LANDING ON KAYAK ISLAND 41 



should confer upon the whole affair a greater distinction and at 

 the same time fill the office of ship's doctor and physician in 

 ordinary, since with an assistant surgeon it was considered that 

 [the expedition] was too poorly supplied. 



The events of the day consequently relate to four distinct 

 parties: Half of the command, including all of the officers except 

 the master [Khitrov],'^ remained on board as watch, busying 

 themselves with hauling out the empty and stowing away the 

 filled water casks. With another party I was sent off after 

 water, to make watery observations, while others were out on a 

 windy expedition. 



As soon as I, with only the protection and assistance of my 

 own cossack, had landed on the island '^^ ^nd realized how scant 

 and precious was the time at my disposal, I seized every oppor- 



'2 The words in this paragraph up to this point, except "Half of the 

 command," do not occur in the MS. They are editorial additions by 

 Pallas. 



" The landing place and other points of Steller's route were identified 

 by me during a visit to Kayak Island on June 30, 1922. This visit was 

 made as a side trip while I was a member of the party which accompanied 

 the Assistant Secretary of Commerce on a voyage in the U. S. Coast 

 Guard vessel Mojave to examine into the conditions of the fisheries and 

 other industries of Alaska. From Cordova, at which port the Mojave 

 had called, Katalla was reached by motor boat. From here another motor 

 boat was used for the trip to the island. Six hours, from 6 P. M. to mid- 

 night, were spent on the island, during which the western shore was fol- 

 lowed on foot northeastward for 2 statute miles from our landing place. 



This landing place was chosen after inquiring of the owner of the boat, 

 a local resident, where a ship wanting to take in water would be most 

 likely to find it. He pointed out the mouth of a creek about 7 statute 

 miles from the southern end of the island (see reproduction of coast 

 chart. Fig. 4, where marked "Watering Place"). On landing there we 

 found a small stream of clear, cold water rushing out of a dark wood of 

 spruce (Figs. 9 and 10). These conditions, together with the fact that 

 there is no other suitable watering place along this stretch of shore and 

 that this point is about 6 versts, or 4 miles, from a hill descending abruptly 

 into the sea, all of which closely agrees with Steller's statements (see, 

 below, pp. 47 and 49), makes it highly probable that the mouth of the 

 creek was the spot where Steller landed. With this point established, it 

 was possible to identify other points on Steller's route. (S) 



