194 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



''The most celebrated of these burial caves was situated on the island of 

 Kaga'mil, one of the group known as the Islands of Four Mountains, or Four 

 Craters. This group is not at present inhabited, except for a short period during 

 the hunting season of each year. 



"I visited these islands in 1873, but as the shores are precipitous, and as 

 there are no harbors, the weather was too boisterous to permit us to remain in the 

 vicinity. Even if we had landed, it is probable that we could have done little 

 without a guide. 



" The traders in the islands were aware of the existence of this cave and its 

 contents, and one of them, Capt. E. Hennig, of the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany's service, had several times attempted to reach it unsuccessfully. In 1874, 

 however, the weather being quite calm, and the presence of a hunting party, 

 which he was taking away from the island, enabling him to find the cave without 

 delay, he visited it and removed all the contents, so far as is known. On their 

 arrival at San Francisco, the Company, who had instructed their agents to pro- 

 cure such material for scientific purposes when compatible with the execution of 

 their regular employment, with commendable liberality, forwarded them to the 

 National Museum at Washington. Two of the mummies were given to the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences, but all the rest were received by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. It is unfortunate that but few details were obtained as to the exact 

 disposition of the bodies, or mummies, in the cave; the situation and form of the 

 latter, and other particulars which would have had great interest. From accounts 

 received from Father Innokenti Shayesnikoff, previously, I am led to infer that the 

 cave is situated near the shore at a point where the coast is precipitous and with- 

 out a beach, the landing being on large, irregularly broken fragments of rock, 

 the tables from the cliffs above. The island contains active volcanoes, as I am 

 informed, and in the immediate vicinity of the cave are solfataras, from which 

 steam constantly arises, and the soil is said to be warm to the touch. The rock 

 is of a whitish and ferruginous color and sharp grain. Specimens examined by 

 Dr. Endlich, of the Smithsonian Institution, prove to be a silicious sinter, con- 

 taining a little alumina and soda, and some hydrous sesquioxide of iron. In the 

 spectroscope traces of lithium and potassium and possibly a trace of lime were 

 seen. 



"From this, and from the fact that the atmosphere of the cave is said to 

 have been quite hot, rendering it uncomfortable to remain in, it is possible that 

 the cave itself may be the crater of a small extinct solfatara. 



*' With regard to the age of these mummies, as they may be styled, I was 

 informed, in 187 1, by several of the more intelligent natives, that they fixed 

 the date of the earliest interment in the following manner : It occurred in the 

 autumn or winter. During the following spring the first Russians ever seen by 

 the natives of the Four Craters, arrived in the vicinity. These may have been 

 Trapeanikoff's party, which left Kamschatka in 1758, but did not reach Umnak 

 until 1760; or they may have been that of the infamous Pushkareff; or possibly 

 of Maxim Lazeroff; but in any case, they can hardly have been the expedition 



