. Alaska and the Klondike. rday afternoon, July 24, we reached the vil-lage of Anvik, an Indian settlement at the mouth of the ii8 ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE Am ik l\i\ cr. Wc had been told before going to Alaskathat the trip down the Yukon could not be made comfort-ably without shields fromthe mosquitoes. No occa-sion to use them, however,had offered until this day,and none had been pro-vided. While some annoy-ance from mosquitoes wasexperienced on deck duringthe day, we were quite un-prepared for the attackmade upon us as the gang-plank touched the shore atthis Indian settlement. A picturesque
. Alaska and the Klondike. rday afternoon, July 24, we reached the vil-lage of Anvik, an Indian settlement at the mouth of the ii8 ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE Am ik l\i\ cr. Wc had been told before going to Alaskathat the trip down the Yukon could not be made comfort-ably without shields fromthe mosquitoes. No occa-sion to use them, however,had offered until this day,and none had been pro-vided. While some annoy-ance from mosquitoes wasexperienced on deck duringthe day, we were quite un-prepared for the attackmade upon us as the gang-plank touched the shore atthis Indian settlement. A picturesque Indiangraveyard had attracted at-tention as we swung aroundto the landing in the mouthof the Anvik River, andthither several members ofthe party had graves were on a hill-side covered w^ith rank grassand vines and shrubbery,out of which rose clouds ofmosquitoes and small black gnats, almost blinding theeyes and making a stay of only a few^ minutes a mostpainful experience. A few pictures were obtained, but not. A Prominent Citizen ot Anvik THROUGH THE HEART OF ALASKA 119 without the shedding of blood, and great haste was madeback to the shelter of the wire screens on the boat. Thegraveyard was, however, one of the most interesting seenin Alaska. It was remarkable for the number and varietyof articles with which the graves were decorated. Nearlyall were covered with small wooden structures closely re-sembling an ordinary chicken coop, on the top of whichwere painted rude but significant designs of animals andbirds and fish, while the articles collected on these gravesincluded guns, snowshoes, moccasins, masks, etc. A fa-vourite grave decoration was a big tin pan mounted bot-tom side up on a tall pole. While we marvel—and letme say that nobody stopped in that graveyard long enoughto do any marvelling just then—that was all reserved tillafter we were safe behind the Healys mosquito bars—while we marvel at the superstition which prompts the col-lection of these n
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidalaskak, booksubjectalaska
