248 W. H. Dall — Operations oftlie JJ. S. Coast Survey. [Dec. 



St. Paul, one of the Seal Islands, where we obtained a good series of ob- 

 servations, a reconnaissance of the island and magnetic declination, and 

 had a good opportunity of examining the wonderful exhibition of seal-life, 

 now paralleled by no other place on the globe. There are estimated to be 

 four millions of fur-seal on this island ; though the means for determining 

 the number are not very decisive. Their habits would fill a volume, and 

 are most interesting and complex. 



Hence we sailed for Nunivak Island, where we found Eskimo living, 

 and bought three or four hundred ethnological articles of their make, for 

 use or ornament. I also took eleven skulls from an ancient place of deposit 

 of the dead. These are laid above ground, and covered only with stones 

 and drift-wood. We decided the position and surveyed the anchorage, 

 and, after fixing the west point of the island, sailed for Hagmester Strait, 

 near Cape Newenham. Here we got good observations and then sailed for 

 Port MoUer on the north side of the Peninsula of Aliaska. Here we had 

 good luck, as usual ; beside getting many interesting things out of the 

 ancient shell-heaps, and killing seven reindeer. We discovered some hot 

 springs containing sulphur and alum, — a bed of fine sandstone, well suited 

 for grindstones, — of which we carried off a lot for holystones ; and most 

 interesting of all, a deposit of Triassic or jfurassic fossils, containing Belem- 

 nites. Ammonites, Inoceramus, Pecten and other fossils. Fine glaciers, 

 active volcanoes, unlimited sandbanks, covered with walrus and hair-seal, 

 — wolves, bears, foxes and hundreds of deer — made up the tout ensemhle of 

 Port Moller. Wishing to complete the recomiaissance of St. George 

 and Paul, we sailed again for the Pribyloff Islands, and succeeded in getting 

 tolerable observations on St. George, establishing its position thirteen miles 

 west of its location on the present charts. This group has been in doubt 

 for a long time, and it is a matter of satisfaction to me to have been able 

 to settle the question of position. Our bad weather began soon after leaving 

 Port Moller, and has continued almost without interruption to the date of 

 writing. 



We reached XJnalashka after several stormy days, and since then have 

 been principally engaged in running some twenty miles of shore line, getting 

 our chronometers rated again, and completing our annual (XJnalashka) mag- 

 netic observations. The Easterly variation is rapidly decreasing here. 



The total result of our season's work may be summed up as follows : 

 Seventeen harbour and anchorage charts (reconnaissance) completed. 

 Twelve thousand three hundred and sixteen observations of all kinds taken ; , 

 including seventy-seven thousand meters of shore line and twenty-five miles 

 of soundings. Astronomical positions twenty-four, fixed by three thousand \ 

 six hundred and forty-three observations ; each including latitude, time 

 and declination. Eight hundred and eighty-four magnetic observations. 



