■HHr ■, ™BBr LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 00015211350 % WBBBBP m ■ ■ ■ wr m ■ I ■ ■i . ♦ I ** I I -^. - I ^H TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE IN THE TERRITORY OE ALASKA, FORMERLY RUSSIAN AMERICA— NOW CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES— AND IN VARIOUS OTHER PARTS OE THE NORTH PACIFIC. By FEEDEKICK WHYMPER WITH MAP AND ILLUSTKATIONS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN 8QTJAEE. 186 Br a*©** ** Fqos v» % d 5 TO SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON, BART., K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., ETC., PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, AND FOREIGN ASSOCIATE OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, €)\% ©nta is SMtirabi, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS GREAT SCIENTIFIC ATTAINMENTS, AND AS A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH KINDNESS SHOWN TO THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. So little is known of the interior of Eussian America, that I trust even this imperfect and meagre narrative may prove not altogether uninteresting. A large portion of these pages refers to a journey made in the Yukon region, which though containing one of the grandest streams on the North American continent, has hitherto remained almost unno- ticed. Sir John Eichardson, indeed, when on the Macken- zie, collected some information respecting it, but never vis- ited any portion of it, while the travels of Zagoskin, of the Eussian Imperial Navy, have never been popularly known. This country has recently acquired some notice from its transfer to the United States Government, and within a few years we shall doubtless hear more of it. The natives have been hitherto so isolated from civilization, that perhaps in no other part of America can the " red-skin" be seen to great- er perfection. In a few generations he will be extinct. ' " Alaska Territory " — the title by which the whole of Eussian America is to be known in future — though as good a name as any other, is founded, apparently, on a miscon- ception. It seems to have been derived from the title of that long peninsula (Aliaska) with which we are all familiar on the map, but the title does not properly belong to the whole territory. I have before mea" Eeport on the Eesources of Iceland and Greenland," issued this year (1868) by the State De- partment at Washington. It was compiled, at the desire of the Hon. W. H. Seward, by B. M. Peirce, Esq. From that production I glean that the United States Government, so far from regretting the purchase of Alaska, are almost xii Preface. ready to bid for Iceland and Greenland! Mr. Seward's mania for icebergs and snow-fields seems insatiable. The opening chapters contain some earlier reminiscences of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, while in the concluding pages I have attempted to sketch California of our own time. J have also briefly recorded some visits paid by me to the eastern coasts of Siberia and Kamchatka. Some of the most pleasant days of my life were spent with the two expeditions with which I have been connect- ed ; and of many of my old friends and companions I shall ever think with much kindness. To Colonel Bulkley, En- gineer-in-chief of the Kusso-American Telegraph Expedi- tion ; to Captain Scammon (U. S. Ee venue Service) ; and to my good friends Messrs. Wright, Chappel, and Lewis, all American gentlemen with whom it was a pleasure to be connected, I am indebted for courtesies which it would be difficult for me to sufficiently acknowledge. . To the President and Council of the Eoyal Geographical Society I am specially obliged for the use of the map, illus- trating the course of the Yukon, etc., which is to appear in their " Journal " in connection with the paper contributed by me. To Mr. Arrowsmith, for the trouble he has taken to work out the crude material laid before him ; to Mr. H. W. Bates and Captain George ; to Mr. Murray, and to my father and brother, for their constant and kind assistance, I can not be too grateful. The illustrations are taken, with but two exceptions, from the original sketches made on the spot; they have gained considerably in the hands of my friends, Messrs. Skelton, Mahoney, and Zwecker. The portrait of an Aht native (Vancouver Island), page 74, has been copied from an excellent photograph by Mr. Gentile, now of San Fran- cisco; and the picture of a Tchuktchi house, page 112, is from a photograph by Mr. Kyder, who was for the season of 1866 attached to the Telegraph Expedition. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE VOYAGE OUT. Leaving England. — Our Passengers. — Old Mo'. — Freight for the matrimo- nial Market. — Storm on board. — Mutiny. — Volunteer coal-heaving. — Falkland Islands. — Port Stanley. — The Horn. — Out>of Coal. — San Fran- cisco. — The Straits of Fuca. — Cook. — Vancouver. — Juan de Fuca. — Victoria. — Cariboo Mines. — The Gold. — The Discoverers of William's Creek. — Journalism on the Pacific Page 21 CHAPTER II. THE GLACIERS OF BUTE INLET, BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Mountains of British Columbia and adjacent Coasts. — Bute Inlet. — Chilicoten Indians. — A "Blow-up." — Indian Packets. — Route through the Forest. — Indian Guide. — Chinook Jargon. — Trackless Forests. — Lost in the Woods. — The glacier Streams. — Camp. — Great Glacier. — Description. — Return Journey. — Second Glacier 36 CHAPTER III. THE TRAGEDY AMONG THE GLACIERS. Reported Murder. — Canoe-trip on the Sea. — Dodd's Narrows. — Island on Fire.— The Massacre at Bute Inlet.— Reports of Survivors.— Second Mas- sacre.— Excitement in the Colony.— Expeditions in Search of the In- dians.— Capture of a Part of the Murderers.— The Ideal and Real In- dian.— His ultimate Extinction.— Reasons for it.— Indian Traders.— Proposed semi-secular, semi-missionary Settlements. — The Mission at Metlakahtla 48 CHAPTER IV. THE INTERIOR OF VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. Pleasures of Labor. — Unknown Interior of Vancouver Island. — Expedition organized. — Cowichan River. — Somenos. — Kakalatza and his Hat-box. — Travel up the River. — Our Camps. — Camp Yarns. — Indian Version of the Book of Jonah. — Cowichan Lake. — Rafting Experiences. — The "Ram- pant Raft." — Brown's Camp. — Acquisition of a Canoe 6L xiv Contents. CHAPTER V. THE INTERIOR OP VANCOUVER ISLAND. Nittinaht.— "Whyack."— The Indians.— Aht Tribes.— The Breakers.— Port San Juan. — Indian Yarn. — Sooke. — Basin and River. — Discovery of Gold. — Gold on Queen Charlotte's Island. — Nanaimo. — Coal-seam at Comox. — Ascent of Puntledge River. — Wreck of Canoe. — Interior Lakes. — Barclay Sound. — Game List. — Camp-marks Page 78 CHAPTER VI. ALASKA TERRITORY. Acquisition of Russian America by the United States. — American Criticisms on the Purchase. — Coal and gold Discoveries. — Mock Advertise- ments. — America for the Americans. — Geographical Literature of the Pacific— Of Russian America. — The Treaty. — W. U. Telegraph Expedi- tion. — Its Organization. — Preference for young Men 86 CHAPTER VII. A VISIT TO THE CAPITAL OP ALASKA. The Voyage. — Sitka Sound and Harbor. — Baranoff. — Early History. — The Town. — Water Supply.' — Agriculture. — Former Russian Settlements in California. — Russian American Company. — The Fisheries. — Kalosh Indians. — Our Experiences of Russian Hospitality. — Sitka in new Hands. — Two Sundays in a Week.— Kodiak Ice. — Formal Transfer of Alaska 93 CHAPTER VIII. VOYAGE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. 1S65. Departure from Sitka. — Oukamok. — Ounga. — Breakers ahead! — Volca- noes in Ounimak Pass. — St. Michael's, Norton Sound, Alaska. — Sound- ings of Behring Sea. — Plover Bay, Eastern Siberia. — TheTchuktchis. — Tents. — Canoes. — Tchuktchi Strength. — Children. — The irrepressible "'Naukum." — Native's Idea of the Telegraph. — The "Shenandoah" Pirate. — Avatcha Bay 107 CHAPTER IX. PETROPAULOVSKI AND OUR RETURN VOYAGE TO SAN FRANCISCO. The Harbor. — Town. — Monuments. — The Fur-trade. — Kamchatka gen- erally. — The Volcanoes. — The Attack of the Allies in 1854. — Their Re- turn in 1855. — The "General Teste." — Rejoin the Steamer "Wright." — Gale. — Incidents of Storm. — Covert's "Smoke-stack" 118 Contents. xv chapter x. VOYAGE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. Organization of the Expedition. — Thirsty medical Man. — Our Fleet. — Voyage. — Petropaulovski again. — The Russian Corvette. — Russian Wedding. — Heat. — International Picnic. — Voyage north. — Behring's Voyages. — Shipwreck. — Death of Behring. — Gulf of Anadyr. — The "wandering Tchuktchis" Page 132 CHAPTER XL THE ANADYR RIVER AND PLOVER BAY, EASTERN SIBERIA. Tchuktchi with Letter of Recommendation. — Boat Expedition to the River. — Our Explorers. — Their Experiences. — The Anadyr River. — Tchuktchi Thieves. — PloverBay. — Nau-kum again. — Advertising in Behring Straits. — Telegraph Station erected. — Foraging with a Vengeance. — Whaling. — Norton Sound. — Alaska. — Death of Major Kennicott 143 CHAPTER XII. RUSSIAN AND INDIAN SETTLEMENTS. — NORTON SOUND. • St. Michael's. — The Fort and its Inhabitants. — The "Provalishik." — Russian Steam-bath. — " Total Immersion. " — The Island. — Incident of Break-up of Ice. — Arrival of dead Indian Sledge-driver. — Steam-boat trip. — Steamer laid up. — Russian Post at Unalachleet. — Malemute and Kaveak Indians. — Skin Clothing. — Intertribal Commerce. — Trade with the Tchuktchis. — Under-ground Houses. — Fishing through the Ice.. 152 CHAPTER XILT. UNALACHLEET. — NORTON SOUND. Indian Town-hall.— Preparations for Dance. — Smoke-consuming Indians. — F eas t.— Dance. — Chorus. — The Malemutes and Kaveaks.— The Chiefs. — "Parka Mania." — Erection of Quarters. — Preparations for Sledge- journey 165 CHAPTER XIV. SLEDGE -JOURNEY TO THE YUKON. Routes to the Yukon. — Sledges and Dogs. — Our Start. — Our Party. — Una- lachleet River. — Brought to a Stand-still. — Dogs desert. — Ingelete In- dians. — Under-ground Houses, etc. — Beans versus Rice. — Indian Clean- liness. — Medical Aid. — Ulukuk. — The River. — Indian Trading 171 xvi Contents. CHAPTER XV. SLEDGE-JOURNEY TO THE YUKON — Continued. Cross theUlukuk River. — Walking on Snow-shoes. — Ulukuk Mountains. — Land travelling. — Versola Sofka. — Patent Camp. — Our frozen Breath. — Indian Honesty. — The Use of Snow-shoes. — Warm Springs. — First Glimpse of the Yukon— Coltog.— Old " Stareek."— Travel on the Yu- kon. — Alikoff's "Barabba." — Meet a Russian Sledge-train. — Arrival at Nulato Page 182 CHAPTER XVI. LIFE AT NULATO. — YUKON RIVER. First Explorers of the Yukon. — Nulato. — Our Quarters. — Water-sledge. — Fish-traps. — Winter Sketching. — Frozen Provisions. — Coldest Day. — Departure of a Sledge-train. — Dinner-party. — Indian Arrivals. — Short- est Day. — Merry Christmas. — Bill of Fare. — Aurora. — Temperatures. — Supplies. — Principal Winter Trip of our Explorers 193 CHAPTER XVII.. THE CO- YUKON INDIANS. Co-yukon Tribe. — Fashions. — The Nulato Massacre. — Incidents of the Attack. — Indian Murders. — Mourning Observances. — " Wake." — Four- post Coffins. — Superstitions. — " Corralling " deer. — News travels fast. — Furs and Trading. — Indian Women. — Indian " Goggles." — Children's Dolls 204 CHAPTER XVIII. CANOE JOURNEY. — ASCENT OF THE YUKON. Spring. — Thaw. — Break-up of the Yukon. — Preparations for Journey. — Our Canoes. — Start. — Dangerous Condition of River. — Its Size. — Current. — Perilous Navigation. — Submerged Islands. — Co-yukuk. — Birch-bark Fleet. — Sachertelontin. — Lagoon. — Newicargut. — Purchase of Supplies. — Tooth-brush Experiences.— Medicine-making. — Indian Dissipation. — Child's birch-bark Chair 216 CHAPTER XLX. canoe journey (continued). — ASCENT OF THE YUKON. Meet a Deserter. — Indian Taste for "Nigger " Minstrelsy. — Tracking. — La- goon. — Piles of Drift-wood. — Nuclukayette. — Unsophisticated Indians. — Ceremony. — Leave the Russians. — The Indian's Head. — Mountain Gorge — Indian Dogs. — Canoe Leak. — The Rapids. — The "Ram- parts." — Moose-hunting. — Islands. — Overhanging Banks. — Shallows. — Shortest Night. — First English Indians. — Porcupine River. — Fort Yukon 234 Contents. xvii CHAPTER XX. PORT YUKON. Return of the Commander and Missionary. — Information received from them. — Mackenzie and the Yukon. — The Indians. — Numerous Tribes. — The Furs. — Fictitious Black Fox. — Missionary Work. — Return of our Explorers from the Upper Yukon. — Fort Yukon Sledges, etc. Page 251 CHAPTER XXI. DESCENT OF THE YUKON. Drifting down the Stream. —Yukon Salmon. — Arrival at Nulato. — Over- dose of Arsenic and Alcohol. — Trip resumed. — Indian Music. — Anvic. — The Mission. —Earthquake on the Water. — Andreavski. — The Mouths of the Yukon. — Smith's Observations. — Pastolik. — St. Michael's. — Prog- ress of the Telegraph. — Frozen Soil. — Scuny. — Arrival of our Bark. — Plover Bay. — Return to San Francisco 262 CHAPTER XXn. THE VALUE OF ALASKA. — THE ORIGIN OF THE ESQUIMAUX OF NORTHERN ALASKA AND GREENLAND The Value of Alaska. — The Furs and Fisheries. — The Purchase an Act of Justice to Russia. — The Aleutian Islands. — Volcanoes. — Bogoslov Isl- and. — The Asiatic Origin of the Esquimaux. — The Tchuktchis. — Sea- going Canoes. — The Voyages of two Japanese Junks. — The connecting Links between the Tchuktchis and the Esquimaux. — Language. — De- generation of the Esquimaux. — Community of Goods. — The " Scha- man " and the "Angekok." 274 CHAPTER XXni. W. U. TELEGRAPH EXPLORATIONS IN ASIA. Major Abasa appointed Chief. — Arrival in Petropaulovski. — Travels in Kam- chatka. — Ghijega. — The Town, etc. — Route between Ghijega and Ochotsk. — The Explorations of Mahood and Bush. — Nicolaiefski, Mouth of the Amoor.— Travel to Ochotsk. — Reindeer-riding. — The Tunguse. — Ayan. — Ochotsk. — M'Creaand Arnold's Wanderings amonp: the Tchuktchis.— Anadyrsk 28G CHAPTER XXIV. CALIFORNIA. California in 1849. — To-day. — Agricultural Progress. — Wine Manufacture. — Climate. — Lower California. — San Francisco. — No Paper-money. — Coinage. — Growth. — General Prosperity. — Scarcity of Labor. — Hiring B xviii Contents. a Domestic. — Luxuries of the Land. — " The Mission." — Hotel Carte. — Home for the Inebriates. — Immigration desired. — Newspapers. — Chinese Population. — " John's " Status. — John as a Miner. — Dead Chinamen. — Celestia Entertainment. — Merchant's Pigtail Page 297 CHAPTER XXV. California — continued. San Francisco Society. — Phraseology. — Ladies of Fr'isco. — Sunday in the City. — Free Criticism on Parsons. — Site. — Steep Streets. — San Fran- cisco Calves. — Earthquakes. — House-moving. — Fire Companies. — "Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express." — The three-cent Stamps. — The Men of the Pacific _ 309 CHAPTER XXVI. CALIFORNIA AS A FIELD FOR IMMIGRATION. Early American Opinions of the Country. — California Steamers. — The Pub- lic Lands. — Extent. — Price. — Labor. — Wages. — The Wine Interests. — Table of Temperatures. — Vineyards, etc. — Classes suitable for Immi- grants. — Education. — Schools. — School-ma'ams. — Investments 319 APPENDIX I. — The Proposed Overland Route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through British Territory 333 II.— The W. U. Telegraph Scheme... 336 III.— Notes on Sitka 338 IV. — Port Clarence, Northern Alaska 339 V. — Indian Dialects of Northern Alaska.. 341 VI. — Notes on the Geology of the Yukon.... 351 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. Auroral Light seen from Nulato, Yukon Kiver, Dec. 27, 1866 Frontispiece. Vignette — Loading a sledge in Alaska Title-page. Map — the course of the Yukon, etc To face Chap. I. PAGE The Great Glacier, Bute Inlet 43 Island forest conflagration in the Gulf of Georgia 51 The "Raft Rampant" 69 Aht native, west coast of Vancouver Island 75 Example of mask worn by Aht natives of Vancouver Island..., 77 Camp with "blaze" or camp-mark 85 Sitka, or New Archangel, capital of Alaska 95 Kalosh Indian grave-boxes 101, 102 Indian stone-carving, representing a Russian soldier at Sitka ,... 105 Tchuktchi skin canoe — Frame-work of Tchuktchi house 112 Tchuktchi pipe 115 Petropaulovski, Kamchatka 119 Monument to Behring, Petropaulovski 121 The volcanoes of Koriatski, Avatcha, and Koseldskai, Kamchatka 123 Fort St. Michael's, or Michaelovski 153 Malemute native 159 Malemute skin clothing 160 Malemute pipe 166 Diagram of under-ground house 175 Snow-shoe 182 Arrival at the Frozen Yukon 188 Fish-traps on the Yukon 195 Co-yukon four-post coffin 208 A Co-yukon deer corral 210 Co-yukon goggles '. 214 The Yukon River at the break-up of the ice 222 Indian summer encampment, Newicargut, Yukon River 227 Yukon fire-bag, knife, and sheath, etc 230 Indian child's birch-bark chair 233 Tanana Indian 238 Moose-hunting in the Yukon River 244 Yukon Indian's knife 247 Fort Yukon, Hudson's Bay Company's Post 250 Fort Yukon sledge (loaded) 261 165 lfik , I- ■ i - i— 1 Li 4— i — i- l_i _-L :l TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE TERRITORY OF ALASKA. CHAPTER I. THE VOYAGE OUT. Leaving England. — Our Passengers.— Old Mo'. — Freight for the matrimo- nial Market. — Storm on board. — Mutiny. — Volunteer coal-heaving. — Falkland Islands.— Port Stanley.— The Horn.— Out of Coal.— San Fran- cisco. — The Straits of Fuca. — Cook. — Vancouver. — Juan de Fuca. — Victoria. — Cariboo Mines. — The Gold. — The Discoverers of William's Creek. — Journalism on the Pacific. In 1862, the Pacific coast, and especially British Co- lumbia, attracted much attention at home. Having, thank Grod, like a good proportion of my countrymen, a little su- perfluous energy— which was then lying fallow — I deter- mined to see something of those coasts, and accordingly commenced getting together my traps for the voyage. I need not say that I laid in a stock of things said to be "portable," essential, or absolutely "indispensable," and that the larger part of them proved to be exactly the re- verse. Such, I take it, is the experience of most young travellers. On the 6th June of the above-mentioned year — with some slight feelings of regret, it must be admitted — we left the Thames ; and on the 9th saw the last of Old England's shores, after a brief halt at peaceful, sleepy Dart- mouth. A few hours later, the " waves," to use an ex- 22 Leaving England. pression of Lamartine's when starting on a cruise in the Mediterranean, "had our destinies in their power," and made us aware of the fact. "Winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay :" At least we found them so, for a breeze increased into a gale before we were clear of its outer waters. Our craft was a stanch iron-screw steamer, the " Tynemouth," which had won a good reputation during the Crimean War by weathering out that terrible storm in the Black Sea in which so many vessels (including the "Black Prince") were lost. We were bound for Vancouver Island, vid the Horn, and expected to call at one or two ports by the way. On board were some three hundred passengers, two-thirds of whom showed a total loss of dignity and self-respect during these early days, and made our vessel much resem- ble a floating hospital. But there is an end to all things ; and by the time we reached the tropics, our friends had recovered their appetites, and, clad in light attire, lounged, smoking, chatting, and reading under the awnings, giving our decks the appearance of a nautical picnic. Our pas- sengers were a study in themselves. They included a number of young men, much too large a proportion of whom had apparently no profession, business, or definite aim in life, to auger well for their future career in a new country. Still, most branches were represented — from farmers, tradesmen, and mechanics, to lawyers, artists, and literary men. The greatest character on board was a ven- erable Jew, generally known as "Old Mo'." He was an Israelite of the conventional stage type, and did not neglect turning a penny by selling to the passengers stale lemons and bad cigars, or by organizing raffles and mock auctions. Toward the end of the voyage he purchased all the odds and ends on which he could lay his hands, offering the Our Passengers. 23 "highestch prishe for old closhe and zhewellry ;" and with these he afterward stocked a small shop in Victoria. Moses, like Shylock, had much to stand in gibes and sneers, but bore it " with a patient shrug." Our most noticeable living freight was, however, an "invoice" of sixty young ladies, destined for the colonial and matrimonial market. They had been sent out by a aome society, under the watchful care of a clergyman and matron; and they must have passed the dreariest three months of their existence on board, for they were isolated fnm the rest of the passengers, and could only look on at ths fun and amusements in which every one else could take a part. Every benevolent effort deserves respect; but, from personal observation, I can not honestly recommend such a mode of supplying the demands of a colony. Half of them married soon after' arrival or went into service, but a large proportion quickly went to the bad, and, from ap- pearances, had been there before. The influence of but a few such on the more respectable girls could not have been otherwise than detrimental. To speak ungallantly, but truly, many of these ladies were neither young nor beau- tiful, and reminded me of the crowd who answered the ad- vertisement in the farce of "Wanted 10,000 Milliners!" Of course much might be said about giving the poor crea- tures a chance! but the fact is that the market would, in the course of affairs, more naturally supply itself. The prosperous settler would send for his sweetheart, or come home in search of one, and could always get suitable do- mestics sent out by his friends, and meet them at the port of arrival. It will be readily understood too, that in a new country there is a floating population, among whom some individuals by "chance" or by industry have acquired a little money, and are ready to plunge into matrimony on the slightest provocation ; while there is also a large pro- 24 Mutiny on Boakd. portion of "black sheep," who are quite ready to amuse themselves at the expense of the poor girls. We were beginning to find life somewhat tedious, when a storm arose on board that altered the aspect of affairs. In common with a large proportion of ships — as far as my ex- perience goes — we were considerably undermanned, and the overworked crew rebelled. They came aft to the cap- tain, and a scene ensued in which very high words passed, and at length one of the more daring mutineers " planted'' (to use the language of the fraternity) a blow between the skipper's "peepers," which brought the "claret" very free- ly from his nose. In consequence, the fiat went forth, instantly and indignantly, "Put them in irons!" whiph was, however, a thing easier said than done. At last the officers — with the assistance of some of the passengers- succeeded in handcuffing the rebels, and they were then stowed away in a rather warm compartment near the en- gine-room till such time as mutiny should be melted out of them. Our captain was in a dilemma. "We were almost be- calmed; our sails flapped idly in the wind, while the ar- rangements for the coals were such that, with these men off duty, our engine must soon come to a stand-still. The coal was chiefly in the fore-hold, and had to be raised, wheeled along deck, and deposited in the " bunkers." At this juncture a committee of the passengers was con- vened, and it was agreed that the more active of all classes should be invited to volunteer, and act as crew for the time being. All the younger men came forward readily, were solemnly enrolled, and set to work at once, glad of an in- terruption to the monotony of the voyage. We scrubbed the decks, hauled at ropes, filled the coal-sacks, and hoisted them on deck, getting a fair taste of a modern sailor's life on board a steam-vessel. It is more than doubtful whether Volunteer- Coal-Heaving. 25 any of us would have echoed the words of England's sea- song writer, who says — "Then, Bill, let us thank Providence That you and I are sailors !" but we found it good exercise, and worked with a will. Did we not know that the eyes of sixty maidens were looking on approvingly as we helped them on to the consummation of their dearest wishes ? We did, and even our parson cred- itably proved his " muscular Christianity," and soiled his irreproachable garments at one and the same time. I tasted the dignity of labor in the role of an amateur coal-heaver, and in the more sinecure employment of keeping the " look- out." We cooled our fevered frames with libations of beer, and buckets of diluted lime-juice; in this matter having an undoubted advantage over the old crew, who didn't get much of such luxuries. At last the tropical heat, superadd- ed to that of the furnaces, brought the men to their senses, and the larger part of them went back to work ; three, however, held out, and were kept in irons. After some rough weather off the Kio de la Plata (known familiarly by sailors as the Eiver Plate), in which we stove in our bulwarks and lost a boat, we at last made the Falk- land Islands, and came to an anchor in Stanley Harbor. This is a land-locked basin some six miles long by half a mile or so wide, and is on East Falkland. We arrived there early in August, but it was the end of their winter. The snow had just disappeared from the lowlands, leaving them in places very swampy. The island was thick with peat-moss, which affords the inhabitants their only fuel, no timber except a very limited amount of drift-wood being attainable. There are no trees whatever on the Falklands, and it is said that attempts to introduce them have been unsuccessful. It was from these islands that Col. Moody, when colonial governor, brought the " Tussac " grass. 26 The Falkland Islands. The Falklands had been in the hands of both the Spanish and French before we obtained possession of them, and they were not formerly valued as they are now. Port Stanley is a pretty little town of 700 or 800 inhabitants, with a church, government buildings, and school-house. Vessels returning from China, Australia, or California, find these islands di- rectly in their course, and often put into Port Stanley for repairs, water, coal, or supplies. Vegetables and fresh meat are abundant, the latter selling for twopence or threepence a pound. The cattle on the islands are very numerous, and for the* most part wild ; they were introduced by the Span- iards. Stanley was a free port at the date of our visit, and our passengers took advantage of the fact .to lay in stocks of hollands and brandy, much to the disgust of our steward, who firmly believed in monopoly. As our ship's cow had given up the ghost — frightened to death in a storm — and the fowls were things of the past, we were all glad to get ashore, luxuriate on milk and fresh provisions, and stretch our legs. An English company had — and I presume has — a large store there, and exported hides and furs, employing some 150 persons directly, and a larger number indirectly, in their collection. Our vessel coaled at this settlement. We spent several days in excursions from the ship, shooting wild-fowl, and amusing ourselves with watching the penguin, which were very abundant. On the beach, when waddling away from us in a hurry, they suggested the idea of old women tripping over the stones with many a fall ! We visited the excellent light-house at Cape Pem- broke, the easternmost point of East Falkland, about eight miles from the port. Here we found the keeper's wife, with a family of youngsters^ some of whom had never seen even the glories of Port Stanley, and yet were happy. The light- house, 110 feet in height, stands a£ the termination of a bar- Cape Horn. 27 ren sand waste, and the beach near it is everywhere strewed with kelp and sea-weed of the most enormous growth, re- sembling, in fact, sea trees. Kelp is so thick in some parts of the harbor that it is next to impossible to row through it. Our mutineers were tried in due form, and sentenced to a spell of hard labor, which in this case consisted of amateur gardening, and sanding the floors of the government build- ings. They were apparently rather glad than otherwise of a brief residence in a place where fresh food was so abun- dant, and knew moreover that the next vessel touching there short-handed would probably be glad to take them at higher wages than those ruling in the port of London. We were detained — partly by bad weather — for twelve days, but at last the favorable moment arrived, and we steamed out in good style. In the evening of the same day we passed Staten Land, over the rugged shores of which a canopy of mist hung gracefully. In the valleys a lace-work of snow still remained. Next morning we were in the Pacific, in sight of the broken, jagged coast of the famed and dreaded "Horn." The weather was superb, the sea almost a lake, and the regulation terrors of the pas- sage were nowhere! For the reader's sake, this was a great pity, but our passengers felt a kind of relief from the lingering dread of the more usual bad weather of the Cape. We soon got the " trade-winds," set all sail, and knocked off steam. Before we made the Californian coast the wind died out, and having again to steam, our coal got reduced to the last gasp. All loose wood on deck, and even some valuable spars, had to be cut up for the furnaces, and the day before our arrival in San Francisco it was seriously contemplated to strip the second and third cabins of their berths and fur- niture. But if we had been glad to go ashore at the Falklands, 28 Steaits of Fuca. how much more so were we to land in San Francisco, to walk about its handsome streets, and enjoy its good things. Some of our passengers were so well satisfied with it that they abandoned all idea of going any farther, and others, who could not imagine that our captain would start from it in such a hurry, were in consequence left behind. Of San Francisco I shall speak in my concluding chapters. I have watched its growth for five years, and believe its history to be almost unexampled among cities that have arisen in modern times, and that its future teems with the greatest promise. Kesuming our trip, we at length reached Cape Flattery and the Straits of Fuca, and obtained a first glimpse of the interminable forests on Yancouver Island, that were to be the home of some of us for many a day. As late as the days of Cook, it was believed that Vancouver Island was a part of the main-land, and it was so laid down in the atlas accompanying his great work. The Straits of Fuca were in effect so named in 1792 by Yancouver, after their real dis- coverer, Juan de Fuca, an old Greek sailor, whose preten- sions in regard to their exploration were long scoffed at by geographers. Cook sailing up the coast of New Albion, now known as Oregon and Washington Territory, reached the promontory which has always since borne the name he gave it — Cape Flattery. " It is in this very latitude," says he, " where we now were, that geographers have placed the pretended Straits of Juan de Fuca. But we saw nothing- like it, nor is there the least probability that ever any such thing existed. Tolerably positive language — more espe- cially when we know the real facts of the voyage as later given to the world by Captain James Burney,* who served with Cook on this identical voyage. He says, " After mak- * " A Chronological History of North-eastern Voyages of Discovery," chap. xix. Straits of Fuca. 29 • ing the coast, unfavorable winds and weather forced the ships as far south as to 43° ; and when we again made way northward, blowing and thick unsettled weather prevented our tracing a continuation of the coast, so that between a cape in lat 44° 55' N., named by Captain Cook Cape Foul- weather, and a point of land in 48° 15' N., which he named Cape Flattery, because the prospect of the land near it gave it a doubtful promise of a harbor, we obtained only now and then a glimpse of the land. " We were near the last-mentioned point on the evening of the 22d (March, 1778), and a little before seven o'clock, it growing dark, Captain Cook tacked to wait for daylight, intending to make closer examination ; but before morning a hard gale of wind came on, with rainy weather, and we were obliged to keep off from the land. At this time a port was necessary to both ships to repair the lower rigging, as well as to recruit their stock of fresh water. On the 29th, in the forenoon, we again made the land. At noon the latitude was observed 49° 28' N." The reader who has followed me thus far will see that Cook missed the entrance to the Straits of Fuca. There is nothing surprising in the fact, though there is in his hasty conclusion with regard to the existence of a strait. The last latitude is approximate- ly that of Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, of which both Cook and Burney give us full descriptions. Between 1787-9, Captains Berkely, Duncan, Meares, and Kendrick — the three first-named English, the latter Ameri- can — all confirmed Fuca's discovery by visits which they paid to various parts of the Straits; and one of the ob- jects of Vancouver's great voyage was to determine the truth of their statements. He arrived in the Straits — the supposed Straits of Fuca, as he terms them — on Sunday, the 29th April, 1792, and from that date commenced the survey which has immortalized his name. On the 30 Juan De Fuca. day of his arrival he met Captain Grey, an American, who had made a trip up the Straits, and had been wintering on the coast. And now let us speak of Fuca, who seems to have been in his own day neglected and misunderstood, as he was aft- erward doubted and ignored. His real name was Apos- tolus Yalerianos ; and all that we know of him is recorded in the celebrated work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes" first published in 1625, under the title of U A note made by me, Michael Lok the elder, touching the Strait of the Sea, com- monly called Fretum Anian, in the South Sea, through the North-west passage of Meta incognita," In substance the narrative is as follows : Lok being in Venice in 1596, was introduced to a Greek pilot, an old man of " three-score yeares," commonly known by his compan- ions as Juan de Fuca, although his real name was that re- corded above. He said that he had been in the Spanish service " fortie yeares," and that, on one of his voyages, he had been in the galleon taken off Cape California (? Cape St. Lucas) by "Captaine Candlish Englishman, whereby he lost sixtie thousand Duckets, of his owne goods." In 1592 the Yiceroy of Mexico sent him on a voyage of discovery to the Straits which now bear his name. He followed the coast of California and Oregon, etc., " vntill hee came to the latitude of fortie-seuen degrees, and there finding that the land trended North and North-east, with a broad Inlet of Sea, betweene 47 and 48 degrees of Latitude : hee entered there into, say ling therein more then twentie dayes, and found that land trending still, sometime North- west and North-east, and North, and also East and South- eastward, and very much broader Sea then was at the said entrance, and he passed by diuers islands in that sayling. And at the entrance of the said Strait, there is on the North- west coast thereof, a great Hedland or Island, with an ex- Juan De Fuca. 31 ceeding high Pinacle, or spired Rock, like a pillar there- upon. " Also he said, that he went on Land in diuers places, and that he saw some people on Land, clad in Beasts skins : and that the Land is very fruitfull, and rich of Gold, Siluer, Pearle, and other things, like Nona Spania. " And also he said, that he being entered thus farre into the said Strait, and being come into the North Sea already (which means that he had rounded Vancouver Island), and rinding the Sea wide enough every-where, and to be about thirtie or fortie leagues wide in the mouth of the Straits, where hee entred, hee thought he had now well discharged his office, and done the thing which he was sent to doe ; and that hee not being armed to resist the force of the Saluage people that might happen, hee therefore set sayle and re- turned homewards againe towards Nona Spania, where he arrived at Acapulco, Anno 1592." The viceroy welcomed him with empty compliments, and recommended him to go to Spain, and lay his discoveries before the king, " which voyage hee did performe." The king received him courteously with "wordes after the Spanish manner," but did nothing for him, and giving up all hopes of reward, he went to Italy, where Lok met him. He there offered to enter the English service, hoping at the same time to be remembered in regard to his great loss to Candlish. Lok wrote immediately to Lord-treasurer Cecil, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Master Richard Hakluit, the geog- rapher, asking them to forward £100 to fetch Fuca to En- gland, he not being in a position to afford it. Answer came that the idea was well liked, but the money not being forth- coming, the matter was allowed to drop. Later, Lok — who had been English consul at Aleppo — corresponded with Fuca, and when himself in the Island of Zante, wrote to Cephalonia, offering to take the old pilot at his own expense 32 Victoria, Vancouver Island. to England. But poor old Fuca was by this time — Christ- mas, 1602 — dead, or at the point of death, and we lost the chance of making an early discovery of an important coast. The Straits of Fuca have been often described, and I will not enlarge upon the subject. Although the scenery is in parts very beautiful, and occasionally grand, there is a monotony about them inseparable from pine-forests, rocks, and islands. We soon arrived off Esquimalt, obtained a pilot, and entered the harbor, now one of our most impor- tant naval stations in the Pacific, as it is also one of the healthiest. It is, in effect, the port of Victoria, as only mod- erate-sized vessels can safely, enter the harbor of the latter place, owing to a bar at its entrance. Of Victoria, in which town I spent three winters, what shall I say ? Its career has been a forced and unhealthy one, and it is at the present day suffering from the effects. For a time, indeed, the British Columbian mines gave it an impetus, and had there been a really good agricultural country in the neighborhood, it would have doubtless be- come a permanently prosperous settlement. But although Victoria has much in its favor — a climate almost unsurpass- ed, provisions abundant and cheap, and fair facilities of communication with neighboring countries — it has dwindled down to a very low ebb indeed. I may be excused for alluding to one fact well known in the colony, although most writers on the subject have persistently ignored it. It is this : that men who have made large fortunes in the mines and other ways — and there have been many such — do not, as a rule, become settlers in that country. In Aus- tralia and California they do become attached to the soil ; they find abundance of available and open lands, and end by becoming prosperous and contented residents. This point is of great importance. The discovery of minerals, however profitable to individuals, will not make a country ; Victoria, Vancouver Island. 