The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-12
WIPED our ny THE BEARS.
Nobody Left TO Tell The Fate OF "a
Russian Colony.
From The Plttsburg Dispatch.

From the Pttsburg Dispatch.
San Francisco, Feb. 3.-From the quar-
ter deck Of the United States revenue cut
ter Corwin, lying off Halls Island, at
the northerly end of ST. Matthews Is
land in Boring Sea, the captain and several
officers We're looking toward the shore.
Douglass. the pilot. had just pointed out
something under the cliffs that looked like
low, half-fallen walls, and said they We're
ruined barrabaras. The barrabara is the
Aleutian house, built half underground.
Some Of the gentlemen wished to ex-
piore the interior of the island in hopes.
OF finding signs of valuable minerals.
"Afr Douglass. how about going in
land here?" inquired the captain.
tWen 1 don't know, sir" said the pilot,
II wouldn't care much to go at this time
OF the year, unless the party was large
and well armed. Anyone can see from here
what a forbidding country il Is, and H.
sure to get worse when you reach it. It's
chock full OF bears, and in the breeding
season they're mighty ugly"
How does it happen that there are so
many polar bears on St. Matthews and
Hall Islands?' asked the captain. This
must be about the southern limit of their
range"
'WeIl, / suppose, sir, they come down
from the Arctic on the field ice. follow
ing the seal and walrus. The winter pack
reaches way south of here. and the bears
make homes on the island among the
rocks and caves. They breed here, and as
many more come every year from the
north they naturally get plenty. So long
as they find enough TO eat they won't
trouble anybody unless cornered, and
food gets scarce they'll attack anything.
One look at what's left of those barra-
baras has always been enough exploration
for me in these parts.
There's a sad story about those old
houses, sirH continued the pilot. "A
good many years ago the Russians
thought they'd form a settlement here.
SO they sent a ship with ] don't know
just how many people to make a start.
No doubt the settlers were a hard lot
convicts of one sort or another-the Rus
slams often make such use of their hard
citizens But that's neither here nor
there. They We're human beings, and
were put on shore right here. and they
built or dug, whichever you may like to
say, these barrabaras Provisions for
year were given them, and they were
told to skirmish round and see what they
could do in the hunting line. Then the
ship sailed away, promising to call round
next year and see how they We're getting
along.
And so they did. but the settlers
were not doing anything that the visi-
tors could see. They hoisted no signal
and made no sign of life at all. and when
a party from the ship landed a grew
some sight il was they saw. The tops
were ripped off the bartabaras and ev
erything was knocked about; not "A living
thing could they find Some moldy pro-
visions were left, and, worst of all, some
human bones; not whole skeletons lying
as though the people had been starved
or had died of disease, but just human
bones spread about the floors, and some
of 'em outside on the ground.
Not a bit of writing was found; moth
ing at all to say how or when the trouble
came. Water was plenty and provisions,
too. and only the bears could account
for the wiping out of the little colony.
They must have ccrraled the settlers in
the dead of winter, when the pack ice
is all aroung the island, and hunger
makes 'em fierce, and then they must
have torn off the roofs of the huts and
made short work of the people. The
ship sailed away and the Russians never
tried to colonize the island again.