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V^/.

SHORES AND ALPS

OF.

ALASKA.

BAI.LANTVNB, HANSON AND CO.
KUINBURUH ANU I.ONUON

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HORi;S AND ALPS

A L A S K A

H W. SETON KAKH, F.R.G.S. ''

ETC. ■

'vWitb 3UajtraUoii6 aio Cwo /Bbaps?

LONDON:
:0N' LOW, MARSTQN, SEARLE, & RIVIXGTON,
CROWN BU1U.ING.S, m FLEET SFREET, E.G.

1SS7

SHORES AND ALPS

ALASKA

H. W. SETON KARR, F.R.G.S.

ETC.

TKlitb illustrations anj) ;rwo Aaps

LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,

CROWN BUILDINGS, i88 FLEET STREET, E.C,

1887

[All rights resened]

155128

— ^ To / ) ^/<^) ^/- 1^

ll.

PREFACE.

The clearest and simplest manner of deseribing a
journey of exploraf ic a, of sport, or of adventure? is
often in the form of the original diary-penned 'm
situ from day to day in the tent, the forest, or the
canoe, on the shore, the glacier, or the mountain
side. Such a book does this profess to be, having
the merits, if it has the defects, of an instantaneous
word-photograph, rather than of a carefully elabo-
rated work of art.

When, as the New York Times Expedition to
Alaska, and as the first explorers who had ever
landed on that stern coast, we made our attempt
upon Mount St. Elias, our combined aljnnism was
insignificant. Our experience had been gleaned
from divers places. Lieutenant Schwatka had tra-
velled in the Arctic, Professor Libbey in Colorado,
and the writer had mountaineered in the Alps. An
expedition comprisir.g Swiss guides, or consisting
of experienced climbers, would be more successful."

PREFACE.

The interior of the mysterious Kenai Peninsula,
and the regions between the Yukon River and
Cook's Inlet, are as yet unknown and unexplored,
with the exception of the Tannanah, which was
descended by Lieutenant Allen.

As the first explorer in the footsteps of Cook to
make the circuit of the coast northwards from Cape
Spencer, or the canoe journey from Kaiak to Prince
William Sound, the writer has attempted to de-
scribe a country which will soon become better
known.

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CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC BY THE NEW RAILWAY
ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

"Wimnpe^'-Medicine Ilat-TIie liiiflalo extinct-Calgary and
Fort Mucleod— The Cattle-rancliing Industry— An Excur-
sion to the Canadian National Park— Tlie Hot Springs-
Alone at Devil's Lake— The Peaks near the Kicking Horse
—Golden City-The Big Bend-Peaks of tlie Selkirks-
Rogers Pass— The Loops-Second Crossing of the Cohunhia
—Western Notices-Over tlie Eagle- We travel on a Hand-
car— Forest Fires— ShiiswapLake-Tlie Farming Country—
Kandoops Lake— Canons of the Thompson and the Fraser—
Off for Alaska— TJie Neio York Times Expedition— Game
and Aspects of Vancouver Island— The Early Navigators—
Nanaimo — Esquimault — The Indians -The Chinese —
Climate of Victoria— Elk, Blacktail, Salmon-trout, and
Mountain Goats

CHAPTER L
Northwards from Victoria-The Great Sea-River, or the Inland
Passage— Nanaimo— Tongass—Metlakathi -The Skeena
River— Cape Fox— Loring-Wrangel— Tlie Taku Inlet—
Juneau— Chilcat and Chilcoot— Glacier Bay— Muir's Glacier
—Sitka or NeNv Archangel-A Fishing and Shooting Ex-
cursion— The Fourth of July at Sitka

CHAPTER IL
From Sitka to the Alaskan Alps-The U.S.S. P/n^a -Mount
Fairweather— Arrival at Yakata^-The Mount St. Elias
range— Tlie Yakatat Indians— Ti.e Swedish Traders —
Indian Cnriositics-The Man-o'-War at the Village— Iiitor-
views with the Chief ....

PiBI!

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

We leave Yakatat for Icy Bay— Landing in the Surf— Tlie Rase
Camp— Strawberries and Boar-Trails — The Start for Mount
St. Elias— Fording a Glacial Torrent— A Mighty Stream —
The Quicksands — A Mountainous Moraine Overgrown with
Forest — An Icc-bi^ried River ... ...

CHAPTER IV.

Waiting by the Ice —The Indians Return for more Provisions —
A vast Moraine overgrown with Trees and Resting upon
Moving Ice — Parted from the Guides — Stopped by a Lake
of Bergs — We Separate to find a Way — A Dammed-up
Torrent Breaks out afresh — Gradual Burial of a Forest
Island — Loss of tlie Professor — Fire, Ice, and Water — We
Start again — More Ghicial . akes and the Great Tyudall
Glacier — The Fifth Camp reached — I'reparations for the
Final Ascent 83

CHAPTER V.

The Ascent of Mount St. Elias — Dang3rous Crevasses— We are
Roped — The Ascent — I reach 6800 Feet over Snow-line- A
Bear close to Camp — A Description of the Mountain — The
Return to Icy Bay— Quicksands — Three Bears Killed— An
Attempt to Launch our Whaleboat through the Surf — We
Swamp at Midnight loi

CHAPTER VI.

A Fresh Attempt to Pass the Surf of Icy Bay — Abandonment
of our Possessions — Skirting the Shore — Crossing Yakatat
Bay — We camp by the Indian Village— Haggling with the
Natives, or "Chin-music" — Our Life at Yakatat — An Attempt
to Recover the Abandoned Property — The Kaiak Traders
arrive in their Schooner — Poisoning of the Indians with
Arsenic— Murder of George Holt — The Chief Medicine-
Man — I leave Yakatat— The Neiv York Timen Expedition
waits for the Man-o'-War — Becalmed— Shooting Seals — A
Sea-otter Hunt— Cape Yagtag— A Wild Stern Coast-line-
Another enormous Glacier — Life on the Schooner — Cape
Suckling — Cape Martin — Kaiak Island ....

119

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

^™i*\** ^^^''■V'^ ^'''=«"'« "■ Naval Oflicer-Hauling in Dog.
FisJi-The Hunter's Home and tlie Indian Villacre-Tlie
Tame Bear-T .yo Nonvegians on Cape Suckling-How the
Bear came for thcm-The Habits of the Sea-Otter-Visiting
the Indian Hovels-I become an Admiral, and the Chief is
presented to me-The Weather chan-'es

144

CHAPTER VIII.
We are forced to stop at Martin Point-Raw Salmons' Noses-
A Bear shot-A Drunken Indian Village- Sliding over the
Mud of the Copper River Delta-The Squaw kills a Salmon
-C^mp on an Island-Estuary of the Copper River-Camp
on Hawkins Islands-The Indians Washing-Caught in i
Gale-Salmon-fishing Extraordinary -Descriptiovi of an
Alaskan Scene-Captain Cook in Prince Williar. Sound-
\V c arrive at Nuchuk

162

CHAPTER IX.

Our Life at Nuchuk-A Native Ball-The Natives start on a
Sea-Otter Hunt in Bidarkies-Dcscription of a Bidarkv-
Clin.bing after Grouse-Millions of Salmon-Spearing and
Hooking them-Salmon-Drying-Our Russian Bath- A
Description of Nuchuk and the Game and Food of Prince
William Sound-How the Natives Live, and how the Alaska
Commercial Company of San Francisco Trades with theni-
The Natives as Captain Cook found them

182

CHAPTER X.

Life with the Indians on the Copper River .

200

CHAPTER XI.
Waiting at Nuchuk in Prince William Sound-The Indians
refuse to move- We prepare to Winter there- The First
Snow-Sport at Nuchuk-The Ducks, Grouse, and Geese-
Ihe Schooner arrives at last-Chenega and tiie Coast of the
Kenai Peninsula-A Gale-We reach Kodiak-Fearful
Murder at our Supper-table-A Terrible Passage to San
Francisco— Homewaids again ....

222

wmmm

CONTENTS.

APPENDIX.

The Fur Trade of Alaska-Fur-seals-irair-seals-Sca-Lions-
Sea-otters-Prospects of tlio Fur Trade a Century a-o as
estimated by Cook-Tlie Varieties of Foxes-Black and
Brown Bears-TheirPursuit-TheLynx, Polar Bear, Marten,
Cariboo, Moose, Sheep, and Goat-Prince William Sound
and Its Indians-A Description of Cook's Inlet and its
Shores-The Fur-trading Stores-The Volcanoes- Cape
Douglas -A Description of the Alaskan Peninsula, its
bettlements, Game, and Mountains-Unexplored Alaska-
Future Sporting Expeditions-A Chugamute Vocabulary .

234

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Mount St. Elias, nearly 20,000 feet in l,ei-l.t ; from Yakatit n-,v
^li^tant over fifty miles (F;.o«</.;„W). ^ ^ ■^'^'^t-vt Ua J ,

The Pass across the Rocky Mountains . .
The Devil's Lake .... " " "

Castle Mountain an.l the Canadian Xat'ional' Park
1 he View from the Hot Springs ... ' '

Cathedral Mountain "

Crossi^ng the Selkirks ; ti.e Source of t'he lileciliewa;t and the

hist Glaciernear the summit of tiie Ro-ers Pass
Rooms to Let .... ' '

How we crossed the Eagle TVs over 'the Cold'Ran.^e ou tl

Canad.an Pacific Railway, British Columbia "

Vale, the Gateway to tiie Canons of the Fraser ' "

Nanaimo .... ' " "

Indian Tlinkit Carvings on the Pacific Coast * " '

Stopping to Coal at Nanaimo, Vancouver's L.lai.d

An Indian Totem Pole at Fort Wran^el

AtHowkan .... " • • • .

Taku Iidet

The Gold Mine on Douglas I.sland . " ' '
Chilcat . ,

• • •

Eagle Glacier

Davidson Glacier . . . , "

Sitka and Mount Edgcumbe . . " "

A Young Bear for Five Dollars

He " means business, though it is all f„r pleasure ''• " '
Blacktail

The Final Heat . ....'"■■

The Judge practises the Cliinook Lan.'ua^e * " ' '

Mount Vancouver, 13,100 feet . • • • .

The Village of the Yakatat Indian's

Spirit Maslcs from the Yakatat Indian Sorce'rer's Grave "

The Start for Mount St. Elias . . '"« .

Mount Cook, 16.000 feet, from the Tyndall Glacie'r ' '

Irying to ascend Mount St. Elias . . . " *

The Professor ... • • • .

VAoa

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10

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18
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21

26
27
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35
36
37
39
40

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99

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126

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XIV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAOB

A Yakatat Medicine Man 29

The St. Eliivs Alps, the third highest range in the worhl, viewe..

from the westward 141

Cape St. Elias . . 143

The schooner Three Brothers 145

Kaiak 147

Indian Hovels at Kaiak 157

Klok-Shegees in his " Sturo " Clothing 159

At Martin Point 163

August 22d, 5 A.M., looking north-west 169

A Man of Oodiak 170

August 22d, I r.M 171

How the Trees grow in Alaska . . . . . . • '73

Nuchuk— The Baidars or Baiderars of the Copjier River Indians 183

Nuchuk— Tlie Russian Church 184

Bidarkies 185

A Dog-Salmon 191

Jawbone of a Dog-Salmon 192

Nuchuk— Our Home for Two Montlis 193

Prince William Sound, Alaska, with Nuchuk Harbour . •194

A Man of Oodiak 195

An Alaskan Indian Halibut Hook 196

At Nuchuk — Gustia, once a Slave-Boy 223

Sett-Shoo, a Boy of Oodiak 225

Knight's Island, from five miles north of Chenega, looking cast . 227

Part of the Kcnai Peninsula, from Chenega 228

MAPS AND PLANS.

General Map of Alaska and British Columbia, showing the

Author's Route.
Plan of the Route taken by the New York Times Expedition

from Icy Bay to Mount St. Elias and back .... 87
Map of Alaska, from Unpublished Sources, showing Volcanoes,

Fur- trading Stations, Indian Villages, and Game Districts . 237

From the land of the aurora,

Land untrodden by explorer,

Land of mystery and terror,

Peaks unsealed and seas unfathomed ;

From the land of seal and otter.

Land of ptarmigan and penguin.

Land of white wolf and of walrus.

Land of silver fox and ermine,

Land of Yukon, land of Thlinkit.

Land of avalanche and glacier.

Land of midnight sun and silence.

Came a strange and thrilling story ;

Came a story of the battle

With the iceberg and the tempest.

With the torrent and the breaker,

W'ith the storm cloud and the north wind

Howling wolf-life through the gorges ;

Came the story of the secrets

Wrested from the sullen river,

Wrested from the gloomy mountain.

From the forest and the chasms.

Secrets locked away for ages ;

Came this legend, strange and simple.

Full oi promise, full of treasure

For the unborn generation ;

Came this legend of achievement

In the mii,hty land-ALASKA.

New York Times.

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SHORES AND ALPS
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ALASKA.

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WNDOH : SAMPSON LOW, MAB3T0N le 00.

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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

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INTRODUCTION.

FROM TIIK ATLANTIC TO THE I'ACIFIC IJY THE NEW
llAILWAY ACROSS TFIE KOCKV MOUNTAINS.

Winnipeg' — Medicine Hat— Tlio I'lifValo extinct — Calj^ary and Fort
Macle(jd — The Cattle-ranch inj; Industry — An Excursion to the
Canadian Nati(jnal Park— The Hot Sprinj,'s — Ah)ne at Devil's
Lake— The Peaks near the Kickinj^ Horse— Oohlen City — The
Pi^r Bend— Peaks uf the Selkirk.s— Poj^ers Pass— Tlie Loops-
Second Crossing' of tlio Columbia — Western Notices— Over the
Eaj^le — We travel on a Hand-car — Forest Fires — Sliuswap
Lake — Tlie Farming Country— Kaniloops Lake— Canons of the
Thomjison and the Eraser — Olf for Alaska — The iVew Vurk
Times Expedition — (Same and Aspects uf Vancouver Island —
The Early Navigators — Nanaimo — ^. .luimuult — The Indians —
The Chinese— Climate of Victoria — Elk, Blacktail, Salmon -
trout, and Mountain Goats.

AnoAiu) T/ie Aiirnn (bound for Sitka,
Alaska), June ifth, 1886.

We have just completed our journey from the

Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, as some of the very

first through passengers by the new Canadian

Pacific Railway. It has occupied nearly one

month, partly because the line is not yet com-

t SIlOltES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

pletely "opened up" for traffic; across the moun-
tuiiiH ; there is still a gap of some miles near the
summit of the Eagle Pass (over the ( Johl or Coast
range), which we traversed on a " hand-ear." Four
thousand men are still working upon the Rogers
Pass (over the Selkirk range), and the portion of
the line from Kamloops westward to the sea has
not yet been "given over" by the contractor, who
is, however, running passenger trains over it. But
in a few weeks the continent can be crossed from
Montreal to Vancouver in five ihiys and fourteen
hours, and this will ])e further reduced to a five
days' transit. It will be the longest journey
known on any railway in the world (2900 miles).

After leaving INIontreal the line passes through
a wooded country by Lake Nipissing and the nor-
thern rocky shores of Lakes Huron and Superior
to Winnipeg. The latter lies at the edge of the
more thickly timbered country. From this point,
the broad and almost level and treeless prairie
stretches westward to the base of tlie Rocky
Mountains. This great mountain-range approaches
nearer the Pacific coast in British Columbia than
is the case in the States ; nor are there in the
former such extensive foothills on its eastern slopes.
Hence, as we approached Calgary and left the level

THE CANADIAN CATTLK COUNTRY. |

plains for the most part behind us, tlie Rockies
rose suddenly and more markedly from the table-
lands, which are 1300 miles in breadth.

AVestward from Uegina little of interest is passed,
the most important places being Moose-jaw (the
abbreviation of a long Indian name), and Medicine
Hat (after an Indian conjuror), generally called
" The llat." The country gradually changes from a
desolate region of poor lands to a good ranching
and cattle-breeding prairie reaching to the very
foot of the Rockies. The surface is still covered
with trails and the whitening bones of buffaloes.
The collection of the latter forms quite an industry.
It is but a few years since this region was alive
with the buffalo in the herds of thousands ; the
price offered for their hides has been the cause of
their extermination by Indian and white hunters.

I stayed some days at Calgary, the chief town
of Alberta, while L. and F. drove south to Fort
Macleod. Calgary and Fort Macleod are the head-
centres of the great cattle ranches and stock-raisinir
industr}' of Canada. The extensive Indian reserves
which the Government has to supply with beef (in
place of the buffalo, now no more in existence)^
f "m a good local market.

The public lands are leased as cattle ranches on

4 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

lil)eral terms. One hundred thousand acres can
be included in a single lease at two cents an acre
for twenty-one years. The best grass is found
here and the purest water of any of the cattle-
raising districts of tlic west.

Though only two years old, Calgary boasts two
mayors and two rival town councils. AVe had
expected to find some trout-fishing in the Bow

■^r^ '-** *

The Pass across tho Rocky Moimtiiins.

river, but the water is discoloured and thick from
June till September from the melting snows.

A couple of days after arriving, I had the oppor-
tunity of joining the " first excursion ever offered
to the people of Alberta" to the proposed " Cana-
dian National Pai-k " in the heart of the Rocky
Mountains.

From Calgary the line follows the course of the

FRO>r CALCJARY TO THE NATIONAL PARK. 3

Bow river as it issues from the portals of the
range, to its source near the summit of the Kickin.r
Horse Pass. Jagged and scarred as are the liigh
m.^untains on either side of the valley of the Bow,
yet they give the impression of liaving been turned
out of Dame Nature's workshop only just long
enough to allow the pines to grow upon their steep
slopes. Never were strata left contorted with such
regular irregularity, or mountains formed which
gave evidence of such terrifying convulsions, for
they stand in regular rows of cliffs and pinnacles.

It was the Queen's birthday. We swept along
at a rate of thirty miles an hour through wild
rocky scenery, stationed upon a kind of open
" Observation car," together with the brass band,
which played selections as we proceeded.

As seen from Calgary the range seems broken
into the most fantastic shapes, from The Devil's
Head in the north (which resembles the Matter-
liorn with the top broken off) to Mount Head in
the south.

It was said that when the summit of The Devil's
Head should fall (which has occurred), the country
would pass from the possession of the Stony
Indians into that of the white man.

The people of this tribe are described as reliable

mmm

6 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

and honest ; they have their villages at Morley,
and are expert as hunters and mountaineers. They
had just departed for their summer's hunting
trip, or we should have taken a couple of them
with us.

Almost within sight of Calgary lies the Gap, as
the gateway into the mountain valley of the Bow
is named. The bold and eccentric contours of the

The Devil's Lake.

mountain walls on either hand increase as one
advances nearer to the summit of the Pass.

At Banff I remained till joined by L. and F.,
camping some miles off at The Devil's Lake for
four days entirely alone.

The Rocky JNIountains do not on the whole offer
good trout-fishing. The Bow river from June till
August is charged with muddy snow-water. How-

THE DEVIL'S LAKE. -

ever, as every one agreed that at Tlie Devil's Lake
the water would be clear, and that it was sur-
rounded by high mountains rarely visited and
never ascended, I decided to visit it, and got a
man and a pack-horse to deposit me there after a
dangerous crossing of the swollen Devil's Creek.

No ripple either of breeze or moving fin * broke
the glassy surface of The Devil's Lake, which
reflected the mountains round in water of such a
deep nzure blue, as to be almost sufficiently un-
canny to account for its name, without taking into
consideration the gloomy precipices which "over-
hang its sides.

In front of my tent by the edge of the lake stood,
or rather tottered, a withered tree which might have
been the veritable Upas Tree, for not a living thing
was discernible around.

Only the curious cries of a few wild-fowl lu'oke
the silence of the nights, sounding almost human,
like preconcerted signals of Indians to attack the
camp of the solitary white man. Once or twice a
humming-bird hovered and poised itself overhead,
and then darted away, startling me with the sudden
noise of its wings.

From a summit five thousand feet above the lake

* Later in tlie season a 27 lb. trout was cau-ht

!91»!

wmam

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

an extensive panorama was visible of the Rocky
Mountains, two of the pe.iks being counterparts
of the Schreckhorn and Finsteraarhorn.

Castlo Mountain and Tho Canadian National Park.

Bears are unusually numerous this season, and
have been seen lately near both of the hot springs
in the Park ; and on one occasion by some ladies

^<M

Tho View from tho Hot Springs.

who are camping near the upper springs, and who
informed me that they were much terrified, and
had discontinued their walks in the neighbourhood.

CAVERN UK THE HOT SI'RINCS. ,^

The attmctioiis of the district, without in any
way rivalling the American Yellowstone National
Park, consist, in addition to the mountain scenery,
which is remarkal>le, of two sets of warm springs
and of some falls or rapids of the Bow river. The
more elevated of tlie springs command a wide
view, while the lower ones are more curious in
character. The largest is entirely sul.terranean, in
a dome-shaped cavern which one enters by means
of a ladder from the summit. On the floor is a
pool with a sandy bottom through which the warm
waters bubble up. When one's eyes get accustomed
to the gloom it can be seen that the water makes
its exit as mysteriously as it entered.

At first I was alone ; but afterwards a rough-
looking man made his appearance, and offered to
take charge of my rifle while I descended. It was
thought well to decline.

In full view from Banff on the south side lies
Castle Mountain, or Cascade Peak; castellated
terraces of rock encircle its summit like impassable
walls.

Higher yet lie jMounts Lefroy, Stephen and
Hector, and Goat Peak ; and on the north a curious
rocky fortress guards the summit of the Pass-
Cathedral Mountain.

•■^- ^tt j IIW L-.

mm^ssmm

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

After The Devil's Lake our next camping-place
was to be Golden City, where we were to find
the small steamer which }ias been started on the
Columbia by an enterprising ex-naval officer.

At the top of the Pass the scenery is of the most

Cathedral Mountain.

rugged description, and the sensational character
of the engineering increases as one commences the
rapid descent towards the Columbia River.

Grand pines and thick undergrowth, rushing
mountain torrents, and extensive vistas of peak and
valley form an ever-varying and wild landscape.

TO GOLDEN CITY.

The view of bleak and jagged crests overhead
against the sky, and of steep pine-covered moun-
tain slopes stretching out below, rocky and
avalanche-swept, contrast with the bare expanses
of r.ver-channels on the broad valley-bottoms at
their foot.

Grand, yet peaceful compared with the wild
scenery of The Devil's Lake, is the view of the wide
wooded valley of the great Columbia River as it
bursts suddenly into view at Golden City, bounded
on the west side by the snowy Selkirks, and on
the east by the main range of the Rockies which
we had just crossed.

The twin sources of the Columbia are fed by the
snows of the Western slopes of the Rocky Moun-
tains. The main river flows northward for nearly
two hundred miles, makes a loop, known as the
Big Bend, round the Selkirk range, and retraces
its course southwards, flowing through Oregon to
the Pacific.

Through its loop the Columbia drains both sides
of the Selkirks, the two portions of the river being
barely fifty miles apart. But only within the last
three years was an accessiljle pass discovered over
the range, and called the Rogers Pass after the
explorer.

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

It is a region ricli in minerals, timber, and game.
Ten millions sterling- worth of "(Ad alone has been

o o

obtained by plaeer-mining from the Ijeds of the
rivers. The timber has been lavishly used in the
construction of the rnihvav. JNIountain Creek, for
example, is jrossed by a trestle bridge 176 feet
high and 600 feet long, while the bridge at Stoney
Creek is l)elieved to l)e the highest timber railway
bridge in the world, being 296 feet in height and
450 feet in length.

The game is very shy, being much hunted by
the Indians.

Leaving Golden City, where we camped for
four days, the line passes Donald and follows
alongside 'Jie river, whose curves form grand
amphitheatres of rock rising thousands of feet
overhead. The line soon enters Beaver Canon,
which it follows almost to the summit of the pass.
Avalanches are numerous in winter, and to guard
against them many miles of snow-sheds are being
built. On both sides of the summit rise Mount
Carrol (9560 feet) and Mount Hermit (8990),
named from a rock near the latter which appears
like a monk. The Selkirks as well as the Rockies
proper arc remarkable for the fantastic shapes of
their summits. One forms a perfect pyramid,

THK SELKIRK UAN(iK.

another resembles an old woman wearing a nightcap.
The highest mountain of the Selkirk ran^e i.s 1 1,000
feet, and lies south of the pass. It was named Syn-

rs
Is

Crossing the Selkirks ; the Source of the Illeeillewjiet im.l the first
CihiL'iur near the summit of the Honors Pass.

dicate Peak, but the Canadian Pacific Railwa}' Com-
pany have named it Mount Sir Donald. The Ille-
cillewaet River rises in a glacier near it, and flows

I' -]l

14 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

westward from the summit of tlie pass into the
Columbia. The railway as it descends follows
along its banks. Close by at the mouth of the
gorge from which it issues are the " loops " of
the Canadian Pacific Railway, like the circular
tunnels of the St. Gothard. Supported by large
timber trestles, the line makes six loops and
several curves one below the other, all in full
view, and running for six miles, descends 600 feet,
but advances meantime only two miles. Ille-
cillewaet is an Indian word meanino; "roarinfj
torrent," and the stream is everywhere of that
character, and flows in a deep and tortuous ravine.
Douglas pines are now seen for the first time.
Twenty miles from the Columbia lies the Albert
Canon, with a fall of 2co feet. As we approach
the Columbia, Mount Begbie is seen towering over
the river opposite to the settlement of Farwell,
the name of which has lately been changed to
Revelstoke. The Gold Range is the next to be
passed.

Where can one see more original inscriptions
than in a western town ? " Cleanliness is next
to godliness, therefore go and wash at Johnson's
bath-house on the river ;" or " Nip and tuck shop ;"
or ''Rooms to let" painted on a small battered

THE (;OLD IIANGE. ,,

tent; or a car with tl.is notice-"/ am full of
James' machines, hurnj me along, farmers arc
ivaitinrj all along the line."

TJie Jine crosses tlie Columbia once more for the
last time, and enters tlie Eagle Pass, 1996 feet
above the Pacific. We had to pass the night
at Farwell, and found our large amount of im^^edi^
menta a nuisance. Owing to the number of bad

-'lj.>i

cWaete prowling about .luring tl,o construction
of the hne (many persons l,uve lately been '■ held
"P by then,), we thought it right to sleep iu the
waggon with our baggage, an,l went on ne.xt day
m a construction train filled with workmen to the
op of the pass. Here we were transferred on to
a tro ly and then on to a " hand-car," which had
to be burlt out with planks to give us standing

SHOHKS AM) A LI'S OF ALASKA.

room. Tlie propelling gciir wjih worked l>y Cliiua-
men, iiumberH of whom are employed on the line,
who .secme<l to find it hard work " pumpin*,' " us

along.

C'^^^.-

JfT^ M^ {..-If

■<r - , , , /

IIow wo crossed tlio En^'lo I'ass over the Gold l>unf,'o on tlio
Ciinadiuu I'licilic Itailwny, Uritish C'oluinliiii.

There are a few snow-capped peaks in the Gold
Eange, but they are lower than the Rockies and
Selkirks, which seem as thougli just turned out
from Vulcan's laboratory. The summits of the
former appear to l)e more worn and rounded. In
many places the forest fires have caused great
devastation. Here and there notices are posted
relative to the penalties incurred by those who
are guilty of setting the wood on fire, but the
origin of these fires is often most mysterious. The
damper climate of the Pacific slopes will prevent

FAUMlNd LANDS OF lUUTlSll COLUMHIA.

«7

the enormous damnge wliii^h has occurred in many
parts of the States.

At Griffin Lake there is fair trout-fishing. The
settlers informed us that there are throe kinds of
fish. Reindeer were shot hist winter on open park
lands above, whi(.'h are unseen as one passes through
the valley below.

■ Crossing the Shuswap Lakes at Sikamous Nar-
rows, we passed the night at the small hotel, the
proprietor of which said he had campaigned with
General Gordon in China. We hail now reached
a fine farming and ranching region comparatively
well settled and populated, besides being a good
hunting country, dry, hilly, and open.

It is as though a corner of the so-called great
American Desert had been thrust into the south
end of British Columbia, having its apex near
Cariboo (the mail from which place has lately been
"held up" and robbed).

This part is dotted with yellow pine ; it can be
traversed without trails, and forms the grazinir
ground of British Columbia.

The hired " cow-boys " on the ranches are mostly
Shuswap Indians or Siwashes.

We took the steamboat, first up the ^jpellu-
macheen River, where we had a curious old

mmmm

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

" coloured person " with large spectacles as steward.
His eyes, he said, " were tired of the world, and
didn't want to see no more of it." Passing through
peaceful agricultural scenery, we crossed the lakes
to Kamloops at the junction of the North and
South Thompson Rivers.

Yale— The Gateway to the Caflons of the Fraser.

Kamloops Lake is twerty miles in length.

It is here that the scenery of the Thompson
River Canon commences. Good trout-fishinff can
be had where the river leaves the lake. The
Fraser and the Thompson River— the chief water-
courses of British Columbia — meet at Lytton, and
the stream now takes the name of the former.

^*5l,

THE START FOR ALasKA. ,9

Startling as was tlie ride through the Canons of
the Tiiornpson, Jiigli above the wild torrent, acu-oss
fissures and tlirough cliffs,, that through the Canons
of the Fraser River was still more striking. The
rock) sides rise for thousands of feet like solid
walls. The river runs at racehorse speed, while
the railway is a succession of trestle bridges and
tunnels, very costly to construct. The gorge ends
at the small town of Yale.

The valley now widens out into ilat forest and
pasture land, with distant views of the coast ranges
We found the steamer at Port Hammond -a few
hours from Victoria.

Vancouver is to be the terminus, 2900 miles
west of Montreal, but it was burnt to the ground
a couple of days ago, and will have to be rebuilt.

As the Ancou had just arrive.l from Portlan<l
Oregon, tliere was no time for delay at Victoria, and
I embarked alone the next day for Sitka, Alaska
en route for the Alpine regions lying south-east of
Pnnce William Sound, and with the intention of
at least seeing, if not of endeavouring to make
the ascent of some of the Alps in the unexplore<l
and unknown country of Mount ^t. Elias (.0000
feet), hitherto considered the highest mountain in
North Ameri<.a. I found on board a party of two

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

bound for the same spot, sent out l)y tlie New
York Times, composed of Lieutenant F. Sclnvatka,
late 9tli U.S. Cavalry, and leader of tlie American
Expedition to King William Land, and Professor
W. Libbey of Princeton College. The island of
Vancouver, named after George Vancouver, once a
midshipman under Captain Cook, and afterwards
the earliest explorer and surveyor of the coasts

Nanaimo.

of British Columbia from 30° N. latitude uj) t >
Russian territory, is 275 miles long and 85 miinL
broad, with mountains rising to 6000 feet. The
settled portions and those fit for agriculture lie
round Victoria and round Nanaimo Mines, the
great coaling place.

Victoria was once, over thirty ye'\r^ ago, a ; i^st
of the Hudson Bay Company, an^ grew iul-. n
settlement during the Fraser River gold " boom."

lie
the

post

lorn.

Indian Tlinkit Carving's on the Pacific Coast.

VICTORIA, THE ISLANDS AND THE INDIANS.

The railwcay from Victoria to Nanaimo will very
soon be completed. Westward of Victoria lien the
splendid i.arbour of Esquimault, used as a naval
station by Her Majesty's ships. Victoria Harbour
itself is small but excellent.

The seaward shores of Vancouver Island are
very rocky and indented, and inhabited l)y a dis-
solute race of Indians. The Hydahs and tlie Timp-
seans were once great warriors, and use 8o-foot
canoes, carved out of a single Douglas fir-tree.
Wild as the Vancouver Indians are, they are not
by any means so depraved as are the uncivilised
Queen Charlotte Islanders further north, living in
islands almost entirely unexplored and unvisiled.
Many of the Vancouver Indians are employed in
the Fraser River salmon-canneries, and are re-
spectable sons of the Church.

The Chinese have invaded British Columbia
with the same determination with which they have
settled in California. Most of tlie domestic ser-
vants m Victoria are Chinamen.

As the last view one will have for a long time
of the luxuries and ultra^comforts of civilisation,
one gazes regretfully at the pretty villas with'
verandahs overgrown by creepers, and surrounded
by gardens with luxuriant fruit and vegetables, in

liMB

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

this semi-tropical climate. From March to No-
vember is a perpetual spring, while in winter the
thermometer rarely falls below 40°.

Fair sport can be had on the northern and
central parts of Vancouver Island in September
and October with the wapiti, or American elk,
and at any time during the season with the black-
tail, or Virginian deer [Cervus Columhianus), which
is found on all the islands northwards. In July
and August the salmon will take a bait such as
spoon-bait, notwithstanding all that has been said
to the contrary, although they do not care for a
fly. Trout can of course be caught with fly. On
the mainland white mountain-goats can be found,
and sometimes a few bears.

! I

CHAPTER I.

N orthwards from Victoria-The Great Sea-River, or the I.land
Passage-Nanain.o-Tongas.s_Metlakatla-The Skeena River
-Cape Fox-Lori„g_Wra,>gel-T]ie Taku Inlet-Juneau-
Clnlcat ami Chilcoot-GIacier Bay-.Muir's Glacier-Sitka or

^ew Archangel-A Fishing an.l Shooting Excursion-The

J^ourth of July at Sitka.

Sitka, Alaska, July 8th, 1886.
The province of British Columbia is no longer an
unknown or uncared-for part of the British Empire.
A new pathway, by the completion of the Canadian
Railway, has brought her within a fortnight's jour-
ney of the mother country. Her gold and silver,
her cattle and timber, fisheries and agriculture'
and treasures of undeveloped wealth are teaching
the nation that she is a land of giant future post
sibilities.

America's recent purchase, Alaska, will perhaps
feel the benefit and will become a po^.-ssion of
increasing value.

