276 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



a small steamer called the Discovery. She was apparently- 

 having a bad time of it, and I have since heard that she has 

 never been seen since that day. The next port of call was 

 Juneau. Arriving there in the evening, we went ashore, and 

 here again all our permits and trophies were subjected to a 

 close scrutiny. Some kind friend had telegraphed to the 

 chief officer of the customs at Sitka warning him that my 

 permits should be carefully examined, and saying that they 

 thought I was exporting too many trophies. A friend of 

 ours saw a wire from the customs officer at Juneau reporting 

 this fact, and warned me about it. But as I had not even 

 got my full number of trophies, thanks to the actions of my 

 friend Mr. Sexton, I felt safe enough, and had no trouble 

 with the authorities at Juneau. Here again the American 

 who escaped at Kenai was once more closely cross-questioned, 

 and I heard that the remainder of his trophies were confiscated, 

 but on what grounds this was done I never could make out. 



From Juneau onwards to Seattle the scenery was the 

 same magnificent succession of fjords, islands, mountains, 

 and forests which we had already seen in the spring. The 

 weather was now, however, anything but suitable for sight- 

 seeing, since rain, snow, and gales of wind were the prevailing 

 order of things. In fact, whilst attempting to cross Queen 

 •Charlotte Sound we encountered such a terrific gale that the 

 Bertha was obliged to run under the shelter of an island, and 

 we remained at anchor there all night on November 3. 



Three more days of ploughing the waters saw us safely 

 arrived at Seattle, and we finally bade farewell to the good 

 ship Bertha and her officers. Little did we envy the latter 

 their task of braving the elements every month, both summer 

 and winter, along the treacherous though picturesque coast 

 of Alaska. There indeed the sun often shines, and the face 



