FebrtjahyS, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



L'h the 



omy, 1 remember 

 have ever passed i 



Besides his Ironl Streams 

 lather shallow ponds, Hint v 

 tench in whose fattening aw 

 In those religious c immueitie 

 allrai'road connection with the 



v this good-sized fish could 



JjDOt ii n I several large and 

 ailed with huge oarp and 

 *tb he took much interest, 

 it are Inland, and fat from 

 ■us!, the supply of fish is a 

 matter of importance as many day? of the ye;ir lliey are not 

 allowed lo eat any animal -fond— the Word "fast day" is nut 

 at all au equivalent of the Iluli m term "ffionw dimngro." as 

 it is not of necessity a day of fasting at alt, hut simply One 

 on which no animal foo 1 ban lie eaten. Wfi were lucky 

 enough on ibis same excursion to arrive ai the convent, of 

 Vallombrosa on the day of Hie patron snint of that order 

 of Monks. This day is a giovno di irviqro, and thoy cannot 

 have any strangers over night iu the convent (which, by-tlie 

 bye, was the cause of our doing nearly twenty-five mites over 

 the mountains after dinner), but so far from its being a fast 

 day.it is the day of all tin- yea( When lie brothers who 

 have charge of the pots and ketlles strive to give a great 

 variety of dishes. I do not think thai 1 ever took a better 

 dinner, although there was no meat, butter, eggs or initk used 

 in the cooking. Him with virglu olivo Oil to take the place 

 of butler, with trout, carp and ccIf, salt fish conked in the 

 Spanish way, i. e., with olive oil, lomaios, anchovies and 

 a trifle of garlic, crisp lettuce and celery, preserved fruits 

 and fresh grapes, figs and pomegranates, fresh olives, and 

 last, but not least, a flask of wine from the vineyard on i In- 

 southern slope that bad been ripening in the cellar since the 

 comet year, we did anything but fast. It may be that the 

 excellence of this last item of the bill of fare had something 

 to do with the fact that the French geut Ionian who was 

 with ns, and who, on the strength of having been over the 

 ground before, acted as guide, lost bis way, and it was not 

 until after three o'clock the next morning that wo arrived at 

 the old town of Prat/ just able to crawl. 



There is one fact With regard to this matter of diet ou fast 

 days, which I do not think id generally known — at least I 

 never heard of it until I camped out in Canada with French 

 habitants for canoemen, and it is rather interesting as a 

 matter of natural history. That is, that the sea fowl, or what 

 they call "r/ibier de mer," are noi considered as game but as 

 fish. The distinction is that tlu-y do not kq to fresh water to 

 drink. Thus the black duck, the wild goose, the teal, mal- 

 lard, etc., have to act to fr sh water once a day at least, and 

 therefore they are "flesh," and on f.-is.t days cannot be eaten; 

 but the white-winged coot, old squaws, whistlers, skunk 

 heads, etc., not goinu' to fresh water— at. least so they say in 

 Canada — are considered as fish. The above list is not an ap- 

 petizing one. but the brant belongs to the same class, and 

 surely oue could last very satisfactorily on a .well-roasted 

 brant. 



I have, I fear, taken up more space than you will be 

 inclined to give to inc in order to say that I had seen a snake 

 thai had swallowed a trout; but thai is. rodlly all 1 meant to 

 write. Mio Mao. 



Till: LOG OF THE FAVORITE, NO. 1. 



Stt'ANSON's HaIMIOK, Ceo--. So; Nil, I 



August 22, 1880. 



AFRESH northwest wind, with ii 

 UHght clear weather, subdued I 

 change of tide, and enabled iia this r 

 a start that by breakfast t 

 ran to the eastward, : 

 Straits, where shelter: 

 which ' blocked its n 

 channel, which just t 

 land, leads into this i 

 ward of Die island tin 

 entrance, but the assi: 

 full of dangers was - 

 tide, the bottom was 

 Our object hei 



a to 



mtof 



about tin! 



ce so early 



mud, and 



arlv to its junction willi Chatham 



id almost completely by a great, island 



louih. we made 1 1 1 . - narrow and safe 



the eastward Of " Coiivcrdccn " 1s- 



nagniiicciii harbor, .lust, to the west- 

 re was apparently a wider and easier 

 ranee of our pilot that it was slio;il and 

 subsequently confirmed— when at low 

 exposed. 



