FAR AND NEAR 



ers we had left at Uyak Bay. They were bearless, but 

 they had the comfort of having seen many signs of 

 bears, of having had many enjoyable tramps over 

 hill and across dale in a green, treeless country, of 

 having found a superb waterfall, and of having sur« 

 vived the hordes of mosquitoes. 



We steamed all day southwestward along the 

 Alaska Peninsula, under clear skies and over smooth 

 waters, past the Semides and on to the Shuma- 

 gin Islands, where we dropped anchor about mid- 

 night. 



When we put our heads out of our windows on 

 the morning of the 7th, we were at anchor off Sand 

 Point, in a bay in Popof Island, one of the Shumagin 

 group, about halfway down the Alaska Peninsula. 

 On the one hand we saw a low, green, treeless slope, 

 almost within a stone's throw, from which came 

 many musical bird voices. The lesser hermit 

 thrush, the golden-crowned sparrow, the fox spar- 

 row, the large song sparrow, the yellow warbler, the 

 rosy finch, all were distinguishable from the ship's 

 deck. It is a novel experience to wake up in the 

 morning on an ocean steamer and hear bird-songs 

 through one's open window, but this was often our 

 experience on this trip. On this grassy hill are 

 some curious volcanic Avarts or excrescences that 

 give a strange effect to the scene. On the other hand, 

 the blue waters of the harbor stretch away to low, 

 alder-clad shores, from which rise a range of bare 



94 



