THE WEST-SHORE.
183
SITKA, ALASKA.
THE Bonbon ia now rapidly approaching whou the tour
ist's eyes will turn in the direction of our extreme
northern possessions. Alaska, whioh hns stood for yeors
in the popular mind as the personification of frigidity, is
becoming better known every year. Annually Bteamor
loads of tourists are carried through the enchanting
island-fringed channel which leads northward five hun
dred miles from Puget Sound. Exempt from ocean
storms and their invariable attendant, seasickness, the
traveler sails continually on the bosom of placid waters,
with grand forest and mountain scenery on either hand.
It is such a voyage as one would enjoy were thore a
broad, deep and continuous waterway across the Cas
cades and Rocky Mountains, such as the early navigators
sought in vain for more than two centurios. A glance at
the map will show what a perfect maze of bays, inlets
and land-locked passages is to be found on the coast of
British Columbia and Alaska. Sitka, the tourist's objec
tive point, lies in latitude 58 dog., on one of a numerous
archipelago of islands, being no f urthor north than the
extreme southern point of Greenland. Yet what a con
trast in climate between that icy land where the hardy
Norsemen planted colonies nine hundred years ago and
that of "Sitka's thousand islos"! Owing to the modify
ing influence of the great current of warm water which
sweeps through the North Pacific, the mean winter tem
perature at Sitka varies from 27 to 84 degrees, and the
yearly mean from 38 to 48 degreos. The lowest recorded
temperature during thirteen years of observation was 7
degrees below zero. Snow seldom fulls to the depth of
six inches, and generally disappears rapidly before the
melting rains. The rainfall is very great, to which cause
is due the luxuriant growth of native grosses and the
dense forests that cover the islands and fringe the count
of the mainland. Tall, jagged peaks, barren of vegeta
tion and oovered with snow, but having at (heir bases the
deep green of luxuriant vegetation, are the loading char
acteristics of the scenery along the Alaskan ooattL Nu
merous large glaciers thrust their icy whiteness through
the mountain passes and move steadily into the sea. An
occasional iceberg may be seen in the viciuity of these,
consisting of huge masses of ioe which have become de
tached and fallen into the water, where they float about
till they melt and disappear.
Sitka is the chief town and seat of government, the
only othor place of importance being Fort Wrangoll, still
further to the south. It was founded by Baranoft in 171)0
and was made the capital of Russian America by Baron
Wrangoll in 1832, consequently it is one of the oldest
settlements on the Pacific Coast north of Mexico. Thore
is much in the old Russian town which ia of interest to
tourists, and it is a fitting terminus for so delightful a
voyage.
This region is also closely associated in the popular
mind with sealskin saoquea, or "Alaska comforters." The
seal islands of St Paul and SL George, the only place
where seals may be legally token, and where the Alaska
Commercial Company has the monopoly privilege of cap
turing 100,000 annually, lie sovoral hundred miles to the
uuilliweol of Sitka oud beyond the limits of tourist tra
vel. Sealing is carried on by ninny private individuals
in defiance of the law, and the risk they run of fine and
confiscation of property is not very great in a region a
thousand miles in extent, guarded by only one Govern
ment vessel. Tho number of seals killed annually cannot
be definitely stated, for, in addition to thoao poachers, it
is to be presumed that the monopoly does not confine
itself to the legal 100,000. They are situated much as
were the Twood ring in New York they "do the oouut
ing," and it makos little difference what any one else may
say or do.
Thore is another amphibious animal that abounds in
Alaskan waters, which plays a far more important part
in the domestic economy of the natives than does the
seal. This is the walrus,- the mainstay of the Innuits,
that branch of the Esquimau race living along tho west
ern and northern shores of tho Alaska Peninsula. The
walrus is as essential to the Innuit as the camel to the
Arab or the ooooa-pulm to the native of tho South Sua
Islands. Its flesh foods him; its oil illuminates and
warms his dork and contracted hut; its sinews make his
bird nets; its tough skin is put to many uses, and when
skillfully strotehod over a light wooden frame forms the
famous kayak, in which ho boldly ventures ou tho storm
iest sea; its intestines are converted into waterproof
clothing; the soles of its flipiors moke soles for his foot;
and, finally, its ivory is of great utility in endless ways,
and forms a valuable article of barter with visiting
traders. The provident Innuit mokes a each of walrus
moat in the fall, and this often boooiuaa his sole food
supply for weeks at a time during tho severest portion of
winter, when the procuring of fresh food Is an lnioisi.
bility evon to those hardy natives. It Is no wonder the
Inuuit eoncoives Paradise to Iw ono vast walrus hunting
ground, and says to himself, " Without walrus there ia no
heaven."
The sandy shoals of Bristol Bay, in Behrlng Sua, are
the favorite resort of the walrus. When the Ioe pack
closes the sea above Asia and America, millions of these
animals rotroat from their summer resort among the ice
floes of the Arctic Ocean into the oon waters of Behrlng
Sea, aooompaniod by their young which were born on the
floating ioe of the Arctic There they spend the winter,
scattered in herds ranging from a doxen to several thou
sand in each. Living at peace among themselves and
nearly exompt from persecution by hunters, they pass
the dark winter mouths with as much enjoyment as such
a mass of fat can expect to experience. In the summer
time they are hunted by the natives, and are shot by
thousands by the whalers who visit the Arctic by way of
IMiring's Strait, their oil and ivory constituting an im
portant item in the return cargo of the whaling flettt
A rot'NO man in Massachusetts has adopted whistling
for a profession. When he gets married, and tho bills
begin to come in, ha will have plenty of chance for
practice.