to approach the ship. Among our people there was a brave warrior named Ishinik, who was so bold that he feared nothing in the world; he undertook to visit the ship and came back with presents in his hand, a red shirt, an Aleut hood, and some glass beads. He said there was nothing to fear, 'they only wish to buy our sea-otter skins and to give us glass beads and other riches for them.' We did not fully believe his statement. The old and wise people held a council in the kashima,27 and some said: "Who knows what sick- ness they may bring us; let us await them on the shore, then if they give us a good price for our skins we can do business afterward.'
" Our people formerly were at war with the Fox Island people, whom we called Tayaoot. My father once made a raid upon Unalaska and brought back among other booty a little girl left by her fleeing parents. As a prisoner taken in war she was our slave, but my father treated her like a daughter, and brought her up with his other children. We called her Plioo, which means ashes, because she had been taken from the ashes of her house. On the Russian ship which came from Unalaska there were many
27 A large building where the men work in the winter, and also used for councils and festivities. For a full description of these people see Native Races, vol. i., this series.
HIST. ALASKA. 10
146
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
Aleuts and among them the father of our slave. He came to my father's house, and when he saw that his daughter was not kept like a slave but was well cared for, he told him confidentially, out of gratitude, that the Russians would take the sea-otter skins with- out payment if they could. This warning saved my father, who, though not fully believing the Aleut, acted cautiously. The Russians came ashore together with the Aleuts and the latter persuaded our people to trade, saying: 'Why are you afraid of the Rus- sians? Look at us, we live with them and they do us no harm.' Our people, dazzled by the sight of such quantities of goods, left their weapons in the bidar and went to the Russians with their sea-otter skins. While they were busy trading, the Aleuts, who car- ried arms concealed about them, at a signal from the Russians fell upon our people, killing about thirty and taking away their sea-otter skins. A few men had cautiously watched the result of the first intercourse from a distance, among them my father. These at- tempted to escape in their bidarkas, but they were overtaken by the Aleuts and killed. My father alone was saved by the father of his slave, who gave him his bidarka when my father's own had been pierced with arrows and was sinking. In this bidarka he fled to Akhiok. My father's name was Penashigak. The time of the arrival of this ship was the month of August, as the whales were coming into the bays and the berries were ripe. The Russians remained for the winter, but could not find sufficient food in Kaniat Bay. They were compelled to leave the ship in charge · of a few watchmen and moved into a bay opposite Aiakhtalik Island. Here was a lake full of herrings : and a kind of smelt. They lived in tents here through tthe winter. The brave Ishinik, who first dared to visit the ship, was liked by the Russians and acted as a mediator. When the fish decreased in the lake during the winter the Russians moved about from village to village. Whenever we saw a boat coming at
147
DEPARTURE FROM KADIAK.
a distance we fled to the hills, and when we returned no yukala (dried fish) could be found in the houses. In the lake near the Russian camp there was a poison- ous kind of starfish; we knew it very well, but said nothing about it to the Russians. We never ate them, and even the gulls would not touch them; many Russians died from eating them. But we in- jured them also in other ways. They put up fox- traps and we removed them for the sake of obtaining the iron material. When the Russians had examined our coast they left our island during the following year."28
On the 24th of May Glottof finally left Kadiak, and passing through the numerous islands lining the south coast of the Alaska peninsula made a landing on Umnak with the intention to hunt and trade in the same locality which he had previously visited. When the ship entered the well known bay the houses erected by the promyshleniki were still standing, but no sign of life was visible. The commander hastened to the shore and soon found signs of death and de- struction. The body of an unknown Russian was there; Glottof's own house had been destroyed, and another building erected near by.29
On the 5th of July an exploring party of sixteen discovered the remains of Medvedef's ship, and the still unburied bodies of its crew. Upon consultation it was decided to take steps at once to ascertain whether any survivors of the disaster were to be found on the island. On the 7th of July some natives
28 This narrative of which we have given above only the portion relating to Glottof's visit, coming as it does from the mouth of an eye-witness, is interest- ing, but it is somewhat difficult to determine its historical value, as it is im- possible to locate or identify all the various incidents. The first part evidently refers to the landing of Glottof, though there is a wide discrepancy between the latter's account and that of Arsenti Aminak; in his estimate of time the latter is certainly mistaken and he does not mention the hostile encounters between natives and Russians related by Glottof. He also ascribes the mor- tality among the invaders to the consumption of poisonous fish instead of to the actual cause, the ravages of scorbutic disease. Holmberg, Ethnographische Skizzen; Sarychef, Putesh., ii. 42-3; Grewingk Beitr., 316.
