USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 37
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On the other hand, the letters of Baranof and his chief assistants, written during the same period, dis- play a marked forbearance in speaking of the mis- sionaries and their doings.21 The difficulties of Bar- anof's position during this winter of close companion- ship with inquisitive, suspicious priests, rebellious servants, and discontented natives cannot well be
20 Ioassaf wrote: He (Baranof) has sold his tobacco at 400 roubles per poud (40 lbs. ) and more, though he had on hand over 20 pouds belonging to the company. Id., 105.
21 This must of course be partly ascribed to policy on their part, but a perusal of these documents impresses upon the reader the conviction that the part which the traders were obliged to play in this controversy was more difficult than that of the priests, and that the former were perfectly honest in attempting to avoid all complications. The charges advanced by mission- aries, of being starved and forced to pick up their food on the beach while Baranof and his favorites feasted upon the fat of the land, is not sustained by such credible witnesses as lieutenants Khvostof and Davidof and other naval officers then entering the employ of the Russian-American Company, who all testified to the fact that Baranof and his favored leaders shared all priva- tions with their subordinates. At the very time when Ioassaf complained in his letter of Baranof's delay in erecting a church or chapel, the latter, though lacking time, men, and means to employ in church building just then, donated 1,500 roubles from his own salary for the purpose. Id., i. 59, and ii. app. 150-1.
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COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
exaggerated. No supplies of provisions had arrived with the missionaries, who, to a certain extent, were responsible for their own privations, having feasted and lived in too great abundance during their deten- tion on the coast of Siberia and on the sea voyage.
In the spring of 1795 the missionaries, with one exception, proceeded to the mainland, there to labor with but indifferent success among the native tribes not previously approached by the pioneers of Mus- covite civilization.
At Unalaska and the neighboring islands Father Makar, though meeting with little opposition from the few promyshleniki remaining there, labored with appar- ent success.22 The natives were now thoroughly sub- dued, and hundreds of them had been carried away to join the hunting parties of Baranof. Their territory no longer afforded sites for profitable stations, and they were left almost to themselves. An indifference bor- dering on apathy had succeeded to the former warlike spirit of the Aleuts, who in earlier days had wreaked dire vengeance upon their Russian oppressors when- ever opportunity offered. It is impossible to ascer- tain whether Makar was really an eloquent preacher of the gospel, or whether his success was solely due to circumstances; but success he certainly had. In a few years nearly all the inhabitants of the Aleutian Isles were baptized and duly reported to the holy synod as voluntary converts and good Christians. The circum- stance that no attempt was made to translate the con- fession of faith, or any portion of the scripture or ritual, into the native language at that early time, sug- gests serious doubts as to the agency of eloquence and argument in this wholesale conversion. When Veniaminof entered upon his missionary career on the
22 The father appears to have been a somewhat meddlesome ecclesiastic. In a copy of an imperial rescript issued a few years later, we read: 'The monk Makar, who has exceeded the bounds of his duties and meddled with affairs that did not concern him, is hereby informed that though we pardon him this time for absenting himself wilfully from his appointed post of duty, he must not repeat the offence, and must allow complaints made by the Aleutians to go through their proper channel.' Id., 173.
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AN UNLUCKY BISHOP.
islands twenty years later, he found the people Chris- tians by name, but was compelled to begin from the foundation the work of enlightenment and explanation of the creed in which they had been baptized by Makar.
With the death of Shelikof the missionaries lost their principal support, and no further attempt was made to extend their operations until the archiman- drite Ioassaf was recalled to Irkutsk by order of the synod, in order to be consecrated as bishop. He started upon his journey full of ambitious plans, and with the determination to make use of his new dig- nity in overcoming all opposition, real or imaginary, on the part of his persecutors. Visions of building up an ecclesiastical empire in Russian America may have gladdened his soul after years of suffering and humil- iation; but whatever his ambitious dreams may have been, they must have lost much in scope and vivid- ness long before he embarked in the Feniks a second time, not to return in splendor to the scene of former misery, but to find a watery grave at some unknown point within a few days' sail of his destination.
