Descending from these lofty figures, which, if not exaggerations, are at least generalities, and relate partly to earlier periods, before the existence of the Company, we shall have a better idea of the commerce, if we look at authentic reports for special periods. Admiral Von Wrangell, who was so long governor, must have been well informed. According to statements in his work,adopted also by Wappäus in his “Geographie,” the Company, from 1826 to 1833, a period of seven years, exported to Russia the skins of the following animals: 9,853 sea-otters, with 8,751 sea-otter tails, 39,981 river-beavers, 6,242 river or land otters, 5,243 black foxes, 7,759 black-bellied foxes, 16,336 red foxes, 24,189 polar foxes, 1,093 lynxes, 559 wolverenes, 2,976 sables, 4,335 swamp-otters, 69 wolves, 1,261 bears, 505 musk-rats, 132,160 seals; also 830 poods of whalebone, 1,490 poods of walrus-teeth, and 7,121 pairs of castoreum.[154]Their value does not appear. Sir George Simpson, the Governor-in-chief of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was at Sitka in 1841, represents the returns of the Company for that year, 10,000 fur-seals, 1,000 sea-otters, 2,500 land-otters, 12,000 beavers, and 20,000 walrus-teeth, without including foxes and martens.[155]There is a report for the year 1852, as follows: 1,231 sea-otters, 129 young sea-otters, 2,948 common otters, 14,486 fur-seals, 107 bears, 13,300 beavers, 2 wolves, 458 sables, 243 lynxes, 163 mole-skins, 1,504 pairs of castoreum, 684 black foxes, 1,590 cross foxes, 5,174 red foxes, 2,359 blue Arctic foxes, 355 white Arctic foxes, and also 31 foxes called white, perhaps albinos.
Besides these reports for special years, I am enabled to present, from the Russian tables of Captain Golowin, another, covering the period from 1842 to 1860, inclusive,—being 25,602 sea-otters, 63,826 otters, probably river-otters, 161,042 beavers, 73,944 foxes, 55,540 Arctic foxes, 2,283 bears, 6,445 lynxes, 26,384 sables, 19,076 musk-rats, 2,536 ursine seals, 338,604 marsh-otters, 712 brace of hare, 451 martens, 104 wolves, 46,274 castoreums,7,309 beavers’ tails. Here is an inexplicable absence of seal-skins. On the other hand are sables, which belong to Asia, and not to America. The list is Russian, and perhaps embraces furs from the Asiatic islands of the Company.
From a competent source I learn that the value of skins at Sitka during the last year was substantially as follows: Sea-otter, $50; marten, $4; beaver, $2.50; bear, $4.50; black fox, $50; silver fox, $40; cross fox, $25; red fox, $2. A recent price-current in New York gives the following prices there in currency: Silver fox, $10 to $50; cross fox, $3 to $5; red fox, $1 to $1.50; otter, $3 to $6; mink, $3 to $6; beaver, $1 to $4; musk-rat, $0.20 to $0.50; lynx, $2 to $4; black bear, $6 to $12; dark marten, $5 to $20. These New York prices vary from those of Sitka. The latter are the better guide to a comprehension of the proceeds at Sitka, subject to deduction for the expenses of the Company. Of the latter I say nothing now, as I have considered them in speaking of the existing Government.
The skins are obtained in three different ways: first, through the hunters employed by the Company; secondly, in payment of taxes imposed by the Company; and, thirdly, by barter or purchase from independent natives. But, with all these sources, it is certain that the Russian Company has enjoyed no success comparable to that of its British rival; and, still more, there is reason to believe that latterly its profits have not been large.
Amid all the concealment or obscurity which prevails with regard to revenues, it is easy to see that for some time to come there must be a large amount of valuable furs on this coast. The bountiful solitudes ofthe forest and of the adjoining waters have not yet been exhausted; nor will they be, until civilization has supplied substitutes. Such, indeed, is part of that humane law of compensation which contributes to the general harmony. For the present there will be trappers on the land, who will turn aside only a little from prizes there to obtain from the sea its otter, seal, and walrus. It cannot be irrelevant, and may not be without interest, if I call attention briefly to those fur-bearing animals which are about to be brought within the sphere of republican government. If we cannot find their exact census, we may at least learn something of their character and value.
The comparative poverty of vegetation in the more northern parts of the continent contrasts with the abundance of animal life, especially if we embrace those tenants of the sea who seek the land for rest. These northern parallels are hardly less productive than the tropics. The lion, the elephant, and the hippopotamus find their counterpart in the bear, the walrus, and the seal, without including the sables and the foxes. Here again Nature, by unerring law, adapts the animal to the climate, and in providing him with needful protection creates also a needful supply for the protection of man; and this is the secret of rich furs. Under the sun of the tropics such provision is as little needed by man as by beast; and therefore Nature, which does nothing inconsistent with wise economy, reserves it for other places.
