In endeavoring to estimate its character, I am glad to begin with what
is clear and beyond question. I refer to the boundaries fixed by the
treaty. Commencing at the parallel of 54° 40´ north latitude, so famous
in our history, the line ascends Portland Canal to the mountains, which
it follows on their summits to the point of intersection with the
meridian of 141° west longitude, which it ascends to the Frozen Ocean,
or, if you please, to the north pole. This is the eastern boundary,
separating the region from the British possessions, and it is borrowed
from the treaty between Russia and Great Britain in 1825, establishing
the relations between these two powers on this continent. It is seen
that this boundary is old; the rest is new. Starting from the Frozen
Ocean, the western boundary descends Behring Strait, midway between
the two islands of Krusenstern and Ratmanoff, to the parallel of 65°
30´, just below where the continents of America and Asia approach each
other the nearest; and from this point it proceeds in a course nearly
southwest through Behring Strait, midway between the island of St.
Lawrence and Cape Chukotski, to the meridian of 172° west longitude,
and thence, in a southwesterly direction, traversing Behring Sea,
midway between the island of Attoo on the east and Copper Island on the
west, to the meridian of 193° west longitude, leaving the prolonged
group of the Aleutian Islands in the possessions transferred to the
United States, and making the western boundary of our country the
dividing line which separates Asia from America.
Look at the map and observe the configuration of this extensive region,
whose estimated area is more than five hundred and seventy thousand
square miles. I speak by authority of our own Coast Survey. Including
the Sitkan Archipelago at the south, it takes a margin of the main-land
fronting on the ocean thirty miles broad and five hundred miles long to
Mount St. Elias, the highest peak of the continent, when it turns with
an elbow to the west, and along Behring Strait northerly, then rounding
to the east along the Frozen Ocean. Here are upwards of four thousand
statute miles of coast, indented by capacious bays and commodious
harbors without number, embracing the peninsula of Alaska, one of the
most remarkable in the world, twenty-five miles in breadth and three
hundred miles in length; piled with mountains, many volcanic and some
still smoking; penetrated by navigable rivers, one of which is among
the largest of the world; studded with islands standing like sentinels
on the coast, and flanked by that narrow Aleutian range which,
starting from Alaska, stretches far away to Kamtchatka, as if America
were extending a friendly hand to Asia. This is the most general
aspect. There are details specially disclosing maritime advantages
and approaches to the sea which properly belong to this preliminary
sketch. According to accurate estimate, the coast line, including bays
and islands, is not less than eleven thousand two hundred and seventy
miles. In the Aleutian range, besides innumerable islets and rocks,
there are not less than fifty-five islands exceeding three miles in
length; there are seven exceeding forty miles, with Oonimak, which is
the largest, exceeding seventy-three miles. In our part of Behring
Sea there are five considerable islands, the largest of which is St.
Lawrence, being more than ninety-six miles long. Add to all these the
group south of the peninsula of Alaska, including the Shumagins and
the magnificent island of Kadiak, and then the Sitkan group, being
archipelago added to archipelago, and the whole together constituting
the geographical complement to the West Indies, so that the northwest
of the continent answers to the southeast, archipelago for archipelago.
DISCOVERY OF RUSSIAN AMERICA BY BEHRING, UNDER INSTRUCTIONS FROM PETER
THE GREAT.
The title of Russia to all these possessions is derived from prior
discovery, being the admitted title by which all European powers have
held in North and South America, unless we except what England acquired
by conquest from France; but here the title of France was derived from
prior discovery. Russia, shut up in a distant interior and struggling
with barbarism, was scarcely known to the other powers at the time they
were lifting their flags in the western hemisphere. At a later day the
same powerful genius which made her known as an empire set in motion
the enterprise by which these possessions were opened to her dominion.
