2 



9. In Victoria I associated and conversed with a number of the captains of sealing- 

 schooners, who were then engaged in fitting out their vessels for the summer's cruise, and 

 especially with Captain Sievvard, of the " Dora Steward," who had offered the hospitality 

 of his ship to Mr. A. Halkett for the summer. I became acquainted also with several gentle- 

 men connected with the industry, and particularly with Mr. Joseph Boscowitz, a leading 

 trader, with large interests in the sealing business. 



Admiral Stephenson, who was at that time leaving the station, and Admiral 

 H. St. John Palliser, who was then assuming the command, received me with much 

 kindness, and undertook to meet my requirements for conveyance in or from Behring Sea 

 on board Her Majesty's ships. 



I had previously received information that the United States' Government had 

 extended to me an invitation to proceed to Behring Sea on board the United States' ship 

 "Albatross," and I now learned that an American Commission had been appointed on the 

 ISth June (since my departure from Washington) for an identical investigation. This 

 Commission was headed by Dr. David Starr Jordan, President of the Leland Stanford 

 University. Mr. Joseph Murray, of Fort Collins, Colorada, formerly United States' 

 Treasury Agent at St. Paul Island, was selected as Assistant Commissioner, and the 

 following gentlemen from the United States' National Museum and the United States' 

 Fish Commission were detailed as associates : Lieutenant Commander Jefferson F. Moser, 

 commanding the United States' Fish Commission steamer "Albatross;" Dr. Leonard 

 Stejneger. Curator of Reptiles, United States' National Museum; Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, 

 Curator of Comparative Anatomy, United States' National Museum ; and Mr. Charles H. 

 Townsend, Naturalist of the "Albatross." 



Mr. G. A. Clark acted as Secretary to the Commission, and took a very important 

 part in its subsequent investigations, 



10. On the 19th June I departed from Victoria for Seattle, in the State of Washing- 

 ton, to join the "Albatross." On the 24th June I set sail from Seattle for Unalaska on 

 board that vessel, in company with the American Commissioners and Mr. Macoun, 

 Mr. Barrett-Hanviton being then on his way from San Francisco to Japan, en route for the 

 Kurile Islands and the Sea of Ochotsk. 



11. On the 3rd July we reached Unalaska, and disembarked on the 8th July on the 

 Island of St. George. We were here received with great kindness by Mr. James Judge, 

 Resident Agent of the United States' Treasury, and by Dr. L. A. Noy.es and Captain 

 Daniel Webster, of the North American Commercial Company. 



12. On the 12th July we left the island of St. George, and arrived on the same day 

 at that of St. Paul, where we were received by Mr. J. B. Crpwley, Resident Agent of the 

 United States' Treasury, by Mr. J. B. Stanley Brown, Agent of the North American 

 Commercial Company, and by Dr. O. H. Voss and Mr. J. C. Redpath, officials of the 

 Company. Quarters were provided for us in the Company's house, a small laboratory 

 and a photographic room were presently fitted up for our use in an empty hut, and then 

 and thereafter, during the whole of our stay, we experienced the greatest kindness and 

 attention from the above-named gentlemen and from the people of the island. 



13. On the 15th August Her Majesty's ships "Satellite" and "Icarus" arrived off 

 the island. On the following morning I embarked for the Commander Islands on board 

 the " Satellite," accompanied by Dr. Jordan, to whom Commander Allen had offered the 

 hospitality of the ship. 



14. On the 22nd July we arrived at Behring Island, where we were received by 

 Mr. Emil Kluge, agent for the Russian Fur Company. 



We learned that the Governor of the islands, Colonel Grebnitzki and Mr. Barrett- 

 Hamilton were both on Copper Island, and we accordingly set sail thither on the 24th 

 July. On the intervening day it was impracticable to visit the rookeries, 1'2 miles 

 distant irom our anchorage at Nikolski, and our intention to return thither had to be after- 

 wards abandoned. 



15. On the 25th July, in the early morning, we anchored off the village of Preobrajenski, 

 in Copper Island, where I immediately landed and paid my respects to the Governor. We 

 then, accompanied by Mr. Barrett-Hamilton, sailed to the neighbouring village of Glinka, 

 from which place we crossed the island, and, under the guidance of Major Waxmuth, 

 Governor of Copper Island, spent a day in surveying seven out of the twelve portions that 

 constitute the great rookery which takes its name from the village. Our journey going 

 and coming followed two of the three chief drive-routes of the seals. 



16. The conditions of weather and the difficulties of anchorage and of landing 

 rendering it inadvisable to delay, and the other Commander Island rookeries having been 

 sum'ciently surveyed by Mr. Barrett- Hamilton, we departed the same night on our return 



