CHAP. western Diomede was seen throngh the fog close to ns. In onr passage
July,
1826.
from St. Lawrence Island to this situation, the depth of the sea increased
a little, nntil to the northward of King’s Island, after which it
began to decrease; hnt in the vicinity of the Diomede Islands, where the
strait became narrowed, it again deepened, and continued between
twenty-five and twenty-seven fathoms. The bottom, until close to the
Diomedes, was composed of fine sand, but near them it changed to coarse
stones and gravel, as at St. Lawrence Island; transitions which, by being
attended to, may be of service to navigators in foggy weather.
During the day we saw a great number of whales, seals, and birds;
but none, I beheve, that are not mentioned in Pennant’s Arctic Zoology.
We noticed upon the island abreast of us, which we conjectured
to be the westernmost Diomede, several tents and yourts, and, also,
two or three baidars, hauled upon the beach. On the declivity of the hill
were several frames, apparently for drying fish and skins, and depositing
canoes and sledges upon. It was nearly calm when we were off this place,
but the current, which still ran to the northward, carried us fast along
the land. I steered for the situation of the supposed additional island,
until by our reckoning we ought to have been upon it, and then hauled
over towards the American shore. In the evening the fog cleared away,
and our curiosity was at last satisfied. The extremities of the two
great continents were distinctly seen, and the islands in the strait
clearly ascertained to be only three in number, and occupying nearly
the same situations in which they were placed in the chart of Captain
Cook.
The south-eastern of the three islands is a high square rock; the
next, or middle one, is an island with perpendicular cliffs, and a flat surface
; and the third, or north-western, which is the largest, is three miles
long, high to the southward, and terminates, in the opposite direction,
in low cliffs with small rocky points off them. East Cape in almost
every direction is so like an island, that I have no doubt it was the
occasion of the mistake which the Russian navigator has committed.
For the sake of convenience, I named each of these islands. The
eastern one I called F airway Rock, as it is an excellent guide to the eastern
channel, which is the widest and best; the centre one I named after
the Russian Admiral Krusenstern; and to the north-western island I CIW .
transferred the name of Ratmanoff, which had been bestowed upon the
supposed discovery of Kotzebue. We remarked that the Asiatic shore
July,
was more buried in snow than the American. The mountains in the
one were entirely covered; in the other, they were streaked and partly
exposed. The low land of both on the coast was nearly bare.
Near the Asiatic shore we had a sandy bottom, but on crossing
over the strait, it changed to mud, until well over on the American
side, where we passed a tongue of sand and stones in twelve fathoms,
which in all probability was the extremity of a shoal, on which the
ship was nearly lost the succeeding year. After crossing it the water
deepened, and the bottom again changed to mud, and we had ten and
a half fathoms within two and a half miles of the coast.
We closed with the American shore, a few miles to the northward
of Cape Prince of AA"ales, and found the coast low with a ridge of sand
extending along it, on which we noticed several Esquimaux habitations.
Steering along this shore to the northward, in ten and eight fathoms
water, a little before noon we were within four and a half miles of
Schismareff Inlet. Here we were becalmed, and had leisure to observe
the broad sheet of water that extends inland m an E. S. E. direction
beyond the reach of the eye *. The width of the inlet between the
two capes is ten miles; but Saritcheff Island lies iiniiiediately before the
opening, and we are informed by Kotzebue, that the channel, which is
on the northern side o fit, is extremely intricate and narrow, and that
the space is strewed with shoals. The island is low and sandy, and is
apparently joined under water, to the southward, to the strip of sand
before mentioned as extending along the coast: we noticed upon it
a considerable village of yourts, the largest of any that had as yet
been seen. The natives appear to prefer having their dwellings upon
this sandy foundation to the main land, probably on account of the
latter being swampy, which is the ease every where in the vicinity
of this inlet and Kotzebue Sound. Several of them taking advantage
of the calm came off in baidars, similar to those used by the
• Mountains were seen at the back of it, but the coast was not visible-probably it is