ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 13 



as our best chance of returning from the rookery. Upon meeting Mr. Grebnitski he 

 expressed a desire to have me go to the North Rookery with him by boat, and as I 

 was informed that H. B. M. S. Linnet, which in the meantime had come to convey 

 Mr. Barrett-Hamiltou to Copper Island, had no further accommodations, I decided to 

 wait for the next Russian cruiser, and meanwhile to accompany Mr. Grebnitski to 

 liforth Rookery. Press of other ofiScial business and unpropitious weather prevented 

 the plan of visiting the North Rookery from being carried out, and on the 15th 

 August I consequently availed myself of the kind offer of the captain of the imperial 

 Russian cruiser Koreets to give me passage to Copper Island, where I was landed on 

 the foUoj^fing day at Preobrazhenskoye village. It being deemed impracticable to land 

 at the rookery villages then on account of the surf, it mattered very little that no 

 boat could be obtained until the 19th, on which day I hired a boat and crew, arrived 

 the day previous, and sailed to Glinka the same day. The Glinka rookeries were 

 examined during the following days, but the sealing season having now closed I 

 could'Obtain no boat passage to'Karabelni and was glad to be able to get away from 

 Glinka to Preobrazhenskoye in a small boat on August 24. I was thus prevented 

 from inspecting the Karabelni rookeries, a failure, however, of but little importance, 

 on account of their comparative insignificance and the lateness of the season. On 

 August 31 the Yakut called at Preobrazhenskoye, and the captain offering to convey 

 me to Bering Island and from there to Petropaulski, I accepted gladly, that I might 

 avail myself of the earliest opportunity of returning home, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton 

 having already left the islands on August 19. I arrived in Petropaulski on September 

 4, but found no vessel going to America or Japan until October 20. The Russian 

 Seal Skin Company's steamer KotiJc, Capt. C. E. Lindquist, in the meantime making 

 a trip to the seal islands for the purpose of bringing back the skins, I proceeded in 

 her in order to inquire into the question of the mortality of the seal pups on North 

 Rookery, Bering Island. I consequently left Petropaulski again on September 22 

 and arrived at the rookery in question the 27th. So unfavorable was the weather 

 that the Kotik had to return to Petropaulski after nearly four weeks' absence without 

 having accomplished the taking off of the skins. It was my original intention to 

 return in that vessel to Japan, but as she was to make another attempt, which more 

 than likely might take at least two weeks more, I obtained passage in the Japanese 

 steamer Taiyu Maru from Petropaulski to Hakodate, Japan, leaving the former port 

 on October 20 and arriving in the latter October 25, whence I proceeded by railroad 

 to Tokyo and Yokohama. The first mail steamer brought me to San Francisco on 

 November 27 ; on the 29th I conferred with Dr. Jordan at the Stanford University, 

 and on December 5 I arrived in Washington, D. C. 



ACKNOWLEDG-MEI^TS. 



In the first place, it gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the aid and courtesies 

 received at the hands of Governor N. Grebnitski, the administrator of the islands, 

 without which I should have been seriously embarrassed in my work. The following 

 report would undoubtedly have been more replete with of&cial data and statistics 

 relating to the sealing industry on the islands had not the documents relating thereto 

 been either sent away already or packed ready for shipment in anticipation of Mr. 

 Grebnitski's prospective departure for St. Petersburg. 



