To its former owners it must have been of
small advantage. An outlying colony subject
to the frequent attacks of discontented
Indian tribes, and therefore expensive to hold,
is not a very desirable possession. It is not,
then, strange that the Russian government was
very glad to sell it. The enterprising American
has now taken the place of the slow Russian.
The careless servants of the fur company
have been succeeded by settlers keenly alive
to their own interests, ready to work out
the natural resources of the country to the
utmost, and to develop the trade that
languished in the hands of their predecessors.
Even now, the country presents marks of
considerable improvement. Sitka, the capital, bears
witness to the energy of the new inhabitants,
who have settled there in such considerable
numbers that the price of land has more than
doubled.

Alaska lies to the north-west of British
Columbia; and that part of it that is south of
the Yukon river very much resembles the
latter colony in soil and climate. In looking at
the map, we can scarcely realise the fact that
the area of Alaska is about four hundred
thousand square miles, or almost equal to twice
that of France. Alaska was discovered by
Bering, whose researches are comparatively
little known in this country. He died of
scurvy in the year 1741, after an unsuccessful
attempt to discover the often-sought northern
passage. The island on which he was buried
has since borne his celebrated name. After
Bering's death, expeditions were organised by
the Russian government, which did considerable
service in exploring the country. Not a
little light has been thrown upon the geography
of the interior by some of those who were
appointed to trace the route of the ill-fated
Franklin.

Sympathy with the fate of the brave man
who fell a victim to his own untiring enterprise,
and sympathy with those who prosecuted
the search for him amid toils and dangers the
severity of which we can scarcely imagine, has
led many persons to read the various accounts
of these expeditions, who would, in all
probability, but for them, have been entirely
unacquainted with the far north. These volumes
have hitherto been the chief source of popular
information on Alaska.

The course of the Yukon was first explored
by the servants of the Russian-American Fur
Company. This mighty river, which has been
called the Northern Mississippi, is upwards of
two thousand miles in length, while its breadth
varies from one to four miles. On its banks
are most of the stations whence the company's
servants carried on the trade with the Indians.
During the summer months it is easy to navigate
compared with other rivers of the same latitude.
Accidents occasioned by collision with
icebergs seldom occur. Large masses of ice
are formed in October, but the rapidity of the
current prevents the river from being
completely frozen until November. In the earlier
part of the winter season, these masses are forced
to the surface and are then embedded in the
ice. Sledge travelling, the only mode of
communication during the greater part of the year,
is thus rendered tedious and dangerous. The
sledges, which are drawn by dogs, are of the
simplest construction. Many of them are
merely long planks, turned up at one end and
furnished with raw hide straps to secure the
luggage. The most important stations on the
river are Nulato and Fort Yukon. Both forts
were, under the Russian government,
garrisoned and surrounded by a picket. This was
rendered necessary by the attacks of the
Indians, who on more than one occasion surprised
the fort, butchered all who came in their way,
and carried off every valuable on which they
could lay their hands. In the year 1850 the
Co-Yukons, a tribe of Indians whose reputation
as being the most bloodthirsty and treacherous
of their race, have caused them to be feared by
all the company's servants, attacked Fort
Nulato, and massacred all, old and young, who
were within. Among the victims was
Lieutenant Burnard, whose name will long be
remembered in connexion with the expedition
sent out under the command of Captain
Collinson, to search for Sir John Franklin.

Sitka, or New Archangel, as being the only
"city," deserves some passing notice. It is
built upon an island, and is rather low
in situation, being upon a narrow strip of
land that rises from the sea. There is a
small but commodious harbour, which is
guarded by a battery of guns commanding
the entrance. The walls are now in a most
dilapidated condition, while the firing of
any of the cannon would be attended, most
likely, with more disastrous effects to the
gunners than to the enemy. Seen from the
harbour, the green spire of the Greek church,
rising in the midst of the red-painted roofs of
the houses by which it is surrounded, gives
Sitka a gay appearance. In the distance,
ranges of lofty snow-capped mountains
surround the city, their sides, as they rise
from the low level of the plain below,
thickly studded with trees. The capital of the
country was also the centre from which the
operations of the Russian-American Fur
Company were carried on. The lines of low stores
that occupy a considerable part of the place
were often filled with the most valuable furs
collected from all the stations on the Yukon.
Hither the servants of the company returned
from their periodical visits to the marts of the
various Indian tribes, and here was the house
of the governor, rising up from the tall cliff that
overlooks the Alaskan capital. Unfortunately
for its prosperity, Sitka enjoys the unenviable
reputation of being about the most rainy place
in the known world, excepting, of course, the
celebrated city in the west of Ireland, where an
inhabitant says it rains thirteen months out of the
year. What is still worse, rain only ceases, to
give place to disease. Dry weather, during the
short summer, invariably brings with it
rheumatism and pulmonary disorders. Since the
stars and stripes of the United States first