Part 56 (2/2)
”Only” thirteen thousand animals had been killed that year. Their flayed carcases lay heaped on the gra.s.s by the sh.o.r.e, spreading far and wide a disagreeable smell, which, however, had not frightened away their comrades lying on the neighbouring promontory, because, even among them, a similar smell prevailed in consequence of the many animals suffocated or killed in fight with their comrades, and left lying on the sh.o.r.e.[369] Among this great flock of sea-bears sat enthroned on the top of a high stone a single sea-lion, the only one of these animals we saw during our voyage.
For a payment of forty roubles I induced the chief of the village to skeletonise four of the half putrefied carcases of the sea-bear left lying on the gra.s.s, and I afterwards obtained, by the good-will of the Russian authorities, and without any payment, six animals, among them two living young, for stuffing. Even the latter we were compelled to kill, after in vain attempting to induce them to take some food. One of them was brought home in spirits for anatomical examination.
The part of Behring Island which we saw forms a high plain resting on volcanic rocks,[370] which, however, is interrupted at many places by deep kettle valleys, the bottoms of which are generally occupied by lakes which communicate with the sea by large or small rivers. The banks of the lakes and the slopes of the hills are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, rich in long gra.s.s and beautiful flowers, among them an iris cultivated in our gardens, the useful dark reddish-brown Sarana lily, several orchids, two species of rhododendron with large flowers, umbellifera as high as a man, sunflower-like synanthea, &c. Quite another nature prevailed on the island lying off the haven, regarding which Dr. Kjellman and Dr.
Stuxberg make the following statements:--
”Toporkoff Island is formed of an eruptive rock, which everywhere rises along the sh.o.r.e some scores of feet from high-water mark, in the form of steep cracked walls from five to fifteen metres in height, which is different at different places. Above these steep rock-walls the surface of the island forms an even plain; what lies below them forms a gently sloping beach.
”This gently sloping beach consists of two well-marked belts; an outer devoid of all vegetation, an inner overgrown with _Ammadenia peploides, Elymus mollis_, and two species of umbellifera, _Heracleum sibiric.u.m_, and _Angelica archangelica_, the two last forming an almost impenetrable thicket fifty metres broad and as high as a man, along the slope. The steep rock-walls are coloured yellow at some places by lichens, mostly _Calopaca murorum_ and _Cal. crenulata_; at other places they are covered pretty closely with _Cochlearia fenestrata_. The uppermost level plain is covered with a close and luxuriant turf, over which single stalks of the two species of umbellifera named above raise themselves here and there. The vegetation on this little island unites a very uncommon poverty in species with a high degree of luxuriance.
”Of the higher animals we saw only four kinds of birds, viz _Fratercula cirrhata_, a black guillemot (_Una grylle_ var.
_columba_), a species of cormorant (Phalocrocorax) and a sort of gull (Larus). _Fratercula cirrhata_ lived here by millions. They haunted the upper plain, where they had everywhere excavated short, deep, and uncommonly broad pa.s.sages to sleep in, provided with two openings. From these on our arrival they flew in large flocks to the neighbouring sea and back. Their number was nearly equal to that of looms in the Arctic loomeries. The black guillemots and cormorants kept to the cliffs near the sh.o.r.e.
”The number of the evertebrate land animals amounted to about thirty species. The most numerous were Machilis, Vitrina, Lithobius, Talitrus, some Diptera and beetles.
They all lived on the inner belt of the sh.o.r.e, where the ground was uncommonly damp.”
Behring Island might without difficulty feed large herds of cattle, perhaps as numerous as the herds of sea-cows that formerly pastured on its sh.o.r.es. The sea-cow besides had chosen its pasture with discrimination, the sea there being, according to Dr. Kjellman, one of the richest in algae in the world. The sea-bottom is covered at favourably situated places by forests of seaweed from twenty to thirty metres high, which are so dense that the dredge could with difficulty force its way down into them, a circ.u.mstance which was much against the dredging. Certain of the algae are used by the natives as food.
In the course of our journey to the hunting place we had an opportunity, during a rest about halfway between it and the village, of taking part in a very peculiar sort of fis.h.i.+ng. The place where we rested was in an even gra.s.sy plain, resembling a natural meadow at home, crossed by a large number of small rivulets. They abounded in several different kinds of fish, among them a Coregonus, a small trout, a middle-sized long salmon with almost white flesh, though the colour of its skin was a purplish-red, another salmon of about the same length, but thick and hump-backed. These fish were easily caught. They were taken with the hand, were harpooned with common unshod sticks, were stabbed with knives, caught with the insect net, &c. Other kinds of salmon with deep red flesh are to be found in the large rivers of the island. We obtained here for a trifle a welcome change from the preserved provisions of which we had long ago become quite tired. The Expedition was also presented by the Alaska Company with a fine fat ox, milk, and various other provisions, and I cannot sufficiently value the goodwill shown to us not only by the Russian official, N GREBNITSKI, a zealous and skilful naturalist, but also by the officials of the Alaska Company and all others living on the island with whom we came into contact.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ALGA FROM THE Sh.o.r.e OF BEHRING ISLAND.
_Thala.s.siophyllum Clathrus_ Post. and Rupr.
One-fourth of the natural size. ]
It was my original intention to sail from Behring Island to Petiopaulovsk, in order from thence to put a stop to the undertakings which were possibly in contemplation for our relief.
