unfortunately for himself and his cause, the Father fell a victim to the charms of an Ilyamna girl who visited his house one night. But despite his deep shame, he persevered in his preaching against polygamy, and baptized the chief's brother, his three wives and seven children. He continued to urge the chief to marry one of his wives and put away the others, until he made him very angry. At last the Father was attacked by several natives and wounded. Later the attack was renewed, and as he made no effort to escape or defend himself, he was soon killed. It was said that, after he had been killed, he rose again and advanced towards his assailants, who attacked him afresh, and finally cut him. to pieces. His native boy, Nikita, escaped with his papers and diary, which he conveyed to Father Veniaminof.

Another member of the mission, the monk Herman, established a school on Spruce Island (or Yealoonie, as the Russian Creoles call it) in the harbor of St. Paul, and lived there for more than

forty years, instructing the youth in Christian doctrine, trade, and agriculture. The other members of the mission remained with the Archimandrite

loassaf.

When Shelikof died, the missionaries lost their principal friend, and no further effort was made to enlarge their sphere of work until the Archi

mandrite loassaf was recalled to Irkutsk to be consecrated a Bishop. He was full of pride at his new dignity, which he thought would overcome all opposition on the part of the traders. On the voyage from Siberia he formed the most sanguine

BISHOP NICOLAS.

and ambitious plans for building up a Russian Church in America, but these were cut short by the foundering of the Phenix, with all on board, at an unknown point not far from her destination. The Archimandrite Makar and the deacon Stefan, who were in the suite of the Bishop, perished with him. Of the other members of the mission the Archimandrite Afanassy, was priest at Kadiak till 1825, and then returned to Irkutsk, as Nakar had done nineteen years earlier. The remaining two died at Kadiak, the monk loassaf in 1823, and the monk Herman in 1837.

In 1805 Rezanoff, a Russian of good birth, was appointed by the Russian Emperor as a Plenipotentiary to report on the affairs of the Russian-American Company. Like many other men of the world before and since, he was not much impressed with the value of mission work in the colonies. He said that the missionaries lived in idleness, and were the cause of much trouble and confusion through that meddlesome spirit which seems characteristic of ecclesiastics in all times and places, and which is perhaps inevitable in men of their calling and professions. He said also that few of the clergy took the pains to learn the native language, and attributed the favorable reports of loassaf to the fact that he owned fifteen shares of stock in the Russian-American Company.

The missionaries succeeded better among the Aleuts than among any other Alaskan Indians. It was in 1795 that the first missionary, Father Makar, visited Oonalashka. Accompanied by only a single servant, he traveled over the whole district, being fed and protected by the natives. In a few years nearly all the Aleuts were baptized and reported to the Holy Synod as Christians. From that time to the present day, no representative of the Russian Church has

clined to religion; next, they were dissatisfied with their own beliefs, and felt a contempt for their shamans. Besides, they were eager to please the Russians, and the acceptance of Christianity relieved them from the payment of tribute.

After Baranof had re-organized the settlement of New Archangel, or Sitka, he asked for a resident priest, and in 1816 Alexei Sokolef arrived. When the charter of the Russian-American Company was renewed in 1821, one of the conditions being that a sufficient number of priests should be maintained in the colonies, the company petitioned that priests should be sent out from Russia. Accordingly, in 1823, the priest Mordovsky, with two missionary monks, arrived in Kadiak; in 1824 Ivan Veniaminof landed at Oonalashka, and in 1825 Yakof Netzvetof, a Creole, took charge of the church at Atkha, his native place. Yakof rendered valuable services to the cause of Christianity, transcribing Veniaminof's translations of the Gospels and catechism from the dialect of Oonalashka into that of Atkha.

Veniaminof was the ablest and greatest of all the Russian priests in America. He at once set himself to the task of acquiring the Aleutian language, and as soon as he could, translated into it several books dealing with the doctrines of the Greek Church. He was exceedingly energetic and spread the influence of his Church over a wide area. He visited all the Aleutian islands, and traveled extensively on the mainland. A Russian writer states that in 1827, less than three years after Veniaminof's arrival, the Greek

CHURCH ON ST. PAUL'S ISLAND.

Russian colonies in America, by order of the Holy Synod the four churches and eight chapels then existing there were consolidated into an independent diocese. Hitherto they had been attached to the see of Irkutsk in Siberia, but now the diocese of Russian America included the Kamchatka and Okhotsk precincts. Veniaminof was summoned to Irkutsk, and there consecrated the first Bishop of the

new diocese, assuming the name of Innocentius. On his return he went to live at Sitka, where a cathedral was built. Hitherto the savage Koloshes living round Sitka had shown themselves utterly irresponsive to the teachings of Christianity, submitting to the rite of baptism only on condition of receiving presents of tobacco, blankets, calico, knives, and occasionally rifles. But Veniaminof labored. among them with marked success. He mastered the Kolosh language, and translated into it some hymns, a catechism, and several books of the New Testament. He established at Sitka a seminary, where many of the Creole priests and readers now officiating in Alaska received their education. Sir Edward Belcher described

him as "a very formidable, athletic man, about forty-five years of age, and standing in his boots about six feet three inches; quite herculean and very clever." Sir George Simpson, who met him in 1842, was equally struck by his physical proportions and mental ability. He had great influence with the natives and even miracles were ascribed to him. He served as priest and missionary in Russian America for nineteen years, from 1823 to 1842, for most of which period he lived at Oonalashka, where he made himself thoroughly familiar with the language, customs, and beliefs of the Aleuts. Afterwards he published a book in three volumes, entitled "Letters concerning the islands of the Oonalashka district," which shows his intimate acquaintance with all matters concerning the Aleuts, their manners, habits, legends, and traditions. He also published a grammar of one of the dialects of the Aleutian language, and translated from the Russian, a "Guide on the Road to the Heavenly Kingdom," VOL. xxvi.-39.

That he was

to be used by the Aleuts. a man of liberal mind is shown by the fact that he welcomed a Lutheran clergyman who came to Sitka during his administration. He was recalled to Russia, and made Primate of the Russian Church: he was more than ninety years old when he died in 1879. His influence depending, as it did, upon his own strong personality, did not long survive his departure from the colonies.

The first chapel in Russian America. was built in 1795 at St. Paul, Kadiak. No church was built at Sitka until 1817, the officials of the Russian-American Company performing the religious ceremonies up to that time. Occasionally a priest visited the settlements, and baptisms took place pretty often. In 1817 a church, dedicated to St. Peter, was built on St. Paul, one of the Pribylof group, and in 1833 one dedicated to St. George the Victor was built on the island of St. George, another of the same group. In 1826 a church was dedicated at Oon

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