iew the Indians, who have here 



L'.illg 



i by Chilcals. Hooriah 

 tos a sort of half-»ay 



Sitka 



rded as among 



produces; 

 n after a 

 wollon 80 



d rheumy 

 ics to the 



a ranch, which is occupied i 

 and Sitkas and others, for i 

 house for nearly all the tribe 



Sitka .lack makes here his summer home : in winter he 

 prefers Sitka, where he varies the monotony by alternate 

 spells of drunkenness and Christianity, forjaokis a shrewd 

 Indian, and fully appreciates the potting h" receives at. each 

 such successive conversion, and has among his "papers" 

 several extracts from the Rocky Mountain Pivxhfitei'Mm, in 

 which his turning from his sinful life is r« 

 the first of the successes of newly-arrived n 



Although as "low down" a Siwash as 

 Jack is very useful. As an awful exampli 

 set-to with Hoo-cho-noo, his naturally big head 

 big that he cannot wear his little gold-laced cap 

 tears run down his pock-marked face, as he del 

 other Indians the evils of intemperance. 



And then when thus softened lie seeks consolation by 

 becoming again ii. Christ inn. The example is doubtless 

 valuable. Jack is rich though, or rather his wife is, and 

 through her he is connected with several powerful tribes, to 

 Whom, on his spring visits, he dispenses much hoo-che-noo, 

 and from whom, when under its influences, he procures at a 

 cheap rate their skins and oil. 



Jack has made a record for himself 

 one. It wss he who superintended the 

 stills in Old Sitka, except "tic as I aftO 

 one his own, and whose halibut, club, u 

 is pictured in your paper of July ">0. 18 

 credit that on the Occasion of the compl 

 gave the most magnificent potalatch 

 favored with, at which boo-e'uciioo, and subsequently blood 

 flowed like wafer, and five hundred blankets were given 

 away to the guests. 



Since then Jack has been poor, and spends his substance 

 about as fast as he earns it, in paying for damages to vari- 

 ous si washes which took place at" this teas'. Jack was ab- 

 sent, but, we got together several other Ty! s, and gave 



them the usual talking to. While the pow-wow progressed, 

 Captain Yanderbilt made good use of the time by setting a 

 gang of Indians at work wood chopping, for on the shores of 

 this bay there is no end of excellent firewood growing close 

 to the water. 



This the Indians cut and deliver for twp dollars (trade) per 

 cord. It wn§ pleasant to see 

 dians placed in the honesty 

 taking their pay in goods, thr 

 ceived in preference tickets I 

 good at either of the store 

 pany," and served as cash in 



Captain Yanderbilt has, in 

 wise departure from a custom prevalent among the Sitka 



in more wav<= than 

 lesuruction of all the 

 •wards learned -that 

 cd on that occasion, 

 \). And it is to his 

 ■tion of his house he 

 ka had eve; 



the CO 

 Of the 

 ,se Whl 



n faience 

 whites ; 

 brought 



vhi 



or 

 lie. 



:h the ln- 



mstcad ol 

 wood re- 



a the amounts di 

 i of the -North 

 their trades with 

 one respect, lake 



;•;;; 



bich were, 

 em Com. 

 i other. 



wide and 



Our hi 

 and to-n 

 left Swa 



liich was | 



traders in dealing -with the natives. Willi them an Indian 

 pound is about fifteen ounces, and thirty-five inches make a 

 yard, differences which they pretend to make good by dom- 

 plying with the always-expressed "wish of the Indians fa- a 

 sca'e way down and a little Cloth thrown ill. "The "North- 

 west Company " follow up Hie custom of throwing in, but 

 Ibey give full measure as well. 



Allow tide there was exposed in this bay Hals of many 

 square miles in area, through which creeks made their way 

 The Doctor and I, after the pow-wow was over, took a long 

 tramp over these flats, but got no birds, although we were 

 assured that iu sp ng and fall all kind were in greal numb, is. 

 Two miles from where we lauded there was a grove, and in 

 its vicinity we heard the honking of geese, and we waded 

 ankle deep in mud a good long mile in hopes of a shot at 

 them. But we were not alone on Hie Hals. Indians were 

 hunting also, and they did some shooting; for birds that 

 were foul to us were fair fowl to them ; ami coots and gulls 

 reu. aided their shots, which made the geese very shy and 

 wary, and before we were within rifle range au enormous 

 flock gol up and made its way through an opening to the 

 sea, leaving us to lo stand inud-bound and wish ourselves 

 back to our boat. 



