40 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



As the sun set, the snow fields took on the rosy 

 light called by the Swiss " Alpine Gluehn." The 

 exquisite blazing shades, luminous, prismatic, changed 

 constantly from tones of pale pink to crimson, and 

 lasted some evenings for an hour or more, until the 

 twilight shadows quenched the glowing glories. 



The next place of any account after Yakutat, for 

 we stopped occasionally to put down prospectors at 

 God-forsaken inlets once or twice, was Valdez, and 

 nearly all our passengers quitted the ship here. The 

 glaciers surrounded the spot on every side, and we 

 felt the cold considerably. Valdez is at the head of 

 Prince William Sound, with its islands and fiords 

 running up into the land. 



After leaving Valdez we got into an amazing tide 

 rip, which carried the Nome City a great deal nearer 

 shore than was exactly pleasant. We hugged the 

 coast as we crawled along. 



Here the canoes which shot out to meet and greet 

 us were manned by Aleuts, and the Siwash type 

 appeared to have been left behind. The boats, too, 

 were not of heavy dug-out variety, but light and 

 portable. These bidarkas, as the natives call them, 

 are constructed of a skeleton framework, covered with 

 seals' skin, sewn together, and no nails are used. 

 There is a little hole for each person to sit in, one, 

 two or three, or more, as the bidarka builder most 

 requires. They are propelled by paddles, Indian 

 fashion, from one side, and the man in the stern does 

 all the steering. Very, very easily upset, they yet can 

 travel over and through tremendous seas, but the 



