Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, on the cession of Russian America to the United States:

17
pare with any as a contribution to science. I
may add Lutke also; but Kotzebue was a wor thy successor to Behring and Cook.
Beside these official contributions, most of
which are by no means fresh, there are mate rials derived from casual navigators, who,
scudding these seas, rested in the harbors there
as the water-fowl on its flight; from whalemen,
who were there merely as Nimrods of the
ocean; or fromn adventurers in quest of the rich
furs which it furn ished. There are also the
gazetteers and geographies; but they are less
instructiv e on th is h ea d than usual, being
founded on information now many years old.
P er haps no region of equal extent on the
globe, unless we except the interior of Africa
or po ssibly G reenland, i s a s little known.
Here I do not speak for myself alone. A
learned German, whom I have already quoted,
after saying that the explorations have been
limited to the coast, testifies that " the interior,
not only of the continent, but even or the island
of Sitka, is to-day unexplored, and is in every
respect terra incognita."' The same has been
repeated of the islands also. Admiral LUtlke,
whose circumnavigation of the globe began in
1825, and whose work bears date in 1835, says
of the Aleutian archipelago, that "-althougrh
frequented for more than a century by Russi-an
vessels and those of other nations it is to-day
almost as little known as in the time of Cook."
Another writer of authority, the compiler of
the official work on the People of Russia, published as late as 1862, speaks of the interior as
' a mystery." And yet another says that our
ignorancle-with regard to this region would make
-it a proper scene for a chapter of Gulliver's
Travels.
Where so little was known there was scope
for invention. Imagination was made to supply the place of knowledge, and poetry pictured
the savage desolation in much-admired verse.
,Campbell, in the Pleasures of Hope,' while exploring' earth's loneliest bounds and ocean's
wildest shore," reaches this region, which he
portrays:
berries equally fine with those met with in Eng land." (Voyage, p. 118.) Kotzebue, who was
here' later, records that he found the weather
"pretty warm at Ounalaska." (Voyage, vol.
1, p. 275.) South of the Aleutians ths e climate
is warmer still. The poet ignores natural his tory also as regard s the distribution of animals.
Curiously enough, it does not appear that there
a re " wolves" on a ny of th e A leutians. Coxe,
in his w ork on Russian Discoveries, (p. 174,)
records that "I reindeer, bears, wolves, and ice -
foxes are not to be found on these isl ands."
But he was never there. Meares, who was in
those seas, says " the o nly a nimals on the se
islands are foxes, some of which are black."
'(Voyage, vol. 1, p. 16.) Cook, who was at
Ounalaska twice, and once made a prolonged
stay, expressly says, II Foxes and weasels were
the only quadr qtpeds we saw; they told us that
they had.ares also." (Voyage, vol. 2, p. 518.)
But quadrupeds like these hardly sustain the
exciting picture. The same experienced navi gator furnishes a glimpse of the inhabitants as
they appeared to him, which would make us
ot emb]e if the "wolves" of'the poet were
numerous. He says that "'to all appearance
they are the most peaceable, inoffensive people
he ever met with;" and Cook had been at Ota heite. "No such thing as an offensive or
defensive weapon was seen amongst the natives
of Ounalaska." (Ibid., pp. 509, 515.) Then
at least the inhabitants did not share the
ferocity of the "wolves" and of the climate.
Another navigator fascinates us by a descrip tion of the boats of Ounalaska, which struck
him "with amazement beyond expression;"
and he goes on to say, " If perfect symmetry,
smoothness, and proportion constitute beauty,
they are beautiful beyond anything that I ever
beheld. I have seen some of them as trans parent as oiled paper." (Billings's Voyages,
p. 15.) But these are the very boats that buf fet "the wave's tumultuous roar,'" while "the
breezes" waft the "wolf's long bowl." This
same navigator introduces another feature.
According to him the Russians sojourning there
"seem to have no desire to leave this place,
where they enjoy that indolence so pleasing to
their minds." (P. 161.) The lotus eaters of
Homer were no better of. The picture is completed by another touch from Liitke. Admitting the want of trees on the island, the admiral
suggests that their place is supplied not only
by luxuriant grass, but by wood thrown upon
the coast, including trunks of camphor from
Chinese and Japanese waters, and "a tree
which gives forth the odor of the rose.'(Voyage, Tom. 1, p. 132.) Such is a small
portion of the testimony, most of which was
in print before the poet wrote.
CNothing has been written about this region,
whether the coast or the islands, more authentic or interesting than the narrative of Captain
Cook on his third and last voyage. He saw
with intelligence, and described with clearness
almost elegant. The record of Captain Port
OLo I to the wintry winds the pilot yields,
His bark careering o'er unfathomed fields.
Noiv far he sweeps, whero scarce a summer smiles,
On Behring's rocks, or Greenlands naked isles;
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow,
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow,
And waft across the wave's tumultuous roar
The wolfs lontg howl fronm Ounalaska'8s shore."
this region, is inconsistent with the truth.
The poet ignores the isothermal line, which
plays such a conspicuous part on the Pacific
coast. Here the evidence is positive. Portlock, the navigator, who was there toward the
close of the last century, -after describing
Cook's inlet, which is several degrees north
of Ounalaska, records his belief "that the
climate here is not so severe as has been generally supposed; for in the course of traffic
with the natives they frequently brought berries of several sorts, and in particular black
2
I