USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 26
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The first large shipment of sea-otters was brought to China by Captain Hanna, who with a brig of sixty tons collected in six weeks, on King George Sound, five hundred whole sea-otter skins, and a number of pieces amounting to about sixty more. He sailed from China in April 1785 and returned in December, making the voyage exceedingly profitable.31 Hanna
29 The following shipments of this kind are recorded by Coxe, from the Hudson Bay territory to London and St Petersburg and thence overland to Kiakhta: in 1775, 46,460 beavers and 7,143 otters; in 1776, 27,700 beavers and 12,080 otters; in 1777, 27,316 beavers and 10,703 otters. The skins brought at St Petersburg from 7 to 9 rubles for beavers, and from 6 to 10 rubles for otters; while at Kiakhta the beaver sold at from 7 to 20 rubles, and the otter from 6 to 35 rubles. Coxe's Russ. Disc., 337-8.
30 The Chinese at that time understood the art of coloring sables and other furs so perfectly that the deception was not observable. Consequently they preferred to purchase a low-priced and inferior article. Sauer's Geog. and Astron. Exped., 15.
31 Skins of the first grade brought $60 cach. Hanna had 140 of these, 175 of the second grade, worth $40; 80 of the third, worth $20; 55 of the fourth at $15, and 50 of the fifth at $10. The pieces were also sold at the rate of $10
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ENGLISH AND FRENCH.
sailed again on the same venture in 1786, but though he remained absent until the following year, his cargo did not bring over $8,000. Two other vessels, the Captain Cook and the Experiment, left Bombay in January 1786, and after visiting in both King George and Prince William sounds returned with 604 sea- otters, which sold for $24,000, an average of $40 a skin.
La Pérouse, who visited the coast in the same year, forwarded an extensive report to his government con- cerning the fur-trade of the Northwest Coast. He states that during a period not exceeding ten days he purchased a thousand skins of sea-otters at Port des Français, or Ltua Bay; but only few of them were entire, the greater part consisting of made-up gar- ments, robes, and pieces more or less ragged and filthy. He thought, however, that perfect skins could easily be obtained if the French government should conclude to favor a regular traffic of its subjects with that region. La Pérouse entertained some doubts as to whether the French would be able to compete prof- itably with the Russians and Spaniards already in the field, though he declared that there was an interval of coast between the southern limits of the Russian and the northern line of Spanish operations which would not be closed for several centuries, and was conse- quently open to the enterprise of any nation.32 Among other suggestions he recommended that only vessels of 500 or 600 tons should be employed, and that the principal article of trade should be bar-iron, cut into lengths of three or four inches. The value of the 3,231 pieces of sea-otter skin collected at Port des Français is estimated in the report at 41,063 Spanish piastres. 33
per whole skin. Hanna realized $20,000 out of this short cruise. Diron's Voy., 315-22.
32 La Pérouse, Voy., iv. 162-72.
33 A peculiarly French idea is advanced by La Pérouse in a note to his report on the fur-trade of the north-west. He and his officers refused to derive any profit from the experimental mercantile transactions during the expedition. It was settled that such sums as were realized from the sale of
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
After duly weighing the question in all its aspects the French commander came to the conclusion that it would not be advisable to establish at once a French factory at Port des Français, but to encourage and subsidize three private expeditions from some French seaport, to sail at intervals of two years.
From Dixon we learn that La Pérouse's expecta- tions, as far as the value of his skins was concerned, were not realized. He reports that the French ships Astrolabe and Boussole brought to Canton about 600 sea-otters of poor quality, which they disposed of for $10,000.34
In January 1788 the furs collected by Dixon and Portlock in the King George and Queen Charlotte were sold as follows: The bulk of the cargo, consisting of 2,552 sea-otters, 434 pups, and 34 foxes, sold for $50,000, and at private sale 1,080 sea-otter tails brought $2,160, and 110 fur-seals $550. According to Berg the number of sea-otters shipped from the Northwest Coast to Canton previous to January 1, 1788, was 6,643, which sold at something over $200,000 in the aggregate.
