FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO ST. LAWRENCE BAY. 87 



to gain a high latitude this season. If, upon our arrival 

 at St. Michael's, nothing has been heard of the party 

 under the command of Professor Nordenskjold, I shall 

 proceed to St. Lawrence Bay in Siberia, to obtain tid- 

 ings of them. 



We have been made the recipients of the most un- 

 bounded courtesy and assistance of the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company, through its agent at this place. The 

 coal l)elonging to the Navy Department, and of which 

 there was originally, I believe, some seven or eight hun- 

 dred tons, has become reduced by the requisitions of 

 the revenue cutter to about eighty tons, which, owing 

 to exposure and spontaneous combustion, has become 

 of indifferent value. The commanding officer of the 

 Kush, having expressed to me his desire to have the 

 remaining quantity reserved for his use in proceeding 

 to San Francisco in the coming fall, I have accepted 

 the offer of the Alaska Commercial Company to furnish 

 one hundred and fifty tons bituminous coal for the use 

 of the expedition. This matter will form the subject 

 of a private arrangement between Mr. James Gordon 

 Bennett and the Alaska Commercial Company, and has 

 no relation to our official transactions. We have also 

 been furnished with fur garments, and twelve thousand 

 pounds of dried fish for dog food, both of which have 

 been sent here by the Alaska Commercial Company for 

 our use, from Kodiak. The balance of our clothing, 

 forty dogs, more dog food, sledges, and dog drivers will 

 be furnished at St. Michael's. 



I would respectfully call your attention to the fact 

 that the charts of this region are very meagre. The 

 most reliable is one published by the Imperial Russian 

 Hydrographic Office in 1849, which chart was furnished 

 toe in San Francisco. The prevalence of fogs, and the 



