24 OUR ARCTIC PROVIJSrCE. 



of heat in the most favorable of summers ; it maybe best ej)itomized 

 by saying in brief that the weather is such that you seldom ever find 

 a clean cake of ice frozen in the small fresh-water ponds six inches 

 thick ; and you never will experience a summer warm enough to 

 ripen a head of oats. The first impression usually made upon the 

 visitor is that it is raining, raining all the time, not a pouring rain 

 or shower, then clearing up quickly, but a steady " driz-driz-driz- 

 zle " ; it rained upon the author in this manner seventeen consecu- 

 tive days in October, 1866, accompanied by winds from all points 

 of the compass. Tlierefore, by contrast, the relatively clear and dry 

 months of June and July in the archipelago are really delightful — 

 clear and pleasant in the sun, and cool enough for fires indoors — then 

 you have about eighteen hours of sunshine and six hours of twihght. 



It is very seldom that the zero-point is ever recorded at tide-level 

 during winter here, though in January, 1874, it fell to — 7° Fah. ; the 

 thermometer at no time in the winter preceding registered lower 

 than 11° above. A late blustering spring and an early, vigorous 

 winter often join hands over a very backward summer — about once 

 or twice every five years ; these are the backward seasons ; then the 

 first frost in the villages and tidal bottoms occurs about the 28th 

 to 31st of October, soon followed by the rain turning to snow, being 

 as much as three feet deep on the level at times. Severe thunder- 

 storms, with lightning, often take place during these violent snow- 

 falls in the winter — strange to say they are not heard or seen in the 

 summer ! Snow and rain and sleet continue till the end of April — 

 sometimes as late as the 10th of May, before giving way to the en- 

 joyable season of June and July. Then again the mild winters are 

 marked by no frost to speak of — perhaps the coldest period will have 

 been in November, little or no snow, six or seven inches at the most, 

 and much clear and bracing weather. 



The average rainfall in the Sitkan district is between eighty-four 

 and eighty-six inches annually — it is a very steady average, and 

 makes no heavier showing than that presented by the record kept 

 on the coast of Oregon and Vancouver's Island. A pleasant season 

 in the archipelago will give the observer about one hundred fair 

 days ; the rest of the year will be given over to rain, snow, and foggy- 

 shrouds, which wet like rain itself.* A most careful search during 



* The chief signal officer of the U. S. Army has had a number of meteoro- 

 logical observers stationed at half a dozen different posts in Alaska, and has 