Among the furs most abundant in this commerce are those of the fox, in its different species and under its different names. Its numbers were noticed early, and gave the name to the eastern group of the Aleutians, which were called Lyssie Ostrowa, or Fox Islands.Some of its furs are among the very precious. The most plentiful is the red, or, as sometimes called, American; but this is not highly prized. Then comes the Arctic, of little value, and of different colors, sometimes blue, and in full winter dress pure white, whose circumpolar home is indicated by its name. The cross fox is less known, but much more sought, from the fineness of its fur and its color. Its name is derived from dark cruciform stripes, extending from the head to the back and at right angles over the shoulders. It is now recognized to be a variety of the red, from which it differs more in commercial value than in general character. The black fox, which is sometimes entirely of shining black with silver white at the tip of the tail, is called also the silver fox, when the black hairs of the body are tipped with white. They are of the same name in science, sometimes calledargentatus, although there seem to be two different names, if not different values, in commerce. This variety is more rare than the cross fox. Not more than four or five are taken during a season at any one post in the fur countries, although the hunters use every art for this purpose. The temptation is great, as we are told that “its fur fetches six times the price of any other fur produced in North America.”[156]Sir John Richardson, the authority for this statement, forgot the sea-otter, of which he seems to have known little. Without doubt, the black fox is admired for rarity and beauty. La Hontan, the French commander in Canada under Louis the Fourteenth, speaks of its fur in his time as worth its weight in gold.[157]
Among the animals whose furs are less regarded are the wolverene, known in science asGulo, or glutton, and called by Buffon the “quadruped vulture,” with a dark brown fur, becoming black in winter, and resembling that of the bear, but not so long, nor of so much value. There is also the lynx, belonging to the feline race, living north of the Great Lakes and eastward of the Rocky Mountains, with a fur moderately prized in commerce. There is also the musk-rat, which is abundant in Russian America, as it is common on this continent, whose fur enters largely into the cheaper peltries of the United States in so many different ways, and with such various artificial colors that the animal would not know his own skin.
Among inferior furs I may include that very respectable animal, the black bear, reported by Cook “in great numbers,” and “of a shining black color.”[158]The grizzly bear is less frequent, and is inferior in quality of fur to all other varieties of the bear. The brown bear is supposed to be a variety of the black bear. The polar bear, which at times is a formidable animal, leaving a footprint in the snow nine inches long, was once said not to make an appearance west of the Mackenzie River; but he has been latterly found on Behring Strait, so that he, too, is included among our new population. The black bear, in himself a whole population, inhabits every wooded district from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Carolina to the ice of the Arctic, being more numerous inland than on the coast. Langsdorff early remarked that he did not appear on the Aleutians, but on the continent, about Cook’s Inlet and Prince William Sound, which are well wooded.[159]Hehas been found even on the Isthmus of Panama. Next to the dog, he is the most cosmopolitan and perhaps the most intelligent of animals, and among those of the forest he is the most known, even to the nursery. His showy fur once enjoyed great vogue in hammer-cloths and muffs, and it is still used in military caps and pistol-holsters; so that he is sometimes called the Army bear. Latterly the fur has fallen in value. Once it brought in London from twenty to forty guineas. It will now hardly bring more than the same number of shillings.
The beaver, amphibious and intelligent, has a considerable place in commerce, and also a notoriety of its own as the familiar synonym for the common covering of a man’s head; and here the animal becomes historic. By royal proclamation, in 1638, Charles the First of England commanded “that no beaver-makers whatsoever, from henceforth, shall make any hats or caps but of pure beaver.”[160]This proclamation was the death-warrant of beavers innumerable, sacrificed to the demands of the trade. Wherever they existed over a wide extent of country, in the shelter of forests or in lodges built by their extraordinary instinct, they were pursued and arrested in their busy work. The importation of their skins into Europe during the last century was enormous, and it continued until one year it is said to have reached the unaccountable number of 600,000. I give these figures as I find them. Latterly other materials have been obtained for hats, so that this fur has become less valuable. But the animal is still hunted. A medicine supplied by him, and known as the castoreum, has a fixed place in the Materia Medica.
The marten is perhaps the most popular of all the fur-bearing animals belonging to our new possessions. An inhabitant of the whole wooded region of the northern part of the continent, he finds a favorite home in the forests of the Yukon, where he needs his beautiful fur, which is not much inferior to that of his near relative, the far-famed Russian sable. In the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company the marten occupies the largest place, his skins for a single district amounting to more than fifty thousand annually, and being sometimes sold as sable. The ermine, which is of the same weasel family, is of little value except for its captivating name, although its fur finds a way to the English market in enormous quantities. The mink, also of the same general family, was once little regarded, but now, by freak of fashion in our country, this animal has ascended in value above the beaver, and almost to the level of the marten. His fur is plentiful on the Yukon and along the coast. Specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution attest its occurrence at Sitka.
