436 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



OIL WORKS OX UNALASCHKA. 



It is stated that try-works for extracting and refining the 

 oil of the sea-lion, seal, and walrus are about to be established 

 on Unalaschka, one of the Aleutian Islands. This will prob- 

 ably result in the marketing of a large amount of oil which 

 would otherwise be wasted, thus adding largely to the prod- 

 ucts of Alaska. The important paper of Mr. Dall, published 

 in the January number of Harper's Magazine, upon Alaska 

 and its profit to the country, has shown what rate of interest 

 is being paid upon the debt incurred in the acquisition of the 

 Territory ; and if fourteen per cent, were returned up to the 

 beginning of 1871, it is quite likely that by 1873 the profits 

 will be very greatly increased. Alaska Herald, January 19, 

 1872. 



SPAWNING OF COD-FISH IN ALASKA. 



Mr.W. H. Dall, who has been engaged for more than a year 

 in making surveys among the Aleutian Islands for the Coast 

 Survey, has made some important observations with reference 

 to the breeding of the Alaskan cod-fish. He states that they 

 arrive in March and April, full of spawn, and immediately 

 repair to places with sandy bottom, defended from the wind 

 and current by beds of kelp off shore. Here they remain a 

 few weeks, and when they go outside they have no spawn in 

 them. He does not think that the spawn is laid on the bot- 

 tom, but rather that it floats below the surface in the water. 

 If a heavy storm occurs, blowing on the shore, the sandy 

 beaches inside the kelp are strewn with spawn. In May and 

 June the young fish, from one and a half to two inches long, 

 are plenty in the shallows, but go into deep water by July. 

 He has collected a large number of the fry, and finds them to 

 be exactly like the adults except in size. 



COD-FISHING IN THE SHUMAGIN ISLANDS. 



A correspondent of the Alaska Herald writes from the Shu- 

 magin Islands, giving some account of the cod-fishery of the 

 present season. He reports a great deal of rough weather 

 during the summer in consequence of the prevalence of strong 

 south and southeasterly winds. The atmosphere was thick 

 with fog, and the rains heavy in consequence. The sun had 



