14 CRUISE OF STEAMER COHWIN IX THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



would soiuotiuies appear liatN'iieil liki- a (loor-kiiol), or to coua ey a luoiv sensuous image, like a 

 huge crimson pegtop with purple bamls. It was easy, also, to distiuguisli l>y lueauH of a marine 

 glass the solar 8i»ots, thv eye not being ovi-i wbeltned by the light but readily a<!coininodating itself 

 to the rays of the suinniersun, wiiicii, owing to his lowdeuliiiation, ai-e nowhere so delicate as they 

 are iu the far north. 



Some of the strange acoustics expiTien<;ed in this region are not unwortliy of mentiou. A 

 reuuukabie multiple echo was noticed biitwcen two mountains at I Mover l>ay,Sil)eria; auothernoticed 

 i)y our sledge part.\ in a cliff at Cape Onniann, Siberia, gives back nu>re than a dozen echoes, and 

 Haron W'raugel relate.s that a j)istol tired near some (ditts on the IJiver Lena is echoed a hun- 

 dred times. The great distance to which small sounds are sometimes transmitted is also worthy of 

 recortl. The first time this acoustic clearness of the atmosphtu-e (rarue uinler observation was at 

 Saint Michael's, where a conversation carried on at an incredible distance could l»e distinctly heanl. 

 Amid tlie grim silence and desolation of heretofore untrodden Wrangel Island, at a time, too, when 

 the air was a<'oustically opatpic for that latitude. 1 distinctly heard our l)oatswain, a small man, 

 with a voice of no great volume, giving orders two miles away, wliile laughter and sounds of the 

 voice, when any one s))okc above tlie ordinary tone, were heard with such amazing distinctness as 

 to suggest telephonic commutiication. Where the conditions were so favorable to the reflection of 

 sonorous waves, it was natural to expect the occurrence of a rarer ))henomenon. an echo at sea, such 

 as I once noticed in a fog off the Newfoundland Banks while crossing the Atlantic in a French 

 steamer, whose fog-whistle was echoed in a surprising manner. Hut at no time was it obsers'ed 

 that the nephelogical state of the atmosphere overhead or the prevalenc^> of fog banks gave rise to 

 anything like an aerial echo. 



Alth(uigh as a rule no very marked differences in the deeji sea and surface tem))erature8 were 

 observed, yet a few of the anomalies noticed are deserving of mention. Fiu- instance, near Herald 

 Island, on July 30, the temperature at the bottom was 4S3 and 19°. A few days later off the Siberian 

 coast. 10(1 miles to the southward, it measured .'i7°; while later in Bering Sea, over 600 miles to the 

 southward, it fell to 0.5°. 



The density of the sea water, as ol)served by Mr. F. E. Owen, assistant engineer of the Ciuwin, 

 is shown in the accomi)anying table. The instruments used in obtaining the results were a ther- 

 mometer and a hydrometer. Water was drawn at about feet below the surface and heated to a 

 temperature of 200° F., and the saturation or .-pecific giavity is shown by the depth to whi(^h the 

 hydrometer sinks in the water. As sea water commonly (contains one part of saline matter to thirty- 

 two parts of water the instrument is marked in thirty-seconds, as i,^, ^, &c., and the densities are 

 fractional parts of one thirty -second : 



Points of observation. 



At Saint Michael's, Hering Sea , ' 



Off Plover Bay, Asia 3*. i 



Arctit' Ocean, near Berinf? Straits , I 32 . j 



iirctiiOiean, near iie on Sibciian coaat 82 i 



Bering S<*a, off Saint Lawreni I Island 31 i 



Goloviiiuc liiiv. UtiiiiK Sua. Juh 10 42 1 



BcrinKSia. I)itwi(ii King's Island and Cupe Prince of Wales, Jul> IJ 44 J 



linlraii.1- I.. Kc.(zil.iicSoniKl, liih 1 17 ; J 



Cape Tlu.iiii""". AnlicO<-cnn Iul\ 17 36 J 



ley CiMH-, .Fuly .'l 36 I 



Hcral.l 1-hiii.l, in 111. ice, Julj » i 31 1 j 



Cape WiinUiiiiin, sil.iria, August '5 33 j 



Wranxcel Kslaiid isurtaoe in io€>AuKn9tl2 ' 31 ' \ 



WruiiKpl l-lanil (bel.>w suifac'' fi f4el \iiKn..t 12 31' ( 



The use of the dredge resulted iu finding the usual bathybian forms that have been already 

 described in works relating to Arctic voyages. In latitude 70°, longitude 170=> — a spot known 

 jiinong the whalers as the •' PostOtlii^e" — the ilredge brought n\< some mud of a temperature of 

 33^, while the water near tlie surface inciisiired .'54'^. Mieroscojiic examination of the mud revealed 

 some shells of foraminifera. 



In passing Bering Straits the brownish tint of the water was noticed. It resembled that often 

 seen in the water of mill-ponds which has been discolored by decaying leaves. The phosphoi-ea- 



