TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 49 



fore, to any stranger who occupies a bidarka for the 

 first time is to adopt a sitting position, and to remain 

 very still at that, for these little canoes are as easily 

 capsized as a child's toy boat if one is unused to their 

 peculiarities. 



We steered for the nearest river's mouth, and on 

 arrival there the ladies expressed a desire to explore 

 the river for some distance up stream, and Ralph and 

 I set out again in the dory to inspect the neighbour- 

 ing valley which lay some two miles distant and 

 further up the bay. Promising to return late in the 

 afternoon we said au revoir to the huntresses, and 

 being favoured with a slight breeze hoisted the sail 

 of the dory, thus making good time by travelling 

 close along shore. On arrival at the next river we 

 hauled the dory ashore, and leaving the men in charge 

 to amuse themselves as best they could, Ralph and I 

 taking our rifles walked up the river bank. If ever 

 the river had been frozen in winter it was now entirely 

 free from ice, and although about fifty or sixty yards 

 wide was very shallow at the mouth, particularly at 

 low tide. On its lower reaches it ran through a 

 wide open valley, which was mostly bare of timber, 

 and intersected with numerous back lakes, or small 

 lagoons, which were the haunt of numerous mallards, 

 harlequin ducks, teal, and other wild fowl that rose in 

 great numbers as we advanced up the valley. In 

 summer the grass and vegetation must attain a con- 

 siderable height, but it was then all lying flat and dead 

 from the effects of its heavy winter covering of snow. 



As we proceeded further up the valley, clumps of 







