Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. William Coxe
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(when the voyage is successful), may be deduced from the sale of a rich cargo of furs, brought to Kamtchatka, on the 2d of June, 1772, from the new-discovered islands, in a vessel belonging to Ivan Popoff.
The tenth part of the skins being delivered to the customs, the remainder was distributed in fifty-five shares. Each share consisted of twenty sea-otters, sixteen black and brown foxes, ten red foxes, three sea-otter tails; and such a portion was sold upon the spot from 800 to 1000 Roubles: so that according to this price the whole lading was worth about 50,000 Roubles[9].
CHAP. III.
Furs and skins procured from Kamtchatka and the New Discovered Islands.
Furs and Skins brought from Kamtchatka and the New Discovered Islands.
The principal furs and skins procured from the Peninsula of Kamtchatka and the New Discovered Islands are sea-otters, foxes, sables, ermines, wolves, bears, &c.—These furs are transported to Ochotsk by sea, and from thence carried to[10]Kiachta upon the frontiers of Siberia; where the greatest part of them are sold to the Chinese at a very considerable profit.
Sea-Otters.
Of all these furs the skins of the sea-otters are the richest and most valuable. Those animals resort in great numbers to the Aleutian and Fox Islands: they are called by the Russians Bobry Morski or sea-beavers, and sometimes Kamtchadal beavers, on account of the resemblance of their fur to that of the common beaver. From these circumstances several authors have been led into a mistake, and have supposed that this animal is of the beaver species; whereas it is the true sea-otter[11].
The female are called Matka or dams; and the cubs till five months old Medviedki or little bears, because their coat resembles that of a bear; they lose that coat after five months, and then are called Koschloki.
The fur of the finest sort is thick and long, of a dark colour, and a fine glossy hue. They are taken four ways; struck with darts as they are sleeping upon their backs in the sea, followed in boats and hunted down till they are tired, surprised in caverns, and taken in nets.
Their skins fetch different prices according to their quality.
| At Kamtchatka[12] the best sell for per skin from | 30 to 40 Roubles. |
| Middle sort | 20 to 30 |
| Worst sort | 15 to 25 |
| At Kiachta[13] the old and middle-aged sea-otter skins are sold to the Chinese per skin from | 80 to 100 |
| The worst sort | 30 to 40. |
As these furs fetch so great a price to the Chinese, they are seldom brought into Russia for sale: and several, which have been carried to Moscow as a tribute, were purchased for 30 Roubles per skin; and sent from thence to the Chinese frontiers, where they were disposed of at a very high interest.
Different species of Foxes.
There are several species of Foxes, whose skins are sent from Kamtchatka into Siberia and Russia. Of these the principal are the black foxes, the Petsi or Arctic foxes, the red and stone foxes.
The finest black foxes are caught in different parts of Siberia, and more commonly in the Northern regions between the Rivers Lena, Indigirka, and Kovyma: the black foxes found upon the remotest Eastern islands discovered by the Russians, or the Lyssie Ostrova, are not so valuable. They are very black and large; but the coat for the most part is as coarse as that of a wolf. The great difference in the fineness of the fur, between these foxes and those of Siberia, arises probably from the following circumstances. In those islands the cold is not so severe as in Siberia; and as there is no wood, the foxes live in holes and caverns of the rocks; whereas in the abovementioned parts of Siberia, there are large tracts of forests in which they find shelter. Some black foxes however are occasionally caught in the remotest Eastern Islands, not wholly destitute of wood, and these are of great value. In general the Chinese, who pay the dearest for black furs, do not give more for the black foxes of the new-discovered islands than from 20 to 30 Roubles per skin.
The arctic or ice foxes are very common upon some of the New-Discovered Islands. They are called Petsi by the Russians, and by the Germans blue foxes. |Pennant's Synopsis.| Their natural colour is of a bluish grey or ash colour; but they change their coat at different ages, and in differerent seasons of the year. In general they are born brown, are white in winter, and brown in summer; and in spring and autumn, as the hair gradually falls off, the coat is marked with different specks and crosses.
| At Kiachta[14] all the several varieties sell upon an average to the Chinese per skin from 50 copecs to | 2–⅔ Roubles. |
| Stone Foxes at Kamtchatka per skin from | 1 to 2–½ |
| Red Foxes from 80 copecs to | 1 80 copecs. |
| At Kiachta from 80 copecs to | 9 |
| Common wolves skins at per skin | 2 |
| Best sort per skin from | 8 to 16 |
| Sables per ditto | 2–½ to 10 |
| A pood of the best sea-horse teeth[15] sells At Yakutsk for | 10 Roubles. |
| Of the middling | 8 |
| Inferior ditto | from 5 to 7. |
Four, five, or six teeth generally weigh a pood, and sometimes, but very rarely, three. They are sold to the Chinese, Monguls, and Calmucs.
ACCOUNT
OF THE
NEW DISCOVERIES
MADE BY THE
RUSSIANS
IN THE EASTERN OCEAN,
BETWEEN KAMTCHATKA AND AMERICA.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.
WITH NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR.
CHAP. I.
Commencement and progress of the Russian Discoveries in the sea of Kamtchatka—General division of the New Discovered Islands.
A Thirst after riches was the chief motive which excited the Spaniards to the discovery of America; and which turned the attention of other maritime nations to that quarter. The same passion for riches occasioned, about the middle of the sixteenth century, the discovery and conquest of Northern Asia, a country, before that time, as unknown to the Europeans, as Thule to the ancients. |Conquest of Siberia.| The first foundation of this conquest was laid by the celebrated Yermac[16], at the head of a band of adventurers, less civilized, but at