Of These, The Russians Take Only The
Small Ones, From Seven To Ten Months Old, And Carefully Select
The Males, Giving The Females Their Freedom, That The Breed May
Not Be Diminished.
The islanders, however, kill the large ones
for provisions, and for skins wherewith to cover their canoes.
They drive them from the shore over the rocks, until within a
short distance of their habitations, where they kill them.
By
this means, they save themselves the trouble of carrying the
skins and have the flesh at hand. This is thrown in heaps, and
when the season for skinning is over, they take out the entrails
and make one heap of the blubber. This, with drift-wood, serves
for fuel, for the island is entirely destitute of trees. They
make another heap of the flesh, which, with the eggs of sea-
fowls, preserved in oil, an occasional sea-lion, a few ducks in
winter, and some wild roots, compose their food.
Mr. Hunt found several Russians at the island, and one hundred
hunters, natives of Oonalaska, with their families. They lived in
cabins that looked like canoes; being, for the most part formed
of the jaw-bone of a whale, put up as rafters, across which were
laid pieces of driftwood covered over with long grass, the skins
of large sea animals, and earth; so as to be quite comfortable,
in despite of the rigors of the climate; though we are told they
had as ancient and fish-like an odor, "as had the quarters of
Jonah, when he lodged within the whale."
In one of these odoriferous mansions, Mr. Hunt occasionally took
up his abode, that he might be at hand to hasten the loading of
the ship.
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