The seal, amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the beaver, has always supplied the largest multitude of furs to the Russian Company. The early navigators describe its appearance and numbers. Cook encountered them constantly. Excellent swimmers, ready divers, they seek rocks and recesses for repose, where, though watchful and never sleeping long without moving, they become the prey of the hunter. Early in the century there was a wasteful destruction of them. Young and old, male and female, were indiscriminately knocked on the head for the sake of their skins. Sir George Simpson, who saw this improvidence with anexperienced eye, says that it was hurtful in two ways: first, the race was almost exterminated; and, secondly, the market was glutted sometimes with as many as two hundred thousand a year, so that prices did not pay the expense of carriage.[161]The Russians were led to adopt the plan of the Hudson’s Bay Company, killing only a limited number of males who had attained their full growth, which can be done easily, from the known and systematic habits of the animal. Under this economy seals have multiplied again, vastly increasing the supply.
Besides the common seal, there are various species, differing in appearance, so as to justify different names, and yet all with a family character,—including the sea-leopard, so named from his spots, the elephant seal, from his tusks and proboscis, and the sea-lion, with teeth, mane, and a thick cylindrical body. These are of little value, although their skins are occasionally employed. The skin of the elephant seal is strong, so as to justify its use in the harness of horses. There is also the sea-bear, or ursine seal, very numerous in these waters, whose skin, especially if young, is prized for clothing. Steller speaks with grateful remembrance of a garment he made from one, while on the desert island after the shipwreck of Behring.
Associated with the seal, and belonging to the same family, is the walrus, called by the British the sea-horse, the morse, or the sea-cow, and by the Frenchbête à la grande dent. His two tusks, rather than his skin, are the prize of the hunter. Unlike the rest of the seal family, he is monogamous, and not polygamous. Cook vividly describes immense herds asleep on theice, with some of their number on guard, and, when aroused, roaring or braying very loud, while they huddled and tumbled together like swine.[162]At times their multitude is so great, that, before being aroused, several hundreds are slaughtered, as game in a park. Their hide is excellent for carriage-braces, and is useful about ship. But it is principally for their ivory that these hecatombs are sacrificed. A single tooth sometimes weighs several pounds. Twenty thousand teeth, reported as an annual harvest of the Russian Company, must cost the lives of ten thousand walruses. The ivory compares with that of the elephant, and is for some purposes superior. Long ago, in the days of Saxon history, a Norwegian at the court of Alfred exhibited to the king “teeth of great price and excellencie,” from what he called a “horsewhale.”[163]Unquestionably, they were teeth of walrus.
I mention the sea-otter last; but in beauty and value it is the first. In these respects it far surpasses the river or land otter, which, though beautiful and valuable, must yield the palm. It has also more the manners of the seal, with the same fondness for sea-washed rocks, and a maternal affection almost human. The sea-otter seems to belong exclusively to the North Pacific. Its haunts once extended as far south as the Bay of San Francisco, but long ago it ceased to appear in that region. Cook saw it at Nootka Sound.[164]Vancouver reports in Chatham Strait an “immense number about the shores in all directions,” so that “it was easily in the power of the natives to procure as many as they chose to be at the trouble of taking.”[165]D’Wolf,while at Sitka, projected an expedition to California “for the purpose of catching sea-otter, those animals being very numerous on that coast.”[166]But these navigators, could they revisit this coast, would not find it in these places now. Its present zone is between the parallels of 50° and 60° north latitude, on the American and Asiatic coasts, so that its range is comparatively limited. Evidently it was Cook who first revealed the sea-otter to Englishmen. In the table of contents of his second volume are the words, “Description of a Sea-Otter,” and in the text is a minute account of this animal, and especially of its incomparable fur, “certainly softer and finer than that of any others we know of.” Not content with description, the famous navigator adds, in remarkable words, “Therefore the discovery of this part of the continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference.”[167]This account stimulated the commercial enterprise of that day. Other witnesses followed. Meares, describing his voyage, placed this fur high above all other furs,—“the finest in the world, and of exceeding beauty”;[168]and La Pérouse made it known in France as “the most precious and the most common peltry” of those regions.[169]Shortly afterwards all existing information with regard to it was elaborately set forth in the Historical Introduction to the Voyage of Marchand, published at Paris under the auspices of the Institute.[170]
