no BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



I did not envy him the task, as the four or five miles 

 back to camp lay over very rough ground, which entailed 

 pushing our way through thick alders, wading several 

 streams, and crossing long stretches of very boggy ground. 

 In these latter spots I, without any pack, often sank in up 

 to my knees, and what Nicolai felt like with his big pack 

 I cannot say, but there is no doubt that his burden was not 

 a light one. Although small in stature, and with no appear- 

 ances of great strength, it is surprising what big loads a 

 good Aleut can carry. It took this man some two hours to 

 cover the journey back to camp. 



The following day all hands in camp were busy cleaning 

 the skin and skull. At this work the Aleut again excels, 

 nor do I think it possible to find any natives better at the 

 business, since long experience in preparing furs for the 

 market, and the great number which they have handled for 

 years, make them masters in the art of cleaning skins. 

 Their method is to sit down like tailors, with the skin resting 

 on their knees. They hold a corner of the skin in their 

 teeth, and placing one hand beneath it, and using their knife 

 in the other hand, with great rapidity and dexterity they 

 soon remove every particle of fat and blood from the hide. 

 No white man can compete with them, and I must confess 

 that although I tried it myself on more than one occasion, 

 I felt rather ashamed when I looked at the cleaned part of 

 a skin which represented my own labours, and compared it 

 with a piece cleaned by the natives in the same time. Not 

 only did they do three times as much, but it was also twice 

 as well cleaned as mine. A further damper to my own 

 efforts was the taste of bear's grease, which lingers indefinitely 

 in one's mouth after attempting to hold the skin in one's 

 teeth according to the approved Aleut style. 