29 Berg, Khronol. Ist., 70; Pallas, Nord. Beitr., i. 276.
148
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
approached the vessel and endeavored to persuade Glottof to land with only two men, for the purpose of trading, displaying at the same time a large number of sea-otter skins on the beach. When they found that their devices did not succeed, they retreated to a distance and began to fire with muskets at the ship, without, however, doing any damage. Later in the day a few natives came off in their canoes and pad- dled round the ship. As Glottof was desirous of ob- taining information concerning the recent occurrences on the island, the bold natives were not molested, and finally one of them ventured on board the ship, par- taking of food, and told freely all that had happened since Glottof's visit, hinting also at the existence of Korovin's small party in some part of the island. He acknowledged that it had been the intention of the natives to kill Glottof after enticing him to land, imagining that they would have no difficulty in deal- ing with the crew after the leader was despatched. After a vain attempt to find Korovin's camp, some natives advised the Russians to cross the island to the opposite side, where they would find their country- men engaged in building a house beside a brook. The information proved correct, and the hearts of Korovin and his men were soon gladdened by the appearance of their countrymen.
Glottof evidently did not intend to feed the addi- tional members in idleness. In a few days he sent out Korovin with twenty men in a bidar to reconnoi- tre the coast of Umnak and search for fugitive Rus- sians who might have survived the various massacres. For a long time he could find no living soul, Russian or native; but at last, in September, he fell in with some parties of the latter. They greeted the Rus- sians with musket-shots, and would not listen to overtures. At various places where Korovin at- tempted to stop to hunt the natives opposed his landing, and engagements ensued. At the place of the massacre of Barnashef and his crew, his bidar
149
KOROVIN AND GLOTTOF.
and the remains of his cargo were found, and a few women and boys who lingered about the place were taken prisoners and questioned as to the details of the bloody episode.
Later in the winter Korovin was sent out again with a party of men and the Aleut interpreter, Ivan Glottof. They proceeded to the western end of Un- alaska and there learned from the natives that a Rus- sian vessel commanded by Solovief was anchored in one of the harbors of that island. Korovin at once shaped his course for the point, but reached it only after several sharp engagements with the natives, inflicting severe loss upon them. He remained with Solofief three days and then returned to the scene of his last encounter with the natives, who seemed to have benefited by the lesson administered by Korovin, being quite tractable and willing to trade and assist in hunting. Before the end of the year the deep- rooted hatred of the Russian intruders again came to the surface, and the hunters concluded to return to the ship. On the passage from Unalaska to Umnak they had two engagements and were finally wrecked upon the latter island. As it was midwinter they were forced to remain there till the 6th of April fol- lowing, subject to the greatest privations. After another tedious voyage along the coast the party at last rejoined Glottof with a small quantity of furs as the result of the season's work. On account of Korovin's failures in hunting, Glottof and his part- ners declared the agreement with them void. The brave leader, whose indomitable courage alone had car- ried his companions through an appalling succession of disasters, certainly deserved better treatment. The Kamchatkans belonging to his former crew entered Glottof's service; but five Russians concluded to cast their lots with him. In June they found Solovief, who willingly received them into his company, and in his vessel they finally reached Kamchatka.30
,30 The vessel commanded by Solovief was owned by Ouledovski, a mer-
150
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
Solovicf had been fortunate in his voyage from Kamchatka to Umnak, passing along the Aleutian isles with as much safety and despatch as a trained sea-captain could have done, provided with all the instruments of modern nautical science. In less than a month, a remarkably quick passage for those days, he sighted the island of Umnak, but finding no con- venient anchorage he went to Unalaska.
