The weather was beautiful, the ocean smooth, and the sail exhilarating. At midnight the sun was visible in the northwest, and the full moon in the southeast. At 1 a. m., August 3, the ship anchored at Ootkeavie, where we remained a week while the ship's carpenters were building the Government storehouse, and the captain inspecting the refuge station. During the week, among the callers was Mr. J. B. Vincent, the hero of the shipwreck of the bark Napoleon, off the cost of Siberia. Mr. Vincent is now second mate on the whaling bark Abram Barker.

One afternoon Capt. Gifford, of the bark Abram Barker, came on board and represented that his engineer, a Russian, had made two or three attempts to disable the engine, upon which the safety of the ship depended, that he had the man in irons, and requested Capt. Healy to take him off his hands, as a dangerous character. The accused man himself joined in the request, and was received on board. This is another instance of the many sided and anomalous character of the officers of a revenue vessel in these waters beyond the reach of courts and law. This is another instance where the commanding officer of the revenue service should have power to investigate, arrest, and commit criminals to the United States district court for trial. As it is, a man who endeavored to wreck a ship, and endangered many lives, goes free.

In 1882 Lieut. Ray's party dug a well to the depth of 37.5 feet for observing the temperature of the earth. The entire distance was made through frozen sand and gravel. At the bottom of the shaft the temperature remained, winter and summer, uniformly at 12 F. At the depth of 20 feet a tunnel was run 10 feet and then a room 10 by 12 feet size excavated for a cellar. In this room the temperature never rises above 22 F. Birds and meat, placed in this room, freeze solid, and remain so until taken to the kitchen and thawed out for cooking. While at the station I descended into this unique storage house. The carcasses of several reindeer and dozens of eider ducks were taken from it, and presented to the ship, making a very welcome addition to our table fare.

In the spring of 1883, 500 ducks were stored there at one time. At Ootkeavie the captain, at the request of the father, received on board a half-breed Eskimo boy, about 5 years of age, who is to be forwarded to the industrial training school at Sitka, for an education.

On Saturday, August 9, the inspection of the refuge station being completed, the storehouse finished, and arrangements for the school perfected, preparations were made to return southward. At 4:10 p. m. the anchor was weighed and the , vessel steamed north a few miles to procure the last letters of the whaling fleet. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted to the top of the mainmast as a signal that we were about sailing. Soon after anchoring in the midst of the fleet the boats began arriving, bringing off packages of letters. At 9:15 p. m. the flag was lowered, the anchor weighed, and the Bear steamed slowly away en route to civilization. As we passed by the ships, one after another dipped their flags and bade us an Arctic farewell, with many wishes for a safe voyage. Great masses of heavy black clouds lay along the whole northern horizon, like a curtain to hide the unknown regions beyond. To the east of us lay the low land spit that marks the northern limit of the continent, the native village of underground huts, and the white canvas and skin covered tents of the visiting natives from the interior. To the west of us the sun was preparing, at 10 o'clock p. m., for a most gorgeous sunset; and south of us, as if symbolical of the lands of light, privilege, and comfort, to which we were to return, there was not a cloud to be seen in the beautiful sky. At 10 o'clock p. m. we passed the school and refuge station, and soon they faded from sight and were left far behind us, in their Arctic solitude, until the Bear again visits them a twelvemonth hence.

On the 11th of August the captain anchored off Cape Sabine to water ship. In this vicinity are extensive and valuable coal banks. On the beach were several deserters from the whaling ships, who begged hard to be received on board and taken out of the country. One of their number had been drowned. Every year men desert from the whalers; some of these die from exposure, others are picked up by the Bear, as in the present case, and a few remain in the country, descending at once to the level of the natives, demoralizing and doing them much more harm than a missionary can do good.

On the 12th, in rounding Cape Lisburne in a gale, the jib boom and sails were carried away, and the ship ran back and anchored in the lea of the cape. The country in the vicinity of the cape has been called the flower garden of the Arctic, on account of the number and variety of beautiful wild flowers. On the 13th, although the storm had not fully subsided, the Bear was got under way, and that afternoon anchored by the hull of the wrecked Thomas Pope, abreast of the schoolhouse at Point Hope. I went ashore, but found the schoolhouse locked up, and Dr. Driggs, the teacher, absent.

