the; mount. \rN sr,ori-:s of tut, shfet 



I'hou.ljy Of 



cuuxtrv 



IRC Shims, 3rd 



"Big Pond camp" in the foreground, situated midway between the cal)in on Benjamin 

 Creek on the west and the great ice cap on the east. The author camped ahmc here several 

 nights while photographing the white sheep. Two Alaska liear visited the tent one night 

 (see page 477). 



near his cabin to one liere, the march wa.s 

 continued, and at .si.x in the evening the 

 cabin came suddenly in sig-Jit, 200 feet 

 below a terrace bordering the valley of 

 the creek. John and I were quite used 

 up, the former still suffering from the 

 after-results of typhoid fever, cimtracted 

 on our trip the previous )'ear to Afexico, 

 and I on general principles. 



But soon the restorative effect of a 

 hearty meal and the ins])iration of the 

 surroundings gave me sufficient energy 

 to climb a hill behind the caljin, and 

 there, at 8 p. m., I could sec, at the head- 

 waters of iienjamin Creek, three differ- 

 ent bands of sheep, all preparing to spend 

 the night on little open benches not much 

 abo"\'e the meadows. Such a sight told 

 the storv of a country seldom visited by 

 man and where these aboriginal pastoral 

 flocks felt secure by night and day. 



];[(", POND c.\Mr 



.Vt 8 o'clock the next morning we were 

 ready to start after sheep, leaving John 

 in charge of the C(imnnssarv deparUncnt. 

 Following the creek east half a mile, we 

 then went up vrer a series of sloping 

 meadows for a distance of three miles. 



A little above the cabin three small 

 streams come together and, in combina- 

 tion, form Benjamin Creek. ( )ne flows 

 in a zigzag course from the snow fields 

 just this side of the low (li\-i(le above 

 Skilak Lake, where the melting snow 

 is likewise the source of Cottonwood 

 Creek ; another carries the o\'erll(")w wa- 

 ters of a big pond, in the highest mcadow 

 to the east, and the third drains several 

 large vallevs in the southeast. 



The two latter streams, lying between 

 the highest and steepest mountains in 

 the neighborhood, cut deeply into upland 



475 



