Landing Amid Icebergs. 85 



dark drapery, following all the folds of the mountain side, ran a 

 band of vegetation ; but the spruce forests had mostly disap- 

 peared, and only a few trees were seen here and there in the 

 deeper cafions. The position of the terrace along the base of the 

 mountain, first noticed at C'amp 1, could be plainly traced, 

 although densely covered with bushes. The mountain peaks 

 above were all sharp and angular, indicating at a glance that 

 the}" had never been subjected to glacial action. The sandstone 

 and shales forming the naked cliff's are fractured and crushed, 

 and are evidently yielding rapidly to the weather ; but the char- 

 acteristic red color due to rock decay could not be seen. The 

 prevailing tone of the mountains, when not buried beneath 

 vegetation or covered with snow, is a cold gray. Bright, warm, 

 summer skies are needed to reveal the variet}' and beauty of 

 that forbidding region. 



Our large canOe behaved well, although heavily loaded. Some- 

 times the wind was favorable, when an extemporized sail lessened 

 the fatigue of the trip. The landing on the northwestern shore 

 was effected, through a light surf, on a sandy beach heavily en- 

 cumbered with icebergs. As it was hazardous to beach the large 

 canoe with its load of boxes and bags, the heavy freight was 

 transferred, a few pieces at a time, to smaller canoes, each manned 

 by a single Indian, and all was safely landed beyond the reach 

 of the breakers. Camp 3 was established on the sandy beach 

 just above the reach of the tide and near the mouth of a roaring 

 l)rook. The drift-wood along the shore furnished abundant fuel 

 for a blazing camp-fire ; our tents were pitched, and once more 

 we felt at home. 



Two canoes were dispatched, in care of Doney, to the camp on 

 the opposite shore (Camp 2), Avith instructions to bring over the 

 equi23ments left there. Kerr went over also for the purpose of 

 making a topographic station on the bluff' forming Point Espe- 

 ranza should the morrow's weather permit. 



It was curious to note the care which our Indians took of their 

 canoes. Not only were they drawn high up on the beach, out 

 of the reach of all possible tides, but each canoe was swathed in 

 Avet cloths, especially at the prow and stern, to prevent them from 

 drying and cracking. The canoes, being fashioned from a single 

 spruce log, are especially liable to split if allowed to dry thor- 

 oughly. 



The day after our arrival, all of our party and all of our camp 



13— jNAT. Geog. Mag., vol. HI, 1891. 



