. Wonderland, or, Alaska and the inland passage . ourse (or due west), here about ten miles wide, and enter Peril Straits, aboutthirty-five miles long. They sweep boldly to the north in a great arc, and, likeall winding and rapidly and alternately widening and narrowing of the inlandchannels, they are extremely picturesque, more from the contrast of differentscenes so swiftly changed before ones eyes, than from anything radically newso presented. The old Russian name for them was Paboogni (meaning perni-cious) Strait, and they got this title rather from an incident of appetite thanbad navigati
. Wonderland, or, Alaska and the inland passage . ourse (or due west), here about ten miles wide, and enter Peril Straits, aboutthirty-five miles long. They sweep boldly to the north in a great arc, and, likeall winding and rapidly and alternately widening and narrowing of the inlandchannels, they are extremely picturesque, more from the contrast of differentscenes so swiftly changed before ones eyes, than from anything radically newso presented. The old Russian name for them was Paboogni (meaning perni-cious) Strait, and they got this title rather from an incident of appetite thanbad navigation. In the latter part of last century the Russians used to importthe poor Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands, far to the westward, as mercenaries tofight their battles for them against the Tlmkit Indians of this region ; and,while encamped here, they partook of a large of mussels, which provedpoisonous, killing some, and putting many on the sick list for that particularcampaign. In some of the very contracted places the tides run with great. THROUGH WONDERLAND. 71 velocity; but, by taking advantage of the proper times (which the nearness ofKilHsnoo on one side and Sitka on the other makes easy) and a more thoroughknowledge of the few impediments, the dangers to navigation here are nowabout nil. Once through Peril Straits, we can look out on the Pacific Oceanthrough Salisbury Sound for a few minutes before turning southward through aseries of short straits and channels too numerous to mention ; and then,after twenty to twenty-five miles of sailing, we come to Sitka, the capital ofthe Territory. It is most picturesquely located at the head of Sitka Sound,through which, looking in a southwest direction, the Pacific Ocean is plainlyvisible. Looking in this way, its bay seems full of pretty little islets, sprinkledall over it, that are almost invisible as seen from the ocean when approaching,so densely are they covered with timber, and so exactly like the timbered hillsof the m
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectnorthernpacificrailr
