FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO ST. LAWRENCE BAY. 83 



and sea ever since the 13th, and have come along 

 slowly m consequence. What few days we have had 

 a fair wind it has been so light as to be of very little 

 use, hardly strong enough to make a draft for our fur- 

 naces. Fog and rain we have had nearly every day. 



Arctic Steamer Jeanxette, Ounalaska Island, 



'Sunday, August 3, 1879. 



Here we are at last, having reached this place yes- 

 terday afternoon, after knocking around"^ for two days 

 in thick fogs among a hundred or more islands, very 

 incorrectly laid down on the charts (some of them not 

 at all), and getting mixed up generally. I have seen 

 some crooked navigation, but our experience in getting 

 through the passes into Behring Sea goes far beyond 

 anything for difficulties. Our great troubles were thick 

 fogs and terrible tides. We were never able to see 

 more than three miles in any one direction, and then 

 only for a few minutes at a time. Getting observations 

 was out of the question, for when we could happily see 

 the sun we could not see the horizon ; so we had to 

 grope our way along like blind men. However, we 

 got here all right, and here we are, until Wednesday 

 morning, the 6th instant, when we sail for St. Michael's 

 direct, omitting St. Paul's Island. 



We found here the Alaska Company's steamer St. 

 Paul — which sails for San Francisco direct on the 

 5th instant, and will carry our mail and packages, — 

 the revenue cutter Rush, and the Alaska Company's 

 schooner the St. George. The St. Paul has just come 

 from St. Michael's and St. Paul's, and has one hundred 

 thousand seal skins on board, valued at one million 

 dollars. She has collected all the seal skins from the 

 islands, and is on her way back to San Francisco. It is 

 a splendid chance for us to send our letters, and a 



