NARRATIVE 



On April 25, 1877, the writer embarked, at San Francisco, upon tbe Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany's steamer St. Paul for Alaska. His instructions from the Chief Signal Offlcer were to pro- 

 ceed to Saint Michaels, in Norton Sound, and take charge of the signal station at that point. The 

 first object of the trip was to secure an unbroken series of meteorologic observations, and, in 

 addition, to obtain all the information possible concerning the geography, ethnology, and zoology 

 of the surrounding region. 



After a stormy passage of twelve days across the North Pacific, the Aleutian Islands were 

 reached. The night before arrival a vague glimpse was canght of the islands just as darkness 

 closed about. All night we moved slowly ahead at reduced speed, and at daybreak every one 

 was on deck eager for the sight of land. 



We were well repaidj "the sun arose and revealed the line of islands extending away to the 

 horizon on either hand in massive grandeur. 



Not a breath of air fanned the glassy surface of the sea, which was only broken by the wake 

 of the steamer and the circling ripples from the breasts of thousands of water -fowl. About the' 

 ship whirred and circled auks, gulls, and fulmars, as we moved through the pass of Akoutan to 

 Unalaska Harbor. On both sides of the pass the barren, wind-swept, rocky slopes, marked in 

 places by great patches of snow, came down to the sea in series of cliffs and sharp declivities. 

 The seaward faces of the islands appeared desolate and gloomy enough, save where great flights 

 of water-fowl clustered about some jagged point, or a incturesque waterfall formed a line of silvery 

 spray down the face of a cliff on its-way to the sea. 



We were soon steaming by the rocky pillar called the " Priest," that guards the entrance of 

 Unalaska Bay, and, passing a small fleet of .Aleuts in their kyaks, cod-fishing, ran alongside the 

 wharf at the village of Unalaska early in the morning. This town has been the central depot 

 for the sea-otter trade and a general supply station ever since the Eussians first located in tht 

 Territory. It is a small village, consisting of a score or so of native huts and the modern buildings 

 of the fur company. It is built close to the water, on a sand-spit, at the head of the bay, and 

 possesses one of the most disagreeable climates in the world. Here I passed a few weeks explor- 

 ing the neighborhood while awaiting the departure of a vessel for Saint Michaels. During this 

 time I accepted the opportunity for making a visit to Sanak Island, lying about 100 miles to the 

 eastward of Unalaska. This island is the center of the most productive sea-otter-hunting-grounds 

 in the Territory, and here thousands of the beautiful Emperor Geese ijass the winter. 



My excursion was made in a small schooner manned by a captain and two Aleut sailors. The 

 hold was filled with Aleut hunters and their kyaks, on their way to the hunting-ground. We 

 were scarcely clear of Unalaska Island when a violent gale overtook us and we ran for Akoutan 

 Bay. For nearly half a day we beat back and forth under the storm-lashed cliffs, and were una- 

 ble to bring the vessel about promptly enough, at the turn, to clear the reefs and gain the desired 

 shelter. 



The small crew was powerless to work the sails, and some of the Aleut passengers were called 

 on deck to assist. They soon became so terrified by the tempest and the water that was shipped 

 every few moments that they returned to the hold and refused to work. Fortune favored us at 

 length, and a squall striking us just at the light moment carried us safely by the headland, so close 



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