86 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



exceeded 64 feet. Since the Bertha did not run farther 

 north than Kodiak Island, this had to be perforce our 

 resting-place for a while. After numerous delays, whilst 

 waiting for favourable tides to negotiate bad channels, and 

 also to unload cargo at various small ports, we finally- 

 arrived at Kodiak on April 22, and were soon established 

 in comfortable quarters at the head office of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company, where the hospitable manager, Mr. 

 Goss, did all in his power to assist us. 



Here again the news was bad, as heavy snow was reported 

 on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula, which we intended 

 to make our first hunting-ground for bears. Moreover, our 

 only way of getting from Kodiak to the mainland was by 

 means of a small schooner named the Alice, which was then 

 lying on the shore almost a wreck ; and although the services 

 of this boat and her owner were placed at our disposal, we saw 

 it would be many days ere we could hope to leave the island. 

 As none of the celebrated Kodiak bears were yet to be seen, 

 we were obliged to content ourselves with walking round the 

 island and collecting a few specimens of the Kodiak birds, 

 which I had promised to obtain for the British Museum, and 

 in the meantime all available hands were set on to repair the 

 disabled schooner. Here we had our first sample of Alaskan 

 rain, since it rained and blew hard for thirteen days out of 

 the fourteen which we spent at Kodiak. It was during this 

 enforced waiting at Kodiak that a second stroke of misfortune 

 fell upon us. It had its origin in the arrival from the main- 

 land of a man who had lived for several years on the Alaskan 

 Peninsula, and, according to all accounts, had done consider- 

 able hunting there. His reports of the number of bears 

 around a certain lake in the neighbourhood of Aniakchak 

 Bay, near which place he lived, induced us finally to decide 



