The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 
or no information could, in those days, be 
obtained of the conditions to be found in Alaska. 
One of the most useful things I bought—a 
similar one I have never seen before or since— 
was a small cooking-stove. It was made of thin 
sheet iron, measuring across the top some three 
feet by two feet and fourteen inches deep. It 
had a compartment in which bread or a cake 
could be baked, and was provided with a col- 
lapsible chimney of the same material as the 
main fabric. This stove proved of the greatest 
assistance and comfort, as it could be kept going 
splendidly with the smallest amount of fuel 
such as chips or small sticks. It was very light, 
not weighing more than ten or twelve pounds, 
and therefore easily handled, and I used it 
inside my tent, and was able on many occasions 
to dry out my sodden clothes, a blessing in 
itself, when I state that on one small trip, 
after bears, the rain came down in a practically 
unceasing downpour during all the time that I 
was away. 
I left Victoria in the s.s. Cottage City, and 
went by way of Wrangel, Juneau, Skagway, and 
Sitka. At Skagway I met with an adventure 
which might easily have cost me my life; m 
fact, had I not been an Englishman, I believe 
that my wanderings would have reached an 
abrupt termination. It seemed that here was 
one of the starting-places over the White Horse 
196 
