TIIK I'l'i; SKA I, lXI>rSTl,^ OF ALASKA. 



347 



ST,\I;I;Y AUTKKI, *. Tliis tookci-y is (lie next in order, and it is the most remarkable one on 

 S;iinl ( !cm u'e, lying as it does ill one hold sweep from I lie se;i, up a, steeply inelined slope fo :i point 

 where the lihill's th:it border it seaward are over 100 feet high ; the seals being just as closely 

 crowded at the summit of this lofty breeding plat as I hey are :it I he water's edge; the whole oblong 

 oval on (he side hill, as designated by the accompanying survey, is covered by their thickly clus- 

 tered forms. It is a strange sight, also, to sail under these bluffs with the boat, in. fair weather, for 



STARRY ATEEL 



Scale: 



a landing ; and, as you walk the beach, over which the cliff wall frowns a sheer 500 feet, there, 

 directly over your head, the craning necks and twisting forms of the restless seals, ever and anon, 

 as yon glance upward, appear as if ready to launch out and fall below, so closely and boldly do 

 they press the very edge of the precipice. t There is a low, rocky beach to the eastward of this 



* ' St. -i] TV A i tee] " or " Old Settlement "; ;i few hundred yards fo tin- easi \v:ml of I lu> rookery is the 1 earthen ruin 



of one of the pi 'i-r settlements in 1'ribyjov's time, and which the n:itives s:iy, marks the lirsi spot selected hy the 



Russians fur their village, after the discovery "I' Saint George, in 17,-C,, "Ateel " on I lie ma|> should lie "Arteel." 



tl have him repeatedly astonished at a supernatural power possessed liythe t'ur-seal of resistance to death 

 shocks which would rationally occur to an} other animal. To explain eh-arly, the reader will observe, by reference 

 to the maps, that I here .tic a great munv <! ill's places lie I ween t he rookeries on the shore lines of I lie islands. Some 

 of these bluff, ai" niiur than IIM feet iii sheer elevation above the surf ami roeks awash In-low. I'leqneully "Iiollus- 

 ehiekie" in ones, or twos, or threes will stray tar away hack from the great masses of their kind, and fall asleep in 

 the thick <;rass and herbage which covers these mural reaches. Sometimes they will lie down and n st very close to 

 the edge, and then as you conn- I ramping ahni{t you discover and startle them and yourself alike. They, Minded by 

 their tirst transports of alarm, pinnae promptly over the brink, snorl inn, coughing, and spit I ing a's they jj ( >. Curiously 

 ["el ing after them and looking down upon the rocks, ."ii.i t" inn feet lielo\\ . iu-ira,l of see inn' their stunned and motion- 

 less line I ii-s. you ill iuvarialih Batch sight of them rapidly si-ramlilini; iuio I he water; ami, v hen in it, swimming oil' 

 like arrows from the liow. Three " hollnsi -hiekie " were thus inadvi'ileni ly surprised liy me mi i he ed^e of the \\ est 

 fac'e to ( liter I slam I. The-,, plunged over IV an ele\ a t ion, there, not less than 200 feet in sheer elevation, and I dis- 

 tinctly saw them fall in srranililin^. whirling evolutions, down, thumping upon the rock\ shingle, beneath, from 



which they hounded, as they si ruck, like s anj ruhber lialls. Two of 1 hi' in never mo\ ed after the rebound ceased, 



hut the third one reacheil the \\aici an. I swam a\\a\ like a Innl on the winj;. 



While they s,.,.|n to escajie without I H.I iily injury incident to such hard falls as ensue from dropping f>n or (in feet 

 upon pebbly beach and rough bowlders belo\\,aml even nieaiei eh -\ at ions. \ el ] am inclined to think that some 



internal injuries an- necessarily sustained in most every case, which soon de\ clop and cause dial, i; tl veilcmeut 



and the vitality of tin- seal, at the moment of I In- I'-rrilie ^hock, is able to sustain and conceal the real injury for the 

 time being. 



