[2] The data of Vancouver's voyage come chiefly, of course, from the
volume by himself, issued after his death, _Voyage of Discovery to the
Pacific Ocean_, London, 1798. Supplementary data may be found in the
records of predecessors and contemporaries like Meares's _Voyages_,
London, 1790, Portlock's _Voyage_, London, 1789; Dixon's _Voyage_,
London, 1789, and others, from whom nearly all modern writers, like
Greenhow, Hubert Howe Bancroft, draw their information. The reports of
Dr. Davidson in his Coast and Survey work, and his _Alaska Boundary_,
identify many of Vancouver's landfalls, and illustrate the tremendous
difficulties overcome in local topography. It is hardly necessary to
refer to Begg and Mayne, and other purely local sketches of British
Columbian coast lines; as Begg's _History_ simply draws from the old
voyages. Of modern works, Dr. Davidson's Survey works, and the
official reports of the Canadian Geological Survey (Dawson), are the
only ones that add any facts to what Vancouver has recorded.
{291}
PART III
EXPLORATION GIVES PLACE TO FUR TRADE--THE
EXPLOITATION OF THE PACIFIC COAST UNDER
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY, AND
THE RENOWNED LEADER BARANOF
{293}
CHAPTER XI
1579-1867
THE RUSSIAN AMERICAN FUR COMPANY
The Pursuit of the Sable leads Cossacks across Siberia, of the
Sea-Otter, across the Pacific as far South as California--Caravans of
Four Thousand Horses on the Long Trail Seven Thousand Miles across
Europe and Asia--Banditti of the Sea--The Union of All Traders in One
Monopoly--Siege and Slaughter of Sitka--How Monroe Doctrine grew out of
Russian Fur Trade--Aims of Russia to dominate North Pacific
"_Sea Voyagers of the Northern Ocean_" they styled themselves, the
Cossack banditti--robber knights, pirates, plunderers--who pursued the
little sable across Europe and Asia eastward, just as the French
_coureurs des bois_ followed the beaver across America westward.
Pages:
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380