ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 467 



taiiily the most imposing single sweep of seal ground on the islands. It 

 is impressive and extensive. The seecatchie here to-day appear in as 

 good numbers as anywhere else on St. Paul Island. Still I must truth- 

 fully add that they are in woeful contrast with what I have recorded here 

 in 1874. 



June 4, 1890. — These sand dune tracts at and around the neck of 

 Northeast Point have changed character somewhat since 1872. Then 

 everything on this high, bare sand knoll of to-day, which rises from 

 the Big Lake and separates it from the surf-sand flat level of the neck, 

 was grassed firmly over ; but now, from some cause or other, sand has 

 been blown up and over, completely covering the lower grassy hum- 

 mocks or knolls. It leaves now, a desolate, deep sand ridge to cross 

 and recross as you go to and from the point, and the surf also beats 

 upon a wider spread of sand on both sides of the neck, washing com- 

 pletely across in storms with much driftwood and many small basaltic 

 "donicks" or bowlders interspersed in lines with the wash of the surf. 



This sand is simply powdered volcanic rock, with a liberal admixture 

 of comminuted sea shells and other minute marine conchological forms. 



The Big Lake seems wholly as it was : so does the trail down among 

 the sand dunes on its eastern shore. The genesis of a finely fixed sand 

 dune here is as follows: First a heap of wind-rifted sand from its dry- 

 ing out above surf wash. Into this the seeds of the Elymus arenaria 

 are carried : and, sprouting, throw the strong, deep roots of that coarse 

 grass down deep, binding the heap as it were. This grass alone seems 

 to possess the power of taking hold at first and successfully growing. 

 The other plants and grasses can and do germinate, but the first strong 

 wind thereafter raises the sand about or from under them so as to either 

 smother them or destroy their roots ; but this " wild wheat," the Elymus, 

 has such deep-reachiog roots, as pronounced in this respect as those of 

 the alfalfa, that it can not be blown out, or blown under, very often. 



But, when the Elymus has firmly anchored a sand flat, then a grass 

 closely resembling our timothy or orchard grass takes hold in its com- 

 pany, and with several species of mosses and the creeping willows (salix) 

 and wild pea vines, finally crowds the hardy Elymus fairly out within a 

 few years, or at least leaves but a scanty remnant of its former exclu- 

 sive holding. However, there are extensive tracts on St. Paul where 

 the sand is unusually light, deep, and restless. Upon these areas, and 

 on the killing grounds where the bodies of millions of seals have 

 decayed, making a rich, hot compost out of the dry, sterile sand, there 

 the Elymus grows strong and luxuriant, without a rival — nothing else 

 can get in. 



July 13, 1890. — I made my land survey of this point on the 2d and 

 4th of June: and from that time until this day, I have not been on the 

 breeding ground. But now the hour having arrived in which to see the 

 breeders at their finest limit of exj)ausion on the gTound occupied by 

 them, I made this morning, in company with Mr. Goff, a careful, rod 

 by rod inspection and survey of the field. Every section from point 

 to point as we advanced, from station to station, was carefully platted 

 on the chart, with a distinct memorandum of its massed depth : the 

 land angles giving the exact number of feet of sea margin which each 

 section possessed. In this way, foot by foot, we progressed around 

 the entire circuit, jotting down every expansion and contraction of the 

 breeding lines, and every vacancy. This is the only method by which 

 a uniform, fair statement of fact, and estimate of the numbers, area, 

 and position of these rookeries can be made. To attemi)t to carry in 

 your mind an estimate over tliis irregular ground, and distribution of 

 life upon its surface, is simply a physical impossibility j and an attempt 



