Here,
at anchor, and the only vessel, was a brig under Russian colors,
from Asitka, in Russian America, which had come down to winter, and to
take in a supply of tallow and grain, great quantities of which latter
article are raised in the missions at the head of the bay. The
second day after our arrival, we went on board the brig, it being
Sunday, as a matter of curiosity; and there was enough there to
gratify it. Though no larger than the Pilgrim, she had five or six
officers, and a crew of between twenty and thirty; and such a stupid
and greasy-looking set, I certainly never saw before. Although it
was quite comfortable weather, and we had nothing on but straw hats,
shirts, and duck trowsers, and were barefooted, they had, every man of
them, doublesoled boots, coming up to the knees, and well greased;
thick woolen trowsers, frocks, waistcoats, pea-jackets, woolen caps,
and everything in true Nova Zembla rig; and in the warmest days they
made no change. The clothing of one of these men would weigh nearly as
much as that of half our crew. They had brutish faces, looked like the
antipodes of sailors, and apparently dealt in nothing but grease.
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