American Big Game in its Haunts 



The next morning we made an early start, for 

 to save this large skin I had decided to push on 

 with all haste to the little settlement of Afognak, 

 where I had arranged to meet my friend some days 

 later. It was a beautiful morning, and once more 

 we had a favoring breeze. Some forty miles across 

 Shelikoff Straits was the Alaskan shore. The 

 rugged, snow-clad mountains seemed to be softened 

 when seen through the hazy blue atmosphere. One 

 white-capped peak boldly pierced a line of clouds 

 and stood forth against the pale blue of the sky 

 beyond; while the great Douglas Glacier, ever 

 present, wound its way down, down to the very 

 sea. It was all grandly beautiful, and seemed in 

 keeping with the day. 



We paddled steadily, stopping only once for tea, 

 and at six o'clock that evening were back at the 

 little fishing hamlet of Malina Place. Here I was 

 asked to drink tea with a man whom my hunters 

 told me had killed many bears on these islands. 



This man said that at times there were no bears 

 on Shuyak, and that again they were there in 

 great numbers, showing that they freely swim 

 from Afognak across the straits, which, at the nar- 

 rowest point, are some three miles wide. 



While I was having tea in one of the barabaras 

 I heard much shooting outside, which announced 



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