The Greatest Annoyance To Mr. Hunt, However, Was The Delay To
Which He Was Subjected, In Disposing Of The Cargo Of The Ship,
And Getting The Requisite Returns.
With all the governor's
devotions to the bottle, he never obfuscated his faculties
sufficiently to lose sight of his interest, and is represented by
Mr. Hunt as keen, not to say crafty, at a bargain, as the most
arrant waterdrinker.
A long time was expended negotiating with
him, and by the time the bargain was concluded, the month of
October had arrived. To add to the delay he was to be paid for
his cargo in seal skins. Now it so happened that there was none
of this kind of peltry at the fort of old Baranoff. It was
necessary, therefore, for Mr. Hunt to proceed to a seal-catching
establishment, which the Russian company had at the island of St.
Paul, in the Sea of Kamtschatka. He accordingly set sail on the
4th of October, after having spent forty-five days at New
Archangel boosing and bargaining with its roystering commander,
and right glad was he to escape from the clutches of "this old
man of the sea."
The Beaver arrived at St. Paul's on the 31st of October; by which
time, according to arrangement, he ought to have been back at
Astoria. The island of St. Paul is in latitude 57deg N.,
longitude 170deg or 171deg W. Its shores, in certain places, and
at certain seasons, are covered with seals, while others are
playing about in the water.
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