200 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
away to the eastward, not coming near the vessel. 
No one on board knew of my having witnessed a 
like spectacle some years before. Clark Russell, 
in his novel “ Marooned,” describes a phenomenon 
of a somewhat similar character. 
Arrived at Shikotan, we put into Anama Bay, 
a beautiful little land-locked harbour on the north¬ 
west coast, where we remained eleven days, getting 
some fishing and shooting on shore, and thoroughly 
repairing our sails and rigging, ready for our trip 
north again, on which we expected to experience 
some heavy weather. We were not deceived, for 
we nearly drove ashore on the north-east end of 
Yetorup in a heavy easterly gale on September 19-20. 
On the 28th we visited the Mushir Rocks, and 
secured 212 seals. On October 1 and 2 we fell in 
with another heavy gale, which finished up with 
snow. The season so far had been a very bad 
one, so I decided to look up again our friends at 
Bering Island. On October 11 we arrived off that 
island, abreast of the southern seal rookery. A 
boat with half a dozen men came off to us, offering 
to trade sealskins for clothing, watches, provisions, 
and tobacco. We ran in and anchored, and 
S. went ashore with three men in our own boat, 
three of the natives, amongst whom was the head¬ 
man, staying on board as a guarantee of good faith. 
They remained all night. The barometer had 
dropped to 28*85, which made me apprehend a 
heavy blow. 
Our guest the headman, seeing me constantly 
studying the barometer, remarked : 66 That all same 
devil: by-and-by plenty wind, just now all right; 
to-morrow night plenty blow, star plenty.” Here 
