Dec. 20, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



403 



well acquainted with the Victoria bars that he had evidently 

 tble to And all of them that day. There was no time 

 for temperance lectures, however, and the Oaptaifl under- 

 ling the channel well (with the pilot on the bridge to 

 save insurance) the vessel's head wan swung around, and the 

 two Victorias approached each other. Despite the fact that, 

 acnnlin;; to cut pilot, the buoys were all displaced, and even 

 the granite channel itself had changed during- the last few 

 hours, we managed to get to a dock.' 



Victoria, almost a dead city of 5,000 or 0,000 inhabitants 

 since the Fraser River and adjacent mines have died out, is 

 uowyeviving under the prospects of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway. It has the finest drives of any city on the Pacific 

 coast, and is rivalled by bill few on the Atlantic' slope. Back in 

 the adjacent country the hunting has been good for many 

 years, and even now, bear, deer and other large game are to 

 fee found in readily accessible districts. There was no time 

 for hunting, however, and our next, journey w-as to Port 

 Townscnd. the custom-house portofPugel Sound, where we 

 Cleared, and were soon on our way for Alaska in dead, earnest. 



From Olympia, at the head of Puget Sound, to Chilkat in 

 Alaska Territory, a distance of over'l.000 utiles of coastline, 

 the most fragile river steamer could run, so well is the 

 i ge protected by outlying islands. It is known as the 

 "inland pas.-age" to Alaska, and is really more like steaming 

 on a large river, with openings here and there to the great 



ocean, than any open water navigation, [n many places the 



channel is not more thap 300 to 400 yards wide, and at one 

 place in the passage separating Vancouver island from the 

 mainland it is proposed to bridge the water, to allow the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway lo have Its western terminus in 

 Victoria, the metropolis of British Columbia. These inland 

 ■.,- ages are picturesque beyond dCSCl iption, and although 

 -omewhat monotonous in their constantly recurring scenes of 

 the same character, however grand, there & no doubt that 

 Wlicn the Pacific coast becomes mute thickly settled they 

 will be great traveling results, their exemption from seasick- 

 ness being one of the strongest recommendations to the tourist 

 or the average stomach. 



The shores of these salt-water rivers are precipitous and 

 rugged, and covered to the snow limit with dense forests of 

 spruce and pine. Here and there avalanches from their tops- 

 have hewn great winrows though this timber from the very 

 clouds lo the water's edge, and the lighter green foliage of 

 these places forms a strange and beautiful contrast with the 

 sombre colors of the older trees. From the lakes high up 

 on the hills of snow come down many a pretty cascade and 

 waterfall, that gives a pleasant relief to the everlasting 

 green of the mountain sides. As one reaches further north, 

 these snowbanks on the top grade off into glaciers, and in 

 many places the ice accumulations are so great that the re- 

 sulting gla.-ie'.-s reach far down to the water line, giving off 

 diminutive icebergs thai often reach above the ocean steamer's 

 deck, and add another novelty to the tourist, of temperate 

 climes, whose ice knowledge has been confined to skat in g 

 ponds and mint juleps. It is almost, impossible to plod 

 through this thicket of timber, not only on account of its 

 thickness but also the marshy, boggy morass that it covers, 

 even on the sides of the steepest lii'.ls.' Once on the top, how- 

 ever, an occasional opening is found, where only the mossy 

 bog has to be taken into account in walking, and here one's 

 likely to find deer, bear or mountain goats', if there be. any 

 in the country. Sawing hickory cord wood at, fifty cents a 

 cord and investing the proeeedsin venison is a much less 

 laborious method of procuring deer meat than to hunt it in 

 the mountains of Alaska and British Columbia. Winged 

 game is not scarce, bat for wood birds as grouse, quail and 

 so on we have said enough in describing their country. 

 Ducks and geese are much easier lo get in the numerous pas- 

 sages, and are sufficiently abundant to tempt sportsmen, or 

 if the tourist, be a sportsman, to break the monotonv of his 

 trip. 



