CRUISING ON PUGET SOUND. 



GEO. G. CANTWELL. 



On the 3d of August a lively party of us 

 left Puyallup, on the electric line, and were 

 soon landed at the Tacoma dock where we 

 were the guests of Mr. W. A. Stewart, 

 bound for a trip down the sound, on his 

 trim little yacht. We left our usual identity 

 on shore, and once on the boat resolved 

 ourselves into the following crew: captain, 

 mate, engineer, fireman, cook, naturalist 

 and the dog. 



The city of Destiny gradually faded from 

 view as the swift little propeller drove us 

 through the foaming waters, and things 

 were put in ship shape order about the boat. 

 Bedding was spread out on the folding 

 bunks, in the cabin; the guns and fishing 

 tackle were put in handy places, to be ready 

 in case of emergency; but the most formid- 

 able looking pile of all was the grub, which 

 was carefully stored for future use. 



Then we studied our chart. We were 

 shortly to be in strange waters, and by the 

 aid of the compass we were soon fairly on 

 our way toward our destination. Down 

 the sound, beyond Seattle, around Point 

 No Point, and into the long, narrow sheet 

 of water 150 miles into the wilderness, 

 known as Hoods Canal. 



Sea birds were abundant on all sides. 

 The naturalist identified the ring-billed, 

 herring, and Bonapart's gull. Also black 

 foresters and least terns, with an occasional 

 jaeger or sheerwater. A common bird was 

 the pigeon guillemot, locally known as the 

 sea pigeon. These frequently flushed from 

 the head of the boat, where they would go 

 spattering along the water for quite a dis- 

 tance before getting fairly on the wing. 

 They breed in burrows, in the sand cliffs, 

 along shore, and in places the banks are 

 fairly honey-combed with their nests. 



Sea coots rode the waves, in little bunch- 

 es, but were wild, and occasionally little 

 auks would dive about the boat. On al- 

 most every bit of floating kelp, or sea-weed, 

 we saw the red phalarope; sometimes im- 

 mense flocks of them. 



Our first seal put its head out of water 

 but a short distance from Tacoma. A shot 

 from the .22 rifle caused it to go under 

 again; and all along the trip they were fre- 

 quently seen. This is a small hairy variety, 

 about 4 feet long and of a mottled brown 

 color. They are not of much use except 

 for the oil of their blubber. 



Wishing to make a certain point before 

 dark the engineer called for more " fog," 

 and as the steam pressure began to climb 

 up something gave way and there was a 

 lively scramble, through the escaping 

 steam, to the cabin. On investigating the 

 matter we found the packing had blown 



out of the cylinder head. This was soon 

 replaced and we were on our way again, 

 shortly coming to anchor, for the night, in 

 a quiet little cove near shore. 



Here the cook's troubles began with a 

 howling toothache. Gory tales of the 

 back-woods tooth-carpenter, in which the 

 artist went at his victim with a hammer and 

 chisel, were fresh in his mind; but imagine 

 his surprise and relief next morning, as he 

 looked up the dentist at Port Blakeley and 

 had his aching tooth neatly extracted, by a 

 finished operator. 



The weather on our second day ou% 

 proved fine, and all hands took life easy, 

 loafing about the boat, smoking, reading, 

 and swapping lies. The dog had his turn, 

 to-day, getting sea-sick, and willingly gave 

 up all he had. The way he hung his head 

 over the rail and longingly gazed at the 

 shore, but a short distance away, was really 

 pathetic. 



The naturalist found the collecting quite 

 to his liking. He would shoot the birds, 

 from the bow of the boat, pick them up as 

 we went by and prepare them while on the 

 way. One specimen of the rare sabine gull 

 was seen, but not collected. 



We camped the next night around a 

 point, in quiet water, and preparing a good 

 hot supper, on shore, returned to the boat 

 and indulged in a game of cards while the 

 band played. Evidently the clear notes of 

 the mandolin were not wasted on the desert 

 air, for presently a mild-eyed seal drifted 

 along side and listened to the tangled mess 

 of waltzes, polkas and jigs that poured over 

 the rail, till the strains of " After the ball " 

 were recognized. That was too much, and 

 with a haunted look in its beautiful eyes it 

 slowly sank beneath the waves. The card 

 game also broke up and all hands rolled 

 into their bunks. 



Next morning we were off by sunrise, 

 breakfast being cooked en route, on the 

 gasoline stove. At high noon we landed 

 and made camp at the foothills of the 

 Olympics, on the Duckabush river. 



We anchored at the mouth, and while 

 several of us went up the river for trout, 

 taking a variety of flies, angleworms and 

 salmon eggs, the rest of the party went 

 along the beach and found a good clam 

 bed. These men were first back to camp, 

 with a sack full of the delicious bivalves. 

 They had 3 varieties of small ones — little 

 necks, butter clams and cockles — that are 

 about the size of oysters; and 2 kinds of 

 larger clams, 6 inches or more across. One 

 of these is known as the horse clam, and 

 the other as the goeduck. The horse clam 

 is a staple with the Siwash Indians, but is 



