The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-08-12
Alaska Weather.
The Japan Currel

The Japan Current Protects Ii from Extremes.
In the August Midsummer Holiday
number of The Century tLele is an art-
Gle on THE Alaska Trip by John Muir,
the California writer and naturalist. Mr.
Muir says:
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 nea rly
twenty five hundred miles. is remarka Div
bland, and free from extremes of heat and
cold throughout 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 Alaska mid sum
mer 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 hori-
zon, so that the rosy colors of the even
ing blend with those OF the morning.
leaving no gap of darkness between.
Nevertheless, the full day opens slowly
At midnight, from the middle point be-
tween the cleaning and the dawn low
arc of light is seen stealing along the hor-
lion, with gradual increase of height and
span and intensity of tone, accompanied
usually by red clouds, which make a
striking advertisement Of the suns pro-
gress long before he appears above the
mountain-t tops.
For several hours after sunrise every
thing in the landscape seems dull and un-
communicative. The clouds fade, the
islands and the mountains, with rufus of
mist about them, cast ill-detined shadows
and the whole armament changes to pale
pearls gray with just trace of purple in
it. But toward noon there is a glorious
awakening. The cool haziness of the air
vanishes and the richer sunbeams, pour
ing from on high, make all the bays and
channels shine. Brightly now play the
Handicapped ripples about the edges of
the islands, and over many a plume
shaped streak between them, where the
water is stirred by some passing breeze
On the mountains of the mainland, and
in the high walled tiords 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,
turning their myriad angles to the sun,
are kindled into perfect blaze of irised
light. The warm air throbs and wavers,
and makes itself felt as a life giving,
energizlng ocean embracing all the earth.
Filled with ozone, our pulses bound, and
we are warmed and quickened into sym
pathy with everything, taken back into
the heart of nature, whence we came.
We feel the life and motion abo ut us, and
the universal beauty; the tides marching
back and forth with weariless industry,
having the beautiful 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 noun
tains; the vast forests feeding on the
drenching sunbeams, every cell in a whirl
of enjoyment; misty tiocks of insects STIR
ring all the air; the wild sheep and goats
on the grassy ridges above the woods,
bears in the berry tangles, mink and
beaver and otter far back ON many river
and lake; Indians and adventures pur-
suing their lonely ways; birds tending
1AASAA youAS ONSA ViSLCf DCdulN tuu
life, and glad, rejoicing action.
Through the afternoon all the way
down to the west the air seems to thick
en- and become soft, without losing its
fineness. The breeze dies away and
everything settles into deep, conscious
repOSe. Then comes the sunset with it's
purple and gold-not narrow arch of
color, but oftentimes 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 be-
tween them are filled with greenish yell
low and amber; while the tlocks of thin,
overlapping cloudlets are mostly touched
with crimson, like the outleaning sprays
of maple-grove in the beginning of In
dian summer; and little later smooth,
mellow purple flushes the sky to the
zenith, and fills the air, fairly sleeping
and TRANSPORTING the islands and noun
tains, and changing all the water to wine