An offshoot of the tribe inhabits Annette Island, under the kindly governorship of an old priest named Duncan.  At first he founded his colony on the mainland, in British territory, but was there so hampered by religious rules that, with almost all his followers, he moved to Annette, where he is still beloved by the natives, to whom he has taught right living and many valuable arts of civilization.

We kept the inland route until Icy Straits took us away from Glacier Bay, and out into the open ocean.  Early the next morning Yakutat came into view, and our boat was quickly surrounded by canoes filled with Indians, their wives, and woven baskets.  These natives, supposed to belong to the Tlinkits, were distinctly less advanced than the Haida Indians.

In Yakutat we thought we were lucky in buying three Siwash bear dogs, but were not long in discovering our mistake.  One of the dogs was so fierce we had to shoot him.  Another was wild and ran away at the first opportunity, and the “last of the Siwash,” though found wanting in every hunting instinct, had a kindly disposition and staid with us.  We could not bring ourselves to the shooting point.  Finally we found a Creole, who kept a store in a remote village on Kadiak Island, willing to take him off our hands.

The sight of the massive snow face of Mt.  St. Elias, rising 18,002 feet above the immense stretches of the Malaspina glacier, called to mind the successful Abruzzi expedition, which reached the top of this mountain a few years ago.  Looking at the rough sides of the grand old mountain, more impressive than any snow peak in Europe, one unconsciously plans an attack, as the climbing instinct is aroused.

Abruzzi has taken Mt.  St. Elias out of the field of the mountain climber looking for new peaks, but a glance at the map shows us Mt.  Logan, 19,000 feet, backing up Mt.  St. Elias from the north, and Mt.  McKinley, 20,000 feet, the highest known peak we have, placed nearer the center of the big peninsula.  These should now claim the attention of some good mountaineer, with time and money at his command.  They demand both.

We did not fail to inquire at Yakutat about that rare animal, the blue or St. Elias bear, and were told that two or three skins were secured every year.  I was later much disappointed in being unable to return to this coast early enough in the year to look up this bear, which has never been killed by a white man, and as its skull has never been brought in by the Indians, it remains practically unknown.

The island of Kayak, the next calling place for boats, played a very important part in the early history of Alaska.  This is the first land that Bering sighted, and where he landed after the memorable voyage of his two boats, the St. Peter and St. Paul, from Kamtschatka.