floated over the harbour, Sitka has greatly
improved in every way; in a few years
perhaps, this improvement will extend to the
health of the inhabitants. The settlers may
find it profitable to drain the marshes which
now surround the place, or, at all events to clear
them of decayed vegetable matter.

Of the many Indian tribes that occupy territory
adjacent to the Yukon river, the most
important are the Ingelets and Co-Yukons.
Speaking different dialects of the same
language, they resemble each other in many of
their customs and ways of life. The Ingelets
are rather above the average height of
Europeans, and are strong and robust. They are
quick and intelligent, too: willing to be
taught, and very apt pupils. Their remarkable
honesty has been proved, in many severe trials,
to be far beyond that of most civilised
nations. Love of strong drink is the besetting
sin of the race, and for the introduction of this
fatal habit they may thank their communication
with Europeans.

As the tribes approach nearer to the coast,
they seem to retain less of their native wildness
and barbarity. The Co-Yukons, who are
much further inland than the Ingelets, are
also much further from civilisation. Their
countenances show wildness and ferocity, and
their lives and habits speak the predominance of
the savage. Both tribes possess a passionate
fondness for music and whisky. They live in
houses underground, with close subterranean
entrances. In many of the contrivances of
everyday life they display remarkable
ingenuity. This quality is particularly shown in
their mode of "walling" deer: resembling, in
some manner, the Hindoo mode of catching
wild elephants.

Few, except the party opponents of Mr.
Seward, will now assert that Alaska is likely to
prove a bad bargain to the United States. No
one can doubt that the change has been a most
beneficial one to the country itself. While it
is a valuable territory to the United States,
the probability is that it would never have
been so to Russia. Frequent revolts of the
Indians, incited no doubt by oppression on the
part of the officials, had made the colony a
very great trouble and a very small advantage
to the Russian government. The persistent
efforts made by some Russian merchants to
carry on the trade in furs, shows that it was
a trade of very considerable value. In spite of
all hindrances, they persevered. The loss of
life and property, from shipwreck and the
predatory attacks of the Indians, did not
daunt the Russian traders. They endeavoured
to cope with all these disadvantages, and
with the greater evils which resulted from
the indolence and carelessness of their own
servants. Many of these were convicts who
had had the alternative of imprisonment or
service, and had chosen the latter. Under
no such disadvantages will the United States
hold Alaska. The whalers who traded with
some of the ports, exposed to the jealousy of
the Russians, will now be free to push their trade
as briskly as they wish; or they will be superseded
by others who will make it their principal
business. Communication with the various
American ports, and with the ports of British
Columbia, will develop her resources far
beyond the most sanguine dreams of Mr. Seward's
supporters. The forests will soon become very
valuable, and there is reason to suppose that
the mineral wealth of the country is equal to
that of British Columbia. Some gold has been
discovered on the Yukon, but not in sufficient
quantity to entice speculators. The wealth of
the country in furs—the present staple article
of export — is not equal to its wealth in fisheries.
The extensive cod-banks off the Aleutian
islands are of the most valuable description;
while salmon, the coveted delicacy of this
country, is there found in such quantities, and
with so little labour, that it possesses scarcely
any value. In these days of quick transport,
when it is found profitable to import
commodities from the most distant countries, if
there they can be produced or procured with
the least expenditure of labour and capital—
when California sends us corn, and Calcutta
hay — who can doubt that the rich fisheries
of these rivers will become a valuable source
of supply for the British market?

Those who regard the acquisition of Alaska
by the United States, as merely a step
towards the possession of the whole continent,
can scarcely regret the transfer. Notwithstanding
the present unsettled condition of the
great republic, and the antipathy to Brother
Jonathan's ways that has long existed in the
minds of the Canadians, few will doubt that
the independent states of America must sooner
or later be united under one government. The
tide of empire rolls westward. Considering
the vast strides in wealth, population, and
education, which during the last twenty years
have been made on the other side of the
Atlantic, the empire of America may one day
be the ruling power among the nations of the
earth, when perhaps the present empires of the
old world shall have shared the fate of Athens
and Rome.

Mr. Whymper's Travels in Alaska and on
the Yukon, a very interesting book, is the
source whence most of the preceding information
has been derived.

                       THE MILESTONES.

         SEVENTY milestones on the road,
              The road on which we travel,
         Sometimes through the bog and mire,
              Sometimes on the gravel.

         Sometimes o'er the velvet grass,
              Or through the forest alleys,
         Sometimes o'er the mountain tops,
              Or through the pleasant valleys.

         Sometimes through the garden walks,
              Light of heart and cheery,
         Sometimes o'er the jagged stones
              With bleeding feet and weary.

         Half my milestones lie behind,
              More than half I reckon,
         And I can see a Thing before
              That seems to nod and beckon.