Part 40 (1/2)
CHAPTER x.x.x
In 1792 Baranoff having risen to the command of the Shelikoff-Golikoff Company, decided to transfer the settlement of Three Saints to the northern end of the island, as a more central location for the distribution of supplies. To-day only a few crumbling ruins remain to mark the site of the first Russian settlement in America--an event of such vital historic interest to the United States that a monument should be erected there by this country.
The new settlement was named St. Paul, and was situated on Pavlovsk Bay, the present site of Kadiak. The great warehouse, built of logs, and other ancient buildings still remain.
It was during the year of Father Juvenal's death--1796--that the first Russo-Greek church was erected at St. Paul. It was about this time that the conversion of twelve thousand natives in the colonies was reported by Father Jossaph. This amazing statement could only have been made after one of Baranoff's banquets--to which the astute governor, desiring that a favorable report should be sent to St. Petersburg, doubtless bade the half-starved priest.
For the Russian-American Company the Kadiaks and Aleuts were obliged to hunt and work, at the will of the officers, and to sell all their furs to the company, at prices established by the latter.
Baranoff, for a time after becoming Chief Director, resided in Kodiak.
All persons and affairs in the colonies were under his control; his authority was absolute, his decision final, unless appeal was made to the Directory at Irkutsk; and it was almost impossible for an appeal to reach Irkutsk.
To-day in Kodiak, as in Sitka, the old and the new mingle. Some of the old sod-houses remain, and many that were built of logs; but the majority of the dwellings are modern frame structures, painted white and presenting a neat appearance, in striking contrast to many of the settlements of Alaska where natives reside.
The Greek-Russian church s.h.i.+nes white and attractive against the green background of the hill. It is surrounded by a white fence and is shaded by trees.
I called at the priest's residence and was hospitably received by his wife, an intelligent, dark-eyed native woman. The interior of the church is interesting, but lacks the charm and rich furnis.h.i.+ngs of the one at Sitka. There is a chime of bells in the steeple; and both steeple and dome are surmounted by the peculiar Greek-Russian cross which is everywhere seen in Alaska. It has two short transverse bars, crossing the vertical shaft, one above and one below the main transverse bar, the lower always slanting.
The natives of Kodiak are more highly civilized than in other parts of Alaska. The offspring of Russian fathers and native mothers have frequently married into white or half-breed families, and the strain of dark blood in the offspring of these later marriages is difficult to discern.
I travelled on the _Dora_ with a woman whose father had been a Russian priest, married to a native woman at Belkoffski. She had been sent to California for a number of years, and returning, a graduate of a normal school, had married a Russian. She had a comfortable, well-furnished home, and her husband appeared extremely fond and proud of her. Her children were as white as any Russian I have ever seen.
A Russian priest must marry once; but if his wife dies, he cannot marry again.
This law fills my soul with an unholy delight. It persuades a man to appreciate his wife's virtues and to condone her faults. Whatever may be her sins in sight of him and heaven, she is the only one, so far as he is concerned. It must be she, or n.o.body, to the end of his days. She may fill his soul with rage, but he may not even relieve his feelings by killing her.
The result of this unique religious law is that Russian priests are uncommonly kind and indulgent to their wives.
”Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” said one who was on the _Dora_, in answer to a question, ”I have a wife. She lives in Paris, where my daughter is receiving her education. I am going this year to visit them. Yes, yes, yes.”
However, with all the petting and indulgence which the Russian priest lavishes upon his wife, if what I heard be true,--that he is permitted neither to cut nor to wash his hair and beard,--G.o.d wot she is welcome to him.
The old graveyard on the hill above Kodiak tempts the visitor, and one may loiter among the old, neglected graves with no fear of snakes in the tall, thick gra.s.ses.
At first, a woman receives the statement that there are no snakes in Alaska with open suspicion. It has the sound of an Alaskan joke.
When I first heard it, I was unimpressed. We were nearing a fine field of red-top, already waist-high, and I waited for the gentleman from Boston, who believed everything he heard, and imagined far more, to go prancing innocently through the field.
He went--unhesitatingly, joyously; giving praise to G.o.d for his blessings--as, he vowed, he loved to ramble through deep gra.s.s, yet would rather meet a hippopotamus alone in a mire than a garter-snake five inches long. The field was the snakiest-looking place imaginable, and when he had pa.s.sed safely through, I began to have faith in the Alaskan snake story.
The climate of Kadiak Island is delightful. The island is so situated that it is fully exposed to the equalizing influences of the Pacific.
The mean annual temperature is four degrees lower than at Sitka, and there is twenty per cent less rainfall.
The coast of Alaska is noted for its rainfall and cloudy weather. Its precipitation is to be compared only to that of the coast of British Columbia, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Oregon; and it will surprise many people to learn that it is exceeded in the latter district.
The heaviest annual rainfall occurs at Nutchek, with a decided drop to Fort Tonga.s.s; then, Orca, Juneau, Sitka, and Fort Lisc.u.m. Fort Wrangell, Killisnoo, and Kodiak stand next; while Tyonok, Skaguay, and Kenai record only from fifteen to twenty-five inches.