The Pacific Coast Company's steamers make
fortnightly trips during the summer up to Sitka

SIIOIIKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

by the inland passage. The least remarkable
portions of the journey northwai-ds are during the
first five days. Chic is reminded of the tour usu-
ally made along
the coasts of Nor-
way. But the
(channels and arm-
lets of British Co-
lumbia are nar-
rower, more pro-
tected, dark, and
intricate. The
forests are quite
unbroken, and the
mountains liighei-
and more continu-
ous. Queen Char-
lotte Sound and
part of Dixon
Entrance are the
only portions of
the passage north-
wards not entirely
protected from the heaviest swell from the Pacific
Ocean or the strongest gales of wind. A more
hilly, and at the same time a more densely wooded,

v:i.*;,-5rA --.

stopping to Coal at Nanaimo,
Vancouver's Island.

An Indian Totem Pole at Fort W'ningel.

NORTH WARDS.

country it would I.e l.ard to i,„„j,i„e, cont,.ininJ
!""■'% ono l„.re pioeu of (l„t Kmund, or groun.l of
any kiml not .•ovcrcl l,y spruce or ,„hr.

After leaving Victoria we stuye.l to eoal „t
Nanaimo. Laving tin.e to visit tl,e mines I,y rail
and then steamed .lireet for Fort Tongass on'
Amenean soil, just over tl,e boundary line of
Alaska, leaving all British posts, forts, mines, and
hslieries for Britisli vessels.

Opposite to Fort Tongass on the British side

les Fort Simpson, and near it Mr. Duncan's

Indian Mi.,sion of Metlakatla, which boasts the

organisation almost of a city, with Indian police-

men and even a brass band.

Good wild mountain-goat hunting can be got
from here by ascending the Skeena River, whither
some English sportsmen have lately gone re-
turning in three weeks with eleven. Indeed
the neighbourhood of Cape Fo.x is a great game
country, principally for bears -nd goats. We
ne..t steamed across Dixon iiutrance. where we
liad expected to feel the ocean swell, but were
agreeably disappointed. So light are the summer
n.ghts in these high latitudes, that there is no
stoppmg on the part of the steamer notwithstand-
'ng that there are no lighthouses, and that the

.SlIOUKS AND ALrS OK ALASKA.

(•Imniu'l.s aic luurvolloiisly involvcMl mid intiicatc.
To see wimt: Nuturo ciui do in this rospcct one
.should jilaiico on the cliait at Koii I.shiiid. Ivini;
west of Fort Wraii<^ol, to th(^ .shape of \vlii(;li the
(Joust Survey Coniiui.ssion eouhl find no more
appropriate resembhince than a mass of entrails
thrown upon the jijround. And it is an apt
comparison.

After stopping for an liour at TiOrin<:(, on the
i.sland of llevilla Gigedo, separated from the main-
land by the narrow h)ng channel called Behms
Canal, we passed up the Duke of Clar Straits

in cloudy weather.

Fort Wrangel was our next point of call near the
estuary of the Stikeen River, which was discolouring
the sea for miles with nuiddy snow-water of a low
temperature, the line of junction between the IJue
and the brown being ver}' marked. A mail is
carried from Fort AVrangel b}' canoe to the j\lission
on Prince of Wales Island at Ilowkan.

Fort Wrangel appetirs, in this wild wide land, as
a comparativel}' large village. Indian carved Totem
armorial poles can be seen and Indian curiosities
and wares bought.

After quitting this settlement the narrow Wrangel
Straits were passed by night and another cloudy

m
lei

At Howkan.

sss

^SV(

fc
■^

THE FIRST GLACIERS. 33

morning wliicli followed prevented our seeing some
glaciers, the first which lie close to the route. But
in the afternoon the mountains cleared as we
steamed up Stephens Passage between Admiralty
Island and the mainland. Some of tlie larger

Taku Inlet.

Sootliern Alaskan snoAv fields and glaciers came into
view for the first time as we passed the 'i'aku Inlet
with hold rocky aiguilles^ prominent at its head.

AVhite mountain-goats can l»e found on the
summits near here, but they are much hunted by
the Indians.

SESS^SS

^*M

SKSe!

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

The two young Frenchmen alluded to later on —
Visconte de la R. and M. de la S. — afterwards went
bear-hunting here. One writes to me as follows : —
"Nous avons fait a Taku Inlet un st^jour tres
amusant et, malgrd les conseils de B. et de tous
les naturels du pays, j'ai chasse lours avec mon
petit Winchester, ce qui ne m'a pas mal reussi,
puisque j'en ai tud deux, dont un pesait 600 livres ;

The Gold Mine on Douglas Island,

je crois qu'on nous a trouves uu peu fous dans le
pays."

Close ahead we arrive at Ilarrisburg, alias
Juneau City, a large mining settlement. On
Douglas Island, immediately opposite, and facing
the town, lies the largest mine in Alaska, the Paris
or Treadwell quartz-mills, where gold literally
flows like water. The gold-bearing ledge is like
a quarry 500 feet in width. The ore is not rich,

THE GOLD MINE.

averaging from 9 to 50 dollars per ton ; but the
decomposed quartz is easily pulverised, and the
supply inexhaustible. The amount of profit from
the working of it is kept " dark," and is unknown ;
but it depends largely upon the employment of
Chilcat Indians as labourers, who cost less than
white men.

Three small creeks opposite lead to basins be-

;.*'^;..:-; .^'': '•■■<'-•<'' f-:-;^. ■ ..

„r'-'»-"li/^''.-

ChiJcut,

dias
On

ciug
aris

[•ally
like
L'ieh,

hind the mountains, where rich placer-mines Iwive
been worked for four seasons. The iiuution of
Juneau is beautiful, but the mining population,
together with the Indians camped there form
a rough " hard crowd " of both sexes —

" Every prospect pleases,
And niau alone is vile."

Commercially the most valuable timber found
in the neighbourhood is the red and yellow cedar,

, ^i.\m^i^mgmsmemm

|i \

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

the latter said to be impervious to the teredo or
boring worm ; the white spruce is the common
tree, growing to 1 7 5 feet in height and 6 feet in
diameter.

Lynn's Canal is the long narrow arm that leads
northwards till it divides at the head into the two

... ./V;~J' I i*J^\i.^.'>. V,'^ -■

Ekgle Glacier.

branch inlet.^ of Chilcat (the pass over the moun-
tains leading to the Yukon River), and Chilcoot.
The Eagle Glacier is passed on the right, and
Davidson's Glacier 01: the left, besides many others
of smaller size.

As we rounded the curve of the inlet, the United
States man-o'-war Pinta was seen lying at anchor.

THE U.S. MAN-O'-WAR.

It was half settled that, instead of hiring a schooner,
as had been intended, I should join the New York
Times Alaskan Expedition, which was the bearer
of a recommendation from Secretary Whitney to
the captain of the U.S.S. Pinta, to take the expe-
dition two hundred miles north-west from Cape
Spencer along the unprotected portion of coast as
far as Yakatat Bay, at the foot of the St. Elias Alps.

Davidson Glacier.

and
lers

Glacier Bay— so called from the number of
glaciers which touch the sea, whither they descend
from the southern verge of the frozen regions — is
generally the next point of call. It is the best
opportunity afforded for conveniently inspecting
an Alaskan glacier.

In front of Muir's Glacier, on the eastern shores,
the water is deep up to the very edge of the ice,
which rises like a broken wall, and from which a

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Ml'

f I

I i

i !

shower of icebergs of varied size is constantly
falling into the ocean which laves its foot and
undermines its green and glassy fissures.

This glacier has recently been investigated by
an American scientist. Glacier Bay is thirty miles
long and eight to twelve miles wide. At the mouth
is a cluster of thirty islands named Beardslee, com-
posed of glacial dSbris. The width of the ice
where the glacier breaks through the mountains is
10,664 ^6et, and of the water-front one mile, being
as much as 400 feet high in places. Nine large
and seventeen smaller branches unite to form the
main ice-stream. From measurements and obser-
vations, it appears that a stream of solid ice 5000
feet wide, and 700 feet deep, is entering the sea
at a rate of forty feet per f'ay, in the month of
August.

Not a tree can be seen (and it is almost a relief
after the endless forests of the archipelago) upon
the steep, ice-worn, smooth rocky hills of Glacier
Bay.

In a westerly direction across the inlet, under the
red rays of the setting sun, Mounts Crillon (15,900
feet), Fairweather (15,500 feet), and La P^rouse
appear in dim outline as the mighty vedettes of that
vast icy Switzerland beyond and partly bordering

GLACIER BAY.

the sea, of the presence of which we are aware,
although most of its characteristics are unknown.

When we woke next morning we were passing
through Peril Straits where the Eureka foundered
in the " tide rip " in the narrowest part upon a
rock.

Sitka is prettily situated in a sound about thirty
miles across, and bordered with mountains from

Sitka and Mount Edgcumbe.

four to six thousand feet high, covered most of the
year with snow. Years since, it was the head-
quarters of the Kussian Tradi'^g Company, whose
ponderous wood buildings are still the largest in
the settlement.

The extinct volcano of Mount Edgcumbe lies
across the bay, with vertical stripes of snow on its
sides. Our party made it 1022 metres in height.
At the arrival of each steamer the inhabitants of

(

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Sitka agree to go mad. Indian maidens dance
with miners, and night, never very dark, is turned
into day. Meanwhile the squaws drive a good

trade in articles of native
manufacture and even in
such things as young bear
and blacktail deer.

The Pinta had to wait
a fortnight before she could
take us north, for coals and
for the mails. It was there-
fore decided that we should
make a fishino- and hunting
excursion, which the Sitka
paper (for a weekly journal
is published) described as
"a party of young gentle-
men in search of the pic-
turesque in Nature and the
exciting in adventure. They
are procuring Indian guides
j and evidently mean business,

though it is all for pleasure."
We hired three Indians and a large war-canoe,
with a smaller one for fishing.

A full-sized hydah or war-canoe measures some

A SITKA SALMON FISHERY

thirty feet in length, and can sail ten knots vviili
a good breeze. We first camped some miles away
from Sitka by some old Russian weirs, where
every moment a salmon or a stdmon trout might bo
seen darting, as one gazed, out of the briny foam
into the fresh water of the
lake hard by, from >vhich
it is divided by some rocky
channels only a few yards
in length, some of which are
natural and others artificial,
these latter dating from the
Russian occupation.

A solitary white man in
charge directs the operations
of salting the salmon-bellies ;
while each morning the hired
Indians arrived from some
spot in the bay known only
to themselves with a large
canoe-load of " silver " salmon.

Large quantities of salmon refuse are thrown into
the sea, where numbers of enormous cat-fish and dog-
fish can be seen struggling for the morsels, giving
us good sport with a salmon rod and line baited
with a lump of fish, fighting as they did when once

He "means business, though
it is all for pleasure."

i I

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

hooked madly for their liberty. Some salmon were
caught with a spoon-bait before leaving for Mount
Edgcumbe, where plenty of deer are to be found.
During the next few days it rained and blew, but
when camp is pitched by the shore just within the
forest the enormous firs give excellent protection ;
the only discomfort exists in the richness of the
verdant undergrowth, the normal and constant con-
dition of which is one of damp-
ness. Forest fires are unknown
on these islands. This dampness
covers the fallen trees and the
whole surface of the ground with
a deep soft moss, and renders the
forest scene one of tropical beauty
and luxuriance. The only suc-
cessful method of shooting the
deer on the islands is the one we
employed during the short time we remained on
KruzofF Island, on which the above volcano is
situated.

After a ten mile tramp of the most fatiguing
kind we reached the slopes of Edgcumbe, and
ascended to the higher ground where they feed.
Every one being carefully hidden, the Indians
brought the deer within range by imitating the

HUNTING BLACKTAIL. 43

cry of the fawns by blowing on a blade of grass.
Each of us killed one within an hour, but it is an
unsatisfactory sort of sport from its very certainty
of success.

We found ourselves back at Sitka once more, in

The Final Heat.

time for the 4th of July celebrations, including an
" oration " by the judge, a baseball match, Indian
canoe races, and one of the " balls " for which that

SIIOKES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Iiospitable place is famous. And while our rooms
are in Governor Swineford's house, Ah Sow's small
restaurant furnishes us with meals. Eventually
the Idaho has arrived with coal, passengers, and
mails. The two bright boys from Chicago have

The Judge practises the Chinook Language— " Siwash sik tum-tiim
o-cook kuni tux,"

shipped their Indians and war-canoe for Glacier
Bay after bears ; while my French friends M.
de la S. and Visconte de la R. have embarked for
the Taku Inlet. Our time at Sitka is drawing to
a close.

( 45 )

CHAPTER II.

Fioni Sitka to tlio Alaskan Alps-Tlie U.S.S. Pvila-yUmut Fair-
weather-Anival at Yakatat-TLe iMoimt St. Elias range-
Tlie Yakatat Indians— Tlie Swedish Tiwlers- Indian Curiosities
-Tlie Man-o'-War at the Village— Interviews with the Cliief.

Aboard the U.S. Man-o'-War I'inta,

Yakatat Bav, Alaska, Jidi/ 14///, 1886.

On the morning of July jotli, tlie Neiv York
Times Expedition to Mount St. Elias and Icy
Bay embarked on a small whaleboat I vino- al(»no-.
side the wharf at Sitka. The mem])crs of the
expedition had just had their photographs taken,
and their provisions, tents, and instruments were
on the maindeck of the U.S.S. Pinta. Was it
not an auspicious commencement ? For this also
was the name of the vessel which bore Columbus
to the new world, and we too were bound to the
westward intent on new discoveries.

The Alaskan, published at Sitka, favoured us
with the following paragraph : — " Lieutenant
Schwatka's party for a two month's siege of the
ice-guarded fortress of Mount St. Elias is now

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

made up and ready for the march. The party
consists, besides the Lieutenant, of Professor W.
Libby and Mr. H. W. Seton Karr. Also Joseph
Woods, John Daltca, and Kersunk, an Indian
youth."

The Pinta (Commander Nicholls, U.S.N.) was
built, we were told, originally as a tug-boat, and
as her speed did not exceed four to fiv\i knots an
hour, she was an easy object for an " instantaneous
shutter " as she steamed past the old Russian wharf.
But the Pinta is well suited for cruising in the
csXioi fiords of the inland passage, or for punishing
refractory Indians, or Tlinkits as they are called
on this part of the coast, by destroying their vil-
lages with her machine guns and brass howitzers,
and for lying at anchor off the small but gay old
Russian v'Uage of Sitka, or the new and unpleasant,
though ricturesquely situated, mining- village before-
mentioned of Juneau City, or Hai'isburg, — for it
enjoys a double name.

It was said at one time that other vessels on
sighting her v/ere in the habit of flying signals of
distress, because, owing to some eccentricity in her
rudder, and thvj fact that she had run down several
other vessels, they were fearful of suffering the
same fate themselves.

SITKA TO YAKATAT BAY

Several cLannels may be used to reach the open
sea from Sitka. We might either have gone out
at once across Sitka Sound, or have kept entirely
to the inland passage — a longer route — as far as
Cross Sound. A middle course was chosen which
gave us a. few hours along one of the calm Alaskan
channels before meeting the ocean swell.

Sunset found us skirting the steep shores of

Mount Fairwoather, rising to 15,500 feet above the North Pacific
Ocean at its base.

Chichagoff Island in lat. 57° 50', the weather con-
tinuing beautifully fine.

Mount Fairweather consented to show itself for
only a short time next morning, but in the after-
noon, as we steamed slowly paxt, about twenty
miles from land, the whole Fairweather ranire was
seen in a cloudless atmosphere, and remained in

SHORES / ND ALPS OF ALASKA.

■i

■ (

I ! ;

■ ! i

view till sunset, when the darkness, and the neces-
sity of early rising on the morrow, drove us below.

The next morning, July 1 2th, as I came on deck
at an early hour we were rounding Ocean Cape and
heading for the small harbour near the Indian
village, charted by the U.S. Coast Survey, and
named Port Mulgrave. It was the Pinta's second
visit. There was no trace of vapour in the sky.
The St. Elias range of Alps, or a great portion of
them, l)ound the west side of this bay, which is
culled Yakatat or Bering Bay.

Without a doubt the scenery at Yakatat is the
most wonderful of its kind in the whole world.
The mountains are covered with snow and glaciers
from sea-level to summit. The air of early morn-
ing in latitude 60"" N. is exceedingly transparent,
while the vastness of these mountains, ranging as
they do from 16,000 to nearly if not quite 20,000
feet, impress the beholder under these conditions
with the sensation of their being too ethereal to
have any actual existence, or that they cannot be
anything except some unhuly illusion that must dis-
solve and disperse when the sun rises. And this is
to a certain extent what happens. It seemed to be
just what Doy6 might have conceived as an imagi-
nary view of mountain scenery in the planet Mars.

MARVELLOUS SCENERY AT YAKATAT. 49

As the sun rose higher, tlie ^^hadows grew less dis-
tinct, the planes of distance merged into each other,
the air lost its extreme brilliancy, and the exact
contours became confused. Yet we could hardly
believe that the great mass of Mount St. Elias, the
pointed crest of which rose high above the sea,
was between fifty and sixty miles off.

Imagine Mont Blanc placed close to the sea-shore
with its whole height visible as measured from the
sea-level; then imagine Ben Nevis, the highest
mountain in Great Britain, placed upon the summit
of Mont Blanc, and the total height thus reached
would fall short of the summit of Mount St. Elias.
The latest estimate of its height by the Coast
Survey has made it nearly 20,000 feet, with an
error either way of a few hundred feet.

St. Elias— the last and highest mountain of the
range, and the nearest to the sea— stands on a
broad base, from which it rises like an Egyptian
pyramid, straight, regular, and massive, from an
icy plateau of enormously extensive glaciers.

Could a blind man be brought to Yakatat, and
have his sight restored while each morsel of the
panorama, commencing from the east, was separately
presented to his view, he would exclaim at first
that nothing could surpass its grandeur in that

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

direction ; then, as his gaze would gradually be
shifted round to the west, still loftier mountain-
ranges would disclose themselves, till he would
think he must surely have arrived at the climax.

Higher and higher yet they would rise as Mounts
Cook and Vancouver were passed in review, while
words would fail him to express his astonishment
as last of all his eyes would rest on Mount St.
Elias, the crown and summit of all possibilities or
impossibilities of grandeur, seeming to rise sheer
out of the Pacific Ocean with a leap.

From Elias eastward, a semicircle of enormous
peaks surrounds the Bay, gradually dwindling in
importance and in height, even the smallest of tiiem
being a noble mountain ; while far back towards
the east, from which we had come. Mount Fair-
weather, which is 16,000 feet in height, glistened
with opalescent light above the forest trees.

Entering the small land-locked harbour at six

A.M. by the narrow entrance, — with which Captain
Nicholls was already acquainted, having been in
command of the Pinta last year when she visited
this place, we dropped anchor close to the Indian
village.

Not a living thing was visible except a dejected
wolfish -looking dog. The natives were evidently

^W»eMVB«l

THE INDIAN VILLAGE.

out sealing, and we might be delayed in our start
for Icy Bay.

However, after blowing a whistle for some time,
canoes were seen coming from some houses on the
mainland. The first contained an old half-blind
Yakatat Indian of characteristic appearance, who
was evidently a " shawaan " or medicine-man by
his long uncut hair. By means of a half-breed
boy employed in the ward-room, who spoke better
English than our interpreter, he was made to

Mount Vancouver, 13,100 feet,

understand that we wished him to despatch a
messenger to the tribe to procure for us two large
canoes and six Indians. He set off on his errand
with a great appearance of haste, after explaining
that it would take two days, being a long journey
towards tlie head of the Bay where the tribe was
sealing. Nothing was left but to wait, and as
Captain Nicholls had determined to see us fairly
started and on the road, the Pinta waited too.

Meanwhile, we were able to take the bearings
of Mounts Cook, Vancouver, and Malaspina, besides

*fcnHT«"*ltW<tJl^

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

other nameless peaks. The wild strawberries were
now ripe and grew in great abundance on the sand-
hills round the village, wliile the " snipe " which
congregated in flocks along the edge of the sea were
found to be excellent eating, especially with clam
sauce. In the absence of their owners the Indian
houses were locked up, but I was able to make a
sketch of St. Elias. Before long, to our surprise,
two white men made their appearance alongside in
a " dory " or small boat, and turned out to be two
young Swedes newly arrived as traders to replace
the famous Dr. Ballou. One of them, whose
name was Louis Carlsen, informed us that he had
come to Alaska four years ago from Stromsdal near
Gothenburg, and that with his brother and two
other Swedes by the name of Andersen they had
taken up the " store " built here two years ago by
the Alaska Commercial Company and vacated last
year as not profitable, as well as a small store which
they had constructed on Kaiak Island further up
the coast, where they were engaged in hunting
and in trading with the n^itives.

He further informed us that his partners would
call here next month, in a small schooner they
owned ; following the example of one of them, he
intended to visit his home in Sweden, and return

mmmmm

TWO SWEDISH TRADERS.

from thence in the sprinf?, with a wife. He ex-
pressed himself as very pleased to see the man-
o'-war, because the Indians had lately become
troublesome and threatening, but now they would
do whatever was required of them. He had even
been obliged to menace them with the visit of a

lich

^ing

hey
he

Tho Village of the Yakatat Indians.

man-o'-war if they did not behave. Our timely
arrival had thus acted as a corroboration of his
threat. The Yakatats have lately been distilling a
good deal of the vile spirit like vodhi from sugar,
and have been so frequently drunk that the traders
were glad their store was as far removed from the
village as it was. His brother Olaf was waiting

! 1,

, ■ 1

1. ■ i

' !i 1

1 ,: ; ;

1 I

. f

54 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

for him at Kaiak Island and would return with
him to Sweden, for the first and last time in twelve
years. Their small schooner would be laid up to
winter at Kaiak. From thence they would go by
canoe to Prince William Sound, where they could
pick up the Alaska Commercial Company's schooner,
and thus reach Kodiak Island, where probably a
vessel would call in September, on her way to San
Francisco, from Unalaska, or if not, the schooner
itself would be going down to California.

It was not, altogether, with unmixed pleasure
we found that there were white traders here, as we
had been informed that the post had not been
taken up since the Alaska Commercial Company
had vacated it, and that the natives did not now
make use of, or understand money as a medium
of exchange. We had, in consequence, brought
a supply of "trading material" with us. We
managed, h vvever, to get rid of it, and it made
no difference in the end, except entailing a terrible
amount of haggling, "chin-music" as the lieu-
tenant styled it, with tlie Yakatat Indians.

Next morning "George," the second chief, came
on board, and was followed soon after by Noearpoo,
the chief of the Yakatats, dressed in a U.S.S.
Adams riband and uniform, presented to him when

MISFORTUNES OF PREVIOUS EXPLORERS. 55

that vessel came to arrest and bring to justice the
murderer of two white men. It appears that the
latter had come to " prospect " for indications of
gold, and that soon after their arrival the Indian
or Indians, for some fancied grudge, had shot down
both of them as they were landing from their boat.
All the visits of white men to Yakatat, few
and far between, seem to have been attended
with misfortune, for another party which also
landed from a man-o'-war, with the object of ex-
ploring the source of some gold-containing black
sand,* became so much discouraged by the acci-
dental deaths from drowning of some members of
the party soon after their arrival, that they gave
up their investigations and returned to Sitka with-
out accomplishing their object.

Meanwhile the chief, with his gorgeous coloured
neckcloth and gold uniform, had been taken to the
captain's cabin, where, with the two interpreters, we
descended to interview him. After a long speech,
which he had evidently prepared beforehand, about
white men always speaking the truth and Indians
sometimes, he was asked for information, and told
us that some of the Indians were in the habit of

* Tliis was subsequently visited and inspected by our party while
awaiting the return of the gunboat.

5«

SIIOllKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

' i y,

I i

■ 1

hunting in the neig]il)oui'hoo(l of Icy Bay, but
" when tliey tried to come near tlie great mountain,
then Indians always died," as the interpreter
rendered it, meaning they failed ; also that Icy
Bay * was " best place, for Indians no cross ice."

After more talk the captain presented him with
a U.S.S. P'uita riband to wear instead of the
Adams one, ami the interview was over. Mean-
time, another canoe was despatched up the Bay to
fetch a man said to have been half-way up Mount
St. Elias. I stroii_,ly suspected these were merely
pretexts to keep us here as long as possible, since
it was evident to them that the ship was on
a peaceful errand. For it afterwards appeared,
according to the assertion of the chief, who was
jealous of " George," the man despatched in the
canoe, that the latter did not start until the
next day.

It was also more than probable that Mr. Noearpoo
had never been very far away, but on the sight of
the war- vessel had hastily " vacated the situation "
and left for ** parts unknown," until satisfied that she
had not come to bombard his village. But it was

* Tlie Great Agassiz Glacier or the Malaspina Plateau might
preferably be crossed by future expeditions, the landing being made
at Yakatat Bay instead of Icy Bay, in order to avoid tlie surf at the
latter place.

!i:

.«w»i.i-iji ■ iMi ■ ■» I J i « I ■■ wiwHai

rif !

DISCOVERIES IN A SORCEllEUH (iUAVE. 59

natural enough that the Indians should have been
anxious to prolong the stay of the vessel, for money
soon began to be in Imsk circulation. Many curios
were brought to the ship's side and at once bought
up l)y the officers who were making collections of
native objects. The Indians too were now all the
more desirous of money, as a disreputable Indian
woman, known as Mrs. Toms, had made her way
up from Sitka in a large hydah or war-canoe, and
was Inisy trading, and supposed to be possessed of
a large fortune amassed by doubtful methods. The
greater part of the articles of native manufacture
brought for sale consisted in baskets of a variety of
shapes, neatly plaited out of roots, dyed different
colours and designed in different patterns ; charms,
carved walrus tusks, bows and arrows, and horn
spoons. Some one went out in a canoe and made
a great "find" of some boxes in the grave of
a medicine-man in a retired part of the bay.
Whenever a " shawaan " dies his charms and other
articles that he has used are placed in boxes, buried
with him, and left to rot unless rescued as curios,
for no Indian will touch them. As no Indian even
dares to approach the grave of a meclicine-man, the
abstractions can never be discovered or lamented.
In the evening the two sacksfull were spread out

A, _ -.a^ v^'v^MmattmSF-i

■.«ii««»!».-»si.-;j.»i^«'/*™«*?s*'*

^^mm

ill:

! J

«' Ml

N. I

u .*

iD SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

on the floor in the captain's cabin for inspection,
and comprised, among other things, a quantity of
masks of painted wood, a leather shawl, ornamented
w^ith sea-parrots' ])ins, and a crown of wild-goats'
horns. Some one else had bou'i-ht for a few cents
a charm Jmng on a string and resembling a small
whetstono. The use of this for a long time rested
a mystery until our Tlinkit interpreter discovered
that, during three days previous to starting out
sealing, the Yakatat Indians are not to scratch
their backs with the hand, but when the irritation
becomes absolutely unendurable they may use
such stones as these like scrapers. j.'' ny man
violating this rule will proDably be drowned —
accidentally.

Ever} thing not to be taken with us to Icy Bay
was stored in the chief's house. I found that my
large Alpine hat had been left at Sitka, and there-
fore had another one made by l;lie quartermaster
out of sail-cloth. It was light and comfortable ;
the brim was of enormous size, and was the subject
of much pleasantry, such as, " When the top of
Elias is seen to assume an umbrella shape, then we
shall know for certain that the party has attained
that much-desired spot." To make sure of having
a comfortable hat, another .one, of basket-work, was

MY HATS.

ordered from tlic chief's wife, who promised to put
it in hand at once ; but not even the assurance
that "the Queen of England would see it" was
sufficient to ensure its being more than an unful-
filled promise.

( 62 )

CHAPTER III.

We leave Yakatat for Icy Bay— Landing in the Surf— The Base
Camp— Strawberries and Bear-Trails— The Start for Mount St.
Elias— Fording a Glacial Torrent— A Mighty Stream- The
Quicksands— A Mountainous Moraine Overgrown with Forest—
An Ice-buried River.

Camp by the Seashore,

lev P>Ai', Jul// iSih, 1886.

After our one brilliant day it rained continuously
the remainder of ihe time tlie Pinta was at
Yakatat, a period altogether of five days, during
which the natives found other pretexts for delaying
us. A man was sent to ask leave to use a large
canoe said to be laid by in a lagoon — two days'
journey, for the owner was out sealing. He re-
turned, and the men were to have set off to fetch
the canoe at three o'clock next morning, in order
to catch high-tide, but did not actually start until
mid-day, and then came back with the intellio-ence
that she wj'^j decayed and rotten.

Then the United States Navy, in the shape of
Captain Nicholls, came to the rescue. He would

FROM YAKATAT TO ICY BAY.

take us to Icy Bay in the Pinta, and we were to
be allowed to use one of the whale-boats until w^e
were fetched away, or came down to Sitka in the
fall of the year. If possible, the Pinta would
return for us about the 5 th of September.

On the evening of Jidy i6th, at eight o'clock,
the Pinta steamed out of Yakatat, having shipped
three Indians and a small "dug-out" Yakatat
canoe, the property of Professor Libbey, large
enough to hold two persons comfortably.

After the Fourth of Jidy Oration by " the
Judge," which we had been favoured w^ith at
Sitka, in which he read the " Declaration of In-
dependence" and protested against the crimes of
" the old country," and which I had endeavoured,
however, to applaud, it was considered to be a
matter of surprise that I should have plucked up
sufficient spirit to suggest that Mount St. Elias
might be entirely, and must be one fourth, in
British territory.*

* Mount St. Elias, Litherto considered tlie liigliest mountain in
Xoith America (tliough now, according to Licutcnjuit Allen, Mount
Wrangel, a volcano at the forks (jf the Copper River, in Eastern
Central Alaska, rises to over 20,000 feet), is tlie longest snow-climb
in the world outside tlie Aictic or Antarctic regions, and with the
additional exception of Creenland, is the birthplace of the most
extensive glaciers known. Of these, there are probably 2400 sipiare
miles of flat jdains of ice between the mountains and tlie sea, not
taking into account suuw-lieltls or inland glaciers, and included

*■■ " " ■■ ". fr ^i ' KliiW""':

SMORKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

The boundary line between British Columbia
and South-East Alaska, according to the treaty,
cannot be at a greater distance from the ocean
than thirty miles, l^ut if the divide or summit
of tlie watershed be less than that distance from
the sea, then the boundary follows the summit
of the watershed up to tlie 141st degree of
longitude. It then runs due north, coinciding
with L.io 141st meridian, until it joins the Arctic
Ocean.

At four o'clock next morning we were slowly
coasting along the shores of Icy Bay in a dense
foggy rain. Nothing could be imagined more
dismal. We were cheered by the thought that
we must be considerably closer to I\Iount St. Elias
than we were at Yakatat, and indeed we were
prepared to see it towering overhead througli some
break in the clouds, if they only would break.
But the Pinta's last view of Mount St. Elias was
that from Yuk;.tat, for not until after her departure

entirely between Cross Sound, fit tlie extremity of the Inlaml
Passas^o, and the Copper River. Vaiunjuver, who had, as he says,
many opportunities for lixin<,' tlie true position of the great mountain,
gives it as lat. 60^ 27'; and long. 140^ 39'. Piofe-sor Davidson gives
its position as lat. 60"^ 22' 6", and long. 140"" 54'. It thus lies to
the east of the 141st meridian 'jf hjngitude west from Greenwich,
confirnKHl by my onn bearings, the range itself ranking as llie third
highest in the world, on Avhich we had set foot for the first time.

FliOM YAKAHAT TO ICY BAY. g-

(licl the range break loose from its encircling
clouds.

Prol)ably this was the first time that a ship has
ever entered ley Bay, by which name the slight
angle in the coast-line is honoured, so caution was
necessary. Tlie growing day disclosed a sandy
sloping shore, witliout the least in iication of shelter
from the ocean, stretching away straight, remorse-
less, and yellow on either side as far as the eye
could reach east and west, white with roaring
breakers, and half obscured by fog. As the Indians
asserted tliey were in the habit of running their
canoes ashore here when they came sealing, the
ship was brought to an anclior.

The Pacific swell rolled slowly under us towards
the beach, on which it was breaking with a threat-
ening aspect very disturbing to landsmen. Clouds
of spray and vapour drifted inland, 1)ut behind the
l^each there seemed to lie lagoons which were
steaming, as thougli warm, and further off still
there were visible the tops of fir-trees. Tlicn the
mist closed down and everything was hidden

The Pacific surf is very uncertain, an.l ri>,.s or
calms down without apparent cause, as the result
of distant storms at sea. Still, on this part of the
Alaskan shore-line, Fairweather Ground, as the

!l i

,1 i

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

whalers named ^.t, fine weather is generall}' ex-
perienced in summer, with calms, which are not
agreeable to sailing vessels. But how the winds
blow in winter !

Shortly after we had dropped anchor, Lieutenant
Dumbough was sent in one of the waistboats to
examine the surf, and at midday Lieutenant-
Commander Nicholls determined to do his best
to put us asliore with the supplies. Lieutenant
Emmons, in charge of the first boat, put off at once
from the ship's side, and after w\^iting his oppor-
tunity was able to beach his boat stern first,
paying out an anchor rope from the bows, the
anchor having been dropped fifty yards from
shore to assist in putting off again through the.
breakers.

As soon as she grounded the sailors jumped into
the water and ran her up high and dry. At times
as seen from the ship the little boat had appeared
quite submerged behind some big roller.

Four boatloads sufficed to land the whole of the
stores of supplies and instruments. Although the
boats were empty on their return, yet the task of
launching them again through the surf was one
of more danger than the landing.""' The last boat

* I think if the saif liad 1 ecu any liiglier we sLould have Leen

•

LANDING. gy

beached being the one that was to remain with us
ill defoult of our having obtained hydah-canoes at
Yakatat, had no anchor laid out for hiunching, and
was securely hauled up out of reach of the tide on
the crest of the sand rid<i-e.