On the 'i{)t,li of May the Victoria crossed Dixon Entrance, 

 the dividing channel between British Columbia and Alas- 

 kan waters, ami we felt, that our labors hail really com- 

 menced. That same forenoon we entered lioende Quadra 

 Inlet in order to leave freight for the Cape Fox Salmon Can- 

 nery, an infant industry of thai year. This place was pic- 

 turesquely situated iu one of the many thousand picturesque 

 arms of the sea putting into Alaska from tin- Pacific I tcean, 

 all of which are merely canals or fjords Cut through sleep 

 lofty mountains and clothed wilh dark green verdure of the 

 Uaskan spruce and cedar clear to their tops, not unlike the 

 fjords of Norway us depicted. Mr. Ward, of Portland, 

 Oregon, was the superintendent, and had some forty or fifty 

 Tsimp.seau. (.'ape Fox and Tongas Indians about him. En- 

 gaging him in conversation I found thai game was very 

 plentiful in bis locality, consisting mostly of mountain 

 sheep, blacktailed deer anil brown and black bear, despite 

 the fact that the extremely rugged and mountainous char- 

 acter of the country, witli its dense, compact growth of 

 timber would make 'it, at first sight, appear otherwise iu 

 every sense. Not a great, many days before we arrived he 

 and a hired Indian at the cannery had taken their guns, his 

 being a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buck or ball 

 Slid the Indian's an old Hudson Bay musket, and had clam- 

 bered up the narrow valley of the little creek that here Hows 

 into the inlet from the mountain snows yet visible in great 

 banks on their tops, and during the day had seen eight black 

 bears, securing three with even their imperfect weapons for 

 SUCh game. This particular vallev aud its adjacent hills he 

 said was alive with litis sort of game, aud now that he had 

 a fine rifle he hoped to be able to do good execution. 



There is another -ort of bear in this general vicinity called 

 the brown bear, nearly as large and very closely resembling 

 the grizzly. A curious fact is that the brown and black 

 hears never inhabit the same valleys or mountains, so the 

 Indians here say, although these vicinities of each may be 

 mingled in a, genoralloeafity like the black and white- iua r 

 in a checkerboard, but each staying in his own color. The 

 particular valleys and other special localities held by the 

 brown bears are sacred spots to the Indians, who know all of 

 them wilh unerring accuracy, and they cannot be induced to 

 visit or hunt in them tmder any circumstances. They say 

 they are unusually savage, and while the Indians have the. 

 reputation of being brave when bravery is needed, they are 

 not very prone to display it simply for that purpose, and 

 accordingly, the brown bear with nothing but his robe as a 

 reward, is not much of an inducement for them lo seek. 

 They call them in their own language "the crazy bear" 

 From his ungovernable ferocity, I afterward found this dread 

 of the brown bear lo be coextensive with the Alaskan Ter- 

 ritory wherever Indians could be found. 



Wrangau was reached on the 30th. and it is tlie seediest 

 looking town in (he whole territory of the United States. 

 Such it seemed to be from the steamer, and wSien I. visited 

 the rickety mass of broken-down buildings I was surprised 



to see so much business goi 

 fair-sized backwi n 

 dog skin rugs covering the 

 Wrangell is lite principal ( 



mines on the Stickeen Hi 

 Stickeen Indian curiosities 



of them were elaborate, especially* their war ki 



looked formidable enough to kill an elephant, alt 



n, there being fom or five 



he principal display was of 



s, the animals not yet dead. 



for miners for the Cassiar 



which comes in near here. 



quite numerous, and some 



vhieh 



ugh T 



doubt, if they have ever been used iu anything more thrilling 

 than slicing salmon. One splendid piece of savage work- 

 manship was a carved ladle from the horns of a mountain 

 goat, for which the possessor had been offered $60. and this 

 cup showed iu its wholesale capacity for fluids that the 

 mouth of the Stickeen ludiau mid Stickeeu River must be 

 nearly tlie same size. 



In Order to reach Sitka, (he ''inland passage" must be 

 abandoned, or the route be very roundabout: and uo sooner 

 bail We reached the swells of the broad Pacific than the pas- 

 sengers commenced seeking rest. Sitka has been synonymous 

 with Alaska lo the greater majority of the people of the 

 United Slates so long, ami so many "have described this one 

 point so often, that, any person who has traveled a few hun- 

 dred miles in Alaska proper can afford to drop it as written 

 to death. Killisuoo is another steamboat port iu Alaska. 

 and here is a large codfish drving aud packing establishment 

 that is owned by the .Northwest Trading Company, most or 

 their eapilal being invested in cod, salmon and whale fish- 

 eries, instead of fur-lradtug, which has been overdone mitil 

 furs are gelling scarce. This policy of fisheries, it is reason- 

 ably supposed, will give a needed rest to the fur interest, by 

 withdrawing the Indian hunters as employes in the canneries*. 

 etc. Such has been the result in a number of frontier mining- 

 districts, where the more energetic Indians found lucrative 

 employment in various capacities, and when the mines had 

 played out," to use a miner's phrase, the fur-bearing ani- 

 lals were found to have increased considerably. 



