IN GREEN ALASKA 



toward it. The wonderfully clear air probably 

 had something to do with the illusion. Forms were 

 so distinct that one fancied them near at hand when 

 they were not. 



On shore we found gulls and Arctic terns nesting 

 on little sandy hillocks, and saw oyster-catchers, a 

 ptarmigan, and the wandering tattler. In the water 

 the marbled murrelets were common ; with their 

 short wings and plump, round bodies they looked 

 like sea quail. Our first and only mishap to the ship 

 in these waters befell us here, — the breaking of one 

 of the blades of the propeller upon a cake of ice, 

 an accident that had the effect of making our craft 

 limp a little. 



HARRIMAN FIORD 



Later in the afternoon we ascended an arm of 

 Port Wells more to the westward and entered upon 

 a voyage of discovery. We steamed up to a glacier 

 of prodigious size that reared its front across the 

 head of the inlet and barred further progress in that 

 direction, — the Barry Glacier. According to the 

 U. S. Coast Survey map we v/ere at the end of navi- 

 gation in these waters, but Mr. Harriman suggested 

 to the captain that he take the ship a little nearer the 

 glacier, when a way seemed open to the left. As we 

 progressed, the mountains fell apart and a passage 

 opened there around the corner, like a street coming 

 in at right angles to a main thoroughfare. 



75 