Prominent among the missionaries who accompa- nied the archimandrite was Father Juvenal, who in 1795 was sent to Yakutat Bay, probably to draw plans for Baranof, and on his return commenced to labor at Kadiak as a priest and teacher. "With the help of God," he writes from Three Saints Har- bor on June 19, 1796, "a school was opened to-day at this place, the first since the attempt of the late Mr Shelikof to instruct the natives of this neighbor- hood. Eleven boys and several grown men were in attendance. When I read prayers they seemed very attentive, and were evidently deeply impressed, though they did not understand the language." On the fol- lowing day two more youths were placed under his charge, and "when school was closed," continues the father, "I went to the river with my boys, and with
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COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
the help of God we caught one hundred and three sal- mon of large size, which some of the women assisted us in cutting up ready for drying." 23 Other scholars were quickly enrolled, and though the pupils had an unpleasant trick of running off without ceremony to trade furs whenever opportunity offered, all went well until the 12th of July, when Baranof arrived at the settlement, with instructions from the bishop of Irkutsk that Juvenal should proceed to Ilyamna sta- tion.
On the following sabbath the priest celebrated divine service for the last time at Three Saints. A brief description of the ceremony may not be without interest: "We had a very solemn and impressive service this morning. Mr Baranof and officers and sailors from the ship attended, and also a large num- ber of natives. We had fine singing, and a congrega- tion with great outward appearance of devotion. I could not help but marvel at Alexander Alexandre- ievitch [Baranof ], who stood there and listened and crossed himself, gave the responses at the proper time, and joined in the singing with the same hoarse voice with which he was shouting obscene songs the night before, when I saw him in the midst of a drunken carousal with a woman seated in his lap. I dispensed with services in the afternoon, because the traders were drunk again, and might have disturbed us and disgusted the natives."
The next day Juvenal repaired to Baranof's tent to inquire what disposition was to be made of the pupils under his charge. The reply was that they were to be removed to Pavlovsk, where Father German had arrived and opened a school for girls; he would doubt- less be willing to take the boys also.
23 Jour., MS., 1-2. Of the visit of some strangers who came from Tugi- dak Island to trade, he relates the following: 'They asked me if I could cure a man when he was very sick, and I answered that with the help of God I might. At this they shrugged their shoulders, and one man said: " We have a shaman at home who once brought a dead man back to life; and he did it all alone."' Id., 9.
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JUVENAL'S TROUBLES.
After blessing his flock and taking leave of them one by one, the priest embarked for Pavlovsk on the 16th of July on board the brigantine Catherine, where, he tells us, the cabin being taken up by Baranof and his party, he was shown a small space in the hold between some bales of goods and a pile of dried fish. In this dark and noisome berth, by the light of a wretched lantern, he wrote a portion of his journal, often disturbed by the ribald songs which the chief manager's attendants sang for his amusement. On the second day of the voyage a strong head wind set in, accompanied with a heavy chopping sea. Baranof, being out of humor, sent for the father and asked him whether he had blessed the ship. On being told that he had done so, he was ordered with many curses to light a taper before an image of Nikolai Ugodnik, which hung in the cabin. Juvenal complied without a word, and then retired to his berth, which, foul as it was, he preferred to the company of the chief man- ager. The gale continued over night, and at daybreak the vessel was out of sight of land, whereupon in pres- ence of the sailors and passengers Baranof spoke of the priest as a second Jonah, and observed that there were plenty of whales about. All this time the lat- ter was unable to partake of food, and, as he says, was buried under a heap of dried fish whenever the vessel rolled heavily.
