54 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



to amateur sailors, as we know from watching them 

 at seaside resorts, and the game was exciting. 



We portioned out the loads, and some of the stores 

 were placed in the bidarkas to be paddled up stream, 

 and the rest every one took a share of. We were not 

 going to make the mistake of trekking too far away 

 from the coast, for, in the spring, when the new grass 

 is shooting up, the bears come to the slopes of the 

 coast line to feed. 



The great brown bear, Ursus middendorffi, of 

 Kodiak, Uganuk, and Afognak, is the largest of the 

 tribe to be found in the world, and there is not much 

 difference between it and the brown Ursus dalli gyas 

 of the Alaskan Peninsula, at least to the average 

 person who cannot detect the difference in the con- 

 formation of skull when the great heads are covered. 

 The variations from the grizzly type may be plainly 

 seen by the veriest tyro, for the Alaskan bear has 

 not the long, straight, white claws which are so 

 characteristic of his cousin, neither has he the furtive 

 snake-like head. The brown bear grows to a much 

 greater size than the grizzly, and his claws, though 

 immensely powerful and long, are curved and dark 

 in colour. The head also is extraordinarily large, 

 and seems unduly big even on so vast a body. 



We followed the river closely as well as we could, 

 but here and there on its sloping banks alder clumps 

 dodged our every step, holding us back in dogged 

 persuasion. Save for the waterfowl the island was 

 as yet untenanted by birds, and the solitudes were 

 still in thrall to the grip of winter. We came on 



