s don't even have a chance to earn
their living in the canneries," said Mr. Strong. "The largest cannery in
the world is at Karluk. There are thousands of men employed, and in one
year over three million salmon were packed, yet with all this work for
busy hands to do, the canneries employ Chinese, Greek, Portuguese, and
American workmen in preference to the Indians, bringing them by the
shipload from San Francisco."

"What other places do we pass?" asked Ted.

"A lot of very interesting ones, and I wish we could coast along,
stopping wherever we felt like it," said Mr. Strong. "The Shumagin
Islands are where Bering, the great discoverer and explorer, landed in
1741 to bury one of his crew. Codfish were found there, and Captain
Cook, in his 'Voyages and Discoveries,' speaks of the same fish. There
is a famous fishery there now called the Davidson Banks, and the
codfishing fleet has its headquarters on Popoff Island. Millions of
codfish are caught here every year. These islands are also a favourite
haunt of the sea otter, Belofsky, at the foot of Mt. Pavloff, is the
centre of the trade."

"What kind of fur is otter?" asked Ted, whose mind was so inquiring that
his father often called him the "living catechism."

"It is the court fur of China and Russia, and at one time the common
people were forbidden by law to wear it," said Mr. Strong. "It is a
rich, purplish brown sprinkled with silver-tipped hairs, and the skins
are very costly."

"At one time any one could have otter," said Kalitan. "We hunted them
with spears and bows and arrows. Now they are very few, and we find them
only in dangerous spots, hiding on rocks or floating kelp. Sometimes the
hunters have to lie in hiding for days watching them. Only Indians can
kill the otter. Boston men can if they marry Indian women. That makes
them Indian."

"Rather puts otter at a discount and women at a premium," laughed Mr.
Strong. "Now we pass along near the Alaska peninsula, past countless
isles and islets, through the Fox Islands to Unalaska, and then into the
Bering Sea. One of the most interesting things in this region is called
the 'Pacific Ring of Fire,' a chain of volcanoes which stretches along
the coast. Often the passengers can see from the ships at night a strange
red glow over the sky, and know that the fire mountains are burning. The
most beautiful of these volcanoes is Mt. Shishaldin, nearly nine thousand
feet high, and almost as perfect a cone in shape as