24 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



name. This mail route is iu operation from the 1st of April until the 

 31st of October of each j^ear. During- the winter mouths Sitka is the 

 limit of mail communicatiou. Threading her way westward among 

 the green islets the trim little Bora soon left the smooth, landlocked 

 waters and encountered the unchecked sweep of the Pacific Ocean. 

 From Sitka westward the character of the scenery changes. The 

 narrow water-lanes hemmed in by the thickly wooded islands of the 

 Alexander Archipelago give i^lace to the untrammeled ocean beating 

 against the bases of the barreu clifit's and mountain ranges of '' conti- 

 nental Alaska." 



The morning of May 3 found us in Yakutat Bay. Here, near the 

 base of Mount St. Elias, is a mission station of the Swedish Evangeli- 

 cal Church, with the Rev. and Mrs. Albiu Johnson, Eev. K. J. Hen- 

 drickson, and Miss Selma Peterson as teachers. Mrs. Johnson came 

 from Jankaping, Sweden, making a journey of 9,000 miles to join Mr. 

 Johnson. Landing through the surf, we picked our way along the 

 beach to the mission buildings. In the winter of 1892-93 one of the 

 large and substantial boarding houses was burned. The undaunted 

 missionaries commenced rebuilding it, and at the time of our visit it 

 was nearly completed. The other building is a model of neatness, and 

 there is an air of unassuming sincerity and thoroughness about the 

 whole place. 



In 1880 gold was discovered in the black sand of the beaches sur- 

 rounding Yakutat Bay, and from that time until 1888, Avhen a tidal wave 

 washed most of the sand away, numerous mining camps dotted its 

 shores. The black sand is accumulating once more, and prospectors 

 have also returned. It is said that good coal has been found about 2 

 miles inland, but as Yakutat Bay is only a slight indentation of the 

 coast into which the unbroken force of the North Pacific sweeps, load- 

 ing ships with coal in that bay would be an undertaking of great dif- 

 ficulty. 



The Yakutats are the northernmost branch of theThlinget race, which 

 inhabits southeast Alaska. Like the rest of the Thlingets, and also the 

 Aleuts, they are expert basket weavers; in some of the houses we saw 

 magnificent robes made of down from the breast of the eagle. 



During the afternoon the clouds lifted, revealing the St. Elias Alps, 

 and during the remaining hours of daylight we skirted the 60-mile 

 front of the Malaspina glacier, Avith the sea dashing against its ice 

 cliifs. The unbroken sweep of mountain scenery from the St. Elias 

 range to the Aleutian chain is unsurpassed in gloomy grandeur. At 

 the little trading post of Kayak we took on board a man who had just 

 spent seven mouths as keepei' of a fox ranch on one of the neighboring 

 islands. For that length of time he had not seen a human face, his sole 

 company being the foxes. 



On evening of May 4 we entered the laud-locked harbor of Nuchek, 

 or Port Etches, at the entrance of Prince William Sound. At Snug 



