^Travels in Alaska 



picturesque, moss-embossed logs, and the trees on its 

 banks, leaning over from side to side, made high em- 

 bowering arches. The log bridge I crossed was, I 

 think, the most beautiful of the kind I ever saw. The 

 massive log is plushed to a depth of six inches or more 

 with mosses of three or four species, their different 

 tones of yellow shading finely into each other, while 

 their delicate fronded branches and foliage lie in ex- 

 quisite order, inclining outward and down the sides 

 in rich, furred, clasping sheets overlapping and felted 

 together until the required thickness is attained. The 

 pedicels and spore-cases give a purplish tinge, and the 

 whole bridge is enriched with ferns and a row of small 

 seedling trees and currant bushes with colored leaves, 

 every one of which seems to have been culled from the 

 woods for this special use, so perfectly do they har- 

 monize in size, shape, and color with the mossy cover, 

 the width of the span, and the luxuriant, brushy 

 abutments. 



Sauntering back to the beach, I found four or five 

 Indian deck hands getting water, with whom I re- 

 turned aboard the steamer, thanking the Lord for so 

 noble an addition to my life as was this one big moun- 

 tain, forest, and glacial day. 



Next morning most of the company seemed un- 

 comfortably conscience-stricken, and ready to do any- 

 thing in the way of compensation for our broken ex- 

 cursion that would not cost too much. It was not 

 found difficult, therefore, to convince the captain and 

 disappointed passengers that instead of creeping 

 back to Wrangell direct we should make an expiatory 



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