own his descriptions. What splendid
reading they would make!

But scurries of snow warned us that winter was coming, and, much to the
relief of our natives, we turned the prow of our canoe towards Chatham
Strait again. Landing our Hoonah guide at his village, we took our route
northward again up Lynn Canal. The beautiful Davison Glacier with its
great snowy fan drew our gaze and excited our admiration for two days;
then the visit to the Chilcats and the return trip commenced. Bowling
down the canal before a strong north wind, we entered Stevens Passage,
and visited the two villages of the Auk Indians, a squalid, miserable
tribe. We camped at the site of what is now Juneau, the capital of
Alaska, and no dream of the millions of gold that were to be taken from
those mountains disturbed us. If we had known, I do not think that we
would have halted a day or staked a claim. Our treasures were richer
than gold and securely laid up in the vaults of our memories.

An excursion into Taku Bay, that miniature of Glacier Bay, with its then
three living glaciers; a visit to two villages of the Taku Indians; past
Ft. Snettisham, up whose arms we pushed, mapping them; then to Sumdum.
Here the two arms of Holkham Bay, filled with ice, enticed us to
exploration, but the constant rains of the fall had made the ice of the
glaciers more viscid and the glacier streams more rapid; hence the vast
array of icebergs charging down upon us like an army, spreading out in
loose formation and then gathering into a barrier when the tide turned,
made exploration to the end of the bay impossible. Muir would not give
up his quest of the mother glacier until the Indians frankly refused to
go any further; and old Tow-a-att called our interpreter, Johnny, as for
a counsel of state, and carefully set forth to Muir that if he persisted
in his purpose of pushing forward up the bay he would have the blood of
the whole party on his hands.

Said the old chief: "My life is of no account, and it does not matter
whether I live or die; but you shall not sacrifice the life of my
minister."

I laughed at Muir's discomfiture and gave the word to retreat. This one
defeat of a victorious expedition so weighed upon Muir's mind that it
brought him back from the California coast next year and from the arms
of his bride to discover and climb upon that glacier.

On down now through Prince Frederick Sound, past the beautiful Norris
Glacier, then into Le Conte Bay with its