The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1895-02-20
WIPED OUT BY THE BEARS.
Nobody Left to Tell the Fate of a Rpssi.n
Colony.

SAN fhANClsCo, FEB. l7.--From the
quarter deck of the United States reve-
nue. cutter Corwin, lying off Halls
Island, at the northerly end of St. Mat
thew's Island in Bering Sea, the CAPTAIN
ana several officers were LOOKING toward
the shore. Douglass, the pilot, had lust
pointed out something under the cliff
that looked like low half-fallen walls
and said they were ruined barrabaras
The barrabara is the Aleutian house.
built half underground. Some of the
gentlemen wished to explore the interior
of the island in hopes of finding signs
of valuable minerals.
"Mr. Douglas, how about going inland
here?' inquired the captain.
"Well, l don't know, sir,'' said the
pilot, 81 wouldn't care much to 90 at
this time Of the year, unless the party
was large and well armed Anyone can
see from here what forbidding country
it is, and it's 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. Matthew's and
Hall IslandS?' asked the captain. "This
must be about the southern limit of their
range.'
"Well, | 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 when food gets scarce they'll attack
anything. One look at what's left of those
barrabaras has always been enough ex-
ploratiOn for me in these parts.
"There's sad story about those old
houses, sir" continued the pilot. "a
good many years ago the Russians
thought they'd form settlement here.
SO they sent a ship with dou't know
just how many people to make start.
No doubt the settlers were hard lot
convicts of one sort or anOUher--the, Rus
slams often make such use of their hard
citizens But that's neither here nor
there, they were human beings, and were
puC on shore right here, and they built
or dug, whichever you may like to say,
these barrabaras. Provisions for year
we're 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've getting
along.
"And so they did, but, the settlers
were not doing anything that the visitors
could see. They hoisted no signal and
maze no Signs Vi Ille dC ar hhA aNAOA q
party from the ship landed a grewsome
sight it was they saw. The tops were
ripped off the barrabaras, and everything
was knocked about; not a living thing
could they find. Some moldy provisions
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.
'sNos 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 wlping out of the little colony.
They must have ,orraled the settlers in
the dead of winter, when the pack ice is
all around 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 tred &c
COLOMBO the island again"