33 but the discovery of minerals and rich lands fit for agricul- tural pursuits may do so.* I spent many pleasant days in Victoria : it was my rest- ing-place in the intervals between many lengthened journeys. It is a very bright, clean, well-built little town, with all the latest improvements. There are Episcopal, Dissenting, and Kornan Catholic churches, a mechanics' institute, theatre, and gas-works. There are many private and public socie- ties, masonic, national, or charitable ; and the traveller can always be sure of much hospitality if he comes with good credentials. The naval gentlemen from Esquimalt give life and tone to the society of the place, while the active or retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company are its principal residents. This compaDy has in Victoria a very tine warehouse and wharves, and now does a miscellaneous business, in addition to the collection of furs. Our fellow-passengers, who had come to make a rapid and gigantic fortune in Cariboo, now for the most part awoke to the fact that the mines were yet some five hundred miles away, and out of our list of three hundred persons not more than twenty-five ever reached the Northern El Dorado. When, in 1863, I made a sketching and pedes- trian tour to that district, I met some of my fellow-passen- gers already on the way down, disgusted and crest-fallen.' They knew nothing of mining, and their only chance of ob- * The main-land of this now united colony, British Columbia, has a fair amount of good land. The governor, in a recent blue book, says, "The most important advance made by British Columbia in 1866 was the rapid development of agriculture, occasioned by the increasing number of wagon- roads and other communications. Home-manufactured flour of superior quality is already taking the place of the imported article. Use is being made of the magnificent timber covering the sides of the harbors and inlets; and spars and lumber of superior quality were exported in 1866 to the value of £10,000. The yield of gold in the year is roughly estimated at£600,000; and as there were certainly not more than three thousand miners engaged, the average product reached £200 per man — far exceeding any average ever reached in California or Australia." c 34 Cakiboo Mines. taming an interest in a company was in the same way as in Cornwall or Wales — by buying it. This, too, was a rather shaky undertaking. If bought on the spot, there was a great probability that the ground was " salted " — a technical term for a well-known ruse, that of scattering a few ounces of gold among the dirt ; the seller (true in a double sense) rediscovering it there before the victim's eyes. He did not always get even this satisfaction ; fragments of brass can- dlesticks and Dutch metal have sometimes done duty for the precious deposit, and it is said that Chinese miners are excellent at manufacturing fictitious nuggets and quartz specimens. A friend of mine purchased in Yictoria a share in a Cariboo mine, and, on arrival there, was unable to find or hear of any traces of it. It existed only on paper. On the other hand Cariboo was, and still is, a very rich field. A single company once realized 180 lbs. of gold as the result of one day's work.* I have myself seen 200 oz. collected from the " dump-box," as the proceeds of one " shift," or eight hours' work. Much of this kind of thing has been already laid before the public, but the deductions made therefrom have not been by any means correct. The fact is, that in a large number of cases the working expenses were very heavy, and one, two, or even three seasons' work had often to be first expended before there were any re- turns. The price of provisions at the date of my visit averaged all round a dollar (4s. 2c?.) a pound, and labor commanded ten dollars a day. Even the hardy pioneers, men who had been "broken in" in California or Australia, were by no means universally lucky. The fate of the dis- * For the week ending July 9, ] 865, the Ericsson Company took out 1400 oz. The following week reached still higher — 1926 oz., worth over £6000. I well remember the first gold "struck "in that claim, and the general surprise that any thing whatever was to be found in that locality. Eisks of Gold-Mining. 35 coverers of " William's Creek," the richest valley in Cariboo, is a case in point. One of them, William Dietz, a German, broken down by hardship and exposure, was dependent on charity while I was in Victoria ; and the second, Kose, a Scotchman, died of starvation in the woods, and was after- ward found by horror-stricken friends. On his tin cup he had attempted to record his sufferings by scratching thereon a few broken words. Of my experiences on the grand Cariboo road, a work of great engineering skill, especially in the canons of the Fraser, of that great river itself, of lakes, forests and torrents, " ranches " and road-side houses, I could relate enough to fill this volume, but will say nothing,* for the very good reason that the country has already been admirably de- scribed in the work of Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle.f These gentlemen went over exactly the same ground, and have presented a faithful picture of the whole as far as the sub- ject can possibly interest the public. The succeeding chapters contain some account of my trips in other and less known parts of the same country, while the bulk of this volume describes visits paid to much more northern climes. * Bat I must mention one fact interesting in the history of journalism on the Pacific. In 1865 a small newspaper was started in the mines, and was named " The Cariboo Sentinel." It consisted of one (foolscap) sheet of four pages, and, with an occasional supplement, sold at one dollar (4s. 2d.) a copy ! The editor, Mr. Wallace, whom I knew well, was the all-in-all of the office. He was his own compositor, pressman, advertisement agent, publisher, and collector, and doubtless would have been his own paper-maker on the spot if rags had been less valuable ! He was very successful, in a pecuniary point of view, and afterward sold the concern to some one else. He then commenced the publication of a paper at the town of Yale, in the canons of the Fraser, and has since returned to England, having retired with a competency. f Capt. Mayne's "Four Years in British Columbia," a very reliable and interesting work, touches on the same subject. 36 Bute Inlet. CHAPTER II. THE GLACIERS OF BUTE INLET, BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Mountains of British Columbia and adjacent Coasts. — Bute Inlet. — Chilicoten Indians. — A "Blow-up." — Indian Packets. — Route through the Forest. — Indian Guide. — Chinook Jargon. — Trackless Forests. — Lost in the Woods. — The glacier Streams. — Camp. — Great Glacier. — Description. — Return Journey. — Second Glacier. A glance at the map of British Columbia shows us one of the most broken jagged coast-lines in the world, with arms of the sea innumerable, into each of which some river, small or large, finds its way. These streams, fed by numer- ous tributaries, born of the snow and ice, pass through the valleys of the Cascade and coast ranges, bordering on the Gulf of Georgia, Straits of Fuca, and adjacent coast. The general character of these mountain-ranges is Alpine ; per- petual snow reigns in their upper regions, and glaciers exist in their valleys. Such are known to exist at the Stekine River in particular. A direct route from the coast into the Cariboo mines by the way of Bute Inlet had been projected and partly carried out in the year 1864 ; and in consequence the writer was induced to visit this otherwise inaccessible country. A schooner, with men and supplies on board, left Yictoria, Vancouver Island, on the 16th March of that year, and he .then took the opportunity, kindly given him by the pro- jector of the road, Mr. Alfred Waddington, of paying the glaciers a visit. Omitting all details of a tedious passage, we arrived at Bute Inlet on the 22d March, and getting a fair breeze, we Chilicoten Indians. 37 made the mouth of the Homathco Kiver the same day. On entering the inlet, the transition from the low, rocky islands of the Gulf of Georgia to. the precipitous, snow-capped mountains of the main-land was very marked. The skip- per, who knew the Norway coast, said that it exactly re- sembled the scenery of the " Fiords." The snow, then fast melting, yielded many a streamlet which glided peacefully through the forest to the sea, and many a thundering cata- ract which fell over bare and abrupt cliffs. Near the river some Chilicoten Indians paddled out in their canoes, and came on board to get a free ride. They had rings through their noses, were much painted, and wore the inevitable blan- ket of the coast. For the rest, there was nothing very char- acteristic in their costume; some having a shirt without breeches, some breeches without a shirt. Two of them were picturesque, with wolf-skin robes, hair turned inward, and the outer side adorned with fringes of tails derived from marten or squirrel. Among them one old hag attracted some notice, from her repulsive appearance and the short pipe, which she seemed to enjoy. On nearing a small wharf already erected at the mouth of the river, a solitary white man, Mr. C , made his appear- ance, and was evidently glad to see us. He had been left in charge of stores, mules, etc., during winter, and the In- dians had at times threatened his life. An amusing incident had occurred during his stay. He had missed many small things from his log-house, and could not catch the thief, whoever he might be, but who he had reason to believe must have entered the cabin by the large open chimney. At last he got a friend to go inside with a quarter of a pound of gunpowder, and locking the door, made pretense of leaving, but crept back near the house to watch the result. Soon an Indian came stealthily along, sans culottes, sans every thing. He climbed on the roof, and 38 A "Blow-up." got nearly down the chimney, when the man inside threw the powder on the smouldering ashes, and off it went. The Indian went off also ! and with a terrific yell ; but over his condition a veil must be drawn. He afforded for some time afterward a very wholesome warning to his tribe, being unable to sit or lie down. These people appeared to be very bare of provisions, and disputed with their wretched "cayota" dogs anything that we threw out of our camp, in the shape of bones, bacon-rind, or tea-leaves, and similar luxuries. Many of them were subsequently employed in packing goods on their backs, always carrying their loads fixed to a strap which came round and over their foreheads. As they would pack 100 lbs. and upward this way, their heads must be regarded as tolerably strong and thick ! Some of them were also em- ployed in building the road. After making sundry arrangements, we started up. The route lay through a magnificent forest of cedar,* hemlock, and Douglas pine, individual specimens of which almost rivalled the " big trees " of California. One of the cedars measured forty-five feet in circumference at the butt (about the height from the ground of a man's chest). Although the snow lay on the ground so thickly that the heavily-laden pack-train of mules could hardly proceed without a path being cleared for them, the musquitoes were already out in full force. So abundant were they that the writer took nine from the back of his hand at one pinch between finger and thumb. They bit through any thing from blankets to cord * Cedar, as it is popularly known on the coast, is the Thuja gigantea of botanists. Douglas pine, Abies Douglasii, and hemlock (Abies Bridget, "Proc. California Acad. Natural Sciences," vol. ii.), maple (Acer macrophyl- lum), alder (Alnus Oi'egana), white pine (Pinus strobusf), and spruce (Abies Menziesii), are also common trees of the coast. For these scientific names ] am indebted to Mr. Brown, with whom I was afterward associated on the Vancouver Island expedition. Indian Guide. 39 unmentionables, and against their inflictions there was liter- ally " nothing like leather." The road followed more or less the river valley, the scen- ery of which was not seen to advantage till, after crossing the stream by a rope-ferry, we commenced the ascent of a mountain by a zigzag trail, in order to avoid the passage of a rock-girt canon. From this the views were superb. Pur- ple cliffs rose — pine-clad and abrupt — while below the Ho- mathco made its way to the sea, realizing the words of our Laureate, "Waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass." Afar off, snow-crowned peaks and blue valleys completed the picture. On the 19th April, having arrived at the farthest camp of the constructing party, I engaged an Indian who was sup- posed to know the country well, and started with him for the Great Glacier. The Chinook jargon, the only medium of converse with these Indians, has no equivalent for " glacier." It could only be expressed by hyu ice, hyu snow — " plenty of ice and snow ;" and I was very much in the fix of a dig- nitary of the Church on that coast, who began an address to the Indians with " Children of the forest," but was rather disgusted to find his interpreter could only render it, Hyu tenass man copa stick — " Many little men among the sticks (or stumps!)" I could not make the man thoroughly under- stand, and after two days' wandering it became obvious that it would be better to return and seek another guide. We accordingly returned, and, having secured the services of an Indian of some intelligence — Tellot byname — an old chief, I again started ; this time, as it proved, with more success. Few can have any conception of the old forests through which our course lay who have not themselves seen such. Thick with living vegetation, they were equally so with de* 40 Trackless Forests. cay and death. Now an immense fallen trunk, over which we had to climb, blocked the path, now one under which we were obliged to creep, and now and again an accumula- tion of the same, the effect of some wintry storm or natural death. Here, as the tree falls so it lies, and has lain undis- turbed for ages. Hence, a log, green with moss, suddenly collapsed as we trod on it, and we were half-buried in tinder. Prickly thickets were common. Men have frequently been lost in the woods of this coun- try for long periods ; and some, unable to discover a way out from them, have suffered protracted and painful deaths. In 1865 a merchant of Victoria went out on an excursion- trip on the occasion of the queen's birthday, and landed with others at Sooke Harbor — a place sixteen miles from the town, and where, as is common on Vancouver Island, the forest is extremely dense. Being rather short-sighted, he wandered off, a trail, and was six days in the woods without food. A party of sixty men, among whom was the writer, vol- unteered to go in search of him, and made a detailed exam- ination of the locality, proceeding in the manner of riflemen when "extended," with as much regularity as was possible in that broken country, thick with timber and underbrush, and where you often could not see the next man ten feet off. But these efforts were entirely unsuccessful, although continued for several days ; and eventually this gentleman wandered out again on the ill-defined trail, and was found there — in total ignorance of the fact — by some hunters pass- ing by. It need not be said that he was in a very exhausted state. He had heard the bugle-calls and shouts of the searching party, but was at the time in too feeble a condition to make himself heard. On the fourth day he had made his will, and having no paper, had written it in pencil on his white handkerchief! ■ Lost in the Woods. 41 Later the same year Mr. Butler, an explorer, in a different branch of the same service as the writer — the Eusso- Ameri- can Telegraph Expedition — was lost for nearly two weeks in Northern British Columbia, near the Upper Fraser. He had, when in pursuit of a Cariboeuf deer, wandered far from the camp of his companions, and attempting to retrace his steps, found that he had lost his reckoning entirely. In order to try and discover a way out of the forest he climbed a tree ; but a branch gave way, and he was unfortunate enough to fall from it, remaining at its base stunned and half-unconscious for two days. At last, partially recovering his strength, he managed to reach Fraser Biver, and to con- struct a raft of small logs ; but from his weakness, and from the rapidity of the current, he was unable to manage it, and it left him at last stuck on a bar of the river, with the pleasure of seeing it float away in the distance. He, how- ever, reached the bank, and took to the slower but surer mode of following the course of the river by land through the woods and thickets. He at length reached a small "clearing" owned by Chinamen, who treated him kindly and took him to the "city" (a board and shingle one) at the mouth of Quesnelle. He had subsisted for twelve days on fern and " gamass," or lily-roots, and a few berries. To return to our narrative : we found that rotten snow covered the ground, logs, and underbrush to a depth of several feet, and travelling with the loads we carried was hardly pleasurable. We, however, pushed on, and, after fol- lowing the Homathco Biver more or less closely for the greater part of a day, we reached the first glacier stream, and soon obtained a distant view of the great " frozen tor- rent " itself, with the grand snow-peaks behind it. This stream, with several others derived from the same source, ran with great violence, and had to be waded ; it was as much as I could possibly do to cross them, and I thought 42 Glacier Streams. that but for the additional fifty pounds on my back I should have been taken off my legs. To this point several Indians had accompanied us, and I was not overgrieved to see them continue following the main river ; they were bound for Tatla Lake. They beg- ged for a " potlatch " or gift, and, glad to get rid of them, I acceded to their request for a little flour, tobacco, etc. To one of the children I gave a sixpence, explaining in doubt- ful Chinook that her majesty, as thereon portrayed, was Victoria, Klootchman tyhee cojja King George Mi -he — or "Woman-chief of the King George Land" or England,* and he immediately suggested by motions that he intended to hang the coin from his nose ! We pitched our camp in an open space from which the snow had melted, on the flat of land extending for several miles below the glacier. On the next morning (24th April) after our simple repast and one pipe, I left Tellot in camp to look after the traps, as he was unwilling to take any more trouble, and struggled up by myself to the base of the gla- cier, a distance of about two and a half miles, through very deep, but rotten and thawing snow. The flat was strewed with boulders and drift-wood, with here and there a sand- bar, and covered with snow so soft that I frequently slipped in between masses of rock up to my chest, or higher, and occasionally jerked down, without any warning, into a streamlet that had undermined it. The streams were large and swift ; one of them in fact was a small river, too deep and strong to be waded. Pine and alder woods enclosed this open space on either side. * "King George man," in the Chinook jargon (a mixture of English, French, and Indian, used as a means of converse among most of the white men and natives of the coast), simply means an Englishman, and was orig- inated by the fact that our first acquaintance with them was made in the Georgian era. "Boston man," or "Boston " simply, stands for an Ameri- can ; the first vessels bearing the stars and stripes hailed from that port. H Great Glacier. 45 On reaching the glacier, its presence was rendered very obvious by the cracking of the ice and the careering of the stones from its surface. This was incessant ; now a shower of pebbles, now a few hundred- weight of boulders, and now a thimbleful of sand, but always something coming over. The ice — very evidently such at the cracks, where you saw its true color, and its dripping lower edges of stalactite form — yet appeared for the most part like wet, smooth rock, from the quantity of dirt on its surface. At its termination the glacier must have been three-quarters of a mile in width ; it was considerably wider higher up. While sketching it, all around was so supremely tranquil that its action was very noticeable. Eocks and boulders fell from it sufficient to crush any too eager observer. A great quan- tity of snow was on its surface, but fast melting and form- ing streamlets that glistened in the sun, while from inner- most icy caverns torrents of discolored water poured. The day was extremely warm, and the glacier in full activity. It ran east and west, the sun setting behind the grand peaks, from whose snows it derived its existence. The terminal moraines were very distinctly marked by pyramids, islands (between the streams), and heaps of boul- ders, some of them a quarter of a mile in advance, on the flat. That these pointed to a former period when the gla- cial mass extended thus far can not be doubted. The green pine woods came almost to the glacier in places. Its surface was strewed with boulders, and both the lateral and medial moraines were strongly marked. Here and there a sapling, either detached from the side precipices, or possibly sprung from a wafted seed, was peacefully moving on to its destruc- tion. The crevasses were large and yawning. Square hummocks of ice, forced up by the closing of crevasses, existed in many places on its surface, while at the western or upper end, pinnacles, peaks, and pyramids of ice were 46 Second Glaciee. seen in the distance. I have little doubt that nearly all the features usually observable in connection with glaciers were to be found there. The mountains behind were lofty, and one peak was slightly horned ; while one immense black mass of rock, with precipitous sides, reared itself from the surrounding purity. After spending the day in such crude examination as my time would permit, I returned late in the evening to the camp, where Tellot had remained all day. From his manner, I should suppose that he thought me a fool for my pains, although he showed some little interest in my sketches. After joining once more the camp of the road party and resting there a day or two, I turned my face coastward — proceeding leisurely to the Ferry station, and sketching in the neighborhood. There I stopped two days with S , the man in charge, and later with the superintendent, and some of the workmen who came down for supplies ; I then started down for the coast with a pack-train then returning. When within eleven miles from the sea, I left them, and this time proceeded entirely alone to visit a second glacier, which could be seen from the trail, and very much resem- bled in general appearance the Mer de Grlace. This was less troublesome to reach, but the streams had to be waded constantly. Often an accumulation of drift-wood on a bar or " riffle," as it is termed on that coast, would assist me in crossing ; but the principal stream from the glacier could not be crossed at all, and so turbulent was it that it had swept away a substantial bridge formerly built over it (at the crossing of the road). The ice of this glacier and the water from it were com- paratively pure, and it was really a very beautiful sight. The mountains behind it seemed of less height and more rounded in form than in the case of the other glacier. One Second Glacier. 47 immense slope of dazzling purity was very striking. The cliffs and hills, by which it was shut in, were more precip- itous. The woods almost extended to its base. The. flat in front was strewed with trees swept from the river's banks at times when its waters were unusually swollen, or in some instances doubtless brought down on the glacier it- self. The boulders here were neither so large nor so abun- dant, but there was more sand. ' As a canoe was to leave Bute Inlet* the following day, and it was getting late, after sketching the glacier, I reluc- tantly made my way back to the trail, and followed it through the woods to the station at the mouth of the river. * In a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society last session (1868), Bute Inlet was mentioned as the terminal point on the Pacific of a proposed railway and steam-boat route from the Atlantic sea-board. See Appendix (I.). The same scheme has been more recently laid before the British Association. 48 Reported Murder. CHAPTER III. THE tragedy among .the glaciers. Reported Murder. — Canoe-trip on the Sea. — Dodd's Narrows. — Island on Fire. — The Massacre at Bute Inlet. — Reports of Survivors. — Second Mas- sacre. — Excitement in the Colony. — Expeditions in Search of the In- dians. — Capture of a Part of the Murderers. — The Ideal and Real In- dian. — His ultimate Extinction. — Reasons for it. — Indian Traders. — Proposed semi-secular, semi-missionary Settlements. — The Mission at Metlakahtla. I reached the station late in the evening, and, after a little refreshment, turned into my blankets immediately, and was soon fast asleep. Early next morning, while I was yet sleeping soundly in company with the packers and two of the workmen who were about to leave the party, some friendly Indians broke into the room without warn- ing and awoke us, saying, in an excited and disjointed manner, that the man in charge of the ferry (thirty miles higher up the river) had been murdered by the Chilicotens for refusing to give away the provisions and other property in his care. We simply laughed at the idea, knowing that although S , the man in question, was sometimes living alone, the working-party was near him, engaged in blasting rock, bridging, and otherwise building the road. More- over, constant communication was necessarily held between them — his station being a temporary depot for provisions, tools, and blasting-powder. The pack-train from the mouth of the river made a regular trip to him about every six days, and we believed that he and the party generally were well armed. Canoe Sea-Trip. 49 The superintendent had gladly intrusted letters of im- portance to me, and had in fact rather hurried my depart- ure in order that they should reach Victoria by an early date. I therefore, on the noon of the same day, the 30th April, , left the river by canoe, in company with two of the workmen and one Clayoosh Indian. The latter being the owner of the canoe, proved an inexorable tyrant, and kept us paddling for three days from early dawn to dewy eve. Although these "light kanims," built of cedar, appear too frail for the sea, we came down the inlet, and crossed the Gulf of Georgia to Nanaimo Point, Vancouver Island, in perfect safety, getting then a fair breeze till the end of our trip. I have many times seen the Indians of that coast, when migrating from one village to another, employ two canoes, set a little apart, but parallel to each- other, and covered with planks. Their household gods, their strings of clams, and dried fish, are piled on the top of this arrangement, and a man seated in one of the canoes can steer it. It is a cap- ital contrivance for use on the sea: a small sail is often hoisted on the top of the planks. As long as the weather is moderate there is nothing more pleasurable than lying at the bottom of a canoe, smoking or dozing, while it cleaves through the water; but in a rough or chopping sea one's time is occupied in keep- ing it baled out, and the Indian's in steering — a careful and difficult operation. We camped on some of the numerous islands of the gulf, and had capital weather. While pass- ing through "Dodd's Narrows" we had a near tussle with fate. The water there at ebb or flow comes with the whole force of the tide through a small rocky passage in eddies and currents, and our Indian, usually so impassible, was evidently scared, as we passed between two opening whirl- pools, and within a few feet of them. We paddled for life, D 50 Island on Fire. and got through safely. He afterward told us, pointing back to the place with a shudder, "Hyu si-wash hyack clat- tawa keehwully ya-waf v — "Many savages (Indians) had quickly gone to the bottom there," or had found a watery grave. At one of our midday halts for tea, etc., we set a whole island on fire. Oar camp-fire being built at the base of a shelving cliff, set light to some dry grass, which in its turn communicated the flame to the underbrush at a short dis- tance, and in a little while the forest itself, covering the whole island, formed one immense conflagration. The last we saw of it was a cloud of smoke on the horizon some hours afterward as we skimmed away from it with a favor- ing breeze. These forest fires are often very grand sights, and burn for weeks. New Westminster, on the Fraser, has had some very narrow escapes from total destruction from them. We arrived safely in Yictoria without meeting with any further incidents of special interest, and were generally con- gratulated by persons of experience on having made a very quick trip. The distance, 185 miles, had occupied us five days, camping every night. But a week after our arrival — on the morning of the 12th May — the writer, in common with all Victoria, was startled and horrified by news just arrived from Bute Inlet via Nanaimo. Fourteen out of seventeen men of the work- ing-party had been massacred by the Chilicotens under cir- cumstances of peculiar atrocity on the very morning (the 30th April) that the Indians had awoke us at the station (forty-three miles distant) with the reported death of the ferry-keeper. He, poor fellow, had indeed been killed the day before, but they had not been satisfied with his blood. On the early morning of the day following his murder, Massacre at Bute Inlet. 53 while the workmen were yet soundly sleeping, the Indians had surrounded the camp, cut the tent-poles, and dropped the tents on their victims, firing into them with their mus- kets, and running knives into their bodies till all but three were dispatched. One of the survivors, Petersen, a Dane, told the writer that, hearing the shots, he jumped out of his blankets, and was immediately struck at by an Indian with an axe ; he stepped aside just to see it fall heavily on the ground, and a few seconds after this was shot in the arm. Faint, and bleeding copiously, he plunged into the river hard by, and its swift waters carried him down half a mile over the stones and " snags," bruising him much. He managed to reach the bank, and was soon after rejoined by Mosley, a man who had escaped almost unhurt, although he had, while struggling to release himself from the fallen tent, seen long knives on either side of him pierce the prostrate bodies of his companions. The third man, Buckley, an Irishman, who afterward joined them, had been stabbed re- peatedly by the Chilicotens, and fell, faint from the loss of blood, remaining unconscious for hours, and they left him, imagining he was dead. These men, sick and down-heart- ed, on arrival at the rope-ferry, found that the boat or " scow " had been cut adrift, and the swift current had car- ried it away. In their weak condition, they had no means of crossing till Buckley, who had been a sailor, managed to rig up a "travelling loop," as he termed it, and succeeded in hauling himself over on the cable stretched across the river, which was 200 yards wide at that spot. He then sent over the "travelling block" (formerly attached to ropes fixed to the boat), and Petersen and Mosley were at length brought over safely. They eventually reached the coast, and leaving the river's mouth by canoe, travelled slowly to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, where they got the 54 A Second Massacke. mail-steamer for Victoria. The superintendent and two others who on the morning of the attack were camped a little way ahead of the main party, had risen early, and were at work "blazing," i.e., marking the trees with an axe to show where the trail should go. They were attacked and shot before they could offer any resistance. It is said that the Indians, glutted with blood, tore the heart out of one of them and ate it ! With these poor fellows I had just been stopping ; with three of them indeed I had camped as late as the 28th of April, or but two days before this brutal transaction. I had reason indeed to be grateful for my es- cape. The Chilicotens were well provided with fire-arms. As it afterward appeared, a number of guns, sent for the protection of the workmen, had been paid away to these natives for various services, and it was therefore true that the party was killed by its own weapons. On the other hand, the men were virtually unarmed, having, as it was afterward shown, but one gun and one revolver among them. These, from the sudden and treacherous nature of the attack, do not appear to have been of the slightest as- sistance. From the apparent friendliness of the natives, a fatal security had reigned among the party, nor could any of us detect the slightest ground for alarm. . I was myself, also, totally unarmed, but got at that time a lesson which I have taken to heart. I have always since carried a trusty revolver, and have found that except in those rare cases where pistols have been traded to natives, they have a wholesome dread of it. Alas ! the story is but half told. Three weeks later a large party of packers, with a strain of well-laden mules, were attacked by the same tribe on the Bentinck Arm trail,* and most of these men were also murdered. It need * Bentinck Arm is on the northern coast of British Columbia; A second route by a trail exists from the head of this arm of the sea to the Cariboo A Second Massacre. 55 hardly be said that intense excitement prevailed in the colony ; many settlers having relatives and friends in iso- lated spots of this thinly -settled country, and being appre- hensive of further danger from the natives. Great sympa- thy was naturally expressed for Mr. Waddington, who had, in an almost unparalleled manner, undertaken a grand work at his own expense — one which, if completed, would have road. The particulars of the second massacre were as follows : " On the ] 7th of May M 'Donald and his party started from New Aberdeen, at the head of Bentinck Arm, for Fort Alexandria, on the Fraser. They had forty-two pack animals, twenty-eight of which were loaded with goods for the mines, valued at between four thousand and five thousand dollars. On arriving at Nancootioon Lake, about seventy-five miles from the Arm, they met with a party of Indians, composed of the Chilicoten, Tatla, and Sitleece tribes, among the number being two of the murderers of Mr. Waddington's party at Bute. M'Dougall's squaw, who was a daughter of one of the Chili- coten chiefs, here learned from one of her old tillicums (friends) that the In- dians intended to rob and murder the whole party, and at once informed the packers, who, becoming alarmed, began to retrace their steps, when they were attacked by the savages. Two of the number, M'Dougall and Higgins, fell from their horses at the first fire, the latter shot through the breast ; M 'Donald's horse was shot under him, on which he at once mount- ed another, which was also shot down ; he then took to the bush, and when last seen was standing behind a tree, shooting at the Indians with his re- volver. Barney Johnson was badly wounded in the face and breast by heavy shot, and a ball passed through his horse's head, killing the animal and tearing open the rider's cheek. Malcolm M'Leod was wounded with shot, and his hand badly torn by a ball. Grant got a ball through his arm, and his side filled with shot. Frederick Harrison was also considerably cut up. Farquharson was the only one who escaped unhurt, although his horse was shot under him. He escaped into the bush, where he was four days wandering about without food except berries, not daring to return to the trail for fear of being seen by the Indians. He at last made his way back to the head of the arm. M'Dougall's squaw was also shot by the Indians, and all the horses and property carried off. Grant found his way to Mr. Hamilton's ranch, about twenty-five miles above the settlement at the head of the Arm, and burst in upon the family, his face and body streaming with blood, telling them of the massacre. They at once packed up a few valua- bles, and, taking their arms and ammunition, hastened down to the river and embarked in a canoe. They had hardly got afloat when the blood-thirs- ty villains appeared on the high bank above them. They did not fire, how- ever, being intent on plundering the house, and the little party fortunately made their escape unhurt." — British Colonist, June 28, 18G4-. 