284 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



successfully, it is best to submit to tbe advice and direction of the natives. They 

 leave the village in the eveniu";- aud, taking advantage of the tide, proceed along 

 the coast as far as the bluffs of I'olavina, where they rest on their oars, doze and 

 smoke, until the dawning of daylight, oi' later, perhaps, until the fog lifts enough 

 for them to get a glimpse of the islet which they seek; they row over then in about 

 two hours with their bidarrah. They leave, however, with perfect indifference as to 

 daylight or fog. Nothing but a southeaster can disturb cheir tranquillity when they 

 succeed in landing on AValrus Island. They would find it as difficult to miss strik- 

 ing the extended reach of St. Paul on their return as they found it well-nigh impos- 

 sible to push off' from Polavina and find "Morzovia" in a thick, windy fog and 

 running sea. 



Ottek Islet: Slight correction. — Otter Island, or "Bobrovia,^' is easily reached 

 in almost any weather that is not very stormy, for it looms up high above the water. 

 It takes the bidarrah about two hours to row over from the village, while I have 

 gone across once in a whaleboat with less than one hour's expenditure of time, sail 

 and oars, en route. A slight mistake of the engraver causes Crater Point to appear as 

 a bifurcated tongue. It is not so ; but there is a fnunel-shaped cavity here plainly 

 emarginated from the sea, and on that extreme point, constituting and giving to it 

 this name. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES AND COMMENTS UPON THE MAP OF ST. GEORGE 



ISLAND. 



St. George. — This title was given to the island by its discoverer in honor of his 

 vessel, the sloop St. George. 



Salient features of the topography: Inaccessible character of the 

 COAST. — The profile which I give of this island presents clearly the idea#of that 

 characteristic, bold, abrupt elevation of St. George from the sea. From the Garden 

 Cove around to Zapadnie Beach there is not a single natural opportunity for a man 

 to land; then, again, from Zapadnie Beach round to Starry Ateel there is not one 

 sign of a chance for an agile man to come ashore and reach the plateau above. From 

 Starry Ateel to the Great Eastern rookery there is an alternation between the several 

 breeding grounds of three low and gradual slopes of the land to sea level; these, 

 with the landing at Garden Cove and at Zapadnie, are the only spots of the St. George 

 coast where we can come ashore. An active person can scramble up at several steep 

 places between the sea-lion rookery and Tolstoi Mees, but the rest of that extended, 

 blufl'y sea wall, which I have just defined, is wholly inaccessible from the water. A 

 narrow strip of rough, rocky shingle, washed over by every storm-beaten sea, is 

 all that lies beneath the mural preci])ices. 



Pretty cascade at Waterfall Head. — In the spring, when the snow melts on 

 the high plateau, a beautiful cascade is seen at Waterfall Head. The feathery, filmy, 

 silver ribbon of plunging water is thrown out into exquisite relief by tlie rich back- 

 ground of that brownish basalt and tufa over which it drops. Another pretty little 

 waterfall is to be seen just west of the -village at this season only, where it leaps 

 from a low range of bluff's to the sea. The first-named cascade is more than 400 feet 

 in sheer unbroken precipitation. 



One or two small, naked, pinnacle rocks, standing close in and almost joined to 

 the beach at the sea-lion rookery, constitute the only outlying islets or rocks; a 

 stony kelp bed at Zapadnie and one off the Little Eastern rookery, both of limited 

 reach seaward, are the only hindrances to a ship's sailing boldly round the island, 

 even to scraping the bluffs, at places, safely with her y.ardarms. I have located the 

 Zapadnie Shoal by observation from the bluff's above, while Captain Baker, of the 

 Reliance, sounded out the other. 



Authorities for latitude and longitude. — The observations which fix the 

 positions of Tolstoi and Dalnoi Mees are taken from Russian authority (Captain 

 Archimandritov), while the location of the village was made by Lieut. Washburn 

 Maynard and myself in 1874, together with the degrees of variation to the conijiass. 

 AVe used an artificial horizon. The overcast weather prevented our verification of 

 the two other points given. 



Trend of ocean currents here. — Although small quantities of driftwood 

 lodge on all poinl^s of the coast, yet the greatest amount is found on the south shore 

 and thence around to Garden Cove. This drift timber is usually wholly stripped of 

 its bark, principally pine and fir sticks, some of tliem quite large, 18 inches to 2 feet 

 in diameter. Several years occur Avhen a large driftage will be thrown or stranded 

 here; then long intervals of many seasons will elapse with scarcely a log or stick 

 coming ashore. I found at Garden Cove, in June, 1873, the well-preserved husk of a 

 cocoanut, cast up by the surf on the beach. Did I not know that it was most 



