When I awoke this morning, the water was as still as a mill pond, and the sky cloudless, giving us another perfect day. It was found that no damage had been done to the steamer, and at 8 A.M. she started on her course. We are now passing through Peril Straits, very narrow, with mountains near, covered with trees. The water is shallow, and sometimes our stanch vessel grates roughly over the bottom. At one time, when passing an opening of a dozen miles, we looked upon the ocean, with just enough swell to remind us how much more agreeable it is to sail on water where you are not liable to sea-sickness. The captain has issued his usual noon-day bulletin, stating that the ship will arrive at certain places during the next twenty-four hours, provided she does not run on rocks, and there is no fog, and that "after Juneau, we will go to Taku Glacier, where we will obtain our supply of ice." "Passengers are permitted to fill up with it, as it is exceedingly cheap, and cooling to the mind." CHAPTER XIV. ICY BAY, TREADWELL, AND JUNEAU. JUNEAU, July 13, 1892. Yesterday we were moving through the straits, and looking upon the majestic scenery which distinguishes Alaska, for a thousand miles from Tacoma. We passed the great Davidson Glacier, and during the afternoon and evening were constantly seeing immense ranges of mountains, until we reached Icy Bay at seven this morning. Here the steamer took in her supply of ice, fishing it out of the water and hoisting it on board, several tons at a time. Coming into Icy Bay, the scenery was of extraordinary grandeur, mountains many thousand feet high, the bases of which were near the water, and numerous waterfalls and glaciers. Some of us sat up nearly all night to see the wonders, the like of which cannot be seen anywhere in the world, except, perhaps, in Greenland. After midnight the moon came up in all her glory, and the northern lights played fantastic tricks in the sky. The great glacier in this bay is a wonder, a mile wide and several hundred feet high, the ice falling off every few minutes in great masses. Once I saw two great ice towers, looking much like those of the Church of Notre Dame in Paris, and I called the attention of a lady to them. Hardly had I made the remark, before they both crumbled down into the water with a tremendous crash, making our big ship feel the force of the waves caused by the fall. After leaving Icy Bay we touched at Treadwell at noon, where are located some famous gold mines. Most of the passengers went ashore and were permitted to go through the large buildings of the mining company, and see the operations of getting gold from rocks. The blasting was going on a short distance off. The ore was transported by rail to the mill, and then pounded into powder by several hundred powerful steam hammers, which made a prodigious din. This powdered stone was mixed with running water, and we were informed that the gold was obtained in that way, but we saw none of it.