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Sept., ?9o7 SOME EXPERIENCES OF A COLLECTOR IN ALASKA ?3? there are no beaver on the islands, so we hope that it is something new. One specimen was 41 inches long and weighed 35 pounds. Another one was shot and stunned, and when Hasselborg went to pull him into the canoe the rascal came to and gave a big jerk and capsized the canoe. Hasselborg had to save the camera from going down so the beaver got away. If we had used the kodak less we would have had lots more skins. We went up to the head of the take and soon located three bears up among the alders on the mountain side above us. We had no grub and hadn't had any for a day, so we didn't have energy enough to climb the mountain. We went back to the first take and about 5 o'clock Littlejohn and I started to go down to camp. It began to rain and the clouds came down so that we could scarcely see the tree tops. The huckleberry and the devilsclub had leafed out wonderfully in the few days that we had been over there and the first thing we knew we were off the trail. We tried to get back but couldn't. Then we tried to climb one of the low rolling hills to see if we could see out and tell where we ?,ere. After we had climbed several hills it began to get dark and we started for what we thought was Mole Harbor, but it was not long until we found that we were going round and round, for we came to our old tracks. The wind was from the southeast when we started and that was all we had to go by, as we were so sure that we couldn't miss the trail that we had left the com- pass behind. Well, it was funny how that wind kept changing. First it came from the southeast, then from the east, next north and then west. We were not exactly lost; we just didn't known how we came, where we were, or which way we were going! Finally I said that I was going to follow a creek down until it either came to salt water or to the take. We stumbled along thru the devilsclub and huckle- berry for miles. Then the creek went into waterfalls in a deep canyon and we had more of a time After we had gone along for about four hours in this way we began to look around for a place to hole up for the night, as we were wet to the skin, tired to death and had had nothing to eat for 24 hours. It was so rocky that we couldn't lie down, so we had to go a little farther and just then we saw water ahead and came out on the beach right near camp! Yell P--well we tried to and couldn't, but we forgot we were tired and soon got to camp. They had just got a fresh supply of grub from Juneau, and we soon had our clothes changed and sat down, and then I found I couldn't eat! I'd choke every time I tried to swallow, but I managed to get a cap of cocoa down, read a letter and crawl into bed. When I tried to get up the next morning I promptly fell over and lay there a while. I lay around for two days kind of dazed and kept wanting to walk, walk all the time. Now I keep a compass chained to me all the time but expect to get lost again as Hasselborg and Stephens both had compasses the other day and still missed their way. Several days later Hasselborg, Littlejohn, Miss Alexander and I went back again. We made camp about 6 o'clock, ate supper and then went out in the canoe to look for bear, up on the mountain side. We soon saw one feeding in a gulch and Hasselborg started up after it. Littlejohn went up the creek and Miss Alex- ander 'and I watched from the boat and motioned to Hasselborg when the bear moved. He had to climb nearly 1000 feet, but part of it was up a snow slide. He made it in 40 minutes. (It took us one hour and a half several days afterwards.) Then we heard six shots and saw the bear disappear in the alders. Pretty soon we heard a dull thump, thump, and the old bear came rolling down over the cliffs. He fell about a quarter of a mile and ?vould have rolled clear to the lake had he not hit a log just right.