TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 193 



creases to the other [northwest] cape^^ to the minimum width of 

 I verst. The width of this island therefore bears an entirely 

 unequal relation to its length; the same holds true of all the other 

 islands we saw near America and in the Channel. ^^ 



[Topography and Geology] 



Bering Island consists of a series of bare adjoining cliffs and 

 mountains which, although they are separated from each other 

 by many north-south ^^ trending valleys, rise from the sea like 

 one single rock mass. The question as to the manner of origin of 

 this island, whether it is not a remainder of the mainland through 

 which Asia and America were formerly connected, I leave to 

 more competent persons to decide.^o At all events, no little basis 

 and cause for such conjectures is afforded by the broken shore 

 line of Kamchatka as well as America, the many rocky headlands 

 w^hich extend out to sea five to ten miles, the numerous islands in 

 the Channel, their position and consequent form, as well as the 

 narrow width of the Channel itself. 



Because of its altitude this island in clear weather can be seen 



" Instead of "to the other cape" the MS has "up to 165 versts, which 

 constitutes the whole length of the island." 



18 The clause here following the semicolon reads in the MS: "and I 

 do not recall ever having heard or read that such islands exist in other 

 parts of the world, although the islands seen by us near America and in 

 the Channel are without exception so proportioned." On the Channel 

 see above, p. 73, footnote 149. 



19 i.e. northeast-southwest; in other words, transverse valleys. 



20 It is in the spirit of this frank admission that Steller's following 

 comment on the geology of the island should be judged. While his 

 observations on this subject, because it was not his specialty and because 

 it had not yet reached as high a stage of development, do not have the 

 same value as his botanical and zoological observations, they are of 

 interest as reflecting to a certain extent the status of geological knowledge 

 at the beginning of the eighteenth century. They likewise reflect the 

 universality of knowledge presupposed in the man of science of that time 

 and, by the range of his observations, how Steller's zeal enabled him to 

 meet that expectation even in this less familiar field. Incidentally it is 

 of interest to note the progress in geology in the intervening half century 

 as revealed in Pallas' footnotes. 



