WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 203 



group is the hardy " talneek " or creeping willow ; there are three 

 species of the genus Salix found here, viz., reticulata, polaris, and 

 arclica ; the first named is the most common and of largest growth ; 

 it progresses exactly as a cucumber-vine does in our gardens ; as 

 soon as it has made from the seed a growth of six inches or a foot 

 upright from the soil, then it droops over and crawls along pros- 

 trate upon the earth, rocks, and sphagnum ; some of the largest tal- 

 neek trunks will measure eight or ten feet in decumbent length 

 along the ground, and are as large around the stump as an average 

 wrist of man. The usual size, however, is very, very much less ; 

 while the stems of polaris and arctica scarcely ever reach the diame- 

 ter of a pencil case, or the procumbent length of two feet. 



Although Rubus chamcemorus is a tree-shrub, and is found here 

 very commonly distributed, yet it grows such a slender diminutive 

 bush, that it gives no thought whatever of its being anything of 

 the sort. Herbs, grasses, and ferns tower above it on all sides. 



The fungoid growths on the Pribylov Islands are abundant and 

 varied, especially in and around the vicinity of the rookeries and 

 the killing-grounds. On the west slope of the Black bluffs at St. 

 Paul the mushroom, Agaricus campestris, was gathered in the sea- 

 son of 1872 by the natives, and eaten by one or two families in the 

 village, who had learned to cook them nicely from the Kussians. 

 These Seal Island mushrooms have deeper tones of pink and purple- 

 red in their gills than do those of my gathering in the States. I 

 kicked over many large spherical " puff-balls " (Lycoperdce) in my 

 tundra walks ; myriads of smaller ones (Lycoperdon cinereum ?) cover 

 patches near the spots where carcasses have long since rotted, to- 

 gether with a pale gray fungus (Agaricus fimiputris), exceedingly 

 delicate and frosted exquisitely. Some ligneous fungi (Clacaria), 

 will be found attached to the decaying stems of Salix reticulata 

 (creeping willows). The irregularity of the annual growing of the 

 agarics, and their rapid growth when they do appear, makes their 



of adding greatly to the comfort of the inhabitants ; for the Oonalashka huckle- 

 berry is an exceeding pleasant, juicy fruit, large and well adapted for canning 

 and preserving. Having less sunshine here than at Illoolook, it may not ripen 

 up as well flavored, but will, I think, succeed. The roots of the bushes when 

 brought up from Oonalashka in April or early May should be kept moist by 

 wet-moss wrappings from the moment they are first taken up until they are 

 reset, with the tops well pruned back, on the Pribylov Islands. The experi- 

 ment is surely worth all the trouble of making, and I hope it will be done. 



