THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 215 



162 42', about 20 miles broad off the northwest shore of the Alaska peninsula, he 'caught a good 

 number of fine codfish' in 30 fathoms. In Bristol Bay and River, emptying into the Behring Sea, 

 where salmon were in great abundance, he found that fish l in the maws of cod which he had caught.* 

 In the same bay, southeast (of ) Hagmeister Island, in water of 14 to 26 fathoms, he ' had tolerably 

 successful fishing, catching cod and then a few flat-fish.' In latitude 61 48', longitude 180, Saint 

 Thadeus Nose bearing NNW. about 23 leagues distant, he caught ' abundance of fine cod ' in 65 to 

 75 fathoms water. His successor, King, in September, 1779, in latitude 59 38', longitude 177, 

 about 150 miles west by south quarter-south from the island of Saint Mathew, ' got a great number 

 of cod in 78 fathoms.' " 



I have already mentioned the capture of cod recorded by Maynard and Elliott at Saint Law- 

 rence Island. 



There is, however, no important fishery for cod north of the Aleutian Islands ; whether or not 

 banks will be discovered and frequented in Bering Sea we are no better prepared to say than were 

 the Cape Ann fishermen with reference to George's Bank half a century ago. It is highly proba- 

 ble that fishermen will avoid the dangerous lee of the Fox Islands at least until the Shumagins 

 fail to reward their toil. 



THE SHUMAGIN ISLANDS. "These islands were discovered by Bering, in his second voyage, 

 on the 29th of August, 1741, and were named after one of his crew who died and was buried upon 

 one of them. They are situated in longitude 160 west and latitude 55 north, and comprise four 

 large and about a dozen small islands, with a total area of about 1,000 square miles. They con- 

 tain several Aleutian settlements, and Unga, the largest, has two fine ports, the north and south 

 harbors, where wood, water, bait, and fish abound. The banks already discovered exceed in extent 

 those of Newfoundland. * * * The voyage to the Shumagins and back occupies about one 

 hundred and ten days, a saving of two months and 2,000 miles in time and distance [as compared 

 with the Okhotsk fishery], in addition to the facilities for obtaining fresh provisions, wood and 

 water, and the proximity of good harbors of refuge in bad weather."* 



" The winds about the Shnmagins * * * from June until the middle of August are from 

 the southeast, with rain and fog ; and from the middle of August to the middle of September from 

 tlie northwest, with fine weather and smooth water ; after which there are heavy southerly gales."t 



The islands are generally high and to a great extent clothed with tall grass, scrub alder, and 

 a kind of wild apple. The soil is soft and yielding, and walking is usually attended with great 

 fatigue and vexation. The bluffs of Popoff Island show porphyritic rocks with varied hues slate, 

 gray, and purplish, and here and there is seen a reddish cliff colored by the oxidation of iron 

 pyrites. Winds sweep down the slopes of these hills with great violence and caprice, sometimes 

 capsizing vessels taken unawares. The Nagai, one of McCollam & Co.'s little schooners, formerly 

 employed with the Uuga in fishing for the Pirate Cove station, was lost through the winds or 

 " woollies" in the summer of 1880. 



One of the characteristic birds found about the shores of the islands in the fishing season is 

 the pretty little paroquet auk (Phaleris psittacula). Great numbers of gulls, cormorants, auks, 

 mnrres, guillemots, puffins, albatrosses, and jaegers may be seen hovering over the water or afloat 

 upon it where the surface schools of fish-food congregate. 



In West Nagai Strait we saw the Page and the Wild Gazelle, which, besides the little Unga, 

 composed the Shumagin's cod fleet for 1880. They were lying at anchor near Sanborn Harbor. 

 Their dories were out, one man in each, hand-lining and trawling within easy reach of the vessels. 

 Trawls were little used, the men depending almost wholly on the hand-lines. 



Ball in Rep. Comm. Agrio. for 1870 (1871), p. 378. 

 t Davidson: Alaska Coast Pilot, 1869, p. 43. 



