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"Travels In Alaska" by John Muir

book review by Riley Burnham 6/19/2023

great book; almost instantly hooked me lol

[audiobook 👍👍👍]

learned about southeastern Alaska in the late 1800s; including its coastline, glaciers, weather, solar activity, auroras, natives... eloquent(!!)

this guy speaks about nature in terms of (practical) poetry, which i like

i clipped a few passages for my [new] Flat-Earth Education Forum, which refer to quivering lances of auroras thrusting toward the zenith [the zenith :D] -- he even admits a little to the S. of it, which makes sense [given they're S. of the N. pole still... [pull, hehe]

he shares of his seeing a bright silver aurora in the shape of a rainbow forming a 'bridge' to the heavens, describing it like "I fancy that if all the stars were raked together into one windrow, fused and welded and run through some celestial rolling-mill, all would be required to make this one glowing colossal bridge"

he says the 'Indians' up north [in Alaska] are distinctly of Mongolian/Chinese origin [morphology, etc.] rather than African or ___ [differing from eastern American 'Indians' even] -- & are highly-skilled & pretty adept at dealing w/ 'white man' / missionaries / of the like -- some a bit timid 😬

his party [which in one voyage went by steamer] traded mostly w/ tobacco, & received often [or noticed the natives traded in] furs, smoked salmon, etc.

he talks about totem poles, & a chap in his party taking the head of one for a showpiece, & is of course scolded for like desecrating a grave

seems the natives also commission totem poles(!)

it's a great book; thoroughly good; wise; still old-fashioned