hes, and in the
North wells have been sunk through forty feet of solid ice.

Alaska is fairly healthy, although the temperature in the interior
ranges from 90 deg. in the shade to over 60 deg. below zero Fahr. May,
June, and July are the best months for travelling, for the days are then
generally bright and pleasant and the heat tempered by a cool breeze. On
the coast during the summer rain and fogs prevail, and the sun is only
occasionally visible, for there are on an average only sixty-six fine
days throughout the year. In 1884, a rainfall of sixty-four inches was
registered at Unalaska. The rain seldom pours down here, but falls in a
steady drizzle from a hopelessly leaden sky, under which a grey and
sodden landscape presents a picture of dreary desolation. But this damp
cheerlessness has its advantages, for incessant humidity sheds perpetual
verdure over the coast-districts, where the thermometer rarely falls as
low as zero Fahr. Winter only sets in here about the 1st of December,
and snow has vanished by the end of May, while in the interior lakes and
rivers are still in the grip of the ice. Near the sea the soil is rich
and root-crops are prolific, while horses and cattle thrive well, also
the ports as far north as Cook's Inlet are open to navigation all the
year round, so that, taking all these facts into consideration, coast
settlements are preferable as a permanent residence to those of the
interior, with the exception, perhaps, of Dawson City.

It is said that the mild climate of Southern Alaska is due to the Japan
Gulf Stream, which first strikes the North American continent at the
Queen Charlotte Island in latitude 50 deg. north. At this point the
stream divides, one part going northward and westward along the coast of
Alaska, and the other southward along the coast of British Columbia,
Washington territory, Oregon, and California. Thus the climate of these
states is made mild and pleasant in precisely the same way as the shores
of Spain, Portugal and France by the ocean currents of the Atlantic.

Notwithstanding the society of pleasant fellow travellers, life on board
the _Hannah_ became intolerably tedious after the first few days. The
Lower Yukon is not an attractive river from a picturesque point of
view, and only the upper portion of its two thousand odd miles possesses
any scenic interest. Grey and monotonous tundra rolling away to the
horizon, and melancholy, grey-green shrubs lining the stream forme