424 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
from the southeast, with misty, rainy weather, and a heavy head sea. 
The ship was under half power as usual, using one boiler with the grate 
surface reduced to 45 square feet, and the consumption of coal being 
limited to 10 tons per day. 
/Santa Barbara Channel . — It was our intention to commence work off 
Point Sur, but arriving in that vicinity at meridian the following day 
we found it still too rough to handle the trawl with safety ; so in order 
not to lose time we continued our cruise to the southward. At 6:45 a. m., 
on the 5th, we cast the trawl in 236 fathoms, Point Conception bearing 
N. 82° E. (true), 12 miles distant, and ran a line of dredgings across 
the channel to Richardson’s Rocks, and thence to the west end of San 
Miguel Island. The trawl was set off the west end of the island on the 
rocky bottom, but only four rockfish were taken ; the bait generally re- 
mained untouched. Several hauls of the tangles were made while the 
line was down, but without much success, the bottom being very barren. 
A heavy westerly swell which gradually increased during the day, 
made boat work very uncomfortable, so we lay to under San Miguel for 
the night. 
The wind and sea moderated, and at 7:30 the following morning a 
successful haul of the trawl was made in 367 fathoms, S. 15° E. (true) 
11 miles from Richardson’s rocks. The trawl line was set at 10 a. m. 
in 107 fathoms on rocky bottom, a number of red rock-cod and four 
black-cod being taken, the first obtained so far south. A successful 
haul of the beam trawl was made in 158 fathoms while the line was out, 
and it was lowered again in 44 fathoms, but caught on the rocks and 
the wreck of the net only recovered. 
The sea being comparatively smooth during the afternoon and the 
sun shining brightly, we availed ourselves of the opportunity to swing 
ship under steam for compass errors. Our nearest card, taken at Cape 
San Lucas, was found to be in error on several points. We made a 
harbor for the night in Becher’s Bay, at the east end of Santa Rosa 
Island, where good anchorage was found, protected from the prevailing 
northwesterly wind but open to the eastward. The naturalists were 
on shore soon after daylight the following morning, returning at 11 a. m. 
with birds, a small fox indigenous to the island, and other specimens, 
among which were several human skulls and bones, one skeleton being 
nearly perfect. Professor Gilbert reported a great number of ancient 
human remains exposed on a strip of drifting sand 200 yards in width, 
extending from Carrington Point to the sea, a distance of about three- 
quarters of a mile. The only implements seen were stone mortars, 
which were scattered over the surface in great numbers, all broken, 
evidently by design, for they were too solid to have been fractured by 
accident. 
Getting under way at 11:45 a. m., we ran a line of dredgings across 
Santa Barbara Channel, and although very many interesting specimens 
were found near the shores on either side, the deeper waters near mid- 
