•i7. 



CHAP. IX. 



FROM OONALASIIKA TO CALIFORNIA. 



SEPTEMBER 14th. The preparations on board the 

 Rurick were complete, the water taken in, and we 

 were all ready to leave Oonalashka at day-break j 

 but Dr. Eschscholtz, who had gone out the pre- 

 ceding evening to botanize, had not yet returned. 

 At my request, M. Kriukof sent a number of people, 

 with lanterns, into the mountains, who were fortu- 

 nate enough to find him before sun-rise. Night 

 having overtaken him in his excursion, he would 

 not venture to descend the steep rocks, but re- 

 solved patiently to await the break of day, on the 

 elevated spot which he had attained. Our joy 

 was boundless on the happy return of our amiable 

 and skilful physician ; and he had scarcely joined 

 us, when we weighed anchor, and a favourable 

 wind carried us out of the harbour. The weather 

 had been pretty warm during our stay at Oona- 

 lashka ; the snow, which covered the summits of 

 the mountains, being the only indication of winter. 

 While I was at Oonalashka, the passage between 

 the islands of Akun and Oonemak had been re- 

 commended to me as the safest way into the 

 ocean, and I directed my course thither. 



T '2 