On the morning of August 15, we bade good-by to Point Hope, and the following morning, at 8:40 o'clock, dropped anchor off Cape Blossom, Kotzebue Sound. The day being pleasant I accompanied an officer to the great international fair of the Arctic, some 12 miles distant from our anchorage. There were about 1,500 natives assembled from many and widely separated sections of the country-from Alaska and Siberia. Many were living in tents, but fully half had constructed shelters by turning their umiaks or boats upside down. As I passed their shelters, my attention was again and again called to the sick. To be sick beyond the reach of a physician, with poor care and poorer accommodations, and without knowledge of even the commoner remedies, is distress itself. As I see these people, so kindly disposed in life, with a smile of welcome to the stranger, and then see them languishing in their comfortless shelters, with but a few days or weeks removed from death, my heart goes out to them in inexpressible longing, and I wish I could tell them the story of the Cross and introduce them to the hopes and joys of the gospel. Perhaps I may, at no distant day, secure for their children a mission and boarding school.

The beach was covered with racks, upon which hung long rows of salmon, drying for winter food. At 3:35 p. m., on the 27th, having a fair wind, the captain weighed anchor and sailed for Cape Prince of Wales. On the afternoon of the 19th, we passed through Bering Strait, and bade good-by to the Arctic Ocean. The sea was so rough that the captain gave up all hope of being able to land at the cape. But during the afternoon the wind died out and the sea calmed down, so that he was able to run in shore and anchor abreast of the village at 6 o'clock p. m. We could not have landed through the surf the day before, the day after, or at any other time that day. God's providence stayed the waves sufficiently long for us to visit the shore and transact our business. Had we passed by without stopping the teachers would have been unable to send down their orders for the annual supply of provisions, and next year they would have been unsupplied. As it was I had four hours with them. The wind increasing, at 10 o'clock we were again under way. On the 20th we steamed by King and Sledge islands (the sea being too rough tɔ land, and at noon on the 21st dropped anchor off St. Michael, Norton Sound. Soon after we had a call from Mr. Henry Newmann, agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, and Rev. William H. Judge, a Jesuit priest, who has lately come to the country to engage in the school work of the Roman Catholic Church on the Yukon River.

St. Michael is located on the first good site for a trading post north of the delta of the Yukon River, and is the headquarters of the trade of the Yukon. valley. To this point the furs collected at the trading posts in the interior, some of them 2,000 miles distant, are brought for reshipment to San Francisco. About half a mile from the trading post is a small native village. The trading post was established by the Russians in 1835, and is now occupied by the Alaska Commercial Company. A blockhouse and some of the original buildings are still standing. Through the courtesy of Mr. Henry Newmann, two small Russian cannon, one of which was originally used in the defense of the place and the other in protecting the boating expeditions up the river, were secured for the collection of the Alaska Society of Natural History. At St. Michael 1 received a good account of the schools, nine of which receive their supplies and mails at this point.

It is said of one of the missionaries, who is some 2,000 miles, more or less, up the river, that when he saw his freight bill of $125 per ton for transportation from St. Michael to his station, he added a petition in his prayer that freight might be reduced. During the stay at St. Michael two interesting boys, William and George Frederickson, from Anvik, on the Yukon River, were received on board to accompany me East. Their father, a trader, is sending them to New York for an education. After a pleasant visit of two days, the Bear took her departure for Nunivak island. On the following Sabbath night, and through all Monday, we were steaming around the island, that the captain might secure the census. Finding that the people were scattered, hunting and fishing, and being warned by the few natives he met of dangerous rocks and reefs, and the waters being uncharted, on Monday evening the captain turned around and steamed for St. George Island, which we reached on the morning of August 27. Nearing the island, a schooner was seen crowding on all sail to get out of our way. As the captain had not yet received his instructions, which were awaiting his arrival at Unalaska, and had no authority to make any seizures, the schooner was allowed to proceed unmolested. She was one of the many piratical vessels that are fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia, and San Francisco, to hunt seals in Bering Sea contrary to law. In 1886 there were 21 such vessels from Victoria alone, and the catch was 35,556 skins. In 1887 there were

