volcanoes, and glaciers. They
are as fine as any in Alaska," said Mr. Strong. "Our next stop will be
Kadiak Island."

"Kadiak Island was once near the mainland," said Kalitan. "There was only
the narrowest passage of water, but a great Kenai otter tried to swim the
pass, and was caught fast. He struggled so that he made it wider and
wider, and at last pushed Kadiak way out to sea."

"He must have been a whopper," said Ted, "to push it so far away. Is that
the island?"

"Yes," said his father. "There are no splendid forests on the island as
there are on the mainland, but the grasses are superb, for the fog and
rain here keeps them green as emerald."

"What a queer canoe that Indian has!" exclaimed Ted. "It isn't a bit
like yours, Kalitan."

"It is _bidarka_," said Kalitan. "Kadiak people make canoe out of walrus
hide. They stretch it over frames of driftwood. It holds two people. They
sit in small hatch with apron all around their bodies, and the _bidarka_
goes over the roughest sea and floats like a bladder. Big _bidarka_
called an _oomiak_, and holds whole family."

"Some one has called the _bldarkas_ the 'Cossacks of the sea,'" said Mr.
Strong. "They skim along like swallows, and are as perfectly built as any
vessel I ever saw."

"What are those huge buildings on the small island?" asked Ted, as the
steamer wound through the shallows.

"Ice-houses," said his father. "Before people learned to manufacture ice,
immense cargoes were shipped from here to as far south as San Francisco."

"It was fun to see them go fishing for ice from the steamer when we came
up to Skaguay," said Ted. "The sailors went out in a boat, slipped a net
around a block of ice and towed it to the side of the ship, then it was
hitched to a derrick and swung on deck."

"Huh!" said Kalitan. "What people want ice for stored up? Think they'd
store sunshine!"

"If you could invent a way to do that, you could make a fortune, my
boy," said Mr. Strong, laughing. "The next place of any interest is
Karluk. It's around on the other side of the island in Shelikoff Strait,
and is famous for its salmon canneries. Nearly half of the entire salmon
pack of Alaska comes from Kadiak Island, most of the fish coming from
the Karluk River."

"Very bad for Indians," said Kalitan. "Used to have plenty fish. Tyee
Klake said salmon used to come up this river in shoal sixteen miles long,
and now Boston men take them all."

"It does seem a pity that the Indian