is natural to them, from the custom of smearing themselves daily over
the face and body with ochre and a sort of black earth. Immediately
after the birth, the head of the child is compressed, to give it what
they consider a fine form, in which the eyebrows are drawn up, and the
nostrils stretched asunder. In common with many other nations, they tear
the beard out by the roots as soon as it appears. This is the business
of the women. Their usual clothing consists of a little apron; but the
rich wear blankets, purchased from the Russians, or from the American
ships, and tied by two corners round the neck, so that they hang down
and cover the back. Some of them wear bear-skins in a similar manner.
The most opulent possess some European garments, which they wear on
great occasions, and which would have an absurd effect were they not so
disgusting as to extinguish all inclination to laugh. They never cover
the head but in heavy rain, and then protect it by round caps of grass,
so ingeniously and closely plaited as to exclude every drop of water.
Whatever the degree of heat or cold, they never vary their costume; and
I believe there is not a people in the world so hardened against the
weather. In the winter, during a cold of 10° of Reaumur, the Kalushes
walk about naked, and jump into the water as the best method of warming
themselves. At night they lie without any covering, under the open sky,
near a great fire, so near indeed as to be sometimes covered by the hot
ashes. The women whom I have seen were either dressed in linen shifts
reaching to their feet, or in plaited mats.
The custom common to both sexes, of painting their faces in broad,
black, white, and red stripes crossed in all directions, gives them a
peculiarly wild and savage appearance. Although this painting is quite
arbitrary, and subject to no exact rules, the different races
distinguish each other by it. To give the face a yet more insane cast,
their long, hanging, tangled hair is mixed with the feathers of the
white eagle. When powdered and painted in this way, the repulsiveness of
the Kalush women, by nature excessively ugly, may be imagined; but they
have a method of still farther disfiguring themselves. As soon as they
are nearly marriageable, an incision is made in the under-lip, and a
bone passed through it, which is exchanged from time to time for a
thicker one, that the opening may be continually widened. At length a
sort of double button, of an oval form, called a kaluga, which, among
the people of rank, is often four inches long, and three broad, is
forced in so as to make the under lip stand forward thus much in a
horizontal direction, and leave the lower teeth quite bare. The outer
rim of the lip surrounding the wooden button becomes by the violent
stretching as thin as a packthread, and of a dark blue colour.
In running, the lip flaps up and down so as to knock sometimes against
the chin and sometimes against the nose. Upon the continent, the kaluga
is worn still larger; and the female who can cover her whole face with
her under-lip passes for the most perfect beauty. Men and women pierce
the gristle of the nose, and stick quills, iron rings, and all kinds of
ornaments, through it. In their ears, which are also pierced in many
places, they wear strings of bones, muscle-shells, and beads.
It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the hideousness of
these people when their costume is thus complete; but the lips of the
women, held out like a trough, and always filled with saliva stained
with tobacco-juice, of which they are immoderately fond, is the most
abominably revolting part of the spectacle.
The Kalushes have no fixed residence, but hover round the coast in their
large canoes, which they call the women's, carrying all their property
with them. When they fix upon any spot for their temporary
establishment, they build a hut with great celerity, having all the
materials at hand. They drive a number of stakes into the ground in a
quadrangular form, fill the interstices with thin planks, and roof in
the whole with the bark of trees. With such a dwelling they are
satisfied; in the severest winter the family sit in a circle, carrying
on their several employments round a fire in the centre. The interior
displays as much filthiness as if the inhabitants belonged to the
dirtiest class of the brute creation. The smoke; the stench of bad fish,
and blubber; the repulsive figures of the women, disgustingly occupied
in seeking for vermin on the heads or skins of the men, and actually
_eating them_ when found; the great utensil for the service of the whole
family, which is also the only vessel capable of containing water to
wash with; all this soon drives the most inquisitive European out of so
detestable a den.
