274 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



and then, slightly elevating the thumb of his left hand in my 

 direction, added, " You bet your life he's all right anyhow, 

 and no darned Marshal ain't going to scare him." 



Before leaving Valdez there was a further inspection of 

 all our permits to export trophies, evidently in the hope that 

 some legal flaw might be discovered at the last moment. 

 Here also a certain number of trophies belonging to the 

 American who had escaped lightly at Saldovia were confis- 

 cated by the authorities, as they were intended for a museum, 

 and had no label on the cases stating that they were being 

 exported for scientific purposes, which should be done, accord- 

 ing to the regulations of the Act. 



Leaving Valdez at noon, and facing the open sea once 

 more, we reached Kayak early the next morning. Here a 

 certain number of passengers got on board, and gave glowing 

 descriptions of the new oil and coal strikes along the coast. 

 According to one man, who was returning disgusted, any one 

 seeking a claim might roam many miles north or south of 

 Kayak without finding a bit of ground which was not already 

 staked. He compared it with the state of affairs during the 

 first great rushes into the Yukon, and said that a man who 

 had travelled scores of miles there without finding a bit of 

 vacant ground had finally returned to the local store. Here 

 there was a tall flag-pole erected, and this being about the 

 only thing unclaimed which he could see, the heart-broken 

 prospector went to the pole and fixed the following notice 

 on it: "J. Smith, his claim is 20 feet straight up and down 

 this blasted pole." 



Another day's sailing saw us at Yakutat. Here there 

 are more oil and coal strikes, and, like Kayak, the place was 

 being considerably boomed. A number of natives soon 

 surrounded the ship, coming out in open canoes resembling 