At Killisuoo I saw many Indians with their' faces black- 

 ened with tar and pil eh. In a very few cases this is a pari 

 of the fashion for mourning for dead relatives, but in a 

 greater majority of the eases it is simply to protect: the face 

 from violent sunburn, and the eyes from the dazzling reflec- 

 tions while fishing on the water.' It does nol increase, their 

 beauty in the least, especially when it is about hair peeled 

 oil. but as tUej haven't much beauty to mar. it should hardly 

 be counted against them. 



On the 2d of June we arrived at Pyramid Harbor, in the 

 Chilkat Inlet, this being the point where I should disembark 

 for my contemplated inland trip lo the head of the Vukon 

 usiug" Indians as packers for my effects across Ihe-tO or 50 

 mile portage that intervened. There are two 

 this inlet, and the salmon "run" was expected to commence 

 everyday. 1 unloaded my effects at the cannery of the 

 Northwest Trading Company on the west side, and for 

 many kind efforts in procuring Indians for my trip, 1 am in- 

 debted to its superintendent. Mr. Spuhn, who* placed me un- 

 der many other obligations as well. Indians could be had iu 

 profusion at fl dollar a day, or a dollar and a half with a 

 canoe if I wanted it. I wanted them for a month or so. and 

 some few wen- hired, but I o cross I he mountain portage lo 

 the lake on Ihe head of the great Vukon they had charged 

 $9 and $10 each, and did not care to lower their prices, for 

 so rich a man as Uncle Sam. In vain did Mr. Spuhn argue 

 that it was a wholesale transaction that would require 60 or 

 70 of them, thai 1 was twin brother of the Great Father, that 

 another (win brother was to lie made governor of Alaska, 

 and so forth, and so on. They remained inexorable, and 

 right here 1 will say in advance that I had more respect for 

 them for it alter I too had traveled the Hail and saw the ter- 

 rible thoroughfare that would have tempted a mule to com- 

 mit suicide. 



Chilkat is particularly rugged aud capped with glaciers, 

 '- tteep, heavily limbered inoun 



lunch during the time) aud promised to be on hand to help 

 me along at, w'J per help. 



These Chilkats once owned slaves in large numbers, and I 

 am not quite sure that the practice has been wholly abolished 

 yet, despite the belief of many that it is. and certain amend- 

 ments to our constitution. However, many of the unneces- 

 sary cruelties aud barbarities of the institution that they 

 formerly practiced have disappeared, they knowing our op- 

 position' lo the system, aud willing to forego these for the 

 more palpable benefits of work and labors conducted sub Toga. 

 Mr. Spuhn told me that, these Indians used to Celebrate im- 

 portant events by killing slaves in the most horrible manners: 

 tying them in sacks ami stamping them to death while sing- 

 ing a death chant, tying them to a huge, boulder at low water- 

 mark and then singing aud daneing'ou the bank us the tide 

 came iu and drowned the poor wretch; and other methods 

 too horrible and disgusting to relate. Missionary effort has 

 done much to abate this, arid industries springiug'up iu their 

 midst arid overshadowing their actions and conduct while 

 giving them healthy labor at fair compensation, will throttle 

 it even to details. 