At Pavlovsk, Juvenal noticed the great activity in building, which was not even interrupted on the sab- bath. On the fourth day after his arrival he took his leave of Baranof, who promised him a passage in his fleet of bidarkas as far as St George on the gulf of Kenaï, but told him that afterward he must depend on the Lebedef Company, whose traders, he added with a malicious grin, "were little better than robbers and murderers."24
24 During his stay at Pavlovsk Juvenal was lodged in a half-finished hut intended for a salt-house, where swarms of mosquitoes deprived him of rest. Before his departure he had an interview with Father German, who, he says, was on the best terms with Baranof. When asked whether he had any ma-
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COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
After a tedious passage from island to island, some- times meeting with long delays, the priest reached the Kaknu or Kenaï River, where was the nearest station of the Lebedef Company, on the 11th of August. Here, notwithstanding Baranof's warning, he 'met with the first signs of religious observance by promyshleniki during his travels in the colonies. 25 During his stay of about a fortnight he married sev- eral couples, baptized a number of infants and adults, and at intervals held divine service, which was well attended.26
Soon, however, the religious ardor cooled, and so little interest did the natives take in the missionary that, when ready to depart, he found it difficult to ob- tain men and bidarkas to take him across the inlet to his destination. At last one morning after service he appealed to the natives for men to assist him across the water, telling them that he must go to the Ily- amna country to preach the new word to the people, who had never yet heard it. Thereupon an old man arose and remarked that he ought not to go; that the Kenaïtze people had been the friends of the Russians for long years, and had a better right to have a priest among them than the Ilyamnas, who were very bad. The missionary, in his journal, confessed that he was puzzled for a fitting reply to this argument. On the 25th, however, he set out from the station, accom- panied by two men from Chekituk village.
A delay was again occasioned by his guides indulg- ing in a seal-hunt on Kalgin Island, situated midway
tron in charge of his school for girls, German laughed and said there was no need of one. 'I intended,' writes Juvenal, 'to recommend my boys at Three Saints Harbor to the special attention of Father German, but his repulsive manner caused me to change my intention, and now I pray that the poor little fellows may never be intrusted to his care.' Id., 24-5.
2 Juvenal writes: 'Stepan Laduiguin is the trader for the Lebedef-Las- tochkin Company, and he has with him four other Russians and nearly a hun- dred Kenaïtze, who are all Christians. Ignatiy Terentief, one of the Russians, reads prayers on the sabbath, but no priest has visited the place since the archimandrite's arbitration.' Id., 40.
26 During this time several shocks of earthquake occurred, and a stabbing affray between two natives, which was punished by flogging both offenders severely.
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MISSIONARY WORK.
in the inlet, and the western shore was not reached till the 29th. On the 30th he writes: "This morning two natives came out of the forest and shouted to my companions. Two of the latter went out to meet them. There was a great deal of talking before the strangers concluded to come to our tents. When they came at last, and I was pointed out to them as the man who was to live among them, they wished to see my goods. I encountered some difficulty in making them understand that I am not here to trade and bar- ter, and have nothing for sale. Finally, when they were told that I had come among them to make better men of them, one of them, named Katlewah, the brother of a chief, said he was glad of that, as they had many bad men among the Ilyamna people, espe- cially his brother. The two savages have agreed to carry my chattels for me to their village, but, to sat- isfy Katlewah, I was compelled to open every bundle and show him the contents. I did not like the greedy glitter in his eye when he saw and felt of my vest -. ments."
On the 3d of September the party reached Il- yamna village, after a fatiguing journey over the mountains and a canoe voyage on the lake. Shakmut, the chief, received the missionary with friendly words, interpreted by a boy named Nikita, who had been a hostage with the Russians. He invited him to his own house, and on the priest's expressing a wish for a separate residence, promised to have one built for him, and allowed him to retain Nikita in his service. Finding that the latter, though living with the Rus- sians for years, had not been baptized, Juvenal per- formed that ceremony at the first opportunity, before the astonished natives, who regarded it as sorcery, and one asked whether Nikita would live many days.27
27 Under date of September 5th, Juvenal writes: 'It will be a relief to get away from the crowded house of the chief, where persons of all ages and sexes mingle without any regard to decency or morals. To my utter astonishment Shakmut asked me last night to share the couch of one of his wives. He has three or four. I suppose such abomination is the custom of the coun- HIST. ALASKA. 24
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COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
Juvenal's success was not remarkable, to judge from his diary. One young woman asked to be bap- tized like the boy Nikita, expressing the hope that then she could also live in the new house with the missionary. An old woman brought two boys, stat- ing that they were orphans who had nobody to care for them, and that she would like to see them baptized, "to change their luck." The chief Shakmut also promised to consider the question of embracing Chris- tianity, and for some reason he did so promise in the presence of the whole tribe, and amidst great feasting and rejoicing. Two servants and one of his wives were included in the ceremony, the priest not daring to refuse them on the ground that they had received no instructions, for fear of losing the advantage which the chief's example might give him in his future work.23
The conversion of the chief had not, however, the desired effect; it only led to dissensions among the people, and when the priest began to tell the converts
try, and he intended no insult. God gave me grace to overcome my indigna- tion, and decline the offer in a friendly and dignified manner. My first duty, when I have somewhat mastered the language, shall be to preach against such wicked practices, but I could not touch upon such subjects through a boy in- terpreter.' Id., 55-6.
