Page:The cruise of the Corwin.djvu/25

 the island without finding anything except Captain Hooper's cairn, and Commander Berry, in his report to the Secretary of the Navy, said, "I believe it impossible that any of the missing parties ever landed here."

The principal gain of this exploration was a running survey of the coast and a general determination of the size of the island. In other respects the harvest of scientific facts gathered on Wrangell Land by the Rodgers was meager, if one may judge by W. H. Gilder's Ice Pack and Tundra. Unfortunately, the act which carried the appropriation for the expedition provided that the vessel selected "be wholly manned by volunteers from the Navy." This fact seems to have prevented the taking of men trained hi the natural sciences, like John Muir or E. W. Nelson. Nineteen days on Wrangell Land would have enabled them to obtain a large amount of interesting information about its flora, fauna, avifauna, and geology.

Commander Berry, taking charge of an exploring party, penetrated twenty miles into the interior of the island and ascended a conspicuous mountain whose height, by barometric measurement, was found to be twenty-five hundred feet. He reported that he "could see from its summit the sea in all directions, except between S.S.W. by W. per compass. The day