TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 41 



balance must be perfect. Up rivers the bidarka is 

 ideal, because so little depth is required to float them, 

 and they are so easily carried over portages. In 

 rough weather the bidarka mariner dons a quaint 

 variety of shirt called a cameleeka, and made of bear 

 or seal gut, fastened round the neck and then over 

 the hatchway wherein he squats to paddle. This pro- 

 tective arrangement prevents the boat from shipping 

 water and being swamped. So, equipped with a spare 

 paddle in case of accidents, and a row of spears, the 

 Aleut will go to sea in any weather. We learnt to 

 manoeuvre these frail craft quite creditably, having 

 had considerable experience in managing tiny Berthon 

 boats in the roughish waters of the Irish Sea. 



Near Cape Elizabeth the Nome City skirted past 

 some rocks alive with sea-lions. A shriek from our 

 fog-horn sent hundreds of the creatures scuttling to 

 the sea. Some swam out towards us, with childish 

 faces upraised in interested wonderment. Gloomily 

 coated cormorants shared the rocks, beautifully tinted 

 in iridescent greens, and the harlequin duck breasted 

 the waves, tossing lightly over the crests; puffins, too, 

 scurried over the face of the waters. Flocks of scoters 

 fished assiduously, and the graceful Arctic tern, look- 

 ing like a first cousin to the swallows, gyrated round 

 about us. 



Two days out from Valdez we made Saldovia, and 

 reached the latter place early in the morning. It is 

 situated at the entrance of Cook's Inlet, the largest 

 bay in Alaska, for it runs one hundred and fifty miles 

 inland, and is over fifty across at the mouth. Moun- 



