NEW ARCHANGEL OR SITCHA
After taking leave of our host we entered our baidarkas and resumed our journey; and in due time reached New Archangel and our friends, without any accident or occurrence of sufficient interest to record.
IV.
Preparations for Winter.—Winter Amusements.—Resanoff makes an Expedition to California.—Battle between a Wolf and a Ram.—I sail for Ochotsk in the Russisloff.
Shortly after our return from the excursion narrated in the last chapter, our friends Schwostoff and Davidoff arrived from Kodiak with the Juno, and brought a considerable quantity of dried fish, oil, beans, &c., to increase our stock of winter provisions. The dried fish was called ukler, and was prepared by splitting and taking out the backbone of the fish, and then laying it in the sun. Thus cured, it was eaten as a substitute for bread. The people having now a fair allowance of provisions, the operations at the settlement went on quite encouragingly. In the course of the month of December the carpenter got the keel of a new vessel laid, and made good progress in cutting the timber and sawing the plank. The two brigs, Maria and Russisloff, were hauled upon the beach and shored up out of the tide’s way. They furnished very good accommodations for a large number of the workmen. The Juno remained riding at anchor in the harbor. Watchmen were stationed along the shore, in both directions from the fort, and shouted “All’s well,” from one end to the other, at intervals throughout the whole night. All were working cheerfully, and hard enough to kill anybody but Russians. The Indians made us frequent ceremonial visits, and displayed their talent for long speeches and for dancing. They seemed anxious to bury the hatchet, and renew intercourse on friendly terms, which was also the wish of the settlers. In short, everything was in good trim for the winter.
The fare for the present allowed even to the poor workmen was tolerable, as a small portion of the cargo of the Juno was dealt out to them; but the officers had the control of all the luxuries,—if such they may be called; and these, together with the game and fish that were continually brought in, supplied the Governor’s table with an abundance of good cheer. There were seven of us who regularly dined at it, and by invitation we frequently had ten.
By the last of the month the weather began to grow cooler; yet, though it was December, we had little or no snow, but much rain and fog. In the forenoon I generally took a stroll along the shore, with my gun, to the place where the new vessel was building. One or two of the officers usually accompanied me; and after reaching the spot we would turn and walk the same distance, about a mile and a half, in the opposite direction. Sometimes we carried home a little game.
January brought cold, but not severe weather. The workmen began to flag. The poor fellows had been driven too hard, regardless of wet and snow. They were now getting sickly, and it was found necessary to ease off their tasks a little. The officers, on the other hand, lived comfortably enough, and even started a new kind of entertainment. The Russians build their log houses in a very substantial manner, of heavy timber, and stop the cracks perfectly tight with moss. Some of them were very large, accommodating after a fashion fifty or sixty persons. Several such were completed just at this time, and it occurred to us that they were well calculated for ball-rooms, and that we could pass away the tedious hours of the night in dancing. We made out bravely in cotillons and contra-dances, but were rather deficient at first in female partners. Many of the under officers had their wives with them, and we picked out some of the Kodiak women, who were accustomed to the Russian dances, and learned the figures easily. When dressed in their finery they appeared quite respectably. His Excellency the Plenipotentiary was always with us on these occasions, and would upon an emergency take the fiddle, on which he was quite a good performer. Dr. Langsdorff and my man Parker took turns at the bow, and with plenty of good resin for the stomach as well as the bow, we made “a gay season” of it.