56 Capture of some of the Murderers. been of great value to the country. The Colonial Govern- ment acted with great promptness. A force of marines, an additional selected and paid body of men, and the New Westminster Volunteers, with the assistance of friendly Indians, endeavored to catch the murderers. Parties pro- ceeding from the coast at Bentinck Arm and Bute Inlet, and from the interior, attempted to hem them in from all sides, and Governor Seymour himself took a prominent part in these undertakings ; but, from the inaccessible na- ture of the country, a part only of the Indians concerned were ever captured, and that with the loss of an excellent and well-known Hudson Bay Company's man, Captain M'Lean. He was shot by the Chilicotens while incautious- ly riding in advance of his party. The Indians taken were afterward tried in due form and hanged, and among them was old Tellot, my companion to the glacier. It may very naturally be asked, What motives led the natives to perpetrate this crime ? I believe the answer is a simple one : a strong desire for plunder, accompanied by the knowledge of the improba- bility in that country of ever being taken and brought to justice. That any provocation had been given them I do not believe ; Mr. Waddington was well known to have been specially indulgent to them. The Indian is to this day but little understood. By some he is looked on as an animal, by others as almost a hero of romance. The ideal Eed-skin, the painted and much- adorned native with lofty sentiments, is certainly, as far as my experience goes, a very rare being at the present day, if indeed his existence at any time is not to be considered mythical. A creature, half child — half animal, a mixture of simplicity and ferocity, certainly exists ; but though a partial civilization may have varnished his exterior, beneath the thin crust the savage nature lurks, ever ready to break Effects of Civilization. 57 forth, like those volcanic mountains whose pure snows only hide the molten lava within. It is easy enough to find natives who have abandoned that simple costume, a blanket, for more decorous clothing, who can swear in broken English, sing " Sally come up I" and drink all the camphene* whiskey they can obtain, but it is very rare to find those who are the better for intercourse with the " pale-faces." My experience is decidedly this, that the least degraded Indians were those who had least to do with the white man. But the importation of " fire-water " is not the only evil: diseases unknown, or little known before, are introduced, and the mere fact of the white man's presence among the Indians seems to foreshadow their ultimate extinction. This very curious point is carefully discussed by a recent writer, Mr. Sproat, in his " Scenes and Studies of Savage Life." He had excellent opportunities for a detailed ex- amination of the subject at his saw-mill settlement of Al- berni, Barclay Sound, V. I. He was a large employer of native as well as of white labor, and from personal obser- vation I can confirm his statements with regard to it. The place -was conducted on temperance principles, while no violence was used or permitted toward the natives. They were perhaps better fed, better clothed, and better taught than they had ever been before. " It was only," says Mr. Sproat, " after a considerable time, that symptoms of a change among the Indians living nearest the white settle- ment could be noticed. Not having observed the gradual process, my mind being occupied with other matters, I seemed all at once to perceive that a few sharp-witted * In Victoria, V. I., a comparatively small town, there were, between 1858-64 inclusive, no less than 336 " whisky cases," i. c, men taken up on suspicion of having sold ardent spirits to natives, and 240 of the number resulted in convictions. 58 Mr. Sproat's Testimony. young natives had become what I can only call offensively European, and that the mass of the Indians no longer vis- ited the settlement in their former free, independent way, but lived listlessly in the villages, brooding seemingly over heavy thoughts." Their curiosity had been satisfied, they had been surprised and bewildered by the presence of "machinery, steam-vessels, and the active labor of civilized men,"' and they seemed to have acquired a distrust, nay, almost a disgust for themselves. They began to abandon their old habits, tribal practices, and ceremonies. "By- and-by," continues Mr. Sproat, " it was noticed that more than the usual amount of sickness existed among the In- dians," and "a high death-rate continued during the five years I was there." " Nobody molested them, they had ample sustenance and shelter for the support of life, yet the people decayed. The steady brightness of civilized life seemed to dim and extinguish the flickering light of sav- ageism as the rays of the sun put out a common fire."' Now supposing these views to be correct, and the In- dian to be aware of all this — as he must be if there is truth in it at all — can we wonder if he takes any chance, fair or foul, to expel those whom, at the best, he looks upon as intruders on his native soil ? There are few places more favorably situated than Al- berni, placed as it is on a secluded canal or arm of the sea, and it was really a model settlement. Yet — if the above statements represent the actual facts of the case, and it is my belief they do — how infinitely worse is it for the Indian in places open to every trader, and where there is no check on him but a half-sustained law. Great corporations like the Hudson's Bay and the Eussian American Companies did not usually sell spirits to natives at all ; but private traders, from the large profits attached to their sale, did, and do it without hesitation, and the mixtures sold would Mission at Metlakahtla. 59 infallibly kill any ordinary person — in fact, frequently do kill them. For the Indian who has acquired a love of liquor there is little hope, for with him there is no middle course. Catlin concisely summed up our relations with the red men when he said, " White men — whisky — toma- hawks — scalping-knives — guns, powder, and ball — small- pox — debauchery — extermination." The subject is a sad and wearying one, for the mission- ary can hope to do but little in counteracting such influ- ences. Mr. Sproat suggests the formation of half-secular, half-missionary establishments in native villages at a dis- tance from white settlements. He considers that five white men — men of courage, energy, and proved morality, and willing to forego the use of alcoholic drinks — might form such an establishment, and that at least two of them should know a trade. The leader might act as a magistrate ; and from the writer's observation, he would have enough to do in keeping white traders from the neighborhood, and in preventing such men from overturning the very objects of the settlement. Success would depend purely on the earnest, unselfish, and, in a word, Christian efforts of those employed in the work. In the United States, the " Indian Agencies," some- thing very similar in theory, have not been satisfactory in practice, solely owing to the greediness of those engaged, who used them as a means of personal aggrandizement, and left the Indians, for whose benefit they were intended, " out in the cold." The Missionary Duncan, at the Metlakahtla village on the coast of British Columbia, has inaugurated such an ex- periment. Among the natives there are now to be found expert carpenters, builders, gardeners, and road-makers. A part of them own a small vessel which takes their pro- duce — oil, furs, and manufactured articles — to Victoria. 60 Mission at Metlakahtla. On her periodical return to the settlement dividends are declared : on one such occasion they termed her Ahah, " the slave," signifying that she did the work, and they reaped the benefit. The success of this station is, doubt- less, due in part to its isolation from any large white set- tlement, but Mr. Duncan must have labored earnestly and incessantly in his noble work. I think it is fair to allude to one objection I have heard used — both in and out of the colony — to Mr. Duncan's work. It is this, that — for a missionary — he is " too much of a trader." I can not say to what extent or in what sense this may be true ; I do not myself believe it in any offensive sense. If, however, Mr. Duncan, from a little pe- cuniary advantage accruing to him, should be induced to prolong his stay among the Indians, and follow out the work of civilization he is engaged in, no one can rightly complain. The majority of missionaries do not stop long enough in any one locality to acquire a thorough knowl- edge of the native dialects, and this of itself must be a fatal hinderance to their efforts. If this gentleman, by giving up a large part of his life for the benefit of these savages, can at the same time make a fortune, may success attend him ! Pleasures of Labor. 61 CHAPTER IV. THE INTERIOR OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. Pleasures of Labor. — Unknown Interior of Vancouver Island. — Expedition organized. — Cowichan River. — Somenos. — Kakalatza and his Hat-box. — Travel up the River. — Our Camps. — Camp Yarns. — Indian Version of the Book of Jonah. — Cowichan Lake. — Rafting Experiences. — The "Ram- pant Raft." — Brown's Camp. — Acquisition of a Canoe. Travelling in the interior of Vancouver Island exhibits little beyond an alternation of various shades of monotony, so that the narrative of one month's experience is as good, or a good deal better, than the details of five. Notwith- standing the truth of this statement, I count some of the happiest hours of my life in the time spent there. Although no believer in the " dignity" of labor, I can well believe in its pleasures. When a man can enjoy any diet, even one of beans — of a kind at home only given to horses — when he considers tea the best and most refreshing of drinks, it is a pretty good sign that he is in vigorous health, that he sleeps well, and that life is no burden to him. Such was our ex- perience at times when we carried on our backs loads from 50 to 120 lbs. in weight, through' a rugged country where rivers were mountain torrents, the woods almost a jungle, and where we rarely turned into our blankets at night, ex- cept in a wet condition. In 1864 but few of the settlers in this colony had pene- trated ten miles back from the towns and settlements of the east coast ; for although Captain Richards (now Hydrogra- pher to the Navy), Captain Mayne, and Messrs. Pemberton and Pearce had already made very interesting journeys into 62 Expedition Okganized. the interior, yet the results of their explorations were little known. Victoria had been built and sustained by the British Columbian mines, and fluctuated with them. In the spring of the above-mentioned year her citizens woke up to this fact, and an expedition organized by a popular com- mittee, and endorsed by the Colonial Government, was im- mediately started. A naturalist — Mr. Eobert Brown, of Edinburgh — was unanimously chosen leader. For astrono- mer we had Mr. P. Leech, formerly of the Eoyal Engineers, and the writer accompanied the expedition as artist. Our party numbered nine persons exclusive of Indians, and was at a later period slightly increased. The men were selected for special qualifications ; many of them were miners by profession, and the V. I. E. E. had no cause to be ashamed of its members.* On the 7th June, 1864, after an address from Governor Kennedy, f himself in truth the originator of the expedi- tion, we left the Hudson's Bay Company's wharf in Victo- ria on board H. M. Gun-Boat " Grappler," bound for Cowi- chan, a settlement thirty-five miles north of Victoria, on the east coast of the island. Her commander, Captain Var- ney, was also an ardent promoter of the proposed explo- rations, and to him the writer is indebted for much kindly courtesy. On arrival at Cowichan Bay we landed at the pretty little settlement of Comiaken, a place which boasts a Koman Catholic mission and several farms and settlers' houses. In one of the latter we enjoyed so much hospitality that it * Our party comprised the following men, in addition to those named above : Mr. John Buttle, assistant naturalist ; Messrs. Barnston, Macdonald, Lewis, Mead, and Foley, pioneers and miners ; and Thomas Antoine and Lazare de Buscay, half-breed hunters. At a later period Mr. Foley left our party, and Messrs. Drew and Hooper were added to it. f Now Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, C. B., Governor of the West Africa Settlements. COWICHAN KlVER. 63 was a serious question whether some of us would not stop there, and let our travels end where they had begun ! On the 9th June, after a " hyas wa-wa" (big talk) with the Indians, Brown at length succeeded in hiring a canoe, and, putting the larger part of the stuff therein, sent it up the Cowichan Eiver in charge of one white man of our party and several Indians. The larger part of us proceeded by land direct to the village of Somenos, where we found several large lodges, or " rancheries," as they are termed in the colony. The natives were drying fish and clams on strings hanging from the rafters of their dwellings, and were by no means anxious to engage in our service. There were two reasons for this reluctance, which was one of the main drawbacks of our journey. The first was simply that they lived so easily, getting salmon, deer, and beaver-meat in abundance, and consequently were indifferent to any thing but extremely high pay c The second and main reason was fear of surrounding tribes, especially those of the west coast, who were accustomed occasionally to kidnap " unprotected males," and carry them off as slaves. At length " Kaka- latza," an old "tyhee" or chief, of grave but dignified ap- pearance, and who persisted in wearing a battered chimney- pot hat, given to him by some settler, was engaged to act as our guide to the Cowichan Lake, but this was on the un- derstanding that we allowed him to take his hat-box with him ; and every night afterward he carefully deposited his beaver in it before retiring into his blankets. Kakalatza and his hat were inseparable. Here, too, a half-breed, Thomas Antoine by name, but known elsewhere as " Tomo," joined us, and proved a great acquisition. He could speak any number of Indian dialects, was a good shot, though he had but one arm, could travel or "pack" with the best, and was reliable except when he got hold of some whisky, when he was a perfect devil. Spirits seem to have even more 64 Our Camps — Camp-Yarns. attraction for the half-breed than for the full Indian, and more influence upon him. The succeeding days much resembled each other, most of us proceeding through the forests with packs of no light weight, while the canoe was poled up the strong current of the river — paddles being useless, and oars impracticable. The river was a succession of " riffles," or rapids, small and large, alternating with comparatively quiet water. Some- times the canoe had to be towed, and sometimes carried bodily ; in several places all hands had to make a " portage," or carry the goods over the rocks, to a higher and better part of the stream. We found the banks thickly* timbered, and where the Douglas pine, spruce, and hemlock had grown under favorable circumstances, the place resembled a beau- tiful park ; but for the most part it was a tangle of under- brush, mingled with fallen logs in all stages of decay, and woods in all degrees of luxuriance. But if our travelling was troublesome, the evening camp more than made up for all, when a good log-fire, a bed of fir-brush, and a pipe made us happy, and where we could comfortably sleep — for the most part, with no canopy but that of heaven. There is no climate in the world, California not excepted, more delicious than that of Vancouver Island. We were generally fortu- nate, too, at this time in getting grouse or deer-meat, and our party thought nothing of polishing off a whole deer at a couple of meals. We had to abandon and leave behind many a rib, and even haunch of venison, it being impossi- ble to carry any more than we already had on our backs in the shape of beans and flour, blankets, frying-pans, pots, and instruments. And then the yarns of those evening camps ! Macdon- ald's story- — often begun and never ended — the narrative of his eventful life. Born on Fraser Eiver, the son of a Hudson's Bay chief trader, the tedious barter with Indians Jonah in the Pacific. 65 for their peltries had proved distasteful to him, and he ran away, when quite young, to sea, got shipwrecked, and de- tained a prisoner in Japan. Here he was closely confined, but on the whole well treated, till he was rescued from the Japanese by Commodore Perry, U. S. Navy, when he called there on his well-known expedition. After many wander- ings, Mac brought up in Australia, mined, made money, and spent it ; had once kept a gambling-house and dancing- booth at the " diggings." Later the British Columbian mines had attracted him back to his earliest home; he had " run" a ferry on Fraser Eiver, kept a grog-shop at Lillooet, and played the " honest miner" in Cariboo, and now, hale and hearty as ever, was a member of the Y. I. E. E. Or else the Indian yarns of Tomo, many of them childish, some incomprehensible, but sometimes showing that the natives have inventive power and a sense of humor. Here is one of them, apparently a native version of the book of Jonah ! "An Indian, paddling in his 'frail kanim' on the great ' salt chuck ' or sea, was swallowed — canoe and all — by a great fish, and lay down at the bottom of its belly, sad at heart, thinking it was all up with him, and that never more would he see his people. But in the midst of his afflic- tion comfort came to him ; a brilliant idea flashed through his brain — sweet revenge was at least possible, and he pro- ceeded to execute a hastily conceived project. He cut his paddles into shavings — ' wittled ' them, as a Yankee would say — broke his canoe into fragments, and lighted a great fire on the floor of the creature's stomach. It was not long before the fish showed, by a tortuous uncomfortable wrig- gling of his body, that this operation did not agree with him, and he consequently attempted, by swallowing wave after wave, to cool his fevered body, but did not succeed in putting out the fire, though our hero was nearly drowned in the operation. Our Indian, averse to water at all times, E 66 Cowichan Lake. appeared at this juncture to get in a very bad temper, and drawing "his long knife, stabbed the lining of the creature's inside till the coats of its stomach were in a very dilapidated state. It was evidently expiring fast, and swam ashore on the beach. Here, while it lay in the agonies of death, our friend cautiously crept up its throat, and through its gasp- ing mouth, just in time to avoid the collision of its jaws, which came together with a terrific crash, and the great fish was -dead !" This formed part only of a long story ; many such we had, and varied them by making the woods echo with the latest gems of " nigger " minstrelsy, or even more classical productions. The Cowichan Eiver is about forty miles in length ; but ■ a much shorter route to the great lake, its source, is possible by land. In several places it passes through canons, small rocky gorges, in which the water boils and frets in eddies and rapids over sunken rocks. It was but a type of three parts of the streams on the island. Every locality on its banks had appropriate native names. One fresh verdant spot near a deserted Indian lodge was Saatlam, "the place of green leaves ;" another, an open prairie in the woods, was Qualis , " the warm place." On the 15th June we found the forest getting thicker, the trees larger, and the soil evidently richer, a sign that we were nearingthe lake ; and later the same day we camp- ed by its placid waters. One cedar near this spot measured thirty -five feet in circumference at a height of five feet from the ground. , In this country very valuable- timber is nec- essarily useless at the present time, from the fact that there are in most cases no available means of transport to the coast, the rivers usually being tortuous, and blocked at in- tervals by accumulations of drift-wood. One occupation is alone possible — so far as the interior forests are concerned — and that has hitherto attracted little attention on Yan- Cowichais" Lake. 67 couver Island : I allude to the manufacture of rosin and turpentine. In forests in Oregon of almost exactly the same character it has become a profitable employment, and the products are items of export from that country. The Indian name for Cowichan Lake, a very calm, beau- tiful sheet of water, is " Kaatza," and a long peninsula stretching into it, and widening at its termination into a thickly-wooded knoll, is "Kanatze," "the island in tow." One considerable stream and several minor ones enter it. After making sundry surveys and explorations, we di- vided our forces : one party, under Leech, proceeded in as direct a course as might be to Port San Juan, while Brown, myself, and four of the men, started for the Nittinaht Eiver, in the direction (as we had learned on Indian authority) of its upper waters. Bidding then adieu to " Kakalatza" and his hat, we shouldered our packs, and, travelling through the forests, at length reached a stream flowing in a westerly direction, which we concluded was the one in question. Our supplies were down to starvation-point, and we lost no time in com- mencing the construction of a raft. On the 26th June, this being finished, we started down, going smoothly enough, except when our bark was brought to a stand-still on the shallow " riffles." Then all hands lightened her by getting into the water, lifted her over the boulders, and then all aboard, and away we went, shooting some of the deeper rapids very successfully. But at length the distant, though unmistakable roar of a fall, warned us that we must resume our travel by land. It was fortunate that we did so in time, for on examination of the rapid we found it to be one of a serious nature, and, had we proceeded, it is questiona- ble whether there would have been one left to tell the tale. We resumed our packs, and followed an Indian trail, which brought us at night to a deserted lodge, and there we camp- 68 NlTTINAHT KlVEK. ed. Near it on the bank lay an old cedar canoe, and we at once set to work to calk it, and make it as water-tight as possible. Mr. Brown, who had planned the routes with care, knew that an inlet existed at the termination of the Nittinaht Kiver ; but it was a matter of uncertainty wheth- er we had reached that stream, and it behooved us all to be- stir ourselves on account of the state of our supplies. On the morning of the 27th Brown and Barnston started down in this shaky old canoe, which leaked like a sieve, and an hour or so afterward Macdonald and myself got on board a raft of very limited dimensions to follow them. It was composed of boards and logs, mostly taken from the Indian lodge, and was held together by the ropes of our blanket packs, the necessary holes pierced in some cases by pistol bullets. We left our companions, Buttle and Lewis, to follow through the bush, and to attempt, as they fondly hoped it might prove, a " short cut." "We tied our bundles to two upright posts fixed on the raft, poled into the stream, and off we shot. We found the river a series of rapids alternating with silent and deep pools. These last gave us really harder work than any other part of our j6urney. We could not usually touch bottom with our poles, while it was very dif- ficult to keep the raft in shore.' On the "riffles" it was pure fun, mixed with a dash of danger. The current act- ing on the stern of our craft with 300 lbs. — Macdonald's weight, as steersman — took it under water several feet, while the bows were elevated in the air. Several times a curious sight might have been witnessed, that of a raft shooting past at the rate of six or eight miles an hour, and, standing nearly upright in the water, a "raft rampant," as it were, with a couple of half-drowned explorers hanging on with comical desperation. It need not be stated that on such a river our bark whirled round in the eddies every THE RAMPANT RAFT. Kafting- Experiences. 71 few minutes, and the stern became the bows, and vice versa. Twice we were directly spilt in the water, and once sucked in beneath a number of huge logs, under which the current swept violently, but we escaped with a few bruises. Ac- cumulations of drift-wood occurred constantly on the river, and made navigation an affair of constant watchfulness. We often as before brought up against boulders in the river, and had to lighten her, the water meantime rushing past with fury, and then had to scramble on again, or we should have been left behind. A few moments after this, the cry, a very constant one, was " Duck your head !" as we shot under overhanging banks, branches, and half-fallen trees. I was reminded ever and anon of early experiences in donkey-riding, when that patient but vicious animal would bruise my legs against every wall, and would run under trees that just allowed him to pass completely, but that nearly swept me from the saddle. Our raft seemed to be "possessed" in like manner. Mac was, as usual, thor- oughly good-tempered, and the events of that day made us faster friends than ever. We went ashore two or three times, and had several luscious though unsatisfying meals of " salmon " and " salall " berries. In other respects our provisions were so low that we were well inclined to make a quick trip. We despaired of reaching Brown's camp that evening, when smoke wafting up the river, the grateful smell of a camp-fire reached our nostrils, and a few minutes afterward turning a bend of the stream, we discovered our friends camped on a flat bar at what was virtually its termination. After their experiences in the canoe they were surprised to see us, and, as it proved, we were more fortunate than the men who followed us. The next afternoon they arrived, fatigued and hungry, and perfectly satisfied that " short cuts " in that country were a delusion and a snare. They 72 Acquisition of a # Canoe. had like us essayed a raft, but had not been able to man- age it. Before they arrived our companions had found, at a little distance below the mouth of the river, an uninhabited lodge, and near it a canoe, which was immediately " pressed," says Brown, in his report to the Colonial Government, "into the service of the expedition, in the name of her most gracious majesty, Queen Victoria, and her faithful deputy, his ex- cellency Arthur Edward Kennedy." We set to work to calk it with flour-bags and pine-gum, preparatory to an early start on the morrow. JSTittinaht Inlet. *73 CHAPTER V. THE INTERIOR 'OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. Xittinaht.— "Whyack."— The Indians.— Aht Tribes.— The Breakers.— Port San Juan. — Indian Yarn. — Sooke. — Basin and River. — Discovery of Gold. — Gold on Queen Charlotte's Island. — Xanaimo. — Coal-seam at Comox. — Ascent of Puntledge River. — Wreck of Canoe. — Interior Lakes. — Barclay Sound. — Game List. — Camp-marks. Very early the next morning we made a start, a light, favorable breeze had risen, and, hoisting a blanket sail, we skimmed away g&fly before it. Even now we were not absolutely certain that we had reached the wished-for Nit- tinaht Inlet, but appearances were in favor of that view. We passed several Indian villages with, however, no signs of life about them, and toward evening found the inlet nar- rowing. The tide swept through it in many an eddy and whirlpool, and we could hear the noise of breakers outside — a convincing proof that we had almost reached the coast. A few minutes of specially hard paddling took us out of the current into a quiet bay behind the Kittinaht village of "Whyack," where a troop of wild-looking savages watched our approach with evident surprise. " Mokoola," the chief, was absent, and a part of his tribe with him ; but those remaining in the village treated us well, and pointed out a flat place behind it for our camp. We were soon engaged in bartering for halibut, etc., and they crowded round to see how we cooked it, and perhaps to watch an opportunity for pilfering. Their blankets give an excellent chance for obtaining and concealing any thing lying round a camp : we lost two axes and an auger at this place. 74* The Indians. It was on this coast and neighborhood that Mr. Sproat made the careful studies and observations on Indian habits and character which he has recently laid before the public. The annexed portrait of an Aht* native is no imaginative production, but is taken from a photograph made on the spot, and gives a fair idea of the type of native we met at this village. The unkempt hair, the wreath of leaves put on much for the same purpose as they are often put on the heads of cart-horses — to keep off flies and musquitoes, and also for ornament — and the limited amount of costume, are all characteristics of the west coast natives. The pin stuck in one side of his nostril is simply put there for conven- ience, when not required for fastening the blanket across his manly bosom ! A large number oT these people have small holes drilled through the cartilage between the nos- trils, in which they not unfrequently wear rings; it is no uncommon thing for them to insert their blanket-pins in them temporarily, for want of a better place. But on festive occasions and dances these " nasty In-' jiens " do not deem themselves sufficiently ugly, and there- fore put on masks carved from wood, and often very gro- tesque and curious. The original of our illustration is nearly two feet in height, but much larger ones are worn, and some of the chiefs have a complete series of " proper- ties " of this kind. Some of them are ingeniously con- structed, and have strings arranged to move the eyes, open the beak, etc. They are common to all the tribes of Van- couver Island. The Nittinahts bear a bad reputation ; and owing to the inaccessible coast round " Whyack," the heavy surf and breakers off the entrance to the inlet, and the fact that they * Aht is the generic name given by Mr. Sproat to the tribes of the west and south coast of Vancouver Island, or, rather, is the generic termination of most of the native names ; thus, Nittinaht, Klaho-quaht, etc. AHT NATIVE, WEST COAST OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. The Nittinahts. 77 EXAMPLE OP MASK WORN BY NATIVES OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. have stockaded their village, they consider themselves al- most impregnable, and safe from attack. They have in days gone by often waged war on surrounding tribes, and even on those of the opposite coast of Washington Territo- ry. The terrible Bute Inlet massacre was so fresh in our memories that we kept a careful " watch " by turns all night. " Whyack " is famous for the manufacture of cedar canoes, and we saw many there in course of construction from single logs. The models of these craft were extreme- ly good; I have not seen better in any other part of the island. Next morning, after a couple of hours' haggling, we hired a large canpe, and three Indians to manage it. Our goods being put on board, it was hauled to the water's edge, where we all stood more or less in the surf. The right moment at length arrived, the retreating wave lifted our bark, we scrambled on board, and paddled with all our might till 78 Port San Juan. clear of the breakers. We then hoisted a mat sail, and, leaving the Indians to manage it, lay down at the bottom of the canoe and smoked our pipes in comfort. We rounded the southernmost end of Vancouver Island, and arrived at Port San Juan, or Pachenah, without acci- dent, rinding there Mr. Lawton, a well-known trader, who welcomed us kindly, and immediately spread a meal that seemed a princely banquet after our week of semi-starva- tion. A few days after our arrival Leech and his party came in, worn out with fatigue and hunger, and their clothes in tatters. A distance of twenty miles — on the map — had occupied ten days to travel, and they used very strong and emphatic language in regard to an old Admiral- ty chart on which their route was marked as " level plains I" Their journey had been of the most difficult nature, over a constant succession of mountains, and through the usual thick forests. To proceed one mile, they had to travel five ; and when they at length reached the San Juan Eiver, it was found to pass through gorges specially inaccessible, and to be in fact, for the larger part of its course, a brawling torrent. Among other specimens brought in by Leech was a fragment of undoubted plumbago. Coal was also ob- served by us in the neighborhood, but in thin seams only. Mr. Lawton, then living by himself, and with no white neighbors within thirty or forty miles, was very glad to see us, and had an unlimited budget of yarns. Once during his stay at Pachenah the Nittinalrfe had made a warlike ex- cursion to the Cape Flattery Indians of the opposite coast (Washington Territory), and had brought home twenty-six human heads as their spoil, which they brought up to his log-house with savage glee. Thej^ then left for their own village, and Lawton knew well that a return visit would be made by the outraged tribe, and that they would not be particular whom they attacked, even though they were Eepulse of Indians. 79 white settlers. He accordingly, with one white man then with him, barricaded the doors and windows of his house, and kept a constant watch. They had a large quantity of trading guns lying there, and they determined to load every one of them, and give the attacking party a thorough good peppering. They had not long to wait ; but one night elapsed before the plash of paddles was heard approaching in the bay. They stopped opposite the Pachenah Indian lodges ; all was silent as the tomb, the inhabitants had fled. Enraged, they made for Lawton's house, their hearts full of vengeance, and ready to wreak it out on the first man they met. Their canoes were just touching the beach, when the two men inside let fly at them, and took up musket after musket so rapidly that the Indians thought there must be a large party inside, and, howling with disappointment, made off in the greatest confusion, paddling for dear life. They never gave any further trouble. After the arrival of a sloop from Victoria with provisions for the ensuing month, we left for Sooke Basin or Harbor in two canoes, and in the lovely Straits of Fuca soon got a favorable breeze. This increased so suddenly that we lost one of our sails by a squall of wind, and we had to make a tent do duty for it. On this trip we noticed fair outcrop- pings of coal on a low cliff on the coast near Sooke. This may well be considered a continuation of the coal measures already worked on the opposite coast, at Clallam Bay, Wash- ington Territory. On the 13th July we commenced the ascent of the Sooke River (" Soak " more nearly expresses the Indian pronuncia- tion), a stream much resembling the Cowichan River before mentioned, but even less navigable. It was there that we made the first important discovery of our expedition — one that for a time revolutionized Victoria. In brief, gold was found in paying quantities ; a "rush" took place when the 80 Discovery of Gold. news reached Victoria, and, before the end, of the season, 100,000 dollars' worth of the precious metal had been taken out. It is admitted that few persons made extremely large "piles" or stakes, but many made for the time very high wages. Board and " shingle " stores, grog-shops, and hotels were run up in numbers out of all proportion to the wants of the locality, and, as in other places, it was a question whether, for every dollar obtained, two had not been spent in the operation ! Large numbers of Chinamen eventually worked this ground, and as provisions were tolerably cheap on the spot, especially after trails were made from the nearest road, the discovery was deemed one of value, and a reward in hard cash was voted and paid to us by the Colonial Government. The principal stream was, by the general wish of the mem- bers of the expedition, named after Leech, our astronomer. As yet nothing equal to these diggings has been found on the island, but from the indications observed by us in innumerable other places,* and from the well-known yield of the main-land, it can not be doubted that Vancouver Isl- and has other fields of the same character, as yet undevel- oped. On Queen Charlotte's Island also the precious metal is known to exist, although the precise locality of the de- posit has never been satisfactorily ascertained. It is stated that a gentleman in the Hudson's Bay service found the Haidah Indians of that island using golden bullets in place of leaden ones! For very interesting reports of the explorations once made on Queen Charlotte's Island by Captain Torrens, and also by Major Downie, both gentlemen well known to me, I must refer the reader to Captain Mayne's work on that coast. * On a stream entering Cowichan Lake, on rivers falling into Barclay Sound on the southern side, and on streams falling into the Puntleclge Lake near Comox, very good "colors" of gold were obtained. Character of the Gold-Field. 