QUADRUPEDS. 45 



enormous size but watery taste, are met with in 

 considerable quantities. 



The sea, near the coast and in the bays, 

 abounds in fish and in mammalia. Whales, 

 sea-hogs, seals, sea lions, &c. are very numerous; 

 but of the fish, which chiefly afford subsistence 

 both to the natives and the Russians, the best 

 are herrings, salmon, and cod, of which there is 

 a superfluity. There is no great variety of 

 birds native to this coast ; but the beautiful 

 white-headed eagle, and several sorts of pretty 

 humming-birds, migrate from warmer climates 

 to build their nests in Sitka. It is extraordi 

 nary that these tender little creatures, always 

 inhabiting hot countries, should venture thus 

 far northwards. 



Among the quadrupeds frequenting the 

 forests is the black bear, whose skin fetches 

 so high a price in Russia, and a species of 

 wild sheep known to us only by the de 

 scriptions of the Kalushes, and in which our 

 natural histories are still deficient. It differs 

 greatly from that of Kamtschatka : its wool 

 rivals silk in the delicacy and softness of its 

 texture. The most remarkable animal, how- 



