166 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



As the day drew to its close the captain decided to 

 Isiy the ''Abler" to during the night on account of the 

 numerous rocks and reefs among the small islands off the 

 southern end of the Alaska Peninsula. Accordingly we 

 pitched and rolled all night, tacking to and fro across the 

 mouth of Cold Bay, and somehow we lost our position 

 and early mornmg found us among a lot of angry break- 

 ing reefs. 



The mate pulled us out of these by a combination of 

 luck and judgment and we w^ent all day among small, 

 rocky islands that rose steeply from the water, and on 

 account of a head wind anchored early for another night 

 in Volcano Bay, a cove just west of the entrance to 

 Pavlof Bay, whither we were bound to hunt caribou. 



In the hope of finding some of this game here, so near 

 to its knowTi range, we went ashore, having several 

 hours before sunset, but saw no trace of them. It was 

 evident that the high mountains shut them off from 

 Volcano Bay. Plenty of ptarmigan rewarded Elting, 

 however, and Lovering saw a black fox. 



The stream which flowed into the head of the bay was 

 choked with dead dog salmon and also many live ones, 

 which struggled feebly to climb the riffles or contented 

 themselves with holding their own in a pool of fresh 

 running water. Although a large number seemed strong 

 and full of life, it was no trouble to seize them by the 

 small part of the tail and land them. At the creek's 

 mouth, where the fresh water mingled with the salt, 

 numerous salmon swam to and fro, making no attempt to 

 ascend the stream and yet unwilling to leave it. Now 

 and then a small shark snapped at one and sent him 

 panic-stricken, shooting out of water in a succession of 

 long leaps. 



