318 REPORT ON VOYAGE OF THE "ST. PAUL" 



also another kind with a red crooked bill, and many different kinds of 

 gulls. All along the coast the mountains are high, the shore steep, and 

 the water deep. 



The mountains along the shore which we first sighted were covered 

 with growths of good-sized trees; some of the mountains had snow on 

 them, increasing in quantity the farther north we went. From the 

 place we turned back we could see in NJ^E very high snow-covered 

 mountains [Mt. Fairweather], far higher than any in Kamchatka. On 

 August i , at five in the afternoon, we sighted land in NW^W [SW end of 

 Kenai Peninsula], about 30 knots distant, and towards the end of the day 

 we took bearings of it. On this land there was a chain of snow-covered 

 mountains, and we were of the opinion that this was a continuation of 

 the land from which we had turned back a few days before, because 

 in the interval we saw birds, gulls, ducks, also floating grass which grows 

 along the shore. These we did not see on our outward voyage, when we 

 were a considerable distance from land, except during two or three days 

 when we ran into a little floating grass and observed one bird a day (not 

 counting gray gulls and another kind of small bird that looks like the 

 kestrel of the steppes, 7 which we always saw far out). On account of 

 this we kept a little south of the regular course and the fair wind. Begin- 

 ning with July 31 the color of the water was different from what it is 

 far out at sea, but we saw no land on that day, probably because of the 

 fog. On August 1 and 2 we caught sight of it and at the end of the day 

 took its bearings. On August 4 and 5 we took soundings and got bottom 

 between 43 and 90 fathoms. Many birds flew about, and the color of 

 the water indicated that we were near land ; but we did not see it. Dur- 

 ing the night of August 6 we came to a bank where the water was only 30 

 fathoms and the bottom sandy and rocky, and we were therefore obliged 

 to come about and go on an easterly course. The land which we sighted 

 on August 1 is marked on the chart alongside of the date, and our daily 

 positions are also indicated there. The winds were contrary, and the 

 fresh water was decreasing. 



On August 1 I consulted with the officers and with their consent gave 

 the order that the crew should have cooked kasha* once a day for two 

 days and twice on the third day, and of drinking water no more than is 

 necessary to quench the thirst. As to the officers, they were to have 

 one cooked meal a day. When it rained the crew set buckets and other 



7 According to Pallas, pustolga is the Russian name for the kestrel (Falco tinnun- 

 culus), which is common enough on the Russian steppes but does not occur in eastern 

 Asia or in Alaska. The bird seen by Chirikov must therefore be another species 

 of small hawk or falcon, possibly Circus hudsonius, or more likely Falco columbarius, 

 the typical form of which has been recorded from the Prince William Sound region by 

 Grinnell (Univ. of California Pubis, in Zool., Vol. 5, 1910, p. 387) while the dark form 

 (Falco c. suckleyi) prevails between Sitka and northern California. (L. Stejneger.) 



8 A buckwheat mush. 



