OLD BOGOSLOF 295 



fit to drink, they were forced to return without any farther 

 examination. . . . According to the farther testimony of 

 the people at Oonalashka, the form and appearance of the 

 peak vary from time to time; sometimes it seems high and 

 pointed, looking like a vast pillar, sometimes lower and 

 rounded at the summit; sometimes it sends forth a bright 

 flame, at other times it only smokes, and the smoke is 

 much greater at some times than at others. The island 

 seems constantly to increase in circumference, and the 

 peak in height." 



Then, speaking of his own visit, Langsdorf says : " On 

 the 1 7th of August, in the afternoon, we left Oonalashka, 

 and the next day passed this new island; it is of a mid- 

 dling height, and rises quite to a peak. The center point 

 has on every side the appearance of a pillar, and seems 

 entirely perpendicular. On the northwest side are four 

 rounded summits, which rise one above the other like 

 steps." 



On June 2, 1820, the Imperial sloop 'Good Intent,' 

 commanded by Capt. Gleb Semenovich Shishmaref, at- 

 tempted a landing at Bogoslof but was prevented by heavy 

 breakers. Dr. Stein, who was on board, mentions see- 

 ing a herd of sea-lions at the southeastern end of the 

 island (Cape Sarichef), and states that from the highest 

 point of the mountain, which he named Krusenstern Vul- 

 canus, a column of smoke arose, probably from the crater, 

 but no fire was seen. From a cleft at the foot of the 

 mountain came a waterfall, a bow-shaped spring. The 

 island was then described as " a cold rock that had ceased 

 to grow." It appeared streaked from top to bottom with 

 clefts and gray colored lava flows. The circumference 

 was given as four nautical miles, the height above the sea 

 as 500 feet. 



Grewingk believes it attained its highest elevation in 

 1814, and Veniaminof states that it ceased to increase in 