81 The gold on Vancouver Island was usually found in small specks and scales (dust), but nuggets up to six and a half ounces have been obtained. The great drawback was the scarcity of the " pay-dirt," that is to say, that there were more rocks and boulders than earth impregnated with gold resting on them ; sometimes in cracks and corners, however, of the former, very nice little " pockets" or accumulations of nuggets were struck. I can not leave this subject without alluding to the great assistance afforded us in the first dis- covery by Mr. Foley, then a member of the expedition, a practical miner of considerable experience, who knew more of gold and its whereabouts than any five of the other men. On the Sooke Eiver deer were especially abundant ; and when once we had arrived at the lake of the same name, one of its sources, we lived for a time in clover, catching some salmon-trout in its limpid waters. Owing to the dry- ness of the weather at this period, our camp-fires were on several occasions the means of setting the forest on fire; and at the lake we were burnt out of our camp, and had to re- treat to an island, from which we could watch the conflagra- tion in safety. Here we should have been happy, but for the musquitoes. It has been distinctly stated that they do not exist on Yancouver Island, but the writer knows, from this and subsequent trips, that they are abundant in the in- terior, though not perhaps as bad as those in British Colum- bia. We always kept a pan of smouldering ashes at our tent door, when camped for any length of time in one spot, yet we passed many a restless night from their inflictions. From Sooke Lake we proceeded by Shawnigan Lake and Cowichan to Nanaimo, where a delay occurred, owing to the difficulty of obtaining Indians. Nanaimo, seventy miles north of Victoria, is the second town in point of size on the island : in fact, the list ends here ; there is no third as yet. It owes its existence mainly to the valuable coal deposits F 82 Coal-Seam at Comox. which are successfully worked by an English company, and it has had a steadier and more healthy career than Victoria. It lies in a pleasant bay sheltered by islands, and there is depth of water sufficient for large vessels close in shore. A quantity of the coal is shipped to San Francisco, Victoria, and Fraser Eiver, while there is an expectation that the recent annexation of " Alaska " will create a further demand for steam-ship purposes. The main deposit is situated at about a quarter of a mile from the town, and the coal reaches the wharf by means of a railway and locomotive. The principal shaft is 100 feet in depth, and a " drift" runs in an inclined plane for 1200 feet, sinking in that distance 170 feet, so that the perpendicular depth from which the coal is now taken is 270 feet. The bed has naturally varied con- siderably in thickness; in 1867 it was about five feet through. One hundred and fifty to three hundred tons are taken out daily ; the coal brings an average of six dollars a ton on delivery at the ship. In San Francisco it is re- tailed at an average price of twelve dollars (or about £2 10s. gold : there are no " greenbacks" accepted in California except at the regular discount). The Hudson's Bay Com- pany, which had formerly a fort at JSTanaimo, were the first to work this seam, hiring Indians to dig it from the out- croppings, and paying them at the rate of one blanket for eight barrels. It is an undoubted fact that the coal of Van- couver Island is its most valuable production, and that it is abundant. After leaving Nanaimo, we discovered on a stream entering the Puntledge Eiver near the small settle- ment of Comox, a very important deposit. A seam from two to eight feet in thickness, disappearing and again reap- pearing on the rocky walls of a small canon, extended for a mile of its course. This occurred five miles from naviga- ble water, and would require the construction of a tram-way through the woods for its successful development. We Wreck of our Canoe. 83 camped by the principal seam, and made a gigantic fire of the coal, which really appeared to be of excellent quality. The stream on which we observed it was named in honor of our leader, Mr. Brown. Our journey from this place up the Puntledge Eiver to the lake of the same name was one of difficulty. We had determined to take a canoe there, and it had to be carried or towed nearly the whole distance. Piles of drift-wood blocked the river, while its bed consisted of boulders of all sizes. We all spent more of our time in the water than out of it; and often, when dragging the canoe by m#in force through the shallow but swift current, got into holes out of our depth, and clung to it with great pertinacity till once more we could get a foothold. There were two falls of importance on this river, one of them bearing the poetical name of Ski-ep, " the whirl of waters." At last we reached the lake, one of the most picturesque on the island, and our canoe was of much service to us. Alas ! it was near here that our craft, that had gone through so much, at length came to grief. Descending a tributary of the lake which we had previously examined, owing to the bad steering of one of our party it came broadside on a log, and in a second was cracked up like a nut-shell into a hundred pieces, and we were all spilt in the swift current. We hung on to the larger part of the fragments, and succeeded in getting ashore. After several hours' patching, sewing, and calking, we managed to rig her up again, but had subsequently to treat her as a very cripple of a canoe, and to get. out at all the rapids and shallows and carry her tenderly over. With great care we at length reached our camp by the lake, where doubtless she still lies, the wreck we left her. Between the east coast at Comox and the west coast at Barclay Sound, we found a series of seven lakes, extending almost across the island. One of these, the Central Lake, 84 "Logging Camp." is about eighteen miles long by one to one and a half in width, and our travelling was spasmodic, constantly making halts to construct rafts. On this rather tedious trip Our supplies again got down to a very limited ration of flour, and that " strait," that is to say, unaccompanied by tea, beans, or bacon. We varied a diet of soggy bread with a kind of thin paste or soup of flour and water ; not very good " working " grub. It was a sad but true .fact that, when our commissariat department was exhausted, nothing was to be obtained in the way of game or outside supplies ; and we were not sorry when, on the 23d September, we reached a " logging camp " near the Opichesaht village on the Somass Eiver, where the workmen, who had been ex- pecting us for some time, spread a repast to which we well knew how to do justice. The same day, descending the river, we reached the large saw-mill and lumber establish- ment of Alberni, Barclay Sound, where Messrs. Johnston and Eaymur, the gentlemen then in charge, received us with great kindness. Two hundred workmen — represent- ing a dozen nationalities, and including among the number Kanakas from the Sandwich Islands, and the Indians and half-breeds of many tribes — were busily engaged in the mill and neighborhood. Seven vessels were, at the date of our visit, loading with lumber for England, California, Chili, China, and Australia, and the settlement presented a lively aspect. Our subsequent canoe-trips down Barclay Sound — on streams entering which we again found the " color " of gold — our journey once more across the island to Quali- cum, and thence by canoe to ISTanaimo, would, if narrated, be little more than a repetition of what has been said above, and I will not enlarge upon them. Our party in detach- ments had crossed the island in seven directions. In the interior game is fairly abundant, and our list in- Camp Maeks. 85 eluded three elk, twenty -five deer, and two beaver, shot mainly at the commencement of our journeys. Owing to the noise made in travelling through the thickets and woods, and the density of the forest itself, we saw but few wild animals, and of those generally only their hind-quarters retreating in the distance. The animals above named, with a few bears, panthers, martens, and coons, are about all that the traveller will see at any time on that island. The future explorer will have no trouble in finding our tracks, for at each camp the trees were " blazed," i. e., mark- ed with an axe, and an inscription affixed as represented below — the artistic part of the work being usually perform- ed by the writer — painter, but not glazier, to the expedition. CAMP WITH "BLAZE," OR CAMP-MARK. Alaska Territory, CHAPTER VL ALASKA TERRITORY. Acquisition of Russian America by the United States. — American Criticisms on the Purchase. — Coal and gold Discoveries. — Mock Advertise- ments. — America for the Americans. — Geographical Literature of the Pacific— Of Russian America. — The Treaty. — W. U. Telegraph Expedi- tion. — Its Organization. — Preference for young Men. * The recent acquisition of Russian America by trie Unit- ed States Government is one of the events of our day. Four hundred thousand square miles of territory have been, under the name of " Alaska,"* added to the already vast domain of Uncle Sam, and Russia has rid herself of an isolated possession of dubious value. The purchase was not allowed to be completed quietly. On its announcement the people of the United States were, in fact, taken by surprise ; there was much hostile criticism, and strong political opposition. That has now, for the most part, passed away, and American enterprise has begun to develop the resources of the country. f For some time, * By this purchase, the U. S. Government has acquired also one of the largest mountains of the continent, Mount St. Elias. f Coal has been discovered at Cook's Inlet, and a recent newspaper para- graph (July 30, 1868) tells us that "A party of explorers started some time back from the State of Oregon for the Skena River, in Alaska, and were subsequently reported to have been lost in a schooner in Queen Charlotte's Sound. The American consul at Victoria, Vancouver Island, now announ- ces their safety, and adds that they state themselves to have discovered a rich gold-field in the Taquo River, where they are picking up the precious metal in lumps. This news is credited in Sitka, and every available craft is being brought into requisition to convey adventurers to the spot." Gold has been frequently obtained in the Stekine River, a large stream near the boundary-line, running partly through British and partly through Russian America. It has also been recently stated that a company was prepared to "take" Mock Advertisements. 87 indeed, Mr. Seward's position in regard to it — he being al- ways considered the originator of the project — was any thing but a desirable one. It was regarded as a bad busi- ness, and as an unfortunate speculation, and was ridiculed as " our new possession of ' Walrus-sia.' " Mock advertise- ments — purporting to come from the Secretary of State — appeared in the daily papers of New York and the large cities generally, offering the highest price for " waste lands and worn-out colonies," " submerged and undiscovered isl- ands," icebergs, polar bears, volcanoes, and earthquakes, "provided they should not shake the confidence of the State Department." In the House of Congress it was made a party question, and therefore the colony was on the one hand described as the tag-end of creation, and on the other as an Elysian field. "Virtually there was, and is, little known about it ; and the following pages must be regarded simply as an early and superficial contribution to our bet- ter knowledge of it. There are, however, many, both in England and America, who look on this purchase as the first move toward an American occupation of the whole continent, and who fore- see that Canada, and British America generally, will sooner or later become part of the United States. Looking at the matter without prejudice, I believe that it will be better for those countries and ourselves when such shall be the case. We shall be released from an encumbrance, a source of ex- pense and possible weakness ; they, freed from the trammels of periodical alarms of invasion, and feeling the strength of independence, will develop and grow; and — speaking ver} r plainly and to the point — our commercial relations with Alaska, pay $10,000,000 in gold to the United States Government (nearly $3,000,000 over the sum to be paid to Russia), and leave the supreme au- thority to Congress. Their object was of course to trade for furs, mine, and otherwise develop the country. 88 Literature of the Pacific. them will double and quadruple themselves in value. No one now supposes that, bad the United States remained naught but " our American colonies," they would have pro- gressed as they have done ; and it is equally obvious that our commerce with them must have been restricted in equal ratio. That it is the destiny of the United States to possess the whole northern continent, I fully believe. The geographical literature of the Pacific is abundant ; but that part of it which has reference to Russian America is comparatively restricted. Miiller's* narrative of the voyages of Behring and his companions deservedly heads the list. Behring and Tschirikoff may be fairly regarded as the dis- coverers of the country, and their names will ever be asso- ciated with the North Pacific. Immediately following their adventurous voyages, a number of Russian merchants of Eastern Siberia sent vessels from Ochotsh and neighboring ports on trading excursions, mainly to the Aleutian Islands. " Within a period of ten years," says Coxe,f their historian, "more important discoveries were made by these individu- als at their own private cost than had been hitherto effected by all the expensive efforts of the crown." Byron, Carteret, Wallis, and Cook follow next in chronological order ; the latter especially helped to clear up the fogs that encompass- .ed the coast. Cook's Inlet, Ounalaska, Norton Sound, and Behring Straits were all examined by the great circumnav- igator. Passing over the illustrious La Perouse, who explored portions of the N.W. coast adjacent to Mount St. Elias, and several Spanish commanders who did next to nothing for Russian America, we come to our countryman Vancouver, whose laborious surveys have left their mark on the whole of the coast from San Francisco to Cook's Inlet, and whose * Muller's " Voyages from Asia to America," etc. f Coxe's "Russian Discoveries." EUSSIAN AND OTHER EXPLORERS. 89 great work deserves a fuller recognition from the public than it has ever yet received. Eussia has naturally done much toward the exploration of her colony, and some of her naval officers hold a de- servedly high rank as geographers. Lisiansky, Kotzebue, and Liitke are names as familiar to men of science as to navigators. Among our own countrymen, Moore, Kellet, Collinson, and M'Clure, when engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin, also examined some portions of the coasts,* while Captain Bedford Pirn, who made some extensive land-trips, is well remembered at some of the (late) Eussian posts. But with the exception of the one visit paid by a Eussian, Zagoskin, until our expedition commenced its work, the interior of the country had been little visited, except by the traders of the Eussian American Fur Company, and much valuable information has been hitherto locked up in their archives. By the recent treaty, all the documents re- lating to the territory were to be handed over to the United States Government. Let us hope that they may, in the in- terests of geography, receive a thorough investigation. The treaty between Eussia and the United States estab- lishes the eastern and southern boundary-lines as arranged by Eussia and Great Britain in 1825. The western line in- cludes the whole of the Aleutian Islands ; Attou is distinct- ly named as the most westerly island ceded. The northern boundary is only limited by the ice and snow of the Arctic. In 1865, the Western Union Telegraph Company of America, the largest corporation of its kind in existence, commenced the explorations for a proposed overland tele- graph, which, by means of a cable, via Behring Straits, was * Findlay's " Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean " gives, up to the date of its publication, an exhaustive resume of this subject. Although ' a little out of date, from the rapid development of the north-west coasts of America, it was used constantly on our vessels, and looked upon as an in- valuable work on the subject. 90 W. U. Telegraph Expedition. to unite the Old and New World. The project — of itself not entirely new — was virtually started by Mr. P. D. Collins, an enterprising American, who had, after several years' perseverance, obtained the necessary charters and right of way from the British and Eussian Governments. The scheme, after an expenditure of three million dollars, was abandoned in 1867, owing to the success of the Atlantic ca- ble, and not from any overwhelming difficulties in the way of the undertaking itself. There was, at the date at which our explorations commenced, no faith in the great subma- rine cable, at least among telegraphic engineers.* It is needless to state that an expedition employing sev- eral hundred explorers, who examined six thousand miles of country on both sides of the Pacific — from Fraser River to Behring Straits, and thence southward to the Amoor — has added something to our knowledge of those countries. In point of fact, five volumes like the present would hardly give a fair idea of the amount of travel undertaken. Much of the information acquired is in the hands of the telegraph company, and much more in the possession of individuals, and is virtually lost to the world. I have confined myself almost exclusively to the narration of my own experiences, ranging over nearly two and a half years.. Colonel Bulkley, engineer-in-chief of the projected line, in the spring of the above-mentioned year left San Francisco (where the head-quarters of the expedition were established), and paid a preliminary visit to Sitka. He there left Dr. Fisher, the surgeon-in-chief, to collect information while he * It is by no means improbable that this enterprise may be again revived if the Atlantic cable or cables should " give out " or work with uncertainty, although it would be an expensive line to construct and to keep in good or- •der. That the scheme is practicable there can be no doubt. Portions of the line which were completed between New Westminster and the mouth of Quesnelle — both on Fraser River — are now used for the transmission of mes- sages. See Appendix (II.). Organization of the Expedition. 91 himself returned to California to organize the expedition. I first had the pleasure of meeting Colonel Bulkley in Vic- toria, V. I., and immediately volunteered to serve on the expedition. He expressed himself gratified at the idea of an artist accompanying him, and we commenced a friend- ship that has but increased with better acquaintance. • Col- onel Bulkley inspired affection and esteem in all who knew him. Our expedition had a military organization, and to each man was assigned a special duty. The principal officers for the first season (1865) were as follow : Col. Bulkley, Engineer-in-Chief (on leave of absence U. S. Regular Army). Capt. Scammon, Chief of Marine (U. S. Revenue Service). Major Wright, Adjutant. Major Chappel, Chief Quarterma'ster. Mr. Lewis, Assistant Engineer. Dr. Fisher, Surgeon-in-Chief. Major Kennicott (in charge of Yukon party). Lieut. M'Crea (in charge of Anadyr party). Major Abasa (in charge of Siberian party). Major Pope (in charge of British Columbian party). Capt. Conway (in ch'arge of building party). E. K. Laborne, Interpreter. Frederick Whymper, Artist. It would occupy an unnecessary amount of space to give the details and numbers of each party, more especially as reference will be made to them subsequently ; but I may add that several collectors for the Smithsonian Institution at Washington accompanied us, among the principal of whom were Messrs. Dall, Rothrock, Bannister, and Elliot. Major Kennicott, besides being selected on account of his previously acquired knowledge of the country, was the ap- pointed director of the scientific corps. The men selected by Colonel Bulkley were nearly all young, and hardly one beyond the prime of life. He more than once said that no old man (or old woman either) should serve on his expedition, and he could have hardly 92 Preference for Youth. found a better place than San Francisco for the selection of active and "live" men. There, nearly every one has been more or less a traveller, and knows something of the many acquirements valuable in a new country. Doubtless Colonel Bulkley's preference for youth, activ- ity, and "go" is that of Americans generally. Here, in England, I have sometimes thought that youth was consid- ered more of a crime than a recommendation, and that you were nowhere until you had— like old port — acquired "body" and "age!" Our Voyage. 93 CHAPTER VII. A VISIT TO THE CAPITAL OF ALASKA. The Voyage. — Sitka JSound and Harbor. — Baratioff. — Early History. — The Town. — Water Supply. — Agriculture. — Former Russian Settlements in California. — Russian American Company. — The Fisheries. — Kalosh In- dians. — Our Experiences of Russian Hospitality. — Sitka in new Hands. — Two Sundays in a Week. — Kodiak Ice. — Formal Transfer of Alaska. On the 30th of July, 1865, I bade a final adieu to Victoria, joined the "W. IT. Telegraph Company's steamer "Wright," and the following day we were en route for Sit- ka, the then capital of Kussian America. Our voyage, made in calm summer weather, was not specially eventful. Early in our trip we were unfortunate enough to lose one of the fans of our screw, which of course somewhat diminished the speed of our vessel. At Port M'Neil, near Fort Kupert, V. I., we stopped to take on board a small quantity of native coal to test its value for steaming purposes. After threading Johnstone Straits, we passed to the north of Vancouver Island, and outside Queen Charlotte's Isl- and. I mention this fact because there is well known to be an "inside passage" threading the archipelago of isl- ands north of Vancouver Island. In winter it may pos- sibly be the better route, but it is of a difficult and tortuous nature. On the 8th of August we reached the intricate and rock- girt shores of Sitka Sound, and soon came to an anchor im- mediately abreast of the town of Sitka. The harbor, though small, is commodious, and the water is usually as smooth 94 Sitka. as a mill-pond. It is in lat! 57° 2' 45" K, long. 135° 17' 10" W. Sitka, or New Archangel, is as yet the only u city" in the country, and therefore deserves some little notice. For- merly it was exclusively the head-quarters of the Eussian American Fur Company, but* has now become a town of some life, and will probably much increase in size. The island on which Sitka is built is one of a group or archipelago, discovered in 1741 by TschirikofT, the compan- ion of Behring, who, unlike that brave commander, lived to return from his adventurous voyage, the third and last of an important series. Tfce island is named in honor of Baranoff, the real founder of the settlement of New Arch- angel, who for a long period managed the affairs of the Russian American Company in the days of its early history — a troubled and eventful time. Baranoff had been a mer- chant in Siberia, and was a man of education and superior attainments, with a large amount of courage and persever- ance. After the establishment of this post, the Kalosh In- dians, a neighboring tribe, gave the Russians much trouble; and in 1804, while the commander was absent, they attack- ed and murdered the larger part of the garrison, one or two Aleuts alone escaping to the Island of Kodiak. Bar- anoff returned shortly afterward, and with the assistance of. a part of Admiral Krusenstern's fleet, then on a voyage in the North Pacific, attacked and besieged the Kaloshes till they acknowledged themselves beaten ; not, however, un- til they had murdered all the old and helpless of their number who could not go off with them. They have threatened and attacked the town subsequently, and the Russians feared them a good deal. At the date of our visit, a palisade or stockade divided the Russian and Indian hab- itations, and no native, unless working in some private house, was allowed in the town after dark. Its Situation. 97 Sitka was not overlooked during our war with Kussia, and after the second visit to Petropaulovski, recorded later in these pages, the English and French admirals, with a portion of the combined fleet, visited the coast. ISTo vessel, however, of the squadron entered the port except her maj- esty's steamer "Brisk," and the object of their visit was merely to ascertain whether any naval force belonging to the Czar was to be found there. A compact had been en- tered into by the British and Bussian Governments that the property of the Hudson's Bay Company and. of the Bussian American Company should be respected. The right of blockade was, however, reserved, although not exercised in this case. The admirals, satisfied that no government ves- sels or supplies were there, left Sitka undisturbed. No special defenses had been prepared.* The town is situated on a low strip of land, the gov- ernor's house rising on a rocky height a hundred feet or so above the general level. Snow-capped and peaked mount- ains, and thickly-wooded hills surround it, and Mount Edg- cumbe, on Crooze Island, immediately opposite the town, an extinct volcano of eight thousand feet in height, is the great land-mark of this port — the most northern harbor on the Pacific shores of America. The coloring of the town is gay, and the surroundings picturesque. The houses yel- low, with sheet-iron roofs painted red, the bright green spire and dome of the Greek Church, and the old battered hulks, roofed in and used as magazines, lying propped up on the rocks at the water's edge, with the antiquated build- ings of the Bussian Fur Company, gave Sitka an original, foreign, and fossilized kind of appearance. Landing at the wharf, and passing a battery of ancient and dilapidated guns, we first saw the stores and ware- houses of the company, where furs of the value of £200,000 * See "Nautical Magazine," October. 1855. G 98 The Town — Climate. were sometimes accumulated. Sitka in itself had but a moderate Indian trade, but was the head-quarters of the company, whence the peltries of twenty -one different sta- tions were annually brought. After passing the governor's house, which is perched on a rock, and only reached by a steep flight of stairs, we found the bureau and work-shops of the company, and a number of the better class of houses of employes. On the left of the street, a shrubbery, the "Club Gardens," with summer-houses, card and supper rooms, and swings for the children, and a little further the Greek Church, with its dome and spire of Oriental style, overshadowing a plainer Lutheran structure within a few steps of it, attracted our attention. Then came the "Club- house," occupied by unmarried servants of the company — the school-house, from which scholars of promise were sent to St. Petersburg — and the hospital, a very neat and clean building. Beyond the.se were a few dozen cottages and shanties, and then — the woods! with the one promenade of the place running through them. Sitka enjoys the unenviable position of being about the most rainy place in the world. Eain ceases only when there is a good prospect of snow. Warm sunny weather is invariably accompanied by the prevalence of fever and pul- monary complaints, and rheumatism is looked upon as an inevitable concomitant to a residence in the settlement. Doubtless the miasma arising from damp and decaying vegetable matter is one reason why Sitka is more unhealthy in fine weather than in wet : a fact which was constantly stated to us by the inhabitants. The winter is by no means severe : the thermometer rarely standing below 20° Fahr. A vast deal of nonsense has been published and repub- lished in the newspapers of the United States relative to the agricultural resources of their new acquisition. ■ The reader may take my word for it that the culture of a few The Fisheries. 99 potatoes and other vegetables is all that has been done in this way, and that the acres of barley mentioned in some of these high-flown paragraphs are purely mythical, There is not an acre of grain in the whole country. For a long period, from 1812 to 1841, the Eussian Com- pany had settlements in California, at Eoss and Bodega, and they have left their name attached to the principal stream in that part of the country — Eussian Eiver. In 1841 Captain Sutter, a well-known Californian of the early days, purchased the company's settlements, stock, etc., for 830,000. These establishments were kept up expressly for the supply of Sitka and the other posts, and were given up when they found it more convenient to purchase from the Hudson's Bay Company on Vancouver Island. For a full account of this the reader is referred to the fifth vol- ume of Wilkes's "Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expe- dition." The white and half-breed population of Sitka was about eight hundred, but has risen since the American occupation to about two thousand persons. A company of Eussian infantry formed the garrison, and the soldiers were allowed to work for the company, receiving extra pay. The Eussian American Company, formed on the model of our Hudson's Bay Company, commenced its existence as a chartered corporation in 1799, but had existed as a body of traders and merchants long before that date. Be- tween the two fur companies there have been disputes. Latterly the coast as far as the Chilcat Eiver had been leased by the former to the latter company for trading purposes. The most valuable station of the Eussians. without exception, was the Island of St. Paul (Pribylov Group, in Behring Sea), which yielded the larger part of the sea-otter obtained by them. In the neighborhood of Sitka extensive fisheries exist- 100 The Kalosh Indians. ed, and from 100,000 to 150,000 salmon were annually exported to the Sandwich Islands and elsewhere. Imme- diately on the arrival of a boat-load of fish at the wharf, a number of the poorer women, some of them Indians, ar- ranged themselves in two long lines, and very rapidly cleaned and gutted the salmon. A few buckets of water were then thrown over the heap, and they were carried to the vats, and put in brine at once. Each woman took as her share a large fish weighing 20 or 30 lbs., and worth — just nothing! It is said that the salmon is so abundant in the streams in the spring-time that they impede the pas- sage df boats, and that when a strong south-east wind comes, it drives them ashore, where they lie in piles putre- fying. The Kalosh Indians seen at Sitka inhabit the coast be- tween the Stekine and Chilcat rivers. At the date of our visit large numbers were absent, but in winter they are said to congregate to the number of 2500. The Chilcat Indians also come to Sitka. These people dwell in a long line of rude houses out- side the settlement. Their dwellings are shanties on a large scale, with a small entrance, often circular in shape, and a hole in the roof to let the smoke out. The idea of these constructions must have been derived from the Eus- sians ; in some cases the very unusual circumstance of the sleeping-rooms being apart from the main chamber was to be observed. The Kaloshes are by no means a prepossessing people, and have a bad reputation. Their dress is commonly a blanket, at least in summer-time; they frequently black their faces all over, and sometimes paint themselves in red, black, and blue stripes and patches. They wear a pin of bone or metal stuck in their lower lip ; this is said to de- note maturity ; it is at least never worn by the young. The Kalosh Indians. 101 They appear to be more than usually lazy natives, proba- bly from the fact that Nature has been so kind to them ; salmon is abundant, deer and bear meat are to be had for the hunting, and the berries are innumerable. Their ca- noes are much inferior to those of the lower coast, while their skin " baidarkes " (kyacks) are not equal to those of Nor- ton Sound and the northern coast. Their grave-boxes or tombs are interesting ; they contain only the ashes of the dead. These people invariably burn the deceased. On one of the boxes I saw a number of faces painted, long tresses of human hair depending therefrom. Each head represent- ed a victim of the (happily) deceased one's ferocity. In his day he was doubtless more esteemed than if he had never harmed a fly. All their graves are much ornament- ed with carved and painted faces and other devices. "H: KALOSH INDIAN GRAVE-BOX. We shall not readily forget the reception given us by the residents of Sitka, who seemed bent on making up for the absence of the governor, Prince Maksutoff. Kussian hospitality is proverbial, and we all somewhat suffered 102 Kussian Hospitality. therefrom. The first phrase of their language acquired by us, was "Petnatchit copla " (fifteen drops). Now this quantity — in words so modest — usually meant a good half- tumbler of some unmitigated spirit, ranging from Cognac KALOSH INDIAN GRAVE-BOX. to raw vodka, of a class which can only be described by a Californian term as "chain lightning," and which was pressed upon us on every available occasion. To refuse was simply to insult your host. Then memory refuses to retain the number of times we had to drink tea, which was served sometimes in tumblers, sometimes in cups. I need not say the oft-described samovar was in every household. Several entertainments — balls, suppers, and a fete in the club gardens — were organized for our benefit, and a num- ber of visitors came off daily to our fleet of four vessels — strangely enough, the only ones in harbor, though the company owned many sailing-vessels and steamers. We found the Eussians there living on terms of great intimacy with their domestics. The latter almost invariably ad- dressed their masters and mistresses by their Christian names, and often by abbreviations thereof. Thus a gen- tleman by name " Ivan " (John) would be so called by his Sitka in New Hands. 103 servants, and his wife, whose name was Maria, but by her husband known as Molly, ,would be so addressed by the servants, to the great scandal of propriety. But Sitka in the hands of the Eussian Company, and Sitka in those of its new owners, are already very different things. An Anglo-Eussian newspaper, to be printed in double columns, is projected, and is to appear this spring (1868). Town " lots " are held at fabulous prices ; for a small log-house $10,000 (£2000) is asked, and I should not be surprised to learn that salmon was half a dollar a pound, that a dozen " saloons," hotels, barbers' shops, and " lager bier " cellars had been started, or especially that the Sitka water- works were a great success ! Every " cor- respondent's " letter from thence, and I have read a score, agrees in one fact, " that our aqueous supply evinces no sign of failure !" In the "good old Eussian times " there were, it is said, about 180 church holidays to the year, now they will be confined to Christmas and New Yesfr's days, Washington's birthday and the 4th of July (Independence Day). But if the enlightened citizens of the country choose to avail themselves of the privilege, they can enjoy two Sundays each week. Owing to the fact that the Eussians came eastward and we came westward, there is of course a day's difference where the two meet, and their Sunday in Sitka falls on our Saturday. " The San Franciscan," says a Cal- ifornian newspaper, " who arrives at Archangel on Friday night, according to his reckoning, will find the stores closed and business suspended on the following morning, and so will lose not only that day, but the next, too, if his consci- entious convictions and the force of habit are only strong enough. On the other hand, the pious Alaskan merchant, who belongs to the Greek Church, will look with horror on the impious stranger who offers to trade or swap jack- 104 Kodiak Ice. knives on Sunday, but who on Monday morning suddenly assumes a clean shirt, black broadcloth, a nasal twang, and that demurely self-satisfied air which is our national idea of a religious demeanor." As before stated, Sitka itself yielded but a limited quantity of furs ; hence the mistake made last year (1867) by numerous Jews and other traders, who thought they could buy to advantage there. By latest accounts, you could almost as cheaply obtain furs in San Francisco ! not one of the places in the world most celebrated for moderate charges, and in consequence the steamers were well filled by disgusted Israelitish traders on their return trips to Cal- ifornia. Yet in the north of Eussian America— a country that few perhaps will venture into — there is undoubtedly a large trade yet to be developed, and the energy of the American people will hardly let the opportunity pass un- improved, if the difficulties in the way of the transpor- tation of large quantities of trading-goods and provisions do not prove of too serious a nature. I shall have to al- lude to this subject again in the chapters on the Yukon Kiver. A San Francisco company leased from the Eussians the privilege of obtaining ice from St. Paul's, Kodiak Island. The Americans, as it is unnecessary perhaps to remark, use ice at table to a far greater extent than we do, and in the Atlantic States it is sold at an almost nominal price. California, about the warmest state in the Union, naturally consumes a large quantity of ice. It is cut from an artifi- cial lake, which has an area of forty acres. The laborers are all Aleuts (Aleutian islanders), and are principally en- gaged for three or four months of winter, while "the ice is firm, in cutting it up and storing it for summer consump- tion. The larger part of this luxury is consumed in San Francisco, but it finds its way to Mexican, Central, and even A Russian Soldier, 105 South American ports. Kodiak,* which is included in the purchase, is therefore by no means an unimportant ac- quisition. The formal transfer of Russian America to the United INDIAN STONE CARVING, REPRESENTING A RUSSIAN SOLDIER AT SITKA. States authorities took place on October 18, 1867. It is said that the Russian flag showed great reluctance to come down, and stuck on the yard-arm of the flag-staff. A man * On September 5th, 1866, at 4 a.m., there was a very violent earth- quake on Eodiak Island. A correspondent of The Aha Californian writing thence, said : " The sensation on shipboard was very terrifying, seeming as though the ship was going at railway speed over the rocks, while many articles came tumbling down which the most violent gale at sea had not dis- turbed. Other slight shocks were felt at intervals for four hours in some of the southern portions of the island. Huge rocks were torn from their places, and came^tumbling down the mountains, but no lives were lost." 106 An Accurate Likeness. was sent up to detach the halyards, when it fell on the heads of the Kussian soldiers, its appointed defenders ! On the preceding page is a representation of one of the Sitka " army," copied from an Indian stone carving in my possession. Although it may seem a caricature, it is really an accurate likeness of the stolid features and antiquated cut of the late defenders of Kussian America.* * For some additional notes on Sitka, see Appendix (III.). Departure from Sitka. 