Their food, sufficiently disgusting in itself, is rendered still more so
by their manner of eating. It consists almost exclusively of fish, of
which the whale is the chief favourite, and its blubber an especial
dainty. This is sometimes cooked upon red-hot stones, but more commonly
eaten raw. The skins of the sea-otters form their principal wealth, and
are a substitute for money; these they barter with the ships which trade
with them, to the prejudice of the Russian Company, for muskets, powder,
and lead. No Kalush is without one musket at least, of which he
perfectly understands the use. The richer a Kalush is, the more powerful
he becomes; he has a multitude of wives who bring him a numerous family,
and he purchases male and female slaves who must labour and fish for
him, and strengthen his force when engaged in warfare. These slaves are
prisoners of war, and their descendants; the master's power over them is
unlimited, and he even puts them to death without scruple. When the
master dies, two of his slaves are murdered on his grave, that he may
not want attendance in the other world; these are chosen long before the
event occurs, but meet the destiny that awaits them, very
philosophically. The continual wars which the different races carry on
against each other, with a ferocious cruelty uncommon even among
savages, may account for the scanty population of this district; the
fire-arms with which, to their own misfortune, they have been furnished
by the American ships, have contributed to render their combats more
bloody, and consequently to cause renewed and increased irritation. Bows
and arrows were formerly their only weapons; now, besides their muskets,
they have daggers, and knives half a yard long; they never attack their
enemies openly, but fall suddenly upon them in moments of the utmost
fancied security. The hope of booty, or of taking a prisoner, is a
sufficient motive for one of these treacherous attacks, in which they
practise the greatest barbarities; hence the Kalushes, even in time of
peace, are always on their guard. They establish their temporary abodes
on spots in some measure fortified by nature, and commanding an
extensive view on all sides. During the night, the watch is confided to
women, who, assembled round a fire outside the hut, amuse themselves by
recounting the warlike deeds of their husbands and sons.
Domestic occupations, even the most laborious, are also left to females;
the men employing themselves only in hunting, and building their canoes.
The slaves are required to assist the women, who often treat them in a
most merciless manner. The females take an active part in the wars; they
not only stimulate the valour of the men, but even support them in the
battle.
Besides the desire of booty, the most frequent occasion of warfare is
revenge. One murder can only be atoned by another; but it is indifferent
whether the murderer or one of his relations fall,--the custom merely
requires a man for a man; should the murdered person be a female, a
female is required in return. A case which would appear inconceivable
has actually occurred,--that one of these most disgusting creatures has
occasioned a struggle similar to that of Troy for the fair Helen, and an
advantageous peace has been obtained by the cession of one of these
monsters. The Kalush, who would probably look coldly on our most lovely
females, finds his filthy countrywomen, with their lip-troughs, so
charming, that they often awaken in him the most vehement passion. In
proof of this, I remember an occurrence which took place during our
residence in Sitka, among a horde of Kalushes who had encamped in the
vicinity of the fortress. A girl had four lovers, whose jealousy
produced the most violent quarrels: after fighting a long time without
any result, they determined to end the strife by murdering the object of
their love, and the resolution was immediately executed with their
lances. The whole horde assembled round the funeral pile, and chanted a
song, a part of which was interpreted by one of our countrymen, who had
been long resident here. "Thou wast too beautiful--thou couldst not
live--men looked on thee, and madness fired their hearts!"
Savage as this action was, another exceeded it in ferocity. A father,
irritated by the cries of his child, an infant in the cradle, snatched
it up, and threw it into a vessel full of boiling whale-oil. These
examples are sufficient to characterise this hateful people, who appear
to be in every respect the very refuse of human nature.
Their weddings are celebrated merely by a feast given to the relatives
of the bride. The dead are burned, and their ashes preserved in small
wooden boxes, in buildings appropriated to that purpose. They have a
confused notion of immortality, and this is the only trace of religion
which appears amongst them. They have neither priests, idols, nor any
description of worship, but they place great faith in witchcraft; and
the sorcerers, who are also their physicians, are held in high
estimation, though more feared than loved. These sorcerers profess to
heal the sick by conjurations of the Wicked Spirit; they are, however,
acquainted with the medicinal properties of many herbs, but carefully
conceal their knowledge as a profitable mystery.
We often received visits on board from chiefs of the Kalushes, generally
with their whole family and attendants, who came to examine the ship,
receive presents, and eat their fill, expressing their gratitude for
these civilities by attempting to entertain us with their horrid
national dance. Before coming on board, they usually rowed several times
round the ship, howling a song to the following effect: "We come to you
as friends, and have really no evil intention. Our fathers lived in
strife with you, but let peace be between us. Receive us with
hospitality, and expect the same from us." This song was accompanied by
a sort of tambourine, which did not improve its harmony. They would not
climb the ship's side till we had several times repeated our invitation,
as it is not their custom to accept the first offer of hospitality,
probably from a feeling of distrust. On these visits, the Kalushes were
more than usually particular in the decoration of their persons. Their
faces were so thickly smeared with stripes of red, black, and white
paint, that their natural colour could not be known. Their bodies were
painted with black stripes, and their hair covered with a quantity of
white down and feathers, which were scattered around with every motion
of their heads. Ermine-skins are also frequently fastened into the hair.
A wolf or bear-skin, or a blanket, tied round the neck, covers their
bodies, and they use an eagle's wing or tail as a fan. Their feet are
always bare.
