ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 609 



at once, as suggested by you, but had to remain ashore. Better quar- 

 ters than those we had could not have been secured in San Francisco. 

 Both the location and the management made it impossible for the Lapps 

 to get out into bad comj^any. 



During our stay there my time was entirely occupied in selecting 

 supplies and provisions which we were to take with us, taking charge 

 of the Lapps, and in looking after other necessary things, so that I did 

 not have much time to look after my wards, but Captain Staple, the 

 manager of the Sailors' Home, cheerfully took charge of the Lapi)S, 

 showed them the city, and kept them away from dissipation. During 

 our sojourn in San Francisco one of our Lapps was married in the chapel 

 of the Sailors' Home by Eev. T. L. Brevig. The marriage ceremony 

 should have taken place at Bosekop, Norway, before our departure, but 

 was postponed on account of the limited time. The Lapp in question 

 was delayed on his journey from the mountains on account of the bad 

 roads. Then it was decided that the marriage should be performed at 

 Madison, but difficulties also hindered us tliere, and so the wedding 

 was finally celebrated in San Francisco. 



When the vessel was ready to sail all the Lapps went on board. 

 This was on the 16th of June, and the vessel was to start on the 

 17th, but on that very day the captain and the vessel owner received 

 information that another of his vessels, which had been out on a whal- 

 ing expedition in the Arctic Ocean, had been wrecked. This necessi- 

 tated the captain's presence in San Francisco to equip another vessel to 

 take the place of the wrecked one and to find another captain, and thus 

 our journey was i^ostponed another day. Finally, on the 18th of June, 

 we were all assembled on board the brig W. H. Meyer, Captain Holland 

 commanding, and bound for Port Clarence, Alaska, via St. Lawrence 

 Island, where Mr. Gamble and company were to be left. 



I here seize the opportunity of expressing our most hearty thanks to 

 Prof. E. B. Anderson, of Madison, Wis.; to Captain Staple, superin- 

 tendent of the Sailors' Home, San Francisco, and to Messrs. S. Foster 

 & Co., No. 28 California street, San Francisco, for their kind assistance 

 and advice during our sojourn in these places. 



The ship first sailed in a northwesterly direction until we were only 

 150 miles from Honolulu ; then we turned the prow to the west and 

 northwest until we were ofi" the Sandwich Islands, where we had a per- 

 fect calm for a couple of days. Then we sailed to the northwest a 

 couple of days and then due north until we came in the vicinity of 

 Fox Islands, where heavy fogs hindered us from sailing between the 

 islands; but after lying still a few days the captain decided, on the 22d 

 of July, to sail through the so-called Seventy- two Pass. He had not 

 seen land, but had taken an observation. He was successful, and when 

 we had passed the islands the fog lifted so that we could see them 

 behind us. Soon the fog again became so dense that we could see 

 nothing for three whole days, excepting that we got a glimpse of St. 

 H. Doc. 92, pt. 3 39 