20 vessels from Victoria, 8 of which were seized; the catch was 27,624 skins. In 1888 there were 19 British vessels, with a total catch of nearly 30,000 skins. In 1889, 23 British vessels, and this year 22 British and 12 American vessels engaged in seal piracy. Their methods of operation are so wasteful that the number of skins taken does not begin to represent the number of seals killed. They necessarily hunt out to sea, where they largely kill the females heavy with their young. A large percentage of the seals shot sink before they can be secured, ɛo that many authorities state that the 20,000 to 30,000 secured represent from 150,000 to 200,000 seals destroyed. This wasteful method is rapidly annihilating the fur seal, so that if our granddaughters are to have seal-skin sacques the Government will need to take more stringent measures for the protection of the seal. The indiscriminate slaughter of the seal while passing to their breeding grounds has caused such a scarcity on the seal islands, that while the Government allows 100,000 males to be taken annually, this year the vessels have been able to secure but 21,000 skins.

The piratical vessels fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia, to hunt seal have caused the international complications known as the "Bering Sea difficulty," which are now the subject of negotiations between the State Department and Great Britain.

WHALING INDUSTRY.

As early as the year 1841 fifty whaling vessels had found their way from New Bedford and Boston to Bering Sea. From 1842 and onward for a number of years annual complaints were made to the Russian Government by the RussianAmerican Fur Company of the encroachments of the Yankee whalers. In 1852 the whaling fleet had increased to 278 vessels, and the value of the catch to $14,000,000. This was probably the most profitable year of the whaling industry in Alaska. Since then it has, in the main, decreased, until in 1862 the value of the catch was less than $800,000. This increased again in 1867 to $3,200,000. In 1880 the first steamer was added to the whaling fleet, being sent out from San Francisco. Last year there were 26 vessels from San Francisco and 23 from New New Bedford engaged in the trade. They captured 151 whales, which yielded 213,070 pounds of whale bone and 12,243 barrels of oil. This season there are 10 steamers and 38 sailing vessels employed in these northern waters with a very light catch up to midsummer. The whaling vessels are manned upon the cooperative plan; the men instead of being paid regular wages receive a percentage of the profits. The captain on the sailing vessels receives a twelfth, the first mate a nineteenth, the second mate and boat headers each a twenty-fifth, the third mate a thirtieth, the fourth mate, carpenter, cooper, and steward each a fiftieth, and the sailors each a one hundred and seventy-fifth. On steamers the rates are a little lower. A captain's wages range from nothing to $7,000 or $8,000, according to the number of whales taken. If the ship gets six whales during a cruise the captain will have about $1,400 and a sailor $100. The sailors usually receive an advance of $60, and during the cruise are allowed to draw clothing, tobacco, etc., from the ship's supplies (called the "slop chest") to the amount of $60 to $80. Consequently if there are no profits to divide the sailor is sure of about $140. The captains and higher officers are usually men of more than ordinary character and intelligence-typical American seamen of the best kind. The common sailors on a whaler are made up largely of Portuguese, Italians, South Sea Islanders, and others of an inferior grade, some of them being, emphatically, hard cases.

