248 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



EAIKOKE (Plate 105.) 



Eaikoke is situated about 32 miles S. 57° W. from the Mushir rocks, in approxi- 

 mately 48° 20' north latitude and 153° 05' east longitude. The much larger island, 

 Matua, is located nearly due south from it, 9 miles distant. 



It consists of a single volcanic cone (pi. 83) rising out of the oceanic depths, its 

 sides sloping at angles of about 30° to 33° toward the top, the rim of a crater 

 evidently long since fallen in. It is now apparently quite dead, but according to the 

 old records was in eruption as late as 1778 and 1780. It is said to be 2,050 feet high 

 and is nearly circular, as shown in Snow's map, with a diameter of about 1^ miles. 

 The sides are even slopes of volcanic ashes, with here and there a few more solid rocks 

 protruding. The base against which the waves of the Pacific Ocean and the Okhotsk 

 Sea beat is composed chiefly of steep basaltic rocks 40 to 80 feet high, but seldom 

 cooled off into columnar structure, being mostly massive and presenting large, smooth 

 surfaces. The lower portion of the slopes above this blackish foundation is covered 

 with a vivid green of the same three plants which I collected on Mushir rocks, with 

 the addition of a large, fleshy-leaved, yellow-flowered composite {Senecio pseudo- 

 arnica) and a white daisy {Chrysanthemum arcticum), while the rocks were covered in 

 places with a very bright-yellow lichen. 



At all the prominent points and corners the rocks rise precipitously out of 

 apparently very deep water, but in between there are occasional narrow beaches 

 covered with bowlders from the size of a cart wheel to that of a small house, while in 

 other places the equally narrow beach is fringed by a steep bevel of rounded, wave- 

 worn stones from the size of a fist to that of a man's head. A couple of such beaches, 

 with a quantity of driftwood left at the upper line of the bevel next to the main ashy 

 slope of the island, were found on the southern shore facing Matua. 



On the east side only there are a few places where the bold, smooth face of the 

 foundation cliffs are rent with deep clefts and caves, small coves with somewhat of a 

 reefy beach, and a few detached larger rocks in front, giving a slight shelter. A 

 couple of such rocks are also found on the western side of the island, but no coves or 

 reefs. 



I never saw a more unlikely place for fur seal to haul out upon. There is no spot 

 among all the rookery grounds of the Pribilofs or the Commander Islands that for 

 roughness and apparent lack of suitability can compare even remotely with Eaikoke; 

 and yet two distinct rookeries, according to Snow and Petersen, existed on this 

 island, the larger one, on the western side near the northwestern corner, the other 

 in the coves among the rocks mentioned above as situated on the east side of the 

 island. 



When I circumnavigated the island on August 23, 1896, not a fur seal could be 

 discovered in either place, which is hardly to be wondered at, since, as we learned 

 later, a dozen seals had been killed there only four days previously by the crew of the 

 Japanese schooner YaTmno Maru. 



On the other hand, sea lions (Uumetopias stelleri) were plentiful. At all suitable 

 places all around the island harems, consisting of bulls, cows, and pups, were located, 

 sometimes as high as 40 feet on the basaltic shelves almost perpendicularly out of the 

 water. How they managed to climb up the slippery and precipitous rocks seemed a 

 mystery. How they get down was less so, for as soon as they got the wind of us, 

 they threw themselves headlong on the rocks or in the sea, sometimes gliding down 



