Aleutic, or Aleutskiy Islands, so called from the Russian word aleut, signifying a bold rock, is the name given by the Russian discoverers to a chain of small islands situated in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and extending in an easterly direction between the peninsula of Kamtschatka, in Asiatic Russia, to the promontory of Alaska, in North America. According to the practice of the most recent Russian geographers, we have comprehended the whole of this archipelago under one general name, although it has been sometimes divided into three several groups; those nearest to the eastern coast of Kamtschatka being properly called Aleutian, the central group the Andreanofskie or Andrenovian, and those nearest to the American promontory the Fox Islands. The Russian geographers usually separate Behring's and Copper Island which are at the western extremity of this chain, from the other parts of it, included by them under the general name of Aleutian Islands; but as there seems no good reason for this exception, it certainly would be better to comprehend the whole under one general denomination.

The first voyage of discovery in this remote and dangerous archipelago was projected by Peter the Great, whose enterprising mind appears to have been strongly excited by the question, then much agitated, relative to the distance between the Asiatic and American continents; the solution of which seemed to be facilitated by the recent conquest of Kamtschatka. A short time previous to the death of that monarch, which took place in 1725, he drew up instructions, with his own hand, for the conduct of an expedition, which was to be intrusted to the command of an officer named Behring, who had already made several voyages in the sea of Kamtschatka by order of the crown. In 1728 Behring set sail from the mouth of the Kamtschatka River, and coasted the eastern shores of Siberia, as far to the northward as Lat. 67. 18., but made no discovery of the opposite continent. In 1729 he again set sail, for the purpose of prosecuting the same enterprise, but with no better success. A third voyage was undertaken by order of the Empress Anna in 1741, and Behring was again selected as chief of the expedition, another vessel being intrusted to the command of Tschirikoff. This enterprise proved more fortunate, and led the way to all the subsequent important discoveries of the Russians in those seas; although the immediate results of the voyage, upon the whole, were not deemed commensurate with the time and expense employed in fitting out the expedition. The principal object of the undertaking, however, appears to have been accomplished. Tschirikoff discovered the coast of America in the 56th degree of latitude; and Behring, who was separated from his companion in a storm, saw it in Lat. 58. 28. On his voyage back to Kamtschatka, Behring's ship was driven on the island which now bears his name, where he soon afterwards died.

In the year 1768 Captain Krenitzin and Lieutenant Lo- Aleutian Islands.

Aleutian vashet sailed from the mouth of the Kamtschatka River by order of the Empress Catherine, to examine the chain of the Aleutian Islands. This commission they accordingly executed very carefully, having surveyed the whole of this archipelago, from Behring's Island to the promontory of Alaska; and, after spending the winter among the Fox Islands, they returned to Kamtschatka in the autumn of 1769.

During his third and last voyage, in the year 1778, Captain Cook surveyed the eastern portion of this archipelago, accurately determined the positions of some of the most remarkable islands, and corrected many errors of former navigators.

In the year 1785 a fresh expedition was set on foot by the Russian government, the command of which was intrusted to Captain Billings, an English naval officer in the Russian service, who had accompanied Captain Cook in his last celebrated voyage to the Pacific Ocean. This expedition appears to have been suggested by Mr. Cox, who was at that time at St. Petersburg, and whose Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America had already attracted the attention of the Russian government. During this voyage, which was not completed until the year 1796, Captains Billings and Sarytschef explored the whole chain of the Aleutian Islands, particularly that part of it which had been visited by Captain Cook, and some parts of the adjacent western coast of America. Ample details of the conduct of this expedition have been published in the narratives of Martin Sauer, who officiated as secretary to Captain Billings, and of Admiral Sarytschef.

With the view of ascertaining the practicability of supplying the Russian settlements in N. America and the adjacent isles by sea, instead of the tedious route by Ochotsk, Captain Kruzenstern, an experienced Russian naval officer, who had served for a long period in the British navy, suggested the plan of an expedition from Cronstadt, round Cape Horn, to the Aleutian Islands and the north-west coast of America. This plan was approved of by Count Romanzof, the minister of commerce, and Admiral Mordvinov, minister of the marine, and obtained the sanction of His Imperial Majesty. Two vessels, the Nadeshda and the Neva, under the command of Captain Kruzenstern, the original author of the plan, and Captain Lisiansky sailed in company from Cronstadt, in the month of August 1803, and proceeded to the Brazils, from whence they sailed round Cape Horn to the Sandwich Islands. Here they separated, the Nadeshda being ordered on a distinct mission to Japan and China, while Captain Lisiansky, in the Neva, proceeded to Kadyak and the American settlements. Of this voyage very full and interesting accounts have been published by Captains Kruzenstern and Lisiansky, and by Dr. Langsdorff, who accompanied the expedition in the quality of physician.