A few natives who still remembered Solovief from his former visit, came to greet the new arrivals and informed them of the cruel fate that had befallen Medvedef and his companions. The Cossack Kore- nef was ordered to reconnoitre the northern coast of the island with a detachment of twenty men. He reported on his return that he had found only three vacant habitations of the natives, but some fragments of Russian arms and clothing led him to suspect that some of his countrymen had suffered at the hands of the savages in that vicinity. In the course of time Solovief managed to obtain from the natives detailed accounts of the various massacres. The recital of cruelties committed inflamed his passions, and he resolved to avenge the murder of his countrymen. His first care, however, was to establish himself firmly on the island and to introduce order and discipline among his men. He adhered to his designs with great persistency and unnecessary cruelty.31
chant of Irkutsk. It was the Sv Petr i Sv Pavel which we have so often met; it had sailed from the mouth of the Kamchatka river on the 24th of August 1764. Bery, Khronol. Ist., 73.
31 Berg, while faithfully relating the cruelties perpetrated by Solovief, seems to have been inclined to palliate his crimes. He says: 'A quiet citizen and friend of mankind reading of these doings will perhaps execrate the terrible Solovief and call him a barbarous destroyer of men, but he would change his opinion on learning that after this period of terrible punishment the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands never again dared to make another attack upon the Russians. Would he not acknowledge that such measures were necessary for the safety of future voyagers? Curious to know how Solovief succeeded in his enterprise, and how he was situated subsequently, I questioned Ivan Savich Lapin concerning his fate, and received the follow- ing answer: His many fortunate voyages brought him great profits, but as he was a shiftless man and rather dissipated in his habits, he expended dur- ing every winter passed at Okhotsk or in Kamchatka the earnings of three years of hardships, setting out upon every new voyage with nothing but debts
151
SOLOVIEF'S PROCEEDINGS.
Solovief had not quite finished his preparations when the savage islanders, made bold by frequent victories, attempted the first attack, an unfortunate one for the Aleuts. The promyshleniki, who were ready for the fray at any moment, on this occasion destroyed a hundred of their assailants on the spot, and broke up their bidars and temporary habitations. With this victory Solovief contented himself until he was reënforced by Korovin, Kokovin, and a few others, when he divided his force, leaving half to guard the ship while with the others he set out in search of the "blood-thirsty natives," who had de- stroyed Drushinnin and Medvedef.
The bloodshed perpetrated by this band of avengers was appalling. A majority of all the natives con- nected with the previous attacks on the Russians paid with their lives for presuming to defend their homes against invaders. Being informed that three hundred of the natives had assembled in a fortified village, Solovief marched his force to the spot. At first the Russians were greeted with showers of arrows from every aperture, but when the natives discovered that bullets came flying in as fast as arrows went out, they closed the openings, took down the notched posts serving as ladders, and sat down to await their fate. Unwilling to charge upon the dwellings, and seeing that he could not do much injury to the enemy as long as they remained within, Solovief managed to place bladders filled with powder under the log foun- dation of the structure, which was soon blown into the air. Many of the inmates survived the explosion only to be despatched by the promyshleniki with muskets and sabres. 32
behind him. He lost his life in the most miserable manner at Okhotsk.' Berg, Khronol. Ist., 75-6. Among his companions Solovief acquired the nickname of 'Oushasnui Soloviy,' the 'terrible nightingale, ' a play upon his name, Solovey being the Russian for nightingale. Baer and Wrangell, Russische Besitzungen, 192.
