tains) wholly clear of clouds. At times, both base and
summit would be clear, when a narrow cloud, sometimes two or three,
one above another, would embrace the middle like a girdle, which, with
the column of smoke, rising perpendicular to a great height out of its
top, and spreading before the wind into a tail of vast length, made a
very picturesque appearance. It may be worth remarking, that the
wind, at the height to which the smoke of this volcano reached, moved
sometimes in a direction contrary to what it did at sea, even when it
blew a fresh gale.

In the afternoon, having three hours calm, our people caught upwards
of a hundred halibuts, some of which weighed a hundred pounds, and
none less than twenty pounds. This was a very seasonable refreshment
to us. In the height of our fishing, which was in thirty-five
fathoms water, and three or four miles from the shore, a small canoe,
conducted by one man, came to us from the large island. On approaching
the ship, be took off his cap, and bowed, as the other had done,
who visited the Discovery the preceding day. It was evident that the
Russians must have a communication and traffic with these people,
not only from their acquired politeness, but from the note before
mentioned. But we had now a fresh proof of it; for our present visitor
wore a pair of green cloth breeches, and a jacket of black cloth or
stuff, under the gut-shirt or frock of his own country. He had nothing
to barter, except a grey fox skin, and some fishing implements or
harpoons, the heads of the shafts of which, for the length of a foot
or more, were neatly made of bone, as thick as a walking cane, and
carved. He had with him a bladder full of something, which we supposed
to be oil, for he opened it, took a mouthful, and then fastened it
again.

His canoe was of the same make with those we had seen before, but
rather smaller. He used a double bladed-paddle, as did also those
who had visited the Discovery. In his size and features, he exactly
resembled those we saw in Prince William's Sound, and in the Great
River, but he was quite free from paint of any kind, and had the
perforation of his lips made in an oblique direction, without any
ornament in it. He did not seem to understand any of the words
commonly used by our visitors in the Sound, when repeated to him. But,
perhaps, our faulty pronunciation, rather than his ignorance of the
dialect, may be inferred from this.

The weather was cloudy and haz