their respective names are next in size.

* * * * *

Climate.

The climate of the islands, being under the influence of the warm
Japan current, is much milder than upon the coast of the mainland
opposite. I found vegetation more advanced at Massett, and all along
the northern and eastern shores of the islands in April, than at Port
Simpson. It is rarely severely cold, and then only a few days at a
time. Snow falls, according to elevation, from one to five feet in
depth, and remains upon the mountain tops until late in summer, and in
a few deep gorges on their northern slopes throughout the year. It not
infrequently reaches down to the coast, but then generally disappears
in a short time. The temperature is equable, the extreme heat of
summer seldom exceeding seventy-five degrees, Fahrenheit. During the
months of April, May and June, the thermometer ranged from forty deg.,
at 5 A.M., to about sixty-five deg., in the middle of the day. I kept
no record later than June, having loaned my instrument to a vessel,
whose barometer had become useless. The annual rainfall varies
according to local topography, from forty-five inches to seventy-five
inches, the west coast, especially at the heads of the inlets,
receiving much the largest amount, and the north and eastern portions
of Graham Island the minimum. There were about fifty-five, clear days
in the months of June, July and August of the past season, which I was
informed was about an average one in that respect. Throughout the
winter months the sky is almost continuously overcast, one rain
storm--frequently accompanied, especially on the west coast, by
violent gales--succeeding another, with but few and short intervals of