The sea-otter was known originally to the Russians in Kamtchatka, where it was called the sea-beaver; but the discoveries of Behring constitute an epoch in thecommerce. His shipwrecked crew, compelled to winter on the desert island now bearing his name, found this animal in flocks, ignorant of men and innocent as sheep, so that they were slaughtered without resistance, to the number of “near nine hundred.”[171]Their value became known. Fabulous prices were paid by the Chinese, sometimes, according to Coxe, as high as one hundred and forty rubles.[172]At such a price a single sea-otter was more than five ounces of gold, and a flock was a gold mine. The pursuit of gold was renewed. It was the sea-otter that tempted the navigator, and subsequent enterprise was under the incentive of obtaining the precious fur. Müller, calling him a beaver, says, in his history of Russian Discovery, “The catching of beavers in those parts enticed many people to go to them, and they never returned without great quantities, which always produced large profits.”[173]All that could be obtained were sent to China, which was the objective point commercially for this whole coast. The trade became a fury. The animal, with exquisite purple-black fur, appeared only to be killed,—not always without effort, for he had learned something of his huntsman, and was now coy and watchful, so that the pursuit was often an effort; but his capture was always a triumph. The natives, accustomed to his furs as clothing, now surrendered them. Sometimes a few beads were the only pay. All the navigators speak of the unequal barter,—“any sort of beads,” according to Cook.[174]The story is best told by Meares: “Such as were dressed in furs instantly stripped themselves, andin return for a moderate quantity of large spike-nails we received sixty fine sea-otter skins.”[175]Vancouver describes the “humble fashion” of the natives in poor skins as a substitute for the beautiful furs appropriated by “their Russian friends.”[176]The picture is completed by the Russian navigator, when he confesses, that, after the Russians had any intercourse with them, the natives ceased to wear sea-otter skins.[177]In the growing rage the sea-otter nearly disappeared. Langsdorff reports the race “nearly extirpated,” since “the high price given for the skins induces the Russians, for the sake of a momentary advantage, to kill all they meet with, both old and young; nor can they see that by such a procedure they must soon be deprived of the trade entirely.”[178]This was in 1805. Since then the indiscriminate massacre has been arrested.
Meanwhile our countrymen entered into this commerce, so that Russians, Englishmen, and Americans were all engaged in slaughtering sea-otters, and selling their furs to the Chinese, until the market of Canton was glutted. Lisiansky, who was there in 1806, speaks of “immense quantities imported by American ships,—during the present season no less than twenty thousand.”[179]By-and-by the commerce was engrossed by the Russians and English. At length it passes into the hands of the United States, with all the other prerogatives belonging to this territory.
7.Fisheries.—I come now to the Fisheries, the last head of this inquiry, and not inferior to any other inimportance,—perhaps the most important of all. What even are sea-otter skins, by the side of that product of the sea, incalculable in amount, which contributes to the sustenance of the human family?
Here, as elsewhere, in the endeavor to estimate the resources of this region, there is vagueness and uncertainty. Information is wanting; and yet we are not entirely ignorant. Nothing is clearer than that fish in great abundance are taken everywhere on the coast, around the islands, in the bays, and throughout the adjacent seas. The evidence is constant and complete. Here are oysters, clams, crabs, and a dainty little fish of the herring tribe, called the oolachan, contributing to the luxury of the table, and so rich in its oily nature that the natives are said to use it sometimes as a “candle.” In addition to these, which I name only to put aside, are those great staples of commerce and main-stays of daily subsistence, the salmon, the herring, the halibut, the cod, and, behind all, the whale. This short list is enough, for it offers a constant feast, with the whale at hand for light. Here is the best that the sea affords, for poor or rich,—for daily use, or the fast-days of the Church. Here also is a sure support, at least, to the inhabitants of the coast.
To determine the value of this supply, we must go further, and ascertain if these various tribes of fish, reputed to be in such numbers, are found under such conditions and in such places as to constitute a permanent and profitable fishery. This is the practical question, which is still undecided. It is not enough to show that the whole coast may be subsisted by its fish. It should be shown further that the fish of this coast can be made to subsist other places, so as to becomea valuable article of commerce. And here uncertainty begins. The proper conditions of an extensive fishery are not yet understood. It is known that certain fisheries exist in certain waters and on certain soundings, but the spaces of ocean are obscure, even to the penetrating eye of science. Fishing-banks known for ages are still in many respects a mystery, which is increased where the fishery is recent or only coastwise. There are other banks which fail from local incidents. Thus, very lately a cod-fishery was commenced on Rockall Bank, one hundred and sixty-five miles northwest of the Hebrides, but the deep rolling of the Atlantic and the intolerable weather compelled its abandonment.
Before considering the capacity of this region for an extensive fishery, it is important to know such evidence as exists with regard to the supply; and here again we must resort to the early navigators and visitors. Their evidence, reinforced by modern reports, is an essential element, even if it does not entirely determine the question.
