86 JOHN BURROUGHS 



The 4th of July found us, as it usually finds Americans, 

 wherever they are, full of patriotism and overflowing 

 with bunting and gunpowder hilarity. Our huge grapho- 

 phone played very well the part of a brass band; Profes- 

 sor Brewer, upon the hurricane deck, discharged admirably 

 the duties of the orator of the day, followed by Mr. 

 Keeler, who shaded the picture the speaker had drawn 

 by a stirring poem, touching upon some of the nation's 

 shortcomings; songs and music, followed by a boat race 

 and general merriment, finished the program. 



Kadiak I think won a place in the hearts of all of us. 

 Our spirits probably touched the highest point here. If 

 we had other days that were epic, these days were lyric. 

 To me they were certainly more exquisite and thrilling 

 than any before or after. I feel as if I wanted to go back 

 to Kadiak, almost as if I could return there to live — so 

 secluded, so remote, so peaceful; such a mingling of 

 the domestic, the pastoral, the sylvan, with the wild 

 and the rugged; such emerald heights, such flowery 

 vales, such blue arms and recesses of the sea, and such 

 a vast green solitude stretching away to the west, and 

 to the north and to the south — bewitching Kadiak ! the 

 spell of thy summer freshness and placidity is still upon 

 me. 



On the 5th, still under clear warm skies, we left this 

 rural paradise and steamed away to Kukak Bay on the 

 mainland to pick up the party we left there on the night 

 of the 30th. It was a relief to find they had had no mis- 

 adventure and were well pleased with their expedition. 

 They described one view that made the listener wish he 

 had been with them: they had climbed to the top of a 

 long green slope back of their camp and had suddenly 

 found themselves on the brink of an almost perpendic- 

 ular mountain wall with a deep notch, through which 

 they had looked down 2,000 feet into a valley beneath 



