50 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Tlic first of tlieso coves, as the name, Zapfilala (beliiiid Palata) indicates, is 

 situated immediately under the perpendicular southern wall of Palata itself, and 

 ji'uarded on the c^ast side by the pillar-shaped Stolhi. The beach itself is narrow, but 

 smoothly (lovered with small stones nmiKbid and polished by tlu^ water and of a very 

 light ])earl-gray color. This is, jjossibly, the most imjjortant of the breeding- grounds, 

 and is accordingly named by Colonel Voloshinof "Glavnoye (Jlinkovskoye Lezh 

 bishtithe" ((jliuka Main llookery). Tlie name Zapalata, eini)loyed by the natives, 

 however, is much preferable, not only because in common use, but also on account of 

 its bi'evity and eu])hony (pis. 5i>, 5()). 



Silcntchi)isl(ijia follows on the other side of the "Stolbi" {])\. iilh), possessing the 

 same main characteristics as Zap.alata, merging eastward into GararKslihai/a llullita. 



The end of the latter, or rather the beginning of the next bay, is marked off by :i 

 solitary, conical rock lising up in the middles of the i-eef. It is called Bahiii, and hence 

 the name of the beach beyond, lUibiiiskaf/a llukhta, and the valley opening at this 

 place several hundred feet above the bea(;h, Babinskaya Pad. The beach is covered 

 with the same water-polished, light-gray stones. This bay at its eastern end is blocked 

 by a very rocky and rough reef, for which the natives only have an Aleut name, 

 Kvlomalih. This is the eastern end of the Glinka seal rookeries. 



The main Idllingr/rounds at this rookery are situated on the eastern side of the 

 island, where the village and the salt-houses are located. Only of late years, when 

 many drives have been so small that theic w-ere ])eoi)le (men, women, and (children) 

 enough to carry the skins on their backs across the mountains, and the meat was not 

 wanted in the village for food, has it been the custom to kill the seals on the west side. 



I have already remarked that the hauling-grounds east of Palata are utterly 

 inaccessible from the land side. Formerly, when seals were plentiful, the bachelors 

 used to haul np in great numbers on some of these beaches, notably at Babinski, and 

 if the company's steamer, Alehsander IT, hajipened to be at the island at a time when 

 the weather and the waves on the west side of the island allowed boats to land there 

 it was (-ustomary for the steamer to take the people around the Southeast Cape and 

 land them at those hauling-grounds. The seals were slaughtered and skinned on the 

 beach, while the pelts were taken on board the steamer and salted in the linll. 



On the photograph representing Palata Bookery (pi. oO) a small patch of 

 numerous white dots will be observed on the grass-clad hills near the extreme right 

 of the picture. These white dots are sea gulls feasting on the carcasses of a small 

 drive of seals killed here. It will be seen that this drive was neither long nor could 

 it have been particularly severe. Not so the regular driveway from this rookeiy to 

 the killing-grounds at (Jlinka village, a distance of nearly 2 miles over a ridge more 

 than 1,L!00 feet high. The slopes to be climbed, or slid down, are in ])laces .'55° to 40°. 

 They are partly grass-clad, and then very slippery. 



Prom Zapadni and Sabatchi Dira the driveway is somewhat shorter and the pass 

 over the mountain lower, only 7(!0 feet, but the ascent is exceeding rough. The lower 

 part follows the bottom of a narrow V-shaped valley — or rather gnlly — the bed of 

 a short torrent tilled with large bowlders, over which the seals have to struggle hard 

 (1)1. 5Sf(). Uigher u]) the sIojjc becomes steei)er and at the same time covered with a 

 tenacious clay, hence very slii)])ery. Steps have been cut in the ground tofacililate 

 the ascent, but the clayey soil is soon smootlied down and made as slii)])ery as before. 



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