Down to the arrival of Europeans, the natives lived on fish. This had been their constant food, with small additions from the wild vegetation. In summer it was fish freshly caught; in winter it was fish dried or preserved. At the first landing, on the discovery, Steller found in the deserted cellar “store of red salmon,” and the sailors brought away “smoked fishes that appeared like large carp and tasted very well.”[180]This is the earliest notice of fish on this coast, which are thus directly associated with its discovery. The next of interest is the account of a Russian navigator, in 1768-9,who reports at the Fox Islands, and especially Oonalaska, “cod, perch, pilchards, smelts, roach.”[181]Thus early the cod appears.
Repairing to Cook’s Voyage, we find the accustomed instruction; and here I shall quote with all possible brevity. At Nootka Sound he finds fish “more plentiful than birds,” of which the principal sorts, in great numbers, are “the common herring, but scarcely exceeding seven inches in length, and a smaller sort, the same with the anchovy or sardine,” and now and then “a small brownish cod spotted with white.”[182]Then again he reports at the same place “herrings and sardines, and small cod,”—the former “not only eaten fresh, but likewise dried and smoked.”[183]In Prince William Sound “the only fish got were some torsk and halibut, chiefly brought by the natives to sell.”[184]Near Kadiak he records, that, “having three hours’ calm, our people caught upward of a hundred halibuts, some of which weighed a hundred pounds, and none less than twenty pounds,”—and he adds, naturally enough, “a very seasonable refreshment to us.”[185]In Bristol Bay, on the northern side of the promontory of Alaska, he reports “tolerable success in fishing, catching cod, and now and then a few flat-fish.”[186]In Norton Sound, still further north, he tells us, that, in exchange for four knives made from an old iron hoop, he obtained of the natives “near four hundred pounds weight of fish, which they had caught on this or the preceding day,—some trout, and the rest in size and taste somewhat between a mullet and a herring.”[187]On returningsouthward, stopping at Oonalaska, he finds “plenty of fish, at first mostly salmon, both fresh and dried,—some of the fresh salmon in high perfection”; also “salmon trout, and once a halibut that weighed two hundred and fifty-four pounds”; and in describing the habits of the islanders, he reports that “they dry large quantities of fish in summer, which they lay up in small huts for winter use.”[188]Such is the testimony of Captain Cook.
No experience on the coast is more instructive than that of Portlock, and from his report I compile a succinct diary. July 20, 1786, at Graham’s Harbor, Cook’s Inlet, “The Russian chief brought me as a present a quantity of fine salmon, sufficient to serve both ships for one day.” July 21, “In several hauls caught about thirty salmon and a few flat-fish”; also, further, “The Russian settlement had on one side a small lake of fresh water, in which they catch plenty of fine salmon.” July 22, “The boat returned deeply loaded with fine salmon.” July 28, latitude 60° 9´, “Two small canoes came off from the shore; they had nothing to barter except a few dried salmon.” July 30, “Plenty of excellent fresh salmon, which we obtained for beads and buttons.” August 5, “Plenty of fine salmon.” August 9, “The greatest abundance of fine salmon.” August 13, off the entrance of Cook’s Inlet, “Hereabouts would be a most desirable situation for carrying on a whale fishery, the whales being on the coast and close in shore in vast numbers, and there being convenient and excellent harbors quite handy for the business.”[189]Soon after these entries the English navigator left the coast for the Sandwich Islands.
Returning during the next year, Portlock continued to record his observations, which I abstract in brief. May 21, 1787, Port Etches, latitude 60° 21´, “The harbor affords very fine crabs and muscles.” June 4, “A few Indians came alongside, bringing some halibut and cod.” June 20, “Plenty of flounders; crabs now very fine; some of the people, in fishing alongside for flounders, caught several cod and halibut.” June 22, “Sent the canoe out some distance into the bay, and it soon returned with a load of fine halibut and cod; this success induced me to send her out frequently with a fishing party, and they caught considerably more than what was sufficient for daily consumption.” June 30, “In hauling the seine, we caught a large quantity of herrings and some salmon; the herrings, though small, were very good, and two hogsheads of them were salted for sea-store.” July 7, “We daily caught large quantities of salmon, but, the unsettled state of the weather not permitting us to cure them on board, I sent the boatswain with a party on shore to build a kind of house to smoke them in.” July 11, “The seine was frequently hauled, and not less than two thousand salmon were caught at each haul; the weather, however, preventing us from curing them so well as could have been wished, we kept only a sufficient quantity for present use, and let the rest escape. The salmon were now in such numbers along the shores that any quantity whatever might be caught with the greatest ease.”[190]All this testimony of the English navigator is singularly explicit, while it is in complete harmony with that of the Russian visitors, and of Cook, who preceded Portlock.
