25 
verdure even where all around is clothed in snow. The waters 
adjacent are alive with fish and fowl, and the land teems with 
deer and other game.” — Davidson. 
The Memorial from the Legislature of Washington Territory, 
(above quoted), asked the President “ To employ such ships as 
might be spared from the North Pacific naval fleet, in surveying 
the fishing banks along the coast from the Cortez bank to Behr¬ 
ing Strait.” Our beneficent government has nobly responded to 
this prayer. Immediately on assuming jurisdiction over Alaska, 
a scientific expedition in connection with the coast survey was 
sent to that territory, instructed to collect correct information in 
regard to geographical science, climate, products of the country, 
ocean currents and their future bearings on the question of the 
steamship route to the Indies ; also to ascertain the bounds and 
extent of the fishing banks, and the facilities for developing the 
fishing resources in those waters. Banks have been found and 
partially surveyed in Bristol Bay, around the Aleutian islands, 
along the peninsula of Alaska,, and adjacent to the Kadiak 
group. The eastern half of Behring Sea, a broad, level plateau, 
having from twenty to forty fathoms of water, is found to be a 
boundless reservoir of cod, containing about 20,000 square 
miles. 11 The extensive sheet of water north of the Aleutians 
to Behring Strait, in lat. 65|°, and between the American and 
Asiatic continents, is known as Behring Sea, and, so far as 
sounded, consists of very extensive submarine levels of remark¬ 
able eveness of surface at a very small depth.” — Davidson. 
The Unmak bank, margining the Aleutians, Shumagins and 
Kadiak islands are somewhat deeper ; those grounds amount to 
nearly 45,000 square miles, embraced within the fifty fathom 
curve. “ The banks along the shores of Alaska, around the 
Kadiak group, and part of the Aleutian chain, will add not less 
than 45,000 square miles, with a depth of not over fifty fathoms 
to the 18,000 miles of the Behring Sea.” — Davidson. 
The waters extending eastward from the Kadiak islands indi¬ 
cate light appearance and moderate soundings. Early navi¬ 
gators report a vast, broad plain in this region, with fathomable 
depth; no definite bounds or deepness have as yet been as¬ 
certained, and the extent of this valuable fishing ground remains 
undefined. u The soundings of Portlock, of Vancouver, and of 
this expedition, prove the existence of a comparatively shoal 
bank, extending along the south-eastern coast of Afognak and 
4 
