C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

Trauellers, Riuersand Mountains 179sufficient and independent of your friendship, beneficent to the land throughwhich it flows, tyrannical and ruthless in the face of obstacles, subservient tonothing in the world save wind and frost. A little river is often, in moods ofcalmness, faithful mirror to the sky but the great rivers of the world are changefulas any chameleon, being now as smooth as glass and now broken into a myriadripples, and then, with the melting of the snows that feed its perennial current,like an unchained demon in a rage. One thing in Alaska that we longed to seeabove all others was the river Yukon in the spring, for then, with the coming ofthe thaw, it hurtles downwards gigantic floes in a chaos of ice and water, movingwith irresistible power. Of course we could never gain any sense of intimacy withthe Yukon but during those few days when we travelled down to its junction withthe Tanana River at Tanana, the outlook from the steamer decks was magnificent.The current was wider than that of the Porcupine, broken into larger sloughs andlonger islands and it was more turbulent than any river we had ever seen. We feltas Noah must have felt on the top of Mount Ararat, when he looked about himand saw on every side unpopulated country.One evening the captain sent and summoned us from our bunks to come ondeck and see the Northern Lights. The sky was broken up into sinuous wavingbands of colour with straight edges like a crystal, but half transparent like wispyclouds and long tentacles that shimmered and trembled across the starlit sky,becoming now and then great sheets of milky light. The heavens seemed to emit acrackling sound; it seemed as if an earthquake were taking place above us andthose rainbow-coloured streamers filled all our overhead world from onehorizon to the other. I remembered the poet's line: "When earth's foundationsfled away," and wondered if the sky really was disintegrating and leaving us at themercy of-What? Of nothingness? Never before had I realised that day after dayand year after year the sky is like a protective presence that keeps us anchored inthis world of ours.More important, however, than even the Northern Lights or the Yukon Riverwere the glimpses that we had of Mt McKinley. The sight of this mountain, evenin the far distance, had an almost stupefying effect on the mind. Each time wesaw the peak it was as if our hearts stopped beating and our brains ceased to functionunder a sudden onrush of awe and admiration. Mt McKinley, or, to use themore beautiful native name, Mt Denali, is the highest of the three Alaskan giants,for it is over 20,000 feet, while Mt St Elias is only 18,000 feet and Mt Loganonly about 19,500 feet. We never had a close sight of Denali, indeed the view we