mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i4-011

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yukola, bear meat, goat, and deer, which inhabit the forests.

The dances of the Koloshi consist of twisting the body
and stamping the feet, accompanied by unharmonious wild howls
called singing by them.

In the straits of the archipelago are found sea otters,
now seldom encountered, sea lions, and seals. The waters
abound with fish. In spring, before June, the herring run
takes place here, and later, red fish [salmon?]. Turbot
[halibut] are caught almost the whole year. In the woods live
little black bears, foxes, wolves, and martens whose furs the
Company trades with the Koloshi. Wild sheep live in the moun-
tains; enormous eagles nest on the heights, and in summer,
humming birds fly in the valleys. The Koloshi catch all the
animals with snares or shoot them with rifles, which they re-
ceive from American ships entering the strait to trade. Our
Company, for its own protection, sells them neither powder
nor lead, and has received permission from the government to
establish military cruises, both for the suppression of this
trade and for protection of the monopoly of the Company, which
alone has the right to trade with the natives.

This is the condition in which the colonies of the [Rus-
sian-]American Company were found at the end of the year 1820,
but since then they have improved immeasurably due to the con-
stant efforts of Baron [Ferdinand] Vrangel [Wrangell] who was
the commander here after Mr. Muravev.