82 NOTES ON THE KURIL ISLANDS. 



The tides set through this strait with great speed at times, 

 causing heavy rips, particularly off the points and along the reefs. 



Cape Lopatka is a long, low, undulating tongue of land, ter- 

 minating in a narrow point of grass-covered sand-dunes. The 

 beach is sandy on the Okhotsk Sea side, and rocky on the Pacific 

 side. Several rocks lie off the extreme point, and reefs extend off 

 the shore on the Pacific side to about a mile. Large beds of kelp 

 grow around the cape, but the weed is often carried under water 

 out of sight by the strong currents. Between the Lopatka reef 

 and the Kamchatka shore, down to within about 2 miles of the 

 cape, a depth of 7 to 15 fathoms was found. 



