14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



charts of the northwest coast, north of Vancouver Island, fail to give an ade- 

 quate idea of the vast archipelago of islands and network of channels with which 

 the whole coast of British Columbia, and that of the lower and eastern part of 

 Alaska, below 59^, are fringed. The Straits of Fuca are the southern point 

 of this complex system of labyrinthine channels, which afford peculiar facilities 

 for inland navigation. After describing graphically the bold and picturesque 

 shore lines of this region, and of Washington Territory, with its snow peaks 

 rising from 8,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea, Mt. Baker being the highest, 

 and mentioning the mild climate of Victoria, which shows a mean annual tem- 

 perature of 50° and about 200 fair days, Mr. Blake sketched the appearance of 

 the coast further north. Reaching Sitka Island, he described it as a mass of 

 unexplored rugged mountains, many of which are capped with eternal snow. 

 The town (a good drawing of which he exhibited) is situated at the head of 

 Sitka Bay, the entrance to which is marked by the symmetrical volcanic cone 

 of Edgecomb, the second of a series of volcanic peaks bordering the coast and . 

 culminating in Mounts Fairweather and St. Elias, the heights of which are 

 variously stated. The latter is visible in clear weather at a distance of 150 

 miles. The rock in the vicinity of Sitka is a hard grit, sometimes coarse, often 

 passing into digillite. The trend of this formation seems to be parallel to that 

 of the coast. It extends as far south as "the deep sea," a remarkable fresh water 

 lake, twelve miles southwest of Sitka, on the opposite side of which syenetic 

 granite occurs. Limestone, highly crystalline, is found north and within a few 

 miles of the town. The vegetation and general appearance of the coast is very 

 similar to that southward, though the beautiful Sitka spruce, which is remark- 

 able for its grace, and the mathematical regularity with which its branches grow 

 from the central stem, replaces the Douglas spruce of lower latitudes. Trees 

 grow to large size, many being seen from six to ten feet in diameter. Little was 

 known of the geology of the country. It is only along the shores that the rock 

 can be investigated. The roughness of the country, and the thick growth of 

 timber, and masses of fallen and decaying trees covered with thick moss, always 

 saturated with water, almost preclude geological investigation. Mr. Blake said 

 he had yet to learn of a man, white or Indian, who had crossed from one side 

 of Sitka Island to the other, a distance of not over twenty miles in some places. 

 Russian meteorological observations show, as a roean of twelve years, the mean 

 temperature to be about 42o, the extremes being very small. The same ob- 

 servations show a mean annual rain fall of 83.3 inches, the maximum being 105 

 inches. Along Chatham Straits, east of Sitka, the rocks are metamorphic, 

 stratified mica schist, standing almost vertically, and showing a parallelism in 

 their trend to the line of the coast and of upheaval. Glaciers are common along 

 the inland waters north and back of Sitka Island. Three of these sweep 

 grandly from the mountain gorges and rush to the water's edge, generally termin- 

 ating in a low crescent-shaped Mat, formed by the wash from their terminal 

 moraines. In Icy Straits, north of Sitka Island, the ice from them falls into 

 the sea, and so great is the accumulation as to render navigation dangerous. 

 In latitude 59°, along Chatham Straits, every marked depression has its glacier 

 of greater or less extent. These glaciers are to be seen at points as far south 



