APPENDIX. 347 



usual surrounded by brilliant waves, a dark precipice 

 seemed to open before it. On reaching this part of 

 the water, it appeared that all the luminous matters, 

 such as Zoophytes and Mollusca with their spawn, 

 were entirely wanting, and from this point to the 

 American coast the sea remained dark. 



We remarked generally of this great ocean, that 

 on the Asiatic coast, even at a considerable distance 

 from land, (as much as thirty degrees west from Ja- 

 pan,) the water is always muddy ; it is made so, 

 partly by the great numbers of small Crustacea, Zoo- 

 phytes, and Mollusca, partly by the impurities of the 

 whales and dolphins, which latter especially, as well 

 as many other kinds of fish, are very numerous here 

 from the abundance of food to be found. On the 

 contrary, the sea in the neighbourhood of the north- 

 west coast of America is clear and transparent, and 

 nothing is found in it except here and there a single 

 Medusa. 



In the principal settlement of the Russian-Ame- 

 rican Trading Company on the island of Sitcha, in 

 Norfolk Sound, we had better opportunities of be- 

 coming acquainted with natural productions than 

 elsewhere, as, during our stay there, in the year 

 1825, from March to the middle of August, we had 

 an almost uninterrupted continuation of fine wea- 

 ther: we were in this respect peculiarly favoured, 

 as in most years this island does not enjoy above 

 one fine day to fourteen cloudy or wet ones. We 



