CHAPTER VI 



DUTCH HARBOUR AND ITS ENVIRONS 



(By the Leader of the Expedition) 



This little world, 



This precious stone set in the silver sea 



King Richard II 



ON an island, where the turbulent sea washes its 

 shores, there stands to-day a town nestling cosily at 

 the head of the picturesque land-locked harbour. 

 The town itself is of mushroom growth, having its 

 origin in one of the great gold rushes so common 

 in Alaska. The buildings are of wood, and replete 

 with such comforts as men can construct under pre- 

 vailing conditions in the far North- West of America. 

 Among the dwellings may be seen a fine hotel, and 

 numerous comfortable houses^, all now entirely 

 deserted, save for the presence of a few residents who 

 still cling to the abandoned town, either in hopes 

 of better times reviving or lacking other places in 

 which to cast their lot. On rare occasions a ship 

 calls here to replenish her coal supply, since the 

 town lays proud claim to being a coaling station. 

 What matters it if the coal store is seldom replenished 

 or depleted? So sudden has been the exodus, and 

 houses now standing in empty silence bear such recent 



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