The name of A. is an English corruption of Al-ak-sbak, " the great land." The trav eler by sea comes first to the great archipelago, the islands of which make a land-surface of 31,000 sq.m. Stretching along the Aleutian islands for 1500 m. are 61 volcanoes, ten of which are active; the grand Shishaldin, nearly 9000 ft. above the waves that wash its base, and Akuten, Makushin, and others, are belching out fire and smoke. The highest mountain is Mt. St. Elias, in the coast range, supposed to be nearly 18,000 ft. high, and by that estimate the loftiest point in North America. A. is one of the greatest glacier regions on the globe. From Bute inlet to Unimak pass every deep gulch has its glaciers, some of which are grander than any in the Alps. In one of the gulches of Mt. Fairweather is a glacier that extends to the sea, a distance of 50 m., and then breaks in a perpendicular wall of ice 300 ft. high and 8 m. broad. About 35 m. above Wrangel on the Stickine river, between two mountains 3000 ft. high, is a glacier 40 m. long and 4 or 5 wide, and from 500 to 1000 ft. deep. Opposite this mass of ice, just across the river, are large boiling springs. The Indians regard this glacier as the personification of a mighty ice god who has issued from his mountain home invested with power before which all nature bows in submission. They describe him as his way through the canon where its glistening pinnacles bordered upon the domains of the river-god, and that after a con flict the ice-god conquered, and spanned the river's breadth so completely that the river-god was forced to crawl underneath. The Indians then sent their medicine man to see how this could be avoided. The answer came that if a noble chief and fair maiden would offer themselves a sacrifice by taking passage under the long, dark,winding ice arch, his anger would be appeased, and the river be allowed to go on its way undisturbed. When the two were found and adorned, their arms bound and seated in the canoe, the fatal journey was made, and the ice has never again attempted to cross the river. At one of these glaciers ships from California have anchored and taken on a cargo of ice. It is also a great hot and mineral spring region; medicinal springs abound in sufficient number and variety to treat the diseases of the whole race. Goreloi, one of these, is a vast smoking caldron. eighteen miles in circumference.
All the early navigators and explorers, from Cook to the present time, have spoken of the immense numbers of salmon, cod. halibut, mullet, ulicon, etc. There are no other such fisheries in the known world. A missionary (the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, from whose report some portions are here extracted) thus describes a fishing scene on the Nasse river: " I went up to their fishing grounds on the Nasse river, where some 5000 Indians bad assembled. It is what is called their `small fishing.' The salmon catch is at another time. These small fish are valuable for food, and also for oil. They come up for six weeks only, and with great regularity. The Nasse, where I visited it, was about a mile and a half wide, and the fish had come up in great quantities, so °Teat that, with three nails upon a stick, an Indian would rake in a canoe full in a short time. Five thousand Indians were gathered together from British Columbia and Alaska, decked out in their strange fantastic costumes; faces painted red and black, and they had feathers on their heads and imitations of wild beasts on their dresses. Over the fish was an immense cloud of sea-gulls, so many and so thick, as they hovered about looking for fish, the sight resembled a heavy fall of snow. Over the gulls were eagles soaring about and watching their chance. After the small fish, had conic up larger fish from the ocean. There was
the halibut, the cod,-the porpoise, and the fin-back whale; man life, fish life, and bird life—all under intense excitement. And all that animated life was to the heathen people a life of spirits. They paid court and worshiped the fish they were to assist in destroying; greeting them, You lish L von Ypu, are -all thias, ya ou. yipiatian Indians 4y.•-_„: ,1 ; had their separate camps, where they had worship morning and evening, and kept the Sabbath." The principal fur-bearinganimals of A. are the fox, marten, mink, beaver, otter, lynx, black bear, and wolverine. There are also the coarser furs of the reindeer, mountain sheep, goat,wolf, muskrat, and ermine. The extent of the range and quality of the furs in that extensive northern region is conducive to a very valuable fur trade, in addition to which are the seal-fur fisheries, that since 1871 have yielded to the government an income of $1,891;030. Besides the fisheries and furs are the valuable deposits of coal, copper, sulphur, petroleum, and amber, with gold and silver. The gold and silver, so far, have been found only in limited quantities. It is the great lumber region of the country. The forests of yellow cedar, white pine, hemlock, and balsam fir will supply the world when the valuable timber of Puget sound is exhausted. It has the great moun tain peak of the country—St. Elias, 19,5170 ft. high; and the Yukon, one of the largest rivers of the world.
A. is naturally divided into three great divisions: the Yukon division, comprised between the A. mountains and the Arctic ocean; the Aleutian district, comprising the A. peninsula and the Aleutian islands; and the Sitkan district, including all the mainland and adjacent islands s. of the peninsula. Each of these three great divisions has two climates, the coast climate and the interior climate; the latter being much severer than the former. The great gulf stream of the Pacific, known to geographers as the Japan cur rent, strikes and divides on the western end of the Aleutian islands. A portion flows n. into Behring's sea, so that it is a remarkable fact that ice does not flow from the Arctic ocean southward through Behring's straits. The other portion sweeps southward and eastward, and makes the whole n.w. coast habitable, giving to southern A., on the coast and the adjacent islands, a winter climate milder than that of New York city. The Yukon district, bordering on the Arctic ocean, is remarkable for one thing. From 3 to 4 ft. below the surface there is a subsoil of frozen earth from 6 to 8 ft. deep. This phenomenon is ascribed to the want of drainage, together with a covering of moss that shields the ground from the hot suns of the Arctic summer; yet, notwithstanding this ice subsoil, during the summer months there is a luxuriant growth of vegetation. The great distinguishing feature of this district is the wonderful Yukon river, 2000 in. long, navigable for steamers for 1500 tn. In some places on the lower Yukon one bank is invisible from the other. A thousand m. above its mouth it is, in places, 20 m. wide, including the intervening islands. It is one of the great rivers of the world, and upon its upper wazers, within the arctic circle, is Fort Yukon, a post of the Hudson bay com pany. At this distant post,which tidings from the outside world reach only once a year, is a Scotch missionary. On its banks live thousands who know neither its outlet or its source, and yet, recognizing its greatness, proudly call themselves the "men of Yukon." Cape Prince of Wales and the island of Alton are the extreme western points of land in the United States—in long. 167° 59' 12'.