'Travels in Alaska 



a good deal of yellow cedar, the best I had yet seen. 

 The largest specimen that I saw and measured on the 

 trip was five feet three inches in diameter and about 

 one hundred and forty feet high. In the evening Mr. 

 Young gave the Indians a lesson, calling in our Indian 

 neighbors. He told them the story of Christ coming 

 to save the world. The Indians wanted to know why 

 the Jews had killed him. The lesson was listened to 

 with very marked attention. Toyatte's generous 

 friend caught a devil-fish about three feet in diameter 

 to add to his stores of food. It would be very good, he 

 said, when boiled in berry and colicon-oil soup. Each 

 arm of this savage animal with its double row of 

 button-like suction discs closed upon any object 

 brought within reach with a grip nothing could escape. 

 The Indians tell me that devil-fish live mostly on 

 crabs, mussels, and clams, the shells of which they 

 easily crunch with their strong, parrot-like beaks. 

 That was a wild, stormy, rainy night. How the rain 

 soaked us in our tents! 



"Just feel that," said the minister in the night, as 

 he took my hand and plunged it into a pool about 

 three inches deep in which he was lying. 



"Never mind," I said, "it is only water. Every- 

 thing is wet now. It will soon be morning and we will 

 dry at the fire." 



Our Indian neighbors were, if possible, still wetter. 

 Their hut had been blown down several times during 

 the night. Our tent leaked badly, and we were lying 

 in a mossy bog, but around the big camp-fire we were 

 soon warm and half dry. We had expected to reach 



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