Valdez daily prospector., 1912-05-18
CHAPTER FROM EARLY HISTORY
Cleaned From Diary of Visitor to North Nearly a Century
 Ago

Through the courtesy of John A. Rowand, the Gateway was per- mitted 10 peruse a diary kept by his father, Alexander Rowand, M. h., on journey in Russian American (Alaska) and Siberia, made during the years 18ii-2. Dr. Rowand reached Sitka April t5, l8i2, from the Sandwich is- lands, on the steamer Cowlitz. Sir George Simpson, of the Hud- son Bay company, accompanied him. Upon arrival the visitors called upon Governor Etolin. The diary says:
 "On entering the house, Gov crnnr EtOlin, a very gcntlemanly looking man, in the full dress un- form of q naval captain of the first rank, ran up io Sir George and made the room jingle with expressions of welcome lu Silka. l was struck With Inc internal appearance of the house, and, whilst Silling in d spacious draw ing room, elegantly furnished with European sofas. chairs and musical instruments. could hardly p"rsuad" myself that l was in dIrary and savage par! of North America, far distant from any scene of civilization.
 "Thr manner and bearing of Governor Etolin pleased rir much. He spoke English. Rus- sian, French and German, and is 1 a very well informed man. Up on invitation We dincd with the governor. The characteristic r. allIr"S of Russian dinner are fIrSi, SrhnapS; secondly, that the guests never ask each other Lu pariak" of wine. Thirdly. that tn" pastry and SwrriS are hand "'l around hrtwrrn meat dishes and, lastly, That at tn. cnncIu- SInn of Inc r"past. all of the guests rise and bow Iu ilIriI hostess and then lo one another Ihr diS"aSrS l detected among the natives were lyphus and fp- N"rs. various affections of ihr ana harni"Ti;iySiS. The nunbrr of eases of the latter arc remark able, and ScrmS lo he the charac.- i"risiic malady of the district.
 "Thr population oi SiIka is about l.0O0. There is a well reg ulal"d and well attended school, supported by the Russian Amer jean company.
 "As the Russian ship would not sail for OrhotSk. Siberia. until the '"ttcr part of May, Sir George l dctcrilinrd tO visit two of the Hudson Bay cOmpany's nearest establishments along the coast, i For my part, l was under the dis agreeable necessity of remain ing behind, till his return, in con sequence of having experienced a relapse of an attack of inter- millent fever, which affected me on my first visit 10 Sitka. My complaint came on every second day. ] resolved to visit some hot springs near by. These thermal springs are situated upon ono of the numerous small islands which lie scattered along the coast. Our proximity to them was first revealed by inc peculiar 0d"r of the atmosphere, which was tainted with a sulphur va DOT for some distance about the springs. l had no return of the aguc during tho time I contin- ucd Co use the baths daily. I al- so had good opportunity of ob- serving the great efficacy of these waters in some very bad cases of scrOfula and rheumatism, which were relieved much moro quickly than they usually arc by the in- icrnal administration of mcdi- cine"
 Dr. ROwand and Sir George took passage on ono of the Rus sian American company's ships, cn route to Siberia. May g, 1872. En route a New Bedford whalcr was met. The skipper came aboard. Asked if he would lake n glass of brandy, replied, in the Yankee style: ''I guess I don't | ru,,, if ,I,,,'I ~ r, T,I,. ~ tLo