AKUTAN ISLAND. 119 



Aleutian Islands. 



Akutan Island. — The south side of this island was the first part of the 

 Aleutian chain sighted by us in approaching Bering sea. It is character- 

 ized by rugged and bold cliffs, broken into stacks and pinnacles at the 

 points, but between retiring into coves and bays, from some of which 

 rather wide valleys run inland. The varied and often strongly contrast- 

 ing coloring of the weathered rocks in these cliffs, together with the abso- 

 lute treelessness of the land and the ^dvid green of the sward and herbage 

 with which it is covered wherever not too rocky or too elevated for any 

 growth, were the most striking features. These, however, are almost 

 equally found in all the islands of the Aleutian chain. 



Steep and irregular hills and ridges rising from the shores culminate 

 in the central part of the island in mountains sufficiently higl: to carry 



I .1 ^ 



FluTtJcs of Old Cone. ^ 





Flat Beds in. Cli^s. 



Figure 2.— Diagram illustraling the Structure of the northern Part of Akutan Island. 



much snow in these latitudes the year round. The north side of this 

 island was afterward seen under favorable conditions of weather, and 

 the island as a whole appears to represent the denuded remnants of a 

 single great volcanic center. The original focus of eruption seems to have 

 been situated to the west of the middle of the island. Somewhat nearer 

 the actual center of the island a little cloud of steam still issues from one 

 of the higher points, and occasional small eruptions have been noted."^ 



The eastern portion of the island shows part of the lower slope of the 

 original great volcanic cone, the beds flattening out gradually to the east- 

 ward in conformity with the decreasing slope of the surface. 



The antiquity of the volcanic action to which the island as a whole 

 owes its origin, is shown by the amount of the subsequent effect of denuda- 

 tion upon it. The deep valleys have evidently been cut out by ordinary 

 subaerial erosion during a prolonged period of waste, and many of the 



♦ Alaska and its Resources: Dall, pp. 467, 470, 