Quite a number of canoes came alongside for trading pur- 

 poses. They brought seal oil, hair seal pelts, and baskets 

 woven from grasses. All, however, ruled at higher prices 

 than at Sitka. 



William Heniiy Bay. I 

 Lynn Canal — p, M - -— i 

 for glaciers has been lully satisfied to-day, 

 ,• we "have many mure in store for us. We 

 i Harbor at 5 a. m., passed '• llaiuis Rock," 

 ejecting above the surface, and turned around 

 Point Coiiv'ordeen for a straight run up Lynn Canal to Chil- 

 eat, bin the fresh northwest wind, while it has cleared the 

 air and revealed to us some of the grandest scenery that 1 

 have aver gazed at, has also kicked up a head sea sulliciently 

 strong to seriously retard our progress, which with the tidw 

 was not over six miles an hour, and when the tide turned 

 not over three. 



As we can't reach Ohilcat (ill late this evening, we have 

 concluded to bold on here until early to-morrow, when the 

 lide will be with us. 



'the entrance to this pretty little bay is on the north side, 

 marked by one of the highest and steepest hills we have en- 

 countered. As our little boat ran by close to the shore, we 

 nearly broke, our necks trying to look at the summit, which, 

 although fully four thousand feet distant vertically, was not, 

 1 believe, four hundred horizontally. It was like examining 

 the frescoes on the ceiling of St. Paul's. This hill was 

 densely wooded lo the summit, and somewhere in the woods 

 ac could hear the ax, s of Die Indians culling firewood for 

 the company, One can hut wonder how Die Irees, growing 

 as they do in a thin soil, manage to keeptheir positions and 

 grOWUpWard. in places it seems as though thc\ grew on 

 top of each other. 



Jt is probable that the six or eight-inch deep carpet of per- 

 petuallv wel moss which covers the soil gives lo the roots, by 

 constant moisture, great size and strength ; so that by inter- 

 lacing and seeking crevices they are able to suppoit the 

 trunks. Not always though, for here ami there we have 

 passed great land-slides, where a broad glistening rollway of 

 bare rock marked the course of hundreds of large trees, 

 which in a confused heap of roots and branches lay at its 

 base. 



The southern point of this bay is evidently the terminal 

 moraine ol an cxtincl glacier. Our journey to-day has been 

 one ol unqualified enjoyment: warm, clear weaiher, bright 

 sunshine, and not a bit of fog or cloud to obscure the 

 scenery, which was grand. 



Fr Point Couvendeen to Chilcal, Chatham Strait, is 



called Lynn Canal. Why so called, 1 do not know, for its 

 average width, six miles, is as great as that of the southern 

 portion of the straits. Tneheadof the canal is, as shown 

 on chart, eight, or nine miles wide, hut split into two inlets 

 by a peninsula. As far as wc have come the banks on both 

 sides consist of high hills, covered to their summits with 

 dense forests of spruce and hemlock, through which at shot I 

 intervals steams ol water come dashing down with such im- 

 petus that every drop seems turned to silvery foam. The 

 range of hills is not coutiuuous, ami they are divided by 

 deep canyons int > groups, and each of these canyons is filled 

 by a great river of ice. and between each couple of peaks 

 which form the grou,, a brook of ice. converges to the river. 



I'nlil to day I'had not in my mind a Clear conception of a 

 glacier; the name conveyed to me simply the impression of 

 a frozen, ice-bound river. Such there are, broatl and smooth, 

 1 lit ii surface but slightly inclined, winding their way around 

 each obstruction, and dazzling- the eye with au unbroken 

 sheet of white; but there are also Niagaras of ice and mael- 

 stroms! The river comes plunging down steep inclines, 

 shattering into chasms as it leaps precipices, and rearing up 

 into great corrugated battlements, crowned wilh gigantic 

 -pins' oi crystal, where ii has encountered obstacles; the 

 surface marred with streaks, like muddy wagon toads, of 

 cart", and sprinkled wit i huge boulders which have been 

 wrenched Irian the mountain sides. 



