ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND 107 



In a patch of willows along the creek the gray-cheeked 

 thrush was in song, and the Townsend fox sparrow and 

 Canada tree sparrow were found. I saw one of the 

 thrushes do what I never saw any of the thrush kind do 

 before : it hovered in the air fifty feet or more above the 

 moor and repeated its song three times very rapidly. As 

 there were no trees to give it a lofty perch, it perched 

 upon the air. 



It was a very novel experience, this walking over the 

 tundra; its vastness, its uniformity, its solitude, its gentle- 

 ness, its softness of contour, its truly borean character — 

 the truncated hills and peaks on the near horizon suggest- 

 ing huge earthworks, the rounded and curved elevations 

 like the backs of prostrate giants turned up to the sun, 

 and farther off the high serrated snow-streaked ranges on 

 the remote horizon to the north — all made up a curious 

 and unfamiliar picture. 



We were fortunate in having clear bright skies during 

 our stay in these high latitudes. But the nights were 

 starless; the sun was so near, there was so much light in 

 the sky that the stars were blotted out. The sun set 

 about ten and rose about two, dipping down but a little 

 way below the horizon. 



ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND. 



Port Clarence was the northernmost point we reached. 

 A little farther north the ice pack closed the gateway to 

 the Arctic Ocean. An excursion into the ice to see the 

 midnight sun did not hold out inducements enough to 

 offset the dangers. So in the early morning of July 13th, 

 we steamed away on the return trip. Before noon we 

 were again in the thick veil of fog with which Bering Sea 

 always seems to cover her face. Near nightfall, with a 

 stiff wind blowing, we anchored off St. Lawrence Island 

 and two boat loads of our people went ashore. St. Law- 