When on such occasions they had seen all they wished of the ship, except
the cabins, (for these I would not suffer them to enter, on account of
the abominable stench left behind by the rancid oil and blubber, which
they used as perfumes,) they assembled upon deck to dance. The women did
not dance, but assisted as musicians. Their song, accompanied by the
dull music of the tambourine, consisted of a few hollow and unconnected
tones, sent forth at intervals to keep time with the stamping of their
feet. The men made the most extraordinary motions with their arms and
bodies, varying them by high leaps into the air, while showers of
feathers fell from their heads. Every dancer retained his own place, but
turning continually round and round, gave the spectators an opportunity
of admiring him on all sides. One only stood a little apart; he was
particularly decorated with ermine-skins and feathers, and beat time for
the dancing with a staff ornamented with the teeth of the sea-otter. He
appeared to be the director of all the movements.
At every pause we offered tobacco-leaves to the dancers and musical
ladies: both sexes eagerly seized the favourite refreshment, and crammed
their mouths with it, then recommencing the music and dancing with
renewed alacrity. When at length downright exhaustion put an end to the
spectacle, the Kalushes were entertained with a favourite mess of rice
boiled with treacle. They lay down round the wooden dishes, and helped
themselves greedily with their dirty hands. During the meal, the women
were much inconvenienced by their lip-troughs; the weight of the rice
made them hang over the whole chin, and the mouth could not contain all
that was intended for it.
During one of these repasts, the Kalushes were much terrified by a young
bear which we had brought from Kamtschatka: breaking loose from his
chain, he sprang over their heads, and seizing on the wooden vessel that
contained the rice, carried it off in triumph. At parting we always gave
them a dram of brandy, which they are very fond of, and can drink in
considerable quantities without injury.
That no vice may be wanting to complete their characters, the Kalushes
are great gamblers. Their common game is played with little wooden
sticks painted of various colours, and called by several names, such as,
crab, whale, duck, &c., which are mingled promiscuously together, and
placed in heaps covered with moss; the players being then required to
tell in which heap the crab, the whale, &c. lies. They lose at this game
all their possessions, and even their wives and children, who then
become the property of the winner.
During the whole of our residence at Sitka, we maintained peace with the
Kalushes, which may be entirely attributed to the moderation and
intrepidity of our sailors.
Opposite our frigate, on the shore, the ship's cooper had settled under
a tent, almost all our casks being in want of repair; and I allowed him
three armed sailors as assistants and protectors against the Kalushes.
One day ten of these savages armed with long knives came into the tent;
having sat for some time contemplating the work, they became very
troublesome, and, on being forbidden to pass the bounds previously
prescribed, drew their knives and attacked the cooper, who would have
been severely wounded had he not by good fortune parried a dangerous
thrust. The three sailors now sprang forward with their loaded muskets;
but as they had received the strictest injunctions not to shed blood,
except in the most extreme necessity, they contented themselves with
standing before the Kalushes and keeping them off with their bayonets.
The savages at first continued to threaten the sailors, but on finding
they were not to be intimidated, thought proper to retire to the forest.
Had a skirmish really ensued, the consequences might have been serious.
The Kalushes would all have united against us, and by rushing upon us
from their hiding-places, whenever we left the protection of the ship or
the fortress, might have done us much mischief. For this reason, Captain
Murawieff, the governor of the settlement, had always exerted himself to
the utmost to prevent any disputes. By his judicious regulations, he had
acquired great influence over the natives, and had effected considerable
improvement in their behaviour. In every respect, indeed, the
administration of this excellent man has been such as to promote the
true welfare of the colonies; and if the plans laid down by him for the
future be adhered to, the trade of the Company will be materially
benefited, and new sources of profit opened to them.
I have already mentioned that no people in the world surpass the
citizens of the United States in the boldness, activity, and
perseverance of their mercantile speculations. This observation was
confirmed by an instance we met with here.
On the 16th of April 1825, a two-masted ship ran into this harbour from
Boston. It had performed the voyage by Cape Horn in a hundred and
sixty-six days, without having put into any intermediate port. Captain
Blanchard, proprietor both of the ship, and of the whole cargo, had,
upon the strength of a mere report, expended his whole capital upon
certain articles of which he had heard that New Archangel was in need;
and now, at the close of his immense voyage, found with dismay that not
only was the colony well provided for the present, but that a ship was
also daily expected from St. Petersburg laden with every thing it could
desire. As, however, his offers were very reasonable, the ship and cargo
were subsequently purchased of him for twenty-one thousand skins of
sea-cats, (not otters) with the stipulation on his part, that he, his
crew, and his skins, should be transported to the Sandwich Islands,
whence he hoped to procure a passage for Canton, and there to dispose
of his merchandise to advantage. These skins are usually sold in China
for two Spanish dollars each.
