DILATATION THEORY.

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luxuriant vegetation. Very many objections have been urged to this theory. It is evident that those who believe in it regard the glacier as composed of an accumulation of fragments instead of a great mass, throughout which the fissures and crevasses are in slight proportion to the whole; also, that they attribute to the subglacial waters a kind and amount of action in removing the friction that they do not possess. The main objection, however, to the gravitation theory is that a sliding motion, of the kind supposed, when once commenced, would be constantly accelerated by gravity and an avalanche would result. The small slope of most glacier valleys and the irregularity of the bounding wall are also objections,

The dilatation theory disposes of the want of sufficient moving power to drag along the mass by calling in the well-known force with which water expands on its conversion into ice. The glacier being traversed by innumerable capillary fissures, and being in summer saturated with water in all its parts, it was natural to invoke the freezing action of the night to convert this water into ice, and by the amount of its expansion to urge the glacier onward in the direction of its greatest slope. In answer to this argument it has been claimed that, even in the height of summer, those parts of the glacier that move the fastest are never reduced below the freezing point, and that even in the most favorable cases of nocturnal radiation, producing congelation at the surface, it cannot penetrate above a few inches into the interior.

It was some time before observers took up the problem

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RESULTS OF OBSERVATION.

of discovering just how fast and in what manner glaciers moved, but in 1842 Forbes did this. His observations were carried on with the aid of all the scientific apparatus at hand at that day, and he thoroughly satisfied himself that the motion was continuous and tolerably uniform—that it was not by jerks. He also ascertained that the motion was greatest toward the centre of the glacier and slowest at the sides. It was also found that the rate of motion varied at different points of the length of the same glacier, being greatest, on the whole, where the inclination was most marked. As the seasons advanced he noted changes in the rate of motion of the same part of the ice and connected it by a direct relation with the temperature of the air. Last of all, it was discovered that the surface moved faster than the ice nearer the bottom of the bed. The observations resulted in the theory that "a glacier is an imperfect fluid or viscous body, which is urged down slopes of certain inclination by the mutual pressure of its parts.'

The glacier problem cannot, even to-day, be considered solved entirely, but enough is known now to make the further investigation promising.

CHAPTER XXII.

HUNTING AND FISHING.

Wild Country for the Huntsman-Big Game in the Chasms and on the Mountains-Opportunities of the Fishermen-Mallards and Canvasback Duck-Price of Game in the Sitka Market-Native Alaskans not Sportsmen-Mosquitoes and the Bruins Suicide Rather than Die by the Attacks of Insects-Nicholas Huley the Hero of a Fine Bear Story -Native Huntsmen.

FORE

OR all those who hunt and fish for pleasure, not for pelf, for those who love nature in its grandest moods, there is not a land anywhere under heaven like unto Alaska. There are countless waterways, lined with towering mountains, upon whose summits the snow rests eternally, like a mantle woven from threads of silver. Gracefully it is draped over their giant shoulders, as if they were attired in bridal garments for a marriage above the clouds. Sharp and distinct, and cut as straight and clearly as a furrow in a wheat field, the dark green of the forests meets the snowy border, marking the line where vegetation ceases. Thence downward to the very verge of the sea, great spruce trees and hemlocks and cedars and hanging mosses, a jungle of small growths, with the rank luxuriance of a tropic clime. Then these mountains of stone and snow and verdure are rent from

base to sky-line in great canons and valleys, where the shadows linger eternally, and out of them come tumbling in mad haste the green waters of the melting glaciers.

Populate these shadowy densities with bear and deer and wolf and lynx and mountain sheep. Follow a trail from the sea margin to some inland lakes, or toward some mountain top-the path will be as smoothly worn by the feet of wild beasts, as a cowpath through a meadow, and if you have a spark of the sportsman's instinct alive within your breast it will burn into a flame.

The streams which reach the sea are alive with salmon trout-big, gamey fish, who strike voraciously at any bait, and fight for freedom with a vim and dash and strength that test the skill and tire the stout arms of the most expert and stalwart fishermen.

There are many narrow defiles, precipitous on either side, which run landward from the ocean, broadening out into great bays, shut in by mountains so tall that their tops are lost in cloudland. In season these are the abiding place of mallards and canvasbacks and bluewinged teal and thousands of strange aquatic birds.

The Sitka market is always overstocked with game. Venison sells usually there at four cents per pound. The deer are not large, but their flesh is of delicious flavor. The duck are not so good because of their fishlike taste. The fish are always fresh, of infinite variety, and, if properly cooked and served, are fine eating. If one is too lazy or too busy to catch them, they may be had at the wharf for the asking. These are oc

IMPROVIDENT HUNTERS.

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casionally varied by bear meat, which many do not like.

The native hunters are improvident. They persist in killing deer in and out of season, solely for their skins, which they dispose of at the trading stores. A great number are slaughtered annually in the vicinity of Sitka, whose carcasses are left where they fall-feasts for the eagles and ravens. This is true of other parts of the territory.

An official utterance on this wanton destruction of the game of the country is found in William Ogelvie's report to the Canadian Government in regard to the animal and fish found in the Yukon District:

"Game is not now so abundant as before mining began, and it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river. The Indians have to ascend the tributary streams ten to twenty miles to get anything worth going after. Here on the uplands vast herds of caribou still wander, and when the Indians encounter a herd they allow very few to escape, even though they do not require the meat. When they have plenty they are not at all provident, and consequently are often in want when game is scarce. They often kill animals, which they know are so poor as to be useless for food, just for the love of slaughter.

"An Indian who was with me one day saw two caribou passing and wanted me to shoot them. I explained to him that we had plenty, and that I would not destroy them uselessly, but this did not accord with his ideas. He felt