INTKOmTOTTON OF BOMESTH^ KETNDEER INTO ALASKA. 87 



At 5 o'clock oil the inoniiii<i; of »Iuly 27 the Tlntls \fo{ under way for 

 St. Paul Island. The fog still hung over the sea and a heavy ground 

 swell prevailed. Again there was cautious navigation and careful 

 sounding. About noon a faint line of surf could be distinguished, 

 and as we neared land the barking of the seals was heard. The waters 

 shoaled rapidly and soon the dark cliffs inclosing Lukanin Bay, to 

 the northeast of the village of St. Paul, could be made out. Cau- 

 tiousl)^ following the dimly outlined cliffs, toward evening the village 

 was reached and anchor was dropped about \h, miles from shore. 

 The fog whistle had given the villagers notice of our approach and 

 soon a boat came out to the ship bringing Mr. W. J. Lembke, Treas- 

 ury agent in charge of the Seal Islands, and some of his friends. 

 Here again the mail was eagerly received. Later in the evening 

 Bishop Innocent and Father Orloff went to shore, the latter to resume 

 charge of his church and the former to hold services and to make the 

 accpuxintance of his people. 



At 9 p. m. the Bishop returned to the ship and without delay 

 anchor was weighed and once more we glided into the all-enveloping 

 fog with St. Lawrence Island as our objective point. 



For the next two d&js, we steamed steadily northward seeing 

 nothing except fog. The navigating officer had not been able to get a 

 glimpse of the sun since we left Dutch Harbor on July 24; he had 

 been compelled to depend entirely upon dead reckoning. The swift, 

 irregular currents w^hich prevail in shallow Bering Sea make naviga- 

 tion in its fog-ridden waters a matter of great difficulty. 



During the morning of July 30, the dark cliffs of St. Lawrence Island 

 loomed up. This cheerless, desolate island is treeless and destitute of 

 vegetation of any kind save grass and reindeer moss which, as pasture 

 for the herds of reindeer, redeem it from absolute worthlessness. It 

 is girded by a line of monotonous cliffs and there are few landmarks to 

 aid the navigator. It was difficult to tell just what part of the long 

 coast line we had sighted. The navigator in Bering Sea must be 

 gifted with a sixth sense, and from a glimpse of dark rock seen for an 

 instant through a rift in the fog must be able mentally to construct a 

 whole coast line. 



By good fortune we made the village of Gambell, near Northwest 

 Cape, and came to anchor about a mile from shore. Vigorous blasts 

 from the fog wliistle soon brought out Dr. Edgar O. Campbell, who is 

 the public school-teacher, medical missionary, and superintendent of 

 the reindeer herds on the island. I accompanied Doctor Campbell 

 back to the village and extended to him and Mrs. Campbell a very 

 kind invitation from Captain Hamlet to come on board the Thetis for 

 a voj^age to the mainland, where the Thetis would leave them for three 

 or four weeks wliiie she continued her cruise to Point Barrow and 

 return them to St. Lawrence Island when on her wav south. 



