DESCRIPTION OF EACH ISLAND AND TEE STB AITS. 79 



low point. On the north side of this point there are a few old 

 Ainu huts, which these natives used on their periodical hunting trips 

 to the island for the capture of sea-lions. On the north-western side, 

 on a cluster of rocks, there is a rookery of these animals. Leopard 

 seals are common, but sea-otters have not been seen here during the 

 last fifteen years. 



Foxes are the only land-animals. Sea-birds are not so numerous 

 as at most of the other islands. 



There are no good streams of water. Fish are plentiful off' 

 the coast. 



There are no trees, but the lower parts of the island are 

 covered with grasses, mosses, and scrub. 



The coast is safe to approach, and anchorage can be got on the 

 south-east, east, and north sides in from 9 to 15 fathoms. 



Little Kuril Strait, separating Paramushir from Shumshir or 

 Pervi Island, is the narrowest of all the channels through the 

 islands, being, at its narrowest part, not more than a mile wide. 



From the Pacific there are three entrances to this strait — the 

 first between Cape Levasheff" and Bird rocks, which is 2i miles 

 wide, and has a depth of 12 to 17 fathoms ; the second, between 

 Bird rocks and Kohskar rock, 6 miles wide, with a depth of 14 

 to 20 fathoms ; and the third, between Kokskar rock and Pinnacles 

 point, the south-east caj)e of Shumshir, about 5 miles wide. In 

 this passage, about 2 miles to the north three-quarter east of the 

 Kokskar rock, is a patch of rocks just awash. In the channel 

 between this shoal and Pinnacles point there is from 13 to 20 

 fathoms of water. 



The western or Paramushir side of Little Kuril Strait is indented 

 with several bays having sandy beaches. This side is free from oft- 

 lying dangers, but it is advisable not to approach too close to Low 

 point, 4 miles to the north of Cape Levasheff*. 



The Shumshir side of the strait, from Mairuppo Bay southwards 

 and round the shore to Pinnacles point has several oft-lying rocks. 



The tidal streams set with considerable velocity through this 

 strait, the flood to the northward and the ebb to the south, at 

 springs sometimes attaining four or five knots. Swirls and rips 

 are formed, the heaviest being generally across the channel about a 

 mile and a half inside the northern entrance. The rise and fall is 

 about 6 feet at spring tides. 



