The morning news., 1897-08-07
ALASKAN COAST WEATHER.
The Warm Japan Current Makes an
EquabIe Climate.
John Muir. in the Century.

John Muir, in the Century.
The climate of all that portion Of the
coast that is bathed by the Japan current,
extending from the southern boundary of
the territory northward and westward to
the island of Atoo, a distance of nearly
2,50O miles. is remarkably bland, and free
from extremes Of heat and cold through
out the year. 1t is rainy, however, but the
rain is of good quality, gentle in its fall,
filling the fountains of the streams, and
keeping the whole land fresh and fruitful,
while anything more delightful than the
shining weather after the rain-the great,
round sun days of June, July and August
can hardly be found elsewhere. An Alas
ka midsummer day is a day without
night. In the extreme northern portion of
the territory the sun does not set for
weeks, and even as far south as Sitka and
Fort Wrangel it sinks only a few degrees
below the horizon, so that the rosy colors
of the evening blend with those of the
morning, leaving no gap of darkness be-
tween. Nevertheless, the full day opens
slowly. At midnight, from the middle
point between the cleaning and the dawn,
a low arc of light is seen stealing along
the horizon, with gradual increase of
hight and span and intensity of tone, ac
companied usually by red clouds, which
make a striking advertisement of the suns
progress long before he appears above the
mountain tops.
For several hours after sunrise every
thing in the landscape seems dull and un-
communicative. The clouds fade, the is
lands and the mountains, with ruffs of
mist about them, cast ill-defined shadows,
and the whole armament changes to pale
pearl-gray with just a trace of purple in
it. But towards noon there is a glorious
awakening The cool haziness of the air
tgla al ~faIas cum, ,aa aT11c
ing from on high, make all the bays and
channels shine. Brightly now play the
round-topped ripples about the edges of
the islands, and over many a plume-shap-
ed streak between them, where the water
is stirred by some passing breeze.
On the mountains of the mainland, and
in the high-waled fiords that fringe the
coast, still finer IS the work of the sun
shine. The broad white bosoms of the
glaciers glow like silver, and their crystal
fronts, and the multitude of icebergs that
linger about them, drifting, swirling, turn
ing their myriad angles to the sun, are
kinded into perfect blaze of irised light.
The warm air throbs and wavers, and
makes itself felt as a life-giving, energiz-
ing ocean embracing all the earth Filled
with ozone, our pulses bound, and we are
warmed and quickened into sympathy with
everything, taken back into the heart of
nature, whence we came We feel the life
beauty; the tides marching back and forth
with weariless industry laving the beau
tiful shores, and sWaying the purple dulse
of the broad meadows of the sea where
the fishes are fed; the wild streams in
rows white with waterfalls, ever in bloom
and ever in song, spreading their branches
over a thousand mountains; the vast for
ests feeding on the drenching sunbeams,
every cell in a whirl of enjoyment; misty
focks of insects stirring all the air; the
wild sheep and goats on the grassy ridges
above the woods, bears in the berry-tan-
giles mink and beaver and otter far back
on many a river and lake; Indians and
adventurers pursuing their lonely ways;
birds tending their young-eVerywhere
everywhere, beauty and life, and glad, re-
joicing action.
Through the afternoon all the way down
to the west the air seems to thicken and
become soft, without losing its fneness.
The breeze dies away, and everything set
ties into a deep conscious repose. Then
comes the sunset with its purple and gold
not a narrow arch of color, but often
times filling more than half the sky. The
horizontal clouds that usually bar the
horizon are fired on the edges, and the
spaces of clear sky between them are fill
ed in with greenish yellow and amber;
while the hocks of thin, overlapping
cloudlets are mostly touched with Grim
son, like the outleaning sprays of a maple
grove in the beginning of Indian summer;
and little later a smooth, mellow pur-
pie flushes the sky to the zenith, and fills
the air, fairly sleeping and transfguring
the islands and mountains, and changing
all the water to wine.