“Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields
His bark careering o’er unfathomed fields.
…
Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,
On Behring’s rocks or Greenland’s naked isles;
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow,
And waft across the waves’ tumultuous roar
The wolf’s long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.”
All of which, so far at least as it describes this region, is inconsistent with truth. The poet ignores the isothermal line, which plays such a conspicuous part on the Pacific coast. Here the evidence is positive. Portlock, the navigator, who was there toward the close of the last century, after describing Cook’s Inlet, which is several degrees north of Oonalaska, records his belief “that the climate here is not so severe as has been generally supposed; for, in the course of our traffic with the natives, they frequently brought berries of several sorts, and in particular blackberries, equally fine with those met with in England.”[37] Kotzebue, who was here later, says that he found “the weather pretty warm at Oonalaska.”[38] South of the Aleutians the climate is warmer still. The poet ignores natural history also, as regards the distribution of animals. Curiously enough, it does not appear that “wolves” exist on any of the Fox Islands. Coxe, in his work on Russian Discoveries,[39] records that “reindeer, bears, wolves, ice-foxes, are not to be found on these islands.” But he was never there. Meares, who was in those seas, says, “The only animals on these islands are foxes, some of which are black.”[40] Cook, who visited Oonalaska twice, and once made a prolonged stay, expressly says, “Foxes and weasels were the only quadrupeds we saw; but they told us that they had hares also, and marmottas.”[41] But quadrupeds like these hardly sustain the exciting picture. The same experienced navigator furnishes a glimpse of the inhabitants, as they appeared to him, which would make us tremble, if the “wolves” of the poet were numerous. He says, “To all appearance, they are the most peaceable, inoffensive people I ever met with”; and Cook had been at Otaheite. “No such thing as an offensive or even defensive weapon was seen amongst the natives of Oonalaska.”[42] Then, at least, the inhabitants did not share the ferocity of the “wolves” and of the climate. Another navigator fascinates us by a description of the boats, which struck him “with amazement beyond expression”; and he explains: “If perfect symmetry, smoothness, and proportion constitute beauty, they are beautiful; to me they appeared so beyond anything that I ever beheld. I have seen some of them as transparent as oiled paper.”[43] But these are the very boats that buffet “the waves’ tumultuous roar,” while “the breezes” waft “the wolf’s long howl.” The same reporter introduces another feature. According to him, the sojourning Russians “seem to have no desire to leave this place, where they enjoy that indolence so pleasing to their minds.”[44] The lotus-eaters of Homer were no better off. The picture is completed by another touch from Lütke. Admitting the want of trees, the Admiral suggests that their place is supplied not only by luxuriant grass, but by wood thrown upon the coast, including trunks of camphor from Chinese and Japanese waters, and “a tree which gives forth the odor of the rose.”[45] Such is a small portion of the testimony, most of it in print before the poet sang.[46]