RINGED SEAL, _Phoca fœtida_, 441 WALRUS-HUNTER, 444 SECTION OF INNUIT WINTER HOUSE AT POONOOK, 446 NEWACK’S BROTHER, 455 NEWACK AND OOGACK, PEN PORTRAITS OF, 457 NATIVES GIVING THE WALRUS A DEATH-STROKE, 459 “DOUBLE PURCHASE” OF THE INNUITS, 461 _MAPS._ SPECIAL MAP OF ST. PAUL ISLAND, _Facing page_ 215 SPECIAL MAP OF ST. GEORGE ISLAND, ” 226 SPECIAL MAP OF NOVASTOSHNAH ROOKERY, ” 314 SPECIAL MAP OF LAGOON ROOKERY, ” 315 GENERAL MAP OF ALASKA, _At end of Volume_. OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY, OCCUPATION, AND TRANSFER. The Legend of Bering’s Voyage.—The Discovery of Russian America, or Alaska, in July, 1741.—The Return Voyage and Shipwreck of the Discoverer.—The Escape of the Survivors.—They Tell of the Furs and Ivory of Alaska.—The Rush of Russian Traders.—Their Hardy Exploration of the Aleutian Chain, Kadiak, and the Mainland, 1760-80, inclusive.—Fierce Competition of the Promyshlineks finally Leads to the Organization and Domination of the Russian American Company over all Alaska, 1799.—Its Remarkable Success under Baranov’s Administration, 1800-18, inclusive.—Its Rapid Decadence after Baranov’s Removal.—Causes in 1862-64 which Led to the Refusal of the Russian Government to Renew the Charter of the Russian American Company.—Steps which Led to the Negotiations of Seward and Final Acquisition of Alaska by the U. S. Government, 1867. The stolid, calm intrepidity of the Russian is not even yet well understood or recognized by Americans. No better presentation of this character of those Slavic discoverers of Alaska can be made than is the one descriptive of Veit Bering’s voyage of Russian-American fame, in which shipwreck and death robbed him of the glory of his expedition. No legend of the sea, however fanciful or horrid, surpasses the simple truth of the terror and privation which went hand-in-hand with Bering and his crew. Flushed with the outspoken favor of his sovereign, Bering and his lieutenant, Tschericov, sailed east from Petropaulovsky, Kamchatka, June 4, 1741; the expedition consisted of two small sail-vessels, the _St. Peter_ and the _St. Paul_. They set their course S. S. E., as low as the 50th degree of north latitude, then they decided to steer directly east for the reported American continent. A few days later a violent storm arose, it separated the rude ships, and the two commanders never met in life again.