lxxxvi GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



nomical positions, with magnetic observations for declination 

 and dip, were carried to the westward through the Aleutian 

 Islands from Unalashka. The results obtained necessitated 

 many important changes in the charts. At the same time, 

 the general miscellaneous observations of a hydrographic 

 nature, previously enumerated, were carried on, a detailed 

 survey of Kyska Harbor (with a view to its use as a landing- 

 place for telegraphic cables) and of Iliuliuk Harbor were 

 made, and the season's work was finished by additional sur- 

 veys in the Shumagin Islands. 



The work of the season from April to November, 1874, by 

 the same party, was still more important. It extended from 

 Sitka to Unalashka south of the islands, and included the 

 Pribiloff group, part of Nunivak, Bristol Bay, and Aliaska 

 Peninsula north of the Aleutians. The most important works 

 accomplished were extensive rectifications of the coast-line be- 

 tween Cape Spencer and Mount St.Elias, mapping the glaciers, 

 and making the most careful measure yet obtained of Elias, 

 Fairweather, Crillon, and other high peaks of this region. 

 Also, fixing the astronomical position of some twenty-four 

 stations, including Lituya Bay, Mount St. Elias, Port Mul- 

 grave, Middleton and ChirikofF Islands, Port Etches, Port 

 Moller, the Semidi and Pribiloff Islands, Nunivak, Hagmeis- 

 ter, and a number of other islands; surveys of the Semidi 

 Islands, parts of Aliaska Peninsula, and extensions of the 

 survey of Captain's Bay, besides numerous harbors; extend- 

 ing largelv the chain of magnetic stations, and the materials 

 for a " Coast Pilot." 



During the entire period occupied by these investigations, 

 the leisure of the party was employed in making notes and 

 collections of natural history, geology, and ethnology, the 

 results of which have been placed in the National Museum; 

 and which are especially rich in prehistoric ethnology, ma- 

 rine invertebrates, and material toward a knowledge of the 

 geographical distribution of the fauna and flora of these re- 

 gions. 



Congress at its last session passed a bill authorizing the 

 appointment by the Secretaries of the Treasury and of the 

 Navy, respectively, of an agent to visit conjointly the islands 

 off the coast of Alaska, with a view of determining the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the fur-seals, and of inquiring into 



