16 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



clothes. The general idea which the average person 

 has of Alaska is somewhat hazy, and a traveller bound 

 for the Northern solitudes is regarded very much in 

 the light of a cross between a Nansen and a Peary. 

 The North Pole and Alaska would seem to the man 

 in the street to be synonymous. 



As a matter of fact, however, some days of the 

 Alaskan summer are too warm to be pleasant, but in 

 going there a warm outfit is needful, and our khaki 

 serge coats were lined through with woollen material 

 of Jaeger make. For hunting moose every hunter 

 has his own idea of the most suitable footgear. 

 Moccasins are very silent, but prone to slip on damp 

 logs and wet ground, and are, of course, useless in 

 the rough country where the white sheep live. Our 

 shooting-boots were made with rubber soles, and for 

 hunting bears in the sleughs we provided American 

 gum-boots, most difficult things to get about in if 

 any speed is required. Since our Somaliland trip 

 my cousin and I had transferred some of our affec- 

 tions being women, and therefore changeable 

 from weapons of other days, and now meant to use 

 as our main stand-bys a couple of small-bore magazine 

 rifles, a '375 bore, and a '256 Mannlicher. We also 

 had in our rifle-cases our old 12-bores, a '35 Win- 

 chester, a '22 Winchester, and a ^lo-bore collector's 

 gun. 



We finally made up our minds to send on our 

 schooner to Kodiak via the west coast of Vancouver 

 Island, we ourselves following some ten days later 

 by steamer from Seattle. The inside passage is very 