10' CHAPTER VIII. VOYAGE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. 1865. Departure from Sitka. — Oukamok. — Ounga. — Breakers ahead! — Volca- noes in Ounimak Pass. — St. Michael's, Norton Sound, Alaska. — Sound- ings of Behring Sea. — Plover Bay, Eastern Siberia. — TheTchuktchis. — Tents. — Canoes. — Tchuktchi Strength. — Children. — The irrepressible "Naukum." — Native's Idea of the Telegraph. — The "Shenandoah" Pirate. — Avatcha Bay. During our stay at Sitka, Colonel Bulkley, besides col- lecting much valuable information from the Russian Com- pany, was engaged in organizing the parties for the Anadyr and Yukon rivers. Lieut. M'Crea, in charge of the former division, was with his party transferred to the schooner "Milton Badger," and dispatched to his destination. The Yukon party were mostly on board the bark " Golden Gate," then considered the "flag-ship" of our expedition, and to this vessel I was myself transferred. I was the guest of Captain Scammon, to whose kindness I owe much. We left the harbor of Sitka on the 22d August, and the entire population turned out to see us depart. They gave us a full though rather irregular salute, which nearly brought down the old wharf, and we returned it in better style. For several days after leaving we kept company with the steamer, being in fact towed by her. On the 28th we again saw land, the grassy slopes and abrupt cliffs of Oukamok Island. There were no trees apparent. On the 29th we sighted the Peninsula of Aliaska, a jagged rock- bound coast with many snow peaks, and the next day we 108 Bkeakers Ahead! got a glimpse of Cape Ivanoff — a promontory that appear- ed at a distance to be detached from the main-land. Later in the day we came to an anchor in Zakharovskaia Bay, in the Island of Ounga. Our object in calling there was to examine some coal seams known to exist on the coast. They proved to be lignite of poor quality, and apparently not abundant. The seams have been worked, and the prod- ucts used on board the Eussian American Fur Company's steamers, but not to any great extent. On the 31st Au- gust we again started in company with the steamer, but the following night our hawser broke, and we parted com- pany in a fog. The next morning, while I was quietly drawing in the cabin, the steward's boy, a wild Irish juvenile, known as " Brick-top," from the red color of his moppy head, rushed in with the pleasing announcement of " breakers ahead I" and that we were all coming to grief. I went on deck, and found some very ugly looking rocks on the starboard side within a few hundred yards, and the white surf and foam breaking round them. The weather was extremely foggy and thick, and the danger while it lasted was unmistakable. Captain Scammon, seconded by his officers, soon, however, brought the vessel round, and we passed within a hundred yards of them, our craft rolling and pitching a good deal. It proved to be a reef outside Sanak or Halibut Island — a known, yet dangerous coast. On the 3d September, when tacking and trying to make Ounimak Pass or Passage, between Ounimak and Ougamok, two of the Aleutian Islands, we caught a glimpse through the opening mists of the volcano of Chichaldinskoi. This mountain is, on the authority of Liitke, 8935 feet in height, and is situated on Ounimak Island. It has a very grace- ful form. Near it is a second mountain of less elevation, with a jagged double summit, of very odd and irregular appearance. On the evening of the 4th Chichaldinskoi Nokton Sound. 109 loomed out very distinctly, and when the clouds cleared from it we could see smoke issuing from a large cleft near the summit. In Ounimak Passage a second volcano over 5000 feet in height was seen, and Captain Scammon ob- served during the night the fire of one on Akoutan Island. The whole chain of the Aleutian Islands is volcanic. They deserve an expedition to themselves. We arrived in Norton Sound on the 12th September, having experienced very rough weather in Bet-ring Sea ; in fact, during part of the time we had to " lay to." Ap- proaching for the first time these northern coasts of Rus- sian America, we observed with surprise the dried-up and sunburnt appearance of every thing on shore. The hills varied much in color, from shades of crimson and red, to tints of brown and yellow. The summer in this country, though short, is intensely warm while it lasts ; late in the season, hot days alternate with frosty nights, and the vege- tation is much affected thereby. We went into the Sound carefully taking soundings, and indeed it was very neces- sary, as our later experience will show. We arrived off the Island of St. Michael's at 10 A.M. on the 13th, and found that our steamer had already called there, and had again started for Behring Straits. On the Island of St. Michael's, or Michaelovski, is a Russian trading-post of some importance, which will be hereafter described. Major Kennicott began at once to land his party, with their supplies and personal effects, and also to fit up the " Lizzie Horner," a small steamer which had been brought up on the deck of our ship. She was intended for the navigation of the Yukon, but, alas, proved worthless, and in fact never left Norton Sound. Major Kennicott found at St. Michael's an Indian who stated that he had been up the Yukon to its junction with the " Porcupine." Colonel Bulkley, before leaving in the 110 Plover Bay. steamer " Wright," had taken on board a little half-breed boy to give him the advantage of a good education in San Francisco. This was, of course, done with his friends' per- fect consent. On leaving, his Indian mother said to the colonel, " Teach him, sir, nothing but good." Could any mother have said more ?* On the 17th we parted from our exploring friends and turned our ship's bows toward the Asiatic coast. Captain Scammon made a series of very interesting soundings on this trip. Behring Sea is well known to be extremely shallow, but few would suppose that the whalers can and do anchor in nearly every part of it on occasions, weather permitting. Between latitudes 64° and 66° N. the average depth is slightly under nineteen and a half fathoms. We passed to the south of the large Island of St. Lawrence, and found the bottom very even. At the starting-point of this voyage — St. Michael's — the soundings gave five fathoms, deepening gradually to twenty -five fathoms off the S.E. end of St. Lawrence Island. From thence to Plover Bay it averaged thirty-five fathoms, and shoaled to nineteen fath- oms immediately off the bay itself. The bottom was found to consist mainly of a soft mud and sand : one cast off the eastern end of St. Lawrence Island near a rocky islet brought up gravel. On the 22d we made the land off Port Providence, or "Plover" Bay, as it has always been called by the whalers who frequent it since the winter of 1848-9, when H. M. S. "Plover" laid up there, when on the search for Sir John * This boy, with a second taken from Petropaulovski, made good progress in San Francisco. Col. Bulkley's object was, of course, eventually to make these youths of service to the telegraph company. They were, at the aban- donment of the scheme, returned to their friends. Col. Bulkley also took down a Tchuktchi boy from Plover Bay, who was educated in the same manner, and we had, at different periods, several Aleutian Islanders (Aleuts) as sailors on our vessels. TCHUKTCHI SKIN-CANOE. FRAME-WORK OF TCHUKTCHI HOUSE. The Tchuktchis. 113 Franklin.* It does not derive its name from whaling pursuits, although an ingenious Dutchman of our number persisted in calling it "Blubber" Bay. But we were doomed to disappointment, for when in sight of the bay a gale of wind rose, and we were driven several hundred miles, to the southward, not regaining our position till the 26th, when we went in successfully, to find the " Wright" await- ing us. Plover Bay, when once you are in it, is a very 'secure haven. It is sheltered af its southern end by a long spit of land, and it is no uncommon thing to find several whaling- vessels lying inside in the summer. It includes two small- er basins ; one known as Emma Harbor, the second to be hereafter mentioned. Bare cliffs and rugged mountains hem it in on three sides, the mountains composed of an in- finite number of fragments split up by the action of frost. Innumerable and many-colored lichens and mosses are the only vegetation to be seen, except on a patch of open country near Emma Harbor where domesticated reindeer graze. On the spit before mentioned is a village of Tchuktchi natives; their tents are composed of skin. The remains of under-ground houses, are seen, but the people ivho used them have passed away. The present race makes no use of such houses. Although their skin dwellings appear outwardly rough, and are patched with every variety of hide — walrus, seal, and reindeer — with here and there a fragment of a sail ob- tained from the whalers,' they are in reality constructed over frames built of the large bones of whales and walrus, and very admirably put together. In this most exposed of villages the wintry blasts must be fearful, yet these peo- * See Lient. Hooper's "Tents of the Tnski " for a full account of the '• Plover's " stay. H 114 The Tchuktchis. pie are to be found there at all seasons. "Wood they have none, and blubber lamps are the only means they have for warming their tents. The frames of some of their skin canoes are also of bone. On either side of these craft, which are the counterpart of the Greenland "oomiak," it is usual to find a seal-skin blown out tight, and the ends secured. These serve as floats when the canoe heels over. They have very strong fishing-nets, made of thin strips of walrus hide. The Tchuktchis appear to be a strongly -built race, al- though the inhabitants of this particular village, from in- tercourse with whaling-vessels, have been much demoral- ized. I have seen one of these natives carry the awkward burden of a carpenter's chest weighing two hundred pounds, without apparently considering it any great exer- tion. They are a good-humored people, and not greedier than the average of natives, so far as our experience goes. They were of some service to a party of our men who win- tered there in 1866-7. The children are so tightly sewn up in reindeer skin clothing that they look like walking bags, and tumble about with the greatest impunity. All of these people wear skin coats, pantaloons, and boots, excepting only on high days in summer, when you may see a few old garments of more civilized appearance that have seen better days, and have been traded off by the sailors of vessels calling there. The true Tchuktchi method of smoking is to swallow all the fumes of the tobacco, and I have seen them after six or eight pulls at a pipe fall back completely intoxicated for the time being. Their pipes are infinitely larger in the stem than in the bowl; the latter, indeed, holds an infini- tesimally small amount of tobacco. It is said that the Tchuktchis murder the old and feeble, but only with the victims' consent ! They do not appear "Nau-Kuh." 115 TCHTTKTCHI PIPE. to indulge in any unnecessary cruelty, but* endeavor to stupefy the aged sacrifice before letting a vein. This is said to be done by putting some substance up the nostrils ; but the whole statement must be received with caution, al- though we derived it from a shrewd native who had been much employed by captains of vessels in the capacity of interpreter, and who could speak in broken English. This man, by name " Nau-kum," was of service on va- rious occasions, and was accordingly much petted by us. Some of his remarks are worthy of record. On being taken down into the engine-room of the " Wright," he examined it carefully, and then shaking his head, said solemnly, " Too muchee wheel, makee man too muchee think !" His curi- osity when on board was unappeasable. " What's that fellow ?" was his constant query with regard to any thing from the " donkey engine " to the mainmast. On one occa- sion he heard two men discussing rather warmly, and could not at all understand such unnecessary excitement, " That fellow crazy?" said he. Colonel Bulkley* gave him a suit of clothes, with gor- geous brass buttons, and many other presents.. One of our men remarked to him, " Why, Nau-kum, you'll be a king soon !" " King be d — d," was his extremely radical answer! 116 The "Shenandoah" Pirate. It is of course obvious where he had got his schooling. The whalers use such men on occasions as pilots, traders, and interpreters, and to Nau-kum in particular I know as • much as five barrels of villainous whisky have been in- trusted, for which he accounted satisfactorily. The truth-loving Chippewa, when asked, "Are jou. a Christian Indian ?" promptly replied, " No, I whishky In- jen !" and the truthful Tchuktchi would say the same. They all appear to be intensely fond of spirits. The traders sell them liquor of the most horrible kind, not much supe- rior to the " coal oil " or " kerosene " used for lamps. They appeared to understand the telegraph scheme in a general way, and had probably been enlightened by the whaling-captains before our arrival. " Enoch," a very in- telligent and quiet native, gave us an outline of the project somewhat as follows : " S'pose lope fixy, well — one Melican man Plower Bay, make talky all the same San Flancisco Melican." Perhaps quite as lucid an explanation, as you could get from an agricultural laborer or a "city Arab" at home. We had been expecting to meet at some part of our northern voyage the famed and dreaded " Shenandoah." It is an old story to return to now, but I was an eye-wit- ness of the havoc wrought by her. The whole of the coast was strewed with fragments of the vessels burnt by her, and the natives had several boats and other remains of her wanton doings. She had left the Arctic and Behring Sea at the end of June of the same year (1865), but not till thir- ty American whaling- vessels had been burnt by her. The captains and crews had been for the most part sent down to San Francisco, and I have since met a gentleman who was one of the victims. He did not complain of ill-usage from the pirate captain, but spoke much of the wholesale destruction of private property. The captain of an En- Avatcha Bay. 117 glish whaler, the "Eobert Tawns," of Sydney, had warned and saved some of the American vessels, and he was in consequence threatened by the " Shenandoah." 26th-29th September. — The weather was now getting cold and brisk, a skin of ice forming on the bay, and icicles hanging from the shrouds and ship's boats. We learned on good authority that the whole of Plover Bay was fro- zen up by the 5th of October in 1864. The smaller bay (Emma Harbor), leading out of the main one, was frozen up at the above dates. On the 29th we got a favorable breeze, and set sail for Petropaulovski. The following days were only remarkable for light breezes or baffling head winds, and we did not make the entrance to Avatcha Bay till the 14th October, on which day we got our first glimpse of the grand volca- noes which are so important a feature of the scenery in the Peninsula of Kamchatka.* On the morning of the 15th we passed through the entrance to the Bay of Avatcha, and soon dropped anchor outside of the harbor of Petropaul- ovski, not, however, before several of the foreign residents had boarded us. * The above mode of spelling the word represents the sound in a pho- netic sense better than the common version. I had opportunities of be- coming familiar with the Russian pronunciation of the word on many oc- casions, and not merely at this visit. 118 Petropaulovski CHAPTER IX. PETEOPAULOVSKI AND OUR RETURN VOYAGE TO SAN FRANCISCO. The Harbor. — Town. — Monuments. — The Fur-trade. — Kamchatka gen- erally.— The Volcanoes.— The Attack of the Allies in 1854.— Their Re- turn in 1855. — The "General Teste. "—Rejoin the Steamer "Wright." — Gale. — Incidents of Storm. — Covert's "Smoke-stack." The harbor of Petropaulovski is protected by a long spit, an apparently common feature of the coast. Inside it there is a good depth of water, and a vessej. once in, can ride in safety, though storms rage outside. The town encircles the haven on the north and east sides, and it is shut in by a hilly promontory on the west. Behind the town is some steep hilly ground, through a gap in which the volcano of Koriatski towers grandly. It is over thirty miles dis- tant, and yet, in clear weather, it does not appear five. With the exception of a few decent houses, the resi- dences of the Russian officials and foreign merchants, the town makes no great show. The poorer dwellings are very rough indeed, and are almost exclusively rude log-cabins. The only noticeable building is the old Greek Church, which has painted red and green roofs, and a belfry entirely de- tached from the building. It is to be remarked that the town, as it existed in Captain Clerke's time, was built on the sand-spit, but no remains or indications of it were dis- covered by us. Petropaulovski was once a military post, and had a rather larger population than at present. The Cossack soldiers have now been removed to the Amoor. r -m Monuments in the Town 121 There are two monuments of interest in the town : the first in honor of Behring, the other to the memory of La Perouse. The former is a cast-iron column of no great pretensions : the latter, a nondescript erection of octagonal form, constructed of sheet-iron. Neither of these naviga- tors is buried in Petropaulovski. Behring's remains lie on the island where he died, and which bears his name ; while La Perouse and his unfortunate companions suffered ship- MONUMENT TO BEHKIKG, PETROPAULOVSKI. wreck, and but little traces were ever found of their expe- dition. We looked in vain for the monument to Captain Clerke (Captain Cook's successor), which existed as late as the date of Beechey's visit. The spot (in an enclosure be- longing to the captain of the port) where once it stood was pointed out to us, much overgrown with nettles and weeds. The Eussian American Company had at one period stations in Petropaulovski, and other parts of Kamchatka, 122 Kamchatka. but abandoned them, owing doubtless to the competition of private traders. To such a pitch has competition brought the fur- trade of that country, that- it is now only a very moderately profitable pursuit. As much as thirty dollars — sometimes in hard cash — is paid for one Siberian sable of good quality, and the merchants have frequently to ad- vance goods to the native traders and hunters a long time before they get any returns. Petropaulovski is one of the centres of this trade, but Nijne (New) Kamchatka is the present capital. Bolcheretsk was considered the principal town formerly, but it has dwindled down to an inconsider- able village, and indeed the population, and with it the products of Kamchatka, are on the decline. Yet the cli- mate is by no means so bad as commonly believed. Col- onel Bulkley considered it better than that of some of the New England States and Canada, and it is quite certain that agriculture is possible. The grass round Petropaul- ovski ripens into hay during the brief summer, and garden stuff is raised in small quantities in the outskirts of the town. I am convinced that Kamchatka would repay a detailed examination. It is a partially settled country ; the Kam- chatdales are a good-humo.red, harmless, semi-civilized race ; and the few Eussian officials and settlers would gladly wel- come the traveller. The attractions of the country for the Alpine climber can not be overstated. The peninsula con- tains a chain of volcanic peaks of the grandest character, attaining, it is said, in the Klutchevskoi Mountain, a height of 16,000 feet. In the country immediately behind Petro- paulovski are the three mountains, Koriatski, Avatcha, and Koseldskai 5 the first of these is between eleven and twelve thousand feet in height, and is an unfailing land-mark for the port. From the summit of the steep hills which so nearly en- 1 Volcanoes. 125 closed Petropaulovski, a grand view of these mountains is obtained ; a comparatively level country stretches to their base. It is, however, covered with rank grass and under- brush, and intersected by numerous streams : a journey to them would be more easily made in winter time than in summer. To the S. S. W. of the town a fourth peak — that of Yilutchinski — towers above the coast-line, and is a very beautiful feature in the landscape. Petropaulovski has been frequently visited by earthquakes, accompanied some- times by showers of ashes from these volcanoes. The smoke from Koriatski was several times observed by us; its pure snows only hid the boiling, bubbling lava beneath. The object of our visit was to communicate, by special courier, with Major Abasa, a Eussian gentleman in our tele- graph service who had formed a station at Ghijega, at the head of the Ochotsk Sea.* The facilities of travel on the peninsula are superior to those on the coast of the above- mentioned sea. In winter small Siberian horses, reindeer, and dogs are all employed for sledging purposes. The feeding of the dogs of Petropaulovski took place every evening, and their yelps and howlings made night hideous. One dried salmon per diem was each dog's allowance, and they were much better off than their Eussian American cousins, who in summer have to forage for themselves. The hospitality extended to us was almost unlimited. Dinners, balls, suppers followed each other in rapid succes- sion ; we had a steam-boat excursion in Avatcha Bay. One of the dishes common in Petropaulovski was salmon pie, constructed apparently of eggs and salmon, covered with a crust. Salmon is very abundant in the harbor and neigh- boring streams, and some has been put up in salt for ex- port. * See the " Proceedings " of the Royal Geographical Society for Feb. 11, 1867. 126 Attack of the Allies We also got a little sledging when the snow fell just be- fore our departure. The ice was fast forming in the har- bor, and it was often a serious undertaking to row ashore. It is well known that in 1855 — during the Crimean War — Petropaulovski was visited by the Allied fleet. The rec- ord of that visit has been duly laid before the public, com- mented on, and forgotten ; but it is not so generally known that our first attack, the previous year, was by no means a subject of congratulation for us, and (although well under- stood by naval officers, and especially by those who have served on the Pacific station) it has been kept" uncommon- ly quiet. The fact is that, at the first visit, the wretched little -town made — greatly to its own surprise — a successful resistance, and is very proud of the fact. The inhabitants look upon the combat at Petropaulovski as one of the de- cisive battles of the world ! The narrative I am about to lay before the reader was obtained on the spot, but not merely from the Eussians. An Englishman — Mr. Fletcher — who had resided there for thirty years, and several of the foreign merchants who were in the town at the date of the attack, confirmed the Musco- vite versions of the story. In the autumn of 1854 (28th August) six vessels of war — French and English — comprising the "President," "Vi- rago/' "Pique," "La Forte," "L'Eurydice," and "Obliga- do " — arrived off Avatcha Bay ; a gun, placed near the light- house at the entrance, was fired by the Eussians, and gave the inhabitants of Petropaulovski notice to be on the alert. Admiral Price immediately reconnoitered the harbor and town, and placed the "Virago" in position at a range of 2000 yards. The Eussians were by no means unprepared. Two of their vessels, the "Aurora" and "Dwina," defended the harbor, and a chain crossing the narrow entrance shut it in. On Petropaulovski in 1854. 127 There were seven batteries and earth-works, mounting about fifty guns of fair calibre. The " Yirago " commenced the action with a well-di- rected fire, and several of the batteries were either tem- porarily or entirely disabled. The one farthest from the town, on the western side, was taken by a body of marines landed for the purpose. . The guns were spiked. Four of the Allied fleet were specially engaged, and the Eussians returned their fire with spirit. There were three batteries outside and on the spit, two at the termination of the prom- ontory on the western side of the harbor, and one in a gorge of the same, which opens on Avatcha Bay. It is in this little valley that the monument to La Perouse stands. The town was well defended both by nature and by art. The hills shut it in so completely that it was. apparently only vulnerable at the rear. There, a small valley opened out into a flat strip of land immediately bordering the bay, and although there was a battery on it, it seemed an excel- lent spot to land troops. Our vessels having taken up a new position and silenced the batteries commanding it, 700 marines and sailors were put ashore. Half of them were English, half French ; a large number of officers accompanied them, while they had for guides two Americans said to know the ground. They appear to have expected a very easy victory, and hurried in a detached and straggling style in the direction of the town instead of proceeding in compact form, in military order. A number of bushes and small trees existed and still exist on the hill-sides surrounding this spot, and be- hind them were posted Cossack sharp-shooters, who fired into our men, and either from skill or accident picked off nearly every officer. The men. not seeing their enemy, and having lost their leaders, became panic-struck, and fell back in disorder. A retreat was sounded, but the men strug- 128 Kepulse of the Allies. gling in the bushes and underbrush (and, in truth, most of them being sailors, were out of their element on land), be- came much scattered, and it was generally believed that many were killed by the random shots of their companions. A number fled up a hill at the rear of the town. Their foes pursued and pressed upon them, and many were killed by falling over the steep cliff in which the hill terminates. The inhabitants — astonished at their own prowess, and knowing that they could not hold the town against a more vigorous attack, were preparing to vacate it — when the fleet weighed anchor and set sail, and no more was seen of them that year ! The sudden death of our admiral is al- ways attributed to the events of that attack, as he was known not to have' been killed by a ball from the enemy.* Before the second visit in May and June, 1855, every body — except the foreign residents — had vacated the town. Early in the spring of the same year the Eussian squadron had received orders to leave it to its fate at the break-up of the ice. The Eussian Government had indeed given up all idea of defending so worthless a town, and, for two rea- sons, we also should have left it alone. First, it was an in- significant place, and victory could never be glorious; while, secondly, it has been — from the time of Cook to our own days — famous for the hospitality and assistance ex- tended to our explorers and voyagers.f All is not fair in war. When therefore the Allies landed at their second visit they found an empty town.:}: They, however, captured a Eussian whaler, and burned some of the government build- ings. The latter it is said was done unintentionally, or, * See " Nautical Magazine," October, 1855. It is there stated that 107 English were killed or wounded in the engagement. f See Cook, Cochrane, Beechey, and others. + For an account of the second visit in 1855, see Tronson's "Voyage to Japan, Kamtschatka." etc. Kejoin the "Wright." 129 more probably, was the work of some wanton jack-tar. The batteries and earth-works were of course razed to the ground. We all visited the battle-field, and found it still strewed with the remains of shells, etc. In getting out ballast from a bank near the town, several cannon-balls were unearthed. The monument to La Perouse was peppered all over with bullet marks. It was at that period that an old French captain, com- manding a whaler named the " General Teste," was saved from the Russian hands by a rather ingenious ruse. He was in a terrible state of mind when cruising in Behring Sea, expecting hourly to lose his vessel, and the American captains of the whaling-fleet, pitying him, came to his aid. They induced him first to substitute "Washington" for " Teste." His vessel then became the " General Washing- ton." Next they got him to hoist the "stars and stripes" in place of the " tri-color." Lastly, they made him, much against his will, keep a bottle of " cocktails" ready mixed for all comers ; and by these three devices his vessel es- caped detection ! On the 31st October I again joined my old friends on the " Wright," and on the 1st November we steamed out of Avatcha Bay. By-the-by, why will geographers persist in spelling the distinctly pronounced Avatcha as though it were a difficult and excruciating word ? We have it in all shapes — Awatska, Awalscha, Aiuatcha, and Avatska. From long intercourse with educated Russians I know that Avatcha represents the word phonetically (and it is useless to attempt to render Russian in any other way). During the next fortnight we experienced very bad weather, which culminated on the 14th in a gale from the S.E., in which a series of disasters made us fear for our vessel's safety. The first was a novelty in its way. A I 130 Exposed to a Gale. rope snapped, our " main boom" swung round and knock- ed the funnel overboard ; and, as the weather was so tem- pestuous, we had simply to cut the chains or " guys " which held it and let it drop to the ocean's bed. A little later our steering apparatus got out of order, and our little steamer lay in the trough of the sea as helpless as a log, steaming being rendered impossible by these two accidents. The waves washed over her every few minutes, and her bulwarks (or "guards") were so low that we expected ev- ery moment to see the " house on deck" carried overboard. It was stove in in a score of places, and the cabins present- ed a pitiable spectacle — a wreck of trunks, furniture, and crockery. Sail after sail was carried away by the sudden squalls, and we were at length left with nothing to lie under. A few long streamers of canvas hanging from the yards alone showed where they had been. On the 17th we ship- ped a sea, which threatened to engulf us. A torrent rushed into the aft cabin, down the stairs, and through the sky- light, extinguished the lamps and fire, and left us tumbling about in two or three feet of water. This night our vessel seemed to be constantly driving under water, and our sail- ors were often thrown down and much bruised, although no one happily was lost. Captain Marston behaved with great coolness, lashed himself on deck, and remained there all night, half-frozen, and with seas washing over him every few minutes. We landsmen did not expect to see our na- tive element again ; and although I had been in many gales, it was, without exception, the very worst I had experienced. Fortunately the hull of our vessel was stanch and sound, and our pumps in perfect order. The storm lasted for nearly a week, and was not devoid of incident. For part of one day, the sea driving faster than our vessel, acted in such a manner on the screw that, in its turn, it worked the engine at a greater rate than we had Close o*f our Voyage. 131 ever attained by steam ! In the end the coupling was dis- connected, fearing injury to the machinery. In the " state-room" of the house on deck, occupied by Mr. Laborne, our interpreter, and myself, some boxes of soap were stowed away. This being constantly worked about the floor under water, raised one of the most magnificent lathers ever witnessed, which ran through the series of rooms, and did not improve our possessions. After the storm had subsided, we opened the boxes, to find bars of soap of about eighteen inches in length reduced to the dimensions of sticks of sealing-wax. It became absolutely necessary to rig up something in place of our lost funnel, or "smoke-stack," as it is invari- ably called by Americans. At length Mr. Covert, our chief engineer, hit upon a device. He caused his men to knock out one end of a square water-tank, and, with some extra sheet-iron, made a chimney about ten feet high, which gave sufficient draught to the furnaces. Covert's "patent" was a great success, and created some little notice on our ar- rival in San Francisco, which took place on the 30th No- vember. Thus ended the not uneventful voyage of 1865, in which we had gone over 10,000 miles of ocean travel, and we were not sorry to reach our head-quarters in the " Bay City," and have once more a spell of civilized life. 132 W. U. Telegraph Expedition CHAPTER X. VOYAGE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. 1866. Organization of the Expedition. — Thirsty medical Man. — Our Fleet. — Voyage. — Petropaulovski again. — The Russian Corvette. — Russian Wedding. — Heat. — International Picnic. — Voyage north. — Behring's Voyages. — Shipwreck. — Death of Behring. — Gulf of Anadyr.— The " wandering Tchuktchis." The winter of 1865-6 was spent by Colonel Bulkley and his staff in San Francisco, and their time was fully occu- pied in organizing the parties for the following season. A large number of laborers were engaged, and these, with as- sistant-surgeons,* quartermasters, and foremen, brought our expedition up to a formidable size ; not less than 500 " white men," besides bands of Cossacks in Eastern Siberia, Chinamen in British Columbia, and Indians everywhere, * One of these individuals soon after his engagement showed a decided leaning toward stimulating fluids, and, having drunk up his salary, was at his wit's end to know how to keep up the supply. In each of our com- pany's medicine-chests there were a few hottles of wine and brandy, intend- ed exclusively for medicinal purposes. These our doctor, in the discharge of his arduous duties, soon discovered and finished, but — like Oliver — want- ed more. Our hero of the bottle next ferreted out a small can of alcohol, which slightly — very slightly — diluted with water, made a drinkable mix- ture, and enabled him to hold out a day or two longer. The reader may suppose that when this was finished he was nipped in his career. Not a bit of it ! Were there not the ethers, tinctures, and spirits contained in every well-regulated chest ? Bottle after bottle, phial after phial of spirits of lav- ender, peppermint, and sweet nitre followed each other to the same goal. There was still the camphor and tincture of myrrh, rhubarb, and aloes left, but not for long ; and when there was nothing remaining but the laudanum, that also went the same way. About this period his weaknesses were dis- covered, and he was discharged from the service. Our Fleet — The Voyage. 133 m were employed in building telegraph, exploring the route, or transporting goods, during the season of 1866 and fol- lowing winter. Our fleet alone made a perceptible difference at the wharves of San Francisco. We had seven sea-going vessels, besides smaller craft; the steamer " Wright" was refitted. a clipper, the " Nightingale,"* purchased, and one large and two small river steamers built specially for our service. We had five barks — several of them excellent vessels. Daring the winter, a commissioner from the Eussian Imperial Government, M. Paul Anasoff, and Mr. Knox, a well-known " correspondent" of the leading New York pa- pers, arrived in San Francisco. Both of these gentlemen accompanied us on our second voyage. On the 23d June, 1866, we left California, and, after an uneventful trip, made Petropaulovski once more. Our voyage occupied us thirty-one days, the weather being per- fect for the whole time, and the ocean unmistakably " Pa- cific." Our little steamer, now fitted up in the best style, and carrying heavier spars and more sail, was almost equal in accommodation and appearance to a steam-yacht, and our trip, taking into consideration the pleasant company on board, was simply a holiday excursion — the very antithesis of the return voyage in 1865. On the 25th July we ar- rived in Petropaulovski Harbor, and found a Russian cor- vette, the " Yariag," awaiting our arrival. She was a fine steam-vessel of 2156 tons, and her commander, Captain Lund, immediately reported, in accordance with his instruc- tions, to Colonel Bulkley, our engineer-in-chief. The day of our arrival had been fixed for the celebration * The " Nightingale's" history had been an eventful one, Built at first as a model clipper intended for exhibition in London in 1851, she had been for a long period used as a slaver, then captured by the U. S. Government, and employed as a blockading vessel during the war, and was now the • ' flag-ship " of our expedition. 134 Russian Weddings. of two Russian weddings, and a general invitation was at once sent on board. The ceremony commenced at 5 P.M. in the old Grreek Church, and was rather long and fatiguing. The congregation stood : in fact, there was no seats in the church. It is the custom for the bride and bridegroom to be crowned. In this case the brides wore elaborate head- dresses, and considerate male friends — the " best men " of the occasion — held the crowns for three-quarters of an hour a few inches above the ladies' heads. I imagine they were rejoiced when the pairs were satisfactorily spliced ; I know that we were, for we were in tight uniforms, ex- tremely gorgeous, and equally uncomfortable. It is the fashion apparently — when the persons, as in this case, are in the lower walks of life — to ask some more wealthy individual to be master of the ceremonies, and it is understood that he stands all the expenses ! On this occa- sion the victim was M. Phillipeus, a merchant, who brings his vessels annually from Hong-kong to Kamchatka, and the neighboring coasts.