84 7. C. Russell— Exx>edition to Mount St. Elias. 



canoe appeared in the distance, and a shot was fired as it came 

 round a bend in the shore. We felt sure that our companions 

 were returning, and piled drift-wood on the roaring camp-fire to 

 cheer them after their hard day's work on the water. As the 

 canoe approached, each dip of the paddle sent a flash of light to 

 us, and we could distinguish the men at their work ; but we soon 

 discovered that it was occu23ied not by our own party but by 

 Indians returning from a seal hunt in Disenchantment bay. 

 They brought their canoe high on the beach, and made them- 

 selves at home about our camp-fire. There were seven or eight 

 well-built young men in the party, all armed with guns. In 

 former times such an arrival would have been regarded with 

 suspicion; but thanks to the somewhat frequent visits of war 

 vessels to Yakutat, and also to the labors of missionaries, the 

 wild spirits of the Indians have been greatly subdued and re- 

 duced to semi-civilized condition during the past cjuarter of a 

 century. 



Just as the long twilight deepened into night, another craft 

 came around the distant headland, but less swiftly than the 

 /ormer one ; and soon our picturesque canoe, Avith Christie at the 

 stern steering with a paddle in true Indian fashion, grated on 

 the shingle beach. Christie has spent many years of his life 

 with the Indians of the Northwest, and has adopted some of their 

 habits. On beginning frontier life once more, he discarded the 

 hat of the white man, and wore a blue cloth tied tightly around 

 his forehead and streaming off in loose ends behind. The ch'ange 

 was welcome, for it added to the picturesque appearance of the 

 party. 



The men, weary with their long row against currents and 

 head-winds, greatly enjoyed the camp-fire. Our Indian visitors, 

 after lunching lightly on the leaf-stalks of a plant resembling 

 celery (Archangelica), which grows abundantly everywhere on 

 the lowlands of southern Alaska, departed toward Yakutat. 

 Supper was served in one of the large tents, and we all rolled 

 ourselves in our blankets for the night. 



The next day, July 1, we abandoned Camp 1, passed by Camp 

 2, and late in the afternoon reached the northwestern side of 

 Yakutat bay, opposite Point Esperanza. Our trij^ along the wild 

 shore, against which a heavy surf was breaking, was full of nov- 

 elty and interest. The mountains rose sheer from the water to 

 a height of two or three thousand feet. About their bases, like 



