Probably
only one person--a Danish professor--has ever examined all of these;
and the results of his investigations I have consulted. Also, there
are in the State Department, Washington, some hundred old log-books of
the Russian hunters which {ix} have--as far as I know--never been
turned by a single hand, though I understand their outsides were looked
at during the fur seal controversy. The data on this era of adventure
I have chiefly obtained from the works of Russian archivists, published
in French and English. To give a list of all authorities quoted would
be impossible. On Alaska alone, the least-known section of the Pacific
coast, there is a bibliographical list of four thousand. The
better-known coast southward has equally voluminous records. Nor is
such a list necessary. Nine-tenths of it are made up of either
descriptive works or purely scientific pamphlets; and of the remaining
tenth, the contents are obtained in undiluted condition by going
directly to the first sources. A few of these first sources are
indicated in each section.
It is somewhat remarkable that Gray--as true a naval hero as ever trod
the quarter-deck, who did the same for the West as Carrier for the St.
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