mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-036

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boat. In the meantime, the savages, following our route, also
approached the end of the sandspit and sat down in a semi-
circle from one side of the shore to the other, putting all
their weapons on the ground behind them. Lieutenant Lazarev,
who was wearing high hunting boots, forded from the boat,
but we crossed in the baidar. When the lieutenant stepped
ashore, a chief rose from the circle and greeted him with a
long speech, of which our Aleuts and Kadiak Islanders under-
stood nothing. Then, exactly the same way as on St. Lawrence
Island, he spit on the palms of his hands, not touching them
to his face, but leading them through the air. The Indians
seemingly rejoiced at our arrival and constantly shouted in
chorus, "toki! toki!" The trading started at once. They did
not at all want tobacco and knickknacks highly valued by other peoples
at all, but asked only for knives, hatchets, needles, scissors,
cast-iron kettles, and especially gunpowder and lead. But
seeing that they could not obtain them, they stopped asking,
and were satisfied with the above articles for which they
gave their weapons, clothing, and marten, otter, bear, and
fox furs; but generally, priced them very high.

Meanwhile, our sailors put up tents, made a fire, and
started to cook dinner, and we, in company of the chief to
whom we explained our intentions through sign language, went
toward the ice mountains, where it was necessary to walk
the length of the sandspit past the settlement. It consisted
of a hundred and one conical tents of a rather neat finish,