The report of Meares is similar, although less minute.Speaking of the natives generally, he says, “They live entirely upon fish, but of all others they prefer the whale.”[191]Then again, going into more detail, he says, “Vast quantities of fish are to be found, both on the coast and in the sounds or harbors. Among these are the halibut, herring, sardine, silver-bream, salmon, trout, cod, … all of which we have seen in the possession of the natives, or have been caught by ourselves.” The sardines he describes as taken in such numbers “that a whole village has not been able to cleanse them.” At Nootka the salmon was “of a very delicate flavor,” and “the cod taken by the natives were of the best quality.”[192]
Spanish and French testimony is not wanting, although less precise. Maurelle, who was on the coast in 1779, remarks that “the fish most abundant was the salmon and a species of sole or turbot.”[193]La Pérouse, who was there in 1786, mentions a large fish weighing sometimes more than a hundred pounds, and several other fish; but he preferred “the salmon and trout, which the Indians sold in larger numbers than could be consumed.”[194]A similar report was made in 1791 by Marchand, who finds the sea and rivers abounding in “excellent fish,” particularly salmon and trout.[195]
Meanwhile came the Russian navigator Billings, in 1790; and here we have a similar report, only different in form. Describing the natives of Oonalaska, the book in which this visit is recorded says, “They dry salmon, cod, and halibut, for a winter’s supply.”[196]At Kadiak it says, “Whales are in amazing numbers aboutthe straits of the islands and in the vicinity of Kadiak.” Then the reporter, who was the naturalist Sauer, says, “I observed the same species of salmon here as at Okhotsk, and saw crabs.” Again, “The halibuts in these seas are extremely large, some weighing seventeen poods, or six hundred and twelve pounds avoirdupois.… The liver of this fish, as also of cod, the natives esteem unhealthy and never eat, but extract the oil from them.”[197]Then, returning to Oonalaska the next year, the naturalist says, “The other fish are halibut, cod, two or three species of salmon, and sometimes a species of salmon very common in Kamtchatka, between four and five feet long.”[198]
From Lisiansky, the Russian navigator, who was on the coast in 1804, and again in 1805, I take two passages. The first relates to the fish of Sitka. “For some time,” he says, “we had been able to catch no fish but the halibut. Those of this species, however, which we caught were fine, some of them weighing eighteen stone, and were of an excellent flavor. This fish abounds here from March to November, when it retires from the coast till the winter is at an end.”[199]The other passage relates to the subsistence of the inhabitants during the winter. “They live,” he says, “on dried salmon, train oil, and the spawn of fish, especially that of herrings, of which they always lay in a good stock.”[200]
Langsdorff, who was there in 1805-6, is more full and explicit. Of Oonalaska he says: “The principal food consists of fish, sea-dogs, and the flesh of whales. Among the fish, the most common and most abundant are several sorts of salmon, cod, herrings, and holybutt.The holybutts, which are the sort held in the highest esteem, are sometimes of an enormous size, weighing even several hundred pounds.”[201]Of Kadiak he says: “The most common fish, those which, fresh and dry, constitute a principal article of food, are herrings, cod, holybutt, and several sorts of salmon; the latter come up into the bays and rivers at stated seasons and months, and are then taken in prodigious numbers by means of nets or dams.”[202]Of Sitka he says: “We have several sorts of salmon, holybutt, whitings, cod, and herrings.”[203]A goodly variety. The testimony of Langsdorff is confirmed in general terms by his contemporary, D’Wolf, who reports: “The waters of the neighborhood abounded with numerous and choice varieties of the finny tribe, which could be taken at all seasons of the year.”[204]
Lütke, also a Russian, tells us that he found fish the standing dish at Sitka, from the humblest servant to the governor; and he mentions salmon, herring, cod, and turbot. Of salmon there were no less than four kinds, which were eaten fresh when possible, but after June they were sent to the fortress salted. The herring appeared in February and March. The cod and turbot were caught in the straits during winter.[205]Lütke also reports “fresh cod” at Kadiak.[206]
I close this abstract of foreign testimony with two English authorities often quoted. Sir Edward Belcher, while on the coast in 1837, records that “fish, halibut, and salmon of two kinds, were abundant and moderate, of which the crews purchased and cured greatquantities.”[207]Sir George Simpson, who was at Sitka in 1841, says: “Halibut, cod, herrings, flounders, and many other sorts of fish, are always to be had for the taking, in unlimited quantities.… Salmon have been known literally to embarrass the movements of a canoe. About 100,000 of the last-mentioned fish, equivalent to 1,500 barrels, are annually salted for the use of the establishment.”[208]Nothing could be stronger as statement, and, when we consider the character of its author, nothing stronger as authority.
