88 ' ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



face, for it slopes up gradually and gently to the parade plateau on top — 

 a parade ground not so smooth, however, being very rough and rocky, 

 but which the seals enjoy. Just around the point, a low reach of 

 rocky bar and beach connects it with the ridge walls of Southwest 

 Point; a very small breeding rookerj^ so small that it is not worthy 

 of a surve}^ is located here; I think, probably, on account of the 

 nature of the ground, that it will never hold its own, and is more than 

 likely abandoned by this time. 



One of the prehistoric villages, the village of Pribilof's time, was 

 established here between the point and the Cemetery Ridge, on which 

 the northern wing of Zapadnie rests. The old burying ground, with 

 its characteristic Russian crosses and faded pictures of the saints, is 

 plainly marked on the ridge. It was at this little bight of sandy land- 

 ing that Pribilof's men first came, ashore and took possession of the 

 island, while others in the same season proceeded to Northeast Point 

 and to the north shore, to establish settlements of their own order. 

 When the indiscriminate sealing of 18C8 was in progress, one of the 

 parties lived here, and a salt house which was then erected by them 

 still stands. It is in a very fair state of preservation, although it has 

 never been since occupied, except by the natives who come over here 

 from the village in the summer to jDick the berries of the Emj^eirum and 

 Buhus, which abound in the greatest profusion around the rough and 

 rocky flats that environ the little adjacent lake. The j^oung people 

 of St. Paul are very fond of this berry festival, so called among them- 

 selves, and they stay here every August, camping out, a week or ten 

 days at a time, before returning to their homes in the village. 



Zapadnie rookery has, the two wings included, 5,880 feet of sea 

 margin, with an average depth of 150 feet, making ground for 441,000 

 breeding seals and their young, being the second rookery on the island 

 as to size and imi^ortance. 



The "hoUuschickie" that sport here on the parade plateau, and 

 indeed over all of the western extent of the English Bay hauling 

 grounds, have never been visited by the natives for the purpose of 

 selecting killing drives since 1872, inasmuch as more seals than 

 were wanted have always been procured from Zoltoi, Lukannon, and 

 Lower Tolstoi points, Avhich are all verj^ close to the village. I have 

 been told, since making this survey, that during the past year the 

 breeding seals of Zapadnie have overflowed, so as to occupy all of 

 the sand strip which is vacant between them on the accompanying 

 map. 



PoLAViNA ROOKERY. — Ilalfwaj^ between the village and Northeast 

 Point lies Polavina, another one of the seven large breeding grounds 

 on this island. The conspicuous cone-shaped head of Polavina Soj)ka 

 rises clearly cut and smooth from the i^lateaii at its base, which falls 2 

 miles to the eastward and southeastward, sharp off into the sea, pre- 

 senting a bluff margin over a mile in length, at the base of which the 

 sea thunders incessantly. It exhibits a very beautiful geological sec- 

 tion of the simple structure of St. Paul. The ringing, iron-like basaltic 

 foundations of the island are here setting boldly up from the sea to a 

 height of 40 or 50 feet — black and purplish red, polished like ebony 

 by the friction of the surf, and worn bj" its agency into grotesque 

 arches, tiny caverns, and deep fissures. Siirmounting this lava bed 

 is a cap of ferruginous cement and tufa from 3 to 10 feet in thickness, 

 making a reddish floor, upon which the seals patter in their restless, 

 never-ceasing evolutions, sleeping or waking, on the land. It is as 

 great a single parade plateau of polished cement as that of the Reef, 



