266 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



two from a little colony who dwelt on the river bank, 

 near to us. We could hear them snorting in the 

 water at night, when all was very still, and the faint 

 aroma which clings about them was distinctly notice- 

 able if the wind happened to be our way. Rabbits, 

 which were very plentiful in these woods, had been 

 warned off the commissariat department. Our natives 

 told us of some unknown and terrible scourge that had 

 visited the rabbit genus, a scourge that had killed 

 them off in dozens. That this plague had not entirely 

 passed was evidenced by the fact that once or twice 

 we came on newly-dead carcasses, and the rabbits had 

 not come to a violent end by the efforts of eagles, 

 lynxes, wolves, or other preying creatures. It seemed 

 safer to abjure rabbit altogether, and nobody fancied 

 it. The ubiquitous spruce grouse abode with us to 

 fill the pot, and dried salmon formed a really valuable 

 stand-by. 



Nikolai finally brought home the remains of the 

 moose I shot for the men to gorge upon. The eagles 

 as well as the lynx had found it out, and one way 

 and another it did not look inviting. The men seemed 

 to find no fault with it, and roasted it in strips for 

 every meal. 



The cleaning of a moose head is a really big busi- 

 ness, and we had to do a lot of the drying of skins 

 by the fires. The heat of the sun at this time was 

 nothing very great. 



On an estuary of the river Ralph was fortunate 

 enough to bag an otter by a very sporting shot. He 

 hit the animal fair and square just as it slid from its 



