Having laid in a store of deer’s flesh, dried and boiled, the only provisions the place afforded, we again sailed on the morning of the 6th of December; the wind strong from the west, with squalls, accompanied with snow showers. The excessive cold made us feel severely the want of a camboose, or fire place in the boat. We continued to coast along the main land, within half a mile of the shore. Nothing could exceed the barren aspect of the country, which consisted of a range of steep and rugged hills, destitute of wood, or almost any appearance of vegetation. Many reefs lie a considerable way off the land. On the 7th we passed an island called St. Ivan, the weather still very cold, with snow. In the afternoon, the wind veered to the N. E. and blew with such violence that we were driven out to sea; had the gale continued, our situation would have been highly critical; for our water was nearly expended, and we were unprovided with a compass to direct our course; fortunately, however, it abated towards morning, when we tacked and stood to the shore. About noon we were close in with the land, and being anxious to kindle a fire, anchored in a bay, where the brushwood grew down to the water’s edge. One of the Indians landed to cut firewood, but, he was scarcely upon shore when three bears made their appearance, and forced him to swim back to the boat. We were reluctantly obliged to desist; and having weighed anchor, we went ten miles further, to a village called Schutcum. A number of sunk rocks lie about half a mile to the south of this place, with an intricate and narrow channel, through which we were piloted by the overseer, who came out to meet us in a bidarka. After remaining here three days, we sailed again on the 13th, having met with the same hospitable treatment we had uniformly experienced from these islanders. They liberally supplied us with berries and oil, bear’s flesh, and dried salmon. Soon after leaving Schutcum, we doubled a bluff head, and opened up a strait[12] that separates Kodiak from the main land; a short way beyond it passed a narrow entrance leading into a spacious bay or inlet; the pilot told us that it stretched twenty or thirty versts[13] into the country, and afforded an excellent shelter for ships. We then stood over to Kodiak, which we reached in the evening; the wind W. S. W. with fine weather; we run along shore during the night. Next day, about two o’clock, we passed near a rock, on which several outches, or sea-lions, were sitting; some of them swam towards us, uttering loud yells; but as the boat was going at a great rate through the water, we soon lost sight of them. [12] Captain Mears, in the Snow Nootka, navigated this strait in 1786; he named it Petrie’s Strait. In the chart affixed to Coxe’s Russian Discoveries, and by Dr. Langsdorf, it is named the Strait of Chelekoff. [13] A verst is about two thirds of a mile.