es by it.

The next two days are noted in my diary as two of the pleasantest days
of the whole journey--two of the pleasantest days I ever spent anywhere,
I think. A clear, cloudless sky, brilliant sunshine, white mountain
peaks all about us, gave picture after picture, and the warm, balmy air
made travelling a delight. There are few greater pleasures than that of
penetrating into a new country, with continually changing views of
beauty, under kindly conditions of weather and trail. In the yellow rays
of the early sun, the spruce on the river bank looked like a screen of
carved bronze, while the slender stems of birches in front of the
spruce looked like an inlaying of old ivory upon the bronze, the whole
set upon its pedestal of marble-like snow. The second day we took a
portage of nine or ten miles across a barren flat and struck the river
again just below a remarkable stretch of bank a mile or so in length,
with never a tree or a bush or so much as the smallest shrub growing on
it. Thick timber above suddenly ceased, thick timber below suddenly
began again, and this bare bank reached back through open, barren flat
to a low pass in the mountains. It was a bank of solid ice, so we were
told later, and I remembered to have heard of ice bluffs on the Kobuk,
and wished that the portage had struck the river above this spot instead
of below it, that there might have been opportunity to examine it.

[Sidenote: THE MISSION]

[Sidenote: ENGLISH AND ESQUIMAU]

A little farther down the river and we were at the new mission of the
Society of Friends, where a cordial reception awaited us and, luxury of
luxuries, a warm bath! Again and again the wash-tub was emptied and
fresh water was heated until we all had wallowed to our heart's content.
The rude log buildings of the mission had been begun the previous fall,
and were not yet complete, but they were advanced enough for occupation,
and the work of the mission went actively on. It was in charge of rather
an extraordinary man. He gave us a sketch of his life, which was full of
interest and matter for thought. For many years he was a police officer
and jailer in the West. Then he sailed on a whaler and thus became
acquainted with the Esquimaux. He was converted from a life of
drunkenness and debauchery--though one fancied his character was not
really ever so bad as he painted it--at a "Peniel" mission in a
Californian town. He went in out of mere idle curiosity, just recovered
f