28 Juvenal evidently had no faith in his convert, as evinced in the follow- ing extracts from his journal, p. 64-7: 'Shakmut comes regularly for instruc- tion, but I have my doubts of his sincerity. In order to give more solemnity to the occasion, he has concluded to have two of his servants or slaves baptized also. They only come at his command, of course, but I must bear with a great deal until this conversion has become an accomplished fact. Katlewah, the chief's brother, called upon me to-day, and repeated that he was glad that Shakmut was to be baptized, for he was very bad, and if I made him a good man, he and all the Ilyamna people would rejoice and be baptized also. I do not like this way of testing the efficacy of Christianity; only a miracle of God could effect such a sudden change in Shakmut's heart.' It was mak- ing altogether too practical and literal a matter of conversion to suit the good Juvenal. On September 21st he writes: 'The great step which is to lay the foundation of future success in my labors has been taken. The chief of the Ilyamnas has been baptized, with two of his slaves and one of his wives. The latter came forward at the last moment, but I dared not refuse her for fear of stopping the whole ceremony. Shakmut was gorgeously arrayed in deer- skin robes nearly covered with costly beads. Katlewah asked me if his brother would be allowed to wear such clothes as a Russian, and when I re- plied in the affirmative the fellow seemed disappointed. I do not like either of the brothers; it is difficult to say whether the new Christian or the pagan is the worse. I gave the name of Alexander to the chief, telling him that it was the name of his majesty, the emperor, at which he seemed to feel flattered '
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YIELDING TO TEMPTATION.
that they must put away their secondary wives, the chief and others began to plot his downfall. It had been a marvel to the savages that a man should put a bridle upon his passions and live in celibacy, but their wonder was mingled with feelings of respect. To overcome the influence which the missionary was gaining over some of his people, Shakmut, or Alex- ander as he was now christened, plotted to throw temptation in his way, and alas for Juvenal! whose priestly wrath had been so lately roused by the im- morality of Baranof and his godless crew of promy- shleniki, it must be related that he fell. In the dead of night, according to his own confession, an Ilyamna damsel captured him by storm.29
On the day after this incident, the outraged ecclesi- astic received a visit from Katlewah, who expressed a wish to be baptized on the following sabbath. "I can tell by his manner," writes the priest on Septem- ber 26th, "that he knows of my disgrace, though he did not say anything. When I walked to the forest to-day to cut some wood, I heard two girls laughing at me, behind my back; and in the morning, when I was making a wooden bolt for the door of my sleep- ing-room, a woman looked in and laughed right into my face. She may be the one who caused my fall, for it was dark and I never saw her countenance. Alexander visited me, also, and insisted upon having
29 I quote from the journal, p. 69-70, the father's own account of the matter: 'September 25th. With a trembling hand I write the sad occur- rences of the past day and night. Much rather I would leave the disgraceful story untold, but I must overcome my own shame and mortification, and write it down as a warning to other missionaries who may come after me. Last night I retired at my usual hour, after prayer with the boys who sleep in another room. In the middle of the night I awoke to find myself in the arms of a woman whose fiery embraces excited me to such an extent that I fell a victim to lust, and a grievous sin was committed before I could extri- cate myself. As soon as I regained my senses I drove the woman out, but I felt too guilty to be very harsh with her. What a terrible blow this is to all my recent hopes! How can I hold up my head among the people, who, of course, will hear of this affair? I am not sure, even, that the boys in the adjoining room were not awakened by the noise. God is my witness that I have set down the truth here in the face of anything that may be said about it hereafter. I have kept myself secluded to-day from everybody. I have not yet the strength to face the world.'
