GEOGRAPHY OF ALASKA.	267
and a half fathoms may be carried well up into the Cove, until opposite the boat-house. This is the best place for small vessels. The rise and fall of tides in the Cove will not average over four feet. The second tide is very uncertain, and sometimes hardly perceptible. They all depend much upon the wind. A strong north wind will sometimes diminish the depth of water by six feet in twenty-four hours, and a strong south wind may raise the water three or four feet in the same time. Vessels coming in to the Cove should keep well off shore until past Egg Island. The small cove where boats land is full of rocks, and care should be taken to avoid one which lies directly in the middle of the en-trance. Fresh fish, game, or deer meat can usually be obtained here by vessels. Good water can be obtained directly on the shore of the mainland, in a small rocky cove opposite the Re-doubt.
The shores of Norton Sound, trending eastwardly and northeastwardly to Tolstoi Point, are rocky, and present no boat harbors or good landing-places. A few — the Major's Cove, Kegiktowruk Cove, and a cove near the mouth of the Gols6va River—afford some protection for skin boats. Beyond, and close under Tolstoi Point, small vessels will find protection from south and southeast winds, in four fathoms, sandy bottom. Beyond we have a narrow sandy beach, covered to the base of the perpendicular bluffs at high water. Off the mouth of the Unalaklik River extensive shoals prevail, but three miles off shore five fathoms may be obtained. The fort at the mouth of the river, according to Kashevaroff, is in lat. 63° 52' 36" and lon. 161° 51' 54". North-northwest from the fort lies Besborough Island, in lat. 64° o6' 30" and lon. 161° 07'. This is probably too far east, and neither of the above positions can be relied upon.
Inside of Besborough Island, anchorage may be obtained in four fathoms in northerly and easterly weather. The water near the shores and in the greater part of Norton Bay is very shallow ; hardly deep enough for boats in the head of the bay. Cape Denbigh on the east and Cape Darby on the west form the heads. Numerous shallow rivers empty into the bay. The country east of Norton Sound and Bay rises into rolling hills from five to fifteen hundred feet in height. West of Cape Darby is Golofnina Bay, named by Etolin from the vessel in which he