ii6 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



that night, and early next morning Glyn arrived, with his 

 two natives, in a bidarki from the next bay. 



I was dehghted to hear that he had at last broken his 

 run of bad luck, and he produced the skins of a large she- 

 bear and three cubs. The latter were evidently yearlings, as 

 they were of considerable size, and were quite disposed to 

 show, fight after the death of their mother. Consequently 

 Glyn was obliged, much against his sporting inclinations, to 

 give them their quietus. The incident, as described to me 

 by Glyn, was rather curious. It appeared that after leaving 

 our camp about a week before, he had made his way in the 

 bidarki, with his two natives, a distance of some thirty-five 

 miles by sea into the next bay, where his men reported good 

 prospects of finding bear. 



Several days of fruitless search were the result, and Glyn 

 reported the mosquitoes as being absolutely terrific in 

 numbers and fierceness in the vicinity of his camp. There 

 was a large tract of swampy ground which is always dear to 

 the hearts of these venomous pests, and in fact is about the 

 only place where they are found in great numbers along the 

 Alaska Peninsula. It is a country bare of the timber and 

 trees beneath which they swarm along the coast of Alaska. 

 One rainy morning, during the dense fog peculiar to that 

 district, which seems to hang like a sheet around your camp, 

 Glyn was sitting in his tent when one of his natives ran up 

 explaining that he could see several bears moving about at 

 no great distance from the tents. Glyn, doubting the state- 

 ment, and not clearly understanding his native, who could 

 only speak Aleut, took his rifle and went to investigate. 

 He soon saw two or three large cubs moving around some 

 object lying on the grass, and on a closer inspection this 

 proved to be a large she-bear fast asleep. He decided t& 



