[16] This Company was established in the reign of the Empress Catharine II. for the purpose of giving solidity and effect to the fur trade; and the better to promote these purposes, all the islands lying between Kamschatka and the Russian part of the northwest coast of America, were granted them in perpetuity. His present majesty, Alexander I. has extended the privileges of the Company, and graciously declared himself their immediate patron. _Lisianski, p. 13._ The natives, in return for the furs which they procure for the Company, receive cloth, powder and shot, beads, toys, and articles of luxury, such as rum, tobacco, and snuff, of which they are immoderately fond. A considerable trade is carried on with the Americans who call at these islands. Their ships take on board a certain number of natives, with their baidarkas, and implements of fishing and hunting. They then proceed to the coast of California, where there is great abundance of fur seals, and otters, and with the assistance of the Indians, generally complete their cargoes in two seasons. On their return the American Company are entitled to a certain proportion of their furs, as an equivalent for the labour of the Indians. The Eclipse was on a voyage of this description, when chartered by the Russians to bring a cargo from China. A few miles to the west of Alexandria, there is another village called Superscoff, the property of a Russian of that name, who had been settled there above fifteen years. From this place the town of Alexandria derives its principal supply of salmon and dried fish.--They had a herd of black cattle consisting of seventy, all sprung from one cow which Superscoff brought with him. The milk, butter, and cheese, used at the town, were brought from this place. Their stock of cattle, having been but recently introduced, is too small to admit of their slaughtering any, and bear’s flesh is the only fresh meat consumed upon the island. The bears are either shot or caught in traps; the trap is merely a piece of board, about two inches thick, and two feet square, stuck full of spikes, barbed, and kept extremely sharp; this is set in their paths, and covered with dust; from the weight of the animal, when he sets down his foot, the spikes enter it; to assist himself in pulling the first away, he plants another on the trap, and continues his exertions, till, at last, all his four feet are transfixed, when he falls on his back, and is taken. The natives of the Fox islands, or Aleuskoi, as they are called by the Russians, are low in stature, broad in the visage, with dark eyes and hair.