. 
106 W. H. Dali—Notes on Alaska and 
pointed that we had nothing to sell., It was fortunate that no 
rumsellers had been in the vicinity, for the number of the na- 
tives was so great that they might easily have taken charge if 
they had been so disposed. 
We obtained a first rate series of observations of all kinds 
on Chamisso Island. On the 2d of September, the weather 
being unsuitable for observations, I took the large boat and 
crew and crossed the bay toward Klephant Point, the site of 
the extraordinary ice formation, first observed by Kotzebue. 
and afterward reported on by Beechey and Seemann. 
e landed on a small, low point near some old huts, and 
w 
in the character of the banks. They became lower and the 
rise inland was less. From reddish volcanic rock they changed 
to a grayish clay, containing much vegetable matter, which, 1n 
some places, was in strata in the clay, and in others indiscriml- 
nately mixed with it. Near the beginning of these clay banks, 
where they were quite low, not rising over twenty feet above 
the shore, we noticed one layer of sphagnum (bog-moss) con- 
taining marl of fresh water shells, belonging to the genera 
Pisidium, Valvata, ete. This layer was about six inches thick. 
The clay was of a very tough consistency, and, though wet, 
did not stick to or yield much under the feet. The sea breaks 
against the foot of these banks and undermines them, causing 
them to fall down, and the rough irregular talus that results 1s 
mingled with turf and bushes from the surface above. A little 
farther on a perpendicular surface of ice was noticed in the face 
of the bank. It appeared to be solid and free from mixture 0 
soil, except on the outside. The banks continued to increase 
slowly but regularly in height as we passed eastward. A little 
we followed it no farther. The point itself is boggy and low, 
and is continued from the foot of the high land, perhaps half a 
mile to the eastward, forming the northwest headland to a shal- 
low bay of considerable extent. 
To return to the “cliffs”: these for a considerable distance 
were double; that is, there was an ice-face exposed near the 
beach with a small talus in front of it, and covered with @ 
coating of soil two or three feet thick, on which luxuriant 
vegetation was growing. All this might be thirty feet in height 
