Kalitan, Our Little Alaskan CousinNixon-Roulet, Mary F.
General
Kalitan, Our Little Alaskan Cousin
Nixon-Roulet, Mary F.
Children -- Alaska -- Juvenile literature
Ted's eyes shone, and the amount of breakfast he put away quite prepared
him for his day's work, which, pleasant though it might be, certainly
was hard work. The chief said they must seek the glacier first before
the sun got hot, for it was blinding on the snow. So they set out soon
after breakfast, leaving Chetwoof in charge of the camp, and with orders
to catch enough fish for dinner.
"We'll be ready to eat them, heads and tails," said Ted, and his father
added, laughingly:
"'Bible, bones, and hymn-book, too.'"
"What does that mean?" asked Ted, as Kalitan looked up inquiringly.
"Once a writer named Macaulay said he could make a rhyme for any word in
the English language, and a man replied, 'You can't rhyme Timbuctoo.'
But he answered without a pause:
"If I were a Cassowary
On the plains of Timbuctoo,
I'd eat up a missionary,
Bible, bones, and hymn-book, too."
Ted laughed, but Kalitan said, grimly:
"Not good to eat Boston missionary, he all skin and bone!"
"Where did they get the name Alaska?" asked Ted, as they tramped over
the snow toward the glacier.
"Al-ay-ck-sa--great country," said Kalitan.
"It certainly is," said Ted. "It's fine! I never saw anything like this
at home," pointing as he spoke to the scene in front of him.
A group of evergreen trees, firs and the Alaska spruce, so useful for
fires and torches, fringed the edge of the ice-field, green and verdant
in contrast to the gleaming snows of the mountain, which rose in a
gentle slope at first, then precipitously, in a dazzling and enchanting
combination of colour. It was as if some marble palace of old rose
before them against the heavens, for the ice was cut and serrated into
spires and gables, turrets and towers, all seeming to be ornamented with
fretwork where the sun's rays struck the peaks and turned them into
silver and gold. Lower down the ice looked like animals, so twisted was
it into fantastic shapes; fierce sea monsters with yawning mouths
seeming ready to devour; bears and wolves, whales, gigantic elephants,
and snowy tigers, tropic beasts looking strangely out of place in this
arctic clime.
Deep crevices cut the ice-fields, and in their green-blue depths lurked
death, for the least misstep would dash the traveller into an abyss
which had no bottom. Beyond the glacier itself, the snow-capped
mountains rose grand and serene, their glittering peaks clear against
the blue sky, which hue the glacier reflected and played with in a
thousand glinting shades, from purpling amethyst to lapis lazuli and
turquoise.
As they gazed spellbound, a strange thing occurred, a thing of such
wonder and beauty that Ted could but grasp his father's arm in silence.
Suddenly the peaks seemed to melt away, the white ice-pinnacles became
real turrets, houses and cathedrals appeared, and before them arose a
wonderful city of white marble, dream-like and shadowy, but beautiful as
Aladdin's palace in the "Arabian Nights." At last Ted could keep silent
no longer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account