mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-052

– 102 –

without a big loss of time.

On August 14, at six o'clock in the morning, the mentioned
island came into our sight. Its forerunners were an infinite
multitude of sea birds such as puffins, murres, seagulls, and
loons. About noon we neared the island and determined its
latitude, 60° 13' 48" N and longitude, 187° 45' 48" E of
Greenwich. It consists of high bare rocks in which nest mil-
lions of the mentioned birds. Near the northern end is located
a separate little islet, and at the southern, an immense rock
resembling a saddle and named by Captain Clerke, Pinnacle
[Pinnacle Island] . This large island is about 60 miles long,
but completely sterile and uninhabited. The existence of
multitudes of sea lions, seals, and sea otters on its low shore
prompted Mr. Baranov, former manager of the colonies of the
[Russian-]American Company, to settle a few score Aleuts there
for hunting these animals, but after three years he was compelled
to abandon this undertaking and to transport the rest of the
people back to Unalashka and Umnak from where they had been
taken. I say "the rest" because the greater part of them per-
ished from the cruel colds existing on the high, unprotected
island, and from scurvy. Furthermore, in autumn, ice brought
a terrible scourge for the people and animals living in this
land; that is, polar bears, by whom several persons also per-
ished every winter.

At Unalaska

From here we went to Unalashka, and on the 17th saw St.