possession of firearms.
From the time Bering's crew and Chirikoff's men had first fired rifles
in the presence of these poor savages of the North, the Indians had
realized that 'the stick that thundered' was a weapon they must
possess, or see their tribe exterminated.

The brigades of sea-otter hunters far exceeded in size and wild daring
the platoons of beaver hunters, who ranged by pack-horse and canoe from
Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains. The Russian ship, provisioned for
two or three years, would moor and draw up ashore for the winter on one
of the eleven hundred Aleutian Islands. Huts would be constructed of
drift-wood, roofed with sea-moss; and as time went on even rude forts
were erected on two or three of the islands--like Oonalaska or
Kadiak--where the kelp-beds were extensive and the hunting was good
enough to last for several years. The Indians would then be attracted
to the camp by presents of brandy and glass beads and gay trinkets and
firearms. Perhaps one thousand Aleut hunters would be assembled. Two
types of hunting boats were used--the big 'bidarkie,' carrying twenty
or thirty men, and the little kayak, a {36} mere cockle-shell. Oiled
walrus-skin, stretched taut as a drum-head, served as a covering for
the kayak against the seas, a manhole being left in the centre for the
paddler to ensconce himself waist-deep, with oilskin round his waist to
keep the water out. Clothing was worn fur side in, oiled side out; and
the soles of all moccasins were padded with moss to protect the feet
from the sharp rocks. Armed with clubs, spears, steel gaffs and
rifles, the hunters would paddle out into the storm.

There were three types of hunting--long distance rifle-shooting, which
the Russians taught the Aleuts; still hunting in a calm sea; storm
hunting on the kelp-beds and rocks as the wild tide rode in with its
myriad swimmers. Rifles could be used only when the wind was away from
the sea-otter beds and the rocks offered good hiding above the
sea-swamps. This method was sea-otter hunting _de luxe_. Still
hunting could only be followed when the sea was smooth as glass. The
Russian schooner would launch out a brigade of cockle-shell kayaks on
an unruffled stretch of sea, which the sea-otter traversed going to and
from the kelp-beds. While the sea-otter is a marine denizen, it must
come up to breathe; and if it does not come up frequently of its {37}
own volition, the gases forming in its body bring i