Peter, called the Great, himself ship-builder and reformer, who had
worked in the ship-yards of England and Holland, was curious to know
if Asia and America were separated by the sea, or if they constituted
one undivided body with different names, like Europe and Asia. To
obtain this information, he wrote with his own hand the following
instructions, and ordered his chief admiral to see them carried into
execution:--
“One or two boats with decks to be built at Kamtchatka, or at
any other convenient place, with which inquiry should be made
in relation to the northerly coasts, to see whether they were
not contiguous with America, since their end was not known. And
this done, they should see whether they could not somewhere
find an harbor belonging to Europeans or an European ship. They
should likewise set apart some men who were to inquire after
the name and situation of the coasts discovered. Of all this an
exact journal should be kept, with which they should return to
Petersburg.”[2]
The Czar died in the winter of 1725; but the Empress Catharine,
faithful to the desires of her husband, did not allow this work to be
neglected. Vitus Behring, Dane by birth, and navigator of experience,
was made commander. The place of embarkation was on the other side
of the Asiatic continent. Taking with him officers and ship-builders,
the navigator left St. Petersburg by land, 5th February, 1725, and
commenced the preliminary journey across Siberia, Northern Asia, and
the Sea of Okhotsk, to the coast of Kamtchatka, which they reached
only after infinite hardships and delays, sometimes with dogs for
horses, and sometimes supporting life by eating leather bags, straps,
and shoes. More than three years were consumed in this toilsome and
perilous journey. At last, on the 20th of July, 1728, the party
was able to set sail in a small vessel, called the Gabriel, and
described as “like the packet-boats used in the Baltic.” Steering in
a northeasterly direction, Behring passed a large island, which he
called St. Lawrence, from the saint on whose day it was seen. This
island, which is included in the present cession, may be considered as
the first point in Russian discovery, as it is also the first outpost
of the North American continent. Continuing northward, and hugging the
Asiatic coast, Behring turned back only when he thought he had reached
the northeastern extremity of Asia, and was satisfied that the two
continents were separated from each other. He did not penetrate further
north than 67° 30´.
In his voyage Behring was struck by the absence of such great and
high waves as in other places are common to the open sea, and he
observed fir-trees swimming in the water, although they were unknown
on the Asiatic coast. Relations of inhabitants, in harmony with these
indications, pointed to “a country at no great distance towards the
east.” His work was still incomplete, and the navigator, before
returning home, put forth again for this discovery, but without
success. By another dreary land journey he made his way back to St.
Petersburg in March, 1730, after an absence of five years. Something
was accomplished for Russian discovery, and his own fame was engraved
on the maps of the world. The strait through which he sailed now bears
his name, as also does the expanse of sea he traversed on his way to
the strait.
The spirit of discovery continued at St. Petersburg. A Cossack chief,
undertaking to conquer the obstinate natives on the northeastern
coast, proposed also “to discover the pretended country in the Frozen
Sea.” He was killed by an arrow before his enterprise was completed.
Little is known of the result; but it is stated that the navigator
whom he had selected, by name Gwosdeff, in 1730 succeeded in reaching
“a strange coast” between sixty-five and sixty-six degrees of north
latitude, where he saw people, but could not speak with them for want
of an interpreter. This must have been the coast of North America, and
not far from the group of islands in Behring Strait, through which the
present boundary passes, separating the United States from Russia, and
America from Asia.
The Russian desire to get behind the curtain increased. Behring
volunteered to undertake the discoveries yet remaining. He was created
Commodore, and his old lieutenants were created captains. The Senate,
the Admiralty, and the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, all
united in the enterprise. Several academicians were appointed to
report on the natural history of the coasts visited, among whom was
Steller, the naturalist, said to be “immortal” from this association.
All of these, with a numerous body of officers, journeyed across
Siberia, Northern Asia, and the Sea of Okhotsk, to Kamtchatka, as
Behring had journeyed before. Though ordered in 1732, the expedition
was not able to leave the eastern coast until 4th June, 1741, when two
well-appointed ships set sail in company “to discover the continent
of America.” One of these, called the St. Peter, was under Commodore
Behring; the other, called the St. Paul, was under Captain Tschirikoff.
