1910] Heller—Mammals: Alaska Expedition, 1908. 323 
bears reached the Park in safety. They are now of very large 
size, and apparently well content in their restricted quarters. 
Upon our arrival at Cordova we at once entered upon the 
routine of collecting while our yawl was being rigged and loaded. 
The town of Cordova is situated in a narrow valley between 
Eyak Lake and the shores of Cordova Inlet, amid the stumps 
of a spruce and hemlock forest which had until recently oceupied 
the site. This narrow valley is walled in by steep, rugged hills, 
the summits and upper heights of which were heavily mantled 
by snowfields. From the floor of the valley the spruce and 
hemlock forests extend up the mountain sides to an elevation 
of about 1000 feet. At this season the snow lay well down 
into the forests and in places along the stream beds even down 
to the beach. The alders were still leafless but adorned by a 
profusion of catkins. 
On the 7th of June we left Cordova in our boat for the head 
of the inlet some fifteen miles distant. During our stay we 
had had each day a few hours of drizzle and a total lack of 
wind. We therefore cast off from the wharf with the begin- 
ning of the ebb tide regardless of the absence of breezes. Four 
hours’ ride with the tide took us down past the timbered slopes 
of Orca and some little distance up the bay, where we anchored 
and awaited the turn of the tide. The head of the bay con- 
sists of extensive tide-flats through which the Cordova River 
has cut numerous serpentine channels. Through one of these 
channels we poled our way with the assistance of the flooding 
tide. About 10 p.m. we were as far inland as the assistance of 
the tide would allow. 
The next morning at low tide we beheld from the deck a 
mile or two of bared mud-flat between us and the waters of 
the bay. Above us the broad, level floor of the valley extended 
until lost among the snowy ranges whieh walled it in precipi- 
tously. We pitched camp on a small, cleared flat at the base 
of a towering cliff on the south side of the valley near the cabin 
of Mr. A. B. Cooper. During our stay Mr. Cooper kindly gave 
us the assistance of his knowledge of the region and made occa- 
sional extensive excursions afield with some of the members of 
the party. 
