94 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



and Bering Islands. On Kagamil, which yielded numerous burials last 

 year, the two old caves were revisited and all remaining material re- 

 covered, and two new rock-shelters containing old burials were 

 discovered. 



The Commander Island visit, the main object of which was to find 

 whether or not these islands had been inhabited before the Russians, 

 and thus whether or not they may have served as a second bridge for 

 man's coming from Asia, was not conclusive one way or the other. 

 The Russians there were all recent and had not given any attention 

 to possible old sites ; the few natives that could be consulted were 

 originally brought over from the Aleutian Islands, are Russianized, 

 and knew nothing of what we were after ; and only the mouth of one 

 stream, that at Nikolsk, could be examined in the short time at our 

 disposal, and that was so affected by erosion that no idea could be 

 formed as to what the conditions may have been in that vicinity a few 

 hundred years ago. The islands had no native population when reached 

 in 1 741 by the Russians. Whether or not there are any old sites in 

 the islands may only be determined by a survey of the vicinity of the 

 mouth of every likely stream on both of the islands. This task could 

 not be carried out by us because of our ship's lack of fuel. Consider- 

 ing that the highlands of Bering Island could be seen on a clear day 

 from the nearest highlands on the coast of Kamchatka, and that there 

 was about the two islands an abundance of fish, sea otter, seal, and 

 sea cow, with many foxes on land, it would be very strange if the 

 islands, even though colder than the Aleutians and stormy, had not 

 been reached and for a period at least peopled by the Asiatics, who 

 may then have discovered and moved over to the Aleutians. However, 

 the facts of the case remain to be determined. 