Perhaps the best part of the day's performance
was that of -Bear Hunter," our best Yakatat, who
died a few days after from poison, and who volun-
teered to steer the little canoe, hewn out a single
small tree, without any assistance, through tlie
surf, being carried eventually on the crest of a
wave high upon the beach, where we ,vcve all
waiting to receive him.

The little party of five whites and four Indians,
''the first tliat ever burst" on to the wild shores of
Icy Bay, was now ftiirly on the way. The Pmta
had succeeded in putting us ashore in a very wot
condition (but not nearly so wet as we were to be
when we tried to depart). As she steamed south-
wards slie whittled a farewell note, but our cheers
iu reply nmst have been drowned by the noisy
surf.

The camp was pitrdied by the freshwater lagoon
which we had seen behind the ridge. Tlie ground

imuble tu land. Future explorers, if any iurtl.er utten.f^s are n,a.le

fill

8JI0RES AND ALPS (»F ALASKA.

.'•:

■

was covered and almost liitlden in places by ripe
strawberries of fabulous size, and was crossed in
various directions by bear-tracks, also of a fabulous
size as it seemed. As soon as everything had been
stowed and the tents pitched, the Indians went
sealing. Seal meat and blul)ber are as necessary
to the Indian as bread to the white man. They
soon returned with a seal and a wild swan, plenty of
which birds were flying round the lagoon uttering
harsh cries, their white plumage contrasting strongly
against the dark woods behind, which in turn con-
trasted with the ice beyond them. It w^as full-
sized, but had not l)een able to fly, for the feathers
were immature. Later on I pursued one of these
birds successfully in the canoe, which nearly got
capsized during the operation from the recoil of
the gun.

Some of the bear-tracks along the beach, close to
the camp, measured fourteen inches by eight, and
there are many others no doubt much larger. Bear
and ^vx trails cross the sandy soil in every direc-
tio>n like a network, giving one the idea tliat
enormous numl)ers of these animals nuist inlialdt
the very small piec^ of flHtat' t\U tlus side of the
bn}', whi(;h is the only plecG ill the whole region,
Ibt everything else seems to be sUoW itnd glacier.

PACKING.

To-day being Sunday we remain (quietly at rest,
and start early to-morrow for " the great mountain,"
as the Indians call it. At rest, that is, with the
exception of the preparations for a fortnight's
assaull on the mountain, testing the mercurial
barometers and the thermometers, and making the
arrangements involved in a scientific and moun-
taineering expedition. Dalton, who is cook, is to
stay in charge of everything here, which will Ije a
sort of base of operations. However, Woods, who
goes with us, cooks nearly as well. We take fifty
pounds of " hard tack," twenty-five pounds of Hour,
ten pounds of chocolate, l^esides tea, sugar, coffee,
and various tins of canned meat ; in fact, enou<di
for nearly two weeks with the additional supplies
when the Indians return for them. Also three
magazine rifles, all of the same calibre. Among
the scientific apparatus, mostly the property of
the Professor, come two large mercurial mountain
barometers, a hypsometer, and several aneroids
and thermometers. A prismatic compass lent to
me by the Royal Geographical Society, will be
one of the most useful of all our instruments.
We take also two small tents from Edgington's
(I^ondon), which will prove exceedingly useful, the
tWQ tmt^ pffis,ejited by the Northern Pacific Rail-

«■«

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

d \

way to tlic expetlition being too Inrgc for panning.
Amongst other things arc two alpenstocks and
two ice-axes, fashioned after a rude manner by
a Russian bhicksmith at Sitka ; besides one real
English ice-axe, which I found being used as a hoe
by an old Russian peasant, who had no conception
of its original use ; waterproofs and blankets for
the party, and for my own use a sleeping bag
made out of opossum skin, while the Indians seem
to be satisfied with a cotton sheet only as night
covering. The Professor contributes half-a-dozen
pairs of " ice-creepers " as used at Niagara Falls,
in which he places greater confidence than in the
ice-axes. We have also some Esquimaux clothing
for use on the ice, the property of Mr. Sclnvatka,
and for the ascent a coil of two hundred feet of
rope.

After the arrangements for to-morrow w'ere
nearly completed, I went out with our "pros-
pector " to look for bears, but as Elias gave signs
of becoming visible, and the bears did not, I
hurried back to camp to make some sketches.
After a time the mountain slowdy appeared like a
dissolving view, while the summit played hide-and-
seek with the clouds, which were shifting uneasily
like side-scenes at a pantomime, preparatory to a

1 •

^ , miim'tftii

■>*

SEALS, STRAWRERRIES, AND IlKAHS. 7,

general movement. The Indians went (.iit in tlie
evening, and came baek with more seals and a red
fox. A seal meanwhile came np on tlie beaeh close
to camp. Over fifteen hundred hair-seals are said
to have been killed in three days, by a party in
Yakatat Bay, with clubs, and considerino- the laro-c
numbers we have seen, and the case with whi(;li
the Indians seem to go out and club them, it is
not difficult to believe it.

The Indians hunt the seals systematically in
\akatat Bay, wdiore they are consequently very
shy. We saw large numl)ers in the sea on our
return, Imt l)esides being contrary to the laws of
the United States, it would be useless for any
party of white men to hope to kill more than one
or tw^o.

One can pass the time very comfortably among
the sand-hills, which are perfect natural strawberry
beds, moving a few yards further to fresh ground
as the supply on the spot becomes exhausted;
meantime keeping a look-out along the edge of the
forest, over the long grass, for tlie grey-coloured
round back of a St. Elias cinnamon or grizzly l)ear.
These animals evidently come out in large num-
bers after seal (or strawberries), judging l)y the
immense quantity of tracks.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

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2.0

lir 1^

1.8

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|l.25 1 U 1.6

►

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) S72-4503

fl!B

'/j

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

The trails are thickest at that point on the beach
where the forest approaches nearest to the sea, for
the great brown bear of Alaska is a shy animal,
and when he comes out in the afternoon about four
o'clock, his favourite hour, to catch a seal, he likes
to have his retreat handy. \

A mile or two away wide stretches of water can
be seen through openings in the forest, evidently
the large lake which the early navigators saw from
the mastheads of their ships, and which is marked
in their maps as being of considerable extent.
Our Indians say plenty of fish can be got there.

The side of Icy Bay, on which we are now
camped, is low, flat forest, some ten miles either
way, and bounded on the land side by the enor-
mous glaciers which are just visible over the fir-
trees. The west side of Icy Bay, as can be seen,
is formed by a glacier which has projected itself
for some distance into the ocean.

The Second Camp, July 20th,
Sunset.

Yesterday we left the base camp at seven in the
morning. The Professor was left behind in order
to efiect simultaneous observations with the becond
mercurial barometer, and will rejoin us to-morrow

THE START. ^

with the Indians, who have returned for more
supplies.

After transporting the things in the small canoe
for half a mile up the lagoon, which then came to
a sudden end, the packs were adjusted, and the
party followed the shore to the westward, more or
less under the guidance of the Indians, who were
making for the large river at the head of the Bay,
intending that we should follow up the bank.

The start for Mount St. Klias.

Woods carried a tent, spade, pick, and pan, for
gold-prospecting purposes. Schwatka carried the
mercurial barometer and a rifle. I carried the
ice-axes and another rifle , the remaining thincr.s
were divided equally into packs among the Indians
of about fifty or sixty pounds to each pack.

After following the shore for two miles an ofi'-
shoot of the main glacial river was reached, over
which the Indians conveyed us on their backs,

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

although the greatest depth was but three feet.
The heaviest of us, who weighed eighteen stone,
was landed quite dry upon the opposite bank,
while the lightest of the three was deposited half-
way over in a sitting position in a foot and a half
of water ; such are the uncertainties of fate !

This stream issued from the forest across flats of
glacier mud, and came from the direction in which
we were going as a shallow muddy stream. We
wished to follow it up, but the Indians, probably
on account of what they had been told at Yakatat,
were disinclined to do so. It would have been
better had we done so, for it was, as we suspected,
an offshoot from the main river at the head of Icy
Bay, and would have saved a long detonr. Had
we then known of the miles of ice-cold water we
should have to wade through yesterday, of the deep
creeks, and of the mud and quicksands to be passed,
and how wet and chilled the party was to be be-
fore night, we should have disdained being carried
across this stream by the Indians.

After this came a fine wide sandy plain lying
between the belt of timber and the ocean, covered
with sweet-smelling tall purple flowers, rushes,
and wild strawberries in profusion, and dotted
with small fir-trees growing more ihickly towards

A LARGE RIVER.

the forest, and more sparsely scattered towards
the ocean. Three miles further and our progress
to the west was barred by the main stream, up the
left bank of which the way now lay.

We were on the edge of the forest and on the
bank of a large glacial river which was spread out
m the shape of a fan, and appeared to issue from
between a glacier and a line of elevated land. It
was a large river, but not larger than one might
expect, as forming one of the many streams which
drain the vast expanse of snow and ice which
covers and encircles the St. Elias range. Schwatka
at once named it "Jones' River," after the pro-
prietor of the New York Times. Its main stream
appeared to issue from the apex of its fan-shaped
delta, but many smaller ones joined it, rushing
out from under the ice of the opposite glacier,
which we named the " Guyot Glacier," after that
distinguished scientist. We had been aware that
n glacier existed there, for it forms the west side
of Icy Bay, and has been named Icy Cape, and
described by numerous navigators, from Vancouver
and Beechey to Tebenkoff and the United States
Coast Survey.

Across a gravelly delta six miles wide, edged in
on the opposite shore by a glacier, the river lay

8H0RES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

spread in numberless channels, shallow, swift, ice-
cold, and milk-white with a brownish tinge, and a
black oily scum. It reached and swept back the
ocean across a long bar marked out by angry lines
of surf. Bears had recently been travelling along
the margin, and had left fresh tracks. After stop-
ping to sketch and rest, we followed northwards
up the bank of the river. The Indians went slowly,
and lagged behind. The day had turned out
cloudless and the sun was hot. Wide expanses
of mud were crossed. The surface was firm, tena-
cious, shaking, and jelly-like — a crust, as it seemed,
floating on soft and treacherous quicksands. On
one of these mud-flats an especially soft place had
to be crossed, and the dread of a possible breaking
through the crust made it nervous work. Woods got
over first and crossed a channel on to firm ground ;
the Indians following dropped part of their packs
to lighten themselves, sinking thigh deep as they
did so. In their tracks lanes of water were left on
the surface of the mud, as though squeezed from a
sponge. This part seemed firmer as we followed.
Whether this was the case, or our broad-soled
boots saved us, we sank in less than was to be
expected.

The party rested, considerably exhausted, for

QUICKSANDS AND MORAINES. 77

an hour on the other side, on terra Jirma, and
continued the march at 2 p.m., along a wooded
point wliich stretched far out into tlie wide bed
of the main river, and crossing a side stream by
means of a fallen tree, arrived at more mud-flats,
but kept this time near the grass and rushes, which
grew along the edge of the forest. It might be
supposed that the forest was preferaljle to rivers
and quicksands ; but the growth was so dense as
to offer but very slow prospects of locomotion to
men with packs on their backs. The river, like all
rivers of glacial source, was now on the usual dai:y
rise, and had invaded the flat lands, while the
water felt icy cold to the feet, which were numbed
and senseless after such prolonged wading. Bruin
is the great road-maker of Alaska, and we had been
following mostly in his broad beaten tracks.

About 5 P.M. further progress directly north
towards Mount St. Elias became barred by a huge
buried glacier, overtopped by immense masses of
moraine and overgrown thickly with shrubs and
fir-trees, which were becoming disordered and
destroyed where they grew on the edges or faces
of the moraines by reason of the slow but irre-
sistible movement forward of the mass urged on
by he pressure of the glaciers behind. This had

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

I '•

appeared from the base-camp as a low range of
hills. We now saw its true nature. It was the
face of a glacier, buried by immense masses of
terminal moraine, which, being overgrown with
trees, had seemed from a distance like ordinary
hilly ground. Now and then avalanches of stones
rattled down its slopes. Ice protruded in places.
Torrents burst up through the stones like rivers,
created full-grown without any infancy or child-
hood, issuing from some mountain side. One
particularly large one we named Fee Springs.
Climbing some distance up to reconnoitre, it was
seen that a mile further on the timber grew
gradually thinner, and gave place to gravel ; we
decided to camp there on a dry part of the river
bed.

The flat expanse of the estuary lay stretched sea-
wards, fringed by the black line of timber which
we had skirted, and bounded by a vast glacier
named afterwards the "Great Guyot Glacier,"
having its face so bespattered with rocks and dirt
that only here and there was the ice visible. This
glacier seemed to extend from this point quite flai
for ten or fifteen miles westward, and at leaso
twenty miles south-west by south far out into the
sea, thus forming the west side of Icy Bay, named

e
>f
li

•

THE SECOND CAMP. ^^

by previous explorers Icy Cape. On climbing up
the moraine after bears yesterday evening I found
progression so difficult that a return to camp was
preferable to destroying one's clothes on the chance
of a shot.

For supper we had chocolate, bacon, and "hard-
tack." One of the Indians slept wrapped in a sheet
on the gravel, with his head on a coil of rope ; the
others made a tent out of withes and a ground-
sheet. Woods and Kersunk, or Fred, as he prefers
to be called, put up one of the tents. Schwatka
and myself should have done the same, as the
mosquitoes were troublesome, but we slept in the
open.

This morning at 9 a.xM. the Indians started back
to the base-camp to guide the Professor, and bring
up another load of necessaries. A cloudless day
again, which we employed in making barometrical
observations. A light wind from the north-west.

Meanwhile, there are two days for rest in anti-
cipation of unknown hardships ahead— rest which
somehow seems sweeter from the thought that to-
morrow the remainder of the party will be toiling
up the Jones River through cold water and quick-
sands and thorny woods. But hitherto our rest
has not been altogether undisturbed. Curious

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

noises have emanated from the ghiciors all around,
rumblings and " travelling cracks," which, as the
Lieutenant remarked, seemed to go right to the
top of Elias and back again. Some of the St,
Elias bears are supposed to be of a peculiar grey
colour from living constantly like polar bears in
*' thrilling regions of thick-ribl)ed ice." The ever-
lasting little avalanches of stones sounded as if
they were dislodged by the paws of one of these
animals, and made one look up uneasily each time
at the moraine. That bears were plentiful and of
no insignificant measurements was evident from
their tracks upon the wet mud in every direction.
One of the party pretended to have been startled
from his slumbers by a ridiculous concatenation of
noises. He had just composed himself to sleep
after saying "good-bye," when, from the steep
sides of Mount Vancouver, or of St. Elias, came
the distant rumblings of an avalanche. This was
followed up by such a series of noises from the
Great Guyot Glacier, that it seemed as though
something had gone wrong in its internal mecha-
nism. Then a whole troop of St. Elias bears
seemed to be flying to our camp for refuge, to
judge by the falling stones from the moraine above
us. Nearer came the sound and nearer, culminat-

♦

A MOVIN(} FOREST. «,

iiig l)y the tent door in a loud whirrinff of wiufr.s
till our sleeper's heart " had leaped up into his
throat and commenced danglincr/' an he declared,
when there appeared— a tiny huniming-l)ird with
iridescent plumage gleaming in the sun, stationary
in air, with vilmiting wings. A humming-l>ird in
Icy Bay !

This afternoon I made a reconnaissance with
Woods, for our journey on the day after to-monow.
I concluded we should have to cross the river some-
how, to the other glacier, which was smoother, the
ice-mountain-moraine being formed of movable
and sharp boulders, and densely overgrown with
brushwood and shrubs of beech, birc^h, and fir.
It was an extraordinary spectacle. How far the
thicket continued, or where the moraine ceased
and the ice came to the surface, was impossible to
guess. The highest point visible was 600 feet
above the river. The top was evidently moving
over the base a few feet daily, and kept rolling
trees and stones, as the ice melted, on to the river
plain below.

A constant undermining of the base by the river
was going on, and milky streams gushed out from
half-way up as well as from under the base.

In two hours we approached the spot where the

HII0UE8 AND ALPS OF ALAMKA.

river issued from an ice-caflon, penned in Ijctween
walls of ice. Icebergs and stranded 1>locks of
ice Qtjcwed the banks, others were floating down
with the current. A few yards higher up the river
issued from under the glacier. The mountain-
moraine had bridged it over. The two glaciers had
met together and hushed its murmur. A mighty
river, as large as the Thames, had disappeared from
sight as completely as if it liad never exirtted.

If we can penetrate the brushwood with our
packs, we can cross Jones River twenty times over
without being aware of its location, as it lies buried
under the ice. St. Elias was in sight, and seemed
as far away as ever. The sky was clear, but a thick
fog-bank hung over the sea, defining exactly the
contour of the coast-line.

( 8j )

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ain-

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hty

our
v^er
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ick
he

CHAPTER IV.

Waiting hy the Ice-Tl.e Indians lu-fun f.,r ni „ nrovisionn-A
vast M,.,,u„e ..verK.own with Tree, an.l H.stinK ..p,m Movi.-K
Ice-l,ut..l fronUhc.(Jui.les-St..,.,,...l I.yu U:,, of HorK's-W.
S..,«u,Uo t., ti„.l a Way-A Danuncl-u, orrent lUrnk. out
nfre..h-0,a.h.al U.uial ..f a F„ivsi Man.l-I... „f H... ,.,„.
^Hor-Fire lec. and Wator-We St.u-t a«a,M- M.„... cJIacial
LakcH and the Great Tyndall Glacier-Th. Fifth Can.|. reached
—1 rei.arutiun« fur the Fiiml Ascent.

Tub Second Camp, /m/^ 2 Kv/.

Hunset,

We closed the tents hermetically last night and
were not troubled by the mosquitoes. Rose at
noon to-day and breakfasted. Weather foggy, and
inclined to rain. The four Indians and tie Pro-
fessor arrived at I P.M., having taken a shorter way,
starting at 7 a.m. He reported that the Indians
reached the base-camp at 6 p.m. hist night, havin.r
clubbed three seals on the way. They had heard
shots fired a longdistance up the coast, and thought
It was a party of Yakatats. We think they are
Copper River Indians. The Indiar-s managed to
avoid the quicksands this time by wading some

iiiiORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

channels of the river, but some of the packs got
wetted. We hope to make the base of the moun-
tain in three or perhaps in two days.

We have determined to take the barometrical
measurements of the altitudes reached over sea-
level on our return journey, which is the best way,
in case no altitude worth recording is reached.

■•,). 1 1

The Third Camp (on the Ice),
Julj/ 22(1, Evening.

A fine day. The whole party (as the baromet-
rical observations are to be made on the return)
left camp this morning at 6 a.m., having in our
packs sufficient for eight days, and making a
cache of the rest under a mackintosh slieet.
Kept alongside the river for some way, having
to wade waist-deep in places. The w^ater felt
icy-cold, and blocks of ice were floating down
the current. Then the Indians struck away
through the woods over the moraine. This was
a portion of the immense terminal moraine of
the "Great Agassiz Glacier" as we named it, which
is of enormous extent, and consists of rocks,
granite, trachyte, and basalt, and stones, which
have fallen, or been torn from the mountain
sides, and then carried forward by the constant

CROSSINC; AN OVERGROWN MORAINE. 85

movement of the ice, till they have collected
during the lapse of centuries into a perfect zone
of mountains superimposed upon the glacier all
along its edges, eight or ten miles in breadth.
Under these piles of moving stones, which are
for ever being carried forward, lies the glacier
ice, three or four hundred feet in thickness at
the edge, and much thicker elsewhere ; while a
tangled forest of spruce and birch, maple and
alder, is growing along its extremity, so thickly
and closely, that it becomes exceedingly difficult,
especially to men with large packs on their backs,
to force a way through ; as though it were not
difficult enough already to walk on loose rocks of
every size, varying from that of a house to that
of a paving-stone.

But the advancing mass, for it is advancing, is
not content with having a forest over it, but it
must needs have one under it also, as it gradually
covers and buries the narrowing strip of timber.
This belt of undergrowth turned out narrower than
we expected. It was half a mile only ; beyond
lay bovren moraines or enormous mounds of stones
heaped together over the ice and more or less
compacted together with age, stretching eastward
as far as the eye could reach, and forming the most

ii'r

m '

86 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

unpleasant walking imaginable. Morsels of slate,
granite, porphyry, felspar, trachyte, and plutonic
dihris were mixed together. The underlying ice
very rarely protruded. Here and there lay deep
pools of clear water. In the afternoon the Indians,
who were behind, twice went off at a tangent in a
different direction from that we were taking, with-
out giving any notice of their intention. The
second time, they got separated from us by a mile,
and the two parties sat on the tops of two moraine
mounds making signals which, on account of the
distance, we could not understand. The only thing
to be done was to exercise a little patience, and
soon the proud and stubborn Yakatats found it to
be a case of Mahomet and the mountain, and were
seen making their way across the glacier to join
us, annoyed possibly because they had degenerated
from guides to mere porters.

Meanwhile some of the party went prospecting
for the best route, as we were shut in and sur-
rounded by badly crevassed portions of the glacier.
We had been making for the west flank of a range
of hills which seemed the only obstacle to a clear
view of the base of St. Elias, which now com-
menced to tower grandly overhead. This range was
not over a mile distant now. The slopes looked

1 . 1

i ?■

k ,

TYWDALl

TK( attcm/iF en

/I- S^EL/AS

ALASKA

Alaskan ExMLon.

Icy Bay ^"^"^ o'fj'ms r. .^^

WORTH PACIFIC OCEAN

•«n

r •

A GLACIAL LAKE.

-^1

smooth, green, and grassy; the lower parts were
timbered. It seemed a forbidden paradise which
we were never to reach. The Indians had kept
constantly exclaiming that they saw wild mountain
goats on it, which was quite impossible at that
distance. All day we had been following what
seemed the line of junction of two glaciers, with a
perceptible depression, as though a river were un-
dermining it. Between us and this range lay what
appeared to be a rough ice-surface strewn with
seracs or small icebergs, and lying lower than the
glacier-surface. The searchers came back reporting
this to be a lake, and quite impassable. The ice
terminated in steep cliffs. It was a lake covered
with morsels broken from the glaciers. The only
indications of the existence of water was the per-
fectly flat arrangement of the pieces of ice, which
showed they must be floating. Named it after the
President of the Italian Geographical Society-
Lake Castani.

It was getting dark, and nothing remained except
to look for a camping-place on the glacier.

This we found at last on a flat piece of gravel
washed down by a stream from the melting ice,
like the delta of the Jones River in miniature.
The Indians to-night seem ravenously hungry.

w»*^

■p

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

I i

The Third Camp (on the Ice),
July 2^d, Afternoon.

The next thing to be done was to find a way oflf
the glacier, or at least northward and westward. If
we kept on the ice, the road to Mount St. Elias lay
to the westward, round the spur or over the lower
part of the low range. The Professor thought this
way was barred to us on account of the crevasses
in the ice, and set out with an Indian this morn-
ing in an easterly direction, along the edge of the
glacier, to find a way on to the land. I started
out with an Indian to the westward with the same
object. Both parties agreed to be back by 3 p.m.
at latest. It was then 9 a.m.

The crevasses, as I had expected, turned out
merely deep corrugations or waves in the surface
of the ice, not fissures. The Indian frequently
stopped and pointed to his moccasins, which cer-
tainly were worn through ; but to an Indian accus-
tomed to go barefoot over rough ground what did
that signify ? However, to induce him to follow,
he had to be given a thick pair of woollen socks
that I happened to have. To make a long story
short, the Indian and I found a way out of the maze
or cul-de-sac in which the party had found them-

AN ISLAND IN THE GLACIER.

selves, after two hours fast walking mainly over
waves of white ice sprinkled with rocks and stones,
with here and there deep mud, on to a small tim-
bered island of thirty acres in extent, situated upon
what looked like the damp bottom of a quondam
lake. It was not, strictly speaking, an island when
we reached it, for the lake was, for some reason,
below its usual level. This island was bordered
on one side by the glacier, which was gradually
advancing over it, crushing up the tall pines,
rending them into matchwood, and heaping one
over the other — a scene of gradual destruction by a
resistless force. The onset of the glacier was over-
riding and burying the patch of wood. This small
island was separated from our low range of hills
by a flat expanse of damp gravel, looking like the
bed of some mighty torrent the waters of which
had been suddenly turned aside into some other
channel or dammed up altogether. Subsequently
it appeared that the latter was what had taken
place.

Cutting off" and taking as a proof and sample
some green branches, like Noah's dove, we reached
camp at one p.m. once more.

By three o'clock the other wliite man had not
returned; but at three-thirty this afternoon the

I i

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Indian came back with a note from him saying
that he was three hours from camp, and that he
fancied a good passage existed across the river
which came from the east, but that he had not
yet crossed, and that it would take him another
hour to do so. Before starting he had agreed to
come opposite the camp and fire his rifle and
burn a magnesium light, which he thought would
be visible a mile away, if he succeeded in crossing.
But if there had been found a road to the west-
ward, the fact would be signalled to him by means
of the flag we had brought.

Meanwhile the Indians had been grumbling
audibly. As translated by Kersunk, the boy
interpreter, their mutterings signified that they
would prefer going no farther, for their moccasins
were worn out. If they were to desert us it might
make progress into the interior of the St. Elias
alpine region impossible with our heavy packs.
But after a little persuasion there suddenly
appeared, as if by magic, and from whence it
was impossible to say, two new pairs of moc-
casins.

But the absent one has not returned, so the
rest of the party, guided by the Indian who had
accompanied me, set ofl" with the packs to the

I 1

A LOST PROFESSOR. ^j

westwartl by the newly-discovered way, wliile I
am waiting for liim with Schwatka.

We have put up the flag-pole. Nothing breaks
the silence of the frozen wilderness excepting
cracks and groanings in the ice or the roll like
distant thunder of an occasional avalanche of snow
down the sides of St. Elias (or " ambulance," as the
lieutenant called it, d la Malaprop), which woke
corresponding echoes in the mountains on the west,
for there was no wind stirring; or in our more
immediate neighbourhood an avalanche of mud,
stones, and slush breaking out of some crevice
with a rush, and threatening in a miniature way
to overwhelm us. Schwatka is seriously ill with
a chill, which has brought on fever, ague, and
pleuritic pains.

Up till dark we kept examining the glacier with
field-glass and telescope, and sweeping the horizon
in search of the lost Professor. Then we had
dinner— a quarter of a " cracker" apiece,--fireless,
for there is no wood.

The Fourth Camp (on an Island in the Ice),
Jtily 24tk, Sunset.

Before we lay down to sleep, towards ten o'clock
last night, from a high point on the glacier, a

; I

• I

,H i

■r'l

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

cheering sight was visible, in the shape of an
enormous cloud of blue smoke which rose from
the spot which Woods and the Indians had reached.
Woods was evidently determined that no one else
should be given in as " missing," for it rivalled in
bulk St. Elias himself. But from the same direc-
tion came an incomprehensible sound as of a
roaring, rushing torrent, through the still night air.
In the morning I had found no sign of such a
thing in that direction, only a damp river-bed
between the island and the range of hills. Woods
had evidently, by the position of the smoke, camped
on the island instead of on the range, as we ex-
pected he would.

There exists a large river in the direction the
Professor has gone, namely, to the eastward, which
he has been endeavouring to cross. The one that
has meantime burst forth from the westward was
even larger. The lake was rising, and it was
evident that the two streams united together, and
flowing underneath the glaciers along the line of
their junction, issued in the form of Jones River at
the head of Icy Bay.

At 5.30 A.M. this morning we started for camp,
leaving large sheets of newspaper spread out to
attract attention, and a note on a stick saying that

A PHENOMENON. 95

the absentee was to come on to the smoke of the
fires or to wait. On arriving at this camp the
bursting forth of a new torrent was confirmed. It
was also clear why they had not camped on the
range of hills. The new river had been dammed
up at some spot above, and was now running
" double tides," to make up for lost time. Just as
we got into camp. Woods, who had been exploring
it, reported a river " big enough to wash away the
city of London into the Atlantic Ocean." I could
hardly believe it, and went to see. Some alpine
lake had burst its bounds. The noise I had heard
through the dusk had been the roaring sound
caused by rush of many waters contending in their
downward course and wrestling as they fell with
boulders and blocks of ice.

It seemed as if the forces of nature had combined
to prevent our ever reaching St. Elias before our
food-supply gave out, not to mention the unfor-
tunate loss of the Professor. Over the waterless
channel of yesterday were now suroincr icebero-s
down the stream, mixed with roots and trunks of
trees. This accounted for the marks of sudden
rises and falls in the river-level lower down, and
made us fear lest our stores at the second camp
should be washed away. Close liy, on the banks,

SHORES AND AM'S OF ALASKA.

ill! additional guiding-fire which Woods liad made
Imd spread over the dry moss. Half a dozen largo
trees were fairly alight, and sending up such n
volume of smoke as must have been visible for
fifty miles. The ground wherever it was sandy
was covered with tracks of bears, some of which
appeared as the impressions of monster paws.

Close by, over the river and looming through
the smoke, hung frowning cliffs of ice, the flank
of the glacier-face which was burying our island ;
while, as if to add an additional horror to the scene,
a tree crashed down at that moment, overborne by
the weight of the advancing glacier. Fire, ice, and
water were contending at the same moment in their
powers of destruction, and within a distance of a
yard or two from each other.

Meantime the four Indians were despatched as
two search-parties, with orders to return if they
heard two shots fired. Before they had long been
gone one party fired two shots for some reason
unknown, and the other party of Indians, hearing
it, returned to camp, and were again sent out. At
6 p.M this evening, as the lieutenant and I were
walking through the timber, a voice cried, " Hello
there ! " It was the lost one, pale and tired, but
safe. He had failed to make his crossing to get off

THE WANDKUKU HKTruXS. 97

tlie ice, and Iiud tlicn gone on caHtwunl iway from
cftmp with great determination. In tlie evening,
arriving at a lake, lie tliought a way was i)<)M,siI)le
by making a long detour. Shortly after, having
.slightly .sprained hi.s leg, he wa.s unahle to make
the detour to .sec, hut left hi.s gun and in.struments
on the iec, and walked westward to cam|), hoping
to meet u.s coming, and not .supposing it to he
po.s.sible that we had .succeeded in finding a way
to the eastward. The ch.udy pillar had been his
guide, but a great many fires had been .set blazin^r
and he had not yet located the one by which our
camp wa.s set.

The Fn-Tii Camp (neah an Ice-fall at
TUB Foot of ^rouxT .St. Eliah),

J till/ 25///, 10 P.M.

The Indians who had been sean^hing westward
reported finding a good easy way by following the
glacier in that direction. This was luck} , as no
other way was possible except a retreat. This
morning at noon we were once more fairly on the
road for St. Elias. The Professor remained behind
to connect the camps by simultaneous barometrical
readings, having .ne of the Indians left with him.
AH carried packs. Only necessaries were taken,

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

including one of the small tents, and all the pro-
visions that could be mustered, rope also and axes.
After the vexatious delays, the food could only last
us for from four to five days longer.

Keeping up the glacier, over troublesome mounds
and hillocks of ice, slightly crevassed and covered
several feet in depth with moraine and debris, in
two hours a fiat plateau was reached where the ice
gave good walking. In front w^as another immense
glacier ; a third stretched away on tlie left hand
side like a plain of ice as far as the eye could
reach ; while our way opened out plainly by yet
another glacier which had its origin from the crags
of St. Elias himself.

We soon turned the corner of the rancje of
hills which had offered such an obstacle to us.
On the right lay two lakes of muddy water of
considerable extent, which were possibly the re-
servoirs which had become dammed up and had
then burst. For nearly two hours longer piles of
loose stones were crossed, and the centre of the
St. Elias south-west glacier was reached at 5.30
P.M. This we named the Great lyndall Glacier.

About the centre of it my boots gave out,
though I had chosen what I thought were the
strongest pair for .the last few marches. Our

AT THE BASE OF MOUNT ST. ELUS. 99

Indians seemed vastly amused to see a small
l)ox of tacks aj)pcar from one of tlieir i)acks,
wJiile we mended tlic refractory boots with the
tongue cut out of another boot.

At 8.30 P.M. we left the ice and camped on the
last bare slopes anywhere visible, putting up a
covey of ptarmigan from it. We were desirous of
pressing on and of camping on the ice witliin a
day's reach of the summit, but the Indians' moc-

Mount Cook (16,000 feet) from the Tyndall Glac

icior.

casins were again worn completely through, while

they would in any case from superstitious dread

iiave refused to pro(,'eed further.

If the morning turns out fine we intend to start

ut three o'clock, and, to lose no time, have made
up our packs, including two days' provisions and a
suit of clothing to wear over the others at night ;
some Esquimaux coats and hoods of reindeer
.skin, thirty.five yards- of rope, two ice-axes, one
alpenstock, one mercurial mountain barometer, one

I I

I i

i #.

I I

100

SHOKES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

aneroid, one liypsometer, several compasses (one
prismatic), two tliermometers, and one binocular.
The Indians go no fortlier, the final attack on
Mount St. Elias now devolves upon the white
men.

> I

( loi )

(one
3ular.

^ on
vliite

CHAPTER y.

The Ascent of Mount St. EliaH-Dangerous Crevasso.-We arc Roped

-The Ascent-I reach 6800 Feet over Snow-line-A Bear close

o Camp A Description of the M.3untnin-The Return to Icy

liay-Qu,ck.an. s-Three Bears Kille.l-An Attempt to Launch

our A\ haleboat througli the Surf-AVe Swaiu]. at Midni.ijht.

Tut Fourth Camp, Jnlu 27M,
Su7isi:t.

Yesterday we left the last camp at half-past four
in the morning for tlie final ascent. By keeping
to the centre of the glacier, which soon turns to
the west and runs from thence in a north-easterly
direction towards the summit, most of the larger
crevasses were avoided. At six it became nec'es-
«ary to rope the party together, as some of the
fissures, which now ran transversely, became larger
and were partially filled with snow. Joseph Woods
the lightest I placed in front, and the lieutenant
in the centre as being the heaviest, while I brought
up the rear. At this point the boy Frederrck,
who helped to carry our packs so far, was sent
back, and the party consisted then of three.

