Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-05-15
FATE OF A RUSSIAN COLONY.
Every Man Left on Halls Island. In B
 ring Sen Eafen hN the Rcara

Every Man Left on Halls Island. In Be
 ring Sea. Eaten by the Bears.
 From the quarter deck of the Unit cd States revenue steamer Corwin, lying off Halls island, at the north
 erly end of St Matthew's island, in
 Bering sea, the captain and several officers were 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 were ruined barrabaras. The barrabara is the Aleutian house, built half under ground. Some of the gentlemen wish cd to explore the interior of the is land in hopes of finding signs of val nable minerals
 Mir. Douglass, how about going inland here?" inquired the captain.
 Well, don't know, sir, ;" said the pilot "I wouldn't care much to go at this time of year unless the party was large and we'll armed. Any one can see from here what a 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 sea son they're mighty uglyr'
 How does it happen that there are so many polar bears on St. Mat thew's and Halls islands?" asked the captain. This must be about the southern limit of their range.
 Well, l suppose, sir, they como down from the arctic on the field ice, following the seal and the 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 moro 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 once food gets scarce tley'u attack anything. One look Gt what's left of those barrabaras has always been enough exploration for me in these parts.
 There's a sad story about those old houses, sir, " continued thepilat A good many years ago the Rus sians thought they'd form a settle ment here. So they sent a ship with l don't know just how many people to make a start. No doubt the set tiers were a hard lot-convicts of one sort or another-the Russians often made such use of their hard citizens. But that's neither here nor there. They were human beings and were put on shore right here, and they built or dug, whichever you like to say, those barrabaras. Pro visions for a 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 were getting along.
 And so she did, but the settlers were not doing anything that the visitors could see. They hoisted no signal and made no sign of life at all, and when a 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 pro visions were left, and, worst of all, some human bones, not whole skele- tons 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. 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 corralled 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 of the roofs of the huts and made short work of the people. The ship sailed away, and the Rus sians never tried to colonize the is- land again. New York Sun.