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COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS.
his wives baptized next Sunday. I had no spirit left to contest the matter with him, and consented; but I shall not shrink from my duty to make him relinquish all but one wife when the proper time arrives. If I wink at polygamy now, I shall be forever unable'to combat it. Perhaps it is only imagination, but I think I can discover a lack of respect in Nikita's be- havior toward me since yesterday." Continuing his journal on the 27th, he adds: "My disgrace has be- come public already, and I am laughed at wherever I go, especially by the women. Of course they do not understand the sin, but rather look upon it as a good joke. It will require great firmness on my part to regain what respect I have lost for myself as well as on behalf of the church. I have vowed to burn no fuel in my bedroom during the whole winter, in order to chastise my body-a mild punishment, indeed, compared to the blackness of my sin."
The next day was Sunday. "With a heavy heart," says Juvenal, " but with a firm purpose, I bap- tized Katlewah and his family, the three wives of the chief, seven children, and one aged couple. Un- der any other circumstances such a rich harvest would have filled me with joy, but I am filled with gloom." In the evening he called on Alexander and found him and his wives carousing together. Notwithstanding his recent downfall, the priest's wrath was kindled, and through Nikita he informed the chief that he must marry one of his wives according to the rites of the church, and put away the rest, or be forever damned. Alexander now became angry in his turn and bade him leave the house. On his way home he met Katlewah,30 who rated him soundly, declaring that he had lied to them all, for "his brother was as bad as ever, and no good had come of any of his baptisms."
The career of Father Juvenal was now ended, and the little that remains to be said is best told in his own
30 Baptized under the name of Gregor.
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MURDER OF FATHER JUVENAL.
words : "September 29th. The chief and his brother have both been here this morning and abused me shamefully. Their language I could not understand, but they spat in my face, and what was worse, upon the sacred images on the walls. Katlewah seized my vestments and carried them off, and I was left bleed- ing from a blow struck with an ivory club 31 by the chief. Nikita has bandaged and washed my wounds; but from his anxious manner I can see that I am still in danger. The other boys have run away. . My wound pains me so that I can scarcely-" Here the manuscript journal breaks off, and probably the mo- ment after the last line was penned his assassins en- tered and completed their work by stabbing him to the heart.32 This at least was his fate, as represented
31 Such as are used to kill salmon and seals.
32 Khlebnikof, the biographer of Baranof, simply states that Juvenal went among the Aglegmutes alone, and that it is not definitely known when or where he was killed by the savages. Veniaminof says: 'The cause of his death was not so much that he prohibited polygamy, as the fact that the chiefs and prominent natives, having given him their children to be educated at Kadiak, repented of their action, and failing to recover them, turned against him and finally slew him as a deceiver. They declare that, during the attack of the savages, Juvenal never thought of flight or self-defence, but surrendered himself into their hands without resistance, asking only for mercy for his companions. The natives relate that the missionary, after being killed, rose up and followed his murderers, asking, Why do you do this? Thereupon the savages, thinking he was still alive, fell upon and beat him; but he again arose and approached them. This happened several times. Finally they cut him in pieces, in order to get rid of him, and then the preacher of the word of God, who may be called a martyr, was silent. But the same natives tell us that, from the place where his remains lay, a column of smoke arose, reach- ing to heaven. How long this apparition lasted is not known.' Zapiski, Oonalashk, 155-6. Other Russian writers, as Berg and Davidof, affirm that he was killed near Lake Ilyamna, because he preached too vigorously against polygamy. Dall, Alaska, 317, whose work, so far as the historical part of it is concerned, is but a brief compendium carelessly compiled, says that he was killed while in the act of preaching to the natives. I have before me a trans- lation of Juvenal's own journal, from June 19, 1796, to the time of his death, as handed by the boy Nikita to Veniaminof, and by him to Innokentius Shas- nikof, the priest at Unalaska. The tenor of this document, the authenticity of which I have no reason to doubt, is such as to impress on the reader the conviction that Juvenal, with all his failings, was a man of higher character than his companions. He appears, however, to have been of weak intellect, and his blind trust in providence and the saints sometimes stands out in ludicrous contrast with his pitiful lack of success and self-command. When visiting Baranof to inquire as to the disposition of the scholars whom he must leave behind at Three Saints, he finds him seated in front of his tent while his servant was preparing tea. 'He did not ask me to be seated or to partake of tea,' writes the priest, 'though it was nearly a year since I had tasted any. He only asked me gruffly what I wanted so early in the morning.' After
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