112 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



On September 17 we had a violent and, in addition, very 

 changeable wind though mostly from NW by W. At noon we 

 reckoned ourselves to be 234 miles from Avacha.^^e During the 

 entire day birds were seen flying from the north to the west. 



On September 18 we had showers; the wind was SW by W. 

 At noon we were 229 miles from Avacha.^" At sunset I observed 

 large flocks of small snipes and other land birds flying from 

 north to west. 



On September 19 the weather was clear but rather cold. The 

 wind was NW by W. At noon we were 226 miles from Avacha.^^s 

 and saw sea otters repeatedly. On the 20th wind and weather 

 were as on the day before, and in the night there was a complete 

 calm. 



The 2 1st brought very pleasant weather with sunshine. The 

 sea was quieter than we had seen it for two months. Towards 

 evening a southeast wind came up, but about two o'clock^ss 

 after midnight the wind shifted to NW by W. — The 22nd was 

 very pleasant, the wind NW by N. — On the 23rd it stormed all 

 day and night, and we sailed northerly with a southwest wind. 

 This evening the second man on our vessel died, the grenadier 

 Tretyakov. 



On the 24th of September the weather was gloomy almost the 

 whole day. Towards evening to our great dismay we saw land 

 ahead of us in latitude 51°, and many islands seemed to lie only 

 three or four miles from us.^^o We took the bearings of the land, 



2-6 The log book (Vol. i, p. 160) gives practically the same distance, 

 233 M miles. 



2" The log book (Vol. i, p. 161) gives 2273^ miles. 



258 The log book (Vol. i, p. 162) gives 224^ miles. 



259 xhe MS has "one o'clock." The log book (Vol. i, p. 165) records a 

 N by W wind at i a. m. and a NNW wind at 3 a. m. 



260 Instead of "and many islands . . . from us" the MS reads: 

 "The mainland and the high, snow-covered mountains we saw at a dis- 

 tance of 6 to 8, the many islands, however, only 3 to 4 miles from us." 

 The land seen was probably Adak and Atka Islands with the intervening 

 islands. One of the high snow-covered mountains seen was probably the 

 volcano on Great Sitkin Island (on these identifications see Vol. i, p. 

 168, footnotes 100 and loi, and p. 338). The conception of the members 



