An annotated journal of Edward Adams. The young Victorian-era doctor was part of an expedition sent to Russian Alaska in 1850 to search for fellow countryman and explorer John Franklin and his crew. As the expedition’s naturalist, Adams made observations, recordings and drawings of the excursion, particularly the customs of the local Natives and their interactions with members of the Russian American Company. Adams’ writings offer a first-person account of travels into interior Alaska and the inherent dangers involved, including freezing cold temperatures, suspicious Russians and warring Natives.
As an educated doctor, Edward Adams brought with him all the sensibilities of a Victorian-era gentleman, as is evidenced by his writings. A man of many abilities, Edward Adams’ journal reveals a person who thrived on new experiences and had a true gift for recording what he noted. Perhaps more than any other feature of his journal, it is the author’s portrayals and adventures with Natives that provide readers the most drama, as his prose, while essentially report-form, will on occasion lapse into an interior monologue that approaches stream of consciousness, a writing style reminiscent of the popular serialized stories that appeared in British papers at the time. During these moments the reader is taken back to the Russian Alaska of 1850 as they accompany Edward Adams into the savage land.
Another significant aspect of what Edward Adams observed and recorded while he traveled through Russian Alaska was the fact that the Alaskan Natives were in the middle stages of assimilation into the serf-based style of feudalistic manorism as practiced in nineteenth-century Russia. Interacting with primitive, non-western cultures was not a new experience for Russian explorers and some of the aspects of acculturation meant that items such as metal tools were available, as well as luxuries such as tobacco were enjoyed, providing something was offered for trade. Most telling of the effectiveness of this integration process was that Edward Adams traveled hundreds of miles in Russian Alaska and had no first-contact experiences with Natives.
The detail with which Adams describes interior Indians is another of the strong features of the journal. The descriptions offer a warts-and-all look into the sometimes-cruel lives of Alaskan Natives and the way they were treated and mistreated by the Russian trading company. And the clarity of the contact levels separating tribes, which becomes apparent as he travels inland, sets the narrative above all contemporary accounts.
There are virtually no other books in publication that offer readers such a personal glimpse into life in Russian Alaska in the mid-nineteenth century.
Edited by Ernest Sipes, his annotations help to fill-out the account and offer explanations and insights into the historical goings-on at the time.
The book includes an extensive foreword by the editor that offers the reader the historical and geo-political background at the time of the writing. |
