mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-054
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– 104 –
is as thick as the arm of a man. But what did we find?
Miserable remains of a spring that had formerly existed, scarcely
visible under the ashes, which covered the whole island during
the eruption of the Umnak volcano in 1819. This eruption was
accompanied by a severe earthquake which was felt on all the
islands of the Aleutian chain and finished with the sinking
of the coastal lowland on Umnak Island for a distance of seven
versts in circumference.
There were several rather strong earthquakes accompanied
by a subterranean rumble during our stay on Unalashka.
The impossibility of obtaining in this place fresh meat
and vegetables so necessary for the renewal and upkeep of the
health of the crew prompted us to rush the repairs and taking
on of water, especially as by all reports, we could get nothing
until California, and had to expect difficult and exhausting
voyages, first to Sitka and afterward to the port of San Fran-
cisco to which rushed our common longings as to the promised
land. Somehow, the meat was substituted with excellent fresh
fish, and vegetables with wild garlic or ramson, but this did
not have the desired effect, and the crew, although improved,
still ailed. Of fish, we were given a kind of salmon of excellent
quality, but we caught cod ourselves in the following
manner. On a pole, seven feet long, we attached about 15
fish hooks baited also with cod. In the middle of the pole,
we fastened a stone [iadro] instead of a weight, and lowered
it to the harbor bottom. In about two hours, pulling up the
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