e from reindeer skins, and the
sails from the same material. Many ships were wrecked, but this did
not frighten adventurous merchants.

Few of these voyages were pushed farther than the Aleutian islands.
The natives were hostile and killed a fair proportion of the Russian
explorers. In 1781 a few merchants of Kamchatka arranged a company
with a view to developing commerce in Russian America. They equipped
several ships, formed a settlement at Kodiak and conducted an
extensive and profitable business. Their agents treated the natives
with great cruelty, and so bad was their conduct that the emperor
Paul revoked their privileges.

A new company was formed and chartered in July, 1779, under the title
of the Russian-American Company. It succeeded the old concern, and
absorbed it into its organization.

The Russian-American Company had its chief office in St. Petersburg,
where the Directors formed a kind of high court of appeal. It was
authorized to explore and place under control of the crown all the
territories of North-Western America not belonging to any other
government. It was required to deal kindly with the natives, and
endeavor to convert them to the religion of the empire. It had the
administration of the country and a commercial monopoly through its
whole extent. All other merchants were to be excluded, no matter what
their nationality. At one time so great was the jealousy of the
Company's officers that no foreign ship was allowed within twenty
miles of the coast.

The Imperial Government required that the chief officer of the company
should be commissioned in the service of the crown, and detailed to
the control of the American Territory. His residence was at Sitka, to
which the principal post was removed from Kodiak. In the early history
of the Company there were many encounters with the natives, the
severest battle taking place on the present site of Sitka. The natives
had a fort there, and were only driven from it after a long and
obstinate fight. The first colony that settled at Sitka was driven
away, and all traces of the Russian occupation were destroyed. After a
few years of conflict, peace was declared, and trade became
prosperous. The Company occupied Russian America and the Aleutian
Islands, and pushed its traffic to the Arctic Ocean. It established
posts on the Kurile Islands, in Kamchatka, and along the coast of the
Ohotsk Sea. It built churches, employed priests, and was quite
successful in co