132 G. M. DAWSON — COASTS OF BERING SEA AND VICINITY. 



to them. The profile of the southern side of the island as seen from 

 Northeast point may be specially instanced. Here, from the steep slope 

 of Polovina hill, a very gently inclined plain extends seaward to the 

 edge of the low modern seacliffs - which now border the actual shore. 

 This fiat tract is covered with scoriaceous materials. Its highest part is 

 at an elevation of about 100 feet above the present sealevel, and its exist- 

 ence appeared to me to be most easily explained by supposing that the 

 volcanic ejecta were here distributed and levelled as they fell in a shal- 

 low sea. An examination of Mr Stanley-Brown's contoured map of the 

 island * will show that (apart from seacliffs) the slopes below the 100- 

 foot contour line are throughout notably light, while those above it are 

 nearly all much steeper.f 



On the low flat land of the Northeast point of Saint Paul island, the 

 bones of whales and walrus are found in considerable abundance im- 

 bedded in sandy deposits. These lie at a height of some feet above the 

 highest level of modern storm-wash. 



As it is impossible that the remains of whales, at least, could have been 

 carried to their present position otherwise than by the sea (the island 

 having been uninhabited till the time of its discovery by the Russians, 

 about 100 years ago), it appears to be certain that the land has been 

 further raised within quite recent times by an amount sufficient to 

 account for their presence — say, about ten feet. Evidence to the same 

 effect is also found in this vicinity in the wide flat to the west of Hutchin- 

 son hill, where the superficial sandy deposits have at some former time 

 been stripped away by the sea, leaving a bowlder-strewn tract which is 

 bounded on the inland side by a low step or rise. 



In his account of the Pribilof islands (page 499) Mr Stanley-Brown 

 writes as follows : 



, "There are two fragments of paleontologic evidence connected with these islands 

 which, as they have been used by writers, demand a cautionary word. The tusk 

 of a mammoth was found in the sands of Northeast point on Saint Paul island, and 

 the tooth of one is reported as coming from the shores of Saint George. As there 

 is not a foot of earth upon either island, save that which has resulted from the 

 decomposition of the native rock and the decay of the vegetation, the value of such 

 testimony is questionable." 



Dall attributes more importance to these discoveries, and authenticates 

 that on Saint George on the evidence of Veniaminof,! while he also 

 quotes Stein as an authority for the occurrence of similar remains on 



* Fur-seal Arbitration : Case of the United States, map no. 2. 



tit is, however, to be remembered that Mr Stanley-Brown's examination of the island led him 

 to refer the differences here commented on to other causes, which may possibly afford a sufficient 

 explanation of them. 



JOp. cit., p. 2GG. 



