ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



187 



discrimination, because the sea about here, according to Dr. Kjelman, 

 is one of the richest kelp places in the world. The bottom of the sea 

 is covered in favorable places with kelp forests from 60 to 100 feet 

 high, which are so dense that the scraper with difficulty penetrates 

 down in them, a circumstance which made the dredging exceedingly 

 difficult. Certain kind of kelp is used by the inhabitants for food. 



Salmon on the island. — That spit, where the sea bears have their 

 rookeries, is about 20 kilometers distant from the village. We went 

 there each on his sleigh drawn by about ten dogs. During tliis trip, 

 at a resting place halfway between the village and the rookeries, we 

 had occasion to take part in a very j)eculiar fishing. Our halting place 

 was on an even grass meadow, cut through by innumerable brooks. 

 These were full of various kinds of fishes, among them a kind of siik 

 (gwiniad, Swedish), a small trout (forell), a medium-sized salmon, 

 with almost white meat, but with purple-red skin, and another of 

 about the same length, but very broad and with a hump on the back. 

 These were easily taken. They were taken by hand, harpooned with 

 an ordinary blunt stick, or any piece of wood, cut with knives, or 

 taken with a bug scoop. Other kinds of salmon, with very highly 

 colored red flesh, are found in the larger streams on the island. We 

 received here, for a mere nothing, a welcome change from the preserved 

 food with which we had long ago become thoroughly disgusted. 



Courtesy of the Alaska Commercial Company. — Besides that, 

 the expedition received, as a gift from the Alaska Comi)any, fat and 

 splendid beeves, milk, and other refreshments, and I can not suffi- 

 ciently praise the good will we experienced, as well from the Rus- 

 sian official, Mr. Grebnitskj^, an energetic and skillful student of 

 natural history, as from the employees of the Alaska Company and 

 all other persons living on the island with whom we came in contact. 

 (Translation closes.) 



Table submitted by the author, showing the "catch" on 

 the Commander Islands. — In order to show the relative importance 

 of the seal business on these Russian islands as compared with that of 

 our own, I append the following exhibit of what has been done there 

 since 1862. Professor Nordenskiold does not seem to have gathered 

 the information. He has, however, in his forthcoming Vegas-farden 

 embodied my figures. 



Fur-seal skins taken for shipment from the Commander Islands. 



Bering's disaster. — The miserable ending to Bering's voyage of 

 discovery in 1741-42 had one redeeming clause. The shipwreck of 

 the commander's vessel gave Steller his opportunity of making the 

 fur-seal rookeries known to man for the first time, in either history 

 or legend. As the prime factor of this entertaining addition to our 

 knowledge, I think a short recital of the misfortunes of the Russian 