A few years ago whales were plentiful in the North Pacific, Bering, and Okhotsk Seas. Then they were followed through Bering Straits a little way into the Arctic. Then farther and farther the whales have been driven into the inaccessible regions of the North, until now the whaling fleet annually rounds the most northern extremity of the American continent, and this year, for the first time, a few of them will winter in the Arctic, at the mouth of the Makenzie River. To escape this deadly pursuit the whales try to hide in the ice, and after them the whalers boldly force their way. The business is so dangerous that during the last 20 years more than 100 vessels have been lost. The value of the whale fisheries consists not so much in the oil taken, as in the whale-bone, which is taken from his mouth; this is worth between $4.50 and $5 per pound. The product of a fair sized, bowhead whale, at present prices, is worth about $8,000. A good sized whale weighs about 150 tons, and contains about 2,000 pounds of whalebone after it is cleaned. His tongue is 15 feet long, from 6 to 8 feet in thickness, and contains 12 barrels of oil. His open mouth is from 15 to 20 feet across;

his tail from 15 to 18 feet across. The blubber forms a coat around him from 10 to 22 inches thick. It is 4 feet from the outside of the body to his heart, and the heart is 216 cubic feet in size, while the brains will fill a barrel.

While lying at anchor at St. George, the United States Revenue Marine steamer Rush, Capt. Coulson commanding, dropped anchor near us, and we received two and one-half months later news from the outside world. With visiting on shipboard and on land, the day slipped by very rapidly and pleasantly, and the following morning we were under way for Unalaska, reaching there on the 29th of August. At Unlaska I received letters from Eastern friends, the latest being dated June 3.

THE ESKIMOS OF ALASKA.

During June, July, and August, I cruised 5,000 miles along the coasts of Asia and America, from the Aleutian Islands to Point Barrow, the northern limit of the continent, and back to Unalaska. I visited all the principal settlements of the coast, and saw much of the native people. These people all belong to the Innuit or Eskimo family. They occupy not only the Arctic and Bering Sea coasts, but also that of the mainland coast of the North Pacific, as far east as mount St. Elias, and number in all about 17,000 to 20,000. In the extreme north, at Point Barrow, and along the coast of Bering Sea, they are of medium size. At Point Barrow the average height of the males is 5 feet 3 inches, and average weight 153 pounds; of the women, 4 feet 11 inches, and weight 135. On the Nushagak River the average weight of the men is from 150 to 167 pounds.

From Cape Prince of Wales to Icy Cape, and on the great inland rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean, they are a large race, many of them being 6 feet and over in height. They are lighter in color and fairer than the North American Indian, have black and brown eyes, black hair (some with a tinge of brown), high cheek bones, fleshy faces, small hands and feet, and good teeth. The men have thin beards. Along the Arctic coast the men cut their hair closely on the crown of the head, giving them the appearance of monks; this is done so that when crawling up to the deer, the latter will not be frightened away by the flutter of the hair in the wind. Some of the young are fairly good looking, but, through exposure and hardship, become old at 30 years of age. They are naturally intelligent, ingenious in extricating themselves from difficulties, fertile in resources, and quick to adopt American ways and methods when they are an improvement on their own. Physically they are very strong, with great powers of endurance. When on a journey, if food is scarce, they will travel 30 to 40 miles without breaking their fast. Lieut. Cantwell, in his explorations of the Kowah River, makes record that upon one occasion when he wanted a heavy stone for an anchor, a woman went out, and, alone, loaded into her birch bark canoe, and brought him a stone that would weigh 800 pounds. It took two strong men to lift it out of the canoe.

Another explorer speaks of a woman carrying off on her shoulder a box of lead weighing 280 pounds. This summer, in erecting the school buildings in the Arctic, there being no drays or horses in that country, all the timber, lumber, hardware, etc., had to be carried from the beach to the site of the house on the shoulders of the people. The women carried the same loads as the men. They are, as a rule, industrious; men, women, and children doing their individual part toward the family support. The hard struggle for a bare existence in the sterile region where they live compels it. In a general way they are honest. Property intrusted to them by the whites is kept secure. Property stowed away in a cache or tent needs no lock or watchman-it is safe. Small articles left lying around uncared for are soon picked up and carried off. Perhaps they look upon them as if they had been thrown away. A white man can leave with one of them who is an entire stranger to him $100 or $200 worth of goods, saying, “Buy me some furs and I will be back here next year." The following season the native, with the furs, is in waiting for the expected arrival. This is done every season. I have the account-book of one of these native traders in which he has recorded every skin purchased, and how much of each article paid for it. As the native can neither read, write, nor speak English, and his own language is an unwritten one, of course the accounts are kept by symbols and signs. They are shrewd traders. No matter how much is offered for an article, they ask for more. If they set the price themselves, and the purchaser accedes to it, they frequently attempt to raise it. They are exceedingly dirty and filthy in their persons and clothing. But perhaps this is somewhat excusable in a country where, in winter, water is scarce and soap scarcer. I remember once hearing a very successful missionary, who had spent many years north of the Arctic Circle, say that he

