36 SARYTSCHEw’s TRAVELS. 
east side of which appears more level than the west, having 
a fiat shore. 
Opposite to the north-western side, at a distance of three 
miles-, a lofty rocky pillar elevates itself. We could not discern 
the southern side of the island on account of the mist. Farther 
©n, towards the east, four inconsiderable mountainous islands 
presented themselves to view, but were, towards evening, lost 
out of sight, as we were carried away from them by a south¬ 
east wind, and encompassed by a thick mist. 
On the 9th, one of the crew descried land, and pointed out 
to us, almost over our heads, through the mist, the declivity 
of Tanuga. We sounded for the depth, but found no bottom ; 
as the mist soon after dispersed, we were presented with the 
spectacle of a lofty volcanic mountain, that exposed to our 
view, at the distance of scarcely two miles, its black and tre¬ 
mendously tall side of rock. We then calculated the latitude at 
52° 6', and the longitude at 180° 22'. In the afternoon the 
wind almost entirely abated. With the tide, and only a gentle 
wind, we run along the south-eastern side of Tanaga. 
Its shore was, in the commencement, mountainous, but rose 
by a gentle elevation as we proceeded. The master of the bai- 
dars, whom we brought with us from Ochotsk, told us, as he had 
been on this island, that at no great distance from hence there 
was a large commodious bay, which was used as an anchoring 
station by the Russian hunters. I immediately set off in a bai- 
dar to examine it, and after making about four miles from the 
ship, found the way lay round an isthmus into the bay, the 
depth of which, at the middle of its entrance, was forty fathoms, 
and farther on 25 ; towards the left bank it gradually diminished, 
and half a mile from thence it sunk to seven or eight fathoms; 
at the bottom I discovered a black sand. On the other side the 
bay is an Aleutian residence, which we were prevented visiting 
by the approach of night, being anxious, if possible, to return 
to the vessel before the darkness came on. On our way back 
I found, on a jut of land, an Aleutian summer jurt, in which 
was an old woman, who informed me, that almost all the 
islanders, with the exception of very few, were gone to the island 
Atcha, to a Russian hunter's ship lying there. We had scarcely 
got two miles from the bay, when a heavy fog involved us in 
darkness; and not finding our vessel where we had left it, we 
saw ourselves obliged, after a long and fruitless search, to lie 
to by the shore. On the following day the atmosphere was 
clear, but we did not get sight of our vessl, and were totally 
unprovided with food. In this dilemma we must soon have 
gone in search of the Aleutian residence, if we had not, at 
noon, fortunately discovered the wished-for object sailing be- 
