THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 



17 



EAST SHORE. 

 [Beariug west by compass, 3 miles distant.] 



CRATER PT. CROSS \ LANDING WEST BLUFF aoo Ft.,' 



PROFILE OF THE NORTH SHORE OF OTTER ISLAND (from steamer's ,111 cliorage, Zoltoi bay, St. Paul). 



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

 awash, looking down upon them from the bhilis. 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 

 under a low hill, upon which the 

 llussians iu olden 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" today on Eoga Slov, as it has faced them for 

 the last sixty years. 

 Otter island has, 

 since my return in 

 1872, had considera- 

 ble attention iu the 

 Treasury Dei)art- 

 ment, owiug to tlic 



J, , , . , - [BeariD'' soutb bv t.'Oun):iss, 6 miles distant.] 



fact that cer ain par- i = . i 



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

 islands. This sui'vey of mine, however, settles that question: the island is within the i>ale 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. 



Walrus island. — To the eastward, six miles from Northeast point, 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 iu 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, aud they all dread it. It is not resorted to by the fur-seals or by sea-lions in 

 l)articular ; 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 iu 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 h-^^ sits down upon the polished lava rock, he 

 becomes literally ignored and environed by these feathered friends, as they reassuine 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 you get among them, all doubt and distrust seems to have been eliminated 

 from their natures. The island itself is rather unusual iu 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 aci'cs, perhaps. 

 It rises abrui)tly, 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 pace in search of eggs, one threatening, 

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

 low clifis, swarm upon swarm of thousands of murres or "aries" dropi)ed 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 inotectioii, to instantly croucli for a few moments under the gunwale of the boat until the struggling, startled 

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

 curiosity with which I gazed around, after climbing up to the rocky plateau and standing among myriads of 

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

 iu rapid flight over my head, as wheels within wheels, so thickly inter-running that the blue aud giay of the sky 