We saw but little of the beautiful color 

 hied characterized these rivers— black ear 

 and then the sun', 

 he hues of the ra 

 a of those which 

 thic 



Which 1 had imag- 

 h and while snow 

 rays reflected from 

 iihinv. We could 

 aine down gentle 

 . busbes and high 



es which the glacier 



• end melted." 



predominated, but iv 



a fractured surface 'a 



not see the lower i 



slopes, for these were hidden by th 



grass, which nourished on the fiat mora 



had pushed in advance or left as its low 



At 1 r. M- we saw our first glacier, and it was a good one 

 to begin with Alter it we passed so many that there was 

 hardly a five minutes in which tit least live, were not visible 

 at once. Our first was, on Die eastern shore and opened out 

 as we passed the north point of Admiralty Island. Ii was 

 surmounted by a rocky crag which resembled our national 

 bird so much more than does the figure on the new dollar 

 that wc christened it " Eagle Glacier," and as such it will re- 

 main in our note-books and memories 



This day we mark With a white stone. Our enjoyment of 

 nature has been uninterrupted, except by a remark made by 

 the punster of the party, in contra ling ibis day with the 

 foggy, rainy ones preceding, he asked us in what respect they 

 differed, and we gave sensible answers, but he said this was 

 a scenery and they see nary days, and was immediately .- up- 

 pressed. 



At one place on the route we had, in addition to the peaks, 

 cauvons and glaciers, a distinct view in the distance of the 

 eternally snow-crowned peaks of Fairweather, Perouse and 

 Crillou, all over fifteen thousand feel in height, and of their 

 eightthousand-feethigh foot-hills. Such a day is worth 



uyofonli. 



themselves. 

 This eveni 

 prepared lo i 

 IVlttir, thattl 

 produced byglacii 

 ing reputation for 

 alone, go easily wi 

 not prepared t 



y life, and I wonder how long it will be be- 

 r tourists will find it out and take one for 



1 1 think over the day's experience, I am 

 ly accept as true the theory of Professor 

 nd and channels of Southeast Alaska are 

 d action, but, undeterred by fear of forfeit- 

 scientific accuracy, and dealing with facts 

 ,y beyond his conclusions I think— but 

 that on the occasion of that fa- 



mous .-bower which in forty days succeeded in depositing an 

 amount of water, which, compared by the best Alaska re- 



sults in ten times the pi 

 was indeed a deluge, I 

 must have been to t\ 

 in of what was then, 1 

 Arctic Ocean— and that Die i 

 by the melting of the iceberg 

 the higher temperature of tli 

 leak Started in some low plai 

 and Cape Prince of Walei 

 creased, and through it, d 

 icebergs and glacier 



tie wn by rain gauges, 



c ellcc! ol such a surplus 



up pretty well the ba- 



Oie.ve, a land- locked sea— the 



:>us pr 



sure w 

 and ba 



ist Cape 



tcrcased 

 s through 



Ody day a 

 if Siberia 

 ipidly in- 



whieh 

 iwn by the current, came huge 

 ■h cut out Rehring's Slrail and, 

 rushing southward, cut the. long ridge which in those days 

 probably connected Asia and America and over which Do- 

 native Alaskans found their way from the Orient, into the 

 chain of islands known as the Alentiens. 



Laurence Island, then possibly a high mountain, stood di- 

 rectly in the wake of this advancing Hood and deflected it to 

 the eastward, when, with a whril and eddy, it dug out Nor- 

 ton Sound and then the Gulf of Alaska, sweeping down the 

 dust perhaps to the lower end of Paget Sound. 



Rehring's Sea is everywhere shallow and a muddy bottom 

 s found at from foriy "to one hundred fathoms. The only 



fact to 



of Sue 



ing fci 

 i revio 

 have 1 

 Rui 1 may In 



t Cape i 



the invention of the 

 ttle 



of 



come t 



column 



of lo-d 



which 



which 



cbsetf 



ly 



in Die veracious narrative 

 lderings of a Jew, who at 

 ' Asia talking to a wander- 

 >f America. As this was 

 telephone this strait could 

 than a trout brook then, 

 dering a little from the legitimate track 

 am letter, so wi 1 drop speeulatinsr and 

 and a subject better adapted to your 

 n. For several miles of Die latter part 

 we steamed through a pea-green sea, 

 .lotted here and there with the backs of salmon, 

 ivere in the most aimless manner swimming about 

 the surface, from which their backs, they being near- 

 boslms or hump-backed, protruded. The peculiar 



nd ! 



