42 lUJLLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISU COMMISSION. 



I'or its euiployoes. Formerly the couii);iuy's "sealer" lived in a small Irame-hut just 

 east of the salt-Louse, but this is now used for storing salt iu saeks, while the kossak 

 oceupied a mud-hut, or yurt, a little farther east (pi, 25b). 



There has of late years been several distinct yurt or inud-huuse villages at this 

 rookery. The first one was situated just back of the coast esearpmeut, west of the 

 salt-house, and between it and the present driveway, scarcely more than an eighth of a 

 niih- from the rookery. This was inhabited until 1877. In 1878 Mr. Grebnitski ordered 

 the village to be niovetl back and the new yurts were built an eighth of a mile southeast 

 of and farther up on the hill than the former. The yurts, or barabras, v/ere low and 

 small and dark, musty and dirty, and have recently become entirely unfit for use. A 

 series of new ones have now been erected and others are still being built immediately 

 east of the former site, and these are in every way supplied with "modern improve- 

 ments," inasmucli as they are comparatively large, dry, and i^rovided with windows. 

 They are built entirely above ground, and constructed of ui)rights rammed into the 

 ground and covered on the inside with boards nailed on lengthwise. The walls and 

 roof are then covered with a thick layer of sod (pi. lC>n). On the whole, they are rather 

 comfortable and warm, being certainly more suited to the climate and the wants of 

 the people than the ordinary frame-houses. 



The appended nuip of this rookery (pi. 7) is the result of a traverse plane table survey 

 made July 9 to 19, 1895, in the intervals between the rain and fog. A base line, exactly 

 one-fourth of a statute mile long, was carefully measured oft on the level ground to the 

 west of the salt-bouse. About 100 angles, from 14 stations, were measured. Another 

 map of the same rookery was made by me iu 1882-83, but on a considerably smaller 

 scale, by means of an azimuth compass and pediometer. The new and more detailed 

 survey confirmed the accuracy of the old map. There has never been published any 

 map of this rookery. 



THE SOITTU KOOKEllY. 



The South Rookery of Bering Island [Foludionnoye lexhlmhlilu) is now a very 

 insignificant affair. As mentioned above, it is the only remnant of the countless 

 numbers of seals which Stcller saw on this side of the island- Situated at 55'^ 57' 

 north latitude, on the west coast of the island, halfway between Northwest Cape and 

 Cape Manati and nearly IG iniles in a straight line from the village Nikolski, it occupies 

 a narrow, curved beach under the steei) blufCs of the coast escarpment, which here rises 

 perpendicularly from (JO to 100 feet high. A beautiful waterfiill in the next bight to 

 the east forms a very conspicuous landmark (pi. 32/>), and three-fourths of a mile to 

 the westward is one of the most perfect natural arches, which I have named Steller's 

 Arch (pi. 21h). 



The roolcrry beach is hemmed in both at the west end and the east by projecting 

 spurs of the escarpment, and at the corresponding corners long rocky reefs run out 

 into the sea, inclosing and protecting a shallow bay which, in siiite of the openness of 

 the coast, forms a safe harbor for the pui)S. The beach itself, hardly 100 feet wide, 

 consists of an outer pebbly and rocky j)ortiou with a rather steep incline toward the 

 water and an inner narrow and level belt covered with very tall vegetation, mostly 

 Mymus and llcraclcum. 



The breeding seals occupy ]>art of the pebbly beach, also hauling up on the out- 

 lying rocks of the reef. 



