The effect on the Siberian mind was the same as a gold find. All the
riffraff adventurers of Siberia swarmed to the west coast of America.
We have only the Russian version of the story--not the Indians'--and
may infer that we have the side most favorable to Russia. When booty
of half a million was to be had for the taking, what Siberian exiles
would permit an Indian village to stand between them and wealth? At
first only children were seized as hostages of good conduct on the part
of the Indians while the white hunters coasted the islands. Then
daughters and wives were lured and held on the ships, only to be
returned when the husbands and fathers came back with a big hunt for
the white masters. Then the men were shot down; safer dead, thought
the Russians; no fear of ambush or surprise; and the women were held as
slaves to be knouted and done to death at their masters' pleasure.
In 1745--four years after Russia's discovery of western America--a
whole village in Attoo was destroyed so that the Russians could seize
the women and children fleeing for hiding to the hills.
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