154 Fish Stories 



yielding to its owners greater financial returns on the capital 

 invested than the island of St. Paul. On account of the 

 economic value of the fur seal herd the islands have been 

 the center of a great deal of international debate. They 

 have, therefore, had considerable history in the past, and 

 they will probably have more, of one kind or another, before 

 this century is over. 



The islands of St. Paul and St. George lie in Bering Sea, 

 about 200 miles to the north of Unalaska, the principal 

 harbor of the Aleutian chain, and about 200 miles south of 

 Cape Newenham, the nearest point on the mainland. All 

 the rock on each island is lava, hard, black and resistant, 

 grinding up under the action of the waves and ice into coarse 

 black sand. The island of St. Paul is very irregular in 

 form, with many capes and rocky projections, ending in 

 submarine reefs of lava. Its surface in general is flat and 

 of no great elevation, but there are a number of volcanic 

 craters, the most important one, Bogoslof, rising to the 

 height of 600 feet. Its shore line alternates between steep, 

 rocky cliffs and long stretches of lava sand. St. Paul Island 

 is about thirteen miles long from northeast to southwest, and 

 about six miles broad. St. George Island is smaller, being 

 about ten miles long by four and a half wide. Its shore 

 line for the most part is composed of perpendicular cliffs; 

 there is very little beach line. The bays about the islands 

 are shallow and rocky and there are no harbors. When 

 ships visit the islands they have to anchor out at sea and 

 make a landing whenever they can. In stormy weather it 

 is " touch and go " to those who wish to reach and leave the 

 islands. 



During the short foggy summer the hills and uplands of 

 the islands are covered with long moss, in which grows a 

 great profusion of wild flowers — poppies, harebells, blue 

 violets, monkshood and a host of dainty little plants, 

 forget-me-nots and primroses, which have no names but 

 their Latin ones. There is no timber on the islands, and 