After this shipments increased rapidly with the larger number of vessels engaging in this trade, as I have shown in my History of the Northwest Coast.35 A large proportion of them were English, though they labored under many disadvantages, and as the Eng- lish captains who came to Canton were not allowed
the skins in China should be distributed among the crew. The commander ingeniously reasons that the share of each sailor will be sufficient to enable the whole crew to get married on their return and to raise families in com- fortable circumstances, who, 'in course of time, will be of the greatest benefit to the navy.' La Pérouse, Voy., iv. 167.
84 Dixon's Voy., 315-22. In the same place the result of the Bengal Fur Society's experiment with the Nootka, Capt. Meares, is given as follows: 267 sea-otters, 97 pieces and tails, 48 land-otters, and 41 beavers and martens were sold at Macao for $9,692. Fifty prime sea-otters sold at Canton for $91 each, bringing $4,550. Nearly the whole cargo had been obtained at Prince William Sound. About the same time the cargo of the Imperial Eagle, Capt. Barclay, obtained chiefly from Vancouver Island, sold for $30,000. See Hist. Northwest Coast, vol. i. 353, this series.
35 In 1792 there were at least 28 vessels on the coast, more than half of them engaged in fur-trade. Hist. Northwest Coast, i. 258 et seq., this series.
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RUSSIAN INFLUENCE.
to trade in their own or their owners' name, but were obliged to transact their business through the agents of the English East India Company, they did not take very kindly to the trade. The merchants of other nations held the advantage to the extent that, even if forced to dispose of their furs at low prices, they could realize one hundred per cent profit on the Chinese goods they brought home, while the English, on ac- count of the privileges granted the East India Com- pany, could not carry such goods to England. The British merchants, however, knew how to evade these regulations by sending to Canton, where the ships of all nations were free to come, vessels under the flags of Austria, Hamburg, Bremen, and others. Thus Captain Barclay, or Berkeley, who sailed from Ostend in the Imperial Eagle under the Austrian flag, was an Englishman.
On the other hand, Russian influence was contin- ually at work on the Chinese frontier and even at Peking, to counteract the influx of furs by water into the Celestial empire. When Marchand arrived at Macao from the Northwest Coast he found a tempo- rary interdict on the traffic.36 This benefited the Russian only to a certain extent, for new hunting- grounds were discovered by the now roused traders, and the immense influx of fur-seal skins from the Falkland Islands, Terra del Fuego, New Georgia, South Shetland, and the coast of Chile to China caused a general depreciation in this article toward the end of the last century.37
The jealousy of foreign visitors on the part of Russians was but natural in view of the mischief they created. Along the whole coast from Cook Inlet
36 When the Solide arrived at Macao, Marchand was much disappointed on learning that strict orders had been issued from Peking to purchase no more furs from the north-west coast of America. This compelled him to take what furs he had to Europe. Marchand, Voy., ii. 368-9.
37 Three and a half millions of skins were taken from Masa Fuero to Can- ton between 1793 and 1807. Dall's Alaska, 492.
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
down to Sitka and Queen Charlotte Sound, when- ever English and subsequently American competition entered the field, the prices of sea-otter skins experi- enced a steady rise till the temptation to kill the ani- mal indiscriminately became so great as to overcome what little idea the natives had of husbanding their resources. On the other hand the most prolific sea- otter grounds, the southern end of the Alaska penin- sula and the Aleutian Islands, exempt from the visits of mercantile rovers, have continued to yield their precious furs to the present day.
These foreigners had an additional variety of goods with which to tempt the untutored son of the wilder- ness, and were not scrupulous about selling even de- structive weapons. The demand for certain articles of trade by the natives, especially among the Thlin- keets, was subject to continuous changes. When Marchand arrived in Norfolk Sound he found the savages disposed to drive hard bargains, and skins could not be obtained for trifles. Tin and copper ves- sels and cooking utensils were in request, as well as lances and sabres, but prime sea-otters could be pur- chased only with European clothing of good quality, and Marchand was obliged to sacrifice all his extra supplies of clothing for the crew. The natives seemed at that time, 1791, to have plenty of European goods, mostly of English manufacture. Favorite articles were toes of iron, three or four inches in length, and light-blue beads. Two Massachusetts coins were worn by a young Indian as ear-rings. They were nearly all dressed in European clothing and familiar with fire-arms. Hammers, saws, and axes they valued but little. 38
The rules with regard to traffic on individual account on board of these independent traders were quite as
88 In 10 days Marchand obtained in trade 100 sea-otters of prime quality, mostly fresh; 250 young sea-otters, light colored; 36 whole bear-skins, and 13 half skins; 37 fur-seals; 60 beavers; a sack of squirrel-skins and sea-otter tails; a marmot robe, and a robe of marmot and bear. Marchand, Voy., ii. 3-12.