32 Davidof states that Solovief put to death 3,000 Aleuts (?) during this campaign. Dvukr. Purtesh., ii. 108. Berg writes on the authority of Lapin that 'only' 200 were killed. Khronol. Ist., 75. Veniaminof discusses the deeds of Solovief and his companions in a dispassionate way, relying mainly on
152
FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
At the end of his crusade, Solovief, having suc- ceeded in subjugating the natives, established ' friendly intercourse' with them. A few of the chiefs of Una- laska tendered their submission. During the winter his men suffered from scurvy, and many died.33 Ob- serving which the savages regained courage and be- gan to revolt. The people of Makushin village were the most determined, but Solovief managed to en- trap the chief, who confessed that he had intended to overpower the Russians and burn their ship. In June two more of the scurvy-stricken crew died, and Solovief was only too glad to accept of the offer of Korovin and his companions, who had only just ar- rived, to join his expedition. The Cossack Shevyrin died on the third of August and another Russian in September.34
Late in the autumn Solovief again despatched Korenef with a detachment of promyshleniki to the northern part of the island. He did not return until the 30th of January 1766, and was immediately or- dered out again to explore the west coast. During the first days of February a young Aleut named Kyginik, a son of the chief, came voluntarily into the Russian camp and requested to be baptized, and to be permitted to remain with the promyshleniki. His wish was willingly complied with, and if the promysh- leniki claimed a miracle as the cause of the action, I should acquiesce. Nothing but the mighty power of
what he heard by word of mouth from Aleut eye-witnesses of the various transactions. He accused Berg of attempting to make Solovief's career . appear less criminal and repulsive, and declares that 'nearly a century has elapsed since that period of terror, and there is no reason for concealing what was done by the first promyshleniki, or for palliating or glorifying their cruel outrages upon the Aleuts.' He had no desire to enlarge upon the great crimes committed by ignorant and unrestrained men, especially when they were his countrymen; but his work would not be done if he failed to tell what people had seen of the doings of Solovief and liis companions. Veniaminof stated on what he calls good authority, that Solovief experimented on the penetra- tive power of musket-balls by tying 12 Aleutians together and discharging his rifle at them at short range; report has it that the bullets lodged in the ninth man. Zap., ii. 101.
33 One died in February, five in March and April, and six in May; all these were Russians with the exception of one, a Kamchatkan. Neue Nachr., 141.
34 Neue Nachr., 143.
153
MIRACULOUS CONVERSION.
God could have sanctified the heart of this benighted one under these bright examples of Christianity. In May Solovief began his preparations for departure, col- lecting and packing his furs for the voyage and repair- ing his vessel. He sailed the 1st of June and reached Kamchatka the 5th of July.35
At Okhotsk there was great disorder, amounting almost to anarchy, under the administration of Cap- tain Zybin, up to 1754, when the latter was relieved by Captain Nilof, who subsequently became known and lost his life during the famous convict revolt of Kamchatka under the leadership of Benyovski.36 In 1761 Major Plenisner was appointed to the command of Kamchatka for five years; he held this position until relieved by Nilof.37
In 1765 a new company was formed by Lapin, Shilof, and Orekhof, the latter a gunsmith from Tula. They built two vessels at Okhotsk, naming them after those excessively honored apostles the Sv Petr and the Sv Pavel, and crossed over to Bolsheretsk, where they remained till August.33 The Sv Petr was commanded by Tolstykh and carried a crew of forty-nine Rus- sians, twelve natives of Kamchatka, and two Aleuts. Acting under the old delusion that there must be land somewhere to the southward, Tolstykh steered in that direction, but after a fruitless cruise of two months he concluded to make the port of Petropavlovsk to winter; but on the '2d of October in attempting to anchor near Cape Skipunskoi, in a gale, the vessel was cast upon the rocks and broken in pieces. 39
35 The cargo collected during this murderous expedition consisted of 500 black foxes and 500 sea-otters, a portion of the latter having been brought into the joint company by Korovin and his companions. Neue Nachr., 146. 36 Morskoi Sbornik, cv. 40; Sgibnef, in Id., cii. 76.
37 Plenisner was to receive double pay while in command, and he was in- structed to send out the naval lieutenant Synd with two ships to explore the American coast, and also to send another expedition to explore the Kurile Islands. Sgibnef, in Morskoi Sbornik, cii. 37-8.
38 The authorities of Bolsheretsk asserted that the party sailed only after all the liquor obtained for the voyage had been drank. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 76-7. 39 Neue Nachr., 49. Berg mentions that in this wreck only three out of a crew of 63 were saved, but he does not state whether Tolstykh was among the survivors.
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FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE PROMYSHLENIKI.
