THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 



17 



bad reef makes out to the westward and northward, which I have indicated from my observation of the rocks 



awash, looking down upon them from the bluffs. Great numbers of water-fowl roost upon the cliffs, and there are 



here about as many blue foxes to the acre as the law of life allows. A small, shallow pool of impure water lies close 



down to the north shore, right 



umler a low hill, upon which the 



Prussians in oldeii time posted a 



huge Greek cross, that is still 



standing; indeed, it, was .their 



habit to erect crosses on all the 



hills in those olden times ; one of 



them is standing at Northeast point, on the large sand-dune which I have called St. John or Cross - hill ; and another 



one, a sound, stalwart stick, yet faces the gale and driving " boorgas" to-day on Boga Slov, as it has faced them for 



the last sixty years. 



Otter island has, 



since my return in 



1>7L', had cousidera-" 



ble attention in the 



------- : ' ""! : " -- =-/ 



iLUFF jo.FT. 



EAST SHORE. 

 [Bearing west by compass, 3 miles distant.] 



CRATER PT. CROSS 



PROFILE OF THE xoBTH SHORE OF OTTER ISLAND (from steamer's anchorage, Zoltoi bay, St. Paul). 



[Bearing sooth by compass, 6 miles distant.] 



Treasury Depart- 

 ment, owing to the 

 fart that cer fiiu par- 

 ties contended that it lies without the jurisdiction of the law which covers and protects the seal life on the Pribylov 

 islands. This survey of mine, however, settles that question: the island is within the pale of law. It is a rock 

 adjacent to and in the waters of St. Paul, and resorted to only by those seals which are born upon and belong to 

 the breeding-grounds of St. Paul and St. George, and I have never seen at any one time more than three or four 

 thousand "holluschickie" hauled out here. 



WALKTS ISLAND. To the eastward, six miles from Northeast paint, will be noticed a small rock named Walrus 

 island. It is a mere ledge of lava, flat-capped, lifted just above the wash of angry waves ; indeed, in storms of 

 great power, the observer, standing on either Cross or Hutchinson's hills, with a field-glass, can see the water 

 breaking clear over it. These storms, however, occur late in the season, usually in October or November. This 

 island has little or no commercial importance, being scarcely more than a quarter of a mile in length and 100 yards 

 in point of greatest width, with bold water all around, entirely free from reefs or sunken rocks. As might be 

 expected, there is no fresh water on it. In a fog it makes an ugly neighbor for the sea-captains when they are 

 searching for St. Paul; they all know it, and they all dread it. It is not resorted to bj~ the fur-seals or by sea-lions in 

 particular ; but, singularly enough, it is frequented by several hundred male walrus, to the exclusion of females, 

 every summer. A few sea lions, but only a very few, however, breed here. On account of the rough weather, fogs, 

 etc., this little islet is s Idom visited by the natives of St. Paul, and then only in the egging season of late June 

 and early July; then that surf-beaten rock literally swarms with breeding water- fowl. 



This low, tiny, rocky islet is, perhaps, the most interesting single spot now known to the naturalist, who may 

 land in northern seas, to study the habits of bird-life ; for here, without exertion or risk, he can observe and walk 

 among tens upon tens of thousands of screaming water-fowl, and as he sits down upon the polished lava rock, he 

 becomes literally ignored and environed by these feathered' friends, as they reassume their varied positions of 

 incubation, which he disturbs them from by his arrival. Generation after generation of their kind have resorted 

 to this rock unmolested, and to-day, when yon get among them, all doubt and distrust seems to have been eliminated 

 from their natures. The island itself is rather unusual in those formations which we find peculiar to Alaskan 

 waters. It is almost "flat, with slight, irregular undulations on top, spreading over an area of five acres, perhaps. 

 It rises abruptly, though low, from the sea, and it has no safe beach upon which a person can land from a boat ; 

 not a stick of timber or twig of shrubbery ever grew upon it, though the scant presence of low, crawling grasses in 

 the central portions prevents the statement that all vegetation is absent. Were it not for the frequent rains and 

 dissolving fog, characteristic of summer weather here, the guano accumulation would be something wonderful to 

 contemplate Peru would have a rival. As it is, however, the birds, when they return, year after year, find their 

 nesting-floor swept as clean as though they had never sojourned there before. The scene of confusion and uproar 

 that presented itself to my astonished senses when I approached this p^ace in search of eggs, one threatening, 

 f8gy July morning, may be better imagined than described, for as the clumsy bidarrah came under the lee of the 

 low cliffs, swarm upon swarm of thousands of murres or "aries" dropped in fright from their nesting- shelves, and 

 before they had control of their flight, they struck to the right and left of me, like so many cannon balls. I was forced, 

 in self-protection, to instantly crouch for a few moments under the gunwale of the boat until the struggling, startled 

 flock passed, like an irresistible, surging wave, over my head. Words cannot depict the amazement and 

 curiosity with which I ga/ed around, after climbing up to the rocky plateau and standing among myriads ut 

 breeding-birds, that fairly covered the entire surface of the island with their shrinking forms, while others whirled 

 in rapid flight over my head, as wheels within wheels, so thickly iuter-niuuing that the blue and grav of the sky 

 2 