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UNSCRUPULOUS ENGLISHMEN.
stringent as those subsequently enforced by the Rus- sian American company. Among the instructions furnished Captain Meares by the merchant proprie- tors we find the following: "As every person on board you is bound by the articles of agreement not to trade even for the most trifling articles, we expect the full- est compliance with this condition, and we shall most assuredly avail ourselves of the penalty a breach of it will incur. But as notwithstanding, the seamen may have laid in iron and other articles for trade, thinking to escape your notice and vigilance, we direct that, at a proper time, before you make the land of America, you search the vessel carefully, and take into your possession every article that can serve for trade, allowing the owner its full value." 39
A few years sufficed to transform the naturally shrewd and overbearing Thlinkleets into the most exacting and unscrupulous traders. Prices rose to such an extent that no profit could be made except by deceiving them as to the value of the goods given in barter. Some of the less scrupulous captains en- gaged in this traffic even resorted to violence and downright robbery in order to make a showing. Guns, of course, brought high prices, but in many instances, where the trader intended to make but a brief stay, a worthless article was palmed off upon the native, who, in his turn, sought to retaliate by imposing upon or stealing from the next trader.40
Nor did the foreigners hesitate to commit brutali- ties when it suited their interest or passion, not- withstanding Meares' prating about "humane British commerce." The English captain certainly had noth- ing to boast of so far as his own conduct was concerned in the way of morality, honesty, and humanity. Cer- tain subjects of Spain and Russia were exceedingly
39 Meares, Voy., app.
40 One of the natives of Tchinkitané (Sitka) complained to Marchand of a gun he had purchased of an English captain and broken in anger because it would 'only go crick, but never poohoo!' Marchand's Voy., ii. 69. Mar- chand and Rocquefeuille both claim that the natives of the Northwest Coast prefer French guns to any other.
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
cruel to the natives of America, but for innate wick- edness and cold-blooded barbarities in the treatment of savage or half-civilized nations no people on earth during the past century have excelled men of Anglo- Saxon origin. Such was the conduct of the critical Meares toward the Chugatsches that they would prob- ably have killed him but for the timely warning of a young woman whom he had "purchased for the winter."
Instances of difficulties arising between English traders and natives of Prince William Sound are too numerous to mention in detail in this place, but it is certain that as soon as the former withdrew and the Russians were enabled to manage affairs in their own way, a peaceful and regular traffic was carried on. These captains were too ready to attribute cruelty to their rivals, and at times on mistaken grounds.
Captain Douglas, who visited Cook Inlet in the Iphigenia, observed what he called "tickets or pass- ports for good usage" in the hands of the natives. Meares offers an explanation of this incident, saying that "these tickets are purchased by the Indians from the Russian traders at very dear rates, under a pre- tence that they will secure them from ill-treatment of any strangers who may visit the coast; and as they take care to exercise great cruelty upon such of the natives as are not provided with these instruments of safety, the poor people are only too happy to purchase them on any terms." Meares then adds with charm- ing self-complacency: "Such is the degrading system of the Russian trade in these parts; and forms a striking contrast to the liberal and humane spirit of British commerce."41 It is scarcely necessary to say that these papers were receipts for tribute paid by these natives, who had for several years been consid- sidered and declared subjects of the ruler of all the Russias. 42
+1 Meares' Voy., ii. 129, ed. 1791.
42 An explanation of the bitterness displayed in Captain Meanes' utterance
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RUSSIAN POLICY.