By far the most important and best explored portion of this archipelago is the most easterly group, called by the Russians Lysie Ostrova, or the Fox Islands. Of these islands the most considerable are, Unmak, Unalashka or Oonalashka, and Unimak, the last of which is separated by a narrow strait from the promontory of Alaska. Beyond these, to the north-east, lies the large island of Kadyak or Kodiak, which is generally included among the group called Schumagin's Islands.

The whole of the islands composing this chain are bare and mountainous; their coasts are rocky and surrounded by breakers, which renders the navigation of those seas exceedingly dangerous. The land rises immediately from the coasts to steep bald mountains, gradually ascending higher behind each other, and assuming the appearance of chains of mountains, running parallel to the length of the island. Springs take their rise at the bottom of the mountains, and either flow in broad and rapid streams into the neighbouring sea, or, collecting in the rocky vales and glens, form ample lakes, which send off their superfluous waters by natural canals into the adjacent bays. These islands bear evident marks of volcanic formation, and several of them have still active volcanoes, which continually emit smoke, and sometimes flames.

Unalashka, one of the largest of the Fox Islands, was visited by Captain Cook during his last voyage, and seems to merit particular notice. This island stretches from northeast to south-west and is from 70 to 80 versts in length, but of very unequal breadth. On the north and northeast sides there are many bays and creeks, in some of which are very secure harbours for vessels. A part of the southwest shore consists of very high, steep, inaccessible cliffs, and another part has remained hitherto wholly unexplored. The whole island consists of a mass of rocks, covered only with a very thin coat of earth; the hills are of very unequal height, and are intersected by irregular valleys, the soil of which is commonly argillaceous, or an earth which appears washed down from the hills. In the lower valleys there is great abundance of grass, which would furnish very good food for cattle; indeed, Captain Cook was of opinion that cattle might subsist at Unalashka all the year round without being housed; and the soil, in many places, appeared capable of producing grain, roots, and vegetables. But the Russian traders and the natives seem satisfied with what nature brings forth. No wood grows on this and the neighbouring islands; only low bushes, and shrubs of dwarf birch, willow, and alder. For all the timber used for the purposes of building, &c., they are indebted to the sea, which waits it to their shores from the adjacent continent of America. The inhabitants are rather low in stature, but plump and well-shaped, with short necks, swarthy chubby faces, black eyes, small beards, and long, straight, black hair, which the men wear loose behind and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.

The principal occupations of the Aleutians are fishing and hunting, and preparing the implements necessary for both.

Their baidars, badarkas, or boats, resemble the canoes of other savages. They consist of a skeleton of wood over which is stretched a leather covering made of seal-skins. The boats of the Unalashkans are much superior in point of beauty to those of any of the other islands; some of them appear so transparent that one might trace the formation of the inside, and the manner in which the rower sits. In their form they are long and narrow, and commonly hold only one person.

The population of Unalashka and the neighbouring islands appears to have been considerable, amounting to several and go-thousands. In 1790 Sarytcheff reckoned it at 3000. According to the most recent accounts, it does not appear to amount to more than 300. This rapid depopulation is ascribed partly to the practice of sending the best hunters to a distance, to chase the large sea-otters, few of them ever returning to their families; and partly to the state of oppression under which the natives live, and the change which has taken place in their modes of living. Captain Cook seems to consider the natives of these islands as originally of the same extraction with the Greenlanders and Esquimaux. When first discovered by the Russians they were under the government of Toigons, or chiefs, who, however, possessed little superior distinction or dignity, and had no revenue. At present they are all subject to the government of the Russian settlers. Population of the whole group is now estimated at 8000.

Throughout the whole of the Aleutian Islands, on the Russian island of Kadyak, and the western coast of America, the settlements Russians have formed settlements, for the purpose of hunting and collecting furs, with which they carry on a lucrative commerce, particularly with the Chinese. The most