For some time the two kept together, but in a violent storm and fog
they were separated, when each continued the expedition alone.
Behring first saw the continent of North America 18th July, 1741, in
latitude 58° 28´. Looking at it from a distance, “the country had
terrible high mountains that were covered with snow.” Two days later,
he anchored in a sheltered bay near a point, which he called, from the
saint’s day on which he saw it, Cape St. Elias. He was in the shadow
of Mount St. Elias. Landing, he found deserted huts, fireplaces, hewn
wood, household furniture, arrows, “a whetstone on which it appeared
that copper knives had been sharpened,” and “store of red salmon.” Here
also birds unknown in Siberia were noticed by the faithful Steller,
among which was the blue-jay, of a peculiar species, now called by his
name. At this point, Behring found himself constrained by the elbow in
the coast to turn westward, and then in a southerly direction. Hugging
the shore, his voyage was constantly arrested by islands without
number, among which he zigzagged to find his way. Several times he
landed. Once he saw natives, who wore “upper garments of whales’ guts,
breeches of seal-skins, and caps of the skins of sea-lions, adorned
with various feathers, especially those of hawks.” These “Americans,”
as they are called, were fishermen, without bows and arrows. They
regaled the Russians with “whale’s flesh,” but declined strong drink.
One of them, on receiving a cup of brandy, “spit the brandy out again
as soon as he had tasted it, and cried aloud, as if he was complaining
to his countrymen how ill he had been used.” This was on one of the
Shumagin Islands, near the southern coast of the peninsula of Alaska.
Meanwhile the other solitary ship, proceeding on its way, had sighted
the same coast 15th July, 1741, in the latitude of 56°. Anchoring at
some distance from the steep and rocky cliffs before him, Tschirikoff
sent his mate with the long-boat and ten of his best men, provided
with small-arms and a brass cannon, to inquire into the nature of the
country and to obtain fresh water. The long-boat disappeared behind a
headland, and was never seen again. Thinking it might have been damaged
in landing, the captain sent his boatswain with the small boat and
carpenters, well armed, to furnish necessary assistance. The small
boat disappeared also, and was never seen again. At the same time a
great smoke was observed continually ascending from the shore. Shortly
afterwards, two boats filled with natives sallied forth and lay at
some distance from the vessel, when, crying, “_Agai, Agai_,” they put
back to the shore. Sorrowfully the Russian navigator turned away, not
knowing the fate of his comrades, and unable to help them. This was not
far from Sitka.
Such was the first discovery of these northwestern coasts, and such
are the first recorded glimpses of the aboriginal inhabitants. The
two navigators had different fortunes. Tschirikoff, deprived of his
boats, and therefore unable to land, hurried home. Adverse winds and
storms interfered. He supplied himself with fresh water by distilling
sea-water or pressing rain-water from the sails. But at last, on
the 9th of October, he reached Kamtchatka, with his ship’s company
of seventy diminished to forty-nine. During this time Behring was
driven, like Ulysses, on the uncertain waves. A single tempest raged
for seventeen days, so that Andrew Hasselberg, the ancient pilot,
who had known the sea for fifty years, declared that he had seen
nothing like it in his life. Scurvy came with disheartening horrors.
The Commodore himself was a sufferer. Rigging broke; cables snapped;
anchors were lost. At last the tempest-tossed vessel was cast upon a
desert island, then without a name, where the Commodore, sheltered in a
ditch, and half covered with sand as a protection against cold, died,
8th December, 1741. His body, after his decease, was “scraped out of
the ground” and buried on this island, which is called by his name,
and constitutes an outpost of the Asiatic continent. Thus the Russian
navigator, after the discovery of America, died in Asia. Russia, by
the recent demarcation, does not fail to retain his last resting-place
among her possessions.