The clouds had hung heavily, and now com-

loa

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

.^ f

;i I

mencecl closing down. The glacier soon became
much cut up. Progress was very slow, and it
became necessary to bear away to the west. It
soon appeared advisable, as this w^as the first ex-
perience of the other two of any Alpine snow work
or of the use of rope and ice-axe, that we should
strike off towards one of the ridges on the west,
from which several large glaciers descended. Up

Trying to ascend Mount St. Elias,

one of these we now worked in a north-westerly
direction. It was in a better condition than the
main ice-stream. But as it was now near midday
the snow bridges over the fissures were unsafe,
and some of the crevasses of great width. It wf^i
especially vital to the success of the attempt that
the clouds should break and clear away at once.
Only three days' food remained in all, while as

THE ASCENT.

10?

an additional difficulty, the lieutenant was still
seriously ill with fever, and I feared that a nifrht
in the snow might even prove fatal to him.

At three the ice was quitted for a slope of
crumbling rock with large patches of snow, by
wdiich a ridge rising at a steep angle was reached.

Schwatka was now in such an alarming condi-
tion from repeated chills, that his state made it
necessary to halt for an hour ; this delay I took
advantage of to make a sketch, before everything
was entirely obscured by the mist. Then I re-
sumed the ascent with Woods. At a height of
6800 feet I sent him back to see after Schwatka,
and continued the ascent across a narrow snow-
field. I'he upper part of the ridge was swathed
in vapour, through which I pressed on till an
altitude was reached of almost 7500 feet,* as well
as could be computed at the time.

Progress was stopped at 7 p.m., as the ground
began to M) away to the west ; had the weather
been clear, we might have picked out a possible
way of ascent even yet, and might even luive
seen part of the northern foce on which no white
man's eye at any rate has yet rested.

Compelled by all these "circumstances over
* Subsequently shown to be y2oo feet over sea-level.

I04

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

i r

which wc had no control," we returned to camp,
which was at lenfjth reached at midnifjht. I
had ascended to a greater height over the summer
snow-level than is possible to accomplish in Europe,
the snow-level on Mount St. Elias being 400 feet
only above the sea-level owing to the heavy annual
snow-fall.

The day before, we had told the Indians that
our stock of provisions was very small, requesting
them to eat but little. We found they had left
untouched the whole that remained, r jgaling them-
selves on wild roots and water. As we could re-
main no longer, a good meal and light packs were
the order of the day ; especially for the Indians,
whose capability for either fasting or repletion is
very great. Before leaving, Woods, who had left
the hypsometer a short distance from camp, had
to return for it. As he was coming down the
bed of a stream he saw a large grey-colouied bear,
evidently one of the Elias grizzlies. The 50-calibre
Winchester had been left in the last camp. The
bear seemed to be eating the wild or "skunk"
cabbage, and took no notice whatever, and pro-
bably did not see Woods.

I subsequently went to look at the bear. It
was a large brute, and I longed for some weapon

A BEAR.

10^

i-s

of offence. Woods also killed four ptarmigan with
an ice-axe. These birds evidently had broods, and
were most pugnacious, following like dogs, and
running round and round us with outspread wings.
They were w^elcome as a supply of meat. We
reached the camping-ground at seven this evenino-
The Indians declared they felt the wound movino-
and shaking as they lay in their " lean-to." If it
was not mere imagination, the lieutenant was
shivering and shaking from chills and fever with
almost sufficient violence to convey the sensation
of an earthquake to the acute senses of the Indians.
During the intervals of clear weather there have
been many opportunities of sketching and examin-
ing Mount Saint Elias, both with telescope and
binocular as well as with the naked eye, from our
various camps and stopping-places from different
points of view. A description would he of interest
in view of future attempts to climb the mountain.
Its height has been differently estimated by the
old navigators, Cook, Vancouver, Tebenkoff, La
Perouse, Bering, and Belcher, and it is the only
mountain the real height of which has exceeded
the first estimates made of it. jMountains gene-
rally prove lower than they were originally believed
to be, but the latest determination taken from

io6

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Yakatat and from the U.S. Coast Survey schooner,
Yukon, gives 19,500 and possibly 20,000 feet. It
certainly, from its massive shape, gives the im-
pression of being less than this, notwithstanding
that its whole altitude is presented to the eye, from
its sharp summit down to the ocean at its foot.
The nortliern ridge of the pyramid, as seen from
the same spot in profile, presented the same angle
of descent as the southern ridge — about forty-five
degrees. Something in the shape of Elias from
Yakatat reminds one of Piz Roseg as seen from
the Roseg Glacier.

The first features that fix the attention are the
outline as seen from Icy Bay, being a reproduction on
a slightly larger scale of Mc unt Fairwcather ; next
that Elias forms a regular quadrilateral pyramid ;
next the detached circular crater-like basin nearly
half-way up the central front ; next the regularity
of three of the pyramidal side ridges and the
assumption that the fourth ridge must be equally
regular ; and fifthly, the solitary and isolated situa-
tion of the Ice King — the terminating and crowning
elevation of his range, so close upon the sea — the
highest peak"'^ in North America gazing out over the

* Lieutenant Allen asserts that Mount Wrangel, lying at the forks
of the Copper River, is even higher.

NATURE OF TIIK GREAT MOUNTAIN.

J 07

widest ocean of the world. But though 30 like in
shape to Fairvveather, which is 15,500 feet, there
exists a diflfereiice, in that the two ridges which
appear like shoulders or wings on each side of the
two summits, in Elias are longer, while the eastern
shoulder is lower than the western. In Fairweather
both are of equal height. The four aretes or ridges
appear to run north, south, east, and west. The
north-west face of the mountain has never been
seen. The north-east fiice seemed from Yakatat to
consist of steep cliffs. The east ridge descends from
the summit as a snow arete with a gradually de-
creasing rapidity for about 4000 feet, forming one
of the before-mentioned shoulders; from which
point it falls in cliffs of steep black rock with
one break, a depression holdino: a small hanoino-
glacier.

Next comes the south-east face. The upper
triangular part consists of steep slopes of rock and
snow, and the lower part of perpendicular precipices.
The sharp contrast between the black and the white,
the rock and snow; and the well-defined line of
demarcation, half Avay up, between snow-field and
precipice, forms a marked feature of this face.

Then the central or south ridge of the pyramid
slopes at an angle of forty-five degrees from the

io8

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

summit to a depression lying seven or eight thou-
sand feet below it, between the mountain and the
erater-basin. This crater, for such it appears,
though we found no volcanic traces on the moraine,
should be from four to five thousand feet in dia-
meter. It lies in front of, and separate from, the
main volume of the mountain, and about midway
between base and summit. The encircling ridge
encloses it on three sides only, leaving the interior
open to view on the south-east. The inner cliffs
of the crater descend too steeply to allow snow to
rest on them, but enclose four hanging glaciers.
On the outside of the crater are five other glaciers,
and between them four ridges descending to the
main glacier at the foot, which seem accessible half
way up— two of them even look easy — whence the
rim of the crater could be reached. From this
point it appears that the main snow-fields on the
south-west face might be attained.

On the south-west side, from the summit of Elias,
the snow and rock, very steep at first, stretches
down at a gradually lessening angle to a plateau of
neve, which winds down towards the crater, then
turns from behind it to the westward, being much
crevassed, and descends at an angle of about tw^enty
degrees to the main glacier, which we named the

THE WEST FACE.

109

Great Tyndall Glacier, wliioli now flows to the
soutli-east along the foot of the mountain, past tlie
base of the crater, where it widens and turns to the
south. At this point, where neve and glacior
mingle, and which may l)e called the source of
the main southern Elias Glacier, some triljutary
glaciers flow in and join from the westward ; wliile
between this point and the crater are two fine
ice-falls. In the centre of the south-west face a
long regular and sharp ridge joins the main mass
of Elias, and divides the above-mentioned sloping
plateau of 7ieve into two.

This sharp ridge has also the effect of partly
hiding the western edge of the Elias pyramid,
which, as I could see from the highest point
reached, trended somewhat to the northward in
its lower part, and promised, on the whole, a not
impracticable way of ascent. Reaching the west
shoulder would be identical with reaching the
summit itself. While the sky in this direction
appeared to us generally more free from those
clouds and masses of fog which were so prevalent
just at the period when their absence was so impor-
tant to us, and which caused us so mu(;h trouble
and annoyance. In this direction the "foot-
hills " of Ehas stood like islands in the enormous

110

SIIOUEH AND Ar.rS OF ALASKA.

5 •■

cxpanac of oluoicr stretch iiijL? pruiric-likc as far as
tlic eye could penetrate through the <'ryHtallinc air
towards the country of the Atna or Copper River ;
and in the same direction was seen another h)fty
range standing near the sea, and completely en-
shrouded and enveloped in the ice from which it
rose, and on which it seemed, so to speak, to rest
or float as on an ocean. But while the sky in the
north-west was more favourable, a constant canopy
of fog-bank hung over the sea at times, ending
abruptly with the land, and thus defining the coast-
line, especially Yakatat Bay.

Returning now to the foot of the crater, the main
glacier at this point is approximately six miles in
width, and, as stated before, now flows southward
to the ocean, bounded by ranges of snowy hills
which contribute numerous streams of ice to swell
its volume. This we named the Tyndall Glacier,
and it was our pathway goin*^ to and returning
from our last camjjing place.

These boundary ranges to this glacier, which
divide it from the vast ice -plains on the east and
west of it, cease at a distance of twenty miles from
Mount Elias. It then widens out and mingles with
the seas of ice and moraine, which cost us three
days to cross, and which form the shores of Icy and

OCKAXS OF WE.

Ill

Yakattit Buys; wliilr an immonao ice-river, twenty
miles uroml and of nnknown lenoM,, comes in fi„ni
the westward (which we called the (Jreat Gnyot
Glacier), nnd where, as we could see from the greatest
elevation reached, were endless ice-fields. Towards
Yakatat also, a plain of nrlacier stretches for fifty
miles, which nnist comprise 700 scpiare miles;
the seaward part consists of moraines, of course
underlaid with ice. The U.S. Coast Survey named
this JMalaspina, as being apparently " a plateau bare
of vegetation," and a " huvicd fjlacier." It is, how-
ever, not exactly - bare of vegetation," for so slow
is the glacier's march, and so huge are the moun-
tains of moraine that border it, that large parts arc
covered with thick bush, through which it is diffi-
cult to penetrate.

It would probably be below the mark to give
10,000 square miles as the area of the glaciers be-
tween Mount Elias and the Copper River country,
and 8000 from Elias eastward, and southward to
Cross Sound, making 1 8,000 square miles of glaciers,
while merely those which border the shore must
comprise an area of about 2500 square miles of
rough but level fields of ice.

113

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

1^^ :

r '

Table op Heights.

Everest (in tlio Himalayas), 29,002 feet (snow-line from
15,500 to 18,000 feet).

Aconcagua (in the Andes), 23,000 (snow-line, 12,780).

Chimborazo, 21,420.

A summit in the Hindu Kush, 20,593,

Mount St. Elias, 19,000 to 20,000 (U.S. Coast Survey's
observations).

Cayembe, 19,625,

Kilimanjaro, approximately, 19,000.

Tolima, 18,314,

Kara Korum Pass (Himalayas), 18,200.

Elburz (Caucasus), 17,800.

Mount Cook, 16,000.

Mount Brown (Uritish Columbia), 16,000.

Mount Ci'illon, 15,900.

Mount Murchison (British Columbia), 15,789.

^lont Blanc, 15,784.

Mount Iloolcer (British Columbia), 15,700.

Mount Fairwcafher, 15,500.

Monte Rosa, 15,223.

!Mount Tacoma (Oregon), 14,440.

Mount Adams (AV'ashington Territory), 13,258.

Mount Vancouver, 13,100.

The Gross Olockner (Tyrol), 12,956.

The Adlcr Pass, 12,461.

Mount Cook (New Zealand), 12,460.

Muley Hacon (Spain), 11,664.

Col du Geaiit, 11,426,

Mount La Pcrouse, 11,300.

^Mount Hood (Oregon), 11,^:20.

^[ount ISfaiadetta (Pyrenees), 11,168.

Ischar Dagh (Balkans), 10,000.

Kuska Poyano (Carpathians), 9912.

!Monte Corno (Apennines), 9523.

Highest in Arabia, 8593.

from

■eys

THE RETURX FROM ST. ELIAS. ,,3

Snae Ilattan (Xorway), 8102.

Kosciuskii (Australia), 6500.

Alleghany Mountains (Xorth Carolina), 6476.

Jicn Novis, 4406.

The Catskills, 4000.

Snpwdon, 3590,

The Second Camp, Jnl!/ 28///,

9 P.M.

Made the wliole distance to-day fvom tlie fourtli
camp. The water is two feet liiglicr. We knew
the river wouhl rise after the sudden appearance
of a torrent, where I had found notJiing but bare
ground the day before. Tho.gh in peril, the cache
we had left was safe ; the Professor had been using
some of the provisions, and had evidently left only
that morning for the base camp, after having shifted
the things out of harm's way^ for the ashes of his
camp fire were still warm.

lev Lay. The Base Camp,

Jub/ 29///, Siuiiiet.

Leaving the second camp at seven this morning
we abandoned everything not absolutely needecl
We had to keep through thick wood away from the
river for the first mile, on account of the high state
of the water. The quicksands were covered wlu-re
we had crossed previously ; but :n another place
we v.aded breust-high in the rive,-, which had a

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

shifting sandy bottom. Struck more quicksands
on the other side. Here the lieutenant sank up
to his middle, and was pulled out with the end of
an alpenstock. He says he struck bed-rock. If
we had only known this before, how boldly we
should have allowed ourselves to sink, and with
what nonchalance crossed the very worst places.
The last river was also breast-hifjh. Reached this
camp at 3 p.m., and found thai; Dal ton had killed
three bears on the beach near by. He informed
us that it had rained daily. The biggest bear had
sat up and looked at him, and had crawled a hun-
dred yards after being shot. The Professor struck
a bad part of the river in crossing the quicksands,
and his Indian dropped and lost everything that
was not tied on.

Icy Bay. The Base Camp,
Juli/ 3o//i, Midday.

All day yesterday we rested, watched the surf,
listened to the roar of the ocean, and wondered how
we were going to get away. Wo determined to
try to get away by that night's tide. It was high
water at about 11.30 r,M. We packed the things,
leaving most of the remaining provisions, and other
things that were not indispensable. Towards sun-
down everything had been carried across the sand

THE STRUGGLE WITH THE SUKF. ,,3

(luiies to the side of the wliale-boat. Oars aiul
mast were made ready and everything prepared.
Braders were filled and rollers laid, the very
names conveying unpleasant reminders. The
anclxor had been thrown out as far as possible by
Woods wading out at five that afternoon at low
water, when the Indian canoes are said to be able
to make a landing.

Still the length of cable we had to haul on to
get tlirough the breakers looked miserably short
and insufficient, and threatened that we should be
imable to take quick advantage of the calm moment
on account of the difficulty of raising the anchor,
which, as well as the chain, sinks in a few minutes
to a great depth in the sand. How deep would it
sink in six hours ? The last twenty yards are of
ohain, and this, as well as the anchor, was very
ficavy, making it slow and hard work moving it. I
aM vised not using them. The pile of mpcLienta
looked f.n-midable, and were j)acke(' into tlie boat
to occupy the smallest space. As midniglit ap-
proached ^ -e made ready. AVe took oif our boots
and coats, and stood round the boat to hold firm
as the foam rushed by. It was icy cold to legs and
f^'et ; and uniting our strength, we moved her down
upon the underwash of each succeeding wave.

116

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

pi I

1:' ,

* 1 ' 1

We had suspected that the boat was toe heavily
loaded for nine men to manage, and too low to
give her the necessary chance of rising over the
foaming breakers, comparatively sniall though they
were when contrasted with those of winter.

But most of the scientific instruments were the
private pro^ itv of one of the members of the
party, and \\\ valuable. We weve therefore
unwilling to abandon them to their fate. To make
the situation more unpleasant it was nearly mid-
night and the darkness was increasing. Our legs
were numbed ; for the many glacial rivers and the
glaciers along the shore made the water bitterly
cold. The waves seemed getting larger. It was
spring-tide. Soon an enormous breaker came on
like a wall, and broke with a roar like thunder.
The foam rushed up the beach towards us. Now
was the time. We gasped for breath in the icy
water, and held firm to the boat till the wave began
to retreat again. " All together now " some one
shouted, and exerting our full strength we rushed
her down a few yards on the retiring flood.

We were now nearer to danger than ever. Some
water had entered the boat over the gunwales
already. The sand seemed to hold her sucked
down. The canoe had been tied behind with

DEFEATED. „y

twenty yards of rope. We had seen it rush past
us caught by the back sweep of the water, and next
moment become broken into small pieces which
floated uncomfortably round about, like an en-
tanglement, till some one cut the rope adrift. We
were watching the next opportunity-a retreating
underwash followed by calm water for a moment.
The Indians strained their eyes seawards. Every-
thing was obscured by the darkness, for it was past
midnight. We had calculated on its being lighter.
Now— now was the time, and a yell arose from the
whole party. Next minute we were completely
enveloped in foam, as we struggled to keep a foot-
ing, gasping from the cold. The rush of water was
terrific. It seemed like a nightmare enacted by
madmen. Wave succeeded wave till she was filled
and immovable. Everything became confusion.
Behind was a desert, in front the roaring sea in
which our effects were at the jioint of destruction,
while the surf breaking upon us chilled us through
and through. We were between the devil and the
deep sea, and tiie devil received the vote, for
" back " was now the cry. We were defeated and
cast once more upon an inhospitable shore. Four
held the boat, while the rest carried package after
package above the reach of the waves.

mmn

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

if.*

Shouib for assistance were heard as the waves
got the better of the four, and " slewed her broad-
side ; " till bailed out and dragged up she was
made fast for the present out of reach of the tide.
So ended our first attempt to leave Icy Bay. Here
we are still. We have still some provisions left,
and must make one last desperate effort if the surf
remains moderate. The matches were dry, and a
hot fire and coffee were cheering, as were also the
few blankets that remained dry.

The roaring of the surf kept every one awake till
the sun was high in the heavens, reminding us as
it did that calmer weather was the only alternative
to capsizing or semi-starvation ; while the brightest
star in the ment 1 atmosphere is the return of the
man-of-war in a month.

To-day the weather is clear and cloudless, the
mirage along the shore rising and falling as the

wind drifts the spray from the breaking surf inland.

The beach is strewed with things laid out to dry ;

luckily it is a fine warm day.

( i'9 )

CHAPTER VI.

A Fresli Attempt to Pass the Surf of Icy Eay— ALanJoniueiit ..f our
Possessions— Skirting the Shore— Crossing Yakatat Bay— We
canip In- the Indian Village-Haggling with the Natives, or
"Chin-nm..ic"-Our Life at Yakatat-An Attempt to Recover
the Abandoned Property— The Kaiak Traders arrive in their
Schooner— Poisoning of the Indians with Arsenic— Murder of
George Holt- The Chief Medicine-Man— I leave Yakatat— The
Nexo York Times Expedif iou waits for the Man-o'- War— Becalmed
—Shouting Seals— A Sea-otter Hunt— Ca])e Yagtag— A Wild
Stern Coast-line — Another enormous Glacier — Life on the
Schooner- Cape Suckling— Cape Martin— Kaiak Island.

i *

Yakatat Bav, August 2d, 1886.
Fresh preparations for departure were beo-uii.
The anchor and chain were extracted from the
sand and kid thirty yards farther out at low
water, favoured by the spring-tide, by Woods
and Dalton, after a violent struggle with the
waves. It grew gradually calmer; our expecta-
tions rose. The scientific instruments were heavy ;
must the Professor leave them ? No, they must
be taken in the cause of science. If we were des-
tined to swamp, we should swamp without them
as easily as with them. The Indians were con-

ill

1!
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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

•f f

suited ; they would start at daybreak on the ebb-
ing tide. It grew calmer still. If it should only
keep so for eight hours longer I At all hazards
we must break through the liounds of our prison-
house.

The surf broke in long straight lines, every
portion simultaneously. The sound of it was
louder, but the sea in reality calmer. Each roller
was clearly defined from each succeeding one.
We could pick out the moment for the last rush
with certainty. It was 7 o'clock in the evening.
We lay down, and each one feigned sleep, but no
one slept. We were face to face with a danger,
but we talked of other things. The Indians
watched the sea by turns all night, and roused
Dalton to prepare breakfast as the first light of
morning lit the sky behind the vast ranges of
alps. Almost everything was abandoned this
time. The boat was therefore nearly empty.

The air was thick with sea fog, but the sea was
still in good condition. It grew lighter and lighter.
E'^erything is ready, and away we go down the
beach. Now she touches the wash. We haul in
the slack of the anchor rope and bide our time.
Determination is imprinted on every face. The
undemonstrative Indians get really excited and

THE VICTORY. „,

show it. We leave it to them to give tlic word.
The glaciers make the sea almost icy cold, and we
shudder as each surge breaks and rushes under us.
The moment arrives when we see a calm stretch.
" All together ! " and she moves seaward. Now she
floats. Pull on the anchor rope for life or death.
"Jump in, boys ! " - Row, for God's sake, row ! "
The chain is caught in the sand and refuses to come
up. Some one cuts t .e rope. All is confusion.
The oars are entangled and refuse to enter the
rowlocks. " Row, for God's sake, row ! " At last
I get one in, and a wave strikes it out again. (I
found afterwards this rowlock was bent.) She
surges to and fro. Nothing at this moment could
take my attention from the rowlock, though it
were to rain "chained thunderbolts and hdl of
iron globes." I wrestle with my oar, and every-
thing beside passes unheeded except the cry dinning
in one's ears, " Row, for God's sake, row ! " A
small wave passes under her and breaks just under
the keel ; she turns broadside. Has no one got an
oar out ? Ten yards more and we shall be safe.
I seize another oar ; some one is sitting upon it.
I try another, and the stay catches. At last one
oar is got to work ; then another. Every one shouts
at once. Never was seen such confusion, or heard

! I. < ,1

4 \

laa

SIIOUES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

such pan«lemoiiium. Iliules must have broken
loose. The importance of the next few seconds is
immense. At last she moves — faster and faster —
no heavy sea yet. We arc safe. No ! look out —
yes, safe at last. An immense roller arrives. She
rises to it, and it passes under and breaks just
beyond us. The shore recedes. We are soaked
through and through, but safe. We are exhausted,
and can afford to rest. We bail the boat, and
change into dry things which we have taken care
to place in rubber bags. The fog lifts. Never did
Mount St. Elias look so grand, so magnificent.
Our deserted tent stands lonely on the shore. It
shows white against the dark narrow belt of forest,
which in its turn shows up blackly against the
glittering sea of glaciers beyond.

We have the best boat from the man-of-war.
We can set no sail, for not a breath moves the
glassy surface of the Pacific, yet we can row her
at a rate of four knots. We taste the water and
find it fresh.

We pass along the coast, keeping well clear of
the line of breakers. In a few hours we reach
Point Sitkagi, the thin line of swamp and
timber ends, and we skirt mile after mile of
brown-looking ice-cliffs where the Great Agassiz

SKIKTINC; Till.: SIIUIIK. „3

Glacier reaches the sea. Piles of moraine rubble
and stones lies on its upper surface ; streams .»f
water issue from its cracks ami fissures and How
clown its face into the ocean.

At midday we are alireast of the point called
Manby l,y the coast survey ; it only remains to
cross the Bay of Yakatat, a distance of twenty
miles, and about sixty from the starting-point.

At Point Manljy some belts of timber fringe
the coast line, which continue for ten miles up the
bay. when the ice-cliffs recommence. In front of
the timber stretches the same long straight linu
of sand, backed by a ridge of gravel and stones
which allow only the tree tops to be seen beyond,
and on which the Pacific surf breaks ceaselessly—
clearly a shore not intended for man to land upon.
A breeze springs up, and the sail is hoisted.
Quantities of seal " bob up serenely " all round,
as many as fifteen glistening black heads at once,
and disappear again in the thick white water.
They are the common hair-seals, and this . an
Indian seal-hunting ground.

Ocean Cape and Cape Phipps soon rise into
view. Each fir-tree becomes defined, and the
coast line presents a serrated edge. The Indian
village comes in sight. The chief hoists his fla-

'' h

(

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

on the flng-polc, and the natives crowd on tlic
roofs of the liouaes. As we draw up on tlie
bench, crowds of Yakatat Indians, men, women,
and naked cliildren, surround us. They have
returned, since we left, from seal-hunting. Most
of them have their faces painted black or red, and
stare intently and silently without one of them
offering to help us.

We pitch camp on the sandbank, now denuded
of strawberries by the newly-arrived inhabitants,
fetching our second large tent and boxes from the
chief's house, where they have been stored. We
find the chief seated on a magnificent bear robe
by the side of his wife and daughter, and wearing
his uniform and the U.S.S. Pinta riband. The
crowd fills the house and still pours in by the
small circular opening called a door. The smoke
ascends through a hole in the roof, across which
are hung strings of dried salmon and salmon -
trout.

After much talk, we tell the chief in reply that
though we have not actually reached the summit
of the big mountain, we have ascended higher
above the snow-line than any other living men.

YAKATAT ACJAIX.

Yakatat r.Av, Jit'/iirif 37.

The chief visited us ycstcnhiy in camp at .suppor,
niKl ate some pilot bread and hacon. Howh of
brown naked chihhen, with Mack beady eyes, sit
round four deep and watch every operation with
an intense and speechless interest.

The be<]ding having been left at Icy Bay, we
have to use a supply of new bhmkets we stored
here. This morning our Indians were pai<l in
trading material, wliich they cliose for themselves
out of the supply brought.

Yakatat Bav, Aufjiixf 5///, iS86.
The last two days have l)een consumed in bar-
gaining with the Indians in trading material for
curios (such as masks and arrows, spoons of wild
sheep and goat horns, charms, carved bones, and
baskets woven out of roots and grass), but in a
manner tedious an.I trying to the patience. Besides
salmon, and occasional!)' a small halibut, the Indian
squaws have been daily bringing clams, cockles,
crabs, and baskets of strawbeii-ies, salmon-berries,
and blueberries. The Alaskan climate produces
ca fine appetite, and with Dalton, AWods, and
Frederick, the cooking is a marvel. One is

'$"!*

:?»'

111

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126

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

liiible to cat too much, and di.dncliiicJ in conse-
tjuence to tlo anything but lie in the tent.

All thb same, the Professor seems not to be
affected ir that way, since he has set up an
observatory in a perforated deal box, screwed to
a stump, with wind gauges, barometers, thermo-
meters, and other instruments.

The Indians do not venture near, for they con-
sider it must be " big medicine."

The Professor.

I made a sketch in oils yesterday of the cliief's
daughter. Several men were asked first to sit, and
all showed some reluctance, so I was surprised to
find tlie chief willino; to allow his daucfhtcr to do
so. She is about fifteen years of age, and came
escorted by her husband and father-in-lau, as well
as by the chit ^ and his wife. I had to make brushes
out of bits of rope, the others being at Icy Bay. I

THE CHIEFS DAUGHTER ,^^

kept lier .sitting an hour, and gave her a looking-
glass.

Eiglit Indians liave consented to go to ley Bay
in large canoes and endeavour tj recover the
things left there, saying they might have long to
wait for an opportunity of launching tlie canoes to
return. They start immediately. One of them,
who owns a partly ruined hut there, is bold
looking, with an honest and trustworthy as well
as picturesque appearance. He is one of the
only two men who hunt bears in this neighbour-
iiood ; the other is one of our Indians, " the
hunter," as we called him. Some may remain the
whole winter, for there are plenty of seals there,
as we discovered.

Yesterday the trader's schooner, of about twenty
tons burden, arrived from Kaiak Island, and is now
lying at anchor. They have offered to take the wliole
party to their store at Kaiak, wlience we can reacli
Nu ^mk in canoes, where a schoono- belonging to
the Alaska Commercial Company \\ ill call in Sep-
tember. By tliis we could reach Kodiak, nnd
thence San Francisco, b}^ the steamer St. Paul.

I have a< opted their offer. Tlie others prefer to
remain at Yakatat until the man-of-war arrives to
take them back to Sitka. To-day we had an exld-

mmm

128

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

ttir,

f;:'i

bition of firiwoiks and athletics. The best man
among the Indians wrestled with Dalton.

Yakatat Bay, August gth.

On the evening of the 6tli a great beating
of drums and sticks, which continued nearly all
night, was heard in the village. The noise seemed
to issue from the last house. It was broken at
times by the howling of the wolf-like dogs which
swarm, and yell in chorus like coyotes, generally
clustering together for the purpose on some pro-
montory or lonely and distant spot.

We sallied out in a body to see what was doing.
The interior of the house was lit up by the firelight.
The shawaan was seated, ntiked to the waist, per-
formino- incantations and machinations over a sick
child, though the child itself was nowhere visible.
His long hair, always left uncut, was streaming
behind him. He was shaking his charms, throwing
his body into contortions, uttering shrill cries,
hissing and extending his arms, groaning and
breathing through his clenched teeth, jerking him-
self meantime in convulsive starts in cadence to
the music. Seated round the fire, a dozen Yakatat
Indians were beating drums and pieces of wood
together, keeping time to the jerks of the shawaan s

TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS. ,3,5

heP'l and body. This old medicine-man is quite
blind, havmg been deprived of liis sight in a fight
with another medicine-man.

Next morning some Yakatat women came to
the tent ostensibly to trade some curios. Their
real object was different. They had brought
with them one of our baking-powder tins, whlh
eontamed a wh.te powder, and whicl, they thou.Jit
must be "no good,"
for all the Indians
who liad eaten of
bread baked with
this powder were
now lying ill ; some
of them being Sit-
ka ns, besides our
guide. Bear Hunter,
and his famil}^

The Professor recognised the powder, which was
pure arsenic. While at Icy Bay, Dalton had taken
some of the drug (used for preserving objects of
natural history) to poison a bait for foxes half a mile
from camp at the head of the lagoon, and had care-
lessly utilised a baking-powder tin for carryino- the
poisonou. mineral. One of the Indians had found
tlie tin near tlie line of march ; it was promptly taken

A Yakatat Medicino-JIan.

K ti''

Ul' IP

1 !

i.^o

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

from him by the Professor and given to Dalton to
be destroyed. He had, however, merely hidden it.
The same Indian, with his thievish propensities, had
sought it out again, conceahng it this time in
another Indian's bundle, v/lio had brouglit it with
liim to Yakatat (to cause misery, illness, and sub-
sequently death to three persons). To pick up and
make use of articles discarded or thrown away as
useless is an unconquerable habit with the Alaskan
Indian.

Mr. Schwatka, in his western experiei^ces on the
plains, has known instances where the pernicious
stuff has been the cause of deaths amongst a hunting;
party by a precisely si'uilar mistake.

As the medicine che.'t was amono; the things at
Icy Bay, nothing could l)e done but to recommrnd
hot salt water immediately as an emetic. The
Professor endeavoured to superintend, but was
not allowed even to use one of their kettles for
fomentations for fear of contamination with the
sick.

The morning wore on, and no Indians came to
trade. At length Frederick brought word that a
child was dead, and that one of the Indians and his
wife, who had refused the emetic, wer seriously
ill, but that all who had taken it were recovering.

MURDER OF HOLT.

i?i

At mtcrvul« a di,taut Urununi^g „„! yelling from
the .nte™.. of the houses told „s that tl.: ./,«-
roaan was busy at his wck. The chief can.e and
«-ont, and the deplorable eonduet of the Indian

Meanwhile we all visited the Indian houses to
-f unythn,g further could be do„e, and sent to
■"i-m t],e traders of the state of affairs. Thev
-on came across in their "dory." Calms and
contrary wmds had given then, „ long passage
fromKa,ak. The only item of news they coud

r,:r""''"""""^'-''^-''"''"'"'-fGeu,e

Kn ' V- '*""'r '■ "' "■'^ ^'""P-y^ «to- ''t the

" ' '" '""''■' ^"'^*- ^-- '-' l-cen sent

of the occurrence to San Francisco, and it wa,
'■oped that the Government would take the neces-

-O-teps for the capture of the murderer. Havin,..
been turned out of the store by Holt for n,isbe!

the back ncvt day. This po.st on the Knik
K'-r has usually been abandoned durino- the

-mmer months for an .sland in the cstuay
ee... of the mosquitoes. The Indians arr.^
tr.«Ie from the n.terior mostly during winter.

: 'I

I
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I' 1

I I

11!

132 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

On Loard the Schooner Three Brothers,
Augitst r)fh, Sunset.

This morr'Tipr we were up early and saw a thick
column of smoKC rising from the village. They
were cremating the body of the child. The usual
sounds of drumming were issuing from the chief's
house, where the sick people are lying. Entering
the house, we found the blind shmvaan again
at his tricks. He was squatting by the side of
our Indian, who was evidently better, for he was
vomiting, having at length taken the emetic. The
shawaan was neglecting the wife, and devoting his
magic arts exclusively to the husband.

Sitting down, I commenced to sketch the sight-
less savage, who, of course, was unaware that I
was drawing him. The chief kept telling me not
to be afraid, for he was blind. Perhaps he thought
as I had sketched his daughter that it would pre-
vent any ill effects if I did the same to the shmvaan.
Presently he stripped himself, and opening his box
of charms, took out a wooden figure of a crane with
a frog clinging to its back, and a bunch of sea-
otter's teeth and carved walrus tusks. The latter
he placed on the naked stomach of the dying man.

Meantime the drums and sticks kept up the

THE MEDICINE-iMAN AT WORK. ,33

monotonous noise, and the heat and stench were
increased by the fire. The shawaan grew more
excited. His contortions and jerks grew more and
more active. His favourite attitude seemed to be
with the right arm drawn up, and hand half-
cleiiched under the ear, the left arm extended,
squatting in Eastern fashion, the body crouched
and greasy witli oil and the heat.

