314 



OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



the day was one of exceeding beauty for that region — it was a 

 swift alternation overhead of those characteristic rain-fogs, be- 

 tween the succession of which the sun breaks out with trauscen^ 

 dent briUiancy through misty halos about it. This parade-field 

 reflected the light like a mirror, and the seals, when they broke 

 apart here and there for a moment, just enough to show its sur- 

 face, seemed as though they walked upon the water. What a scene 

 to put upon canvas — that amphibian host involved in those alternate 

 rainbow lights and blue-gray shadows of the fog ! 



"~)Sea Lion Neck 



NORTHEAST POINT 



SCALE OF FEET 



Survey Showing the Immense Breeding Area of Novastoshnah. 

 [The shaded belt is that ground wholly covered by Fur-Seal Rookeries. ] 



While Novastoshnah is the largest, yet in some respects I con- 

 sider Tolstoi, with its bkiffs and its long sweep which takes in the 

 sands of English Bay, to be the most picturesque, though it be not 

 the most impressive rookery — especially when that parade-ground 

 belonging to it is reached by the climbing seals. 



From Tolstoi at this point, circling around three miles to 

 Zapadnie, is the broad sand-beach of English Bay, upon which and 

 back over its gently rising flats are the great hauling-grounds of 

 the "holluschickie," which I have indicated on the general maj). 



