THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 



53 



LUK AN NON a>jd KE TAVIE 

 ROOKERIES 



Scale: 



/.^ 





tables, which drop down to a flat that again abruptly descends to the sea at Keetavie point. Between us and the 

 Keetavie rookery is the parade-ground of Lukaunou, a sight almost as grand as is that ou the Eeef which we 

 have feebly attempted to portray. The 

 sand-dunes to the west and to the 

 north are covered with the most lux- 

 uriant grass, abruptly emarginated by 

 thesharp abrasion of the hauling-seals : 

 this is shown very clearly on the gen- 

 eral map. Keetavie point is a solid 

 basaltic shelf. Lukanuou hill, the 

 summit of it, is composed of volcanic 

 tufa and cement, with irregular cubes 

 and fragments of pure basalt scattered 

 all over its Hipper-worn slopes. Lu- 

 kaunou proper has 2,270 feet of sea- 

 margiu, with an average dei)th of 150 

 feet, making ground for 170,000 breed- 

 ing-seals and their young. Keetavie 

 rookei-y has 2,200 feet of sea-margiu, 

 with an average depth of 150 feet, mak- 

 ing ground for 105,000 breeding-seals 

 and their young, a whole aggregate of 

 335,000 breeding-seals and their young. 

 This is the point, down along the flat 

 shoals of Lukanuou bay, where the 

 sand-dunes are most characteristic, as 

 they rise in their wind whirled forms 

 just above the surf-wash. This also is 

 where the natives come from the vil- 

 lage during the early mornings of the 

 season, for driving, to get any number 

 of "holluschickie", 



It is a beautiful sight, ghincing 

 from the summit of this great rookery- 

 hill, up to the north over that low reach of the coast to Tonkie Mees, where the waves seem to roll in with crests 

 that rise in unbroken ridges for a mile in length each, ere they break so grandly and uniformly on the beach. In 

 these rollers the "holluschickie" are playing like sea-birds, seeming to sport the most joyously at the very moment 

 when the heavy billow breaks and falls upon them. 



Tolstoi rookery.— Directly to the west from Lukannon, up along and around the head of the Lagoon, is the 

 seal-path road over which the natives bring the "hollus- 

 chickie" frgm Tolstoi. We follow this and take up our 

 position ou several lofty gTass-grown dunes, close to 

 and overlooking another rookery of great size; this is 

 Tolstoi. 



We have here the greatest hill-slope of breeding- 

 seals, on either island, peculiarly massed on the abruptly 

 sloping flanks of Tolstoi ridge, as it falls to the sands 

 of English bay, and ends suddenly in the precipitous 

 termination of its own name, Tolstoi point. Here the 

 seals are in some places crowded up to the enormous 

 depth of 500 measured feet, from the sea-margin of the 

 rookery to its outer boundary and limitation; and,wlien 

 viewed as I viewed it in July, taking the angles and 

 lines shown on the accompanying sketch-map, I con- 

 sidered it, with the blufts terminating it at the south, 

 ami its bold sweep, which ends on the sands of English 

 bay, to be the most picturesque, though it is not the 

 most im])ressive, rookery on the island — especially when 

 that parade-ground, lying just back and over the point and uijou its table-rock surface, is reached by the climbing 

 seals. 



