THE STIKINE RIVER IN 1898 15 



cannot be traversed save on snowshoes, and which by its inacces- 

 sibility is safe in the reputation it has of holding the wildest 

 scenery of the Stikine region. 



The river rose five feet the second night, in consequence of 

 rains in the Dease Lake country, floated the steamer across the 

 little wharf to which it was tied, and nearly carried away the 

 lumber for the gold commissioner's house before the boat's 

 watchman could arouse a salvage corps. When we left Glenora 

 that morning, it was a new sensation to fly past the banks so 

 rapidly, the engine only making play of the downstream jour- 

 ney. We shot the Little canon in less than three minutes, 

 where we had struggled thirteen minutes on the w r ay up, "the 

 Ogilvie drawn in with the sweep of the current under half steam, 

 and then, with snorts, roars, and wheezes of full steam under 

 forced draught, steering a mid-course through the eddies and 

 dashing waves of that narrow chute, the most exciting and dan- 

 gerous piece of navigation in Alaska. The peaks and glaciers 

 whirl past in their different rearrangements, and in the earliest 

 afternoon, seven hours after leaving Glenora, we had accom- 

 plished the serpentine 125 miles and were fast at the Ft Wran- 

 gell wharf, the Ogilvie and all the boats of the line then receiving 

 orders to abandon the Stikine and Alaska route. The "all- 

 Canadian " and the Klondike incident closed abruptly, and this 

 river of rivers, this culmination and epitome of Alaskan scenery 

 this most magnificent stretch of peaks and glaciers along any 

 watercourse of the continent may not again be accessible to easy 

 pleasure travel as in the fitful season of 1898. 



In his annual report to the Department of State, Consul Mer- 

 rill, of Jerusalem, says that ten y.ears ago there were very few 

 carriages in Jerusalem, but now that the Yafa (Jaffa) road is in 

 good condition and the road to Jericho, the Dead sea, and the 

 .Ionian is opened up — also that to Bethlehem and Hebron — 

 there are scores of carriages, and the number is constantly in- 

 creasing. A carriage road has recently been constructed from 

 Jerusalem to the top of the Mount of Olives, and one is to be 

 built from Jerusalem to Nablus, a manufacturing city of 20,000 

 inhabitants on the site of the ancient Shechem, 32 miles north. 



