74 NOTES ON TEE KURIL ISLANDS. 



On the northern corner of Kharimkotan is a bay with sandy 

 shores, and on the north-west point there is an old village of the 

 usual kind found on these islands. 



Anchorage can be got in the bay in from 6 to 12 fathoms. 

 Water can be obtained, and there is plenty of driftwood on the 

 beaches. Some low scrub grows, but there is no timber. The 

 lower parts of the island are covered with vegetation. 



The whole island is surrounded in the summer by an unbroken 

 belt of kelp, about a quarter of a mile wide, with from 8 to 15 

 fathoms of water along its edge. 



Excepting the two lower portions, the coast is bordered by high 

 steep cliffs, with a bouldery beach at their base. There are no 

 dangers around the coast, this island being the freest from reefs 

 and rocks in the whole chain. 



Foxes are common. The ever-present leopard seal is here, but 

 sea-otters and sea-lions are seldom seen. Sea-fowl are com- 

 paratively few in numbers, the reasons being that there are no 

 suitable breeding-places. Swans, geese, ducks, divers, and other 

 water-fowl frequent the lakelets and ponds among the sandhills. 

 A few codfish may be caught off the north-west bay. 



Sixth (Shesto) Strait, separating Kharimkotan from Oneko- 

 tan, is 7 miles broad. 



Onekotan has a length of 27 miles. For about two-thirds of 

 its length from the north-east end, it has an almost uniform width 

 of about 4^ miles ; it then bulges out into a more or less circular 

 form, with a diameter of about 9 miles. The area of the island 

 is 121 square miles. 



Onekotan has two principal peaks, rising far above the rest of 

 its high parts. Mount Blakiston, in the centre of the south-west 

 portion of the island, is a volcanic cone 4400 feet high. It is 

 situated in a basin of hills, its slopes nowhere approaching the 

 coast. This basin is probably an old crater of considerable extent, 

 the surrounding hills being the remains of its outer walls. 



Mount Nemo, another volcanic peak on the western side of the 

 northern portion of the island, is 3300 feet high. There are several 

 smaller peaks on the north-east end, and some rounded mountains 

 and ridges near the middle of the island. 



The coast on the Okhotsk sea side of Onekotan is steep and 

 practically straight up to Cape Nemo. It then makes in and 