Cumulative upon all this accumulation of testimony is that of recent visitors. Nobody visits here without testifying. The fish are so demonstrative in abundance that all remark it. Officers of the United States navy report the same fish substantially which Cook reported, as far north as the Frozen Ocean. Scientific explorers, prompted by the Smithsonian Institution, report cod in Behring Strait, on the limits of the Arctic Circle. One of these reports, that, while anchored near Oonimak, in 1865, the ship, with a couple of lines, caught “a great many fine cod, most of them between two and three feet in length.” He supposes that there is no place on the coast where they are not numerous. A citizen of Massachusetts, who has recently returned from prolonged residence on this coast, writes me from Boston, under date of March 8, 1867, that “the whale and cod fisheries of the North Pacific are destined to form a very important element in the wealth of California and Washington Territory, and that already numbers of fishermen are engaged there, and more are intending to leave.” From all this testimony there canbe but one conclusion, with regard at least to certain kinds of fish.
Salmon exists in unequalled numbers, so that this fish, so aristocratic elsewhere, becomes common. Not merely the prize of epicures, it is the food of all. Not merely the pastime of gentle natures, like Izaak Walton or Sir Humphry Davy, who employ in its pursuit an elegant leisure, its capture is the daily reward of the humblest. On Vancouver’s Island it is the constant ration given out by the Hudson’s Bay Company to the men in service. At Sitka ships are gratuitously supplied with it by the natives. By the side of the incalculable multitudes swarming out of the Arctic waters, haunting this extended coast, and peopling its rivers, so that at a single haul Portlock took not less than two thousand, how small an allowance are the two hundred thousand which the salmon fisheries of England annually supply!
Herring seem not less multitudinous than the salmon. Their name, derived from the GermanHeer, signifying an army, is amply verified, as on the coast of Norway they move in such hosts that a boat at times makes its way with difficulty through the compact mass. I do not speak at a venture, for I have received this incident from a scientific gentleman who witnessed it on the coast. This fish, less aristocratic than the salmon, is a universal food, but here it would seem enough for all.
The halibut, so often mentioned for size and abundance, is less generally known than the others. It is common in the fisheries of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. In our country its reputation is local. Even at the seaport of Norfolk, in Virginia, it does not appearto have been known before 1843, when its arrival was announced as that of a distinguished stranger: “Our market yesterday morning was enriched with a delicacy from the Northern waters, the halibut, a strange fish in these parts, known only to epicures and naturalists.” The larger fish are sometimes coarse and far from delicate, but they furnish a substantial meal, while the smaller halibut is much liked.
The cod is perhaps the most generally diffused and abundant of all, for it swims in all the waters of the coast, from the Frozen Ocean to the southern limit, sometimes in immense numbers. It is a popular fish, and, when cured or salted, is an excellent food in all parts of the world. Palatable, digestible, and nutritious, the cod, as compared with other fish, is as beef compared with other meats; so that its incalculable multitudes seem to be according to a wise economy of Nature. A female cod is estimated to contain from three to nine million eggs.[209]Talk of multiplication a hundred fold,—here it is to infinity. Imagine these millions of eggs grown into fish, and then the process of reproduction repeated, and you have numbers which, like astronomical distances, are beyond human conception. But here the ravenous powers of other fish are more destructive than any efforts of the fisherman.
Behind all these is the whale, whose corporal dimensions fitly represent the space he occupies in the fisheries of the world, hardly diminished by petroleum or gas. On this extended coast and in all these seas he is at home. Here is his retreat and play-ground. This is especially the case with the right-whale, or, accordingto whalers, “therightwhale to catch,” with bountiful supply of oil and bone, who is everywhere throughout this region, appearing at all points and swarming its waters. D’Wolf says, “We were frequently surrounded by them.”[210]Meares says, “Abundant as the whales may be in the vicinity of Nootka, they bear no comparison to the numbers seen on the northern part of the coast.”[211]At times they are very large. Kotzebue reports them at Oonalaska of fabulous proportions, called by the nativesAliamak, and so long “that the people engaged at the opposite ends of the fish must halloo very loud to be able to understand each other.”[212]Another whale, known as the bow-head, is so much about Kadiak that it is sometimes called the Kadiak whale. The valuable sperm-whale, whose head and hunch are so productive in spermaceti, belongs to a milder sea, but he sometimes strays to the Aleutians. The narwhal, with his long tusk of ivory, out of which was made the famous throne of the early Danish kings, belongs to the Frozen Ocean; but he, too, strays into the straits below. As no sea is nowmare clausum, all these may be pursued by a ship under any flag, except directly on the coast and within its territorial limit. And yet the possession of this coast as a commercial base must necessarily give to its people peculiar advantages in the pursuit. What is done now under difficulties will be done then with facilities, such at least as neighborhood supplied to the natives even with their small craft.
