2 24 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



water can be found to drink nowhere else. It does 

 not have the harsh coldness of ice-water, but it is 

 ice-cold. One who is not very thirsty will drink it 

 for the deliciousness of it. I think its peculiarly 

 invigorating qualities are absorbed as it lies months 

 and even years on the snowy summits, drinking in 

 sunshine. It comes leaping and singing down from 

 the snow everywhere, and is as full of vigor as it is 

 of beauty, I never tasted such water before. 



That great, green mountain which reaches out 

 from Dutch Harbor three miles to the sea ought to 

 be named Reindeer Mountain, for there is where 

 they are. While looking at them, a white satin 

 ribbon was visible across the western bay, dropping 

 from the side of that extinct volcano into the sea. 

 I think that huge crater holds a lake, and that the 

 white stream is its outlet; and wished much to 

 cross over and take a closer look at its course. So 

 I persuaded an Aleutian fisherman to take me in his 

 rowboat, for which he had a very ragged sail. It 

 was a long pull down the harbor. As we passed 

 some Aleut fishermen, who were catching cod, some 

 conversation in Aleut passed. I asked him what 

 they said. "They said, 'Be careful about the 

 whales.' " While strolling along that coast I 

 noticed many whales spouting and rolling in their 

 dignified way. As we approached the open sea the 

 Aleut went ashore and put about two hundred 

 pounds of stones into the bottom of the boat for 

 ballast. The sea was rather rough for a rowboat 