tried to make it a rule, when traveling with a dog sled, to wash his face at least once a week, but that he had not always been able to do it. The Alaska Eskimo is a good-natured, docile, and accommodating race. Wherever I met them, and under whatever circumstances, they had a smile of welcome, and in many ways showed a friendly spirit. They have also manifested an unexpected interest in the establishment of schools among them, which promises well for the future.

ORNAMENTATION.

Among the Thlinket people of southeastern Alaska the labret is worn by the women only. Among the Eskimo of northwestern Alaska, on the contrary, it is worn by the men alone. The use of it is almost universal.

During boyhood a hole is cut through the lower lip below each corner of the mouth and an ivory plug inserted until the wound heals. After healing, the hole is stretched from time to time until it reaches about half an inch in diameter. Into this they insert the labret.

These labrets are made of stone, jade, coal, ivory, bone, and glass. They are shaped like a silk hat in miniature. The labret is three-fourths of an inch in diameter, 1 inch in diameter at the rim, and 1 inch long. The rim is kept inside of the mouth and holds the labret in place.

Many wear this form of labret on the one side of the mouth, and on the other a much larger one, resembling a large sleeve-button, 1 inches in diameter on the outside, 1 inches on the inside rim, and one-half inch neck.

Formerly they wore a large labret in the center of the lower lip. I secured a beautiful one of polished jade that has an outside surface 2 inches by 1 inch. The girls have their ears and sometimes their noses pierced, wearing pendant from them copper, ivory, and bone ornaments, also strings of beads. Sometimes these beads extend from one ear to the other, either under the chin or back of the head.

Both sexes tatoo, more or less elaborately, their faces, hands, and arms. Both sexes wear bracelets, amulets, and sometimes fancy belts.

DRESS.

They make waterproof boots of seal skin, with walrus or sea-lion hide soles. For cold weather the boots are made of seal or reindeer skin, tanned with the hair on, and walrus-hide soles.

The foot portion is made many times larger than the foot, in order to give room for a padding of grass. These boots are so much warmer and more comfortable than the ordinary leather ones that they are almost universally used by whalers and others who have occasion to visit Arctic regions. A fur shirt and a pair of fur pants complete the toilet. The shirt is called a parka, and frequently has a hood attached, which can be pulled over the head in a storm. Others have a fur hood which, when not on the head, hangs around the neck. Ordinarily in summer the head is uncovered.

In winter two suits are worn, the inner one with the fur next to the body, and the outer one with the fur to the weather.

The difference between male and female attire is in the shape and ornamentation of the parka. Among some of the tribes the pants and boots of the women are in one garment. There is also a fullness in the back of the woman's parka to make room for the carrying of the baby inside between the shoulders of the mother. These clothes are made largely of the skins of the reindeer, squirrels, and birds. From the intestines of the seal and walrus and also from salmon skins are made the famous kamleika, a waterproof garment, which is worn over the others in wet weather. The kamleika is lighter in weight and a better waterproof garment than the rubber garments of commerce.

The native dress, when well made, new and clean, is both becoming and artistic.

FOOD.

They live principally upon the fish, seal, walrus, whale, reindeer, and wild birds of their country. Latterly they are learning the use of flour, which they procure from the Government revenue vessels or barter from the whalers.

They have but few household utensels. A few have secured iron kettles. Many still use grass-woven baskets and bowls of wood and stone. Occasionally is found a jar of burnt clay. In these native dishes water was boiled by dropping in hot stones.