340 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



THE REEF ROOKERY (1872-1874). 

 [Its condition and appearance July, 1874.1 



By reference, first, to the general map, it will be observed tliat tbis 

 large breeding ground, on that grotesquely shaped neck which ends in 

 the Keef Point, is directly contiguous to the village — indeed, it may be 

 fairly said to be right under the lee of the houses on the hill. It is one 

 of the most striking of all the rockeries, owing probably to the fact that 

 on every side it is sharply and clearly exposed to our vision as the cir- 

 cuit is made in boats. A reach of very beautiful, drifting sand a 

 quarter of a mile long, between the village hill and the Eeef bluffs 

 separates the breeding grounds proper, from the habitations of the 

 people. These Zoltoi sands are, however, a famous rendezvous for the 

 holluschickie : and, from them, during the season, the natives make 

 regular drives, having only to step out from their houses in the morning 

 and walk but a few rods to find their fur-bearing quarry. 



Passing over these sands on our way down to the Point, we quickly 

 come to a basaltic ridge or backbone, over which the sand has been 

 rifted by the winds, and which supports a rank and luxuriant growth 

 of the Elymus and other grasses, with beautiful fiowers. A few hun- 

 dred feet farther along our course, brings us in full view, as we look to 

 the south, of one of the most entrancing spectacles which seals afford 

 to man. We look down upon and along a grand promenade ground 

 which slopes gently to the eastward, and trends southward away to 

 the water from those abrupt cliifs bordering the sea on the west, over 

 a parade plateau as smooth as the floor of a ballroom : 2,000 feet in 

 length, from 500 to 1,000 feet in width, over which multitudes of hollu- 

 schickie are filing in long strings, or deploying in vast platoons, hun- 

 dreds abreast, in an unceasing march and countermarch ! The breath 

 which rises into the cold air from a hundred thousand hot throats 

 hangs like clouds of white steam in the gray fog itself; indeed, it may 

 be said to be a seal fog peculiar to the spot, while the din, the roar aris- 

 ing over all, defies our description. 



We notice to our right and to our left, the immense solid masses of 

 the breeding seals at Garbotch, and those stretching and trending 

 around nearly a mile from our feet, far around to the Reef Point below 

 and opposite the parade ground, with here and there a neutral passage 

 left open for the holluschickie to go down and come up from the waves. 



The adaiitation of this ground of the Reef rookery to the require- 

 ments of the seal is perfect. It so lies that it falls gently from its high 

 Zoltoi Bay margin on the west to the sea on the east, and upon its broad 

 expanse not a solitary puddle of mud-spotting is to be seen, though 

 everything is reeking with moisture, and the fog even dissolves into 

 rain as we view the scene. Every trace of vegetation upon this parade 

 has been obliterated. A few tufts of grass capping the summits of 

 those rocky hillocks indicated on the eastern and middle slope are the 

 only signs of botanical life which the seals have suffered to remain. 



A small rock, Seevitchie Kammin, 800 or 900 feet right to the south- 

 ward and out at sea, is also covered with the black and yellow forms of 

 fur seals and sea lions. It is environed by shoal reefs, rough and kelp- 

 grown, which navigators prudently avoid. 



This rookery of the Reef, proper, has 4,016 feet of sea margin, with 

 an average depth of 150 feet, making ground for 301,000 breeding seals 

 and their young. Garbotch rookery has 3,660 feet of sea margin, with 

 an average depth of 100 feet, making ground for 183,000 breeding seals 

 and their young, an aggregate for this great Reef rookery of 481,000 