At a sign his hair was uncoiled and unknotted
by the assistant-magician. Its length was at least
five feet, but might possibly have been added to
artificially. At times in his leaps and jerks the
ends came perilously near the fire. He seemed
aware of this, for he occasionally drew them in.
Every few minutes, too, white eagles' down was held
between finger and thumb by the assistant, and
blown over his head and shoulders, to which it
adhered, giving hair and skin a hoary and ancient
look, or as though he was covered with freshly fallen
snow-flakes. The dying man paid but little -gard
to him, and before many hours had elapsed both he
and his wife had passed away.

Disgusted by the sight, and sickened by the
stench, I sought the air, and saw a flag flying from
the schooner's mainmast— a sign to come on board,
for there was a fair wind. The sails were hoisted

'1i

^^^•i

»34

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

1^
13;'!

IS' '•:■:

III "J:

I' 5

if ■!;

lit";

. i

■I;

i
i

as an additional sign, in case the flag should have
passed unnoticed. After a hurried leave-taking I
rowed on board, only to find the breeze dying out.
It rose again, though faintly; so the anchor was
weighed, and she put to sea. Some hours later, as
she lay idle and becalmed barely two miles from
land, the sails flapping as she rose and fell, a canoe
shot out from the promontory containing the chief
and his wife. They had come to beg 1 As the little
schooner lay becalmed they thought it a good op-
portunity to do so, unobserved by the rest of the
tribe.

On r»OARD THE SciiooNEU lliree Brothers ofKodiak,
Augtist loth, Mid-day.

We are becalmed off" Icy Bay, having made
small progress, with only " light airs ; " but the
breeze, such as it is, is now right aft.

August nth.

We were favoured by a light but fair breeze
yesterday afternoon, and with the assistance of
the current, which sets continually to the west-
"ward, we have made forty miles. At the same
time a thick black cloud hung over the sea, some
of the rain from which reached us. There was
also a flash of lightning and some thunder — very

WE HUNT A SEAOTTKR. 135

rare phenomeim in these parts, ami tlie first tlie
Cailsens had heard— but the sky was perfectly clear
to the eastward. Seals were numerous, and the
steersman, either William or Nils, who took it in
turns, kept firing as we went along. Seal meat
is quite palatable, though seal bluljber is exceed-
ingly fishy to the taste. But at 3 p.m. a sea-otter
made his appearance, and all our rifles were <rot
out and several shots fired, but at a long range, and
without any result.

At 6 P.M. we were all in the cabin when another
alarm was given by the steersman. Another sea-
otter had been seen close alongside. It was rain-
mg hard, but a long fusillade commenced. Twice
it gave a fair opportunity, coming to the surface
to breathe close to the schooner. Some bullets
had struck the sea close by the animal, which
appeared to have been wounded, as its movements
were slow and uncertain. The schooner was put
about four or five times as the otter dodged and
came up now in front and now on the rioht or
left. Each time the creature rose some one fired,
to make it dive and so exhaust it, for the sea-otter
is a warm-blooded animnl, and must come to the
surfiice every few minutes to breathe.

After a time it remained floating three hundred

136

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Ir *:
I'' >

yards astern (a seal sliows only its head, or head
and flipper, but a sea-otter shows its whole length),
and no further firing would make the animal dive,
unless the l)ullets were exceedingly close. It was
difticult to make even fair shooting on account of
the motion of the vessel, while the wind having
dropped, it was impossible to follow up the chase
by putting about.

As there seemed no promise of the breeze getting
up again, the men launched the " dory " to continue
the pursuit, leaving me to manage the schooner
alone, and to signal to them from the deck in
which direction to row, the view thence being
more extensive than from the " dory."

By this time the sea-otter had recovered his
breath, and his next appearance was so distant
that the chase was given up. While it lasted it
was exciting, and an immense number of cartridges
were consumed.

We were now opposite a point on the coast
where a party of Indians which had been fitted
out by the traders with boats and guns had been
landed to hunt sea-otters. This was where the
glacier which projects and forms the west side of
Icy Bay terminates, after sweeping or curving
round to the west, at the foot of a low range

icy CAI'E.

of hilLs. T1.C ridges of tl.cse hill. „,e covorcl
with glmuer i,=e, which pours down th,. raviuen
uud sides in a scries of frozen uisaides.

Tlie landing is said to be partially protected l.y
a low sand ridge or point which exists. The
traders had always known this land!,,., by th..
•mme of ley Bay landing. A.s wo p„ssc"l l,y the
«hght ludenhition forming the true Icy Day of
the charts, twenty miles back, I had pointcl out
to them our deserted tent, just visible with the
naked eye, as we were four or five miles oH' shore
It stood out like a shining, square, white ,spe,.k
upon that grand and awful coast in relief against
the narrow belt of forest.

Meanwhile nothing was seen of the traders'
hunting party who were to have come out to us
to be taken back to Kaiak in the schooner. The\-
must have heard the firing, and ha<l not the surf
prevented them, would have put oft: As the swell
was not formidable, it was evident they had
already returned. From the east eape of Icy B.}-
called Icy Cape, where the glacier projects farthest
into the sea, to this point, a disfemce of five or ,si.x
miles, the ice presents a high serrate,] wall to the
ocean, and differs from the other ice fronts which
fringe the coast, and which are of a dirty drab

«3S

SIIOllES AND ALPH OF ALASKA.

colour, from the mortvincs and .sand heaps super-
imposed upon them, in that here tlie ice is a pure
greenifth-wliite, and falls abruptly in peaked and
jointed terraces. The front of the glacier is a cliff
which " beetles o'er his base into the sea," which
thunders below. It is the sea front of the Creat
Guyot Glacier, washed and broken by the Pacific

surtre.

Towards sunset we lay rising and falling slowly
in the long waves oft' the Cape Yagtag of the charts,
where a reef of rocks is said by the Indians to
act as a slight protection to the beach. From
here westward ** the foot-hills," as it were, of Elias
fringe the coast line, timl)ered at the lower levels
with firs. Their feet are bathed in a stratum of
sea-mist rising from the Pacific surf, which bursts
and dies without cessation ; and from the long
booming line of foam rises for ever its ghost, in
the shape of spray and vapour, which rolls away
like smoke, and half conceals the trees in a veil of
rainbow colours, and hangs over the ice like a cold
white pall.

All along the sides and summits of these hills, in
every hollow and in every possible and impossible
position, lie glaciers of all sizes, connected and
disjointed, large and small. Here and there lie

ANOTIfEU EN<)I{M(H'S (ILACIKU.

139

lin

lie

■f i

piitcluvs of snow and 1 roiul ficMs of uinr. Wher-
ever the fjfmvelly or .Medinientary deposits of which
the mountains are composed protrude tlirough the
i 'C or snow, tliey are of a warm red-ljrown colour.
As we lie on the glassy and heaving surface. T can
just see the summit of St. Ellas over a dip in the
range. This dip is filled up hy a glacier which
seems to come rushing and pouring down the valley
to the sea like a Niagara of ice. From here the
higher slopes of Elias look harmlessly easy. The
western ridge appears to fall away genth' to the
north, and to ofler a practicable way of ascending
the mountain.

I had understood that with Icy Cape the last ice
alonff the coast line was left behind. But hxmiinjx
twenty miles or so to the westward appears another
vast ice-plain, to which I ventured to give a name,*
and which sweeps down and opens fan-like on the
ocean, where the coast range of "foot-hills" comes
to an end. It is evidently the opening or outlet of
the vast ghu^ier-desert or ice-lake which we saw from
the slopes of Mount St. Elias, lying to the north-
west of that mountain. Its birthplace is an icy
I'anffe that forms an cnlarjxed continuation of the
ixreat western ridoe of Elias. It is not markc<l or

* Proceedings of the Royal Geogiaiiliical Society, May 18S7.

! ;

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140

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

mentioned by the early navigators, all of whom
mistook the true nature of these stupendous
glaciers, La Perouse describing them as " snow-
lying upon a barren soil," and " a plain totall}'
destitute of verdure."

A blue range ^f hills on the coast beyond is
Cape Suckling, just off which, but not yet visible,
lies Kaiak Island, the traders' post, and their
present home.

Occasionally' the black shining head of a seal
offered a difficult mark, and a shot was fired at it.
Then a line was baited with a piece of salt salmon
and let down for a chance halibut.

The three men each ha\ e a share in the schooner.
Having a good understanding with the Alaska
Comiiiercial Company, they have set up a store at
Yakatat Bay, and another at Kaiak, but the natives
are not great fur-hunters at these places, and their
most profitable trips are made on behalf of the
Company. One of them cooks meals with the
^mal! stove in the cabin, and is exempted in con-
sequence from night-watclies — t'-a and coffee, salt
salmon, bread and butter, and " mush," being the
usual fare, varied with " Cape Horn fry," or a can
of California honev.

BECALMED.

141

TiinEE :^^J';^:s from Kaiak Island,
Awjnst i^fh, 10 A.M.

Yesterday a smart soutli-west breeze sprung up
at mid-day, and continued all the afternoon, blowino-
very fresh by evening, and aggravating the Pacific
swell. It was dead aliead, but better than a calm.
We tacked against it steadily. On the south tack
the schooner pitched a good deal, but we stood to
sea till land was ten miles distant. But once
again, at 7 p.m., it fell calm, so the "dory" was
launched to tow, while the two long sweeps were

The Ht. Eli;i8 Alps, thd third h;^'hest range in the world, viewed from

the westward.

used from the deck. When all hands turned in,
after three hours' work, she hardly seemed to have
advanced much.

Kaiak was still twenty-five miles <listant. By
sunrise we had made five miles. After breakfast
the sweeps were got out, and with the help of liglit
airs we made considerable way again. Cape Suck-
ling was now full in view, and appeared to consist
of two rocky wooded points running out into the
sea and terminating in red cliffs. Bcliind them a
range of hills, with bare, bright-green summits, runs

142

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

it ■ ■:

(

back ten or twelve miles. On each side lie low land,
sand-bars, lagoons, and forest fiats. This strip of
verdant land, like an oasis in the wilderness, is cut
off and imprisoned on the inland side by the inter-
minable plains of glaciers that my eye was now so
familiar with — part of the white plains that descend
from the before-mentioned snow range I had seen
from the slopes of Mount St. Elias from a height
of 7000 feet, now stretched out full in view,
dazzling, spotless, and immense. Further to the

Capo St. Klias.

west lay Cape Martin, the extremity of a range
slightly higher than that of Cape Suckling, and
apparently not so hemmed in and closely pressed
upon from behind by the seas of ice, which here
retire farther inland.

The sun w^as oppressive. We were rolling lazily
in the swell, and close to the Sea-Otter Rocks,
where nets are laid during the winter for the
otters by the traders. Kaiak Island runs seaward
a length of twenty miles ; it is flat and thickly
forested. At the south end Cape St. Elias, a vast

CAPE ST. ELIAS.

rock apparently 2000 feet high, witli rounded
outline, rises suddenly, isolated, and with preci-
pitous sides white and shining— a wonderful and
unmistakable landmark, with a cloud generally
reposing on its top.

Cape St. Elias was named and described by
Cook and the early Russian navigators and fur-
hunters. The former named the island after Dr.
Kaye, and its name seems to have degenerated into
Kayak or Kaiak. He also left a bottle with some
coins on a wooded eminence not for from the shore,
on the east side of the island.

( 144 )

CHAPTER VII.

I if

Arrival at Kaiak — I become a Naval Ofliccr— Hauling in Dog-Fish
— The Hunter's Home and the Indian Village — The Tame
Bear — Two Norwegians on Cape Suckling — How the Bear came
for them — The Habits of the Sea-Otter — Visiting the Indian
Hovels— I become an Admiral, and the Chief is jiresented to
me — The Weather changes.

Kaiak Island, Awjiist i^th
(near the Copper River).

The little schooner seemed in no hurry to be laid
up for the winter, for that was to be her fate.
Though within a couple of miles of Kaiak we still
lay becalmed or nearly so, till at mid-day a boat
shot out from the point, behind which the small
"store" is situated, containing the three other
white inhabitants, all Scandinavians. One of
them was Nils' wife, a stout, pleasant, homel}^,
Swedish woman. I soon made their acquaintance,
or rather was introduced to them by Nils Ander-
sen. Had I some kind of uniform I could wear ?
I was to parade as an officer from a man-of-war
— the one thing that keeps the Indians in awe.
Among tlie few trade articles calculated to take

THE SWEDISH TRADERS.

•45

the Indians' fancy that remained was a gold-

braided cap and military
coat with brass buttons,
exactly suitable, and fittinir

to a nicety.

" We were telling tlie In-
dians," said Olaf, who was
one of the three in the boat,
" that the war-sliip was com-
ing, and would punish them
if they didn't behave themselves. They wanted their

^!|

146

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

big canoe to go to Oodiak, but they will let us
have it now to take us to Nuchuk. The bucks left
this morning for a four days' hunting-trip. The
squaws may clear out when they see the cap with
the gold band, and are told that you come from
the big war-ship."

At the point the tide was running strongly, and
the anchor had to be dropped somewhat suddenly.
While the Swedes were conveying the things ashore,
I procured a large hook from the cabin, baited
it with a piece of salt salmon, tied on a bit of iron
as a sinker, attached a line, and allowed it to sink
till it touched bottom. My dream was to engage
in a struggle with an enormous 400 lb. Alaskan
halibut, to wrestle with the great chavicha or the
king salmon, or to shoot the emperor goose ana the
sea-lion. I knew there would be no fresh fish ashore,
for the Alaskan will never trouble to angle for fresh
cod while salted salmon remains in his fish barrel,
nor do the traders eat it until winter, when nothins;
else can be had. As soon as tlie weight touched
bottom, at three fathoms, there came a pull. Haul-
ing in I found the hook broken. A new hook and
another bite, and I hauled in a large dog-fish ; and
without changing the bait, another. Then three
more of these " terrors of the ocean " in as many

I. <

KAIAK.

minutes. Clearly dog-fish swarm, and my halibut
still remains an experience for the next fine day.

Coming ashore, I found the natives evidently not
deeply impressed by the presence in their midst of
a naval officer ; the two decrepit men, the slovenly
squaws, and half naked children did not "clear
out," but merely pointed and whispered.

>•*•■*»;

Kaiiik.

The settlement of Kaiak is picturesquely situated
behind cliffs, facing the mainland, sheltered by the
two islands Kaiak and lAKtchell. A few Indian
hovels, for they are nothing else, are built above
high-water mark, and a stairway behind leads to
two log houses and the store. A house thatched

ll'i '

f:;

ili

i 4

148 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

with bark contains the nets and canoes. A whale-
boat and two smaller boats lie hauled up on the
beach, painted blue — one light and strong, built in
Japan, and subsequently brought over by a schooner
to Belkoffsky, one of the most important of the
Alaskan settlements of the sea-otter hunters. The
store is dark, small, but well supplied. The living-
house is so confined that two large bear robes cover
half of the entire floor — one of them black, the other
a tawny grey, reminding one of the Polar species.
Small and few as are the houses of this temporary
summer settlement — for the Indians spend the
winter on the mainland — the dogs in number and
wolfishness "discount" the Yakatat Indian dogs.
When not "vexing the doleful ear of night" by
concerted howlings together, one or two would
surely be "baying the moon." In endeavouring
to kill and devour any one of their number who is
wounded or off his guard, tl y equal the celebrated
dogs of Constantinople. This canine onslaught
upon the weak ones of their number occurs con-
stantly, until (for the dogs have a certain value
for hunting purposes) the squaws in a slow and
deliberate manner toss large stones which fall with
a dull thud among the mass of struggling dogs,
" both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, and curs

THE INDIAN DOGS.

149

of low degree." But though the foul canine mob
thus engages in domestic quarrels and internal
dissensions, they band together, acting on the
rule of " union is strength," and " bunch up," to
use a western plirase, when in self-protection the
traders hie on their four large dogs against them.
At other times the squaws and children engage
in an occupation favourite with monkeys, a^d
search each others hair for a small insect not
unknown to civilisation.

Kaiak Island, August 16th.
Opposite the store a young bear occupies a box
nailed halfway up a tree. His chief enemy is a
spotted dog, which is in the habit of pulling him
out of his box by his rope, till he succumbs and
falls to earth, bristling with teeth and claws, un-
less, however, he has been enabled to obtain "pur-
chase " round a branch. But the most agonising
moment is when, after a rest, the young bear
endeavours to regain the perch from which he has
been so rudely pulled. He struggles frantically
up the trunk, his claws reach within an inch of
the edge of his box, when the spotted dog, spring-
ing up an incredible height, brings Bruin by his
hind paws again to earth. One of the few errors

:ri, \

i I

f 'Mi
I

150

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA

Mr. Ivan PetrofF lias made in his description of
Alaska (tenth U.S. Census) is the statement that
black bears are found on Kaiak Island. This one
broke loose last week, and is the solitary repre-
sentative of his species here.

The only four-footed animals found on Kaiak
are foxes, but these are variously coloured as usual,
black, grey, grizzled, and red.

Last night we had some music. A " fair wind "
had got up and howled without. An oil lamp lit
up the rough hewn beams, l..e rude furniture
strewed with rare skins, nets, guns, and implements,
and the healthy bearded faces of the Scandinavian
hunters, now English-speaking American citizens.
Flute, violin and guitar, with a song appropriately
named " The Old Log Cabin," and " Coming up
the Golden Stairs." This morning, while the men
were away laying up the schooner, I was startled
by shouts, and looking out saw Mrs. Nils running
to the sea with a bucket. The house had been set
on fire by the stove pipe, but was put out after a
scare.

Kaiak Island, August i-jth.

Two other Scandinavians arrived last month.
They were Norwegians this time, and have built a
little log cabin on Point Suckling just opposite.

T[IE WOINDEI) IJEAU.

151

But they have mjide a mistake, for the surf renders
the landiii^r difficult. They are liere now, and
cannot get back ; and wlien they succeed in doing
so, they may not be able to get oil' again for weeks.
Near them lie large lagoons whirl) fill and empty
with the tide, and beyond the lagoons the jjlains of
ice. A week ago one of them shot a sea-otter from
the rocks and swam out to l)ring it ashore, l»ut was
obliged to abandon it to save himself from being
sucked down b}- the surf They have done no
" hunting " yet, having been engaged in building
their winter quarters. Some two weeks ago they
saw a bear three hundred yards awa\-, and both
opened on him with 45 cal. Winchesters. Bruin
instantly turned and came for them like an express
train. By the time the seventh shot was fired,
which fortunately proved fatal, the brute was but
thirty yards distant. These two Norwegians, like
the rest, have succeeded in almost completely
throwing off their nationality, even in the spelling
of their names. 'J^hey never speak even to each
other in their native tongue, always in English—
I beg pardon, in American. Even JMrs. Nils makes
heroic struggles. I thought at first it was from a
sense of politeness to myself; but no, they have
become citizens of the Great Republic, and together

I' I

»Sa

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

'!. V

I (

li'

with all allegiance to Oscar IT. they must discard
their native language.

It has rained incessantly, and the one subject
that comes uppermost is sea-otters. Nils spoke
about them as follows : —

We look at our nets every day the weather will
allow us during the winter. Sometimes it is too
rough to row the whale boat, and we have to
sail her. The skin of an otter taken in the
otter nets will last without spoiling from three
to five days, if we can't get out to the rocks
sooner. After that the sea-worms get at them,
and drill holes in them. If the worms did not
get at them they would last seven or eight days,
for the sea is cold in winter, and helps to keep
them fresh. There is a saying that you cannot
spoil a sea-otter's skin, do what you will with it.
The dead and rotting ones thrown up by the sea
can be patched together. Holes in the skin matter
nothing — they can be filled up. When two otters
get caught in the same net, if they can reach each
other they always fight. We have found two dead
otters together, and the mouth, nose, and whole
face of one of them bitten away. The animal has
terrible teeth. Ore can't approach an otter in the
nets till it has been knocked on the head. They

I !

NKTTINC; HEA-OTTEIIS. ,53

are so strong that they frequently curry nets, leads
and all, to the surface of the water with them, to
breathe ; but if two are caught, one impedes the
other, and both die from drowning if not from
fighting. The nets leave no mark on the skin;
they are generally taken with one or both paws
through the meshes.

I have taken a vhavicha or king salmon and a
sea-otter out of the same net. On one memorable
occasion we took seven otters out of one net and
four out of another. One man near Belkoffsky took
twenty-four out of one net one niHit after a irale
The Indians usually only hunt land fur in winter,
not sea-otters, for the sea is too rough for canoes.
They always use bows and arrows for sea-otters,
and will only use a gun when they are close and
cannot miss. They have an idea that guns frighten
away the otters ; or perhaps loading takes too much
time, for they use muzzle-loaders. In winter the
otters are driven by the gales to take refuge near
shore, in lee of the islands ; but in summer they
can only be found out at sea.

My brother and my wife's brother are coming
out this winter, and will build a house on that
point of Little Kaiak you see just opposite.
They are not sailors, so I had no use for them this

,jr-

Wi\ i

f : :

:;i

i; :i

') * <
t )

•>,

154 SHORES AND A. .PS OF ALASKA.

summer. This \vinter 1 sluill lend them nets and
let them try what chey can make of it. They will
work the nets at some ro(3ks beyond the point over
there.

We were tliroe years, f;ontinued Nils, sea-otter
hunting on the Island of Gusina, further 'Vest,
near Belkoffsky. But there are so many v,rhite
men tliat we determined to move. Besides, the
Alaska Company sends fleets of Indians with their
" bidarkies " there every summer to hunt sea-
otters. When a sea-otter dives you can never tell
r'here it will come up next. It can remain below
for over twenty minutes without coming to the
surface to bre ithe.

Wc pay from fort}^ to sixty dollars each for the
skins to the Indians. They are used fo'" trim
ming, and would l)e too expensive to make \vhole
coats of. They practically last for ever. The
otters don't feed on fish ; we hardly ever find f sh
insice them when we cut them up— generally sea-
slugs and sea-urchins ; a favourite food is cuttle-
fish.

One day we saw an otter, but had no rifle w^ith
us in the l)oat. AVe rowed towards it, however,
as a matter of course, and found a large cuttle-
fish clnin^iuiij to its head, and we were able to kill

SEAL SKINS. ,55

the otter with an oar. Bits of the arms of this
octopus were in the otter's stomacli. Its arms
were three feet long. Seals are often killed in
this way, but no one we have seen had ever heard
of a sea-otter taken thus.

Fur-seal skins are l)est (.'vod in London. The
secret has never l.een found out. Some one from
San Francisco once got employment as a workman
by the London firm for two years, but he knew
no more about their secret at the end of the two
years than when he began. The dyeing is the
mystery. The long hairs can be plucked out in
'Frisco as well as they can be in London, but i\iQ
dye will not last. Here are two fur caps, one of
London dyed seal-skm, that I bought last year at
Bremen when I went home to Sv/eden to fetch mv
wife — it cost three pounds ten ; and here (showing
me a lighter coloured one) is a San Francisco seal-
skin cap that only cost half that price. I have
worn it a good deal, yet you can see ,hat it never
was as good as the London one.

The trees ? Yes, the trees are grown and bent
into a fixed position ])y the continual winds from
the north-east. We get very strong oast winds
here. West of this, towards Kodiak, they get
more west wind. It mostly blows from the west

i '■ i

1^1

IS6 SHORES AND ALPS OF, ALASKA.

there in winter. I have noticed that if it blows
north-east without rain for a few hours, then it is
sure to Last ; but if we have a north-easter with
rain from the first, it is soon over. The east wind
always brings rain, and the wind is mostly east
at Kaiak. A falling glass in summer often means
calms here. The glass generally rises for east
winds and rain.

Kaiak Island, August i8th.
I went round the Indian houses to-day. At
Yakatat there were six houses, each forty feet
square and fifteen in height, accommodating several
families. In front of each house was a platform
from which one entered the building by a small
round door, requiring some considerable squeezing
to accomplish. By a flight of steps one descended
to the floor, which was strewn with gravel, and sunk
to increase the space inside. In the very centre
was the fireplace, from which the smoke ascended
through a large square hole in the roof. Round
three sides ran a broad scat, on which one stepped
to enter the low, draughty, sleeping-place behind.
Four large wooden idols graced the chief's house,
like '* totem poles," carved in the usual style. The
Kaiak houses were differently constructed. After
much constriction one manai-es to insinuate oneself

.r ' h

THE INDIANS OF KAIAK.

157

into a windy hovel barely five feet high. It is
necessary to keep crouching to avoid the shelves
full of dried salmon skins. The children commence
crying, and the dogs growl and retreat into corners,
but the grown members of the family preserve a
stolid apathy. Small round holes eighteen inches

Indian liovels at Kaiak.

in diameter lead to the sleeping places, built out
from the main walls.

Among the numerous nasty customs, that of
all ages and both sexes using the same quid of
toljacco, promiscuously, it being I'olled up in a I all
with ashes and kept in a small box or bag, strikes
one as the most repugnant.

The party of Indian sea-otter hunters, composed

I5S

SIIOllKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

\ t

■;ij||!

;

of twenty-four men and twelve " bidarkies " or seal-
skin canoes, returned this afternoon from Cape St.
Elias with two otters. Ah soon as they were seen
coming, a pair of old Swedish naval epaulets was
rummaged up and fastened on my coat, till I re-
sembled an exhibition of oold lace or caricature of
an admiral in full dress. I protested it was ov'cr-
doing the thing. But no — T must come down and
have the chief presen 1 to me as soon as he had
landed. His name was Klok-Shegees. In the
evening the medicine-man was summoned, and I
had to pretend to be taking notes. I did actually
take down the names of those present, such as
Cronook, Toukh, Yaak, Schlateet Katay, Stagaat,
Katata, Kokoonook, and Kc, and the shawaan him-
self, Doushagow. He would take us himself to
Nucliuk in his yak or large canoe, with two others
to paddle, for three blankets, and we are to start
when the weather l)ecomes fine.

Every day the natives havt3 been gathering
cockles at low water. 'J'hc " tongues " of these
they were now salting and smoking. In one hut
an aged woman never for one instant ceased groan-
ing loudly and depressingly. In another a man
was dying of consumption ; some women were

THE CHIEF I'KESENTEI).

159

rubbing liis body with their hands moistened witli
saliva.

Kliik SliegOL's iu his " Store " Clothin^C.

These Indians, like the ( 'hukche Esquimaux, do
not expectorate on tlie gravel floor. AVliatever the

1 60

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

.'I!

Yr'' I

1:1

reason may be, it has nothinr to do with delicacy ;
but unlike the Chukche dogs, these dogs can bark.
Doushagow, the shawaan, who is to take us to
Nuchuk, has voluntarily cut his long hair ; perhaps
because it is more civilised, or possibly in conse-
quence of having heard of the shawaan at Kilisnoo,
in South-east Alaska, who for certain misdeeds had
his head shaved and painted red on board Tlie
Pinta.

' Kaiak Island, August igth.
For the last five daj^s it has rained without a
moment's interval. Wind moderate from the north-
east. To-day the wind is south-w^est, and conse-
quently it is beautifully fine. This change in the
direction of the wind is invariably followed by a
corresponding change in the weathei. This rule
holds good from the St. Elias Alps to the Kenai
Penni;:iila, if not farther. "We are preparing to start
to-morruw, as the shawaan thinks the swell too
heavy to-day, though where or how it could harm
us is at present wrapped in obscurity, for none of
the white men have travelled by canoe to Nuchuk,
and though Nils and Olaf speak the language fairly,
an Indian is quite incapable of entering into any
explanations, 1'lie Indian jargon here consists of
a mixture of Chilcat, Russian, and Chinook.

I'HEPAHATIONS. jg,

These Indkiis designate themselves ms Chilcats,
as though connected witli tlie Chihiats and Chil-
coots at tlie head of Lynn's Canal, but are known
to these traders as Coloshes. The traders have
arranged tliat the nicdicine-nian is to take us to
Nuchuk for fifteen dollars, or as before-mentioned
for three blankets. He has bargained to bring his
wife with him, who will paddle, and also two o'ther
Indians.

( l'>2 )

i I,

CHAPTER VIII.

We are forced to stop at Martin Point — Raw Salmons' Noses — A
Bear shot — A Drunken Indian Villa^'e— Sliding over the Mud
of the Copper River Delta — The Sc^uaw kills a Salmon— Camp
on an Island — Estuary of the Copper Kivei' — Camp on Haw-
kins Islands — The Indians '^^'ashing — Caught in a Gale —
Salmon-fishing Extraordinar}- — Description of an Alaskan
Scene— Captain Cook in Prince William Sound — We arrive at
Nuchuk.

Camp at the Indun Village, Point ]\Iartin',

AtUJUSt 20fJl, 8 P.M.

We paddled from the beach at Kaiak at lo a.m.
this morning, amid salvoes of guns from the
Indians, to which we replied from the canoe.
Having made the fifteen miles to this place in
four hours across Controller's Bay, as Cook named
it, we endeavoured feebly to induce the shawaan
to continue until nightfall, as, though at present
lan^ilis: was easv. an\' increase in the wind
Might raise a swell, that would keep us prisoners
for days, the only protection being two small
islands. Yet the old man insisted tluit^ \\% Inust
stay at the Indian village here, though i(i waa \i\;\\
two o'clock in the afternoon.

FROM KAIAK TO POINT MAUTIX.

i6;

A crowd of Indians came out, one stationed on
high ground, whence he could see the breakers
coming, and choose a calm moment for us to shoot
into shore, where the rest soon hauled us high and
dry upon the beach.

If we were in the estuary of the (/opper River,
behind the sand-bars, we should be independent of

At Martin I'uint.

the weather. To-day is line, the opening into
the lagoons is close at hand — to-morrow may be
stormy — yet we are compelled to lie all the day
idle.

We cooked some salmon for dinner on the beach,
the shawaau havuig previously sliced off raw,

fli

■

164

SIIOIIKS AND ALl'S OF ALASKA.

with a knife, and eaten the wliole skin of the
heads and tlie Inidges of the noses of the fish.

The Indian vilhige is partially fenced with
stockading- ; the houses arc merely single-roomed,
but of moderate size. Long ago, there was a fur-
trading post here, hut it was abandoned. From this
neighbourhood, northwards to Cook's Inlet, white
mountain goats are found on the mountains.

We were now on the mainland, and as the day
was fine, I set out with the rifle to look for anything
in the shape of game that might chance along the
shore to the eastward. Some miles off a small stream
emptied into the sea. Fresh tracks of bear were to
be seen along the bank, and I was soon fortunate
enough to find one of these animals engaged in
searching for fish apparently, as he was crouching on
a rock, occasionally dipping a paw in the water, and
not yet aware of any danger. Stalking the animal
with care to within a distance of fifty yards, I aimed
carefully from behind a tree at the shoulder low
down, and planted an English express solid bullet
in a vital place, for he fell into the stream, and
scrambling on to the opposite shore, lay down in
extremis. I remained concealed till sure that he
was powerless to do any damage. A second shot
was unnecessary. The animal was of moderate

,1 1 1:

A DUUxNKl-X VILLAdK.

1^5

size, but tlie fur was poor and tliin, as might have
been expected. The winter coat i.s the thickest,
and the skins are then nuu-c vahial.Ie. It was not
wortli the trouble of skinnin^r ; some of the Indians
will go for it to-morrow if tlie}- want it.

This evening in the tent the shawaan endea-
voured to explain, in a mixture cf English and
Chinook words, that he wished to be, or was,
shawaan of all the Chilcats— would I give him'
a paper? He was promised one when we reached
Nuchuk. Could I draw a picture of San Fran-
cisco 'i I replied it was too large. Was it larger
than this village ? I took up a grain of sand ami
said " Point Martin ; " then a whole handful, and
said "San Francisco." He then said he would
paddle us well to Nuchuk if I would only give him
a paper to say he was "goot shawaan," if the man-
of-war came. Yes, to-morrow it would be fine,
and we would start early.

Camp on ax Island,

Mouth ok the Coppeu Kiveh,

August 2isi, 5 p.m.

Th- shawaa7i and his wife came back from the

vilL.ge lids morning long after the sun had risen

and h^y down in a drunken sleep, blear-eyed and

disfigured by their debauch. To rouse them we

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i66 SMOHKS AND AI-l'H OF ALASKA.

had to take their tent down from over their heads.
Luckily tlie weather is (ine, and the surf has
moderated. They insisted on boiling some salmon
before starting, and asked us to hire two more
Indians to paddle. Jt was thought best to ac-
quiesce, to avoid further delay. ]\Ieanwhile the
natives came down to the Ijcach, all i»eing drunk,
and we experienced a mauvaii^ ipuirt d'heure, but
fortunately they were amiably drunk. Our men
were sobered by wa«ling through the surf when
we launched. The only way of getting off with-
out delay was to carry the canoe ourselves to the
water's edge, which we did, and got away at 8 A.M.
The inhabitants had been holding a " pot-latch "
the whole night on the vile stuff they distil from
sugar, for which pui-poso there are retorts in nearly
every house here.

When an Indian or Indians have to do anything,
one can never be sure beforehand concerning any
particular portion of the proceedings. We were
not, it now appeare<l, going to cross the bar of the
Copper Iviver at all, though the swell was quite
moderate. A mile away the Indians turned shore-
wards and beached the canoe. Everything vras
carried over the sand ridge. We found ourselves
at the commencement or extreme corner of the

SLIDIXU OVER THE OOSE.

167

tidal lagoons of the Copper River delta. The tide
was out, and nothing but wet mud was to be seen
lying between steep timbered slopes and the sand
ridge. It was ten o'clock by the time the canoe was
lying on the mud loaded, and everything read 3-
for a new start. Then commen(?ed a, to me, novel
method of locomotion, viz., sliding over mud with
the canoe, like sledging on snow.

