S1TKA BAY. 31 



Sitka. This island, called by the Russians 

 New Archangel, is at present the principal set 

 tlement of the Russian- American company. 



On the morning of the 9th of August, we 

 were, according to my calculation, near land ; 

 but a thick fog concealed us from every object 

 so much as fifty fathoms distant. At length 

 the mid-day sun burst forth, and rapidly dis 

 pelling the curtain of cloud and fog, surprised 

 us with a view of the American coast. We 

 were standing right for the mouth of the above- 

 mentioned bay, at a small distance from the 

 Edgecumbe promontory ; a table-land so ele 

 vated, that in clear weather it serves for a safe 

 landmark at a distance of fifty miles. 



We were all day prevented by a calm from 

 making the bay, and were obliged to content 

 ourselves with admiring the wild high rocky 

 coast, with its fir forests. Though now in a 

 much higher latitude than in Kamtschatka, we 

 yet saw no snow, even on the summits of the 

 highest mountains ; a proof of the superior 

 mildness of the climate on the American, com 

 pared with the Asiatic coast. 



The next day we took advantage of a 



