FEATURES OF THE SITKAIST REGION. 17 



the curious idiosyncrasy possesses you by whicb you seem to see in 

 the scenery just ahead an exact resemblance to the bluffs, the sum- 

 mits and the cascades which you have just left behind. Your em- 

 phatic expression aloud of this belief will, most likely, arouse some 

 fellow-passenger who is an old voyageui", and he will take a guiding- 

 oar : he will tell you that the nvimerous broad smooth tracks, cut 

 through the densely wooded mountain slopes from the snow lines 

 above abruptly down to the very sea below, are the paths of ava- 

 lanches ; that if you will only crane your neck enough so as to look 

 right aloft to a certain precipice now almost hanging 3,000 feet 

 high and over the deck of the steamer, there you will see a few 

 small white sj^ecks feebly outlined against the grayish-red back- 

 ground of the rocks — these are mountain goats ; he tells you that 

 those stolid human beings who are squatting in a large dug-out 

 canoe are " Si washes, " halibut-fishing — and as these savages stu- 

 pidly stare at the big " Boston " vessel swiftly passing, with uplifted 

 paddles or keeping slight headway, you return their gaze with in- 

 terest, and the next turn of the ship's rudder most likely throws 

 into full view a " rancherie," in which these Lidians permanently 

 reside ; your kindly guide then eloquently describes the village 

 and descants with much vehemence upon the frailties and short- 

 comings of " Siwashes " in general — at least all old-stagers in this 

 country agree in despising the aboriginal man. On the steamer 

 forges through the still, unruffled waters of intricate passages, 

 now almost scraping her yai'd-arms on the face of a precipitous 

 headland — then rapidly shooting out into the heart of a lovely bay, 

 broad and deep enough to float in room and safety a naval flotilla 

 of the first class, ixutil a long, unusually low, timbered jDoint seems 

 to run out ahead directly in the track, when your guide, giving a 

 quick look of recognition, declares that Wrangel* town lies just 



* When the Cassiar mines in British Columbia were prosperous, Wrangel 

 was a very busy little transfer-station — the busiest spot in Alaska ; then be- 

 tween four and five thousand miners passed through every spring and fall as 

 they went up to and came down from the diggings on the Stickeen tributaries 

 above ; they left a goodly share, if not most, of their earnings among the 

 store and saloon keepers of Wrangel. The fort is now deserted — the town 

 nearly so ; the whole place is rapidly reverting to the Siwashes. Government 

 buildings erected here by the U. S. military authorities, which cost the pub- 

 lic treasury $150,000, were sold in 1877, when the troops were withdrawn, 

 for a few hundreds. The main street is choked with decaying logs and 

 stumps. A recent visitor declares, upon looking at the condition of this i)lace 

 2 



