468 VOYAGE TO THE 



CF : AP - amphibious animals, winch, from their fine furry 



*■- vw nature, are highly valued by the Chinese and Tartar 



1M6. nations. I have given the geographical position of 



these islands in the Appendix ; and for a further 



account of them, the reader is referred to Langs- 



dorff's Travels, and to Kotzebue's Voyage. 



At sunset we lost sight of St. Paul's Island, and 

 being at that time ignorant of the position of St. 

 George's, further than what knowledge was derived 

 from a rough notice of it in the geological account 

 of Kotzebue's Voyage, we pursued our course with 

 some anxiety, as the night was dark and unsettled, 

 and the morning came without our obtaining a sight 

 of the island. On approaching the Aleutian Islands, 

 we found them obscured by a dense white haze 

 which hung to windward of the land ; and the wind 

 increasing with every appearance of a gale, our 

 situation became one of great difficulty. Early in 

 the morning a peak was seen for so short a time 

 that it only served to show us that we were not far 

 from the land, without enabling us to determine 

 which of the islands we were near ; and as in this 

 part of the Aleutian Chain there are several pas- 

 sages so close together, that one may easily be mis- 

 taken for the other, an accurate knowledge of the 

 position of the ship is of the greatest importance. 

 Under our circumstances, I relied on the accuracy 

 of Cook's chart, and steered due east, knowing 

 that if land were seen in that parallel, it could 

 be no other than the island of Oonemak ; and that 

 then, should the fog not clear away, the course 

 might still be directed along that island to the 

 southward. 



This is a precaution I strongly recommend to any 



