DESCRIPTION OF EACH ISLAND AND TEE STRAITS. 61 



All the mountain masses lie on or near the north-western coast, 

 and make that side of the island high and bold, much of the 

 land terminating in almost perpendicular cliffs, with no beach 

 at foot. 



The south-east or Pacific side of Urup is much less bold than 

 the Okhotsk side. Its coast is rocky and practically without a bay 

 throughout its whole length, but there are many small rocky 

 bights ; and, about halfway up the coast, there is the small basin- 

 like harbour called Port Tavano. The entrance to this is about 

 120 yards wide, between bluffs, where there is a depth of water of 

 from 8 to 10 fathoms. 



This harbour is only suitable for small vessels. With the 

 wind from the eastward, a heavy swell rolls in. There are some 

 rocks just above water near the centre of the harbour, with from 4 

 to 5 fathoms of water close to them. Two small streams flow into this 

 place. This harbour was the site of the factory established by the 

 Russian- American Company in 1795. The village was inhabited 

 by Kurilsky Ainu up to 1878. 



The north-east end of the island terminates in a long, flat, and 

 narrow tongue of land 80 or 100 feet above sea -level, extending 

 some 5 or 6 miles from the slope of the north-eastern mountains, 

 where it has a width of about 2 miles, and gradually narrowing to 

 a ridge towards the point, through which, for about 2 miles of its 

 length, the sea has made breaches, giving it the appearance of a 

 row of " bluffy " islets. 



About 4 miles from the point on the north-west side are the 

 Twin Islets, two small peaked islands lying about a mile off shore, 

 a reef covered with kelp extending out to them. 



There is a danger in the form of a sunken rock some 2 or 3 miles 

 off shore, about 5 miles in a south-south-west direction from the 

 point. It shows only in a high swell, when the sea breaks upon it. 

 From 12 to 35 fathoms of water was found on sounding in its 

 vicinity. Its location could not be fixed when discovered, owing 

 to fog. 



The highest part of the Urup Mountains are bare of vegetation, 

 and covered with snow during the greater part of the year. Lower 

 down they are overgrown with mosses and grass. On the lower 

 grounds there is plenty of timber, but none of large size ; pine, 

 birch, and alder is the most common. In the valleys and on the 



