268 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



moil lioTC, soon wrapped iis in its clammy, cold atmosphere, and com- 

 pelled us to put on again our traveling clothes, which for some time had 

 been stowed away. In the afternoon the trawl was let down to a depth 

 of 223 fjithoms, and in the evening it was brought on deck in good con- 

 dition, containing a large amount of mud, in which were found several 

 siliceous sponges. As usual we also founi several fishes in the net: a 

 rare flounder, a specimen of a Greenland species of Aspidoj^horus, and 

 a small cottoid. Besides, the mud contained numerous lower animals, 

 with the examination of which we zoologists were occupied until late 

 the following day. 



We were now rapidly approaching Beeren Island ; but the fog was so 

 dense that no land could be seen before we had come within a few miles 

 of it, when the summit of Mount Misery appeared among the masses of 

 fog. Meanwhile the wind had begun to freshen, and a jiretty decided 

 swell set in from the west, which made the prospects for landing at the 

 point visited by us before but little promising. Still, we continued our 

 course northward along the east side of the island, keeping as near to 

 the coast as we thought advisable. ISTow and then broken parts of the 

 somber island, by this time well known to us, became visible, but were 

 again wrapped in the fog which gradually accumulated into threatening 

 driving cloud-banks. Tlie rapid falling of the barometer also warned us 

 that a storm was brewing, and as we would in that case be unable to 

 accomplish anything out at sea, we agreed not to proceed any further 

 for the time being, but to worry the storm out in the lee of the island. 

 Nor was it long before the storm broke and began to creak in our cord- 

 age, but we had the land to the windward and therefore lay perfectly 

 at ease, tacking back and forth. 



The following day brought but little change in the situation. The fog 

 came hurrying over Beeren Island in dense masses which entirely envel- 

 oped the summit of Mount Misery, and left only the gloomy strand with 

 its steep weather-beaten precipices in sight. Toward evening the wind 

 settled somewhat, and finding ourselves just then off the ilat northeast- 

 ern side of the island, where, according to former reports, coal-beds and 

 rich fossil-bearing strata of rock were to be found, we deemed it proper 

 to attempt a landing for the i^urpose of making careful explorations and 

 gathering specimens of various kinds. Having approached the coast as 

 near as we could with our ship, the boats were let down and hastily filled 

 with a crew of the younger members of tl^e exiiedition ; they were fur- 

 nished with guns, botanical boxes, and other articles of equipment suita- 

 ble to the occasion. It was then eleven o'clock in the evening. But the 

 night is here at this time scarcely darker than the day, and there was 

 nothing to hinder our postponing our sleep until the following morning. 



We steered into a little bay on the coast which we had observed from 

 the ship, and where the breakers wei'e considerably less formidable than 

 elsewhere, and got the boats safely drawn on shore and made fast on a 

 strand evenl}" sloping and covered with boulders and driftwood, where 



