SARYTSCHEW’s TRAVELS. 
6 
side of us, containing a Russian hunter and eight rowers’, who 
had been rowing about in search of the drifted wood for ftfeL 
The Russians told us they came from the ships Bartholo¬ 
mew and Barnabas, belonging to the merchants Panow 
and Company, which were at present lying at anchor in the 
strait of Issanozk ; but that he himself w ? as left at Unalaschka 
as the master of a baidar, for the purpose of catching wild 
animals. 
In the afternoon, as we were nearly becalmed, we hoisted 
out our boat, and tow r ed the ship into the strait between Spirkin 
and Kigalga. Near the entrance of the strait are two rocks, which 
tower out of the water; they lie close to each other, and 
are about c 2 miles and a half distant from the island Kigalgal, 
towards 180, J. These are the rocks between which Captain 
Cook lost himself during a fog, and to which, owing to his 
providential escape, he gave the name of Cape Providence . 
In the evening, with the help of towing, and a good tide, 
we got round the northern promontory of Spirkin, anchoring, 
near the shore at a little distance from an Aleutian village, 
in the joyful expectation of meeting w ith some fresh provisions 
for the recovery of our sick. 
From our anchoring station, a large bay extended south¬ 
west into the interior of the island Unalaschka, which is called 
Beaver-bay. Agreeable to the desire of our commander, we 
w ent on the following day with Doctor Merk, in a baidar, 
to examine the bay, and took with us provisions for seven days. 
We bent our course to the south-west, by the shore of the 
island Spirkin, within the bay, which is not so steep as on the 
south-eastern side; for here the extremities only of the cape 
terminate in rocky acclivities, wdiereas, on the contrary side, 
the declivities are excessively steep. The internal part of the 
island affords four tolerable lakes, at no great distance from and 
nearly opposite to each other. The water, which in the middle 
is 50 fathoms, becomes gradually more shallow towards the 
shore. We chose one of these bays for our night’s station, and 
found, when the water retired in the evening, a number of 
muscles on the strand, containing several small pearls. The 
next morning w ? e w ere obliged to remain till nine, in order to* 
repair our baidars, the leather of w hich had been considerably 
injured by the sharp stones jutting out from the shore. 
Mr. Merk having landed to collect plants, 1 proceeded 
onward by myself in my examination, taking a minute survey 
of the strait before-mentioned, which separates Spirkin from 
Unalaschka. It is a mile in breadth, and about 50 fathoms 
in depth; extending to the south-east, for Sh miles, to the 
side of Ilmudichtchit, which penetrates, for three miles, into 
