BERING ISLAND. [chap. 



through the long inclement whiter, one would hardly suspect them 

 to be of any A' ery great commercial value, yet they are the breeding- 

 grounds of the Fur Seal (CaUorhinus tirsinus), whose skins clothe 

 the fashionable fair sex of half Europe and America, and will 

 probably continue to do so for centuries to come, now that the 

 reckless war of extermination formerly waged against the animal 

 has at length been put a stop to. 



It was with the intention of visitmg these breeding-grounds, or 

 " rookeries " as they are termed, that, on the 16th September, we 

 cleared Cape Kamschatka and set our course eastwards for Bering 

 Island. The voyage is not a long one, and by noon on the following 

 day, having run a distance of 105 miles, we found ourselves in 

 sight of land. The morning was bright and sunny, a rare enough 

 event in these regions, but there was little to attract in the shores 

 we were rapidly approaching. A vast extent of brownish-yellow 

 flat lost itself in the distance, rising here and there into table- 

 topped hills of no great height. Other features in the landscape 

 there were none. Not a tree or a sign of human habitation was to 

 be seen, and the only trace of life and movement apparent lay in 

 the long white lines of breakers that thundered upon the coast. 

 The settlement is placed at the mouth of a small river on the north- 

 west side ; and in a couple of hours more we had taken advantage 

 of what little shelter the so-called harbour affords, and let go our 

 anchor in five fathoms off the south part of the bay. 



We were soon boarded by an individual in the service of the 

 company to which the islands are leased, and I doubt whether he 

 was ever more mystified in liis life before. Poaching schooners 

 from San Francisco who cruise around in the fogs in the hope of 

 making unseen raids upon the rookeries — these he was doubtless 

 well acquainted with ; and the fur-steamer which calls twice yearly 

 for the pelts was also within his comprehension. But our raison 

 d'etre and intentions were quite beyond him. He probably did not 

 know what a yacht was, and even if he did, w^e felt that it would 

 be altogether too much to expect him to Ijelieve it likely that 



