264 GANNETT 



from the Alaska Peninsula. This latter peninsula bears 

 the backbone of the mountain system which follows the 

 coast, the westward extension of the Cordillera. Of its 

 structure little is known, except that here and there are 

 upturned stratified beds and occasional volcanoes, some 

 extinct, others still smoking, as if the internal fires were 

 banked, but not extinguished. Among these are Redoubt, 

 Iliamna, St. Augustine (on an island near the coast), 

 Pavlof and many others. Beyond the west end of the 

 Alaska Peninsula its general direction is continued by 

 groups of islands and islets, as if the mountain range of 

 which it is composed were sunken below the sea and 

 only the summits of its peaks protruded above the waves. 

 These are the Aleutian Islands. Upon them also are 

 many volcanoes, some alive, some dormant. 



BERING SEA. 



Just north of the Aleutian Islands, which run in a broad 

 curve, convex southward, over ten degrees of longitude, 

 are two islands, Bogoslof and Grewinck. These are very 

 young, the older having come into being 104 years ago, 

 the other being but 1 7 years of age. Only half a genera- 

 tion ago it rose from the sea, with great fury and turmoil 

 of escaping steam, and although for 17 years its shores 

 have been bathed in the icy waters of Bering Sea and its 

 summit wrapped almost constantly in chilling fogs, it is 

 still hot and gives out steam. Its older brother has long 

 since cooled and is now the nesting place of millions of 

 birds, and the breeding ground of hundreds of sea-lions. 



North of these rocks, far in the gloom of the eternal 

 fogs of Bering Sea, lie the Seal Islands or Pribilofs, St. 

 George and St. Paul, little islands of hills and gentle slopes 

 of tundra, clothed in summer with a rich mantle of grass 

 and flowers. Still farther north, in the midst of this 

 dreary sea, where the sun seldom shines, are St. Matthew 



