[Illustration:  BEAR PATHS, KODIAK ISLAND.]

We next tried Kaguiac Bay and here spent many days.  Two bears had been killed by the natives near the barabara where we camped, and there was plenty of sign.

Before sunrise we were watching from a good position, and it was scarcely light when Vacille made out a big bear, two miles or more away.  He was traveling the snow arete of the mountain opposite, and trying to find a good descent into our valley.  One could see the huge body and head plainly with the naked eye against the sky-line as he made his way rapidly through the deep snow.  Finally he found a place somewhat bare of snow and gave us a splendid exhibition of rock climbing.  It took little time for him to get down into the alders, where he apparently dropped asleep.  To our astonishment he woke up about 10 o’clock and worked down toward the bottom land.  We stalked him in the woods and alders, which were very thick, within 300 yards, and here I should have risked a shot at his hindquarters showing up brown against the hillside, and seemingly as large as a horse.

We chanced a nearer approach, though the wind was treacherous, and coming up to a spot where we could have viewed him found the monster had decamped.  All attempts to locate him again were fruitless.

The bear paths around this bay were a very interesting study.  They are hammered deep into the earth, and afford as good means of traveling as the New Brunswick moose paths.

Sometimes instead of a single road we have a double one, the bear using one path for the legs of each side of his body.  Again, on soft mossy side hills, instead of paths we find single footprints which have been used over and over, and made into huge saucers, it being the custom of the bear to take long strides on the side hills, and to step into the impressions made by other animals which had traveled ahead of it.

The red salmon were beginning to run, and some fishermen in another part of the bay supplied us, from time to time, from their nets.  Especially good were the salmon heads roasted.

Bear sign failed, and Afognak Island, where Vacille shot and trapped, had been so much talked about, that I determined to see it for myself, and with a good wind we rowed across the straits and sailed twelve miles into the island by Kofikoski Bay.

[Illustration:  BEAR PATHS, KODIAK ISLAND.]

Scattered along up the bay were small islands, and these furnished us with a good supply of gulls’ eggs, which lasted many days.

The Afognak coast is heavily wooded with spruce, while a large plateau in the interior is almost barren, and gave good opportunity for using the glasses.

During several days at the head of Kofikoski Bay nothing was seen, so we packed up and crossed a large piece of the island by portages and a chain of lakes, where our Osgood boat was indispensable.  The country crossed was like a beautiful park of meadows, groves and lakes, and one could scarcely believe it was uncultivated.