* He accepted the burden willingly, and gave a very liberal entertainment to the whole town, the officers of the." Yariag," ourselves, and the captains of several small vessels lying there. So many were invited that no one house was large enough for the purpose. The party was therefore divided, and the guests occupied two buildings, one on either side of the main street. The band of the "Yariag" played outside, and a messenger was kept constantly running between the two houses to keep the merry party in either informed of the nature of the toasts. Such rousing cheers and " tigers " had never been heard before in that usually sleepy, half-dead town. After the feast we adjourned, by invitation, to the house * M. Phillipeus took his more valuable furs, etc., annually to St. Peters- burg, via the Amoor and Siberia, returning thence to Hong-kong, via Suez. He had made this lengthened journey five times at the date of our visit. International Picnic. 135 of the captain of the port, where dancing was kept up with great vigor till the small hours next morning. The brides had to dance with every one present, and it was amusing to see them change from one gentleman to another : during the time occupied by one waltz they had ten or a dozen partners. Petropaulovski had not nearly ladies enough for the invited males, and, in consequence, a number of very clean and sedate Kamchatdale peasant-women were asked for the occasion. Our efforts at conversation with the latter were ludicrous and extremely unsatisfactory ; but with our Russian friends of the " Variag" we got along capitally, and found them splendid fellows.* The following day the brides, and their relations paid return complimentary visits. We found Petropaulovski in its brief summer garb ; wild flowers, coarse grass, and musquitoee all abundant. The thermometer stood at 80° in the shade, and the writer found himself nodding over his out-door sketching, which was perhaps partly due to the constant round of festivities. Three months of Russian hospitality would kill most men ; and the fortnight spent on this visit was the hardest work I have ever done in my life — done, too, at a time when the summer heat was intense, and when every one who could got into silk, duck, or alpaca clothing — like that worn in tropical countries. Our preconceived ideas of Kamchatka were entirely upset. I shall never forget an " international " picnic held dur- ing our stay, in which the representatives of six or eight countries took part. There were European and Asiatic * These gentlemen all spoke, more or less fluently, French and English, or rather American. The reader is doubtless aware that at the termination of the Crimean War, French — once the court language in Russia — got out of favor there; but he may not know that the American tongue was ordered to be taught in p lace of English at the universities and schools — a distinction without a difference. So, at least, I was informed by an intelligent Russian officer. 136 Voyage North. Russians — from the Finlander to the Kamchatdale ; Ameri- cans, Northerners and Southerners; Englishmen, French- men, Germans, and an Italian. Chatting in a babel tongue, we walked leisurely by an upland path, skirting beautiful Avatcha Bay, till we found a grassy opening, pleasantly shaded, where the servants and sailors were beginning to unpack the hampers. The weather was perfect ; there was scarcely a ripple on the blue water below us ; flowers made the air fragrant ; and but for an occasional musquito, we should have forgotten we were on earth at all! And then — bliss of blisses! — we not merely raised a cloud of balmy smoke, but were encouraged therein by the sanction of our lady friends, some of whom joined us. At all their entertainments, or at quieter family parties, cigars and cigarettes were always, served with the tea and coffee, and the ladies retained their seats with us. Would it were so in our own otherwise — more or less — happy land ! When we were tired of games — one of them a Eussian version of " hunt the slipper" — and toasts and songs, an al fresco repast was served, and we did not leave the place till long after twinkling stars studded the heavens. It would be a serious undertaking to acknowledge duly all the kindness lavished upon us by the Eussians and foreign residents. Messrs. Pflueger, Peirce, and Hunter, of the German and American houses, did every thing to make our stay agreeable. Messrs. Anasoff and Knox now left us, and were con- veyed to various points on the Ochotsk Sea on board the " Yariag," and eventually went to Nicolaiefski, at the mouth of the Amoor. From thence Mr.. Knox made the trip, via Siberia, to St. Petersburg. We left Petropaulovski on the 6th of August, and then steamed up the coast, keeping in sight of land for several Eiver Kamchatka. 137 days. JSTot merely is it a grand and rugged coast-line, but the ever-recurring volcanic peaks, are a great source of beauty and interest. Many of these mountains appeared at this season to be very bare of snow. The volcano of Koriatski — which as we had seen it, in the late autumn-time of the previous year, was one vast sheet of snow — now showed immense sterile rocky sides. On the 8th August we passed the promotory which terminates in the two capes Kamchatka and Stolbovoy. It had the appearance of two islands detached from the main- land, the intervening country being low. This — a circum- stance to be constantly observed on all coasts — was perhaps specially noticeable on this. The Island of St. Lawrence in Behring Sea, which I have passed twice, was a very prominent example. It has always appeared to me that the apparent gradual rise of a coast, seen from the sea as you approach it, affords a far better proof of the rotundit}- of the earth than the illustration usually employed, that of a ship, which you are supposed to see by installments, from the main -royal sail (if not from the "sky-scraper" or " moon-raker ") to the hull. The fact is that the royal and top-gallant sails of a vessel on the utmost verge of the hori- zon may be, in certain lights, barely distinguishable, while the dark outline of an irregular and rock-bound coast can be seen by any one. First, may be, appears a mountain- peak towering in solitary grandeur above the coast-line, and often far behind it, then the highlands and hills, then the cliffs and lowlands, and, lastly, the flats and beaches. Immediately by Cape Kamchatka the river of the same name empties into Behring Sea. It was from this river that Behring sailed on his first voyages, and his name will ever be associated with the coast. He deserves to rank among the great adventurers 138 Behking's Voyages. of the last century, yet his voyages are little known. He was a Dane, drawn into the Eussian service by the fame of Peter the Great, and his expeditions had been directly organized by that sagacious monarch. Peter did not, how- ever, live to carry them out. Their principal object was to find out whether Asia and America were one, or whether any part of their coasts were contiguous. Muller, the his- torian of Behring's life, whg accompanied him on land, but does not appear to have made any sea-voyages with him whatever, says, " The Empress Catherine, as she endeavor- ed in all points to execute most precisely the plans of her deceased husband, in a manner began her reign with an order for the expedition to Kamtschatka." "Vitus Behring was to be commander, and to be assisted by two lieuten- ants, Martin Spanberg and Alexei Tschirikoff. They left St. Petersburg on the 5th of February, 1725, and proceeded to the Ochotsk Sea, via Siberia. It gives some idea of the difficult nature of the overland route in those days to find that it occupied them over two years to transport their outfit to Ochotsk. From thence, after a vessel had been specially built for them, they crossed to Bolcheretsk in Kamchatka, and the following winter transported their provisions and naval stores to the town of Nishni (New), Kamchatka. " On the 4th of April, 1728," says Muller, " a boat was put upon the stocks, like the packet-boats used in the Baltick ; and on the 10th of July was launch- ed, and named the boat Gabriel" On the 20th of the same month they went to sea. Behring followed the E. coast of Kamchatka and Siberia, and discovered the Island of St. Lawrence. He reached as far north as lat. 67° 18', and then found the coast trend to the west, whereon he seems to have come to the conclusion that he had reached the ex- tremity of Asia, and that there was no connection between the continents. In the main point, of course, he was right ; Behring's Second Expedition. 139 but he was totally wrong in his conclusion as to the Asiatic coast commencing its westward course from the point reached by him. He returned to the Kamchatka River without serious injury to his vessel. The second voyage of his first expedition calls for little remark, as he was un- able, from contrary winds, to carry out his plans, which were virtually to attempt the discovery of the Pacific shores of America. He eventually sailed round the south promontory of Kamchatka and returned by Ochotsk to St. Petersburg. But it is to the second expedition of Behring that we must look for adventure and interest. He, with his two faithful lieutenants, proposed it ; and they were all pro- moted, a number of naval lieutenants and midshipmen being ordered to join them. Miiller says, " The design of the first voyage was not brought on the carpet again upon this oc- casion, since it was looked upon as completed; but instead of that, orders were given to make voyages, as well eastward to the continent of America as southward to Japan, and to discover if possible, at the same time, through the frozen sea the north passage, which had been so frequently attempt- ed by the English and Dutch. The Senate, the Admiralty Office, and the Academy of Sciences all took their parts to complete this important undertaking." Several scientific professors volunteered to accompany Behring (John George Gmelin, Lewis de Lisle de la Croyere, S. Muller, and Steller, a student), and were nominated for the purpose. Two of these individuals never went to sea, but confined themselves to various researches in Siberia. One of Behring's subordi- nates — Spanberg — made at this time a voyage from Ochotsk to Japan ; but it is aside from the narrative of Behring's life. After much trouble in transporting their goods and build- ing ships, they at last, on the 4th of July, 1741, went to sea, 140 Fate of Beheing and his Ckew. their port of departure being this time Vetropaulovski. On the 20th of the same month the vessels of their little fleet got separated during a storm, and each had to prosecute the voyage alone. They discovered many of the Aleutian and other islands nearer the American coast, and had many ad- ventures with the natives. At length the scurvy made its appearance among them, and Behring turned back to try and make the coast of Kamchatka. The sickness increased, and so weakened the crew that " two sailors who used to be at the rudder were obliged to be led in by two others who could hardly walk. And when one could sit and steer no longer, another in little better condition supplied his place. Many sails they durst not hoist, because there was nobody to lower them in case of need." At last land appeared, and a council was held ; they determined to sail toward it, and getting near it, they dropped anchor. A violent storm rose, and the ship was driven on the rocks, which she touched ; they cast their second anchor ; its cable was torn in pieces before the anchor took ground. A great sea pitched them clean over the rocks, behind which, however, they found quieter water, and the crew having rested, at last put their boat overboard, and some of them went ashore. There was but little drift-wood, and no trees on the island ; hence they came to the determination to roof over some small ravines they found near the beach. On the " 8th of November a beginning was made to land the sick, but some died as soon as they were brought from between decks in the open air, others during the time they were on the deck, some in the boat, and many more as soon as they were brought on shore." On the 9th of November, the commander, Behring — him- self prostrated by scurvy — was brought ashore on a hand- barrow, and a month later died on this island, which now, in consequence, bears his name. " He may have been said Gulf of Anadyr. 141 to be buried half alive, for the sand rolling down continual- ly from the side of the ditch in which he lay, and covering his feet, he at last would not suffer it to be removed, and said that he felt some warmth from it, which otherwise he should want in the remaining parts of his body ; and thus the sand increased to his belly, so that after his decease they were obliged to scrape him out of the ground in order to inter him in a proper manner." Their vessel, lying unguarded, was wrecked in a storm, and the larger part of their provisions lost. They subsisted for a longtime on dead whales that had been driven ashore. At last, in the spring, they came to the conclusion to try and break up the wreck and construct a smaller vessel from its remains, which was done, and they left the island. At last, to their great joy, they reached the coast of Kamchatka. The previous autumn, Tschirikoff, the companion of Behr- ing, had arrived at Petropaulovski, with the loss of twenty- one men by scurvy, and the Professor de la Croyere, who had lingered to the end of the voyage, died before they could get him ashore.* Late in the evening of the 13th August we reached the Gulf of Anadyr (pronounced Anarder, and not "Annie dear," as some of our men persisted in calling it), and an- chored till daylight next morning. The land round it was low, and, in spite of the heat of the weather, a good deal of ice and snow remained packed on the beach. We steamed slowly up the gulf, and very soon some Tchuktchi natives came off, and convinced us that they were men and breth- ren by asking for " lum " (rum) and " tabak." On approach- ing the entrance to Anadyr Bny there is a very curious isl- * In the above narrative I have followed Miiller exclusively. A second, :ind not very different account, was given to the world in the journal of Stel- ler, which is to he found, translated in an abbreviated form, in the fourth edition of Coxe's "Russian Discoveries." 142 A Tchuktchi Village. land, to which, we gave the name of " Sarcophagus," from a supposed resemblance. The entrance to the bay is about a mile and a half wide at the narrowest point. We came to anchor off a Tchuktchi village similar to that in Plover Bay before described. On shore large herds of domesticated reindeer were peacefully grazing. It need not be stated that we immediately bargained for some. These constitute the wealth of the " wandering Tchuktchis ;" some of them own many thousands, and employ their poor- er countrymen in herding them. They wander from place to place with their deer, and may be regarded as Arctic pa- triarchs. Boat Expedition to the Anadyr. 143 CHAPTER XL Tchuktchi with Letter of Recommendation. — Boat Expedition to the River. — Our Explorers. — Their Experiences. — The Anadyr River. — Tchuktchi Thieves. — Plover Bay. — Nau-kum again. — Advertising in Behring Straits. — Telegraph Station erected. — Foraging with a Vengeance. — Whaling. — Norton Sound. — Alaska. — Death of Major Kennicott. One of the Tchuktchis immediately on our arrival has- tened on board with a letter. It was from Mr. M'Crea, the officer in charge of the explorations at the Anadyr, and stated that "a bigger liar never walked the earth" than the gen- tleman who delivered the epistle, and cautioned us against him. He bore the euphonious title of " O-cock-cray." On the 15th a boat expedition to the mouth of the Ana- dyr River was organized, and I obtained permission to ac- company it. The second mate of the steamer, Mr. Laborne, and myself, with three sailors, formed the party. We had nothing to guide us but a sketch chart, constructed the pre- ceding year by two of our captains, and there is little relia- ble information on any part of the country. On the eastern side of the ba}^, Mount Dionysius, a mountain of no great height, is the only landmark of the district. We steered due west from it. The weather was foggy and showery, but a favoring breeze helped us on, and we proceeded stead- ily for several hours, when we noticed an opening in the land a little to the south of west, and immediately put our boat's head for it. Soon we found the bay getti-ng very shoal, so much so that in sailing we left a " tail " of discol- 144 "Camp M'Crea." ored'water behind us, from constantly touching bottom on sand-bars. Sometimes we stuck, and had to lower the sail and get out in the water to help our boat off. We then had to tack and keep off, and by this we lost much time. In the evening we had to give up. for the time being, and ran in to a spit of land to the south of the opening. It was rain- ing hard, and we found it rather difficult to raise a fire from the scanty underbrush and drift- wood. We at length suc- ceeded, and the sailors rigged up a shelter-tent from the oars, mast, and sail. But for the rain the musquitoes would have been out in full force, for even as it was they gave us very decided intimations of their existence. Inside the spit there appeared to be a second bay, and from the number of " snags " and small trees stuck on the sand-bars, it. was evident that a river entered there. Early the next morning we again started. Laborne's recollections of a trip the preceding year made him decide, as it proved rightly, that the Anadyr must be further to the west. About 9 A.M. we found the right opening, and a little later reached " Camp M'Crea," at the mouth of the river. The journey had been undertaken in order to leave a notice for the explorers there, but we did not expect to meet any of them, so that on entering their log-house we were much surprised to find four of our old friends. They had been subsisting for about two months on an exclusive diet of salmon, which fish is abundant in the river. They had almost given up expecting to see any of the expedition ; we, on the other hand, believed them to be at the Ochotsk Sea. Three of these gentlemen,. M'Crea, Harder, and Smith, be- longed to this section, but my astonishment was great to find with them Mr. Bush, who had made the entire journey from the Amoor Eiver to the mouth of the Anadyr the pre- ceding winter. His trip of at least 2500 miles deserves to rank as the most remarkable of the many undertaken by Experiences of our Explorers. 145 members of our expedition. Nearly the first thing our friends asked was, " Have you brought any grub?" and we soon satisfied them on the point by fetching up a supply of bread, tea, and salt meat from the boat, and spreading an extempore lunch. They had got heartily sick of " tou- jours" salmon, and infinitely preferred salt pork ! As we all very naturally wished to reach the steamer before night, we stopped but an hour or so and then start- ed back, leaving Harder, by his own agreement, to keep camp. We rowed the entire distance, thirty miles, while it rained incessantly; but we made the time pass very quickly in a most animated and disjointed conversation. Our friends had been absent a year from civilization, and we were curious in regard to their travels; and as each asked for what came uppermost, our spasmodic discussion would have puzzled a stranger. Now it was dog-sleighing, or reindeer riding ; now the policy of the President, or the last opera ; now the latest events in California, or those of the Anadyr. Tchuktchi, Lamutki, or Koriak lore was mixed with inquiries for absent friends, and nitro-glycerine explosions with Anadyr scandal. The Anadyr Eiver, as we learned from these gentlemen, is subject to violent freshets in the spring ; it then rises fifteen to twenty feet above its usual level, flooding the country in all directions. It is navigable for 300 miles, and has no rapids of importance in that distance. A consider- able amount of light timber was found on its banks. Our explorers had constructed eight log-houses, at intervals of twelve miles apart, and we found them in a very tolerable building at the mouth of the river. The logs for the latter had been rafted down forty miles. Mr. Bush told me that the natives catch and dry a quantity of salmon, and that deer are abundant. The latter, crossing the streams in herds, are speared in the water. The Tchuktchis have K 146 Native Thieves' Booty. small canoes constructed of three planks, called " vetkas," which are used mainly for this purpose. Greese are plenti- ful, and, when moulting, are driven ashore bj the natives, and knocked on the head by others remaining there. Mus- quitoes are a great pest in the short summer season. The lowest cold experienced by our friends during the preced- ing winter of 1865-6 was— 52° Fahr., or 84° below freezing. We were also informed that the opening in the land mis- taken by us for the Anadyr Kiver was the mouth of a large river called by the natives the " Arnoura." A third stream enters Anadyr Bay from the north, and the effect of so much river-water falling into what would otherwise be an arm of the sea is to render it entirely fresh. Our steamer watered from the bay itself, the hose being simply put over- board, and the pumps set to work at filling the tanks. During Mr. M'Crea's absence on lengthened explora- tions, the natives had broken into his hut, and had stolen a quantity of powdered arsenic intended for the preserva- tion of specimens. They probably mistook it for sugar. The result was never known. They also carried off a bot- tle of liniment, supposing it to be whisky. It was com- posed of turpentine, sugar of lead, etc. ; the native who drank it will never steal again ! One man was known to have been killed by it. On the 16th we left the Anadyr direct for Plover Bay, and here we met several of our vessels. My good friend, Major Wright, though but just risen from a bed of sick- ness, had made a very successful exploration through the barren country toward Pentigu Gulf. The irrepressible "Nau-kum," the native spoken of at our first visit, had ac- companied him. " Nothing," said Wright, speaking of this trip, " that the ' white man ' did could astonish him or make him for an instant lose his gravity, except the introduction of pepper-sauce into his food. The taste of this was a nov- Plover Bay. • 147 elty, and after an experiment nothing could induce him to repeat it. He says : ' Me sabe good deal, but me no sabe white man eat fire on meat.' Having been presented with a complete suit of woolen clothing, he sported it with much dignity, varying his costume now and then by wearing his drawers about his neck. His tent may easily be found by any enterprising traveller, as over the door is one of Heus- ton and Hastings's signs, while the door-post is ornamented with a poster directing every body to go to Lamott's for hats, caps, etc." This was a fact. The signs of several San Francisco houses were taken up — as a joke — and left in various parts of the coast, where some future traveller may perhaps see them. In this instance it attracted a good deal of notice from the whalers who frequent the bay, itself within sight of Behring Straits. After this, the enterprising advertisers who plastered the Pyramids and Palmyra with their post- ers must hide their diminished heads. Colonel Bulkley caused a small house of planks to be constructed for " Nau-kum," and made him many presents. My friend Grob — a mechanical draughtsman attached to us, and a genius in every form of sketching — made a draw- ing, "a dream of the future." It represented the interior of Nau-kum's dwelling. Madame, seated on a whisky bar- rel, was playing the piano, Mr. Nau-kum engaged in a game of billiards in a further apartment, and a small boy, of blubbery aspect, handing him the " cock-tails " on a salver. The room was picturesque with paddles, skins, preserved- meat cans, dogs, and children ; but civilization was tri- umphant! I am sorry that I can not include this sketch among my illustrations. My kind friend, Mrs. Scammon, had accompanied her husband on this voyage, and she invited "Nau-kum" into the cabin to look at some pet canaries. Although he had 148 Telegraph Station Erected. never seen such, birds, tie preserved a gentlemanly apathy, and would show no surprise whatever. Some one, a little piqued perhaps that he would not be astonished, said, " Why, Nau-kum, they are worth ten dollars each in San Francisco I" "Ah," replied he, shrugging his shoulders, "too muchee!" We stopped the larger part of a month in Plover Bay, our carpenters and laborers being engaged in the construc- tion of a station. When the flooring and foundations were ready, the national and company's flags were raised on a tall telegraph-pole, a salute fired, and the health of Kelsey, the captain in charge, drunk enthusiastically. Fourteen men were left with him for the winter of 1866-7, and im- mediately commenced the erection of the line through a most rugged and difficult country. In spite of the proximity of Plover Bay to the Arctic, very little snow remained on the barren country round it, except on the distant mountains, or in deep " gulches " or gulleys, where it has lain for centuries. "That there snow," said one of our sailors to me, pointing to such a spot, " is three hundred years old if it's a day. Why, don't you see the wrinkles all over the face of it?" Every one has noticed the wrinkles and ridges in snow ; but the idea of associating age with them was rather original. Of course, when our men were landed at their destina- tions it was frequently found that some trifles necessary to their comfort had been omitted in the hurry of preparation. One of the leaders of an exploring party said to his men at the last moment, "I haven't time to tell you all you want, but look round, and take all you can get." ISTow, although there was much bonhommie generally, and every one, at some time or another, helped his acquaintances, not know- ing how soon his turn might come, it was not pleasant to miss one's favorite coat or boots, knife or scissors, as the case Whaling. 149 might be, from the cabin ; and there were those who took an undue advantage of the circumstances to beg, borrow, or steal all they could lay their hands on. One man was caught going over the side of the vessel with five caps as the results of his loot; they were unmistakably forage-caps. Several individuals whose packages had been very limited in extent in San Francisco went ashore with quite a hand- some collection of baggage, and were taken by the natives to be persons of much distinction. I am afraid that some liberal, free-hearted members of our expedition who re- turned to San Francisco were considerably out of pocket in consequence. In Plover Bay the whalers often succeed in capturing their prey in quiet water. We had opportunities of seeing their boats in pursuit of white grampus, and afterward of true whale. Each boat is known by a distinguishing mark on its sail, such as red stripes or a cross ; they can then be told at a distance by the vessels to which they respectively belong. When the whale is harpooned, and floating dead in the water, it is usual to plant a small flag in it. After the leviathan is towed alongside the vessel, it is cut up into large chunks, and it is a very curious sight to witness the deck of a whaling- vessel covered with great masses of blub- ber. Eventually it is cut up into " mincemeat," in order that all the oil may be extracted, and chopping-knives and even mincing-machines are employed for the purpose. The oil is boiled out on board, and, if not otherwise informed, a stranger seeing a whaler a little way off with volumes of smoke and steam arising from it, would suppose that the vessel was on fire. On these occasions the sailors have a feast of dough-nuts cooked in boiling whale-oil, whale-brain fritters, and other joints. My friend, Captain Eedfield, a very successful whaler, well known in San Francisco and Honolulu, invited me, when in Plover Bay, to witness the 150 Death of Major Kennicott. deck of his vessel with the blubber lying on it, and gave me every chance of tasting whale in various shapes. I don't think that I wish to repeat the experiment. On the 20th we left Plover Bay for Norton Sjound, Russian America, arriving there on the 24th. We anchor- ed under the lee of Whale Island, and later at an anchor- age within four miles of our destination, the Island of St. Michael's. Norton Sound* is so shallow that vessels fre- quently touch bottom at a mile or more from the coast. The wind, blowing off land, reduces its depth very per-' ceptibly, and completely bares sand-bars at the mouths of the rivers entering it. The wind, too, very quickly raises a bad sea. On the night of the 28-29th a strong gale blew from the north-east, and our largest vessel, the "Nightin- gale" (drawing 16 feet), touched bottom at stern or bows each time she pitched. Men on board were thrown off their feet and out of their berths, and but for the soft mud bottom she must have sustained injury. Here we met the explorers left the preceding season ; and very shaggy and unkempt they looked, though, with one or two exceptions, in excellent health. But with the pleasure of meeting them was mingled one sad regret. Poor Kennicott had died suddenly at Nulato, on the Yukon, on the 13th May, 1866. His kind-heartedness, zeal, and earnestness had endeared him to all of us who knew him, and it was believed that anxiety for the welfare and success of his party had accelerated his death. Kennicott's name, by no means unknown in England, is much better known in the United States as that of an in- defatigable traveller and collector. In 1859 he started on * Norton Sound was surveyed roughly by Captain Cook. It was named, in the fashion of those days, after Sir Fletcher Norton, once Speaker of the House of Commons (afterward Lord Grantley), and a near relation of Captain King, to whom Cook intrusted the exploration. Close of the Season. 151 a prolonged exploration of the Hudson's Bay territory, and spent nearly four years in his favorite pursuit as a natural- ist. The results of his labor have enriched the collections of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and the Chi- cago Academy of Sciences. Through the former institution (which owes its existence to the bequest of an Englishman, Mr. Smithson), other museums, in both the Old and New World, have benefited ; and his services in the cause of science entitle him to the grateful remembrance of his fel- low-men. His party had followed out his instructions to the letter. Ketchum andLabarge had made the first trip through from the coast to Fort Yukon, and Ennis had explored the coun- try north of Norton Sound as far as Port Clarence. On the 1st October we saw the last of the telegraph fleet, and watched the " Nightingale " till she was out of sight, knowing that for nearly a year our vessels could not return. The lateness of the season admonished us to make a rapid move for Unalachleet — the head-quarters of this section — as " between the seasons" there would be a period when travelling would be much impeded or wholly stopped. We therefore immediately commenced our preparations for leaving St. Michael's. 152 Redoubt St. Michael's. CHAPTER XII. EUSSIAN AND INDIAN SETTLEMENTS. — NORTON SOUND. St. Michael's. — The Fort and its Inhabitants. — The "Provalishik." — Russian Steam-bath. — " Total Immersion. " — The Island. — Incident of Break-up of Ice. — Arrival of dead Indian Sledge-driver. — Steam-boat trip. — Steamer laid up. — Russian Post at Unalachleet. — Malemute and Kaveak Indians. — Skin Clothing. — Intertribal Commerce. — Trade with the Tchuktchis. — Under-ground Houses. — Fishing through the Ice. Redoubt St. Michael's, or Michaelovski, the principal station of the Russian American Fur Company in this northern section of " Walrus-sia," deserves something more than a passing notice. It is not merely the best point* for a vessel to touch at in order to land goods for the interior, including that great tract of country watered by the Yukon, but it has been, and is, to a great extent, a central post for Indian trade, and for the collection of furs from distant and interior posts. It has been already proposed — since the American occupation — to make it a military station ; we may, not improbably, live to hear of a town springing up on the borders of the Arctic, and within 200 miles of Behr- ing Straits. St. Michael's is (on the authority of Zagoskin) in lat. 63° 28' K, and long. 161° 44' W. of Greenwich. It is sit- * After what has been said about the shallow nature of Norton Sound, this might be considered open to doubt ; the practical experience of our ex- pedition proved, however, that both the mouths of the Yukon, or Kwich- pak, and the northern part of Norton Sound, were even worse, and St. Michael's was for over two years our base of supplies. Port Clarence was too far north for the goods intended for the Yukon, but is for certain parts of the country an excellent place for a station. See Appendix (TV.). The Fokt and its Inhabitants 153 FOET ST. MICHAEL'S, OR MICHAELOVSKI. uated on the south-east side of the island of the same name, and was founded in 1833 by Michael Tebenkoff, an ener- getic employe of the Eussian Fur Company. The station is built on the model of a Hudson's Bay Company's fort, with enclosure of pickets, and with bas- tions flanking it. Inside are the store-houses and dwellings of the employes, including the " casine " (caserne), or general barrack, bath and cook-houses. These painted yellow, and surmounted by red- roofs, gave it rather a gay appearance. The inhabitants of the fort — all servants of the company — were a very mixed crowd, including pure Eussians and Finlanders, Yakutz, from Eastern Siberia, Aleuts, from the islands, and Creoles, from all parts. They were not a very satisfactory body of men ; in point of fact, it is said that some of them had been criminals, who had been convicted in St. Petersburg, and offered the alternative of going to 154 Russian Steam-Bath. prison, or into the service of the Kussian American Com- pany ! We found them — as did Zagoskin years before — much given to laziness and drunkenness. Fortunately their opportunity for this latter indulgence was limited, usually, to one bout per annum, on the arrival of the Kus- sian ship from Sitka with their supplies ; while the " pro- valishik," Mr. Stephanoff, the commander of this fort, who had charge of the whole district, stood no nonsense with them, and was ever ready to make them yield assistance. His arguments were of a forcible character : I believe the knout formed no part of his establishment, but he used his fists with great effect ! To this gentleman we were all very much indebted for enforcing the orders of the Eussian Company in our behalf; often to. the sacrifice of his own comfort, to say nothing of the skin from his knuckles. The Russian American Company, however, gave these men sal- aries proportioned to their deserts : 1 \ poods of coarse flour (about 60 pounds) per month, and from 5d. to lOd per day was the average allowance, and most of them were hope- lessly in debt to the company. Fish^and game at this post were not reliable resources, and their pay would barely keep them in tea, sugar, tobacco, and clothing. The tea used was of a superior and expensive kind (worth 5s. to 5s. lOd. a pound in the company's store). The true " Russian steam-bath " was always to be obtained at these posts, as at every other settlement we visited, and it was very popular among us. The bath-house consisted always of two or more chambers, the first used for undress- ing, etc. The inner room had a stone furnace, in which a fire was lighted till it was intensely hot, and large barrels of hot and ice-cold water were always ready. Water was from time to time thrown on the heated stones, keeping the room full of steam, almost to suffocation. Entering, we invariably threw a bowl of cold water over our heads, "Total Immersion." 155 and then reclined on shelves or benches provided for the purpose till we were thoroughly steamed, then washed in hot water. On leaving the room, it was very essential to throw cold water again over the head and whole person, or headache would result. The transition from the inner to the outer room, the latter sometimes having a temperature considerably below zero, was very sudden, and made us rub with great vigor, but we found ourselves much refresh- ed. The Kussians invariably take a nap after the bath. Persons with apoplectic tendencies or weak lungs would probably suffer from their use ; I have seen men frequently sit or stoop down on the floor to get a cool gasp of air; owing, perhaps, to the bath-house being too full of steam. Outside- the post, besides other buildings, there was a small chapel, in which, on " prasniks," or holidays of the Church, and on each Sunday, a service was performed. A priest of the Greek Church, resident at the " Mission " on the Lower Yukon, comes down occasionally to baptize the natives. The Greek Church practices, it may be observed, total immersion, and when an infant is christened it is dipped bodily. In the case of Indians, they are baptized in the sea at this fort ; and rumor says that some of them have been so Christianized many years in succession, in order that they may obtain small gilt crosses and other presents given them at such times. It becomes an interesting ques- tion, whether such a zealous convert counts — in the mis- sionary's reports — as one person, or as four or five, as the case may be ? St. Michael's, though threatened by distant Indians, has never been seriously attacked. A small village of Indian houses — under-ground, or excavated in the hill — exists near the fort. A similar and larger village of natives of the same tribe will be hereafter described. The Island of St. Michael's is mainly composed of a 156 Island of St. Michael's. porous lava rock, riddled with holes (air bubbles ?) innu- merable. This formation apparently extends to the Yu- kon, and cliffs of a similar nature, but rather more crum- bling in character, were observed by us at the station known as the " Mission " (Missie), on the lower part of the great river. Zagoskin says that the Indians have a tradi- tion that St. Michael's was upheaved from the sea — an oc- currence at least possible. A large rocky island (in the chain of the Aleutian Islands), known by the Kussians as the Bogoslov Volcano, rose from the sea in 1796. The same writer says that the spot where the fort now stands has been covered by the sea within the memory of Indians living at the date of his visit, 1842-3. The water of pools and creeks on the island is extremely nauseous, and our men always thought they could detect a sulphurous taste in it, probably from the decomposition of the rocks just mentioned. In fact, all the water used at the fort in sum- mer-time is brought from a spring on the main-land. The island is thick with moss, covering up, in some places, a bed of clay ; berries in summer are abundant, and can be obtained fresh in winter by digging through their thick covering of snow. There are no trees whatever, and the fort is dependent on drift- wood from the mouths of the Yu- kon or Kwich-pak, which is fortunately landed in large quantities by the prevailing winds and currents all over the shores of Norton Sound. A garden at the fort (perhaps 10 ft. by 3 ft. in size !), which yields a few radishes and turnips, proves the practicability of growing something there. The ice in Norton Sound forms early in October, but is frequently broken up and carried to sea till late in winter. On Christmas Eve some of the telegraph employes arrived at St. Michael's from Unalachleet, having travelled on the ice, sometimes at a distance of a mile or two from the coast. Dead Ixdiax Sledge-Driver. 