IN GREEN ALASKA 



Yakutat side seems stagnant ; it no longer dis- 

 charges bergs into the sea, and will in time probably 

 drop its vast burden of medial moraine upon the 

 ground beneath. We caught glimpses of its nu- 

 merous feeders below the clouds along the base 

 of St. Elias, but of the glacier itself we saw only the 

 earth-covered margin it presents to the sea. The 

 discharge of roily water from beneath it is so great 

 that it colors the sea over an area equal to its own; 

 " glacier milk," some one called it, and it gives the 

 Pacific a milky tinge for thirty miles offshore. 



I must not forget the albatross that found us out 

 and followed our ship when we had been but a few 

 hours at sea, wheehng around us close to the water, 

 coming and going, now on one side, now on the 

 other, slanting and curving, and aU on straight, 

 unbending wing. Its apparently toilless, effortless 

 flight and its air of absolute leisure were very curi- 

 ous and striking, — it seemed like the spirit of the 

 deep taking visible form and seeking to weave some 

 spell upon us or lure us away to destruction. Never 

 before had I seen flying so easy and spontaneous, — 

 not an action, not a thought, not an effort, but a 

 dream. What a contrast to the flight of the Arctic 

 tern which we first saw in Yakutat Bay, a bird with 

 long, sickle-shaped wings, with which it fairly reaped 

 the air. The flight of the albatross was a series of 

 long, graceful strokes, unlike that of any other bird 

 I have ever seen. 



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