THE STICKINE RIVER 23

Towards evening a chilly wind sprang up and the sun
set behind us in a gorgeous riot of colours. About eight
o'clock we approached the northern bank and made
fast for the night. We were obliged to eat in shifts of
four on account of the small. space, and the fare con-
sisted of pork and beans, with bread and butter.

Next came the rather difficult problem of how to
dispose of sixteen men in ten bunks, but most of us
had sleeping bags, so some went ashore and slept on
the sand, while others chose the cabin roof. I, being
the longest, was allotted a short and narrow bunk,
and what with the myriads of mosquitoes which very
soon made their appearance, I did not sleep much that
night.

At four o’clock in the morning we continued up
the river, and though the current was strong against us,
we made such good time that by half-past seven we
reached the small customs station on the boundary
between Alaska and British Columbia, where a Fin-
lander, Thurboe by name, lived alone with his wife
and children, acting as customs collector, police, and -
game warden all in one.

Those of us who had come direct from the U.S.A.
had to make a deposit on our guns, ammunition, etc.,
which would be refunded to us on our way out.

On the northern side of the river further up we
passed a very large glacier, which looked like some
enormous congealed flood emerging from the mountains
behind, and steadily increasing in breadth as it approach-
ed the river. It bears a Russian name—the Popoff
glacier.

We were now passing through the coast range, a
wild jumble of snowy peaks of an alpine character and