I shall not attempt
to describe this beautiful island, but shall merely say that Kadiak is
justly termed the "garden spot of Alaska." It has numerous deep bays
which cut into the land many miles. These bays in turn have arms which
branch out in all directions, and the country adjacent to these latter
is the natives' favorite hunting ground for bear.
[Illustration: LOADED BAIDARKA--BARABARA--BASE OF SUPPLIES, ALASKA
PENINSULA.]
In skin canoes (baidarkas) the Aleuts, paddling along the shore, keep a
sharp lookout on the nearby hillsides, where the bears feed upon the
young and tender grass. It was our plan to choose the most likely one of
these big bays as our shooting grounds, and hunt from a baidarka,
according to local custom.
It may be well to explain here that the different localities of Alaska
are distinctly marked by the difference in the canoes which the natives
use. In the southern part, where large trees are readily obtained, you
find large dugouts capable of holding from five to twenty persons. At
Yakutat, where the timber is much smaller, the canoes, although still
dugouts, have decreased proportionately in size, but from Yakutat
westward the timber line becomes lower and lower, until the western half
of the island of Kadiak is reached, where the trees disappear
altogether, and the dugout gives place to the skin canoe or baidarka.
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