On the evening of the 6th of June, twenty Chilkool In- 

 dians from Cbilkoot Inlet, an arm of Lynn Channel, parallel 

 to Chilkat inlet, and both joining about ten or fifteen miles 

 from their villages, came over and informed me I hat they 

 were ready to go with mens packers. These, with my forty 

 or fifty Chilkats, made me feel safe in designating the mor- 

 row as the time to start. 



pots 



m the 

 ould 



with a few open p.- . 

 tain sides. In these open 

 picking berries and «rubbi 

 occurrence for a number 

 field glasses, to sit down 

 around on anything that \ 

 watch (he movements of lj 

 den on a grand scale. The 

 'Viol) feet abOYO the sea level, 

 like a hive of ants to bruin hi 

 Watched closely with the hel] 

 ti me for these dii 

 when, it 



evening an Indian, stimulated no do 

 of spectators that he would hi 

 lennined to kill bruin wilh 



bears are frequently seen 

 roots, ll was no unusual 

 armed with telescopes aud 

 oordwood piles or lounge 

 rive us resting room, and 

 It was a sort of bear <an- 

 i "hare" spots were 2,000 to 



id. while we no dOubt looked 



self, his movements could be 



_ of a tine glass. The usual 



.luring the clear, quiet evenings, 



hip is most prone lo feed. One 



lbs in 



th: large 





play incidental 

 with an old too 

 hill. He was gc 

 enaded backward 

 all this time, Witt 



true theatrical i 





hie 



erfoi 



ip ti 



•ar having prom- 

 d-d spa, L , during 

 a Utile break not 



ud forward iu hi 



the fndian was so 

 far from bruin, crawling directly for 

 bear hunt, with the spectators occupying private boxes, dress 

 circle and pit (or rather, salmon boxes, oordwood and the 

 ground), was a geuuiue novelty, and 1 think a good score of 

 glasses followed the. Indian aud the bear in ail their move- 

 ments. The Indian get within thirty or forty yrrds if the 

 bear, as we estimated from our standpoint" and when it 

 looked to all as if both were iu full sight of each other, the 

 Indian suddenly halted, stretched his neck up in the air, 

 turned around and ran backward in the bush, and we never 

 saw him again until tlie next morning, when he, reported 

 that he had seen nothing of the bear. After the ludiau dis- 

 appeared the bear, a good-sized specimen of the black variety, 

 "nosed around'' for a while and then suddenly vacated, hav- 

 ing evidently gotten "wind" of his antagonist. The whole 

 thing seemed to be a grand farce, in which no fault could 

 be found, at least, with the scenery and settings. 



On the fourth of the month, some fishermen in the inlet 

 brought in a sting ray that measured five feet six inches in 

 length by four feet four inches in width. They told me it 

 was nothing unusual to catch these fellows in these waters. 



nere, too, I found the Indians blackening their faces until 

 they looked like a lot of darkey minstrels, to keep the sun 

 from blistering their faces, and I could uot help but think 

 that the prospects for a blonde white man were not very en- 

 couraging. 



Indians were very hard to procure in sufficient numbers to 

 transport my party across the portage iu one body, requiring 

 some fifty to sixty, as one of tlie principal chiefs had died 

 at, the head of the inlet and all of the tribe wanted to attend 

 his obsequies when he would be burnt on a funeral pyre, I 

 was sent an invitation to be present as a means of delaying 

 mc, but as the ceremonies threatened to be a week long I 

 declined -with thanks, and when they saw I was obdurate 

 many decided to forego their pleasure (for it is one grand free 



AMONG THE MOOSE. 



tS TWO PAHTS— PMtT II. 



_\'e, M -James, .yen are a good shot - 



Shepherd— I seldom miss a haystack, or a bam-door, standing at 

 twenty yards; bat; war they to tak win^s to themselves and. tleeaway. 

 1 should lie shy o' takia on ony Hg bet that 1 should bring them 

 atjwr -especially wf a single barrel , — Noefes Amhrosittmle, 



ANOTHER story Joe told had an air of respectable an- 

 tiquity about it, but as he told it was cfuite amusing: 

 ■■Once there was a man, an' he lived in the bush, an' he had 

 a farm in lire bush, an' one day he went to a town to get a 

 file. So then he got a file to file his saw, an' he gave a half 

 a dollar for the file, a file about so loug, an' then he w'as 

 eoiu' home, an' he was goin' to ride home on his horse 

 through the bush, an' he tied the, file on his saddle. So then 

 he rode along, ami after a while he looked for his tile, an' it 

 was gone, an' he didn't have no file, an' he had lost his file. 

