264 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



overdue, and owing to the great number of strangers in the 

 settlement, supplies were getting alarmingly short at the 

 local stores, and a few more days would have seen the end 

 of all eatable provisions in the place. There was every 

 prospect of the ship being crowded, and we congratulated 

 ourselves on having written a month earlier to bespeak 

 cabins when the ship last called at Saldovia. 



The moose and sheep heads, as they were placed in the 

 hold, made an imposing array, for in addition to the five 

 Englishmen, there were one German and four American 

 hunters, who all travelled down on the Bertha. The collec- 

 tion of moose-horns was particularly fine. The record head 

 killed by any sportsman in 1903 was a fine one of 74 inches 

 killed by Mr. Forbes, an American. 



Our expectations of a crowded ship were fully realised, 

 and on stepping aboard we were welcomed by Captain 

 Knudson, who assured us that every berth on the ship was 

 occupied, and many passengers would be sleeping in the 

 saloon, and other odd places where a spare corner could be 

 found. There were many faces amongst the passengers 

 familiar to our party, since these people had made the trip 

 up on the Bertha in April ; and as she is by far the most 

 comfortable boat on that route, and her officers from the 

 captain downwards are exceedingly kind and courteous, 

 her list of passengers in the spring and fall of the year is 

 always a large one. She is by no means remarkable for her 

 pace, although, as Colonel Cane facetiously remarks in his 

 book, " under exceptionally favourable circumstances, she 

 has been known to have attained the terrific speed of eight 

 knots an hour." 



Personally I have seen her doing better pace than this, 

 according to the log, but I have also seen the time when she 



