ALASKA. 217 



looms up from the water like a row of vast cedar-trunks ; tbe 

 scaliug oft' of the basaltic porphyry and growth of yellowish- 

 green and red mossy lichens made the effect most real, while 

 a dense bank of fog lying just overhead seemed to shut out 

 from our vision the foliage and branches that belonged above. 

 The north cape of Hall's Island changes like a chameleon wheu 

 approached, presenting with every mile's distance a new and 

 characteristic feature. 



At our anchorage in the straits (20 fathoms) we caught a good 

 supply of cod and halibut of fair quality. Great flocks of 

 murres (L. arra) came off from the cliffs, where they were breed- 

 ing, and settled in the water around the ship, as we had 

 anchored on a feeding-ground. Many walrus appeared around 

 the " Eeliance," amusing us greatly by the stupid alertness dis- 

 played when they rose head and shoulders out of the water and 

 discovered us; a short look and a snort, then, stern foremost, 

 they dropped into the sea out of sight, as though a trapdoor 

 had been suddenly sprung beneath them. 



The grass on Hall's Island, like Saint Matthew's, is confined 

 mostly to the swale, which runs from the valleys up to the very 

 highest ridges; patches of deep, rich green contrasting quite 

 pleasantly with the dull russet and ocher which covers every- 

 thing else. 



Our visit at the west end of this island of Saint Matthew's was 

 most interesting ; the rich, elegant coloring of the rocks and 

 fantastic arrangement of the basalt and porphyry at Statue 

 Point caused an old sailor in our boat to cry out, " That reminds 

 me of Constantinople, a regular Turk's house!" and it certainly 

 did resemble Ottoman architecture. 



We found the ruins of the huts built by a party of five Eus- 

 sians and seven Aleuts who passed the winter of 1810-'ll on 

 the island, but were stricken down with scurvy, so that all the 

 Eussians died save one; the rest recovered and left the follow- 

 ing year. 



The result of a careful examination of this island shows con- 

 clusively that the character of the gravel spits and necks is 

 such as not to be fit for the reception of breeding-seals, as it 

 would be speedily converted by a rookery into a sheet of mud 

 and slime, and there is no other landing afforded save at the 

 base of cliffs rising abruptly from the sea. Seals also, if landing 

 here, would, independent of bear warfare, find a climatic disad- 

 vantage, for snow and ice do not leave the landings until late 



