ALASKA, THE GREAT ICE LAND. 169 



called Mount Edgcumbe across the bay (which we 

 made 3,060 feet in height), and then to a salmon 

 river situated in another part of Sitka Sound. 



The party (which the local paper where is a local 

 paper not to be found in the United States ? described 

 as " young gentlemen in search of the picturesque in 

 Nature, who evidently mean business, though it is all 

 for pleasure ") consisted of three Americans, two 

 Frenchmen, and one Englishman.* The result of it 

 all was half-a-dozen little Virginian deer which on 

 some of the islands are very numerous, some eagles, 

 any amount of salmon and black bass, and an un- 

 limited supply of fun. Forest fires, which lay waste 

 areas of great extent in British Columbia and in 

 many parts of the States, are unknown on this portion 

 of the coast, owing to the dampness of the climate ; 

 the forests are consequently so dense as to render 

 locomotion almost impracticable ; and the luxuriance 

 of their growth and that of the various mosses and 

 lichens which love dampness is quite sub-tropical in 

 character. 



On the morning of July 10th, 1886, the Mount 

 St. Elias Expedition embarked on the U.S. warship 

 Pinta a glorified tug-boat, which bore us safely to 

 our destination, while the good-will and hospitality 

 of her captain and officers made up for all deficiencies 

 in her construction ; and after all, so long as no gale 



* Prof. Libbey, Messrs. Higginbotham of Chicago, Seton- 

 Karr, Yisconte de la Eiviere, and M. de la Sabliere, and three 

 Sitkan Indians. 



