COMMANDER ISLANDS. 123 



of the ])eaches such rocks appear to be wanting. The pebbles consist 

 chiefly of materials like those observed to occur localty, but a considera- 

 ble number of gray granitoid fragments were also observed along the 

 shores, of which the origin is uncertain. It is noteworthy that though 

 this island thus appears to be composed of older rocks than most of the 

 Aleutians, its topographic forms are not dissimilar from those of the 

 other islands. No distinguishing features are, for example, apparent 

 between the hills surrounding Chichagof harbor and those near Captain's 

 harbor in Unalaska. 



About Chichagof harbor there are some well marked old seacliffs rising 

 behind gravelly flats of twenty or thirty feet in height, and such as to 

 indicate an elevation of the land by that amount since their formation. 

 On the slopes of the ridge on the west side of the harbor, several faintly 

 impressed horizontal lines also appear, the highest being about 300 feet 

 above the sea. They seem to represent incipient terraces, and, if so, must 

 indicate a somewhat rapid elevation of the land, such as to prevent any 

 long continued marine action at any particular level. 



Commander Islands. 



Bering and Copper islands, with a few adjacent rocks and reefs of no 

 importance, form the Komandorski or Commander group appurtenant 

 to Russia and subsidiary to the government of the Amur. The two 

 islands are parallel in trend, lying in northwest by southeast bearings. 

 They are separated at their nearest points by a distance of 26 nautical 

 miles. Copper island, which lies farthest to the eastward, is divided by 

 190 miles of deep ocean from Attn, the easternmost of the Aleutian 

 chain, while Bering island is distant some 95 miles from the nearest part 

 of the peninsula of Kamchatka. The high volcanic nxountains of the 

 l)eninsula may in clear weather be seen from Bering island, but the latter 

 is probably never under any circumstances visible from the mainland. 

 In view of the fact that the Aleutian islands were, when discovered, 

 rather thickly inhabited, and that evidences exist on them of inhabitants 

 long antecedent to historic times for the region,"^ it is somewhat remark- 

 able that the Commander islands appear never to have been visited by 

 man previous to their discovery by the Russians in 1741. The climate 

 of these islands is humid and cool, insuring a luxuriant growth of grasses 

 and herbaceous plants of various species wherever there is sufficient soil, 

 but though less rigorous than that of the lands in similar latitudes on 

 the eastern side of leering sea, no trees or shrubs are anywhere found 

 upon them. 



*DaII in Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. i. 



