^Travels in Alaska 



beautifully ridged by the melting out of narrow fur- 

 rows strictly parallel throughout the mass, revealing 

 the bedded structure of the ice, acquired perhaps cen- 

 turies ago, on the mountain snow fountains. A berg 

 suddenly going to pieces is a grand sight, especially 

 when the water is calm and no motion is visible save 

 perchance the slow drift of the tide-current. The pro- 

 longed roar of its fall comes with startling effect, and 

 heavy swells are raised that haste away in every 

 direction to tell what has taken place, and tens of 

 thousands of its neighbors rock and swash in sym- 

 pathy, repeating the news over and over again. We 

 were too near several large ones that fell apart as we 

 passed them, and our canoe had narrow escapes. The 

 seal-hunters, Tyeen says, are frequently lost in these 

 sudden berg accidents. 



In the afternoon, while we were admiring the 

 scenery, which, as we approached the head of the 

 fiord, became more and more sublime, one of our 

 Indians called attention to a flock of wild goats on a 

 mountain overhead, and soon afterwards we saw two 

 other flocks, at a height of about fifteen hundred feet, 

 relieved against the mountains as white spots. They 

 are abundant here and throughout the Alaskan Alps 

 in general, feeding on the grassy slopes above the 

 timber-line. Their long, yellowish hair is shed at this 

 time of year and they were snowy white. None of 

 nature's cattle are better fed or better protected from 

 the cold. Tyeen told us that before the introduction 

 of guns they used to hunt them with spears, chasing 

 them with their wolf-dogs, and thus bringing them 



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