30 JOHN BURROUGHS 



ened by improved methods and machinery that the invest- 

 ment yields a good profit. 



LYNN CANAL AND SKAGWAY. 



All the afternoon we steamed up Lynn Canal over 

 broad, placid waters, shut in by dark smooth-based moun- 

 tains that end in bare serrated peaks. Glaciers become 



DAVIDSON GLACIER, LYNN CANAL. 



more and more numerous; one on our right hangs high 

 on the brink of a bare sheer precipice, as if drawing back 

 from the fearful plunge. But plunge it did not and prob- 

 ably never will. 



We are soon in sight of a much larger glacier, the 

 Davidson, on our left. It flows out of a deep gorge and 

 almost reaches the inlet. Seen from afar it suggests the 

 side view of a huge white foot with its toe pressing a 

 dark line of forest into the sea. 



Before sunset we reach Skagway and land at the long 

 high pier (the tides here are sixteen or eighteen feet). 

 The pier is swarming with people. Such a gathering and 

 such curiosity and alertness we have not before seen. 

 Hotel runners flourish their cards and call out the names 



