2 1 6 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



swell, parallel with its crest, while to the right was a 

 yawning chasm. We did catch it. I was sitting on 

 a cannon and holding fast to the guard-rail. The 

 sky-lights of the officers* cabin had been lifted. 

 There was a great crash down there, followed by 

 shouts of laughter. The gentlemen in the room 

 had no notice of what was coming, as we on deck 

 had, and I suppose they were all mixed up with 

 chairs and other movables, and the compound piled 

 up on the port side of the cabin. 



Passing the maelstrom strait we came into 

 smoother water. To the left lay "English Bay," 

 a small cove, so named because Captain Cook win- 

 tered there in 1774. If he had gone around to the 

 headland he would have found a harbor than which 

 none could be better protected from both winds 

 and waves. First we passed up a bay protected by 

 the sheer mountains on all sides but the north; 

 some two miles farther in a dyke of sand runs 

 nearly across the bay, long, narrow, and straight, 

 a work of natural engineering. This closes out the 

 sea-waves effectually. A mountain spur then 

 divides the bay into two close harbors, Unalaska 

 and Dutch Harbor. The former connects by a 

 deep channel into a third harbor, and this is con- 

 nected with the sea two or three miles west of the 

 main entrance. What a natural Gibraltar is here! 



It has been said that sub-arctic flowers have no 

 perfume. But the hills around Dutch Harbor are 

 as fragrant of blooms as an apple orchard in May. 



