58 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



The highest mountain on the island is Preobrazhenskaya Sopha, which rises 

 precipitously above the main village. I have measured it with an aneroid twice, the 

 height being 1,0^5 feet.' 



Narrow, deep valleys cut into the sides of the island vertically to its axis. A 

 kettle-shaped end with steep walls usually terminates these valleys, whence originate 

 small creelis or rivulets which occupy the narrow bottom. The sides of the valleys 

 are often quite smooth, the detritus consisting of small, sharp-edged pebbles, often 

 forming long, unbroken slopes with angles from 30 to 40 degrees. The ridges between 

 the valleys, if high, are usually very sharp and narrow. 



The shores are mostly hi^h and precipitous. Narrow beaches, covered with large 

 bowlders of rocks fallen down from the cliffs behind, extend with many interruptions 

 around the island, but the latter are so numerous as to make traveling along the 

 beach for any distance impracticable. Cliffs and pinnacles, formed into most fantastic 

 shapes by the action of the waves, rise out of the sea all around the island, sometimes 

 singly, sometiuaes in clusters. Occasionally, large detached or half-detached rocks 

 form more conspicuous landmarks, as, for instance, the Bobrovi Kameni mentioned 

 above, the Sivutchi Kamen at the northern entrance to Bobrovaya Bay, and the one 

 of the same name on the other side only a short distance east from the main village, 

 the Gape Matveya, Gladkovsld Kamen, both on the east side, and most striking of all, 

 perhaps, Karabelni Stolp at the rookery. 



Outlying concealed rocks are few, except at the northwestern and southeastern 

 capes, where dangerous reefs extend some distance into the sea. Otherwise the water 

 around the island is bold, the farthest rock, to my knowledge, being oS Lebiazhi Mys, 

 is less than a mile from shore. 



The rivers or brooks are necessarily all short and insignificant, hardly any one of 

 them deserving special notice. A few of them, near their mouths, empty into small 

 lakes, which have undoubtedly been formed by the sea throwing up material, thus 

 damming off the inner end of the bay. Such lakes are Pestshanoye, just west of the 

 main village; the lake at the end of Zhirovaya Bukhta, to the east of it; and Olad- 

 IcovsTcoye Ozero, in the next valley beyond. The latter is not properly a lake, as the 

 water is strongly brackish, the sea going in at high tide. There are many waterfalls, 

 but on account of the insignificance of the streams, they are of little effect. A few, 

 however, are quite picturesque; for instance, the one at Karabelni rookery, figured 

 on plate 45. 



The entire western coast is very steep, with but few shallow indentations. On the 

 eastern side the valleys are wider and deeper, and open into more or less deeply cut 

 bays, none of which, however, offer sheltered anchorage for vessels much larger than 

 a boat, and as the waves of tlie Pacific Ocean roll unchecked against the rocks and 

 beaches, landing is often difficult or impossible even at the villages. Only the little 

 rounded cove forming the harbor at the main village is an exception, it being well 

 protected in almost all weather by a cluster of rocks off the entrance. But even this 

 place is not always safe, as demonstrated by the fact that a tide-gauge, solidly built of 

 timber in the most sheltered part of the cove and loaded with rocks, was thrown high 

 on the beach by the surf during the winter of 1882-83, 



The main village, called PreobrazhensTcoye, or the "village of the Transfiguration," 

 because of its church being thus consecrated (pi. 33), is situated on the eastern, or here 



"July 23, 1883, 1,921 feet; July ."n, 189r., 1,929 feet. 



