ioo TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



accompany me, Ralph taking Cecily to another point 

 upon the mainland; each party taking one native, 

 and two men rowing the flat-bottomed dories. The 

 latter boats we found most useful for drawing close 

 in to shore, since here the gently sloping, sandy 

 bottom was often only covered with a few inches of 

 water fully a mile from shore. It usually ended 

 in what the Americans call "a gum-boot proposi- 

 tion," since every one had to don rubber boots and 

 wade ashore for considerable distances ; men being 

 always left in charge of the boat to pull her farther 

 in, or push her farther out, as the tide came in or 

 receded. 



After going through the customary performance of 

 wading ashore, Agnes and I landed on a small sand- 

 spit, near which a little river flowed into the lagoon. 

 In the river countless humpbacks and dog salmon 

 were running up to spawn, and far as the eye could 

 reach up the stream was seen an endless piscine pro* 

 cession. In many places the stream was only a few 

 inches deep, but, nothing daunted, here the fish were 

 seen struggling upwards in thousands with their fins 

 and backs clear out of the water, all going to their 

 spawning beds. 



Here they mate, and soon afterwards perish miser- 

 ably, since none of these fish ever live to return to 

 the sea when once they have spawned. Whether it 

 is the action of fresh water upon them after sojourn- 

 ing in the sea, or whether it is the actual process of 

 spawning which exhausts these fish, it is hard to say, 

 but the fact remains that of the countless millions of 



