450 CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
where the dry fish is hung up, the cows knocked it down and trampled on it, while their new masters did not know how to milk them. The hogs committed depredations in the garden patches, and annoyed the women by their grunting and squealing. The summer residences of the Aleuts consisted chiefly of tents, and the goats appeared to take pleasure in jumping upon and knocking down these tents in the night, to the great discomfort of the sleeping family ; so they were very soon tired of them, and glad to get rid of them. In Cook's Inlet the natives were more intelligent, or had more experience, and their cattle did much better. Hogs were placed on a low island near the Churnobour Reef, in 1825, and multiplied exceedingly, living on the wild parsnips and other native plants ; but they were destroyed by a tidal wave which swept over the island during the eruption of the volcano on the neighboring island of Unimak, two years after.
The Sitkan District. — This district extends from the southern boundary, including the mainland and islands, to the peninsula of Aliaska, and also Kadiak and the adjacent islands.
The surface of this part of the territory is rugged and mountainous in the extreme. The northern part alone furnishes any appreciable amount of arable land, level and suitable for cultivation. Small patches occur in the southern part here and there, where small farms might be located ; but as a rule the mountains descend precipitously into the sea with their flanks covered with dense and almost impenetrable forests. These rise to an altitude of about fifteen hundred feet above the sea. Here and there a white streak shows where an avalanche has cut its way from the mountain-top, through the forest, to the water-side ; and occasion-ally the shining front of a glacier occupies some deep ravine, contrasting curiously with the dense foliage on either side.
The canals and channels of the Alexander Archipelago form the highways of the country, and so intricate and tortuous are they that they afford access to almost every part of it without the necessity for setting foot on shore.
The soil is principally vegetable mould, with substrata of gravel or dark-colored clay. The soil of Cook's Inlet and Kadiak is of a similar character ; but, from an admixture of volcanic sand thrown up by the waves, and abundant sandstone strata, it is lighter, drier, and better adapted for cultivation.