154 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



bird staying above the water. Then all came up again about 

 the same moment, and kept repeating this performance so 

 often that I at last got tired of watching it, and we returned 

 dejectedly to camp, with the assured knowledge that a walrus 

 would not figure in our list of trophies from Alaska in 1903. 



During that evening and all through the night we had 

 our first and only experience of what Alaskan mosquitoes are 

 like when they are thick. Sleep was out of the question ; I 

 dared not close my eyes for fear of being eaten alive, but 

 started my strongest pipe in the hopes of keeping the insects 

 away. Vain indeed were all such hopes, for although an 

 American had only a short time before remarked, on smelling 

 the smoke of this very pipe, " Say, cap, I guess that pipe of 

 yours would drive a dog out of a tan-yard," it had not the 

 slightest effect, on the mosquitoes. The natives even were 

 up all night trying to keep off their attacks, and next morning 

 I found the inside of their tent black with the pests. In reply 

 to a joking question of mine asking if the men had any 

 mosquitoes in their tent, Nikita, who was well versed in all 

 the latest American sayings, replied, " Mosquitoes you bet 

 your life, they are buzzing round our tent to beat the band." 



We had also another diversion during the night and 

 the following two days. There is a large volcano on the 

 peninsula not far from Unga Island, and within view of our 

 camp. This is called Mount Pavloff, and it suddenly burst 

 out with a series of terrific explosions, which were repeated 

 every five minutes, sending up clouds of steam and smoke, 

 and shaking the ground around for miles. The nearer we 

 got towards it on our return journey the less I liked it, 

 expecting to encounter a tidal wave at any moment which 

 might send us and the dory to the bottom of the Bering Sea. 

 Nicolai also did not relish the situation, and appeared to 