J ' 



lor of the water was due to a surface lay 

 which flows into William Henry Ray thr 

 creek, and inlo many smaller coves Diro 

 and these sick salmon were such as had 60 

 of spawning and found their way ag; 

 pctuale their spi 



ay large pereci 



of glacier water 

 igh a. very large 

 I) smaller ones; 

 ived the process 

 alt water to per- 

 iled I thought thai a 

 became saved, but when I landed 



on 'the moraine and skirted the Irook, at limes wading, I 

 could readily believe Dial if in the salt water, within five 

 miles, there was a hundred thousand of these "finest " which 

 bad survived, they did not amount to a fraction of one per 

 cent, of those Which had perished. 



The moraine was covered with timothy and wild barley 

 five or six feet in height. Much of this had been pressed 

 down by high water from the creek, ami iu all directions 

 there lay great heaps and windrows of decomposing salmon. 

 Thousands of gulls were cackling and laughing as they feast- 

 ed upon Die eyes of these fish, and the soft mud was pilled 

 iu all directions with bear (racks, and bodiless heads of sal- 

 mon indicated where they had breakfasted. I had my gun 

 with mc and was hoping for birds of some kind, but except 

 a few pipers none presented Diemselves Tor inspection. The 

 batiks of Die creek were lined with dense alders and high 

 grasses, and I thought it. likely that bv taking its centre and 



ading up I might start a mallard or teal, This 1 did not do, 



but. tlfat wad. 

 me pushed through D 

 it into foam, an ahin 

 when by a shr 

 like trying to 



a plated salt 

 <l 



be 



ed. In 



ade thr 



They ■ 



1 think 



gh treading upo: 



lUgfl 



iikely ( 



mass of salmon; ; 

 :epted the rushing 

 a flock of sheep wl 

 ndm 



advance of 

 1 splashing 

 I at times, 

 pat, it was 

 e carrying 

 ling through" n^- 

 ne, as I fell by slipping 

 were beaded up stream 

 except such as made frightened rushes past me ; but many, 

 although 80 beaded up, were slowly drifting down, tail first, 

 to swell the sick and helpless floaters in the bay, or to die 

 upon some bar, and furnish feed to gulls and bears. 



n fact in all where deep and still enough, 

 hollowed out, inlo great wallows, 

 ed, crowds of salmon would dan, 

 inn SO covered with eggs I hat it 

 of dried peas had been there scal- 



the bottom of snivel wi 

 from which. asT approa 

 and I could Bee the I* 

 srued as though buslit 



tered. Approaching one of these pools quietly, I Succeeded 

 in getting a good view of the operation of spawning, and 1 

 did not observe any use of the Curved jaw in Die connection. 

 At first I thought that there were two varieties of salmon in 

 the creek— one thegarhoaha .md the other a black siiaight- 

 1 fish. None of either kind were over thirty inches in 



olci 



dilation of sev 

 I found, In- 



dian twenty. 



ppii, 



ich style which I caught in 



a-, that : 

 I hose will 

 females. By 

 could not be c 

 -avid fish, 

 iicnse tn 



tld he 

 the hump back 

 shooting several 

 itiglit, this view 



length, 



By c> 

 my ban 



judged, they being all spe 

 were nudes and the oth 

 which were more lively hi 

 was confirmed, Hicy being 



In uiost of tha pools immense trout (Safono *)wtiibili*) were 

 either feeding upon the eggs, or lying Quietly gorged. 1 shot 

 one weighing four or live pounds, but allhoug i beautiful to 

 look at the surroundings in which 1 got him were such as to 

 deprive, him of a place on our breakfast-table. 



1 saw one female sahuuii just as she finished spawning. 

 She lay quiet for a cou, le of minutes and then began to top- 

 ple over on ber side, recovered herself and, as though 

 startled from a sleep, darted forward and went half her length 

 upon a gravel bar and continued forcing herself further up, 

 until she was entirely out of the water, and there I left, her 

 to die. -Most of these, fish were more or less discolored and 

 many bruised, and upon all there extended over the bellies a 

 substance which looked like rough yellow blotting-paper, 

 probably some fungoid growth. 



After seeing, as 1 have to-day, such myriads of dead sal- 

 mon, I do not wonder that with those who do not stop to 

 think of Die result, the impression should prevai' ' 

 Pacific coast salmon die immediately after spawn 



The si ream is of ice-water and conies from a gli 

 foot, is several miles back in the canyon. We di 

 it, for bear tracks were too large and numerous li 

 visable lo so do, armed with oue shot-guu alone. 



that 



"all 



mr." 





cier, \ 



'hose 



1 not 



visit 



make 



iiiul- 