In our country the whale fishery has been a great and prosperous commerce, counted by millions. It hasyielded considerable gains, and sometimes large fortunes. The town of New Bedford, one of the most beautiful in the world, has been enriched by this fishery. And yet you cannot fail to remark the impediments which the business has been compelled to overcome. The ship was fitted on the Atlantic coast for a voyage of two or three years, and all the crew entered into partnership with regard to the oil. Traversing two oceans, separated by a stormy cape, it reaches at last its distant destination in these northern seas, and commences its tardy work, interrupted by occasional rest and opportunity to refit at the Sandwich Islands. This now will be changed, as the ship sallies forth from friendly harbors near the game which is its mighty chase.
From the whale fishery I turn to another branch of inquiry. Undoubtedly there are infinite numbers of fish on the coast; but to determine whether they can constitute a permanent and profitable fishery, there are at least three different considerations which must not be disregarded: (1.) The existence of banks or soundings; (2.) Proper climatic conditions for catching and curing fish; (3.) A market.
(1.) Thenecessity of banks or soundingsis according to reason. Fish are not caught in the deep ocean. It is their nature to seek the bottom, where they are found in some way by the fisherman, armed with trawl, seine, or hook. As among the ancient Romans private luxury provided tanks and ponds for the preservation of fish, so Nature provides banks, which are immense fish-preserves. Soundings attest their existence in a margin along the coast; but it becomes important to know if they actually exist to much extent away from the coast.On this point our information is already considerable, if not decisive.
The Sea and Strait of Behring, as far as the Frozen Ocean, have been surveyed by a naval expedition of the United States under Commander John Rodgers. From one of his charts, now before me, it appears, that, beginning at the Frozen Ocean and descending through Behring Strait and Behring Sea, embracing Kotzebue Sound, Norton Bay, and Bristol Bay, to the peninsula of Alaska, a distance of more than twelve degrees, there are constant uninterrupted soundings from twenty to fifty fathoms,—thus presenting an immense extent proper for fishery. South of the peninsula of Alaska another chart shows soundings along the coast, with a considerable extent of bank in the neighborhood of the Shumagins and Kadiak, being precisely where other evidence points to the existence of cod. These banks, north and south of Alaska, taken together, according to indications of the two charts, have an extent unsurpassed by any in the world.
There is another illustration full of instruction. It is a map of the world, in the new work of Murray on “The Geographical Distribution of Mammals,” “showing approximately the one hundred fathom line of soundings,” prepared from information furnished by the Hydrographic Department of the British Admiralty. Here are all the soundings of the world. At a glance you discern the remarkable line on the Pacific coast, beginning at 40° of north latitude, and constantly receding from the shore in a northwesterly direction; then, with a gentle sweep, stretching from Sitka to the Aleutians, which it envelops with a wide margin; and, finally, embracing and covering Behring Strait to theFrozen Ocean: the whole space, as indicated on the map, seeming like an immense unbroken sea-meadow adjoining the land, and constituting plainly the largest extent of soundings in length and breadth in the known world,—larger even than those of Newfoundland added to those of Great Britain. This map, prepared by scientific authority, in the interest of science, is an unimpeachable and disinterested witness.
Actual experience is better authority still. I learn that the people of California have already found cod-banks in these seas, and have begun to gather a harvest. Distance was no impediment; for they were already accustomed to the Sea of Okhotsk, on the Asiatic coast. In 1866 no less than seventeen vessels left San Francisco for cod-fishery in the latter region. This was a long voyage, requiring eighty days in going and returning. On the way better grounds were discovered among the Aleutians, with better fish; and then again, other fishing-grounds, better in every way, were discovered south of Alaska, in the neighborhood of the Shumagins, with an excellent harbor at hand. Here one vessel began its work on the 14th of May, and, notwithstanding stormy weather, finished it on the 24th of July, having taken 52,000 fish. The largest catch in a single day was 2,300. The average weight of the fish dried was three pounds. Old fishermen compared the fish in quality and method of taking with those of Newfoundland. Large profits are anticipated. While fish from the Atlantic side bring at San Francisco not less than twelve cents a pound, it is supposed that Shumagin fish at only eight cents a pound will yield a better return than the coasting-trade. These flattering reports have arrested the attention of Petermann, the indefatigablegeographical observer, who recounts them in his journal.[213]
From an opposite quarter is other confirmation. Here is a letter, which I have just received from Charles Bryant, Esq., at present a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, but for eighteen years acquainted with these seas, where he was engaged in the whale fishery. After mentioning the timber at certain places as a reason for the acquisition of these possessions, he says:—