 So then he turned back an' rode along an' he was all the 

 time lookin' for his tile, an' after a while he found it iu the 

 road. So then he said. 'I'll carry the file in my hands so 1 

 won't lose it any more.' An' then he. rode along an' he was 

 cam-in' his tilo'so he won't lose it again. So then he came 

 to where il was green bush, an' there was a partridge sittin' 

 by the road on a log. An' then he thought he would get the 

 partridge, so he threw his file at Ihe partridge, an' then 

 the partridge flew away. Au' then he went to look at le 

 log an' gel, his tile. au'"liis file was gone, an' he couldn't find 

 his tile, an' then he didn't carry his tile in his baud no more 

 so he won't lose it." 



Wednesday afternoon 1 had gone with the Indians to the 

 pomls, near which we first camped to gel some traps they 

 had set Which they wished to take along when we moved 

 camp to the burnt country. As we came back, we saw on 

 the bog neat Ihe bead of the pond by our shanty, 

 the tracks of a very laige moose which had walked by there 

 the night before within 350 yards of the camp. I pointed 

 out the place, which was in plain sight from ihe beach in 

 front of the camp, to Mr. Peck, and* he told the Indians that 

 if they would put a moose there, he or 1 could kill it before, 

 if could get lo the timber. Friday morning we were ready 

 I o start for our new camping ground iu good rime, with 

 heavy loads, but before we left, Aleck got at Mr. Peck to 

 shoot his gun at something so he could see how much to be- 

 lieve about what was to him long v.iu^j. He was soon satis- 

 tied after seeing a number of shots at 300 to 000 yards, aud 

 we (ramped out to where we had first come by wagon, but 

 eased the-trip some by using the birch to cross a couple of 

 ponds instead of walking around them. After eating a 

 lunch, we took a new direction and reached an unoccupied 

 log camp near a beautiful pond surrounded by bold hills 

 where we passed the night. Cur journey from" this to (un- 

 intended huuling ground was without any particular inci- 

 dent—we passed' an occupied camp of loggers, where we had 

 a lunch of beans and carried with us some fresh biead aud 

 doughnuts. On Ihe big bog we bail several miles of good 

 paddling in the birch, stopping only to cut, out a couple of 

 trees, and a tramp of a couple of miles after leaving Ihe 

 canoe brought us to an old aud long disused lumber shanty, 

 where we made ourselves as comfortable as we could, intend- 

 ing to begin hunting Monday. 



.My companion, lo whose kindness and companionship in 

 camp 1 was indebted for two-thirds of the pleasure of my 

 trip, hud not been very well before we started from St. 

 Claire, and had caught a bad cold just after we got into the 

 woods. Sunday night was even colder than the two or three 

 before it, ice half an inch thick freezing in the tins in the 

 shanty, aud Monday morning 1 saw thai he looked and felt 

 unwell. After breakfast he said he did not feel able to hunt 

 any, aud to avoid the risk of getting worse he would go out 

 to "the railroad, taking Joe with him, and suggested that I 

 should carry out the object of the expedition by hunting 

 Monday and Tuesday, aud should theu come out, "join him 

 Wednesday night, and we would Start home Thursday 

 morning. "Alter some argument— for I did not like to see 

 him go off alone — I agreed to this, and by 9 o'clock he and 

 Joe ha 1 gone. This was so long after breakfast that. Aleck 

 could not start out, of course, until he had eaten something 

 and drunk a quart or two of tea, then we started on our 

 hunt, 1 in my shirt sleeves, with only my gun to carry, 

 Aleck bringing some provisions and" an axe. The leaves 

 were very noisy and the day altogether a had one for still- 

 hunting. 



it noon we halted, got in a hollow, where we would be 

 out of sight, sound and wind, and dined. We had seen 

 fresh tracks of au old bull and two smaller moose in Ihe two 

 or three miles we had traveled, but had uot. very much idea 

 that we should see any of the animals themselves. The 

 afternoon was even worse than the morning. There was a 

 dull, leaden, cloudy sky overhead, and not a breath of air 

 stirring, not a leaf 'moved; it was .so still thatthe traditional 

 pin would have needed to drop but a little way to be heard. 



The only chance lay in seeing a moose before it saw us. 

 and as the country was all burned, so that we could see a 

 mile sometimes, there was a possibility of our doing this. 

 We went as quietly as we could, and very slowly, stopping 

 every few paces to look and listen. About haft -past 4 we 



