pleasures, and a patrimony that enabled him to
command them to no great extent and barely to
maintain the dignity of his rank. Shelikov's plan
to obtain a monopoly of the fur trade in the islands
and territories added by his Company to Russia,
possibly throughout the entire possession, thus pre-
venting the destruction of sables, seals, otters, and
foxes by small traders and foreigners, interested
him at once; or possibly he was merely fascinated
at first by the shrewd and dauntless representative
of a class with which he had never before come
in contact. The accidental acquaintance ripened
into intimacy, Rezanov became a partner in the
Shelikov-Golikov Company, and married the daugh-
ter of his new friend. After the death of his
father-in-law, in 1795, his ambitions and business
abilities, now fully awake, prompted him to obtain
for himself and his partners rights analogous to
those granted by England to the East India Com-
pany. Shelikov had won little more than half the
power and privileges he had solicited of Catherine,
although he had amalgamated the two leading com-
panies, drawn in several others, and built ships and
factories and forts to protect them. And if the
regnant merchants made large fortunes, the enter-
prise in general suffered from the rivalries between
the various companies, and above all from lack of
imperial support.

Rezanov, his plans made, brought to bear all the