On the arrival of Captain Blanchard's ship in port, the whole crew, he
himself not excepted, were in a state of intoxication; and it appeared
to be mere good luck that they had escaped the dangers of so many rocks
and shallows; but the North Americans are such clever sailors, that even
when drunk they are capable of managing a ship. It is also probable,
that these had lived more soberly during the voyage, and had been
tempted by the joy of completing it, to extraordinary indulgence. On my
visit to the ship, I could not help remarking the great economy of all
its arrangements: no such thing, for instance, as a looking-glass was to
be seen, except the one kept for measuring the angle of the sextant, and
that, small as it was, assisted the whole crew in the operation of
shaving.
On the 30th of July, the ship Helena, belonging to the Company, arrived
in New Archangel from Petersburg, bringing an ample provision of
necessaries for the colony. To us this ship was particularly welcome,
as the bearer of permission to leave our station and return to Russia.
We immediately set to work to get our vessel in sailing order; and the
11th of August was the long wished-for day, when, favoured by a fresh
north wind, we bade adieu to New Archangel, where we had passed five
months and a-half surrounded by a people calculated only to inspire
aversion, and without relief to the wearisomeness of our mode of life,
except in the society of Captain Murawieff and the few Russian
inhabitants of the fortress.
I determined to return to Kronstadt by the Chinese Sea and the Cape of
Good Hope. But having no intention of following Captain Blanchard's
example, in wearing out my crew by a voyage of unreasonable length
without any relaxation, I appointed Manilla, in the Philippine island of
Luçon, for their resting-place, after having made another attempt to
find the Ralik chain of islands.
The medium of the astronomical observations made during these five
months, gave, as the geographical longitude of New Archangel, 135° 33'
18", and the latitude as 57° 2' 57"; the declination of the needle as
27° 30' east. According to this, the promontory of Mount Edgecumbe is in
the longitude 136° 1' 49"; consequently about 20' more westerly than
appears on Vancouver's map.
We found a similar difference between our observation of St. Francisco
and his; I therefore believe that his whole survey of the north-west
coast of America represents it more easterly than it really is. Our
longitudes have the greater claim to confidence, as they were the
results of repeated observations on land, while his were merely taken on
shipboard _en passant_.
The medium of our observations at New Archangel upon the difference in
high tides at the new and full moon, gave thirty minutes for the time,
and sixteen feet for the greatest difference in the height of the
water.
CALIFORNIA,
AND THE RUSSIAN SETTLEMENT OF
ROSS.
CALIFORNIA, AND THE RUSSIAN SETTLEMENT OF ROSS.
I have already mentioned, in the foregoing chapter, that I was allowed
to pass the winter of 1824 in California and the Sandwich Islands.
Captain Lasaref also, whom I relieved on the station, proposed to run
into St. Francisco on the coast of California, on his return, in order
there to lay in fresh provisions for his passage round Cape Horn. He
first awaited, however, the arrival of the post from St. Petersburg,
which passes between these distant points of our far-spreading monarchy
only once in the year, arriving in the spring at Ochotsk by the way of
Siberia, and reaching New Archangel in the autumn by sea.
It was on the 10th of September 1824, that after having made the
necessary preparations for our subsequent residence in New Archangel,
and having properly equipped the ship, we again put to sea, and a brisk
north wind soon carried us in a southerly direction towards the fertile
peninsula of California. Our voyage was safe, and varied by no
remarkable occurrence, except that under forty degrees of latitude we
were indulged with the spectacle of a most extraordinary struggle
between two opposing winds.
After a few days' pretty fresh breezes from the south, clouds suddenly
appeared in the north, and, by the motion of the water, we perceived
that an equally strong wind was rising in that direction. The waves from
the opposite regions foamed and raged against each other like hostile
forces; but between them lay a path some fathoms broad, and stretching
from east to west to an immeasurable length, which appeared perfectly
neutral ground, and enjoyed all the repose of the most profound peace,
not a single breath troubling the glassy smoothness of its surface.
After a time, victory declared for Boreas, and he drove the smooth
strip towards our vessel, which had hitherto been sailing in the
territory of the south wind. We presently entered the calm region; and
while we had not a puff to swell our sails, the wind raged with
undiminished fury on both sides. This strange spectacle lasted for about
a quarter of an hour; when the north wind, which had been continually
advancing, reached us, and carried us quickly forward towards the point
of our destination.
On the 25th of September we found ourselves, by observations, in the
neighbourhood of the promontory called by the Spaniards "the King," not
far from the bay of St. Francisco; but a thick fog, which at this season
always reigns over the coast of California, veiled the wished-for land
till the 27th. At ten o'clock in the morning of this day, at a distance
of only three miles, we doubled his rocky majesty, a high bold hill
terminating towards the sea in a steep wall of black rock, and having
nothing at all regal in its appearance,--and perceived in his
neighbourhood a very strong surf, occasioned by two contrary and
violent currents raging, with the vain fury of insurrection, against the
tranquillity of his immoveable throne.