"Travels in Alaska 



blow, which soon increased to a stiff breeze, next 

 thing to a gale, that lashed the sound into ragged 

 white caps. Cape Vanderpeut is part of the terminal 

 of an ancient glacier that once extended six or eight 

 miles out from the base of the mountains. Three large 

 glaciers that once were tributaries still descend nearly 

 to the sea-level, though their fronts are back in nar- 

 row fiords, eight or ten miles from the sound. A similar 

 point juts out into the sound five or six miles to the 

 south, while the missing portion is submerged and 

 forms a shoal. 



All the cape is forested save a narrow strip about 

 a mile long, composed of large boulders against which 

 the waves beat with loud roaring. A bar of foam a mile 

 or so farther out showed where the waves were break- 

 ing on a submerged part of the moraine, and I sup- 

 posed that we would be compelled to pass around it 

 in deep water, but Toyatte, usually so cautious, de- 

 termined to cross it, and after giving particular direc- 

 tions, with an encouraging shout every oar and paddle 

 was strained to shoot through a narrow gap. Just at 

 the most critical point a big wave heaved us aloft and 

 dropped us between two huge rounded boulders, 

 where, had the canoe been a foot or two closer to either 

 of them, it must have been smashed. Though I had 

 offered no objection to our experienced pilot's plan, 

 it looked dangerous, and I took the precaution to 

 untie my shoes so they could be quickly shaken off 

 for swimming. But after crossing the bar we were not 

 yet out of danger, for we had to struggle hard to keep 

 from being driven ashore while the waves were beat- 



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