157 They, as usual, were invited in at once by the Eussians to " chipeat," or drink tea, etc. After this was over, they sauntered outside the fort to smoke their pipes and look after the dogs. What must have, been their surprise to find that the ice as far as the eye could reach that they had last travelled on was broken up and gone on a cruise ! Had they been half an hour later, they would have gone with it, and would have been floating about Behring Sea on a field of ice.* On the coast, although the thermometer usually stands rather higher than in the interior, the climate is really more felt. Nearly all the cases of frost-bite among our men occurred while travelling in and north of Norton Sound. Again, while clear ice — that is, ice free from a covering of snow — is scarce on the rivers except very early in winter, it is common for a long period on the coast. When your sledge arrives at such ice, the dogs will often start .off at a great rate, although, but a few minutes before, they may have been proceeding with difficulty. At such a time it is usual to jump on and take a ride, and you have to look sharp to do it. Now if there is much wind at such a time, however warm you may be from previous exercise, you chill very readily. Under exactly such circumstances as these, the Russians at St. Michael's were once horrified at the arrival of a sledge with an Indian on it, sitting erect, but perfectly dead. Unable to stop his dogs, the poor fel- low had jumped on his sledge, and had probably frozen to gieath in a few minutes. Such incidents are rare ; but it is common enough to find Indians with faces much disfigured, and having lost part of their ears or noses. It has been the universal testimony of Arctic travellers that comparatively moderate cold, with wind, was more to be feared than the most extreme temperature without it. * Norton Sound was not clear of ice till the third week in June, 1867. 158 Unalachleet Trading-Post. By noon on the 2d October we had loaded up a " baidarre," a whale-boat, and a little steamer, the "Wild- er," left for our use, and by detachment we set off for Unalachleet, a distance of sixty miles. I took passage on the steamer, and found her crowded with freight and passengers to her utmost capacity. She was but sixty feet long, with a perfectly flat bottom, and a house of planks covering two-thirds of her deck. Outside the thermometer stood at about 10° Fahr. ; inside the house we were at fever heat. We anchored at night off the In- dian village of Taupanica, and early the next morning re- sumed our trip, soon reaching the sand-bars outside the Unalachleet Eiver immediately opposite Besborough Island, where we grounded, and the steamer had to be unloaded by Indians in " baidarres." The same evening she entered the mouth of the river safely, but it proved her last trip for the season. On the 7th she was beached for the winter, about eighty telegraph-men, Eussians and Indians, assisted in hauling her high and dry. The river was almost completely fro- zen up, and our little craft a mass of ice from stem to stern. It was no small work to break up and clear the space round her in the river before she could be moved. At the mouth of the Unalachleet Eiver on the north bank is the most northern settlement on the coast, a Eus- sian trading-post, founded in 1840, and bearing the same name. It is in lat. 63° 53' 33" K, and long. 160° 30' 16" W., and resembles St. Michael's in being enclosed by a« picket, but is otherwise on a much smaller and poorer scale. The " bidarshik," or head man, had but one room for himself and family. The " casine " was occupied by several men with families, and by an immense number of cockroaches, apparently with families also ! A ]arge "pitchka," or oven, occupied an important position in this Malemute Indians. 159 establishment. The windows did not, as at St. Michael's, aspire to the dignity of glass, but were of the gut of fur seal, white and translucent, if not transparent; To the N.W. of the post was a large village of Malemute and Kaveak Indians, a race of tall and stout people, but, in other respect, much resembling the Esquimaux. The men very generally shaved the crown of the head, and wore the MALEMUTE NATIVE. ornaments known as the To-took, pieces of bone run through holes on either side of the face immediately below the mouth. The women were generally tattooed on the chin, and wearing ornaments of beads from their hair, and leaden or iron bracelets. All adopted skin clothing; the true Malemute coat or shirt is square cut at the bottom, is of but 160 Malemute Clothing. moderate length, and has a hood almost invariably. The woman's dress is longer, and has a rounded shape at the lower part of it. Into the composition of these dresses many furs may enter ; the hood is almost invariably wolf- skin, the long hairs of which shelter and half cover the face. Inside it is sometimes a lining of soft, white Arctic hare-skin. The body may be squirrel, mink, marten, seal, jt#«k Female. MALEMUTE SKIN CLOTHING. Male. or reindeer skin, but, in point of fact, is nearly always of the latter. This, again, varies much ; it may be the thick cov- ering of an old buck, or the but half-developed skin of a fawn that has never Uveal. Zagoskin tells us how it is ob- tained, by practicing a great cruelty : the poor doe, known to be with young, but driven from place to place by the natives till her offspring is prematurely born. Then again it may be of the wild, or domesticated reindeer, shot by Malemute Boats. 161 themselves, or imported from the Tchuk.tchis of the Asiatic coast, with whom they carry on a very extensive native trade. The Tchuktchis have large herds of tame reindeer (some of which I have mentioned at the Anadyr Kiver and elsewhere), while the animal is never met with in Eussian America but in a wild state. I shall have to allude to this trade subsequently. The edges of coats and boots are oft- en trimmed with strips of the much-prized wolverine skin. This animal, the " carcajou" of the trappers, is well-known to be so wary and cunning that it is but rarely taken, and its fur is valued more highly than any other, without ex- ception, by the natives of the whole coast and interior. Pantaloons of seal or reindeer skin are worn by both sexes ; the women's often have the socks attached, and in one piece. Their boots vary in length, and in the material used for the sides, but all have soles of " maclock," or seal- skin, with the hair removed. Fur socks, with the hair turned inside, are very common, and mits or gloves are made of all shapes and sizes. I have a pair made from dog-skin, two feet in length, and coming up far above the elbow. These natives almost universally use a very unpleasant liquid for cleansing purposes.* They tan and soften the seal -skin used for boot-soles with it. * The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnishing oil and blubber, but the skin used for their ca- noes, thongs, nets, lassoes, and boot-soles. Their "bai- darres," similar to the " oomiak" of the Greenlander, vary in size from those intended for three or four persons to others capable of holding fifteen or twenty persons. With them they go to sea, and cross the narrow part of Behring Straits. Their "baidarres" are similar to the Greenland " kyack," * The scientific reader is referred to a paper by the author in the "Trans- actions of the Ethnological Society" for 1868. • L 162 Intertribal Commerce. but are more commonly constructed with three holes than with one. Both are admirably made ; the frames light and strong, the skin covering sewn with sinew, and the seams rendered water-tight by rubbing fat into them. The skin is prepared in the first instance, while yet the hair is on it, by spreading fermented fish-spawn over it, and allow- ing it to remain till the hair rots off. It is then stretch- ed on a frame, and saturated with the liquid before allud- ed to, when it becomes translucent. The fat is removed with bone or stone knives, metal being considered likely to cut it. In spite of the Eussian posts in Norton Sound, a large part of the Indian trade was carried on with the American whaling- vessels who annually visited Port Clarence, Kotze- bue Sound, and adjacent coasts, and paid much larger prices than the tariff fixed by the fur company. Another impor- tant part of the commerce leaves the country by the hands of the Tchuktchis before mentioned, who cross .from the coast of Siberia by the narrow part of Behring Straits, and generally meet the Kaveaks and Malemutes in Port Clarence. It is said that the natives from either side also meet on the Diomede Islands in the straits. Intertribal commerce goes on to such an extent that clothing worn hundreds of miles up the Yukon, and in oth- er parts of the interior of Eussian America, is of Tchuktchis origin, and is made up by the women of the coast tribes, who sew better than those of the interior. This trade is principally for tame reindeer skins, of which the Tchuktchis have an overplus, and in exchange they receive bone, oil, and the furs of smaller animals. By constant inquiry, I found that marten (American or Hudson Bay sable of com- merce), beaver, and fox skins, taken high up the Yukon, traded to the Co-yukons, from them to the coast natives, and again from them to the Tchuktchis, eventually reach Bus- THADE WITH THE TCHUKTCHIS. 163 sian traders on the Anadyr Kiver, Eastern Siberia, or the American whaling- vessels on the coast. One object of Zagoskin's mission was to promote the establishment of an additional fort near Behring Straits, in order to put a stop to this trade, and he favored the idea of placing it in Kotzebue Sound. This was, however, never accomplished, and from our party, who wintered in Port Clarence, I learned that the larger part of the .furs leave the country by that outlet. In spring sev*eral hundred natives meet there, and, in all probability, some station may now be formed in that neighborhood by its American owners.* A large proportion of these natives have guns — both flint-lock and percussion-cap— obtained in trade. Guns ob- tained as far off as the Hudson's Bay Company's fort at the junction of the Porcupine, find their way to the coast by intertribal barter. The smaller animals, hares, grouse, mar- ten, etc., are generally snared. The berries in summer are obtained in large quantities, and are eagerly sought. Va- rieties resembling blueberries, huckleberries, and a kind of dwarf raspberry (resembling in other respects the " salmon- berry " of Vancouver Island, etc.), are all abundant. These mixed with seal-oil are considered a luxury, and are gath- ered in quantities for winter use. I have often obtained them in winter from beneath the snow, and in almost as fresh a state as when they were first buried. Eeindeer fat, raw, is always considered a treat, and an Indian can not better show his esteem for a white visitor than by present- ing him with a piece of buck-fat. Their houses are usually under-ground, the roof only rising above the surface ; the entrance is by a kind of tun- nel or passage, by which. you crawl into the room, and a hole in the roof lets out the smoke. This, when there is no fire on the floor of the room, is covered tightly with a skin. * Tn 1867, Port Clarence was not clear of ice till the third week in June. 164 FlSHIXG THROUGH THE ICE. Nearly every dwelling has a stage for hanging furs or fish on, and a small wooden house or "cache" perched in the air on four poles, with a notched log for a ladder, is used to stow away supplies, and keep them safe from their dogs, or from wild animals prowling round the village. Canoes not in use are generally raised above the ground on trestles. We frequently saw the Indians at this place engaged in fishing through holes made in the ice, catching quantities of a small kind of " white-fish." If we gave fish-hooks to the natives, they usually tried to cut off the barbs ; they took the fish so readily that they could afford to lose a few from the hook. Involuntarily I thought of patient anglers by the brook-side at home waiting a day for a tenth part of the fish caught there by an Indian in the same time, and could not help coming to the conclusion that the Indian has the best of it. In windy weather they frequently erect a screen of skins, etc., and stakes. Indian Dances. 165 CHAPTER XIII. UNALACHLEET. — NORTON SOUND. Indian Town-hall. — Preparations for Dance. — Smoke-consuming Indians. — Feast. — Dance. — Chorus. — The Malemutes and Kaveaks. — The Chiefs. — " Parka Mania." — Erection of Quarters. — Preparations for Sledge- journey. In the village at Unalachleet, as in most others of the coast, there are buildings set apart for dances and gatherings of the people; at other times, indeed, they are used for oc- cupations requiring space, as the manufacture of sledges or snow-shoes. These buildings may be regarded as the na- tives' town-hall ; orations are made, festivals and feasts are held in them, and the passing stranger is sometimes accom- modated in them, as in an Eastern caravansary. I witnessed several of their public dances ; they are con- stantly, indeed, held during winter, and it is surprising to see how long and how much the older people are pleased by such very monotonous performances. In some of them the actor's imitate and burlesque the motions of birds and quadrupeds, and of course here there is some scope for fun, while some of their songs are said to have some meaning, although on this point I can not speak positively ; the only ones I heard were the same words repeated over and over again. To one dance we were specially invited. On arriving at the doorway, we found a narrow subterranean passage two and a half feet high, crawling through which we at last reached the room, itself partly under-ground and dimly lighted by blubber lamps. 166 Smoke-Consuming Indians. The Indians who were to take part in the dance, chiefly young men, were engaged in dressing and bathing them- selves in the liquid not before mentioned. All were nude to the waist, and wore seal, deer-skin, or cotton pantaloons, with the tails of wolves or dogs hanging behind, and feath- ers and cheap handkerchiefs round their heads. The elders sat on a bench or shelf running round the entire building, and looked on approvingly, while they consumed their own smoke, as in the manner of the Tchuktchis, by swallowing all they made, and getting partially intoxicated thereby. Their pipe-bowls were on the smallest scale, and they even diluted their tobacco by mixing willow shavings " fine-cut" with it. EXAMPLE OE PIPE USED BY THE MA.LEMUTES. Meantime the women were bringing in contributions of berries and fish in large " contogs," or wooden bowls, vary- ing in shape from a deep dish to an oblong soup-tureen. The performance commenced by the actors ranging them- selves in a square, and raising these dishes of provisions to the four cardinal points successively, and once to the skies with a sudden noise like " swish I" or the flight of a rocket. Indian Dance. 167 May be it meant an offering to the seasons and to the Great Spirit. Then came the feast ; and that over, a monotonous chorus, with an accompaniment of gongs, was started. The gongs were made of seal-gut stretched on a circular frame, and were struck with a flat stick. The words of the song commenced, " Yung i ya, i ya, i ya!" and continued through- out " Yung i ya !" Then a boy sprang out on the floor, he was speedily joined by a second, then a third, till a circle of twenty was formed. ]STow they appeared violently at- tracted together, and now as much repelled ; now they were horrified at one another's conduct, and held up their arms in warning gestures, and again all were friends, and made pantomime of their happiness. In this performance there was nearly as much done by arms and bodies as with the feet. When there was a lull in the entertainment, small presents were brought round to all the strangers present ; mine was a pair of boot-soles of seal-skin. So decided an odor at length pervaded the ball-room that we one by one dropped off from the festive scene ; the Indians kept it up for hours afterward. "The Malemutes and Kaveaks intermingle considerably, and have therefore been spoken of here as one people. Their habits, manners, and customs are identical, but thej^ speak different dialects,* and inhabit different parts of the country. The former extend from the Island of St. Mi- chael's to Sound Golovnin, while the latter occupy a still more northern country adjacent to Port Clarence and Behring Straits. Although so much resembling the Esqui- maux in habits, they are a larger, finer race, and it is by no means uncommon to find men of six feet in height: some, perhaps, over that standard. Nearly all the women are stout and blubbery in aspect, but have good-humored features. Both sexes were employed in various ways by * For a brief vocabulary of Malcmute words, see Appendix (V.). 168 Malemutes and Kaveaks. our expedition, and they were universally considered far above the average of Indians in every respect. The Male- mute chief, " Aleuyanuk," was a fine-looking old man, erect and soldierly, and wearing a mustache and imperial ; his manners would not have disgraced a civilized assembly. •' Comokin," the Kaveak chief, was as useful to us as he had been many years before to some of the expeditions engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin. From our first arrival at Unalachleet, the men had ven^ naturally a strong desire to obtain skin clothing for winter use, and also as curiosities, and, in the excessive competi- tion fbr the limited supply in the hands of the Eussians and Indians, prices went up about 200 per cent. ! This was generally known as the " Parka mania" (from parka, Russian for skin shirt or coat), and was a great benefit to some of the more enterprising Russians, who set their In- dian wives to work making up coats, boots, caps, and fur- socks in great variety, while they reaped themselves a har- vest of five-dollar pieces. We all became extremely well informed on the different names and styles of furs. Of reindeer alone, we distinguished three varieties ; the ordi- nary thickly -furred skin was in Russian simply* Alany scoora ; Nederist was that of fawns of a few months old, while Veperat was the half-developed covering of the un- born young. We all acquired some little of the Russian language, or, rather, that patois of it spoken among the low-class Russians and half-breeds, many of whom had been born in Russian America. During my stay at this station all the men were employ- ed in putting up quarters for winter use. A rude erection of earth and logs had been built for the telegraph ex- plorers the previous season, and now that a party of near- * It is impossible to represent in English any thing but the sound of a Russian word, as there are thirty-six letters in the Russian alphabet. Erection of Quarters. 169 ly forty were to winter there and commence the line, it was necessary to remodel the establishment. All hands then set to work with a will, and officers and men alike showed a determination to prove the energy of their race ; besides* while some were shivering by night in tents, oth- ers were occupying the Eussian employes' quarters, much, doubtless, to the disgust of the latter, although they took it philosophically. The writer soon became au fait at building sod walls, and was consequently allowed to follow the natural bent of his genius, and each man, as far as possible, did that which he could do best. In consequence, we soon had a double-roomed house, well earthed round, and with a large open fire-place in one chamber. This fact is mentioned to show that an ordinary house on the surface, where, as in this neighborhood, there is sufficient wood for fuel, can be successfully used in an Arctic climate. The other cham- ber, used as a kitchen, had an American cooking-stove ; one of those excellent little institutions which will bake, boil, stew, fry, and broil in the best manner, with the smallest possible expenditure of fuel. The officers occupied (with the cockroaches) every avail- able corner and bastion of the fort, and several small rooms were lined with deer-skins, making very cosy little places of them. During a portion of the time passed by me at this place we had extremely bad weather, with strong K. and JNT.E. winds. The thermometer invariably rose during the prev- alence of wind ; it stood at points ranging between + 7° and -f 32° during our stay. Col. Bulkley, our engineer- in -chief, had very kindly left to me the privilege of selecting my own course of travel, with due regard to the interests of the company. , I had the previous year volunteered to accompany Major 170 Preparations for Sledge-Journey. Kennicott ; but bis party had been completely organized before I joined the expedition, and my request could not be granted. I was, however, determined to visit the un- known Yukon country, which had been, from the com- mencement of- our explorations, more spoken about than any other. Ketchum, who had made his very adventur- ous trip the previous summer, promised me every facility, and kept his word. Indeed I can say, with much grati- tude, that I received every possible attention from all the officers of the expedition, and am especially indebted to Messrs. Ennis, Dennison, Dyer, Labarge, and the gentle- man just mentioned. We knew that early winter was not a favorable time for travelling ; the snow, but just fallen, is not " set" as it is at a later period, and some parts of the rivers are not com- pletely frozen up. We, however, determined to lose no time, and commenced our preparations. These included the selection and purchase of sledges, dogs, harness, and skin clothing, and the division of the " spoil" that fell to our share, in flour, tea and sugar, dried apples, bacon., beans, and rice. By the 26th of October every thing was ready for a start, and on the next morning we commenced our journey by the shortest known route from the coast to the Yukon Eiver.* * Captain Bedford Pim made — when engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin — a very adventurous journey through a country of almost identical nature lying between Kotzebue Sound, Unalachleet, and St. Michael's. Many of the Russians and half-breeds remembered his visit, and he had evidently left a very pleasant impression behind him. Sledges and Dogs. 171 CHAPTEE XIV. SLEDGE-JOURNEY TO THE YUKON". Routes to the Yukon. 1 — Sledges and Dogs. — Our Start. — Our Party.— Una- lachleet River. — Brought to a Stand-still. — Dogs desert. — Ingelete In- dians. — Under-ground Houses, etc. — Beans versus Rice. — Indian Clean- liness. — Medical Aid. — Ulukuk. — The River. — Indian Trading. The distance to that portion of the Yukon we were about to visit is, by the mouths of the river, 700 miles, but a land route to it is always employed in winter by the Russians travelling from Norton Sound. By the latter route the total distance from St, Michael's does not exceed 230 miles, and from Unalachleet is approximately 170 miles. The Russo-Indian form of sledge adopted by us was a very light construction of birch wood, the knees alone sometimes made of spruce, while it commonly had bone runners. Behind it were usually two guiding-poles, and the general appearance when loaded will be seen repre- sented on our title-page. A lower and inferior kind, which may be regarded as purely Indian, was occasionally used by us for very light loads. Although our expedition was well fitted out in the ab- solute essentials of travel, no provision had been made with regard to either sledges or dogs, it having been very nat- urally supposed that the country itself was the best source from whence to obtain these. We found, however, that the dogs were neither plentiful nor of a good class. They were hardly above the average of the sneaking, snarling 172 Our Start. Indian curs of Oregon and British Columbia, and it was very difficult to make them attached to you — a proof to my mind that they had as much of the wolf as the dog in them. I have always succeeded in making a good dog my friend, and was much chagrined at my want of success among these animals. They are very hairy, are of all col- ors, iron-gray predominating, have wolfish features and short legs ; but their immense bushy tails make up for all deficiencies. Taking them all in all, they did good service in transporting oar goods, and with them all of us made many lengthened journeys. Captain Ennis twice made the trip from Norton Sound to Port Clarence, Behring Straits; and the journey on the ice from St. Michael's to Unalachleet was made a score of times, while that to Nulato must have been made a dozen times during the winter of 1866-7. The more remarkable journey of Ketchum and Labarge will be mentioned hereafter. On the morning of the 27th October, at eleven o'clock, we bade adieu to our friends, some of whom persisted in accompanying us a little way on the frozen surface of the Unalachleet Kiver, while the others honored us with a grand, but rather irregular volley of blank-cartridge from revolvers, muskets, and the old battered cannon oi the Russian post. Our party comprised nine persons, as fol- lows : Captain Ketchum and Lieutenant Labarge, his right- hand man, Mr. Dall, a collector for the Smithsonian Insti- tute, myself, and Pickett, a man detailed for our service. Mr. Francis, engineer of our little steamer, started with us on an excursion trip, and three Indians completed our list. We took four sledges, each drawn by five dogs, and very well laden with a miscellaneous collection of boxes, barrels, tools, furs, blankets, and snow-shoes. Each load averaged 350 lbs. weight. The day was beautifully calm and clear, the temperature Unalachleet Kivee. 173 just before starting was +5° Fahr., but got much colder during the day. As we had to run alongside of, or behind our sledges, we soon found that the heavy fur clothing, so very comfortable when stationary, was infinitely too much for us when in violent exercise, and we accordingly di- vested ourselves of much of it. Many of our workmen wore ordinary thick woolen clothing during the greater part of winter, but native skin boots were always adopted by us. The record of this trip will be presented to the reader mainly as it stands in my journal. We found the frozen river, on whose surface we travelled all day, for the most part well covered with snow. In a few patches the wind had bared the ice, and there we could observe its true col- ors ; sometimes glassy green and transparent, so that we could see the pebbly bottom of the shallow stream, in other places dark, opaque, and colorless, with the shaded water underneath it giving the impression of infinite depth. Some few parts of the stream were not completely frozen ; this generally occurred on bars or small rapids, where the water ran swiftly. The river was of moderate size — as large as the Thames at Hampton, but (excepting in the early spring- freshets) even more shallow. Within a few miles of the Russian station we had just left we found spruce-fir and birch abundant on the banks of the river, and a certain amount of drift-wood — the wreck of larger trees swept from the skirts of the woods at times of flood — is brought down by the swollen waters at the break-up of the ice. A few small accidents varied the day's travel, such as the bone runners of our sledges cracking off, or the dogs getting loose and making a break for the woods. At four o'clock in the afternoon we stopped for a rest, raised a good fire of drift-wood on the surface of the ice, and then cooked our bacon and made some refreshing tea. We then 174: Brought to a Stand-Still. resumed our trip by starlight, hoping to make the Indian village of Igtigalik the same evening. About six o'clock we came to a stand-still ; a great patch of the river was entirely open, nor could we see a way round. Attempting to creep round the shelving banks, our sledges were half- buried in the soft snow ; and as the night was very dark, and we did not wish to risk losing our loads in the river, we came to the conclusion that we must camp. We un- loaded the sledges, tied up the dogs, cleared a space in the snow at the top of the bank, and raised a magnificent log- fire. We spread a quantity of fir-brush on the ground, made up our beds on it, and slept closely packed together, with a large deer-skin robe covering us. We had unfortunately relied on the next village for a supply of dog-feed. The Eussian post we had just left was famous for " ukalee," an inferior kind of salmon dried for this purpose ; but our men wintering there would, we knew, require so much of it that we had determined to ob- tain ours on the route. Our sledges, too, were otherwise filled to their uttermost capacity. The poor dogs passed a hungry night, howling dismally. We had to place every thing eatable out of their reach ; and as they did not object to skin clothing or old boots, and would readily devour their own harness, it was a somewhat difficult task. 28tf/i. — In the morning we found that four of our dogs, disgusted and hungry, had deserted from our service, and we were sure that they had " made tracks " for the Eussian post. We made an early start in the brisk cold morning (temp. — 6° Fahr.), and reached the village without any trouble after we had passed round the edge of the open water just mentioned. There, however, the thin ice cracked beneath the weight of our sledges, and we " kept moving," expecting a ducking every moment. On the right bank of the river we found a number of Under-Ground Houses. 175 Indian summer dwellings — simply wooden shanties, built above ground, with a small doorway, sometimes circular, and a hole in the roof to let out the smoke. Behind them on posts were the fish-houses, or "caches," as before de- scribed. • On the left bank were a few under-ground houses, in- tended for winter use. These were simply square holes in the ground, roofed in, and earthed over. The entrance of each was always a rude shanty of logs or planks, passing into which we found a hole in the ground, the entrance to a- subterranean passage. Into this we dropped, and crawled on our hands and knees into the room. " Amilka," the owner of one of these houses, put half his floor at our dis- DIAGRAM OF UNDER-GKOUND HOUSE. posal, and we cleared it of dirt and encumbrances, and spread our skins over it. A part of us stopped there some days, studying the manners and customs of the people. Their manners might pass, but some of their customs were decidedly nasty. Igtigalik (known by the Eussians as Nove, or New Ulukuk, to distinguish it from a neighbor- ing place of a similar name) was inhabited by a totally different tribe from that we had met at Unalachleet, and called the Ingelete people. Although only twenty -five miles from the Malemute village, they speak an entirely different dialect, one — as we afterward discovered — nearly allied to the Co-yukon. These people were a fine stout race, with fair intelligence, and generally appeared to be 176 Ingelete Houses. very good-humored. Many of the men were above the average in stature, and their general appearance much re- sembled the coast natives. Polygamy exists, but not to any great extent, and occasionally a man discharges his wife and takes another, if the first proves barren, or dis- appoints with too many girls. Daughters are at a dis- count. Their houses at this time were fall of baskets for fish, traps, frames for snow-shoes, and parts of sledges in course of manufacture. The passage-way into these houses was in wet mild weather nothing but a sewer. The fire was built on the floor in the centre of the chamber, and when it burned low the embers and sticks were always thrown out of the smoke- hole in the roof by the natives inside, and it was then cov- ered with a skin. This process effectually shut in all the warmth, but with it a good deal of smoke and carbonic acid gas. The entrance-hole was also usually covered with a deer-skin, and the mixture of close smells inside the house, arising from more or less stale fish, meat, old skin clothes, young dogs, dirt, and smoke, was very sickening. The dogs scrambling and fighting on the roof above, sometimes tum- bled through the smoke-hole on the fire below, upsetting all the cooking arrangements, and adding a new smell to those above mentioned — that of singed hair ! It need not be said that they retreated with great alacrity, yelping and snarling as they went. In place of soap, these people use for cleansing purposes the liquid before mentioned as adopted by the Malemutes. The little children are plump and good-tempered, suck a stick of ice as though it were barley-sugar, and are totally unacquainted with the use of the pocket-handkerchief. They seemed to be cowardly. If a strapping youngster tumbled down, and bruised or scratched himself, the women Ing-elete Manners, Etc. 177 gathered round, gesticulating and making a great fuss. If a few drops of blood appeared, they hid their eyes in their hands as though it were something too terrible to behold. Both men and women smoke ; the latter, however, do so only on occasions. Many, like the Malemutes and Tchuktchis, swallow the smoke ; and their pipe-bowls only hold a pinch of tobacco. They also use snuff, rubbing up the Eussian leaf-tobacco in a kind of wooden pestle and mortar. This is simply a circular cup, roughly cut out from a knot of wood, and is held in the left hand, while the right grasps a stout round stick, the top of which is weighted with a stone. They have small oval-shaped wooden or bone snuff-boxes, and sniff the powdered tobac- co into their nostrils through a small wooden tube. At this and other Ingelete villages our goods lay un- guarded in our absence, and I can not recall a single case of proved dishonesty among them, although we found them gradually becoming more greedy in their demands for pay- ment. Here we obtained a few Arctic grouse (ptarmigan) and dried deer-meat. We all became, from constant prac- tice, accomplished cooks ; nor do I think an epicure, es- pecially after a day's travel in that appetizing climate, would have despised our "telegraph" stews, flavored and thickened at the right moment with salt, pepper, and flour. It was in Igtigalik that Francis and myself engaged in a great discussion — known afterward as a cause celebre — "beans versus rice." Francis, but recently arrived from China, was persuaded that rice was the staff of life, and that millions of Chinamen lived on little else. On the other hand, I contended that beans were more nourishing and glutinous, and that the miners and travellers of the Pacific coast swore by them as the most portable and satis- fying of food. Francis pointed out the short time taken to cook rice, but I showed that beans, ivhen cooked, were more M 178 Indian Cleanliness. inviting food. Beans fried & la mineur, baked d la Yankee, or boiled a la clod-hopper, were lively food, compared with insipid rice. We advanced our opinions with deep feeling and earnestness on either side, yet I fear left each other, and our listeners, exactly where they were before ! Apropos of Indian cleanliness, a brief anecdote may be narrated. The previous winter an Ingelete had applied to Mr. Frederick Smith, a member of our expedition, asking him for medical assistance, stating at the same time that his chest pained him. A powerful blister was prescribed, ap- plied, and left on all night. In the morning it was expect- ed that his breast would be raw ; but the only effect it had on his skin was to leave a clean space the exact impression of the plaster ! The man got better immediately. A little Indian boy, playing with other children, re- ceived a gash in the cheek from a knife, and came to us for medical aid. A large piece of sticking-plaster was put over the wound, and the child was told that he must neither cry, talk, nor eat, as it would interfere with the charm of the application. The little fellow complied perfectly, would not utter a word, and starved himself for a week, so that his cut, being absolutely undisturbed, soon healed up, and our reputation was established. A small stock of simple medicines would be very useful to any future traveller; among them should be included pills capable of acting powerfully, for natives who had overgorged themselves. Healing ointments, for outward application, would, with sticking-plaster and lint, be of real service, as a great many of the natives suffer from skin diseases. During our stay at the village, on October 30th and 31st, and on the 1st November, a thaw set in ; the thermometer standing at points between +32° and +35° Fahr., and the wind south. Snow also fell. On the 2d, Dall and Francis returned to Unalachleet, with the hope of recovering our Ulukuk. 