Wrangell Island 



beast, and human being in the territory and thou- 

 sands of tons to spare. The huckleberries are espe- 

 cially abundant. A species that grows well up on the 

 mountains is the best and largest, a half-inch and 

 more in diameter and delicious in flavor. These grow 

 on bushes three or four inches to a foot high. The 

 berries of the commonest species are smaller and 

 grow almost everywhere on the low grounds on bushes 

 from three to six or seven feet high. This is the species 

 on which the Indians depend most for food, gather- 

 ing them in large quantities, beating them into a 

 paste, pressing the paste into cakes about an inch 

 thick, and drying them over a slow fire to enrich their 

 winter stores. Salmon-berries and service-berries are 

 preserved in the same way. 



A little excursion to one of the best huckleberry- 

 fields adjacent to Wrangell, under the direction of the 

 Collector of Customs, to which I was invited, I greatly 

 enjoyed. There were nine Indians in the party, 

 mostly women and children going to gather huckle- 

 berries. As soon as we had arrived at the chosen camp- 

 ground on the bank of a trout stream, all ran into the 

 bushes and began eating berries before anything in 

 the way of camp-making was done, laughing and 

 chattering in natural animal enjoyment. The Col- 

 lector went up the stream to examine a meadow at its 

 head with reference to the quantity of hay it might 

 yield for his cow, fishing by the way. All the Indians 

 except the two eldest boys who joined the Collector, 

 remained among the berries. 



The fishermen had rather poor luck, owing, they 



