Viewing page 33 of 48

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[left page]] 
thus far and not a trace of any fresh falling snow on even the highest peaks. The vegetation is surprisingly luxuriant upon every gentle slope or flat and a heavy growth of grass from 3 1/2 to 5 ft. high grows so dense that one has difficulty in forcing his way through In shady hollows & about the foot of projecting rock large strong ferns raise their graceful forms & nod in the passing breeze or bow & sway before the rush of storm winds. The tubular stalks of the wild Parsnip stands in rigid & angular an array of its umbrella crowns presented over the grass & other more delicate plants- Willow & blueberry bushes abound in favorable places-

[[right page]]
Capt. Healey of the "R. Rush" has been on a cruise to Atka & describes the rage & despair evinced there by the people when he broke up their grass barrels - One old fellow saying, "If we can't have grass we won't hunt sea Otter" evidently considering the critter as an emissary of the trading companies - When the Rush visited the more eastern towns of the archipelago - i.e. Sanak and Belkofsky [[Belkofski]] and destroyed the grass barrels the rage & despair of the owners was described as ludicrous - one old fellow swearing he did not wish to live any longer if he could not have grass & began to smash crockery & furniture until his house looked inside as though wrecked.  Since then the "Kodiak" brings news that a Sanak man smashed

Transcription Notes:
GG: Aleutian Islands of Atka, Sanak, and Belkofski