EXPLANATORY NOTES AND COMMENTS UPON THE MAP OF ST. GEORGE 



ISLAND. 



St. George. — This title was given to the island by its discoTerer in honor of his vesael, the Blmjp 

 St. George. 



Salient features of the topography; Inaccessible character of the coast.— The profile 

 •which I give of this island presents clearly the idea of that characteristic, bold, abrupt elevation of St. 

 Geoige from the sea. From the Garden cove around to Zapadnie beach, there is not a single natural 

 opportunity for a man to land ; then, again, from Zapadnie beach round to Starry Ateel there is not one 

 sign of a chance for an agile man to come ashoie and reach tl:e plateau above. From Starry Ateel to 

 the Great Eastern rookery there is an alternation, between the several breeding-grounds, of three low 

 and gradual slopes of the land to sea-level ; these, with the landing at Garden cove and at Zapadnie, are 

 the only spots of the St. George coast where we can come ashore. An active person can scramble up at 

 several steep places between the Sea Lion rookery and Tolstoi Mees, but the rest of that extended 

 bluffy sea-wall, which I have just defined, is wholly inaccessible from the water. A narrow strip of 

 rough, rocky shingle, washed over by every storm-beaten sea, is all that lies beneath the mural preci- 

 pices. 



Pretty cascade at Waterfall head.— In the spring, when the snow melts on the high plateau, a 

 beautiful cascade is seen at Waterfall head ; the feathery, filmy, silver ribbon of plunging water is 

 thrown out into exquisite relief by the rich background of that brownish basalt and tufa over which 

 it drops. Another pretty little waterfall is tobe ween just west of the village, at this season only, where 

 it leaps from a low range of blufls to the sea ; the first-named cascade is more than 400 feet m sheer 

 unbroken precipitation. 



One or two small, naked, pinnacle rocks, standing close in, and almost joined to the beach at the Sea 

 Lion rookery, constitute the. only outlying Islets or rocks ; a stony kelp bed at Zapadnie, and one off 

 the Little Eastern rookery, both'of limited reach seaward, are the only hindrances to a ship's sailing 

 boldly round the island, even to scraping the bluffs, at places, safely with her yard-arms. I have located 

 the Zapadnie shoal by observation from the blufls above ; while Captain Baker, of the Reliance, sounded 

 out the other. 



Authorities for latitude and longitude. — The observations which fix the positions of Tolstoi 

 and Dalnoi Mees are taken from liussian authority (Captain Archimandritov), while the location of the 

 village was made by Lieut. Washburn Maynard and myself, in 1874, together with the degrees of 

 variation to the compass ; we used an artificial horizon j the overcast weather prevented our verificar 

 tion of the two other points given. 



Trend of ocean currents here.— Although small quantities of drift-wood lodge on all points of the 

 coast, yet the greatest amount is found on the south shore, and thence around to Garden cove; this 

 drift-timber is usually wholly stripped of its bark, principally pine and fir sticks, some of them quite 

 lai'go, 18 inches to 2 feet in diameter. Several years occur when a large driftage will be thrown or 

 stranded here; then long intervals of many seasons will elapse with scarcely a log or stick coming 

 ashore. I found at (Jarden cove, in June, 1873, the well-preserved husk of a cocoanut, cast up by the 

 surf on the beach ; did I not know tbat it was most undoubtedly thrown over by some whaler in these 

 waters, not many hundred miles away at the farthest, I should have indulged iu a pretty reverie over - 

 its path in drifting from the South seas to this lonely islet. I presume, however, tbat the timber, which 

 the sea brings to tbo Pribylov islands, is that borne down upon the annual floods of the Kuskokvim 

 and Nusbagak rivers, bn the mainland, and to tbe east-northe»stward a little more than 225 miles; it 

 comes, however, in very scant supply. I saw very little drift wood on St. Matthew island ; but on the 

 eastern shore of St. Lawrence there was an immense aggregate, which unquestionably came from the 

 Yukon mouth. 



Spot of Peibyi.ov's landing —One of the natives, "stareek," Zachar Oostigov ("the president"), 

 told me that the "Russians, when they first landed, came ashore in a thick fog," at Tolstoi Mees, near 

 the present Sea Lion rookery site. As the water is deep and bold there, Pribylov's sloop, the /S<. 

 George, must have fairly jammed her bowsprit against those lofty cliffs ere the patient crew had inti- 

 mation of their po.sition. The old Aleut then showed me the steep gully theie up which the ardent 

 discoverers climbed to the plateau above; and, to demonstrate that he was not chilled or weakened 

 by age, he nimbly scrambled down to the surf below, some 350 vertical feet, and I followed, half step- 

 ping and half sliding over Pribylov's path of glad discovery and proud possession, trodden one June 

 day by him nearly a hundred years ago. 



Sugoestions for better loading and discharging a cargo.— With regard to the loading and un- 

 loading of the vessels at St. George, I believe that it would be wise and economical to grade a wagon 

 road over from the village to Garden cove ; I think so because weeks and weeks have passed, to my 

 personal knowledge, between the unloading and the loading of the steamer; when, during all that 

 season of weary, anxious waiting for the surf to quiet down at the village landing, there was not a 

 single day in which the .ship could not have discharged or received her cargo easily and expeditiously 

 on the sand beach at Garden cove. When the St. Paul has 75,000 seal skins in her hold, taken on at 

 the larger island, then has to pound " off and on " here, in fog and tempest, for a week or two, or even 

 longer, wailing for a chance to get the 20,000 or 25,000 St. (jieorge skins (ready for her) in turn, her 

 cargo is too costly to risk in this manner, inasmuch as the difiiculty can be readily obviated by the 

 cart road I have indicated. The natives could and would hitch themselves into large baud-carts, and 

 thus draw the skins across and supplies back, with the aid of a mule or two on the stiff grade ; this 

 would occur in ascending Ahluckeyak ridge from the village, and alsonp a short one again rising from 

 Garden cove to the mesa tops. The distance is only 2} to 3J miles, and 2 miles of that is nearly fit for 

 wheels, as it lies today. I think, seriously, this should be done ; it may save or prevent in the future 

 the loss of a valuable ship and her priceless cargo of human life and all its belongings. Thick fogs 

 and howling gales of wind are dangerous and chronic here. 



What the skETCH-MAP shows. —The sketch-map of Alaska, which I have inserted in the lower cor- 

 ner of this chart of St. George, is to show, better than any language can, the relative position of these 

 celebrated seal islands ; and also to give a clear idea of their isolation and great di-stance from Sitka, 

 where most of our people think all Alaska is centered. In fact, Sitka, as far as trade and resources 

 and population are concerned, is one of the most insignificant spots known to that country. Kadiak, 

 Oonga, Belcovskie, and Oonalaskacach have a greater civilized population than has Sitka today, and 

 each has a hundred-fold more importance as a trade-center. As the ship sails, the Pribylov islands 

 are: 



2,250 miles WNW. from S.in Francisco. 



1,500 miles WNW. from Vancouver island, straits of Fuca. 



1,400 miles WJST W. from Sitka. 

 950 miles SWNW. from Kadiak. 

 192 miles NN W. from Oonalaska. 

 700 miles ENE. from Commander islands, Russian territory. 



All these distances are via Oonalaska, save the last one. 



