218 ALASKA, 



in June ; this was evident, althou;^li we bad an exceptionally 

 mild winter, for on Augnst 12, patches of ice and snow were 

 on the beaches, and a considerable quantity on the hill-slopes, 

 without any regard to the sun's position. 



Vegetation on the island is varied and abundant where it is 

 able to grow, but the greater part of the country is either a 

 fine porphyry shingle or cold wet swale, so that grasses do not 

 thrive as they do on the Seal Islands; the small annuals and 

 perennials, however, are scattered in great variety, and where 

 the sand has been cast up at the barrabkie beach, west end, 

 it has mixed in with the drift-soil, and warmed it so that the 

 wild wheat {Elyjuus) was growing thick, with ears which gave 

 promise of ripening. Mosses and lichens are especially abun- 

 dant, the " tripe de roche^- covering the high rounded summits 

 with its dark-brown tinge. The only berries, Empetrum nigrum 

 and liuhus cJiamamorns, were very common. The high summit 

 slopes of Glacial Head, 1,670 feet, were fairly spangled with 

 beantiful flowers, blue, red, white, and yellow. Three varieties 

 of the creeping willow [Salix) grow here in great profusion, 

 large masses of the leaves being collected in hollows, upon 

 which bears have made very comfortable beds; several of the 

 higher hills, contrary to the general rule, are well covered with 

 grass and flowering plants, such as the south slope of Upright 

 Eidge, 1,560 feet, all of Camp Hill, north slope of Pyramid 

 Eidge, &c. 



; I^owhere on the island can a well-defined crater-summit or cra- 

 ter be found, unless the smoking cleft in the ridge of Pinnacled 

 Eock will answer to that description ; but this island is inaccessi- 

 ble, rising sheer and abrupt from the sea to a height of at least 

 1,200 feet. Its greatest width is not over 500 feet, and it ap- 

 pears to be made of reddish lava. Its sharply-serrated ridge 

 looms up from the southeast like a great brick cathedral in the 

 hazy glow of the morning sun ; upon its steep sides myriads of 

 water-fowl breed, principally murres, {L. arra.) From the sum- 

 mit of Sugarloaf Cone, 1,520 feet, we can look upon its great- 

 est latitude, and view what appears to be a blackened crater 

 or smoky fissure between the two walls ; one or two small rocks 

 convoy it, but the water is bold all around, as well as at Saint 

 Matthew's, which can be approached with great safety from all 

 sides ; thene is, however, no harbor, but the roadsteads are 

 good. 



Polar bears breed here, and live chiefly during the summer 