The cause for these insinuations must be looked for in the greater success of the Muscovites, who could be met with everywhere, and as they did not pur- chase the skins, but had the animals killed by natives in their service, competition was out of the question. At Prince William Sound Portlock discovered that the natives did not like the goods he had to offer; only when he obtained others from Captain Meares did trade improve. The English traders frequently complained in their journals of the Russians as having absorbed the whole traffic, yet Portlock himself ac- knowledges that during the summer of 1787 he sent his long-boat repeatedly to Cook Inlet, and that each time the party met with moderate success and friendly treatment on the part of Russians and natives in their service.43
Vancouver, who as far as the Russians are con- cerned may be accepted as an impartial observer, expresses the opinion that "the Russians were more likely than any other nation to succeed in procur- ing furs and other valuable commodities from those shores." He based his opinion partly upon informa- tion received from Ismaïlof at Unalaska, but prin- cipally upon his own observations on the general conduct of the Russians toward the natives in the several localties where he found the latter under Rus- sian control and direction. The English explorer reasons as follows: "Had the natives about the Rus- sian establishments in Cook's Inlet and Prince Will- iam's sound been oppressed, dealt hardly by, or treated by the Russians as a conquered people, some uneasi- ness among them would have been perceived, some desire for emancipation would have been discovered; but no such disposition appeared-they seemed to be
on the subject of Russian traders can be found in a passage of his journal in which he complains that wherever he went in the Nootka, from Unalaska to the head of Cook Inlet, he found that the Russians already monopolized the trade, and the natives had nothing left to offer in exchange for English goods. A boat sent up the Inlet was constantly watched by two Russian bidars. Meares' Voy., xi.
43 Portlock's Voy., 242-3.
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
held in no restraint, nor did they seem to wish, on any occasion whatever, to elude the vigilance of their directors." The Indians beyond Cross Sound were less tractable and the Russians evidently became sat- isfied to remain to the westward of that region.44
Notwithstanding all the abuses to which the Aleuts had to submit at the hands of the early traders and the Russian company, it is safe to assume that a peo- ple which has absolutely no other resource to fall back upon would have long since been blotted out of exist- ence with the extermination of the sea-otter, had they been exposed to the effects of reckless and unscrupu- lous competition like their more savage and powerful brethren in the east. As it is, they are indebted to former oppression for their very existence at the pres- ent day.
There can be no doubt that in their hands alone would the wealth of the coast region be husbanded, for their interests now began to demand an economic management, and their influence by far exceeded that of any other nation with whom the natives had come in contact. Long before the universal sway of the Russian American Company had been introduced we find unmistakable signs of this predilection in favor of those among all their visitors who apparently treated them with the greatest harshness while driving the hardest bargains. The explanation lies in the fact that the Russians were not in reality as cruel as the others, and, above all, that they assimilated more closely with the aborigines than did other traders. At all outlying stations they lived together with and in the manner of the natives, taking quite naturally to filth, privations, and hardships, and on the other hand dividing with their savage friends all the little
44 Vancouver's Voy., iii. 500. Portlock, some years earlier, claimed that the natives informed him they had recently had a fight with the Russians in which the latter were beaten; and also that he was requested to assist the natives against the Russians, but refused. Portlock's Voy., 115-22. Juvenal's Jour., MS., 30 et seq.
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RAPID DECLINE.
comforts of rude civilization which by chance fell to their lot.
Cook and Vancouver expressed their astonishment at the miserable circumstances in which they found the Russian promyshleniki, and both navigators agree as to the amicable and even affectionate relations ex- isting between the natives of the far north-west of this continent and their first Caucasian visitors from the eastern north. Captains Portlock and Dixon even complained of this good understanding as an injury to the interests of others with equal rights to the advantages of traffic with the savages. The traffic then carried on throughout that region is scarcely worthy of the name of trade; it was a struggle to seize upon the largest quantity of the most valuable furs in the shortest time and at the least expense, without regard for consequences.
When Portlock and Dixon visited Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound in 1786 the trade in those localities seemed to be already on the decline. In the former place a few days were sufficient to drain the country of marketable furs.