The yak, though thirty feet in length and five
in breadth, was hewn out of a single tree ; her
bottom was smooth and keelless, and glided swiftly
and easily ovor tlie black, slippery ooze, which
gave out a disagreeable and putrefying smell. We
slipped about on it with our bare feet as we pushed
behind the canoe to meet the tide which was now
flowing.

Doushagow's (the medicine-man's) wife now
came up with a fine salmon she had killed in one
of the small In'ooks that issued from the forest ;
and, reaching a cliannel of running water, we were
able to float tlio canoe. As the tide rose the
channels seemed to abound with salmon, which
kept leaping out of water, whichever side one
turned to look. Meanwhile the two Point ]\Iartin
Indians had been paid, had accepted the agreed
amount, and had left us.

168

SIIOKKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

:,V'; 1^

t *

We were now opposite the first opening from
the bar through the sand reefs into the Copper
River delta. Tlie whole delta now opened out to
view, bounded on both sides by ranges of snow-
capped mountains, which unfolded gradually to
view as we neared the centre of the expanse, an
area of at least thirty miles each way. Un a point
were two Indian houses, where we waited for the
tide to rise. Two (.'anoes meantime came up across
the flat. When they reached any stretch of bare
mud, the men would paddle on as though it were
water, and tlie light '*l)attok" would "snake"
over the slippery surface like a fish struggling to
regain its native element. In one of the canoes
lay a seal freshly killed.

We camped for the night on a small island a
third of the way across — bare, but strewn with
dry driftwood suitable for a fire.

Camp in a Cove, Hawkins Islands,

August 2 2il, lO P.M.

This morning I woke at 3.15 a.m., and roused
Doushagow, f(H' the tide was covering the mud
rapidly. It was blowing bitterly cold from the
glaciers, but it was a north-westerly or fine-
weather wind. lie wore his coat of bird-skins

~ >^?«;i

TIIK COI'PEK KIVER 169

with the featlier side turned inwards. Tlic two
other Indians were as usual liglitly dad in cotton
cloth, and shivering from the chilliness of the
air.

Being now towards the centre of the estuary
of the river, the mountain scenery of the shores
lay spread in panoramic view, commencing from
^Martin Point, tlie east extremity, to Cape Whit-

August 22(1, 5 A.M., liiokiiijr N.W.

shed on the west. While looking northward the
eye plunges into tlie narrowing valley from which
the Copper River issues, until barred by a blue
range of mountains fifty miles distant which im-
pedes further view. From Point INIartin to where
the mountains first commence to close or approach
together, shutting in the river between them, a
distance of twenty miles, a low dark range
stretches, from three to four thousand feet in

f'^

170

SHORES AND A LI'S OF ALASKA.

' '

If^l

1 ,

lieiglit, on which I fouiitcHl eighteen small glaciers
on the summits and four large glaciers in the
valleys below. This line of mountains is broken
midway by a gap eight miles wide, whidi allows

a view of an extensive
snowy range lying behind,
the highest summit of which
appears to be at least thir-
teen or fourteen thousand
feet in height, with six
other peaks of slightly lesser
altitude near it.

The opposite shore of the
delta is of much more re-
markable formation. From
the valley from which tlie
river issues to tlie middle
portion of this shore the
mountains j)roject out into
the tidal alluvial plain. On
this part I cc^unted fifteen
small summit glaciers and
two large valley glaciers, spreading out, like
all Alaskan glaciers, with beautiful fan-like
shape to the river level. But from this pro-
jecting point to (\ipe Whitshed, twenty-five

A Man of Oodiuk ; sketcliod :it
Xucliuk, Oct. (jih.

Lt-^ ■■;

A SKA OF MOUNTAINS.

171

miles to the west, tlic shores trend back and
form a deep wide bay, in which are situated tlie
two villages of Alagnuk and Oodiak. This por-
tion of the mountains is thickly timbered l)elow,
and almost devoid of summit glaciers, except a
few very small ones. But there are three large
valley glaciers to be seen — one a double glacier.
Behind and back lie a lofty sea of peaks. Two
close by are aifjnilh's, sharp and conc-sliaped.

AllgU.st 2H\, 1 I'.M.

Another, which seems the highest, rises in castel-
lated terraces to a height of apparently 12,000
feet.

At 6.30 A.M., the wind, whicli had favoured us,
died quite away. At 9.30 we were stopped by
shallows while endeavouring to lind a channel.
The bottom now being sandv, it was no longer
feasible to push the canoe over the bare Hats. 1
shot three ducks which came alonu'side within a

SHORES AND ALl'S OF ALASK.'V.

few yards witli u rifle, my gun hcing ksft with the
Neiv York Times part}'.

We wishe<l to stay quiet until tl>c tide rose
sufficiently to allow us to proceed, but Doushagow
insisted on returning by a long detour against tide
and river current to one of the Ijare flat islands,
where the Indians could find driftwood enough
to cook the salmon and ducks for tliemselvcs.
Putting out again at i P.M., with a flowing tide,
we kept on steadily until 7 p.m., at times using the
sail. The two Indians in the bow kept on paddling
whether there was a favourable breeze or no, the
shawaan steering in the stern, and his wife occa-
sionally paddling a little. AVe were now at Cape
Whitshed, and about to land for the night in a
convenient cove ; but the breeze springing up
strongly from the east, we continued on, and
camped by a small brook on this island as the
last light vanished in the west.

Another Camp on Hawkins Islands,

Six Miles i autuer West,

Auffuft 22,(1, 10 P.M.

As soon as the yak was hauled up last night,
two of the Indians disappeared, and returned in
ten minutes from the direction of the little stream
with fifteen salmon, of from three to six pounds'

THE I'UKVAILlNd WIND.

173

weight. It wtis evident that one could hardly
starve, though the store of pilot bread should run
quite out.

About midnight it commencod rainin<;. accom-
panied by the usual east wind. The touts were
sheltered by beetling clifls and overhanging boughs
of trees. It was clear from the decided bent and
growing to the westward of the branches of the
trees that this was the normal and prevailincf direc-
tion of the wind,
while the damp luxu-
riant undergrowtii
proclaimed plain !)•
in unspcjken words,
" la pliiie, encore hi
jyhiie, et ton jours la
pluie."

Any photograph of the forests during a perfect
calm would give the idea that a violent easterly
wind was raging, the tortured and wind-torn
branches having grown and fixed themselves into
the position given to them by the strong prevailing
winds, stretching their petrified and supplicating
arms towards the west.

This morning the Indians were to be seen
washing with soap and water, while the only

I low tho Trees (Irow in Alji.ska.

if'

»ir

, I'

;

ill

174 SIIOIIKS AND ALPS oV ALASKA.

vessel f'ontaiiiing the latter wa.s the large sauce-
pan just brought to boil our breakfast of salmon
in; it remaining, notwillistanding, perfectly un-
sullied all the while. Tliis was as mystifying as
any conjuring trick, till Doushagow was observed
to stoop over the pot and suck up a mouthful,
which he scjuirted over his hands while a[tplying
the soap, after the fashion r>f a Chinaman.

The wind now increased every moment. Tlio
Indians advised remaining, !ind the shaaivan put
on his greatcoat of bear-gut over the one ho
already wore of ]»ird-skins. Nevertheless we set
off, and found tlie wind more violent than we
expected, raising small waves whidi threatened
to engulf tlie canoe. As we coasted alouij the
shore there was shelter from the ocean swell, yet
we shipped some seas. With but a single mast
and small sprit-sail in the bows, she Hew over the
water at a most exciting speed, quite outpacing
the steep and curling billows. Olaf, who was
holding the slieet-ropes, complained that they
were cutting into his hands, every one else keep-
ing their paddles in the water to keep her straight
before the wind, wliile the shaivaan kept up an
incessant shouting of orders to the two other
Indians. Presently the sprit bent and cracked.

SALMON IN COUNTLESS NL'MIIERS. 175

and had to be held together. It was too unsafe
to last long, 80 she was turned into the tirst inlet,
beached and emptied, and once more camp was
pitched. In half an houi* we had completecl six
miles, our total for to-day. More beetling clifls
offered dry stowage room and a sheltered spot for
the fire. More surprises were yet in store. A
small brooklet, but a yard wide and three inches
deep, trickled from the woods across the beach.
It was completely crowded witli salmon, and the
water being not of a depth to cover them, their
backs were bare. At first sight it seemed that
some of the fish were affected with a funcroid
growth, Itut on lifting one from the water it be-
came evident that the white patches were the
marks of struggles in the shallow water over the
sharp stones and shingle. There appeared to be
truly a greater bulk of salmon than there was of
water in the brook. As I approached, their
wriggling and splashing almost emptied the pools
of the little water that existed in them, in efforts to
find shelter in the deeper water that did not exist.
Some lay still, as tliougli exhausted ; others made
feeble movements with the tjiil, while, anywhere
in a length of ten yards of the stream, was food
enough for us for a w^eck. I fijllowed the brook

■«p

!■"• .

>76

SIIUUKS AND AI.I'S <»F ALASKA.

some twenty yards up its coursi', until fallen trees
and danij) liuslies turned nu? Uack, and everywliere
the surface was a mass of the mov-n*; antl swavintj
backs of tlie foolish fish — the lordly salmon in water
barely deep enough to harbour a minnow! Some
had insinuated themselves into extraordinary and
seemingly inaec'ssible positions, and could neither
advance nor retreat without landing themselves
high and dry.. This explained the ease with which
the Indians returned last ijjjht loaded with fish.
Dead sdmon, half eaten by foxes, lay strewn along
the l)anks. Tea, with boiled salmon and salmon-
roe, f(jrmed our lunch ; boiled salmon and roe,
with tea, composed the dinner ; and tea, with boiled
nalmon-roe and salmon, the supper ; and still the
east wind blows and the rain descends. At their
meals the Indians generally commence with tea
and a small piece of " hard-tack," and then eat the
skins of the raw salmons' heads before attacking
tlie contents of the pot of boiled salmon.

Tlie stream was gradually rising. From the tent
door, through the smoke and rain, I watched the
salmon a.scending the streamlet in Indian file, fish
succeeding and following fish in endless procession ;
each fish resembling a miniature screw-steamer
unballasted, with the propeller half out of water

ALASKAN n.MN.

"77

and splasliin^r, as they plun^lml up the .shallows
like moving fountains. In fact, tlie si^rht from
tho brook-side wa as of a vast fi,slimon<r,.r',s slab, as
there averacred twelve salmon to eveiy two s(|uare
yards of water. Some had been ed.irod and pressed
on to dry land by tlie very crowds of their com-
panions, and were shutHin«r ovti fhc beach to
regain their native element.

Meanwhile the Indians had I uilt an enormous
f^re, which was raisin«r dnwU of stcim from every-
thing. The rain was filling witli Ahiskan earnest-
ness, in columns and sheets of heav)- drops, whicji
even splashed in dew-like si)niy through the
material of the tents, until we pinned our mackin-
toshes on the outside.

NuciiLK, IxDiAx ViM,ACii:, HiN-criiNnnoDK Tslano,

It was the last etibrt of the east wind, for at
midnight the wind became westerly, bringing with
It, as a matter of course, fine weather and a clear
sky, and 6 a.m. saw us once more eu route.

We were now passing down the straits between
the islands of Hawkins ami liindiinbnmk, as the
early navigators called them. The shores were
thickly wooded, with steep cliffs and innumerable

178

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

little bays, wliilc small islands were distributed
here and there. The narrowest part of the channel
is but a liundred yards in width, wiih two rocky
islands in the opening. Tlie stillness and dim
light of early morning lent a charm to tlie scenery,
which was now Alaskan at its very best, in form, in
colour, an<l surroundings ; the high-prowed canoe
with a suspicion of a Venetian gondola lurking
somewhere about its front, or embodied in its
black paint ; the couple of black-haired Indians,
brown and litlie, paddling in front monotonously ;
the dark green water, profoundly deep ; the steep
purple ('lifts, furrowed by the waves, indented with
.small l)aj's, coves, and caves, and shadowed by
overhanging iirs and shrubs; the snow-patched
hills of Nuchuk, resembling the Snowdon range,
and rcddenctl by the rising sun ; the bird life, and
the lines of kelp or bladder weed fringing the
shore, along deep water, and in which now and
again a silver salmon would leap and splasli. Nor
must I <»mit from the catalogue of sensations the
peculiar faint indescribable Indian odour that
pervaded the canoe, with a flavour and a rich raci-
ness all its own — an odour which, if it could be
once more inhaled, were I in any part of the world,
would revive the most vivid memorv of Alaska.

PKINCE WILLIAM SOUxNI). ,79

Next moment we shot roun<l tlie nortli-west
c«pe of Nudiuk, to fin.I Priiu-e William SouikI
spread before us, «l,,tte() with laroe ishii.ds, the
tops of wliieli seemed to (|iiiver and float in the
mirage. The sliarp white iee-peaks fringing the
greater i)art of the horizon were of smaller mould
than the gigantic masses of the St. Elias range ;
but powdered with frosh snow, and in the absence
of any such competitors, the}- formed a sutHciently
attractive background to one of the most interest-
ing inknd seas or fjords on the coast of Alaska.
Commencing iToni the mountains of the mysterious
Kenai Peninsula, which are low, with broad ilat
glaciers, as the eye sweeps round, the ranges
gradually increase in height, till they attain their
loftiest elevation in a bold ridge end)osomed in
extensive fields of snow near the actual head of
the Sound.

Vancouver's boats exploi'cd portions of Prince
William Sound. On their lan.ling at what they
named Port Gravina, near the i)resent Indian
ullage of Tateekluk, they f.nnid "an old bear
nearly at the top of a pine-tree with two cubs ;
the former immediatel}- descended and made its
escape, but the young ones were shot, anil afforded
au excellent dinner." The party, however, had

i
i '

f\t

■il, ]:

i I

■ i

180 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

fared tolerably well on this expedition, having
.shot many wild fowl, and on most of the rocks
where they had landed eggs had been procured in
great abundance (June 1 794).

We now turned to the south for Port Etches.
Promontory and headland succeeded one another
as we skirted the northern shore of the island.
For some reason tlie Indians had cooked no break-
fast for themselves before setting out, nor did they
break their fast until we rounded the last point
and came in view of Nuchuk A^llage — seven hours
steady going from the start ; for an Indian can
eat much or little according to circumstances, or
at short or long intervals indiiferently, or go with-
out food altogether, and yet be happy.

A store and fur-agency, the houses liaving been
built by the Russians, a small church, and fifteen
to twenty Indian or Aleut houses, situated on
a peninsula jutting out into Ji noble bay, and
formino- one of the best harbours in Alaska —
such, in few words, is Port Etches or Nuchuk,
which is the only evidence of civilisation in the
district.

As we sailed down towards the settlement, for
a fair wind had sprung up, we could see the
inhabitants running down to the shore. The surf

NUCHUK.

I8l

was quiet enougli to allow our landing on the
outer beach instead of having to make the lono-
round of the promontory into the inner harbour,
and as soon as we arrived the fur agent offered us
the use of his house.

III

I'll .

il mi

182 )

CHAPTER IX.

Our Life at Niiclmk — A Native Ball— The Natives start on a Sea-
OtfcT Hunt in Bitlaikies — Discriptiou of a liidarky — Climbing
after fJioiise — Millions of Salmon — Spearing ami Hooking them
— Salmon-Drying— Oiu' Russian Bath — A Description of Nuehuk
and the Game and Food of Prince William Sound— How the
Natives Live, and liow the Alaska (.'ommercial Company of San
Francisco Trades with them— The Natives as Captain Cook
found them.

" Where in the still deep water,
Sheltered from waves and blasts,
llristles the dusky forest
Of Byrsa's thousand masts,
Wliero fur-clad hunters wander
Amidst the northern ice."

NucnuK, September 2d, 1886.
On the four evenings following our iirrival "dances"
were held, as tlie whole mule population was daily
in expectation of leaving on a fortnight's sea-otter
hunt — dependent on the weather.

The first night's entertainment was in the house
of Vanya, brotlier of tlie second chief. The next
in that of Pavil, the Tyoon, or chief. Then Peter,
the Shekaizik, or second chief, was the host.

But when we had again to dance until two in
the morning in the small, close, single room of the

A\ i: HKCOME DIS.SII'ATKI).

183

Tyoon, which was his house, or give mortal offence,
it was with rehictant .ste[)s that we led our Indian
brides, or rather partners, along the garl»age-stre\vn
pathway, preceded hy players on the accordion and
the guitar, to where bright oil lamps and an un-
usual number of candles marked his abode. It
was in just
and merited
retaliation,
for, the first
night, wiien
the second
chief had been honoured,
it was the T}'oon who
had cleared his room and
removed his stove and
his door in expectation
of our arrival. A de-
scription of one night's festivity will serve for
all four.

Imagine, then, a one-roomed log-house, every
corner and seat occupied with cliildren and grown
persons dressed in their dirty prints or cotton shirts.
The infants sleep peaceably tlirough tlu; noise on
a bed under which some tamed wild-duck live and
feed. The half-dozen Aleut S(|uaws who know the

Xueliuk— The Baidars or Buidcriirs
of the Copper l{ivcr Indiiuis.

:' i

184

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

figures of the Russian quadrille occupy prominent
places on the floor, unless they have accompanied
us from the trader's house. " Partners" is called,
and we make sides and perform the different figures
to the various words of command shouted in a
monotone by the trader, and which soon became
mechanically familiar, such as " sides forward and
back, one lady over," or " l>alance and swing —
swing," or " grand right and left with double

- ~ ■' .•l.illl'^"'

,«,. «' />

M^:-'-" fr"''f

,w.i

Hl/shk. — lh^%iiSLa.y\ C/vu.^6^.

swing," which invariably ended in confused col-
lisions, for the frame of the Aleut squaw is none of
the most fragile. Keeping on one's hat, smoking,
or expectorating on the floor, would of course be
quite in order. About midnight tea and pilot-
bread appears ; after the men are satisfied, then
the cups are filled again for " the ladies."

After the quadrille, an Aleut dance by two of
the men takes place, which so shakes the house,

TFIE NATIVES (JO HUNTINC.

t«!

that were tlie structure not of wood, one would
fear for its safety, so energetic arc their leaps and
bounds. Then a waltz— only room for one couple,
who aim to revolve as rapidly and as long as
possible, till dizzy and exhausted, they sink down
on some unoccupied part of the floor. Such is an
Alaskan ball.

On the 3otli the men all left on a sea-otter hunt

Bidarkios.

in seventeen bidarkies. The boats having been
laid in a row on the beach, and everything pre-
pared, they filed away in procession to their small
Russian church for a l)lessing. The priest is the
trader's cook. After this ceremony they must not
enter any house, but quickly launch and away
without further ado.

I r

V; !
it' "■

iM SlIOUES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

These bidarkies are constructed of sealskin over
a light wooden frame. No nail is used, as that
would be considered unlucky. Consequently the
parts are bound together with roots and sinews,
and over all is sewed the skin or hiftak. The
curiously shaped double prow the Indians will
never vary in shape.

On the deck are two (rarely one, though some-
times three) round holes, to admit of the occupants
kneeling. A considerable amount can be carried,
distributed in small packages in the interior. Thus
the trader lately returned from the mainland with
thirty-seven " red salmon," besides bedding and
utensils ; while to-day an Indian arrived carry-
ing in his " one-hatch " bidarky the greater part
of a bear, some ducks, a heron, and some "silver
salmon." There being no room to use any bniler,
an egg-shaped tube is taken to suck up any water
that might have entered. It is affirmed by whites
and Indians to be the safest of any of the smaller
craft in rough weather.

Invariably with these boats is used a waterproof
coat, or Kamleyga of bear guts sewn together, or
sea-lion guts ; this is tied round the circular open-
ing in such a manner that no water can, by any
possibility short of leakage, reach the interior of

Till-: HIDAKKIKS.

IS7

the canoe. Wlien once launclicd, the natives will
pass through lu'eaking surf in a bidarky, under
which she appears to dive like a duck or loom, ami
will face weather unsafe for an ordinary canoe.

To launch their " two-hatch" hidarkics, the bow
or forward paddler first took his seat, the boats
being at the water's edge. Watching his opportunity
the other then pushed her off, and jumped not in
but on her, till he could shake the water from his
legs, both paddling their best in the meantime till
beyond the breakei's.

I ascended the hill yesterday, on the west side
of the bay, on the second attempt, being repulsed
the first time by the thickness of the underbrush.
On the far horizon, fifty miles south, was visible
Middleton Island, where a small settlement has
been established. The Company propose to start a
ranche of foxes there. The best farming land in
Alaska is situated on the islantl, which is not great
praise. Hitherto the only crop has been one of
the eggs of sea-fowls, which breed there in incredible
numbers. There is no harbour. An Indian carried
my trade gun, for ptarmigan abound, and I found a
covey on the ridge.

The view of Prince William Sound was but
slightly more extensive than from below, but the

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Its SIIOHKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

view over Niielnik Lslaml was wortli tlie trouble of
the ascent. Coming down another way in pursuit
of a flock of ptarmigan some smooth and difficult
grass slopes had to 1)C descended, at an angle of
(|uite sixty degrees from the horizontal. The
Indian advised taking off l)oot.s, for some of the
nails had come out ; meanwhile one had to slide
down the very steepest of grassy gullies with ** five
points of contact," assisted hy the bushes and
ruggedness of the slope.

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XucnuK, Sepienihcr 4th, 1886.

Yesterday 1 went in the " dory " to the nearest
river to observe the salmon. Before starting there
w^as quite an excitement at wliat appeared to be
the schooner ; the telescope resolved the object
into a floating tree with branches standing out like
masts.

Beaching the river, the water seemed alive with
the karhusha or hogljack salmon. It was nowhere
over a foot and a half in depth. Long processions
of salmon swam up and down the stream, those
descending keeping mostly next the banks. None
showed any alarm at the boat, and when our craft
had become half filled with struggling fish the
novelty of spearing them had partly worn off;

A SALMON HI VK 15.

189

Tlio AlfLskaii .salmon in tVcsli water ([ hatl dis-
proved this theory as to .salt water at Sitka), in
said to care nothinL-- for any artificial bait. Throw-
ing out from the boat across the current a spoon-
bait tied to a line jind weighted, for tlie rod had
long since been lost on the shores of lev Bay, I
drew it slowly in. For fear of hooking foul of one
out of the dense crowd of salmon, it was necessary
not to throw more than a }ard or two from the
boat. Most of the fish were spent and seemed
sluggish and tame; l)ut one or two, and these
always clean fresh-run fish, would summon energy
for a feeble rush, and if it were not dragged through
the water too rapidly would open wide their jaws
and close them upon the piece of glittering metal
—all this in full view close alongside the boat.

Next, a large lialibut hook was tied on the line,
and cast acrcss the stream ; the whole length of
line could then be felt, borne up and prevented
from sinking by the ma.ss of moving l)acks on which
it rested, and when it was drawn in, the point of
the hook usually found out some holding .spot on
some part of a salmon, which could be dragged
splashing and struggling into the now loaded boat.

On the way back we fired several ritle shots at a
moving object quite like a sea-otter, before making

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SIIOIM-S AM) A I, IS (>|- ALASKA.

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the tliscovery tlmt it was an IiKllan (I,n/ swininiinpf
at least a f«)uith of a iiiiK; iVoin slioie. Tlic ini-
pingonieiit of tlic bullets seenird lo add iVesli vigour
to its movements.

Nothing ran he imagiiu'd in lish nomenclature
more confusinu' than tlic varyiim- names of Alaskan
salmon. On tliis jxirtion of the roast they are
catalogued into six kinds, as follows : —

First, the rJiarir/i(( or "king" salmon, which
runs or enters the rivers from May 20th till
August, being most ])lentiful in June. In Cook's
Inlet their proportion at this time to the other
salmon is as one to three. The greatest length of
the king salmon is six feet, and weight 100 lbs.
At the two canning and salting works in Cook's
lulet 15,500 were taken in 1880. In addition to
the Kassilotf and Ivenai Rivers in Cook's Inlet, the
kinu" salmon is also found in the Alanuk or Aleganuk
River, near the Indian village of that name at the
mouth of the Copper River; brought from which
river to this place a fresh king salmon is worth just
ten cents.

Second, the ** red" salmon or krasnee, which runs
the whole summer. These two kinds of salmon
are the only sorts used for canning, except at
Kassiloff, where the silver salmon is also used.

THE SALMON OF AF.ASKA. loi

The nearest river from Niiclmk fc.r n"<l salmon
is tlic hhd in I'ljucc William Soniid. wlierc are
ruins of old IJussian or Indian weirs, tlioui-li a
few may be found in almost any river.

Third, the " .silver " salmon or I^iswic/i, of a whiter
tinge of ili'sh.

Fourth, the "steelliead" or s<niH/f«, which re-
semliles the silver salmon, except in possessing a
liead invulnerahle to Mows.

Fifth, comes the " hogback " or karhusha, which
runs in August and Sei)teml)er.

Sixth, the "dog" .salmon oi- Jn'lv, running at
tlie .same time — a coar.se lish, vath large teeth and
scales.

The women are now engaged in splitting salmon
for dryin:«' for their winter supply of eukola or
ookla, con enting themselves with the hogback

192

SHOllES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

salmon and sea-trout at present, as tlie silver
salmon has not yet arrived in the rivers of the bay.
The value here of a salmon dried and smoked for
keeping is just one cent. A portion only of the
salmon is taken — a thin layer adhering to the skin,
and another to the backbone — for a ci'fater thick-
ness would take longer to dry. The supply of
salmon is practically unlimited.

Every Saturday we use the small Russian bath
which is built on to one side of the old store-house.

It consists of two small apart-
ments with thick log walls. In
the inner room is a fireplace
■^ without any chimney for lieat-
jaw-bonoof a"Dopr-.saimon." ing to rcducss the pile of rocks

Nuchul:, Aug. i886. • t i 1

placed upon it. It takes about
five hours to accomplish tliis ; then the fire is
extinguished, the window is closed, a vessel of cold
and another of hot water are placed within, and
the bath is ready. One by one we four white
men take our baths, and afterwards the Indian
girls and women employed about the house. One
has to be cautious not to touch the ceiling, begrimed
as it is with soot. To raise the temperature to any
extent required, one has merely to sprinkle water
upon the red-hot stones in the corner.

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XrCHUK IIARHOUR. ,93

Between Nucliuk or Ilincliinbrook Island and
Sukluk or Monta-no Island i.s the entrance to
Prince William SoiukI (called Nenoork or Cliugak),
through which the tidal currents race back and
forth with great velocity.

Nuchuk Bay is walled in between two straioht

Nuchul:— Our Jioino for Two iWoiiths.

and parallel ranges of steep mountains, on which
are some ('omparatively insignificant glaciers. At
the head of tlie l)ay is a solitary cone, probably an
extinct volcano. A harbour with a narrow entrance
IS formed by a large island connected with the
western cape by a sand ridge. This is sul)divided
into an inner harbour too shallow for ships by

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194

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

another sand ridge. AVliere the first sand-bar joins
the island is situated the Indian viUaoe and the
Alaska Company's store of Niichuk. Captain
Cook once anchored in the outer harbour. The
trader's house is on the site of the old fort called
St. Constantine — now no more. In sliort, Port
Etches or Nuchuk was once a Russian stronghold

Prince William Sound, Alaska, with Nuchuk Harbour.

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and a populous Indian settlement, and played an
important part in the early history of Alaska.

From hence westward the Aleuts take the place of
the Indians, excepting in Cook's Inlet, and Iiussian
traits are often observable. As the mixture of diffe-
rent nationalities is sai( I to produce strong offspring,
so this addition of Russian blood has probably
prolonged the existence of the Indian races. They
seemed a far finer set mentally and physically than

SEALS, SEA-MOXS, (JKESK AM) DFCks. ,9.

the Yakatats. Their etluiographical .livi.sions and
a theory of the migmtions of the different tribes
are set fortli in Petroff's U.S. Keport on Alaska
(18S0). Roughly speaking- the mouth of the
Copper River is the spot which has been the limit
or point of junction of the Indian races which
belong to the South, to the North, and to the East.
In January the sea-lions enter the sound, and

in May the fur-seals arrive.

The latter remain a week or

two, occasionally shifting their

ground before disappearing un-
til the following year. Whence

they come and whither they

go is a mystery unknown even

to the Indians. Perchance the

Fur Seal Islands is their next gi:5i>'^oa V&:
rendezvous.

In September and October swarms of ducks and
geese enter the bays and inlets of the soun.l.
Seven of these wild geese, lately captured ],y some
Indians, are now feeding round the house like tlie
common or domestic goose, being ,lark brown
birds, with a white band on the hea. 1. In Prince
William Sound any quantity of salmon c-an be
speared or netted the whole summer through, but

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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

SO improvident are the natives that they have
frequently omitted to dry sufficient sahnon, . or
turn it into eitkla, for the winter's consumption,
and have been dependent for food upon the trader.
Bears and goats are killed all the year round on
the mainland, the latter principally in the winter,
when the snow drives them down to the sea-level.

A%MaAan, hilkn Kalilul Kflok'

In November the geese have departed south,
not to reappear till March, but most of the ducks
remain the whole winter. In that month also
the last is seen of the salmon, but their place is
taken by sea fish — the cod, halibut, and herring.
But rarely is the weather calm enough to allow of

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CHAKACTER OF THE NATIVES.

197

r.
u

their capture out of tlie small caiioe.s. The lines
used for sea-fishing are made of dried seaweed,
kfxown as kelp or bladder weed, the resort of the
sea-otter.

The abundance of the edible berries is mar-
vellous—strawberries, black currants, gooseberries,
blueberries, blackberries, salmon-berries, and lastly,
in October, the delicious cranberries. Such is the
wealth of food lavi.slied upon the indolent native,
Creole, Aleut, or Indian, who now lives for the
capture of the sea-otter, and sometimes dies for it.
The characteristics of these natives are alike from
the most remote of the Aleutian Islands on the
west to Cape Flattery on the east. As long as they
have money in plenty— if they have been successful
in their last sea-otter hunt, that is— they will do
no work wdiatever, but will spend it lavishly and
improvidently in buying useless articles from the
nearest store of the Alaska Commercial Company,
such as eau-de-cologne (which they drink), and
ftishionable boots, which they soon throw away.
When the last dollar is gone, they will ask for a
loan of provisions, to set out on another hunt or
on a trapping expedition.

The system of trading which is carried on by
the Alaska Commercial Company, shortly expressed,

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198

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

is as follows. As long as Indians and sea-otters
continue to exist it will continue to be a lucrative
proceeding, if not overdone, which would surely
be the case if there were any competition. Every
spring a cargo of suitable articles is shipped from
San Francisco to Kodiak and to Unalaska, the two
main stores, and thence by schooner distributed
to the various fur posts or trading stations from
Cook's Inlet to the Aleutian Islands. This trading
material consists of cheap articles of clothing,
cotton prints, flour, sugar, tobacco, lard, and the
usual assortment of articles of that description,
besides many others of a most surprising character.
As the skins are brought to the trader — sea-otter,
fox, bear, wolf, lynx, musk-rat, marten, land-otter,
mink, or whatever they may be — a fixed price is
paid in silver dollars, which of course are soon paid
back into the store for goods.

Cook remarks as a curious fact that the coast
Indians could never have traded sea-otter skins to
the inland tribes, for these skins were never seen
at Hudson's Bay. Yet the natives of Prince
William Sound valued the sea-otter skins at that
time not so much as those of wild cats and
martens, and no more than other skins, for they
gladly parted with them for a few beads. He

THE TRADE IN FURS.

199

was amused with their "antic gestures," such as
standing up motionless in a boat or haidar for
fifteen minutes quite naked and with arms ex-
tended. Their dress then, as it is now, was in
parkas or coats of ground squirrel skin and of
whale gut.

( 200 )

CHAPTER X.

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Life with the Indians on the Copper River.

At Nuchuk I found the diary and the record of
the experiences of the only white man who has
ever lived among the Copper Indians. It lies just
as it was brought down last year (1885), in a soiled
canvas bag, rudely marked with the words " U.S.
Mail, Nuchuk."

John Bremner, the writer, joined the Allen Ex-
pedition in the spring- of 1885, after wintering
on the Copper River, and thence descended the
Yukon River, as my friend Schwatka had done two
years before. The intrepid prospector and plucky
Yankee must be permitted to tell his own story
** in his own quiet way," and in the language of
his class, phoneticalh' spelt and unpunctuated, but
laconic, forcible, and unencumbered with redundant
verbiage. The Copper Indians, as I was correctly
informed by Professor Davidson of the Coast
Survey, are considered the " most obstructive " of
the coast tribes by the traders ; and during their

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THE COPPER llIVEIl INDIANS.

20 1

periodical visits to Nucliuk, which is tlieir nearest
trading store, twice or thrice a year, they are
continually pilfering. Aleut watchmen are paid
to guard the Company's property night and day
during their stay. On the 29th of May 1S85, the
trader's diary contains the following entry—" Copper
River Indians left to-day; they broke all the

Government instruments, and raised h with

everything about the place." They arrive in the
spring and fall of the year in biderars, or wide, open
skin boats, some of which they generally leave
here for repairs. Sometimes their l>iderars are
made with reindeer skins sewn over tlie framework,
which they strip off and exchange for sealskins,
which [ire more durable and are not procurable on
the Copper River. On their last visit they sold to
the Company nine hundred dollars' worth of furs,
exchanging the money immediately after for goods,
which they bouglit in bulk. Nicolai Rigoroff, the
cook here, during a visit to their lower settlements
on the river lately, baptized most of the tribe at
the instigation of their medi.dne-man. He reported
that they possessed a large hoard of furs in a cave
at the canon, and that no salmon were permitted
to ascend the river beyond that point, which was
barricaded with weirs. Instead of hunting much,

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202

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

they exchange sahiion for furs with the tribes of
the interior, for they have thus secured the mono-
poly of the fisliing. Sliouhl a salmon succeed in
passing the barrier, it becomes an object of frantic
pursuit in the broad shallow stream, as they
imagine it would be the means of stocking with
young salmon the upper reaches of the river. But
now let John Bremner tell his own tale.

