COASTING ALASKA PENINSULA 187 



the Alaskan coast, and from it a fleet of sailboats and 

 dories issued all the year round to catch cod for the packing 

 factory operated there by the Union Fish Company. 

 The fishermen received fifty dollars a thousand for the 

 fish, regardless of size. While some were very large, the 

 average was as low as four pounds. 



Several of the fish company's officials came on board 

 and spent the evening with us. To these was added the 

 great Norwegian hulk of one Oscar Olsen, one of the inde- 

 pendent residents of Alaska, of whom we had met so many. 

 He told some remarkable stories of his hunting exploits, 

 among them a tale of a sixty-three point caribou which 

 his partner had shot on the other side of the Alaska 

 Peninsula. But his best was that of a bear which he had 

 followed near Chignik. 



"I was prospecting in from Chignik," said Olsen, 

 ''and I had discovered a volcano or two and some hot 

 springs which were not on the map, when I came upon 

 the biggest bear track I ever saw. At first I thought 

 the groimd was wet when the bear went by, because it 

 looked impossible for any of the big brown bears to have a 

 foot so large. But I followed it for a mile or two and was 

 satisfied that it was a bear's track." Olsen stretched his 

 huge hand to its fullest span and laid the end of one little 

 finger on the corner of the table. At the point where his 

 thumb touched the edge of the table he placed the thumb 

 of the other outstretched fingers, then crossed the first 

 hand over and measured off a third span. This enormous 

 measurement he completed accurately by laying the four 

 fingers of his hand beside it, making a total length of 

 more than thirty inches. "There," said he, ''is the exact 

 size of that bear track. I went and got my partner 

 Anderson, and showed it to him." 



