SKETCH OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 15 



American coast, rendering' the easterly portion Lar^e portion 



' o "^ ^ very shallow. 



of the sea very shallow.^ The charts show that 

 throughout one-third of the sea the depth of the 

 water does not, g-enerally, exceed fifty fathoms, 

 and they also show that the average depth of the 

 whole sea is very considerably less than that of 

 the adjoining ocean.^ 



The shores of Berino^ Sea are but thinly popu- Population, veg- 



o .7X1 etation aud coui- 



lated, the native inhabitants of those now be- "'^^^"'^^ products. 



longing to the United States being Esquimos and 



Aleuts.^ The vegetation of the coasts adjacent 



to Bering Sea consists mainly of rank grasses 



and (ill the more southern parts) of alder and 



willow. There are no agricultural products, 



though the interior valleys display considerable 



richness of vegetation.* The chief commercial 



products of the sea and its coasts are fur-bearing 



animals and codfish. 



GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE PRIBILOF 

 ISLANDS. 



The group of islands known as the Pribilof Location. 

 Islands is situated in the shallow part of Bering 



1 See North Pacific Dir., pp. 517, 567. 



2 See also Wallace's Island Life, New York, 1881, p. 295, map. 



3 Reclus, vol. XV, p. 225. 



< North Pacific Dir., p. 510; Encycl. of Geog., vol. Ill, p. 344; 

 Wappiius, Handbuch der allgemeineu Geographie und Statistik, 

 Leipzig, 1855, vol. I, part I, p. 298. 



