Bear Hunting on Kadiak Island 



In skin canoes (baidarkas) the Aleuts, paddling 

 along the shore, keep a sharp lookout on the near- 

 by hillsides, where the bears feed upon the young 

 and tender grass. It was our plan to choose the 

 most likely one of these big bays as our shooting 

 grounds, and hunt from a baidarka, according to 

 local custom. 



It may be well to explain here that the different 

 localities of Alaska are distinctly marked by the 

 difference in the canoes which the natives use. In 

 the southern part, where large trees are readily 

 obtained, you find large dugouts capable of hold- 

 ing from five to twenty persons. At Yakutat, 

 where the timber is much smaller, the canoes, 

 although still dugouts, have decreased proportion- 

 ately in size, but from Yakutat westward the tim- 

 ber line becomes lower and lower, until the western 

 half of the island of Kadiak is reached, where the 

 trees disappear altogether, and the dugout gives 

 place to the skin canoe or baidarka. I have never 

 seen them east of Prince William Sound, but from 

 this point on to the west they are in universal use 

 among the Aleuts a most interesting race of peo- 

 ple, and a most wonderful boat. 



The natives of Kadiak are locally called Aleuts, 

 but the true Aleuts are not found east of the Aleu- 

 tian Islands. The cross between the Aleut and 



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