This however became unnecessary, because a steamer, which was to start for Petropaulovsk as soon as its cargo was on board, had anch.o.r.ed by the side of the _Vega_ two days after our arrival. The steamer belonged to the Alaska Company, was named the _Alexander_, was commanded by Captain SANDMAN, and was manned almost exclusively by Swedes, Danes, Fins, and Norwegians[371]. We found on the _Alexander_ two naturalists, Dr. BENEDIKT DYBOVSKI and Dr. JULIAN WIEMUT. The former is a Pole exiled to Siberia but now pardoned, whose masterly zoological works are among the best contributions which have been made during recent decades to our knowledge of the natural conditions of Siberia. His researches have hitherto mainly concerned the Baikal region. Now he wishes to extend them to Kamchatka, and has therefore voluntarily taken a physician's post at Petropaulovsk. Science has reason to expect very rich results from his work and that of his companions in one of the most interesting, most mis-known, and least known lands of the north.
The _Vega_ left Behring Island on the afternoon of the 19th August, and anch.o.r.ed at Yokohama on the evening of the 2nd September. The first part of the pa.s.sage, while we were still in the cold northerly Polar Sea current, was favoured by fair winds and moderate heat. The surface temperature of the sea was from +9 to +10. On the 25th August in 45 15' N.L. and 156 E.L. from Greenwich the temperature of the sea-water began to rise so rapidly that the thermometer in 40 Lat. and 147 41'
Long already showed +23.4 at the surface. This indicated that we had come from the cold current favourable to us into Kuro-sivo, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific. The wind was now at times unfavourable and the heat oppressive, notwithstanding the frequent rain showers accompanied by lightning and heavy squalls. In such unfavourable weather on the 31st August the mainmast of the _Vega_ was struck by lightning, the flash and the report being of excessive violence. The vane was broken loose and thrown into the sea along with some inches of the pole. The pole itself was split pretty far down, and all on board felt a more or less violent shaking, the man who felt it most standing at the time near the hawse-hole. The incident was not attended by any further noteworthy unpleasant consequences.
On our arrival at Yokohama we were all in good health and the _Vega_ in excellent condition, though, after the long voyage, in want of some minor repairs, of docking, and possibly of coppering. Naturally among thirty men some mild attacks of illness could not be avoided in the course of a year, but no disease had been generally prevalent, and our state of health had constantly been excellent. Of scurvy we had not seen a trace.
[Footnote 356: In February 1871 the right of hunting on these islands was granted by the Russian government to Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus &c. Co., who have made over their rights to the Alaska Commercial Company of San Francisco. ]
[Footnote 357: According to a communication made to me by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, who, in order to study the fur-bearing seals in the North Behring Sea, lived a considerable time at the Seal Islands (Pribylov's Islands, &c.) on the American side, and has given an exceedingly interesting account of the animal life there in his work, _A Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alaska_, Was.h.i.+ngton, 1875, the statement in my report to Dr.
d.i.c.kson, founded on oral communications of Europeans whom I met with at Behring Island, that from 50,000 to 100,000 animals are killed yearly at Behring and Copper Island, is thus probably somewhat exaggerated. ]
[Footnote 358: Original accounts of the wintering on Behring Island are to be found in Muller's _Sammlung Russischen Geschichte_, St Petersburg, 1768, iii, pp. 228-238 and 242-268, (Steller's) _Topographische und physikalische Beschreibung der Beringsinsel_ (Pallas' _Neue Nordische Beytrage_, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1781-83, ii. p. 225), G.W. Steller's _Tagebuch seiner Seereise aus dem Petripauls Hafen. . . und seiner Begebenheiten auf der Ruckreise_ (Pallas' _Neueste Nordische Beytrage_, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1793-96, i. p. 130; ii. p. 1). ]
[Footnote 359: According to Muller, whose statements (based on communications by Waxel?) often differ from those of Steller. The latter says that the flesh of the sea-otter is better than that of the seal, and a good antidote to scurvy. The flesh of the young sea-otter might even compete with lamb as a delicacy. ]
[Footnote 360: To judge by what is stated in Steller's description of Behring Island (_Neue nord. Beytr._, ii, p. 290) no one would have dared to attack ”diese grimmigen Thiere,” and the only sea-lion eaten during the winter was an animal wounded at Kamchatka and thrown up dead on the coast of Behring Island. The fin-like feet were the most delicate part of the sea-lion. ]
[Footnote 361: According to Muller's official report, probably written for the purpose of refuting the rumours regarding Steller's fate current in the scientific circles of Europe. According to the biography prefixed to Georg Wilhelm Steller's _Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka, herausgegeben von J.B.S._ (Scheerer), Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1774, Steller had in 1745 begun his return to St.
Petersburg, and was already beyond Novgorod, when he received orders to appear before the court at Irkutsk. After a year he obtained permission to travel to St. Petersburg, but when he came to the neighbourhood of Moscow, he received a new order to return, and for farther security he was placed under a guard. They had travelled a good way into Siberia, when he froze to death while the guard went into a public-house to warm themselves and quench their thirst. ]
[Footnote 362: As early as Schelechov's wintering at 1783-84 the foxes on Behring Island were princ.i.p.ally white. During Steller's wintering, over a third of the foxes on the island had a bluish fur (_Neue nord. Beytr._, ii, p. 277). In the year 1747-48 a fur hunter, Cholodilov, caught on Behring Island 1,481 blue foxes and 350 sea-otters, and the following year another hunter returned with over a thousand sea otters and two thousand blue foxes, which probably were also caught on Behring and Copper Islands (_Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdeckten Insuln_, Hamburg u Leipzig, 1766, p. 20). In the year 1751-53 Jugov caught on the same island 790 sea-otters, 6,844 black and 200 white foxes, and 2,212 sea-bears (_loc. cit._ p.
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