The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-06-19

tendance. That custom was abolished
lby the Russian Government, but it wa.
still kept up in isolated places, and
cases where it has been followed wer,
well known as late as 1876.
s'Some of the Indian tribes, notably
the Kanaitze, travelling from place te
place hunting or fishing. have the very
excellent habit OF leaving behind then
when they break camp a quantity Of
kindling material at each fireplace fol
the use Of the next travellers who come
along. and who may possibly not be
oversupplied with this very necessary
item in their outfit. This kindling con.
sists of some pine pitch and some dry
moss and sticks all wrapped up in a
curl Of birch bark. The traveller who
uses this and does not leave some fol-
the next one who comes along is sadly
deficient in the etiquette of Alaskan
| travel.
'sThat is curious country. truly. In
one days trip was treated to three OF
the rarest sights l ever saw. One of
these was the watching from behind a
rock of q family of beavers at work fell
ing timber and building dams. / say
family, but there must have been two
hundred of them. every one working
away like mad. | had been making a
trip to see some of the country back
from the sea, and was surprised to see
how heavily wooded, comparatively, it
was. Twas guided by Kanaitze In
dian, and long before we reached the
lake where / saw the beavers l was
| puzzled at the crashing of timbers to
the ground, as if some great whirlw.nd
were at play among the trees. could
hardly believe the Indian when
he said the trees were being felled
by beavers. When we came in
sight of the lake and the hills about
it no longer doubted. Scores of the
busy animals were gnawing down the
trees; others were trimming the
branches off as neatly as it could have
been done with an axe; others were
chopping the timber into the proper
lengths Tor use; others rolled the pieces
into the water and foated them to the
dam-workers. who were rapidly laying
up q wooden structure of which the
most expert of human workmen might
well have been proud. watched the
beavers at work for an hour and then
left the spot reluctantly. That night,
BY the way, had beaver meat for sup
per. went to bed on beaver skins and
covered myself with beaver furs, and
had beaver again for breakfast. l had
never eaten beaver meat before, and l
found it good. My guide told me that
the lake where we had seen the beavers
was one of chain of seven, and that
It was the great Indian trapping place.
They. trapped in one lake one year. in
another thenext, and so on, thus giving
the beaver m opportunity to increase
in the waters which were not dis
turbed.
'One of the other curious sights / |
saw that day was . grizzly bear fish
ing for salmon. That was a funny
sight. They have the common brown |
bear and the grizzly in Alaska, and the |
Alaska grizzly is bigger than his BROTH
or OF the Rocky Mountains and just as
tough. Long before we came to the
spot where we saw the grizzly fishing
we saw his tracks in the soft margin Of |
the lake. The marks of his feet meas
ured sixteen inches across and were
nearly twice as long. Suddenly my
guide made me sign and dropped
down behind rock. l did the same,
and looking ahead not more than
three rods, saw the largest wild ami
NAL had ever seen in my life outside
Df menagerie. knew it was 3 griz-
Fly. The great brute was living on the
top OF bank in which he had sco0ped
put chute down to the waters edge,
It > sharp angle. The bears ewes
we're fixed intently on the water, and he
aad not heard our approach. Pres
entity he slid down that chute with as
velocity and plunged head
irst in tho water. When he arose and
backed out he had in one of his great
paws m enormous salmon which he
'OOk to the top of the bank and
proceeded to make . meal of. He
never finished it for both nv guide
md myself sent two rife balls into his
gigantic carcass. He arose to his feet
NTH = roar like = lion. turned two or
;hree times as il to see whence the
!eadly hre had come, and then fell to
he ground and was soon dead. This
iehing for salmon 10 . common method
u securing choice morsels Of food by
10Th the comnpn bear and the grizzly.
The third strange sight ssw that
lay was toward evening. It was sum-
ner. and We camo to the mouth of .
mountain torrent, near where We were
9 camp. A. We stopped by the shore
4 the stream. herd Of reindeer, ct
east twenty Of them, came out to drink.
hey were not thirty feet from MS, and ,
aised their great antlers, and stood |
boxing u rs with such apparent con-
|o0nCo OF our good intentions that I 1 .