Travels in Alaska 



rupted succession, with a temperature at 7 a.m. of 

 about 60°, at 12 m., 70°. The average 7 a.m. tem- 

 perature for June was 54.3°; the average 7 a.m. 

 temperature for July was 55.3°; at 12 m. the average 

 temperature was 61.45°; the average 7 a.m. temper- 

 ature for August was 54.12°; 12 m., 61.48°; the aver- 

 age 7 a.m. temperature for September was 52.14°; and 

 12 m., 56.12°. 



The highest temperature observed here during the 

 summer was seventy-six degrees. The most remark- 

 able characteristic of this summer weather, even the 

 brightest of it, is the velvet softness of the atmosphere. 

 On the mountains of California, throughout the 

 greater part of the year, the presence of an atmosphere 

 is hardly recognized, and the thin, white, bodiless 

 light of the morning comes to the peaks and glaciers 

 as a pure spiritual essence, the most impressive of all 

 the terrestrial manifestations of God. The clearest of 

 Alaskan air is always appreciably substantial, so 

 much so that it would seem as if one might test its 

 quality by rubbing it between the thumb and finger. 

 I never before saw summer days so white and so full 

 of subdued lustre. 



The winter storms, up to the end of December 

 when I left Wrangell, were mostly rain at a temper- 

 ature of thirty-five or forty degrees, with strong winds 

 which sometimes roughly lash the shores and carry 

 scud far into the woods. The long nights are then 

 gloomy enough and the value of snug homes with 

 crackling yellow cedar fires may be finely appreciated. 

 Snow falls frequently, but never to any great depth or 



[42] 



