about six o'clock
A few minutes afterwards the whale returned to the surface -- dead . From every side the birds flew down on to the carcass , and their cries were enough to deafen a congress . The `` Albatross , '' without stopping to share in the spoil , resumed her course to the west . In the morning of the 17th of June , at about six o'clock , land was sighted on the horizon . This was the peninsula of Alaska , and the long range of breakers of the Aleutian Islands . The `` Albatross '' glided over the barrier where the fur seals swarm for the benefit of the Russo-American Company . An excellent business is the capture of these amphibians , which are from six to seven feet long , russet in color , and weigh from three hundred to four hundred pounds .