LANDFALL: SEMICHI ISLANDS 125 



that they see only dimly near at hand, like owls in the daytime.^ss 

 Because of this, large numbers of them around Avacha are caught 

 alive with the hands* by merely sitting down near them cov- 

 ered with a mantle or kiiklanka (a fur coat of the Kamchadals), 

 under which they then gather as if in a ready nest. — Under the 

 circumstances it was our luck that Master Khitrov's unfortunate 

 proposition was not accepted: he would that we should anchor 

 here out in the open sea and lower the boat in order to fetch water 

 from shore, regardless of the fact that only ten feeble persons 

 were left, who, though able to lend a hand, were yet in no con- 

 dition to hoist the anchor again from the bottom; so that in the 

 storm which ensued three hours later we should assuredly all 

 together have found our grave in the waves. 



On October 29 we continued our course with the same wind. 

 At intervals it rained throughout the day. On the 30th, likewise 

 in the morning, we saw in latitude 50° and some minutes two 

 islands, 287 lying close to one another, which were separated from 



boramphus aniiquus (Gmelin)) , which is a common breeding bird in the 

 region where Steller observed it (records: Commander Islands, Attu. 

 Agattu, Semichi, Atka, Unalaska, etc.). The suggestion in Pallas' next 

 footnote that this bird was probably one of the small auks mentioned in 

 his "Spicilegia" is not correct, as admitted later on by Pallas himself 

 (Zoogr. rosso-asiat., Vol. 2, 1826, p. 368). In the latter work he quotes 

 Steller's account of how the Kamchadals catch these birds, knowledge 

 of which Steller evidently first obtained after his return to Kamchatka 

 in 1742. See also, above, footnote 239. (S) 



286 Thus reads the MS, which seems a more reasonable statement 

 than that of the published version, which reads: "and, like owls, in the 

 daytime fly against everything that they see only dimly in the darkness." 



* This seems to have reference to that rare species of Alca which is 

 described and figured in Pallas' SpicU. Zool.—F. ["Spicilegia zoologica," 

 Berhn, 1767.] 



287 The Semichi Islands (see Vol. i, p. 202, footnote 117). They consist 

 of three islands, but possibly only two were seen, or, if the whole group 

 was taken for two islands, this may have been due to the fact "the two 

 eastern ones are low and the western one higher" (U. S. Coast Pilot, 

 Part II: Yakutat Bay to Arctic Ocean, U. S, Coast and Geodetic Survey, 

 Washington, 1916, p. 223). 



According to the log book (Vol. i, p. 202) the islands were first sighted 



