KAMT>;CHATKA. %?S7 



separate enormous mass of rock which bears this 

 fiery crater; and in the two parts of the island 

 tlnougli which we traversed met with no real lava. 



Iron pyrites deceived the rapacity of the first 

 discoverers at Oonalashka, as in so many parts of 

 the world, who mistook it for gold. 



At Oonalashka we procured petrified wood, 

 fragments of large dicotyledon stems, which were 

 said to have been procured from the bed of a lake 

 in Umnack, which had dried up in consequence of 

 an earthquake. The volcanoes of this island are 

 particularly active, and the stones thrown up by 

 them have in later times filled up a channel which 

 was formerly navigable. 



The new island which rose from the waves in 

 the year 1795, in the neighbourhood of Umnack 

 and Oonalashka, and of the origin of which Langs- 

 dorff gives an account, is said to be already cover- 

 ing with vegetation. 



Trees are still found on the peninsula of 

 Alashka, and on the neighbouring island of Oone- 

 mak, which is separated from it by a narrow chan- 

 nel, and which seems to partake of the nature of 

 the continent. Oonalashka, and the other islands 

 of the chain, are entirely destitute of them. It 

 has been attempted to plant pines, a kind o£ Abies ^ 

 brought from Sitka, at Oonalashka ; most of them 

 have perished, the others seem scarcely to thrive, 

 but the plantation is still young, and it is well 

 known how ill coniferous trees bear transplanting. 



