44 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
shai>es by the action of the waves, rise out of the sea all around the island, sometimes 
singly, sometimes in clusters. Occasionally large detached or half-detached rocks 
form more conspicuous landmarks, as, for instance, the Bobrovi Kameui mentioned 
above, the Sivutchi Kamen at the northern entrance to Bobrovaya Bay, and tlie one 
of the same name on the other side only a short distance east from the main village, 
the Ca 2 )e Matveya, OladkovsM Kamen, both on the east side, and, most striking of all, 
perhaps, Karahelni Stolj) 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 off Lehiazhi 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 Glad- 
Icovskoye 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 Karahelni Rookery, figured 
on i)late 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 the Pacilic 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 olf the entrance. But even this 
place is not always safe, as demonstrated by the fact that a tide-gauge, solidly built of 
timber iu 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 Preobrazhenskoye, or the “village of the Transfiguration,” 
because of its church being thus consecrated (pi. 33), is situated ou the eastern, or here 
more appropriately northern, side near the northwestern extremity of the island. Its 
neat, red-painted frame-houses and the handsome Greek church nestle cosily at the foot 
of a steep, high mountain, and it looks as if it might be a sheltered and pleasant place, 
but as a matter of fact it is not. The peculiar shape of the narrow valley at the mouth 
of which it is located compresses the winds and sends them howling down or up the 
cleft, while the precipitous walls, nearly 2,000 feet high on the east and south, shut 
out what little sunshine the island can boast. 
Here the natives live all the year round, except during the sealing season, when 
the village is almost deserted. The company has here its stores and dwelling-house 
for the resident agent. The government has a large building (the office and dwelling 
of the assistant administrator), a drug store, and a large school-house. The house 
iu which the priest and his family live lies farther off, and is not distinguishable from 
the larger houses of some of the natives. The new church, which was built iu 1895, 
at a cost of $9,000, is quite an attractive building, though entirely too large for the 
community. 
