The Chemawa American, January 01, 1914, Page 13, Image 13

THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
11
ceeded in covering us w ith their foamy spray! W e were having such a
good tim e th a t w ith reluctance we left the bou n ty of those sem i-precious
pebbles, and m o u n tin g the precipitous slope, looked back across the
tossing, heaving w aters, and uttered those lines, so sim ple, yet so re ­
plete w ith the loneliness and incom prehensibility of th e deep:
Break, break, break.
On the cold gray stones, O sea.
And 1 would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
A few days later we visited a su rv ey o r’s flag w hich is securely p la n t­
ed at the sum m it of a steep hill on the east coast. T h ere are no trees
here, nor are there any west of K odiak. All over th e island the ground
is shirred into little puffs, consequently, w alking, especially at n ight,
cannot alw ays be done in an easy and graceful m anner. T h is uneven
surface has a deep covering of moss—so th a t one sinks several inches
at each step— and all this, together w ith the not infrequent rum bling
of earthquakes, gives th e novice the not w holly agreeable feeling th at
a t alm ost any m om ent he is apt to descend into T ophet.
W hile on th is tram p we became acquainted w ith num erous little red,
blue, and black berries, w hich peeped o u t at us from under the green
m oss and th e red leaves, a few inches above th e ground. C ranberries,
chickenberries, blueberries, and m ossberries, were cram m ed into our
pockets, because "w e w ant to m ake teacher f a t." T hen we were
ta u g h t to know of th e poisonous crow berry, w hich tho u g h very sim ilar
in appearance to its cousin, the m ossberry, has a red pulp w hile th at
of the m ossberry is w hite. On th e rocks at our feet were the shells of
sea eggs w hich th e gulls had dropped th ere to break, and had then
eaten. T w ilig h t was falling and the sh arp edges of day were soften­
ed bv a m ist of silvery blue and p u rp le. Across the bay were the peaks
of N ogoi, am ong whose hills th e bear and caribou w ander. Ju st liefore
us great A m erican and Russian eagles were scream ing the story of L eg­
end Rock. T ow ard th e south is Sea Lion Rock, and m any exciting
tales are told of ad v en tu re w ith th e occupants of th is rem ote isle.
T h e three-m ile trip up to " T h e C am p " is alw ays enjoyable. A long
the beach we find kelp, barnacles, and m any curious shells. A decade
ago the cam p was a place of some im portance, but now the gold d ig ­
gings are about ex h au sted , and the num erous wooden buildings, w hich
sheltered the tw o hundred m iners, are deserted and decaying. H ow ­
ever. th e e v a n id e of potassium test is being used on the refuse. If su c­
cessful the m ine will again he put in ep eratien and all the tailings of
the last tw enty-five years will be worked over.
From " T h e Cam p we attem pted to scale Mt. Apollo. 2,000 feet high
—th e highest peak on the island. A steady, chilly rain caused us to