ept the juice of berries
which they sip at their meals, they have no other liquor besides pure
water; and it seems to be very happy for them that they have nothing
stronger.

As the island supplies them with food, so it does, in a great measure,
with clothing. This consists chiefly of skins, and is, perhaps, the
best they could have. The upper garment is made like our waggoner's
frock, and reaches as low as the knee. Besides this, they wear a
waistcoat or two, a pair of breeches, a fur cap, and a pair of boots,
the soles and upper leathers of which are of Russian leather, but the
legs are made of some kind of strong gut. Their two chiefs, Ismyoff
and Ivanovitch, wore each a calico frock, and they, as well as some
others, had shirts, which were of silk. These, perhaps, were the only
part of their dress not made amongst themselves.

There are Russians settled upon all the principal islands between
Oonalashka and Kamtschatka, for the sole purpose of collecting furs.
Their great object is the sea-beaver or otter. I never heard them
enquire after any other animal; though those, whose skins are of
inferior value, are also made part of their cargoes. I never thought
to ask how long they have had a settlement upon Oonalashka, and the
neighbouring isles; but to judge from the great subjection the natives
are under, this cannot be of a very late date.[14] All these furriers
are relieved, from time to time, by others. Those we met with arrived
here from Okotsk, in 1776, and are to return in 1781; so that their
stay at the island will be four years at least.[15]

[Footnote 14: The Russians began to frequent Oonalashka in 1762. See
_Coxe's Russian Discoveries_, ch. viii. p. 80.--D.]

[Footnote 15: Captain Cook says nothing of the condition of these
furriers, and probably indeed knew nothing of it. According to
Krusenstern, who cannot be supposed to seek for occasion to censure
his countrymen, it is wretched in the extreme. He himself admits that
his transcript, though softened down from his original notes made at
the time, will nevertheless expose him to the anger of a number of
persons for whom, in other respects, he entertains the highest regard.
But one may question if any of the accounts that have been given of
the African slave-trade produce greater horror than this modified
description occasions. The reader must not imagine that the physical
difficulties of the climate constitute the misery of these deluded
beings. These