Page:The cruise of the Corwin.djvu/26

 was very clear, and no land except Herald Island was visible from this height. There was no ice in sight to the southward." A letter of inquiry addressed to Rear Admiral Berry by the editor brought a courteous reply, stating that he did not know of any photographs or sketches, made by members of the Rodgers expedition, which would show the coast or interior topography of the island; that "the vegetation was scant, consisting of a few Arctic plants, a little moss, etc."; that "polar bears, walrus, and seal were quite common upon or near the island," and that the provisional map which accompanied his report to the Secretary of the Navy in 1881 is the only one available. From our reproduction of this map, and from the report of the Rodgers, it will be seen that practically the whole interior of the island still awaits exploration. Estimates of its size vary between twenty-eight and forty miles as to width, and between sixty-five and seventy-five as to length. Striking an average, one might say that it contains about twenty-five hundred square miles of territory. The distance across Long Strait from the nearest point on the Siberian coast is about eighty-five or ninety miles, and Herald Island lies about thirty miles east of Wrangell Land.