IN GREEN ALASKA 



the sublime were on every hand. It was as appalling 

 to look up as to look down ; chaos and death below 

 us, impending avalanches of hanging rocks above 

 us. How elemental and cataclysmal it all looked ! I 

 felt as if I were seeing for the first time the real 

 granite ribs of the earth; they had been cut into and 

 slivered, and there was no mistake about them. All 

 I had seen before were but scales and warts on the 

 surface by comparison ; here were the primal rocks 

 that held the planet together, sweeping up into the 

 clouds and plunging down into the abyss. Over 

 against us on the other side of the chasm we caught 

 glimpses here and there of the " Dead Horse Trail." 

 Among the spruces and along the rocky terraces are 

 said to have perished several thousand horses on this 

 terrible trail. The poor beasts became so weak from 

 lack of food that they slipped on the steep places 

 and plunged over the precipices in sheer despera- 

 tion, and thus ended their misery. 



On the summit we found typical March weather: 

 snow, ice, water, mud, slush, fog, and chill. The fog 

 prevented us from getting a view down toward the 

 Klondike country, six hundred miles away. The 

 British flag and the Stars and Stripes were floating 

 side by side on the provisional boundary line be- 

 tween Alaska and British Columbia, and several 

 Canadian police were on duty there. Even in this 

 bleak spot we found birds nesting or preparing tc 

 nest : the pipit, the golden-crowned sparrow, and the 



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