How much the fur-trade had deteriorated on Cook Inlet at the beginning of the last decade of the eigh- teenth century is made evident by such reports of managers as have been preserved. The total catch for several years, during which time two ships well manned and hundreds of natives were employed, did not exceed 500 sea-otters and a comparatively small number of other furs. This was certainly a great falling-off, but it may be partly ascribed to the wran- gling of rival companies whose retainers used every means to interfere with each other. Large quantities of furs were destroyed, houses and boats were broken up, and blood was sometimes shed. The decline of trade during this period was not arrested till the country had been for years subjected to the arbitrary rule of the Russian American Company, though of
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
course the fur business never recovered its former prosperity.
Traces of populous settlements abound on the shores of the inlet, and it is evident that the numerous vil- lages were abandoned to desolation at about the same time. The age of trees now growing over former dwellings enables the observer to fix the date of de- population within a few years, long before any of the epidemics which subsequently swept the country.
With the unrestrained introduction of fire-arms along the coast southward from Prince William Sound the sea-otters were doomed to gradual extermination throughout that region, though the country suffered no less from imported Aleuts, who far surpassed the native sea-otter hunters in skill, and had no interest in husbanding production. Long before American traders took a prominent part in these operations the golden days of the sea-otter traffic had passed away.
In 1792 Martin Sauer predicted that in fifteen years from that time the sea-otter would no longer exist in the waters of north-western America, and he had not seen the devastation on the coast south of Yakutat. The organization of the Russian American Company alone prevented the fulfilment of his proph- ecy as far as concerns the section which came under his observation.
This state of affairs the traders had not failed to reveal to the government long before this, coupled with no little complaint and exaggeration. Officials in Siberia aided in the outcry, and the empress was actually moved to order war vessels to the coast, but various circumstances interfered with their de- parture.45 Nevertheless, from the rivalry of English
45 Shelikof complained that 'the advantages which rightfully belong to the subjects of Russia alone are converted to the benefit of other nations who have no claim upon the country and no right to the products of its waters.' Lieutenant-general Ivan Bartholomeievich Jacobi, who then filled the office of governor general of Irkutsk and Kolivansk, reported to the empress that it was necessary to protect without delay the Russian possessions on the coast of America with armed vessels, in order to prevent foreigners from interfering with the Russian fur-trade. In reply Catherine ordered five war-
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DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS.
and American traders, the Shelikof and Golikof Com- pany does not appear to have suffered to any great extent, if we may judge from a list of cargoes im- ported by that firm during a term of nine years. Their vessels during the time numbered six; one, the Trekh Sviatiteli, making two trips. The total value of these shipments between the years 1788 and 1797 was 1,500,000 roubles-equal then to three times the amount at the present day.46
This result was due partly to more wide-spread and thorough operations than hitherto practised, and partly to the compensation offered by a varied assort- ment of furs. Thus, while the most valuable fur- bearing animal, the sea-otters, were becoming scarce in the gulf of Kenaï, large quantities of beavers, martens, and foxes were obtained there.
The distribution of fur-bearing animals during the last century was of course very much the same as now, with the exception that foxes of all kinds came almost exclusively from the islands. The stone foxes -blue, white, and gray-were most numerous on the western islands of the Aleutian chain and on the Pri- bylof group. Black and silver-gray foxes, then very valuable, were first obtained from Unalaska by the Shilof and Lapin Company and at once brought into fashion at St Petersburg by means of a judicious pres- entation to the empress. Shipments of martens and minks from a few localities on the mainland were in- significant, and the same may be said of bears and wolverenes. The sea-otter's range was not much more extended than at present; but on the south- eastern coast they were ten times more numerous than now. They were never found north of the
vessels to be fitted out to sail in 1788, under command of Captain Mulovskoi, with the rank of brigadier. The war with Sweden probably interfered with this expedition. Berg, Khronol. Ist., 158. It must be remembered, however, that the Billings expedition was under way at that time.
46 The details are given by Bergh as follows : In 1786 the Sviatiteli brought furs valued at 56,000 rubles; in 1789 the Sviatiteli, 300,000; in 1792 the Mikhaïl, 376,000; in 1793 the Sv Simeon, 128,000; in 1795 the Phoenix, 321,138; in 1795 the Alexandr, 276,550; in 1796 the Orel, 21,912; total rbls., 1,479,600. Khronol. Ist., 169.
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COLONIZATION AND THE FUR-TRADE.
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