IX BACK TO THE KENAI PENINSULA 163 



as big again as mine, and that the skin was so large that 

 he was hardly able to drag and carry it about a mile to his 

 boat. A rapid mental arithmetical calculation convinced me 

 that to answer his description of it, this bear's skin should be 

 nearly 14 feet in length. He added that the skin had not 

 been stretched, and he wanted $25 for it. I replied saying 

 it was not my custom to buy trophies, nor had I ever done 

 such a thing, but that if his skin was really half as large again 

 as mine, and had not been stretched on pegs, I would give 

 $25 for it. Spreading my big skin out I made him measure 

 it with a bit of string. He next said, "■ Well, I guess my 

 skin is 2 feet longer than that one." This was coming 

 down 2 feet with a jump, but I still replied, " Very well, if 

 yours is 2 feet longer I will give you $25 for it." Finally it 

 came down to $25 if his skin was by i foot the longer. He 

 disappeared for three days to bring this celebrated skin from 

 his home, which was situated some miles along the coast. 

 There was quite a small crowd on the wharf at Sand Point 

 awaiting the arrival of his dory when it appeared in the 

 harbour. The local talent were quite certain that I should 

 have to pay over the deal. When my friend appeared, 

 staggering under what seemed to be a tremendous load, I 

 began to have some misgivings, but these did not last long 

 when the first thing which Little and I noticed was that all 

 the sides of the hide were full of large holes where pegs had 

 been driven in to stretch the skin. The climax arrived when 

 he triumphantly spread out the skin on the ground and care- 

 ful measurements proved it to be some 3 or 4 inches shorter 

 than mine, which had only been salted and had consequently 

 shrunk considerably, whereas the other had been stretched 

 to its full extent and dried in the sun. Needless to remark, 

 " the laugh was with me," and I did not part with the $25. 



