THE FUR SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 325 



and plowed every square rod of that superficial marine area with their adventurous keels. While 

 no two, perhaps, of those old whaling captains living to-day, will agree as to exact course of tides,* 

 for there does not seem to be any order to Alaskan tides, they all affirm the existence of a steady 

 current, passing up from the south to the northeast, through Bering Strait. The flow is not 

 rapid, and is doubtless checked at times, for short intervals, by other causes, which may not be 

 discussed here. It is certain, however, that there is warm water enough abnormal to the latitude 

 for the evolution of the characteristic fog-banks, which almost discomfited Pribylov nearly one 

 hundred years ago, and which have remained ever since. 



Without this fog the fur-seal would never have rested- there as he has done; but when he 

 came on his voyage of discovery ages ago, up from the rocky coasts of Patagonia mayhap, had he 

 not found this cool, moist temperature of Saint Paul and Saint George, he would have kept on, 

 completed the circuit, and returned to those congenial antipodes of his birth. 



DIMENSIONS AND CONTOUK or THE ISLANDS. Until my arrival on the Seal Islands in April, 

 1872, no steps had ever been taken by any man whomsoever towards ascertaining the extent and the 

 mil importance of these interests of the Government, the 'Russians never having made even an 

 approximate survey of the land, while our own people did no better. I was very much surprised, 

 immediately after landing, and calling for a map of the island Saint Paul, to have an odd sketch, 

 traced from an old Russian chart, placed before me, that my eye stamped instantly as grotesque, by 

 the land-bearings which I took out of my window on the spot. It was a matter of no special concern 

 however, to the Russians; had it been, doubtless they would have accurately surveyed the whole 

 field. But it was and it is quite different with us ; and, that no agent of the Treasury Department, 

 or other branches of the Government, had, up to that date of my arrival, given it the slightest 

 thought or attention, struck me as rather lame. It was, and is, and ever will be, a matter of first im- 

 portance to a correct and succinct understanding of the subject, and it was the -first thing about 

 which I busied myself. I present, therefore, with this memoir, a careful chart of each island, and 

 the contiguous islets, which are the first surveys ever made upon the ground, having the slightest 

 pretension to accuracy or respect.t Tne reader will observe, as he turns to these maps, the strik- 

 ing dissimilarity which exists between them, not only in contour but in physical structure, Saint 

 Paul's island being the largest in superficial area, and receiving a vast majority of the pinnipedia 

 that belong to both. As it lies in Bering Sea to-day, this island is in its greatest length, between 

 Northeast and Southwest Points, 13 miles, air line, and, at points of greatest width, a little lesa 

 than G. It has a superficial area of about 33 square miles, 21,120 acres, of diversified, rough, and 

 rocky uplands, rugged hills, and smooth volcanic cones, which either set down boldly to the sea or 

 fade out into extensive \vet and mossy flats, passing at the sea-margins into dry, drifting, sand- 

 dune tracts. It has 42 miles of shore line, and of this coast, 16 miles are hauled over by fur seals 

 an masse. At the time of its first upheaval above the sea, it doubtless presented the appearance 

 of ten or twelve small rocky, bluffy islets and points, upon some of which were craters that vomited 

 breccia and cinders, witli little or no lava overflowing. Active plutonic agency must have soon 

 ceased after this elevation, and then the sea around about commenced the work which it is now 

 engaged in, of building on to the skeleton thus created ; and it has progressed to-day so thoroughly 



* The rise ami fall of tide at the Seal Islands I carefully watched one whole season at St. Paul. The irregularity, 

 however, of ebb and flow, is the most prominent feature of the matter. The highest rise in the spring tides was a 

 trille over 4 feet, while that of the neap tides not much over 2. Owing to the nature of the case, it is impossible to 

 prepare a tidal calendar for Alaska, above the Aleutian Islands, which will even faintly foreshadow a correct regis- 

 tration in advance. 



t These surveys have since been confirmed and elaborated by H. W. Mclutyre, of the Alaska Commercial Co., 

 and Lieutenant Maynard, U. S. N. 



