IN THE ALASKA-YUKON GAMELANDS 



ever intended to deliberately "gas" us they 

 merely formed a mutual resolve at the beginning 

 of the trip that we should not lack for entertain- 

 ment during the sunless days and the gameless 

 days, and, both being capable linguists, as well 

 as sourdoughs of many years' standing in that 

 community, two more capable men than they 

 could not have been selected to charge us with 

 the moral, mental and physical atmosphere of 

 that region. 



My general impression of Alaska is that there 

 are some wonderful characters of men and 

 women there, and that the territory contains 

 sections, as did other parts of the West during 

 frontier days, in which pure sand assays as high 

 in the make-up of a man as pure gold. And yet, 

 men's lives and brave deeds are sold cheaply in 

 Alaska. There the hardest hide covers the 

 softest heart. Human life there is filled with 

 wonderful emotions the greatest thrills, the 

 deepest pains, the greatest passions, the most 

 perfect patience. 



We hunted a country where every high moun- 

 tain represented a tentacular ice plaster from ten 

 to one hundred miles across it some single gla- 

 ciers containing as much ice as is found in the 

 whole of Switzerland. It takes men of strong 

 courage and stout limb to live the sourdough's 

 life, but years, of participation in this work builds 

 up the constitution, hardens the muscles, and 



212 