Journal of a Trip up Copper River.

Sept. I. Broke Camp aljout four o'clock and
made six milles river good high mountins on
the right bank and low glacier on the left.

Sept. 2. Started about six o'clock and made
about twenty miles by the coursce of the river
about twelvli miles in a strat line a low glacier
on the "West for about eaght miles when the river
widend to five or six miles and verey shalow full
of sand bares liordly passable.

Sept. 3. Started before sunrise and made about
twenty-five miles by the course of the river wich
bore more to the west verey shalow^ cut up in a
great many channels and hordly passable a smawl
came in on the East side and killed a large Mouse
{3Ioose) and the ]\Ia Nuska are stuffing it in to
themselvs at a great rate.

Sept. 4. After georgeing themselvs with Mouse
meat till about four o'clock the d rascals

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.lOIIN lUJKMNKirs ADVKNTUHKS. 203

wanted to leave all my gruj, except one sack
of flour and they would come back in the
wenter and get it 1 told them no if they left my
grub they hade to leave me to 1 did iu)t i)repo,se to
trust my suplies out of my sight then they under-
took to force me along but they fnmd that uphill
woark when they looked in the muszel of my
revolver so they left me and said they would be
back in ten days how 1 wish 1 had a' few of the
boys in blue here to teach them a lesson.

Sept. 5. Passed the day in the tent rained hard
all day pleasent to be alone after a mounth in
the Ma Nuska conijaiey thare is a large opneiuf
in the mountins on the west side of the river but
so far of I cant tell if thar is a stream of aney sise
comeing in about three 3 mils on the West side thar
is a beautifull cascade apears to fall abcnit one
hundred feet.

Sept. 6. Remained in camp rained hard all
day repaired some of my cloths and saw a pair of
woodcock I dont know how thay make out to live
here in winter.

Se^jt. 7. Went about ten miles to see that
stream that I mencentioned comeing in on the East
side it is a1)out two hundred yards wide and not
fordeable killed four ducks and am cooking one
of them for my supper so j-ou see I am liveing of
the enemes contrey.

Sept. 8. I claimed the mountin back of camp

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204

^ iK)iit.c WD ALl'S UF ALASKA.

to get vrj f (ocl ■„ we of tlu^ opcniiifj on i\\o.
west side us I ■ • il(' it looks as if it liir^e strcaiu
came in 1 expect it is tlw stream tliat lieades in
that lake that we were talking about tlionp;h 1
could not get any information from the JNIa Nuska
thay claim to no notheng a1)out it they talk altout
a river above Tarrayl that goes to salt water by
makciiig one day's portage 1 dont go a cent on
what thay say.

Sept. 9. Staid in camp all day a bear came
prowling about camp last night could not get a
shot at him it was so dark.

Sept. 10. Nothing to record onley that 1 am
tormented with mis(|uiters thar name is legion.

Sept. 1 1. A drove of INIouse passed close to camp
in the night I shot at them by guess could not
tell if I hit one or not this morning I went ant
looked and saw whcur one had bleed freely so 1 am
going to track him up and see if I cant get him.

Sept. 12. 1 did not get my Mouse he had streangth
enough to cross the river though he is dead enough
by this I am sorry to lose ko nuicli meat but better
luck next time.

Sept. 13. Alaska Beat are a fraud nothing but a
hog except the pawes I tried yesterday all day to
get in gunshot of an old one two cubes and failed
thay are more timid then a rabbet.

Sept. 14. Rained hard all day so stayed in camp
if the Ma Nuska dont come in two days more 1

UK ASCENDS TlIK IvIVKK.

205

shall fro ill to winter «|iwirtcrs huild a (;ahiii and
vent till the river freaseH.

S('2)t. 15. Rained all day ho stayed in eamp.

Sept. 16. 1 expect I am stuck here for a while
no sicrn of the Ma Nuska to-morrow I shall go to
building a cabin.

Sejyt. 1 7. Kained all (hiy stayed in camp and made
nic a caj).

Sc2>f. 18. Rained hard all day I have given up

looking for the Mii Nuska the d Hers T will '

get oven with tiiem }("t and dount }'ou forget it.

Sejit. 19. The Ma Nuska came last night so thay
are better then I thought we will make another
start for Tarrel to-day in tlio meantime they are
stuffing themselves with Ijcaver.

Sept. 20. Started about nine o'cloi-k and made
twelve miles the .Ala Nuska killed there beaver on
the way the valey narrowcs in to about one mile in
width snow caped mountins on each side the river
is no account as a route for transpijrtion shalow
and rapid.

Sept. 21. Rained hard till about one o'clock when
we started and did not camp till after dark made
about ten miles the river Vf3rey rapid and shalow
have to use the rope all the time a few scatring
spruce but mostly cottonwood.

Sept. 22. Started about ten o'clock raining hard
made about twelve miles the river verey rapid and
shalow the valey betwen the mountins not more

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206

SHOUKS AND ALl'S OF ALASKA.

tlian half a mile wide seatring spruce and cotton-
wood on the hills near the river.

SejJt. 2 3. Started about sunrise made about fifteen
miles the river vercy rapid hard work to get along
the mountins not so high or ruged as tliey are
further down the river.

Sept. 24. Got started about six o'clock and worked
hard till after dark and made about ten miles the
river verey bad the mountins geting lower as we
get nearer the canyon the INla Nuska say we will
get to Tarral to-day I hope so for I am about
wore out.

S('2:)t. 25. We got an earley start and soon came to
the canyon we had no trouble in going up through
the river being so lo\v the current wont so rapid as
it was in a good nianey placeses below I dont think
the canyon is more then one mile long ])ut when
the rivr'r is high it must be a grand sight the river
is comprest to about one hundred and fifty yards
in weadth the sides being from fifty to one hundred
feet high we are camped on the west side of the
river whear theare is three houses we stoped hear
to see the Tayon.

Sept. 25. He is a large stout-looking man but ston
l)lind he was verey pertacler to find out what 1
wanted up hear but was satessfied that I wont
going to take his throne away from him.

Sej)t. 26. Well I have got to the great cit}^ of
Tarrall at last forty-seven days from Nu Chuck

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THE CANON, THE VILLAGE AND THK CHIEF. 207

it is a h of river to naviojite no good as a

route to transport troops I went through the
canyon again to-day and from wliear the river
first begines to narrow to the inoutli is as near
as I can estimate about two miles tlie city con-
sistes of two liouses and about forty-five or fifty
inhabitants men wenien and chihlren and thare
is a good deal of spruce timber on the hills around
here. The Chutanah comes in some distance above
here I am g(^ing up to see it in a day or two.

Sept. 27. Nothing to record was buisey drying
my stuff which had l)jen wet for a long time I
wont be able to get up the Chitana till it freases
when Nicoli and fo^r more men are going up and
will help me get my grub up.

Sept. 28. Wourking luird fixing a place to winter
in it froze water in the house.

SeiJt. 29. The j\fa .Nuska have all scaterd out up
and down the river for the wenter they have no
towne but houses hear and tliar along the river.

Sept. 30. The river is full of floating ice this
morning as cold as it is in Novem1)er in God's
contrey and the princeple food of tlie inhal)itants
is rabbets they apear to be a cross betwen the jack
rabbit of the plains and comen cotcntayl thar are
lotcs of them around here.

Oct. I. Haiiied all day tlic weatlier haveing
moderated havent seen the sun but once sence
I have been hear.

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ao8 SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

Oct. 2. I am liveing alone not a native withen
two miles I went out about sundown and killed
five rabbits I am begining to live like the natives.

Oct. 3. The same dull rotine verey cold ice
running in the river.

Oct. 4. Working on my house.

Oct. 5. Ditto.

Oct. 6. Ditto.

Oct. 7. Ditto.

Oct. 8. The river frozen over so that the natives
cros it jamed in the canyon on the night of th<
sixth and raised the river ten feet.

Oct. 9. Snowed all day about six inches on a
level.

Oct. 10. Very cold I expect it will be clear h

before spring.

Oct. 1 1. Still very cold.

Oct. 12. Ditto.

Oct. 1 3. Moderated and pleasent.

Oct. 14. Snov-ing hard been at it all day and
I have been w.'th the negroes in Africa and the
natives of Australa and among the Indians of th*^
plains but of all the dirty divels I ever was with
the Ma Nuska can beat them two to one. They
take the hide of the ral)l)it and tlien boil him
guts and all * * * * tliar clothes are never taken
of till they fall of or ruth!3r rot of the wemen
all take snuf and I have never seen one of then
wash her hands or face since I have been hear

mw^rtmimsy^

NO-TIL-NES PASSES IN HIS CHECKS. 209

SO you can judge how tliay look and .still the men
wateh them like a cat would a mouse * * * »

Oct. 15. A pleascnt day so I can go out without
an overcoat. Three of the Ma Nuska doos c-ot in

a air hole and went to the dog heaven or h

more likely and they are making as much fuse
about It as if it was three of theare youno-
ones. ^

Oct 16. Clear and cold nothing to record patchino-
my old clothes. "

Oct. 1 7. Bright cold day the Ma Nuska have just
killed a bear on the other side of the river you

would think h had broke loose if you heard

tlie intearnel noise thay make.

Oct. 1 8. Clear but cold went out and killed rabbits
all the afternoon.

Oct. 19. ►'^"owed gentley all day fell about three
iiicnos.

Oct. 20. Had a veiset fron tlio Clioif s «,ii a vwcv
goocl-Iooki„g man for a Ma Nu.ska he live, about
hvo milles up the river it i., vcrey cold tla, „ati^^.,s
nil 1I.V.S.S in fur I thiuk 1 eau .stand the cold better
than they can.

Oct. 21. Clear a:ul cold

Oct. 22. Thur is mourning ill the camp Xo-til-ne.s
passed 111 his checks this morning him and tuo
others wear crossing the river at a place whear it is
open and the raft capsized and he went under tlie
ice I dont think thay make hordly so much fuss as

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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

thay did over the three dogs tliay lost. It is not
quite so cold to-day.

Oct. 23. Snowed gentley all day.

Oct. 24. Pleasent for this place. Two Col Chins
came in from the headwaters of the Chitanah to-day
one of them came to my hut and gave me a peace
of native copper it is about one inch thick with
ro{ iv atached to each side he says thar is mountins
of it r he got it I hope thar is I will find out

how mucn thar is of it if I live.

Oct. 2 5. (.1ear hut very cold my daley w^oark is to
ffct wood to burn and kill rabbits to eat thar is no
large game aurund here at preasent th(^, natives say
thar will be plenty of dear by un by thay say thar
plenty of foxs but I have not seen a track so I dont
think they are verey plenty.

Oct. 26. Clear but verey cold the floor of my
cabin is frose two foot from the fire and I thouoht
I had made it almost air tight so you see I am in
no dancjer of nieltino- with the heat. I saw the
Volcano smoking for the first time to-day it is the
mountin laid down on the chart as JMount Wrangle
it dout look more than twenty-five or thirtey milles
from here but the natives say it will take me three
days to go thar I cant get one of them to go near
it so I will have to go alone I shoU go as soon as
the river is safe.

Oct. 27. Clear cold day went up to the mouth
of the Chitanah it is about two miles above
the head of the canyon it lookes to be about the

ilE ATTEMPTS MOUNT WKANGEL.

211

same sise as tlie main river with a less rapid
current the natives say it is a good stream to
travel on no rocks or rapids on it I expect to cro
up in February when the ice is good I cant get'^i
d one of the natives to show me the way to o-et
to the Volcano thay say if I go thar I will die tlmy
wont go within ten miles of it. As soon as the ice
IS safe 1 shall try and get thar by myself.

Oct. 28. Snowing hard nothing worth talking
about the same thing over again every day.

Oct. 29. Suowed gentley all day the river has cut
a Chanel m the ice about one hundred feet wide
and the current rushes through like a mill race the
Ma Nuska say it will be another moon before it
will be frozen so as to be safe to travel on.

Nov. 16. I have not writen aneything for some
time it was the soame thing over and over every
day. I made the atempt to get to the Volcano and
failed I got within about one mile of the crater
when one of my snow shoes broke and I came verey
near passing in my checks before I could get back
to the timber I froze several of my toes^and my
ears you ought to see them tliay would match a
goverment mules I dont think it is possible to
make the .-iscent in the weuter but I think it would
be easey in the summer I could not get aney of
the natives to go with me thay are all afraid to
go aney whear near it. I have been geting all the
information about the natives I could but thay are
verey shy about teling me aneything thay are

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313

SIIOUKS AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

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scatcrd aloiifj the river from the Canvon for about
one hundred miles the houses from half a day to a
day's travel apart and then the Col Chines are
scaterd along the river above thar is fifteen houses
scaterd along the river of the Ma Nuska as near as
I am able to learn and opinion judging from the
number of inhabtents in the houses I have been in
I dont think thar is too exced one hundred of the
Ma Nuska tribe men wemen and children thav get
martin and foxes from the Col China and a verey
little powder witch the Col China get on the
Youcon and thar is onley one famley of Ma Nuska
on the Chitanah the Col China are scaterd aloncf
the head waters and they go to Chitcat to trade
and I wish you would inform the proper athortys
that tlie traders at Chilcat are selling stricnyen to
the Col China thay are no more fit to have poison
then a five yeav old child. The JMa Nuska are
mostly armed with light double barrel guns or old
Hudson Bay flent locks thay are very good marks-
men considring the guns they have and in case of
trouble with them tiiar povvder would soon be
spent and they could not get aney except at New-
chuck or Chilcat and thay can't live away from
the rivers one hundred white men could clean
them out without much trouble animals would be
no account light boats would be the onley thing
that would do in the countrey it has not been so
cold this month so far as it was in Oct. the river
is still open eaghteen inches of snow on the level.

1 r

KEVOLUTION AND MUKDER. 213

Nov. 28. This is a quire contiy October was
verey cold November has been quit pleasent a man
could go around in his shirt sleaves and not feel
cold It has rained all day to-day it has settled the
snow so It is about a foot on a level before the
ram thar has not been wind enough to shake the
snow off the bushes since the first snow fell.

Oct. 29. Eained hard all day and is still at it I
did not make my house rain proof and I am about
drowend out.

Dec. 4. Pleasent I liant had a coat ou for the last
four weeaks and the Ma Nuska have been havein<r
a revulution after the fasion of thar white brothers
the old Cheif had got poor and being old and blind
he want able to fead the hungry divels that come
to sponge on him and so thay toke his throne and
gave It to another * '^ * it is looking bad for me
the Ma Nuska have killed three Col China and the
Ma Nuska are nearly scared out of wits thay just
brought me a report that the Col China have
murdered the store keeper that keeps the Co. store
on the Uycon somewhear near the mouth of the
Tmenah the Ma Nuska say it was Tinenah cuses

that done it but they are such d liars I dont

know wheather to beleave

Dec. 5. Rained hard all day.

not.

Dec. 6. R

iin.

Dec. 7. Rain poured down all day water a foot
deep m my house it hase raised the riv- -..,. a,.

river seven fut

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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

the river dont look so much like freasiug over as it
did two months ago.

Dec. 8. Clear and freasing a little the Ma Nu.ska
and the Col China are going to have a grand povv
wow about one hundred miles up the river I want
to go and see the plaver but the Ma Nuska say
the Col China will kill me and then the Americans
would come and kill them I shall no if I can.

Dec. 1 8. Clear and cold it remained plcasent till
the fifteenth when it turned cold and is cfetinij
colder every day I have no means of teling how
cold it is but I judge it has been from ten to
fifteen below zero for the last three days. Things
is looking bad the Col China have come to the
Ma Nuska frontier and say thay are going to
clean the Ma Nuska out a runner came in last
night from the front he made the hundred milles
in twenty -four hours the Tyon w\'is txt my cabin
when he came and he came rushing in as if the
divil was after him in less than an hour every
man and boy old enough to handle a gun wear
on the march up the river thay wouldnt let me
go thay swor thay w^ould tie me up if I tried to
go the Tyon told me he did not think thar would
be aney fighting he thought it would all end in
talk but he promissed if thar was aney fighting
to send for me so I am left the onley man in
Taryel with all the wemen and children a fine
dirty lot thay are.

Dec. 19. Cold.

CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES.

its

Dec. 20. Cold.

Dec. 2 1. Ditto.

Dec. 22. Verey cold.

Dec. 23. Ditto.

Dec. 24. Not quite so cold.

Dec. 25. I wish you all a merey Cliristmass I had
rabbet for my diner insted of turkey the weatlier
has moderated and it is quit pleasent no news from
the seat of war.

Dec. 26. Pleasent.

Dec. 27. Tliyi rivei" froze over.

Dec. 28. Pleasent.

Dec. 29. Pleasent.

Dec. 30. Pleasent.

Jan. I, 1885. I wish you all a happey new
year it is quit pleasent weatlier hear somewliear
about zero but I do not fell it cold thar is not a
breath of wind thar has been no storniey weather
since the seventh of Dec. nor wind enough to stir
a leaf and the war is over it all ended in talk and
a big dance and I expect to start for the copper
mines the midle of the month the natives say the
ice will be good then I dont write much for the
simple reason that thar is nothing to write about.

Jem. 2. Cloudy but not cold.

Jan. 3. Light fall of snow about one inch.

Jan. 4. Snowed hard all day fell caght inches on

the level but it is as light as down thar is not a

breath of wind and the treas and bushes are loded

with snow I have been haveing a little fun to breake

: ;

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216

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

tlie niont>toney of life at Tarivll the ^la Nuska havo
got it into thar lieads tliat I am a big nicdiceii aud
one of them came to my cabin carh?y yesterday to
get me to go and see his wife he said she was going
to die if 1 did not ffo and cure lier I went with him
al)oiit tiiree miles through tlie snow and found tliat
the most that ailed the slut was dirt * * * X
gave her eaght of Ilaynes piles and then made
them strip her clothes of and scrub ber from head
to foot when they had got through scrubing lier I
made a mustard plaster ******
* her husband has been to my cal)in to-day he
savs she is all ricfht now he thinks me the boss
medieen man I want the doctor when he writes to
tell me if I treated the case properly.

Jan. 5. Clear and cold been patching my old
clothes I expect I will bo without clothes by the
time I get back to Nuchuk.

Jan. 6. Verev cold this morning: when I went to
get up I found my whisker froze fast too my pelow
and still I had slept warm and comfortable all night
J wish I had some means of telling how cold it is
and not a breath of win<:l.

Jan. 7. I hud to roll out in the night to reef top-
sails the wind blowing a moderate gale from the
north it is the first wind we have had in two months
worth speaking of.

Jan. 8. Not quit so cold I had a vesit from a Col
China to-day he told me thar was a hundred white
men on the Youcon somewhear near the mouth of

mmmmsmmmm

HE RAISES THE DEAD. 3,7

the Tancnali as near as I could make out l.c says
they liave gone into camp thai- I expect tliat
Slicglen found good digings thar and a porty
have gone in to be ready in when si)ring opens I
dont know what else would enduce white men to
winter thar.

Jail. 9. Light brease from the north with light
snow sfpialls not verey cohl.

Jem. 10. Light snow squalls about zero I dont foil
tlie cold aney more then I did at Newchuck liie
onley way I know it is so cold is if I toke my
mitcns of too fix a snare to catch a rabbit the ends
of my fingers are froze in about five minuts.

Jan. II. I Lad to go about four mils to-day to
see a sick young one the fools think I can raise the
dead.

Thare was an old woman in the house in the last
stage of consumption and the fools wanted me to
cure her I told them that the Big Tyon up aloft
said no that she must die and that I could not do
aneything for her.
Jan. 12. Cold.
Jan. 13. Cold.

Jan. 14. Verey cold froze water three feet fvoin
the fire I went yesterday to see how tlie Ma
Nuska preformed at a funral thay told me a young
woman had died and thay weare going to burey
her soon after I got thare one of the wemen began
to chant a sort of tune in a low tone and preasen^tly

2l8

SIIOUKS AM) ALPS OF ALASKA.

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all hands joined in and tliay kfi|>t geting louder
and loudcf till I had to stuf my ears thay niado
sucli a noise after a while I thoujjht T would have
a look at the corpse I puled the cloth of her face
and while I was looking she opned her eyes she
want near as dead as thay had thouglit it apears
she must have had some sort of a fit aneyway it
bursted up the fun she lookes to be as likeley to
live as aney of them when I left thay wear feeding
her the soup from a rabbit's gutes.

Jan. 1 5. Verey cold.

Jan. 16. Tlie cold is instense five feet above the
fire the chemley is white weth frost.

Jan. 1 7. Cold cold cold.

Jan. 18. Still verey cold it would be all mc.-.
imposable for troops to make a winter campaign
the cold is so intense thay would all frease to death.

Jan. 19. Not quite so cold I have got the rlieu-
matism in my riglit arm and shoulder, so I can
hardley write.

Jan. 20. More moderate I can go out without
freasing.

Jan. 21. Quite mild about zero I shall start in a
few days for the copper coutrey.

Jan. 22. Light snow squalls not verey cold.

Jan. 24. Quite mild light snow it has fell about
three inches in the last forty-eaght hours.

Jan. 25. Pleaseut not verey cold.

Jan. 26. Light squalls of wind from the north
not cold.

».^**.****^..

THE VOLCANO IN EKFI'TION.

219

lie

Jan. 27. Warm wind from the south meltiix' the
snow it Hoimes otl too be uble to go out in niy shirt
sleavcH.

Jan. 28. Still thawing.

Jan. 29. (^uit warm and pleascntthc natives are
cursing the warm weather it weats thar lur hoots.

Jan. 30. Beautifull winter weather light wind
from the south.

Jan. 31. Cloudy but warm and pleasent.

Feb. I. Pleasent cloudy light wind from the
north.

Feb. 2. The weather is st ill mild and pleasant the
natives are scatring of Iroin this place they squat
here till they have eat all thar dried fish and stole
nearley all my grub never hunted at all and now
thay are half starved serves them right I wish thay
weare more starved.

Feb. 3. A beautifull day not a cloud in the skv
1 was treated to a sight to-day that I wish you
could have seen the volcano has been verey quite
(quiet) a good while but to-day it is sending out a
vast coluni of smoke and hurling imense stones
hundreds of feet high in the air the mases it is
throwiiig up must be verey large to be seen here
it is at least thirty milles in a air line from here to
the mouth of the crater it has mde no loud reports
onley a sort of rumbling noise.

Feb. 4. A little colder but pleasent the Volcano
has stopcd throwing stones ore ix.akeing a noise
but is still sending out an imense cloud of smoke

31 ■

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SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

it is verey beautiful! not ca breatli of wiud and the
smoke ascends to a fjreat hiijlit in an imcnsc colum
before spreading out.

Feb. 5. Cloudy and colder light wind from the
north the Ma Nuska have been promsing too start
for Nuchuk for the two weeaks and thay hant
started 5'et thay liavent the least itleah of the
value of time.

Feb. 6. Light snow about one inch thar was an
old native came to my cabin to-day and I pumped
him about that route too the lake he told me that
two days' travel up the river thar was a river that
headed in a large lake and one day's travel from
the lake thar was a river that went to salt water
but I think \t must go into Cook's Inlet he says it
goes to Nuchuk Imt from the lookes of the country
I think its imposoble the onley way to find out is
to go and look the natives are such liars you cant
trust aneything thay say.

Feb. 7. The natives have promised to start to-day
I am lookeing for them e /cry menuit so I will seal
up the book.

P.S. — The natives are verey shy about telling a
white man aneything about the country ore about
themselves. What few Col China I have seen are
a much finer looking people then the Ma Nuska I
have been about fifty ore sixty miles up the river
and as far as I can see it is as bad as it is below.
The 'Canyon presents no obesticle to navegation at
a modrate stao-c of water but below and above the

THE SUMMING UP.

221

rivor is uterley useless as a route to transport troops
ore suplies in aney quanty and tliar is another route
from Chilcat that strikes the headwaters of the
Chitanah but from all I can learn it is as bad as
bad as Coper Kiver the Col China pacli through
to Cliilcat and it takes them two months to niako
the round tri]). The natives all live along the rivers
thay could not live aney great length of time back
in ^Jie mountins. The countrey here is intierley
difrent from the coast it is a dry climat verey cold
in winter and verey hot in summer not a l)ad contrey
to Jive in if it want for the rascals that live in it
if the divil is the father of liars he has got a fine lot
of children up here and as for stealing I defy the
worald to produce a more expert lot of theives thny
have stole nearley all my grub thay broke in to my
cabin while I was away up the river and stole all
my tea and sug;i.r and two sacks of Hour and worst
of all nearly all my tobacco I have onley one sack
of Hour left no tea or sugar I have been liveing on
rabbet strat for the last month. I wish if you can
get i;. you would send me a small Hag I would like
too have the honui- of raiseii-g the old Flag whar
a white man has never b< ■ n before at the Coper
mine.

JOIIX BHEMXEPt.

llV' .'if '1 ' r

( 222 )

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CHAPTER XI.

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Waiting at Xncliuk in Prince William Souml — The Indians refuse
to move — We prepare to Winter there— The First Snow— Sport
at Nuclnik — The Ducks, Orouse, and Geese — The Schooner
arrives at last — Chei:ega and the Coast of the Kenai Peninsula —
A Gale — We reach Kodiak — Fearful Murder at our Supper-
table— A Terrible Passaye to San Francisco- Homewarus
again.

" And now the storm blast camo, and he
Was tyrannous and strong ;
He struck with his o'ert.iking wings,
And chased us South along."

NuciiuK, Prince William Sound, Alaska,
Scptemher 2 2(1, i886.

1 HE last few weeks have been spent in short expe-

<litions in the neighbourhood, partly for exploration

and partly to keep us supplied with ducks and

fresh salmon.

The schooner, our last cliance of communicating
with the outer world until the following spring,
was expected to arrive here at Nuchuk, from the
Alaska Company's eastern headquarters at Kodiak,
between the 5th and loth of September, with the
winter supply of goods for the trading post.

Having now nearly given up all hope of its

■ )l

I ATTEMPT TO LEAVE NUCHLK.

22'

arrival, I Lave made an attempt to procure men
to take me by canoe to Kocliak in hopes of catching
the steamer St. Paul on her way to San Francisco.
It was therefore made known some days ago that
two sealskin canoes and four men, or if that was

At Nuehuk ; Gustia, once a Slave Boy.

not possible, one three-hatch canoe and men. - re
required to take rac in the direction of Kodiak as
far as was practicable, if only for a short \\ay, and
that any jDrice they demanded would be paid. Tliis
evening the whole of the male inhabitants, too-ether

\ r ': ' '.

224

SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

witli the Tyoon, were summoued to the store, and
the answer was then given by the Tyoon, through
Nicohii, that at present no one was in want of
money; also that there vas no astronome to advise
them concerning the weather ; that soon Cook's
Inlet would be frozen up, and that they did not
wish to go by the outside passage.

The Ahiskan Indians can never be counted on
with certainty to work for money until driven by
hunger to do so ; and wlien they have just returned
from a successful sea-otter hunt, as is now the
case, they will only go where the caprice of the
moment inclines them. Last year they omitf.ed to
dry sufficient salmon to last the winter, but this
winter the tioder has taken care that they have
plenty.

NuciiUK, Septemhor 29///.

The Swedes, the two Carlsens, are preparing to
return to their log cabin on Kaiak IsLind, in place
of revisitino; once more for the first time in ten
years their home in fevveden, which they will now
never be able to do, they say. and their winter will
be passed as usual in sea-otter hunting.

I am preparing for a winter journey round
Prince AVilliam Sound. I have bought a three-hole
biilarky, and made some deerskin sleeping-bags,

PREPARIxXG TO WLNTER 225

and succeeded in engaging one man. Most of
the others are away on the islands trapping.
With the prospect of five months winter I have
had a long coat of squirrel skins made from
two native parhas or sleeveless skin coats, which
slip on over the head.

N'ucHDK, Odoher 2d.
Flocks of wild geese have
been passing during the
whole of the middle part
of the day, without a break,
flying southwards, band after
band, in long rows.

:N"ucnuK, October gtJi.
There has been snow on
the mountains for some
days. Last night the first
snow fell at the settlement.
I was camped out some miles ^ ^''"•^i^oo- ^ "oy of oodiak.

^ "^'^ Dressed thus, ho crossed the

away, and awoke in the ^'''"'■•'^""'i''no^v«ntiico, without

requiring any other clothes.

morning to find everythino-

hidden under a foot of snow outside the tent.

We have been living on bear and wild-goat
meat brought by the Indians from Tateekluk or
Kaneetluk viUages in the sound, and on red salmon

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SIlOltES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

and ducks. I shot fourteen of the latter this
niorning, including mallard and blue- wing teal,
with an old muzzle-loading trade gun, my own
beino- still with the Times expedition.

We also shoot blue grouse occasionally in the
woods ; these birds arc nearly always discovered
perched on the fir-trees, and are difficult to find ;
also marmots near the mountain tops, from which
there is a magnificent view of the sound. We also
catch trout in a small pond near the village.

The wild geese would be easy to kill with a
good gun, as they abound in the bay, and one can
usually get a shot at thirty j^ards distance when
one of the flocks alights on the hillside to feed.

XucHUK, Odoher i6th, 1886.

This morning wc had just finished ])reakfast at
daylight off" our usual salt salmon and porridge,
when I heard a shouting of " Sail, oh 1 "

These words had been shouted on so many
previous occasions during the past eight weeks —
sometimes at a tree floating with the tide, the
bare projecting branches of which resembled masts ;
sometimes in jest, or at times at the fancied
appearance of a sail on the horizon — that we took

SAIL, OH I

227

no notice. At last its loudness and persistence
made us rush out. It was indeed the schooner.
She wjis entering the bay in a thick fog— the first
we have seen here. The two young Swedes for
Kaiak are on board, and will just have time to get
there by canoe before tlie Copper Eiver freezes.

Ox BoAUD THE ScnooxER Kodial; CriRXEOA,
riiLvcE WiMjAM Sound, Odoher 20th, 1S86.

Tlie schooner had been delayed diirin^v the

ms-^

Knight's Iskin,!, from Five Miles North of Chcncgn, looking East.

summer partly by calms, and partly on account of
an opposition company whicli has be-r started at
Kodiak. Hence also our visit to Chenega, the
western of the three Indian villages in Prince
William Sound, in order to land a Creole trader to
buy up all the sea-lion skins he can get, lest the
competing party should obtain them.
The village itself lies under a steep wooded bluff.

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aaS SHORES AND ALPS OF ALASKA.

We should never have found it had not a guide
been brought from Nuchuk. This part of Prince
AVilliam Sound consists of many steep mountainous
islands — far more than are marked in the Russian
chart, which is the only one in existence and which
delineates groups of islands as one island. Their

PiU'tof tlic Koiuii rciiiiiHiila from Cliunei^a.

southern sides are wooded and timbered, the
northern sides being bare everywhere. Snow lies
on the mountains down to the water's eds:e. In
front of Chenega stretches a broad bay covered with
small icebergs, and in which several whales are at this
moment spouting. Close at hand several glaciers
descend into the sea from the low flat snowfields

CIIENKGA.

339

visible on the high phiteau of the mysterious Kenai
Peninsula.

I recognise many of the Chencga Imlians as
having lately been over at Nuchuk trading.

Our guide will return in a skin canoe across
the sound. We are just off for Kodiak, and thence
for California, leaving winter behind us.

d*-

St. Taul, Kodiak Island, Alaska,
Oe/uhcr 23^/, 1 886.

We have just reached this place after a severe
passage. After getting clear of the islands we
coasted along the south side of the Kenai Penin-
sula, obtaining glimpses through the clouds of
several of the glaciers, which reach the ocean at
five or six points of this rugged coast. Next day
it blew a strong gale from the north-cast—

" Never did I like molestation view,
Upon th' enchafed Hood."

And although it was a fair wind for us, we had
to lie hove to under close-reefed jib and close-reefed
mainsail all that night, reaching this village, which
is a comparatively civilised place, yesterday. It
boasts a Eussian church, and a well-to-do Creole
and Indian population, living in substantial wooden
houses, not huts, as elsewhere. It boasts also

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SilOUKS AMJ ALPS 01' ALASKA.

uumerous large outliouscs nnd stores ot tlie Alaska
Company, a schoolmaster, Customs (Ivau Potroff)
and Signal Service Officers, with oilier white men.
The Company's two steamers have left ; we follow-
in the schooner on the 2d of November. All the
vessels return here in April, and summer trade
and hunting recommences then.

We were welcomed by Mr. B. G. M'Intyre, the
general agent of this j^art (the eastern) of the
Alaska Company's important business, not in-
eluding the Fur Seal Islands. Ho accompanies
us to San Francisco, and apj)ears to be exceedingly
popular with every one, for I have heard nothing of
him except in praise. Meanwhile the schooner is
to fetch a load of wood, and then we cross the
Pacific.

At this time of year strong winds must be
expected, but they are generally westerly — fair
winds for us. The little schooner also is well-
found, and with the Carlsons to help, will be well
manned. The natives here still talk of the visit
of Sir Thomas Ilesketh's yacht, the Faladine,
some years ago, and the bull that was given. I
have to give a small one to-night.

MUUDERi:!) AT TAItLK.

!J'

St. Paul, Kopiak Island, Ai,aska,
NovcmU'r ^d^ 1886.

The niglit before last I was tlio eye-witness to
a shocking murder — none other than that of the
general agent, wliose corpse is on board. We start
at noon for California, nearly two thousand miles
distant.

We were seated at supper at six o'clocic in the
evening — M'lntyre at the head of the table, and
Woche, a storekeeper, at the foot. Ivan Petrofl'
was by my side. The meal was nearly over, and
M'Intyre had half-turned to get up from his chair,
when a terrible explosion suddenly occurred, filling
the room with smoke and coverimx the table with
fragments of plates and glasses.

