nvited to partake at this hospitable resort of good fellows
of all nationalities, yet lingers in my memory!

But hospitality seems ingrained in the nature of the Klondiker high or
low, and during its short stay here the Expedition was regally received
and entertained. A wood-cut, which appeared in the principal newspaper
representing "Dawson City extending the glad hand of welcome to Explorer
De Windt" was no mere figure of speech, for we were seldom allowed to
pay for a meal, while the refreshments and cigars lavished upon me by
total strangers at every moment of the day would have set up a
regimental mess. My host here was the manager of the "Alaska Commercial
Company," which has practically ruled the country from the year of its
annexation, and without whose assistance I should often have fared badly
during my travels in the interior. Mr. Mizner, the agent, occupied one
of the newest and finest houses in Dawson, but I was awakened the first
night by a sound suggestive of a spirited wrestling bout in an adjoining
apartment. The noise continued almost without cessation, and only ceased
when the business of the day recommenced in the streets. Then the
mystery was explained; my imaginary wrestlers were rats, which are not,
I believe, indigenous to Alaska. Originally brought to St. Michael
during the gold rush by an old and patched-up barque from San Francisco,
the enterprising rodents boarded a river steamer and landed here, where
conditions appear especially favourable to their reproduction. Scarcely
a house in the place was free from them, and at night, or rather
through its twilight hours, the streets swarmed with the disgusting
brutes who seemed to regard human beings with supreme indifference. From
latest advices this annoyance still exists and a fortune therefore
awaits a good London rat-catcher in Dawson.

Dissipation used to reign here supreme as it does to-day at Nome, but
the Canadian authorities have now placed a heavy heel upon
gambling-saloons, dancing-halls, and similar establishments. And
although the closing of these places has caused much dissatisfaction
amongst those who profited by them, the measure has undoubtedly been for
the general good of the community. Many a poor miner has come in from
the creeks with gold-dust galore, the result of many months of hard work
and privation, and found himself penniless after a single night passed
amongst the saloons, dives, and dens of an even worse description whi