The Sv Pavel was commanded by Master Afanassiy Ocheredin, and carried a crew of sixty men. Sailing from Bolsheretsk the 1st of August they steered for the farther Aleutian Isles, and went into winter- quarters the 1st of September in a bay of Umnak. At first the natives were friendly, but as soon as tribute was demanded intercourse ceased for the win- ter, and the Russians suffered greatly from hunger and disease. Scarcely had the promyshleniki begun to overcome the dread disease in the spring, with the help of anti-scorbutic plants, when Ocheredin sent out detachments to demand tribute of the natives. In August 1767 a peredovchik named Poloskof, was despatched with twenty-eight men in two boats to hunt. Having heard of the massacre of Medvedef and Korovin, he passed by Unalaska and estab- lished himself at Akutan, distributing small detach- ments of hunters over the neighboring islands. In the following January he was attacked and four of his men killed. Onslaughts were made by the natives at the same time upon Ocheredin's vessel and another craft commanded by Popof, who was then trading at Unalaska. In August Poloskof rejoined Ocheredin, and their operations were continued until 1770.40
Ocheredin's share of the proceeds was 600 sea- otters, 756 black foxes, 1,230 red foxes; and with this rich cargo he arrived at Okhotsk on the 24th of July 1770.41 The partners in this enterprise received in addition to a large return on their investment gracious acknowledgments from the imperial govern- ment. In 1764, when the first black fox-skins had
40 In the month of September 1768 Ocheredin was notified by Captain Levashef, of the Krenitzin expedition, to transfer to him (Levashef) all the tribute collected. With an armed vessel anchored in Kapiton Bay, Popof and Ocheredin met with no further opposition from the natives. Unalaska to the south-west of the Alaska peninsula. On Cook's atlas, 1778, written Oonalaska; La Pérouse, 1736, Ounalaska; Sutil y Mex., Viage, I. Unalaska; Holmberg, I. Unalaschka. Cartog. Pac. Coast, MS., iii. 454.
41 Berg, Khronol. Ist., app. Two natives of the island, Alexeï Solovief and Boris Ocheredin, were taken to Okhotsk on the Sv Pavel with the inten- tion of sending them to St Petersburg, but both died of consumption on their journey through Siberia. Neue Nachr., 162-3.
.
155
OTHER VESSELS.
been forwarded to the empress, gold medals were awarded to the merchants Orekhof, Kulkof, Shapkin, Panof, and Nikoforof. Desirous of obtaining a more detailed account of the doings of her subjects in the far east, Catherine ordered to be sent to St Petersburg one of the traders, promising to pay his expenses. When this order reached Okhotsk only one merchant engaged in the island trade could be found, Vassili Shilof. He was duly despatched to the imperial court, and on arriving at St Petersburg was at once granted an interview by the empress, who questioned him closely upon the locality of the new discoveries, and the mode of conducting the traffic. The empress was much pleased with the intelligent answers of Shilof, who exhibited a map of his own making, representing the Aleutian Islands from Bering to Amlia. This the empress ordered to be deposited in the admiralty college.42
Three other vessels were despatched in 1766-7, but of their movements we have but indefinite records. The Vladimir, owned by Krassilnikof and commanded by Soposhnikof, sailed in 1766, and returned from the Near Islands with 1,400 sea-otters, 2,000 fur-seals, and 1,050 blue foxes. In the following year the Sv
42 In the Shurnal Admiralttiestv Kollegiy, under date of Feb. 5, 1767, the following entry can be found: 'The Oustioushk merchant, Shilof, laid before the college, in illustration of his voyages to the Kamchatka Islands, a chart on which their location as far as known is laid down. He also gave satisfac- tory verbal explanations concerning their inhabitants and resources. The college having inspected and examined this chart and compared it with the one compiled by Captain Chirikof, at the wish and will expressed by Her Imperial Majesty, and upon careful consideration, present most respectfully the following report: The college deems the report of Shilof concerning navi- gation and trade insufficient for official consideration, and in many respects contradictory; especially the chart, which does not agree in many important points with other charts in the hands of the college; and moreover it could not be expected to be correct, being compiled by a person knowing nothing of the science and rules of navigation. On the other hand, as far as this document is concerned we must commend the spirit which instigated its con- ception and induced the author to undergo hardships and dangers in extend- ing the navigation and trade of Russia. And we find in it the base upon which to build further investigation and discoveries of unknown countries, which well deserves the approbation of our most Gracious Imperial Majesty.' Two imperial oukazes were issued, dated respectively April 19 and April 20, 1767, granting Shilof and Lapin exemption from military duty and conferring upon each a gold medal for services rendered. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 70-2.
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