Shelikoff's answer was a load of presents to the hostile messenger.
That failing, he took advantage of an eclipse of the sun as a sign to
the superstitious Indians that the coming of the Russians was noted and
blessed of Heaven. The unconvinced Kadiak savages responded by
ambushing the first Russians to leave camp, and showering arrows on the
Russian boats. Shelikoff gathered up his men, sallied forth, whipped
the Indians off their feet, took four hundred prisoners, treated them
well, and so won the friendship of the islanders. From the new
quarters hunters were despatched eastward under Baranof and others as
far as what is now Sitka. These yearly came back with cargoes of
sea-otter worth two hundred thousand dollars. Shelikoff at once saw
that if the Russian traders were to hold their own against {305} the
foreign adventurers of all nations flocking to the Pacific,
headquarters must be moved still farther eastward, and the prestige of
the Russian government invoked to exclude foreigners. There were, in
fact, no limits to the far-sighted ambitions of the man.
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