M'Intyre never moved, for he was killed stone-
dead in a moment. Woche fell under the table,
and then rushed out streaming with blood in
torrents, for he was shot through the lower part
of the head. The double glass window was
smashed to atoms, for a cowardly fellow had fired
through it, from just outside, with a s])reading
charge of slugs, presumably aiming at M'Intyre,
who received the main part of it in his back.
Meantime the murderer who had thus shot into

ii!

i3«

SIIOIM'IS XSl) ALPS OF ALASKA.

a group of unarmed and unsuspecting persons had
time to cscaijc.

I succeeded in stopping tlic bleeding from
Woclie's wounds, every one ujipeuring parjdyscd !

The suspected man, Peter Anderson, a Cossack
of the Don, cannot be found. Ho liatl, wc found,
attempted to fire his sloop, lying at anchor near the
wharf ; and had refused employment at cod-fishing,
in order, as he said, to be present at the departure
of the schooner. He had also been seen loitering
with a gun behind the house. He owed money to
M'Intyre, who had twice fitted him out for sca-ottcr
hunting, but both times he was unsuccessful.

We have been scouring the woods with rifles,
but the natives are frightened to death. Not a
light can be seen in any house after dark for fear
of its being shot into by this madman, who is still
at large if he has not committed suicide. Nor can
any of them be got to stir out at night, or to keep
watch like sentries over the sloop, in case he should
return, unless a white man is with them.

On Board the Schooner Kndial',
San Francisco Harbour, November iCth, iS86.

We arrived last night after the most uncomfort-
able twelve days I ever endured. For two nights

HoMKWAim Rorxn.

23J

we lay liovo to ii- fearful gales, while during the
latter part of the voyage a teiTil)lc stench iu the
cabin, probably from bilge water and the salt
salmon in the hold, forced mo to live in the fore-
castle with the three sailors, who were exceedingly
attentive. This made up to .some extent for the
behaviour of the captain, who was mad drunk,
and abusive of England, and insulting to every
one. He took it into his head at last that I had
gone to the forecastle to obtain from the sailors
grounds of complaint against him.

I cannot close this journal without acknow-
ledging the politeness of the Alaska Commercial
Company, and the hospitality received through
their employes at Nuchuk and Kodiak.

San Fran'cisco, Novemler 2,0th, 1SS6.
The little 70-ton schooner W. SjKirkes has just
arrived from Alaska, hashing left Kodiak on the
9th. The murderer has not been found. I leave
to-morrow for England.

■'I

wmxa

'• I

( ^34 )

APPENDIX.

It. ' I ?,

f f

The I ur Trade of Alu.ka-Fur-.eals-IIair-.oals_Sea-T,=ons-
bea-otors- Lospects of tl.o Fur Trade a Cenv y a...

Cauboo, Moose. .Sheep and Goat-Prmce Willian. «ou„d am
t Ind.an.s-A Dccnplion of Cook's Inlet and its Shores-
Ihe lur-tnuhnK Store.s-Tl,e Volcanoe.. _ Cape Douglas-A
Uescnpuon of tl. Ala..kau Peninsula, it.s Setllen,ont,C Gan>e
.nd Mountains-Unexplored Alaska-Future Sporting kp^ ^
tions-AChunainuleVotabukuy. o -^-^puu

TiiK Ala.skan Fuii Trade.

40,283 p'.i-ottor @
19,000 land-otter (?/
41,217 heaver @ .
O992 blaek fox Qi^ .

19,210 cross fox (rt;

82,919 red fox @
7508 ])luo fox (}?. .
1 1,49' white fox (.,
819 l)]aek boar («'
5207 brown bear @
7!,2i3 mink @
81,609 iiiiii'ten (j/' .
50,322 musk rat (rt}

421 wolf (^j .

. 60

eacl

»)

?»

))

• 3

))

)»

tjo

U' \

THE FUR TKADE.

■=03

■ a-u
and
lit en,
ami
res —
;— A
ainc,
ictli-

ives

The Alaska Commercial Company have the sole right of
killing fur-seal, which are almost entirely conlineil to the
two small islands .-^f I'rybilof, lying north of tiie Aleutian
chain of islands. The chief season is in Alay. The
natives may also kill fur-seals. The hair-seal and sea-
lion skins are chiefly used in making the skin canoes.
The sea-otters, however, are still the chief objects of pur-
suit. Their skins have varied in value from ten dollars
in the time of the liussians up to two hundred dollars.
Their pursuit by the Indians with bows and arrows in
the skin canoes, and the exhaustion of the animal by not
allowing it time to breathe, and its death, have been
fully described by Mr. Elliott in his account of the Sea
Islands, and by Ivan I'etroff, who was seated next nie
during the fearful murder at our suppor-tal.Ie of the
general agent of the Alask-a Commercial Compraiy, in
his report upon Alaska (U.S. loth Census, 1880).

The value of a uood sea-otter skin is now somethinu'
under a hundred dollars. They are becoming scarcer.
A century ago Cook wrote with regard to the natives : —
" I will be bold to say the liussians have never been
amongst them, for if that had been the case we should
hardly have found them clothed in such valuable skins
as those of sea-otters. There is not the least doubt that
a very benelicial fur-trade might be carried on with the
inhabitants of this vast coast. lUit unless a northern
passage could be found practicable it seems rather too
remote for (Jreat Britain to receive any emolument from
it." He adds that " intercourse with foreigners would
increase their wants by introducing them to an ac(piaint-
ance with new luxuries, and in order to be able to procure
these they would be more assiduous iu procuring skins."
How fully this has been verided !

ijii

J: ?

i I

ip ,11^"

• M

ir Si !'

■' ^i^

' 1

- :- -

'! ■ i
1 ',

I :

i i

2-;6

THE BEARS OF ALASKA.

Black or silver and cross foxes are not confined to any
particular district, and are trapped everywhere in small
numbers, but cliielly in the country of the Chilcats, and
the upper part of the Copper Eiver, and the Kenai
Peninsula. A trader will pay as much as fifty dollars
for a good skin.

The white and the blue Arctic foxes are more plentiful
in the north. The red fox is common everywhere.

The brown bear of Alaska (ursiis liichardsonii) seems
to prefer an open swampy country to the timber. His
northern limit is about 67° N. Ivan Petroff describes the
brown bear as " the great road-mulvcr of Alaska." His
tracks line the banks of the stream. Their skins are
commercially of no value except when killed in winter.
During summer they frequent the salmon rivers in
immense numbers. They are rarely hunted. John
Ingster of Winnipeg, who spent two years on Sanak
Island hunting sea-otters, and others, have informed me
that they have suen over twenty together near the
mouths of rivers during the run of the salmon. The
Indians assert that bears swarm at Lake Nushegak, while
Petroff includes the country between that lake and the
lower Kuskoquim River. They are undoubtedly very
numerous on the island of Unimak or Oonimak, and on
the Alaskan Peninsula. Kodiak Island is full of them.
Cook's Inlet abounds with bear of the largest size, where,
says Petroff, " on the steep sides of the volcanic range
on the west coast brown bear can be seen in herds of
twenty or thirty ; their skins are not valuable, and owing
to this fact, and to the fierce disposition of the animals,
they are not commonly hunted." The black bear is con-
fined to the timber on the mainland and on a few of the
lar-je islands in Prince William Sound. Near the vol-

23S

THE CAMK COUNTKY.

IK >

canoes game is particularly abundant, for no Alaskan
Indian will approach a volcano, and the wild animals
instinctively congregate there.

From one end of the Alaskan Peninsula to tlie other
lie well-beaten tracks of the reindeer. Lears follow in
their trails whenever they congregate in largo numbers.
The bears have a habit when wounded of attacking their
assailant, which is unfortunate for the bad sliot. A
Winclicster repeating riile is commonly used. " See him
come ! " calmly ejaculated one of the traders who had
fallen in (or out) with bruin near Katmai, and whose
magazine was still half full ; " he's so ballasted up on
both sides with lead that he can't fall over." A rifle,
however, of more destructive power and of larger calibre
than a Winchester is desirable — one throwing a bullet
that will reach and paralyse the great nerve-centres when
the enemy is hit anywhere in the fore-part of the body.

The lynx is found in the Kenai Peninsula and St. Elias
Alps. The Polar bear is only found on the Arctic Coast.
The marten or sable {viustcla Americana) is trapped on
the Alps of the Copper Eiver and I'rince William Sound.
Iicindeer or cariboo are very plentiful on the Alaskan
Peninsula and in Cook's Inlet, as well as in the far
north. Moose are found on the Kenai Peninsula, and in
the interior. Sheep are numerous in Cook's Inlet, and
goats in Prince William Sound.

Our food while we were at Nuchuk in the sound
consisted of %vild ducks and geese, and of salmon and
wild goat, and bear meat brought occasionally by the
Indians. Put while Prince William Sound is compara-
tively deficient in large game. Cook's Inlet abounds with
it. From St. Elias to Chugach or Prince William Sound
(where are three villages), the people only number 600.

COOK'S INLET.

239

Seal meat and mountain goat are eaten in equal pro-
portion with salmon. The Chugamutcs are Ciiristians,
and have built a small Russian cliurch at Xucliuk,
to which they contribute a proportion of sea-otter
skins.

At the head of Prince William Sound is a portage of
a day's travel to Cook's Inlet, wliich was crossed l)y l*etroft;
and where he saw moose in May. Two glaciers are crossed
on the way.

In Prince William Sound Vancouver's parties (1794)
found some Inilians " who had come immediately from
Groofgincloof or Cook's Inlet, and that thcij with their
canoes had crossed the isthmus overland that separates this
sound, from Turnagain Arm."

Cook's Inlet (discovered by Captain Cook), which has
been called Summerland by the traders, from the constant
fine weather during the summer, is inhabited by 800
natives and a few half-breeds, relics of the old Russian
American Company, who fish exclusively from May
to September. The east side is formed by the Kenai
Peninsula.

In 1850 the Keknu River was ascended by Lt.
Doroshiii, and in 1879 by Ivan Petroff up to the Skilloch
village of Kenaitze Indians, who kill a few beaver in the
lakes. He informed me they were great travellers, and
that the women carried packs. At the mouth of the
Keknu River is a school and a salmon cannery of the
Cutting Packing Company, and the fur post of Fort
Kenai. Some miles soutli is the KassilofF River salmon
fishery. Near the end of the I'eninsula of Kenai are
the two fur posts and stores of Saklovy and English
Bay. The west shore of the peninsula is flat and low,
but the east coast is rocky and indented with bays, i\\

m'
wM

.|;| 111

1 1 i^ji)

ill !t(

-1 ■ ■

Si' *■

, ;

. ■ ,11

240

THE VOLCANOES.

one of which (Eesurrection Bay) an American hunter has
built a log-house, and resides.

The mountains rise to a height of 6000 feet, and are
covered with low flat glaciers and snow-fields. Turn-
again Arm, where the portage from Prince William Sound
ends, is bordered by high mountains, reaching 7000 feet
on the north side near the estuary of the Knik Eiver,
where are situated some Tinnat Indian villages. The
winter post of the Alaska Commercial Company is in
the Knik Inlet, where in 1885 the storekeeper Holt was
shot by an Indian. The numbers of mosquitoes in summer
cause the store to be removed at that season to an island
in the estuary of the river.

Vancouver says, in regard to some Indians of Cook's
Inlet : — " I should be wanting in justice to our Indian pas-
sengers, were I to omit stating their docility and respectful
behaviour, and the real satisfaction and happiness they
exhibited on being given to understand that we were
again in perfect security."

On the west shore of Cook's Inlet is the A. C. C. post
of Tyonik. The mountains are wooded up to 1000 feet.
To the south lie Burnt INIountain Volcano, and next to it
Iliamna Volcano (12,060 feet), on the shore of which
Mr. Petroff once landed, but found the ascent too steep
to attempt, even as far as the crater, which is below the
summit.

Vancouver noted Mount Ilyamna : — " In the middle
appeared the volcano, near the summit of which, from
two distinct craters on its south-eastern side, were emitted
large volumes of whitish smoke, unless, as was supposed
by some, it was vapour arising from hot springs in that
neighbourhood." He calls St. Augustin "a very re-
markable island."

i W

■!■•
I-

■

THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.

241

Some miles south a portage leads from the sea to the
large Ilyamna Lake, where there is a store kept by a
haif-breed. Opposite lies Augustin Island in active erup-
tion. At the entrance to Coolc's Inlet the tides run with
great violence.

Cook discovered Cook's Inlet, and it obtained his
name. He named the boldest cape in Alaska Cape
Douglas, after the then Canon of Windsor—" a very lofty
promontory, whose elevated summit, forming two ex-
ceedingly high mountains, was seen above the clouds."

From this point to the extremity of the Alaskan Penin-
sula the shores are rocky and sparsely inhabited. At
intervals of about sixty miles are situated the A. C. C.
posts of Douglas, Katmai, Wrangel, Sitkoom, Matrofan,
Belkoffsky, and Majovy. The great cod-banks on the
coast are uuworked. From Cape Douglas westward
timber is confined to the interior, and near Wrangel all
timber ceases. Belkoffsky is a large village of sea-otter
liunters, chiefly Scandinavians. The volcano of Pavloff
was in very active eruption in August 1886. Majovy is
at the extreme end of the peninsula, near which the
Indian or Aleut village of Morshevoi holds a hundred
dissolute inhabitants, who, according to Petroff, have not
even the energy or cleanliness to make use of some hot
springs half a mile distant. The groups of islands oppo-
site BelkofCrfky are the resort of sea-otters, and contain
settlpinents of white hunters at Unga, Gusina, Simi-
nosky (in the Shumagin group), and Popoff, where
M'Collam & Co. have a cod-fishery. Unimak is the
first of the Aleutian Islands. It is bare and rocky,
and the volcanoes on it are active— Mount Shishaldiu
(9000 feet) and Mount Progomny (5000 feet). Since
the Eussian massacre a hundred years ngo, the natives

■: 1

)

i i

242

A FRliSir FIF^LD OF EXI'LOUATION

have held superstitions with regard to it, and it lias
been totally uninhabited. It is said to swarm with the
common red fox and a species of wolf. Bear are very
numerous on it, and it is the only Aleutian island fre-
quented by reindeer or cariboo, which are able to pass
the narrow straits which divide it from the mainland.

Akutan is the next Aleutian island ; then comes
Unalaska, with a large settlement of whites. Two hun-
dred miles to the north lie the two fur-seal islands, St.
George and St. Paul, while the wind-swept chain of the
Aleutians stretches out to Asia. The north side of the
Peninsula of Alaska is well-nigh uninhabited, and is the
resort of walrus. The mountains rise in groups from five to
eight thousand feet. The glaciers are all high up, and the
numerous portages lead across flat swampy plains between
Bering Sea and the North Pacific. Ivodiak, the largest
island, is separated from the peninsula by ShelikofT
Straits, and boasts the white settlement of St. Paul,
besides several half-breed and Indian villages, and the
salmon-fishery of Karliik.

The Alaskan Peninsula and Cook's Inlet are un-
doubtedly great game countries. The fleet of trading
schooners and sealing steamers for Unalaska and Kodiak
leave San Francisco '^arly in March. The country to
the west of Cook's Inlet is entirely unexplored, but
Indian report represents it as a land of lakes and of high
mountains.

An expedition probably unequalled for its novel
scenery and for sport with bear, cariboo, and ptarmigan,
would consist in coasting in a bidarky from Katmai to
Unga, where there is constant communication by trading
schooners, while a field quite as attractive is offered by
the west coast of Cook's Inlet and by the volcanic region

■I

];\im:I{T TiaiiKi^.

243

near it. The only drawback is the impracticable nature of
the natives, half-breed and Indian, and the necessity of the
party beiiig constituted in such a way as to be imlepen-
dent of their aid.* The natives of the head of Cook's
Inlet, however, unlike the inhabitants of the Alaskan
shore-line, are of the Athabascan or Inland tribes of
North American Indians, and expert as hunters, travellers
and mountaineers, inhabiting also part of the Kenai
Peninsula and trading with the interior. It is to be
hoped that soon regular communication will be estab-
lislied between Sitka and Kodiak, two days' steaming,
while at present the voyage from San Francisco to the
latter place takes nearly a fortnight.

* See the Fortnightly Jlaitw {or Ma,rc\i 1SS7, "A Fresh Field for the
Sportsman."

'1 >.

ril

II *

A VOCABULARY

OF UBEFUIi WOUDS IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE CIIUGAMUTF.S
OnNATIVES OF I'lUNCE WILLIAM iSOUND.

Syllables iu italics pronounced fjutturally.

One, atoojuk.

Two, ah-tlak.

Three, jiing-i-eiil:.

Four, 8ctar-mik,

Five, tar-tlee-niik.

Six, ah-cooin-dlin.

Seven, mar-tl-hnmiu.

Kight, ee-gloo-glin.

One dollar, tlarheenia-nagcit.

Twenty-five cents, ageet-stnr-tuk,

Fifty cents, dingai-uk-coop-loogoo.

Much moiii'V, amlik-toot-ageet.

How much, cow-ouchin.

Too much, aiiiZ«c/i-pignc/i-to(it.

Too little, eL'kow-pag«f//-tont.

A little money, eek-owdoot-ageet.

Out, tlar-nie.

In, eeloom-e.

To-day, ag;och-7iach-jmck.

To-morrow, oo-norgo.

Day after to-morrow, ya-teego.

After,

Later,

Go back, ootach-ten.

What is the name ? naima-ut-krur.

Never mind, tchan-ee-dok.

Come, ti-ee-hoot.

Go, agwar.

Eat, pee-doo-ah.

Drink, umm-ah.

Sleep, shah-gah.

Give m.e, too-neeg-nah.

Flowing tide, eel-ah-Ioo-go.

Ebbing tide, eel-eeg-loo-go.

Good, ash-ek-dok.

Bad, ash-ee-dok.

Long, tak-oke.

takoo.

Short, nenouddk.

Hungry, kieech-ktwav.

Slow, isiiow-la-niarsuk.

Quick, tschoo-gar.

Thirsty, nuik-sooc/t-kt\va.

I'lcar, loklok.

Wild goat, soo pnrk.

Mink, eel-gwark.

Sea-cttter, eeginii-ark.

Hair-seal, kai-ark.

Fur-seal, ah-tuk.

Sea-lion, weo-na.

Fox, ko-gvvecak.

Deer, hunnai-ak.

Duck, oomooshuk.

Goose, tem-oo-yak.

Grouse, ung-ai-ik.

Fish, a?Hnt7t-too.

Man, schook.

Woman, ah-gun-uk.

Boy, tar-new-hungwar-slnik.

Oirl, karnct'-klun^'war-sluik.

Tree, ncgo-gwar-tak.

Spear, ho-kk.

Boat, yalik.

River, gweek.

Sea, ee-jHajr/i-pcek.

Matches, speetch-kee,

Ikead, klcba.

Flour, mooka.

A[eat, kmook.

Sugar, sarka.

Tea, tchai.

Tent, palatkuk.

Bed, ash-le-uk.

Fire, knuk.

I N 1) ]•; X.

AnAMS, U.S.S., 54, 55, 56

Akutan, 242

Alagnuk, 171

AlaBka Cdmnicrcial Ounpany, 52,

54, 127, 131, 140, 194, 197, 198,

222, 230, 232, 235
Alaskan Pcuiiisiihi, 242
Alburt Canon, 14
Alps of Alaska, 4S- 50
Ander^ens, the, 52, 144, 150, 152
Anderson, I'eter, the nmrdfrt'r, 232
Ascending Mount St. Elias, loi-

104
Rallow, Dr., 52
Baromt'trical measurements, 84, 103,

104, 112, 113
Beardslee Island, 38
Bear Hunter, 67, 127, 129
Bears 34, 104. II4, 149. 150, 151,

164, 165, 179, 196, 204,225, 234,

236, 237, 23S, 242
Bears in British Colnrnbia, 24
Bears in the Canadian National

Park, 8
Bear tracks, OS, 71, 72, 76, 77, So,

96
Beaver, 205
Beaver Canon, 12
Beechey, 75

Berries, 52, 71, 74, 125, 197
Behms Canal, 30
Belcher, 105
Belkoffsky, 148, 153, 241
Berinrf, 105

Bidarkies, 185, 186, 187
Biq: Bend, 11
Blacktail, 42
Blacktail deer on Vancouver I,-lun J,

24
Boots worn out, 99
Boundary-line. 64
Bremner, John, 200-22 r
British Columbia, growth of, 25
Buffalo bones, 3
Bursting of a river, 95, 113, 114

Caloakv, 3

Caniy)aiL,ni<r with General fiordon, 17
Canadian J'aeifie IJaihvay, I
Cafions of the Thompson and the

]''rasir, 19
Cape Kouglas, 241
Cape l'hi])ps, 123
Cape St. Kli.as, 142, t43
Cape Suckling, 140, 141, 150
Cape W'hitshed, 169, 170, 172
Cariboo, 238, 242
Cariboo Mines, 17
Carlsen, Louis, 52, 224, 230
Carlsen, Olaf, 53, 145, 224, 230
Carlsens, the, 224, 230
Cascade M. mtain, 9
Castani, Lake, 89
Ca.stle Mountain, 9
Cat-tish, 41. 42
(Cathedral Mountain, 0, lo
Cattle country of 15ritish Cwhimbi.'i,

Cattle country of Cana<la, 3
Chenega, 227, 22S, 2zg
Chichagoff L, 47
Chief of the Copper Indians, 206,

214
Chief of the Yakatats, 54, 5 c, 56,

124, 125
Chilcat and Chilcoot, 36, i6l
Chinamen, 16

f'hinese in I'.ritish Columbia, 23
Chitanah River, 210, 212
(,'oast Survey, 4S-50, 75, ig6, 1 1 1
Cod-hanks unworkid, 241
Col Cliiiis, 210, 212-214
Columbia River, 11
Contniller's Bay, 162
C'ojiper iJiver Indians, S3, 163, 167-

171, 2CO-22I

Copper River, 227

Cook, 105, 143, 1G2, 194, KjS, 190,

2.1s. 239. 241
Cook's Inlet, 224
Cross Sound, 47

246

INDI.X.

Dalton, 46, 69, lit, 119, 129, 130

Diividson (Jlaciior, j6
DivvidHiiii, I'rof,, 20U
Diiitli of Al'lntyif, 2JI, 232
iJtatliH of IndiiiiiH, ijo, 133, 209,

IJijIiarttire from Victoria, 19
iJovil'.s Head, 5
Dovil'H Lake, 0, 7
Dixon I'lutranci', 26, 29
Do^'-lisli, 41,42, 146
Doj,'s, Iniiiaii, 12S, 1 48
Donald, 12
Doroflhin, Lt., 239
J)iiU(,'lns, 241
DiiciiH, 226

Duke of Clarcnco Straits, Ju
Duniboiv^h, Litut.. 06

i'lACr.E (iLACIKU, 36

Ea(,de ra«M, 2, 15, 16

Eiic on Viincouvtr I.dand, 24

Elliot, 235

English Uay, 239

Esijuiniault, 23

EAlIUVKArincil CiUOUND, 66

Farw<;ll, 14

Fee Springs, 78

Fishing at Silk.a, 40, 41, 42

Fishing in the Bow, 4

Fishing in Tiie Devil's Lako, 7

Fording rivers, 73, 74, S4

Forest tires, 16, 42

Fort Maileod. 3

Fort Simpson, 29

Fort Tongass, 29

Fort Wrangel, 30

Foxes, 234, 236, 237, 242

Eraser liiver, iM, ly

Furs, 201, 234, 235 239

Fur-trade of Alaska, 234, 235-239

GALE8, 229, 232, 233

(iame on Vancouver Island, 24

(ieese, 195, 196, 225, 226

(ilacial measurements, 38

Glaciers, extent of, 63, 64, 110, in,

3S
Glaeirrs of the Copper River, 169-

171
(loat Peak, 9
(ioats, 8v), 196, 225
Gold in JWitish Columbia, 12
(Jold-mining, 34, 35, 55
Gold Kange, 15, 10
Golden City, 1 1
Great Aga:5siz Glacier, 56, 84, 122,

123

Gnat (luyot (Jluci'.T, 75, 78, So,

III, i^s
(ireat Tymlall (ilacier, 98, loi,

102, no
Grillin liakr, 17

( iro\|sc, 22(J

Gusina, 241

Hai.iiii T houk, 196

JIarrisliurg, 34, 35, 46

Hats, ()0, 01

JIawkins Islaml, I7.''-I77

Heights, table of, 112, 113

lli.'sketh, Sir T., 2311

Highest timber bridge in the world,

Hinchinl)rook Island, 177, 179 227

Holt, nnu'der of (Jeorge, 131, 240

Hot springs, 8, 9

Howkan, 30

llumming-l)ird. Si

Hyamna Lake, 241

1 1 vdahs, 23

It'K axes, 70

Icy Lay, 56, 64, 65, 72, 134, 137

ley Cape, 79, 137, 138, 139

Jddlio. S.S., 44

lllecillewaet liiver, 13, 14

Indian carvings, 21

Indians, drunken, 53, 166

Indian houses, 150, 157

Indian wares, 40

Indian races, 194. 195, 243

Indians of l^ueen Charlotte Islands,

23
Indians of Vancouver Island, 23
hulians, threatening, 53
Ingster, John, 236
Inland passage, 26
Islands of Prince William Sound, 228
Italian Geographical Society, 89
John Lkkmnkh, 200-221
Jones liiver, 75, 79, 81, 82
July 4tli at Sitka, 43, 63
Juneau City, 34, 35, 46
Kaiak Island, 52, 54, 127, 140, 142-

162
h'aiit'ci/;/'!, 1 86
Kamloops Lake, iS
Kassilotf River, 239
Katmai, 23S, 241-243
Keknu liiver, 239
Kenai, 179, 228, 229, 239, 243
Kersunk, 46, 92
Kicking Horse Pass, 10, 1 1
Klok-Shegees, 159
Knight'd Island, 227

iMn:x.

«47

51. 232

Kiiik Uivor, 131, 240

Kodiiik, 54, 155, 229-232, 242

Kixlidh, sciliioni'i', 227-2Ji>, 2J2, 2^1

Kni/.olF I., 42

lviiHl<()i|iiiiii liivor, 236

Lakkm, (il;>(.'icr, S'j, 07, yS

La IVnniso, 105, 140

Lwiaes of t'littlu landt, 4

Lonjjtli of ti-iuisit hy Ciiiuiliiiii I'^i-

citic llMihv.iy, 2
Ijibbcy, I'rof. W., 20, 46, 63, 6<),

70, 81, (JO, 92, 93, 90, 97, 114,

126, 121), 130
Loops of tlie Oauadiivn Pacific Itail

way, 14
Loriiii,', 30
Lynn's Canal, 36
Lynx, 234, 23S
Lvtlon, iS

]\r.\i-Asi'iNA Pr. vrKAi;, 56, 11 1
AFa-Niisl<a, 202, 221
Masks, 57, 60
^^ati•ofall, 241
.Majovy, 241

]\l'li>tyi(-, J>. G., 230, 23
^rodiciiiu hat, 3
Mcilicino man, 59, 12S, 160, 129-

133, 165, 169
Afftlakatla, 29
Miiklluton Island, 1S7
A[oo3e, 202, 204, 23S, 239
Moose-jaw, 3

lSrnraine.s, 77, 78, Si, S4, S5, 1 1 1
jSTorshuvoi, 241
Mountain LToats, 29, ^^
Rrontai,'iu,' Island, 193
Monnt ]ji'i,'bie, 14
Mount C'aii'nl, 12
Monnt Co(jk, 50, 51, 99
Mountain Creek, 12
Mount Ciillon, 38
Mount lOdgcuinbe, 39, 42
Mount Fail-weather, 38, 47, 4*^, 50
^[ount Hector, 9
Mount Hermit, 12
Mount Ilyamna, 240
Mount La IVrousc, 38
Mount Lefroy, 9
Mount Malaspina, 5 1
Mount rroyomny, 241
]\[ount Shislialdin, 241
Mount Sir Donald, 13
Mcjunt Steplien, 9
Mount St. Aui,'ustin, 240, 241
Mount St. Elias, ii. v., 49, 50, 56,
63, 102, 105-109, 122

.N[ount Vancouver, 50, 51

Moiuit W'raiiijel, 100,210-212, 2I0

.NFoiintuiu (iiiats, 24

.^[uir's ( liaeii'r, ;;, 38

.Nfurder of M'Intyrc, 231, 232

Munlrrs, 55. iji, 23r, 232,' 240

N'anaimo, 29

Nunaiiiio .Mines, 20

Nasty customs, 149, 157, 15(1, 20S

Native danci's, 182-185

New Yuvk TiiitiH IvxpeJiti m, 20,37,

.43. 44
Xieiioili), Coniniandor, 46, dx,, 6(1
Norwt.'Lfians, ■ ^i
N'ueiiuk, 179 jj;
Ockan Cai'ic, 48, 123
(iiMJiak, 170, 171, Iu5, 225
Tacii'iu Coamt Xavicatidn Com.

j-ANV, 26

I'dUvlinr, y.-iclit, 230

fill hi, 225

I'av,(jfr, 241

J'eril Straits, 39

IVtrotf, Ivan, 150, 195, 230, 231,

235, 23(), 239
J'iiilii, U.S.S., 36, 46, 48, 51, 5r.,

62 i.?7
I'oint ^(artin, 162-166, 169
]'olar lic'ir, 238
Port Ktches, iSo
Port Hammond, 19
Piairies of Canada, 3
PiibilofF Island, 242
Prince William Sound, 54, 179,

187, 193, 227, 228
Ptarnu'i;an, 188
I'unisiiin!,' Indians, 46

(^UEKV ClIAKt.OTTI-; SoLND, 26

•.Quicksands, 76, 83, 1 14

llAHIilTS, 212

lieiudeer or Cariboo, 17

Kcsources of JJritish Columbia, 25

llev(?lstoke, 14

Kevilla <iij,'((lo Island, 30

Jio,i,'L'rs I'ass over the "Selkirks, 2,

II-13
Iv )yal (ieographical Society, 69, 139
Ilussian Company, 39
Ivussian Lath, 192, 193
Uussian eluu'ch at iS'uchuk, iSo,

184, 185
Saiu.e, 234, 238
Saldov}', 239

Salmon, 167, 175, 176, 177, 1S8-192,
_ 195, 196, 202, 239
Salmon-iibhing, 41, 189

ill

:M It

24S

INDEX.

^My

Salmon on Yiincouver Ishuul, 24
Saniik, 336

Scont.'i-y, Alaskan, 17S. 179
ScL'nery at Vakatat, 48
Suliwatka, Liuut., 20, 45, 70, 73, 75,

79. 9i. 10 1. 'L.3, 104, 130, 200
Sciontitic iustruuicnts, 69, 99, loc,

1 16, 126
Soa-bir(l.-<, 52
Sra-lions, 195
Soals, 68, 71, 72, 13s, 155, 195, 231,

-35
Sealskins, 155, 201, 234, 235
Sea-otturs, 135, 136, .'52-155, 15S,

185, 197, 198, 234, .'.35, 241
Second pressing of the Culuuibia, 15
S.ikirk K:ln^■|^ 12 14
Seton Ivarr, Jl. \V.. 46, 79, Si, 90,

loi, 103, 231, 232
Sett-Shoo, 225
Slmiiwap hulians, 17
Shuswap Lakes, yy
Sikanious Narrows, 17
Sitkooni, 241

Sitka, 39, 43, 44, 46, 47, 63
Shawaan, 59. 160, 128, 129-133,

162, 165, 169
Siie-.. 23S
Skeena Kiver, 20
Skillocl. lake, 239
Spellnina.'heen Kiver, 17
Sp'ji'tini; e..i>e(]itions, 242, 243
Si|iurrel-skin-', .''25
St. « Jeorge island, 242
St. Klias Alps, 141
St< jihen'.s I'assage, ;^^
Stikeen Kiver, 30
St. Paul Island, 242
Stony Creek, 12
Stony Indians, 6

Strawberries, 52, 71, 74, 125, 197
Sin-f, 65, 06, 1 15-123, 160
Surf, launching in the, 1 15-122
Swans, 68

Swedish tra(Kn>

■ 1

Syndicate Peak, i_;

52, 127, 140, 144

Taku Ivr.ET, 33, 44

Tivteekluk, 225

Tebenkoif, 75, 105

Tiie ,s.s. Ancon, 19

Thompson Kiver.s, X. and S., iS

Three Brothers, :^ciiooner, 127, 134-

144
Timber, j5, 36, 22S
Timber (jf Prince William Sound,

22S
Tinipsean.s, 23
Tot::in poles, 20, 26, 30
Trading material, 54
Triiding with Indians, 59, 125, 140,

197, 1 98, 201
Trout-tisiiing at Griffin Lake, 17
Trout-fisliiiiL;' in Kandoops Lidco, iS
Trout-fishi;ig on Vancouver Island,

24
Tvoiuk, 240
1';;al;\sk.\, 54
Unexplored Alaska, 242
I'nga, 241, 243
Uniniak Islanil, 236
Vallky of the 15ow, 5
Vancouver, 19, 20, 75, 105, 179, 239,

240
Vancouver Island, 20, 23, 24
Victoria, 10, 20, 23, 24
Vocabulary 01 Chugamute, 244
Volcanoes, 210, 211, 212, 219, 236,

237, 238, 240, 241
Wkstehx notices, 14
'.Viiales, 22S
Wind, 155, 156, 173
Winnipeg, 2
Woche, 231, 232
WoodcocK, 203
Wood.s, 46 69. 79, Si, 94, 95, loi,

103, 104, 115, iii>
Wrangel, 241
Wrangid Straits, 30
ir. Spurkis, schooner, 233
Yactao, Capk, 67
Yakatat, 4S-56, 67, 71, 124
Yale, 19

Ilil.STtO IIV nAI.I.ANTVNK, HA.N'SON AND CO.
EDINULKUH AND LONUO.S.

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154

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SOUTHERN PART

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Lieut. H.W.Seton Ka-rr.

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A Catalog,, of AmtrUan and Forehn Boakt P„/,r.- 1 ,
be had on application.

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October, 1 886.

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PUBHSHED ny

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