PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 46? 



drying. The barometer fluctuated a little on either C V£ P ' 

 side of 28,6. On the 18th, the temperature, which ^v— 

 had risen gradually as we advanced to the south- 18 26. 

 ward, was twenty degrees higher than it was the 

 day we left Kotzebue Sound — a change which was 

 sensibly felt. 



On the 21st we came within sight of the island 

 of St. Paul, the northern island of a small groupe 

 which, though long known to English geographers, 

 has been omitted in some of our most esteemed 

 modern charts. The groupe consists of three islands, 

 named St. George's, St. Paul's, and Sea-otter. We 

 saw only the two latter in this passage, but in the 

 following year passed near to the other, and on the 

 opposite side of St. Paul's to that on which our 

 course was directed at this time. The islands of 

 St. Paul and St. George are both high, with bold 

 shores, and without any port, though there is said 

 to be anchoring ground off both, and soundings in 

 the offing at moderate depths. At a distance of 

 twenty-five miles from Sea-otter Island, in the di- 

 rection of N. 37° W. (true), and in latitude 59° 22' N., 

 we had fifty-two fathoms hard ground ; after this, 

 proceeding southward, the water deepens. St. Paul's 

 is distinguished by three small peaks, which, one of 

 them in particular, have the appearance of craters ; 

 St. George's consists of two hills united by mode- 

 rately high ground, and is higher than St. Paul's ; 

 both were covered with a brown vegetation. Sea- 

 otter Island is very small, and little better than a 

 rock. The Russians have long had settlements 

 upon both the large islands, subordinate to the 

 establishment at Sitka, and annually send thither 

 for peltry, consisting principally of the skins of 