179 dogs, several more of whom had left our service. Many of them had been borrowed from the Indian village, and very naturally preferred their lazy life there to hard work with us. I saw no dogs in Eussian America equal to the picked teams in Petropaulovski ; but they had been select- ed from the best breeds of the whole peninsula. It was the intention of Colonel Bulkley to import a number from thence for our use, had the expedition continued for an- other season. Before leaving, Ketchum and myself pur- chased a small skin boat — which was subsequently used on my Yukon trip, and served for 1200 miles -of river travel. We paid five dollars in American silver, and an axe worth two and a half dollars, so that it was not an ex- pensive craft. On the 3d we started with four sledges for the upper village of Ulukuk, a distance of fifteen miles. Our route lay mainly on a "peronose" (as the Kussians term a port- age), over land thickly covered with soft snow, in which our dogs, sledges, and selves were half buried. On the top of an ordinary sledge-load we carried our skin canoe, and had no small work in helping it along, more especially at snow-banks. We crossed many small streams, on which the ice was not thoroughly formed, slipping into rather cool water up to our waists. We carefully lifted our sledges over such places to prevent wetting our goods. On some of the tributaries of the river the route was like a well-made road, with but a slight covering of snow, and we occasionally got a few minutes' ride. It was, however, a luxury but rarely attained. In the woods, through which our course partly lay, the dogs invariably ran the sledges against the trees and stumps, and there they would remain till two or three of us could clear them. Late in the day we arrived at the Ulukuk River, which was still open. Rapids abound in it; and there are warm springs in the 180 Indian Trading. neighborhood, so that this stream is but rarely quite frozen up. The Ingeletes have availed themselves of this chance by placing one of their principal villages near it. They have large fish-traps in the stream, and the village is very prettily situated on an open space in the woods hard by the river. In the distance is to be seen the range of the Ulukuk Mountains, which are seen from the coast, and will be hereafter mentioned. Ulukuk is the paradise of this part of the country in regard to salmon, salmon-trout, grouse, and deer-meat ; and a larger number of Ingeletes congregate there than in any other of their villages. There is no fear of your dogs deserting from such a place. The common native mode of cooking is roasting by the fire ; some of them have, however, bought iron pots from the Eussians. Salmon cooked on a stick placed near the fire, and occasionally turned till "done brown," is luscious. On the 4th a terrible snow-storm occurred, with a strong N.E. wind. "We were fortunately at that time in an un- der-ground house, exhibiting our treasures in magnetic com- passes, pencils, note-books-, etc., to an admiring crowd, and trading with them for dried fish for our dogs. It would be worth the traveller's while to take with him a small stock of toys and instruments of a simple nature, in place of so much of the conventional rubbish usually brought for Indian trade. Beads and bracelets are all very well, but burning-glasses, multiplying - glasses, kaleidoscopes, whistles, and small things in cutlery are novelties to them. Generally speaking, we found that the natives very sensibly preferred useful to ornamental things ; and axes, knives, powder, caps, flints, and bullets were by far the best goods for trading. Yet if they did become violently in love with a novelty, of however trifling a nature, there was no price they would refuse to give ; and the traveller who has, above every thing, to consider the portability of his goods, may, Indian Trading. 181 by selecting those small things which please even grown- up children here, save himself the trouble of transporting more unwieldy and less attractive goods. On several oc- casions we "astonished the natives" by lighting "Pha- raoh's serpents," a novelty at that time even in San Fran- cisco. A few small fire- works (packed in tin or zinc for safe transportation) would be much appreciated by the In- dians when gathered at their spring meetings. 182 Cross the Ulukuk, CHAPTEE XV. SLEDGE- JOURNEY TO THE YUKON — Continued. Cross the Ulukuk River. — Walking on Snow-shoes. — Ulukuk Mountains. — Land travelling. — Versola Sofka. — Patent Camp. — Our frozen Breath. — Indian Honesty. — The Use of Snow-shoes. — Warm Springs. — First Glimpse of the Yukon.— Coltog.— Old " Stareek."— Travel on the Yu- kon. — Alikoff's " Barabba."— Meet a Russian Sledge-train. — Arrival at Nulato. On the morning of the 5th we turned our skin canoe to good account by using it to cross the Ulukuk Eiver. By making several trips, we transported to the opposite bank our sledges, dogs, and goods. At Ulukuk I essayed my first pair of snow-shoes, to the amusement of the natives, SNOW-SHOE. who wondered where a man could have been all his life who had not become familiar with their use ! On the 6th we made a start, taking two sledges, an In- dian man, and a boy ; the latter we named " Tommy." We " cached " our skin boat ; it was to be brought up for us at a later period. The day was pleasant — temperature +28° Fahr. ; — but the snow was fresh and soft, and all of our party wore snow-shoes. After a little use, I became quite Walking on Snow-Shoes. 183 proficient. The only secret in wearing them is to strive to forget you have them on at all, and to walk exactly as you would anywhere else. The snow-shoe then moves forward, with the foot, but is not lifted much above the snow, and the lashings are so arranged that the toe remains fixed, while the rest of the foot moves up and down in the usual manner v Of course, the great object in using them is to diffuse your whole weight over a large surface, and they are usually of a good length, sometimes five and a half feet long and upward. An average length is four and a half feet. All used in this part of the country are rounded and bent upward in front, and pointed behind. They are made of birch-wood, covered at either end with a fine network of gut ; the lashings for the foot are strips of hide. We travelled N.JST.E. magnetic, and followed pretty close- ly the base of the Ulukuk Mountains, which in themselves are hills of inconsiderable altitude, not usually exceeding 3000 feet in height ; they are, however, conspicuous land- marks in a country which is otherwise comparatively level. These mountains run north and south for 100 miles. One of their outlying hills, the " Versola Sofka," has a very graceful rounded form. To the west were hills and mount- ains of apparently greater altitude. We occasionally stopped for a draught of ice-cold water. After breaking a hole in the ice of a creek, I noticed that our Indian invariably filled it up with loose snow before stooping down on hands and knees to drink. This was done to filter the water, and to prevent some little red worms, said to infest it, from being swallowed. Our route again lay through a " peronose," or portage, and presented alternations of open spaces, 'and light woods of spruce-fir, birch, and willow. At 4 P.M. we reached the base of the " Yersola Sofka " Mountain, where we found a large frozen stream. We camped hard by it, and made a glorious fire 184 Evening Camp. and a bed of aromatic fir-brush ; a screen of canvas, fixed behind our camp to the trees, and our snow-shoes stuck in the ground, sheltered us from the only enemy we feared — the wind. We found from experience that tents were not in winter as comfortable as these open camps, as they could not be with safety placed sufficiently near the fire. After having arranged the camp, unloaded the sledges as far as necessary, and fed our dogs, we divested ourselves of our damp fur socks and skin boots, and hung them up to dry at a moderate distance from the fire. Our Indian mean- time took the pots, and went to break a hole in the nearest frozen stream, to get the water for our tea. One of us sliced the bacon, got out a bag of " hard bread," or biscuit, or set to work concocting a stew of dried deer-meat or fresh grouse. Soon our meal was over, the ever-grateful pipe smoked by one and all of us, and we turned into our blankets and furs, the stars looking down calmly upon us " Because they'd nothing else to do," and in a few minutes we were soundly sleeping. We woke in the morning to find our breath congealed in masses of ice on our mustaches and other hairy appendages. So great a nuisance was this that many of our men shaved closely all winter. A merchant I had met the previous summer in Petropaulovski had once narrowly escaped suffo- cation from the ice forming in this way on his luxuriant beard and mustache. While travelling, he was unfortunate enough to wander into the woods and lose his reckoning. He remained there a whole night, and in the morning, when found by his anxious friends, the ice had almost completely glued up his nostrils and mouth. We always had to break up the clotted ice formed on our faces in this way, and then to perform our limited toilet by taking a little snow in our hands and rubbing it over our faces — a very refreshing op- Indian Honesty. 185 eration. We then hastily cooked the breakfast, and were soon on our way again. We once or twice made a stew, and left it simmering all night at the camp-fire. We left the " Versola Sofka" on the morning of the 7th, and, finding the loads too great for our dogs under the cir- cumstances, we raised an erection of poles, and deposited some bags thereon. I may here say, once for all, that our men often left goods, consisting of tea, flour, molasses, bacon, and all kinds of miscellaneous items — scattered in this way over the country, and that they remained untouch- ed by the Indians, who frequently travelled past them. It would require some faith in one's species to do the same in St. James's Park. This day's travel was especially troublesome, the snow was deeper and softer than before, some little having recently fallen, and our sledges were per- petually upsetting. In order to make a track for our dogs, we frequently with the Indian walked on ahead, returned, and again started forward, thus going over the ground three times. At night, after crossing a. stream still open, we came to a small and very dilapidated Indian shanty, not much better than an open camp, known by the Kussians as "Ivan's barabba" (house). It was a very wretched place, and we found it temporarily occupied by an Indian, with wife and child, whose apparent possessions no beggar could covet. Yet they appeared happy ; for did they not know that on the morrow the hares and ptarmigan could be snared, the deer hunted with a little more exertion, and that if they were positively " hard up " they could get all they wanted for subsistence at the nearest village ? A lit- tle tobacco and a few trifles were given them, and from them we obtained a light sledge, standing no more than fifteen inches above the ground, to be used by us for transporting our blankets and light possessions. On the 8th snow fell thickly, and travelling was so dim- 186 Use of Snow-Shoes. cult that with our best exertions we did not make ten miles during the day. We camped, thoroughly worn out. Al- though the use of snow-shoes renders travelling possible where otherwise it would hardly be so, they are very fatigu- ing in soft or soggy snow. The difference may be stated thus: whereas without them you might sink in three or four feet, with them you only sink as many inches. But in certain conditions of climate the snow-shoes get loaded with adhering snow and ice, and then every time you raise your foot you have to lift 10 or 15 lbs. extra. The shoes have to be consequently shaken, or otherwise cleared, at such times. The morning of the 9th broke fine and clear, with a tem- perature of +4° Fahr., and we travelled with greater ease through level country diversified by low rises, from which we could see the break in the hills toward the Yukon. Our Indian, proceeding a good way ahead, shot several ptarmi- gan, and we made a fair day's journey of eighteen miles be- fore camping. The next morning a north wind blew, and made us feel the cold very decidedly. It is wonderful how searching the wind is in this Arctic climate: each little seam, slit, or tear in your fur or woolen clothing makes you aware oi its existence ; and one's nose, ears, and angles generally are specially the sufferers. We passed this day over a rather more hilly country (in a north-east direction), and in the valleys observed many warm springs which are said never to freeze in winter. I examined one, and found bubbles of gas rising to the surface. The temperature of the water was one degree above freezing, while the air was twenty-three degrees colder. Toward night it got down to zero, and the wind died out. We made a nearly start next morning, travelling E.N.E., and later in a more northerly direction. About noon, from a slight eminence, we could see a faint streak of blue over lfHiPiP'Pi* ir i^' r,w First Glimpse of the Yukon. 189 the • trees ; we travelled hard to reach it, and at sundown broke from the woods, shot down a steep bank, and stood on an immense snow-clad field of ice, the mighty Yukon ! Hardly a patch of clear ice was to be seen ; all was covered by a wintry mantle. Large accumulations of hummocks had been in many places forced on the surface before the river had become thoroughly frozen, and even now the wa- ter was still open, and running swiftly in a few isolated and detached streaks. From bank to bank was not less than a mile, and several islands were visible in either direction. Let the reader think of a river 2000 miles long, and any- where at this part of its course from one to four or five miles wide, one unbroken mass of snow-covered ice from its source to its mouth, and he will then have pictured to himself the Yukon in winter. I had been prepared to see a large stream, but had formed no conception of the reality. Nei- ther pen nor pencil can give any idea of the dreary grand- eur, the vast monotony, or the unlimited expanse we saw before us.* My first acquaintance with the Yukon, in common with several of my companions, was made sliding down the bank at the rate of " 2.40 " (to use an Americanism), f comfortably seated on my snow-shoes. At such snow-banks it is a very common thing for the sledge to shoot down faster than the dogs, who then get entangled in their harness, run over, and mashed in the snow. They frequently break loose at such times. The driver often throws himself down, and hangs on to the sledge to act as a drag. In Siberia, as I learned from my friends who had wintered there, it is usual for the * The artist will understand me when I state that it would be necessary, in a sketch of this river, to make its width out of all proportion to its height, and therefore as a picture it could not be satisfactory. This is my excuse for not reproducing more of my sketches of the Yukon. . f Two minutes forty seconds is the time taken by a high-class trottifig- horse to run a mile. 190 Village of Coltog. driver of a sledge, when riding on it, to have a pole or stake, which he uses to impede its progress, driving it down into the snow every few seconds. A quarter of an hour's travelling over this expanse of snow brought us to the Ingelete village of Coltog, where we again made a halt, and stopped in one .of the largest un- der-ground houses we had seen ; one inhabited by several families. The owner of this dwelling, old "Stareek," re- ceived us well, and produced white ptarmigan and berries. They were unfortunately short of dog-feed. This is one of the constant drawbacks in travelling, and stands much in the way of the transportation of large quantities of goods. The dogs, of course, weaken quickly without regular feed, and very naturally prowl about seeking something to de- vour. Provisions, even when packed up in boxes or bar- rels, are not safe where there are many dogs. The previous y^ar they managed to burst open a keg of oil, and in a very short time there was nothing left but a few scattered staves and hoops ; on this trip one had gorged himself on half a ham, and was in consequence very unwell. We stopped over the 12th and 13th at this village ; both days being very gusty and stormy. Old " Stareek" har- angued his neighbors by the hour together, and they brought us a fair amount of supplies. The poor old man — probably the " oldest inhabitant " of this district — with his shrivelled form, wrinkled face, long scattered hair, stubbly chin, and toothless mouth, wagging about in the most uncertain and eccentric manner, was a pitiable object ; but we made his ancient heart rejoice by presenting him with cotton-drill, powder, and balls. Our teams, passing and repassing, would have to halt at this village constantly during winter. In " Stareek's " house several of the Indians slept on shelves or, benches built round the walls, and by this means four or five families were packed into one room. When camped at Teavel on the Yukon. 191 these places, after taking our own meals, we invariably filled up the tea-kettle, and handed round to each of those natives who had done us any service a cup of weak tea, with a little broken biscuit floating on the top of it. Some of them have acquired from the Kussians a taste for tea, but more espe- cially for sugar. As these things were not articles of trade at the Eussian Fur Company's posts, they rarely got a taste of either; nor do I believe that temper se, was much cared for by them, but that they simply liked it when hot and sweet. We started up the Yukon on the 14th. An occasional patch of open water, running perhaps at the rate of three knots an hour, alone showed us that it was a river at all, and the dreary expanse of snow almost made us forget that we were on a sheet of ice. The river winds considerably, and our course was often, therefore, from one point of land to another. We several times crossed from bank to bank to cut off corners and bends, and, although we met with some obstructions from masses of ice of all forms and shapes piled wildly and irregularly around, travelling was on the whole immeasurably easier than on the land portage. Many cliffs abutted on the river, and islands of sombre green forest studded jt in all directions. We made about twenty- five miles, then camped in a new but empty Indian house, known by the Kussians as u Alikoff's barabba." The tem- perature at sunset was — 2° Fahr. On the morning of the 15th we rose early, and, after travelling _seven miles or so, met a large train of sledges, accompanied by several Eussians and Indians. They had been sent down by the head man, or " bidarshik," of Nulato, to transport their own winter supplies, and to assist us. As it was arranged that some of our men should make the re- turn journey to Norton Sound a few days later, the Eussians turned round, and went back with us. After about eight 192 Arrival at JSTulato. miles' travel we reached Nulato, our destination, and made a grand entry with much noise and fun, and the firing of innumerable discharges. All hands helped the sledges up the incline leading up to the station, and a few minutes later we were lunching at the " bidarshik's " table on raw salt fish and bread. It need not be said that the " samo- var " had been prepared as soon as they sighted us in the distance. The poorest Eussian never neglects the sacred rite of hospitality, and we pledged each other in massive cups of strong tea. Later in the day we had something- stronger. Thus ended our trip to Nulato,- a journey made by our men later in th# winter in much less time when the snow was well packed, and when they could sometimes travel without snow-shoes. We found the quarters appropriated to our use — a low building, forming one of the boundaries of the court-yard — to be large and reasonably comfortable. The place had been cleaned out, a large fire lighted in the " pitchka," or oven, straw laid on the floor, and, in short, every thing done that was possible with the limited means at command. Later in the day we took a delicious steam-bath, and soon came to the conclusion that, after all, life in Russian Amer- ica was perfectly endurable. Fiest Yukon Explorers. 193 CHAPTEE XVI. LIFE AT NULATO. — YUKON RIVER. First Explorers of the Yukon. — Nulato. — Our Quarters. — Water-sledge. — Fish-traps. — Winter Sketching,, — Frozen Provisions. — Coldest Day. — Departure of a Sledge-train. — Dinner-party. — Indian Arrivals. — Short- est Day. — Merry Christmas. — Bill of Fare. — Aurora. — Temperatures. — Supplies. — Principal Winter Trip of our Explorers. Employes of the Eussian American Fur Company were certainly the first explorers of the Yukon. Malakoff, in 1838, and Derabin, the following year, reached this portion of the river ; the latter in the autumn of 1842 commenced the establishment of the post at Nulato, which, in conse- quence, long bore his name. In the early winter of 1843, Zagoskin, of the Eussian Imperial Navy, arrived, having reached Nulato by the route just described, and he himself assisted at the building of the fort.* Nulato is the most inland, and also most northern of all the Eussian Fur Company's posts; on Zagoskin's author- ity, it is in lat. 64° 42' 11" N., and long. 157° 58' 18" W. (of Greenwich). It is on the north bank of the Yukon, and is situated on a flat stretch of comparatively open land, bounded on the south-west by the Nulato Eiver, a tributary of the Yukon — a stream one of whose mouths is at least seventy yards in width. A smaller stream, also falling into the great river, bounds this open patch of land on the north-east. Trees of good average growth, and sufficiently large for building purposes, * Zagoskin's work contains nearly all the information we possess on thp Lower Yukon. It was translated by Mr. E. K. Laborne, tbe interpreter of our expedition, but was not printed. It exists in a German form. N 194 Nulato. are to be found in the woods at a moderate distance from the fort, and the soil, a rich vegetable mould, with clay underlying, though swampy in spring, might possibly be turned to some account. Luxuriant grass and innumerable berries grow up and ripen in the brief summer-time. The post resembles those before described, and differs only in having two watch-towers. It is surrounded by a picket, and during our stay the gate was always shut at night, and Indians excluded when present in large num- bers. Before our arrival a "watch" had been kept regu- larly at night, for reasons that will afterward appear. The log building occupied by us formed a part of one side of the fort square. The windows of our room were of seal- gut, and, as the days were now about two hours in length, our light inside was none of the best. We slept wrapped up in fur-lined blankets and skins, on a platform raised about two feet above the floor, which latter we had calked with moss and covered with straw and skins. Even then, although our room was generally warm enough, the floor was sometimes intensely cold. I once hung up some damp cloth to dry; near the rafters it steamed, within afoot of the ground it froze firmly, with long icicles hanging therefrom. The air near the floor has shown a temperature of +4° when the upper part of the room was +60° -or +65° Fahr. Our supply of water was obtained from a hole kept con- stantly open — or as open as nature would allow it to be — through the ice of the Yukon, at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the post. The " water-sledge" was one of the institutions of the place, and a large barrel was taken down and filled with water — and a good deal of broken ice — and brought back for the supply of the station. It was gener- ally dragged by men, and sometimes by Indian women, as it would have taken more dogs than the place possessed to move it. It may very naturally be asked, Does not a Yukon Fish-Traps. 195 river like the Yukon freeze to the bottom ? and the answer is, most emphatically, "No; excepting only in extremely shallow places." We saw ice nine feet thick and upward, but it was not produced by the natural process of gradual freezing and thickening, but had been forced up on other ice before the river was completely and firmly frozen. I think an average of five feet of ice will form where there is suffi- cient depth of water. Its universal covering of snow has, doubtless, the effect of preventing the formation of extreme- ly thick ice ; the current of the river 'has the same effect. I have before mentioned the Indian mode of fishing through holes in the ice, but had not been prepared to see it practiced on the large scale common on the Yukon. Ml FISH-TRAPS ON THE YUKON. Early in the winter large piles or stakes had been driven down through the ice to the bottom of the river ; to these were affixed traps, consisting simply of a wicker-work fun- nel leading into a long basket, not unlike the eel-pots to be seen on the Thames, but on a larger scale. Oblong holes above them were kept open through the ice by frequent 196 Winter Sketching. breaking, and sometimes a great number of " white-fish " and a large black-fish (known by the Eussians as Nalima) were taken, and we fell in for a share. The last-named is mainly used for dog-feed, but its very rich and oily liver was much eaten by the Eussians, and was not despised by us. In November and December I succeeded in making sketches of the fort and neighborhood at times when the temperature was as low as thirty degrees below zero. It was done, it need not be said, with difficulty, and often by installments. Between every five strokes of the pencil I ran about to exercise myself, Or went into our quarters for warmth. Several times I skinned my fingers, once froze my left ear, which swelled up nearly to the top of my head, and I was always afraid that my prominent nasal organ would get bitten. The use of water-colors was of course impracticable — except when I could keep a pot of warm water on a small fire by my side — a thing done by me on two or three occasions when engaged at a distance from the post. Even inside the house the spaces near the windows — as well as the floor — were often below freezing-point. Once, forgetful of the fact (and it is a fact of which you do become forgetful), I mixed some colors up with water that had just stood near the oven, and wetting a small brush, commenced to apply it to my drawing-block. Before it reached the paper it was covered with a skin of ice, and simply scratched the surface, and I had to give up for the time being. One of our' number going into a store-house to do some carpenter's work, put a large iron nail between his lips, to hold it for a moment, and, before he thought any thing more about it, found them glued together, and had to go and thaw himself out by the fire ! The effect of intense cold on our stores in the magazine was a very interesting study ; our dried-apples were a mass of rock, and had to be smashed up with an axe, our molasses Frozen Provisions — Coldest Day. 197 formed a thick black paste, and no knife we had would cut a slice of ham from the bone till it was well thawed in our warmer room. Our preserved meats would, with a contin- uation of those times, have been preserved forever, and would have made, as Kane says, excellent " canister shot." After purchasing grouse or hares from the Indians, they would remain uneaten, for a month or longer period, in as good condition as ever, and there was no fear of their getting too " high " in that climate. Our coldest day for the whole season occurred in De- cember. On the 26th of November the thermometer fell suddenly from the comparatively moderate temperature of +2° to —18°, and continued lowering steadily, day by day, till it reached (on the 5th December) +58° Fahr., or ninety degrees below freezing. But the weather was lovely ; no wind blew or snow fell during the whole time, and we did not feel the cold as much as at many other times. Meantime the barometer rose rapidly, and stood at slightly above thirty inches on our coldest day. On the 7th of the same month the barometer fell consid- erably, the thermometer rose to —24°, and later, —16°, when snow fell thickly. The spirit-thermometer used by myself (although by a San Francisco maker) agreed perfect- ly with a standard mercurial thermometer supplied by the Smithsonian Institute as far down as —40° (below which, as the reader doubtless knows, a mercurial instrument is of no further value) : other thermometers showed a much low- er temperature ; one, in the hands of an explorer then trav- elling up to Nulato, showed on the 5th a temperature of — 68°, but this was not a reliable instrument. A few extracts from my journal will give — in perhaps the briefest form — an insight into some other of our expe- riences at this time : Nov. ISth (temperature at sunrise —16° F.). — Labarge, 198 Sledge-Tkain— Dinner-Party. with Indians, started down to bring up another load from Unalachleet, and the Eussians accompanied him. No less than ten sledges were employed, and the court-yard pre- sented a lively scene, the men chattering with, or bidding adieu to their friends, shouting, and dragging their dogs to the "narta" (sledge); the dogs impatient, and ever and again trying to make a break for the frozen river. Here and there one was found who didn't want to go at all, and was seized by the scruff of the neck, and half carried, whin- ing piteously the while, to his harness, which he then tried to chew to pieces. At last all was ready, and the fort gate opened ; they ran down the incline made in the bank, and were soon lost to sight in the distance, their light loads en- abling their drivers often to ride, and make quick time. They would not return quite so pleasantly. 19th (temp. —32°). — Small supplies begin to arrive. u Larrione," a Co-yukon, and his brat, who carried a gun twice his own length, brought us sweet fat melted into birch- bark boxes and some Arctic grouse (ptarmigan), and we, of course, returned the compliment, and both paid them and gave them some tea and bread. This day we gave a dinner-party to " Ivan," the bidarshik, and his clerk " Iagor. n Ivan, a half-breed, had been promo- ted to his present position from the fact that he was a good trader ; in other respects, he was an ignorant man, able nei- ther to read nor write. We found him a pretty good fellow. Our banquet of baked ptarmigan and fried ham, pancakes (known, reader, by the poetical name of" flap-jacks ") molas- ses (known by us as " long-tailed sugar "), and coffee, pleased our Eussian friends well, but our tea was not to their standard. They universally use a very superior kind. In Petropaulov- ski a merchant told me that he had once imported a quantity of second-rate tea, and had to re-export it, for the poorest Kamchatdale would neither buy it nor take it as a gift. Merry Christmas. 199 17th December. — The first arrival of Indians from a dis- tance ; among them came an old chief from Nuclukayette, 240 miles up the river. He brought with him eight marten- robes of twenty-four skins each, and was consequently a big man with the Eussians. We made him some presents — a coat, a can of powder, and some balls, and a few trinkets — and he harangued his companions in a peculiarly high- pitched voice, as is the mode of the Upper Yukon Indians. Had we not known that this speech was in our favor, we should have supposed that he was making a war oration in order to incite them to murder and revenge. He was not a bad-featured old man, and our object in making friends with him was for the very good reason that we should afterward — in the spring — pass his village, and probably be glad to get supplies from him. I tickled his fancy by slipping a plugf of tobacco into his hand when he had it extended in a the- atrical manner in the middle of his speech, like Brutus paus- ing " for a reply." The reply was in this case satisfactory. 21st — Our shortest day, the sun rose at 1040 A.M., and set soon after 12 -30 P.M. The interval is given correctly, but we had no " Greenwich time " to go by, and, therefore, it is only the duration of sunlight that is to be depended upon. 2oth. — Merry Christmas ! not the first by a good many that I had spent away from home and kindred. We all tried to be jolly, and were moderately successful, yet there was a slight " back current" of regret, and a tinge of mel- ancholy in our proceedings. We decorated our room with flags and Indian trading-goods, and spruce-fir brush, in place of holly ; got out the newest and brightest of our tin plates and pewter spoons, raised a big fire of logs— in the oven ! and Dall set to work vigorously in the manufacture of gin- gerbread and pies, but it could not quite put out of mind the dear ones at home, and what we well knew they were about. We again had our Kussian friend Iagor with us, 200 Bill of Fare. but the "bidarshik" was away on a trip. Our little com- pany was composed of Ketchum, a jolly New Brunswicker ; Labarge, a French Canadian, who had lived in the States most of his days, and was a gay, free-hearted fellow, the favorite of all ; Dall, a Bostonian, an enthusiastic collector and stu- dent of natural history, always ready to assist to the best of his power, and myself. Our Indian servant, Kuriler, might have passed for a Eussian, as he had been brought up in the fort, and spoke the patois of the employes better than his own tongue. He was over six feet high, very steady and good-tempered, a pretty fair cook, and a good shot, and had only one failing. He could never resist shooting at any thing where there was the most remote chance of hit- ting it, even though it were a crow or a gull. As long as his powder held out — and we were obliged to put him on allowance — he would blaze away at the slightest provoca- tion, and, like the Indians of the whole course of the river, was very fond of saluting any arrivals at the fort with blank discharges from his flint-lock gun. But I am forgetting Christmas. About five o'clock in the afternoon, the table neatly covered with cotton drill, and set out with the " plate" provided by the company in the shape of iron mess-kettles, tin platters, and cups, was ready, and we sat down to a repast— to use a Californianism — of a " high-toned and elegant nature." BILL OF FAKE. Soupe a la Yukon. Arctic Grouse — roast. Alaska Reindeer Meat Nulato Cranberry Sauce. California (preserved) Peas and Tomatoes. Pies. Dried- Apple Pudding. Gingerbread a la Dall. Iced Cheese. Coffee. Tea. Iced Water. Aurora — Temperatures. 201 Winding up with a limited supply of rum punch, and pipes ad libitum! Not a bad dinner of itself; the iced cheese was a novelty I can recommend, only the traditional pudding was missing. We passed the evening singing and reciting. Dall read an original poem, and I brought out a MS. story (still there !) entitled the " Missing Mummy !"* 27th. — Just as we were turning in for the night a fine auroral display in the N.W. was announced, and we all rushed out to witness it from the roof of the tallest build- ing in the fort. It was not the conventional arch, but a graceful, undulating, ever-changing " snake " of electric light ; evanescent colors, pale as those of a lunar rainbow, ever and again flitting through it, and long streamers and scintillations moving upward to the bright stars, which dis- tinctly shone through its hazy, ethereal form. The night was beautifully calm and clear, cold, but not intensely so, the thermometer at +16°. A second one was seen by us on the 13th January (1867), which had the arched form, but not of that exact nature which has been so often represent- ed ; and later we witnessed other displays, though not so frequently as we had expected. The new year of 1867 began cold, and, with some varia- tions in the interval, reached as low as —49° on the 15th. January was our coldest month, and included three days in which the thermometer showed a temperature below the freezing-point of mercury ; but although the mean tempera- ture of the month was lower, the exceptional days in Decem- ber .had been even more intensely cold. In December there were six days in which the thermometer fell below the * Our men at Unalachleet organized some private theatricals, and an original piece, called "Roderick Doo, and how He was Done," was played with great success. 202 Supplies. freezing-point of mercury ; eleven such days occurred dur- ing the winter. Our supplies from the resources of the country, though very variable, were not at times inconsiderable ; occasional- ly we were down to flour " strait," but more commonly got enough of either Arctic grouse, hares, or fish. Very little deer-meat came in for several months. We carefully pre- served the white soft skins of the hares to cover our blankets, and all of us there luxuriated in such by night. It takes forty to cover an ordinary blanket. Our indefatigable quartermaster, Mr. Dyer, looking ahead for the future, got together at the end of winter about 800 of these skins. It must not, however, be supposed that our small party had eaten that number of hares ! The larger part of them were purchased from the Indians, who were ready enough to sell us the skins, but preferred to eat the meat themselves. Many an excursion on the frozen river was made by us, many a visit to the fish-traps, or to the snares set in the woods by the Indian women of the fort. The river at Kulato is by measurement, from bank to bank, a mile and d quarter, and to an island opposite the station 1000 yards ; and often did we cross it in pursuit of health, exercise, natural history specimens, our daily food, or for sketching purposes. A large log-building was put up at a mile from the post, and was intended to serve as a telegraph station; we all, more or less, took part in the erection of this build- ing. Some future traveller may reap the benefit. The principal event of the winter was, undoubtedly, the trip made by Ketchum and Labarge from Eulato to Fort Yukon. On the 2d March Labarge arrived from Unalach- leet, bringing with him twenty-two dogs, and " ukalee," or dried salmon — enough for twenty-five or thirty days' use. As it was necessary to keep all of this for the trip, it was no easy matter to feed so many hungry dogs ; nevertheless, Principal Winter Trip. 203 i we were determined they should start in good condition. We therefore got together every eatable thing that was available, and made a soup for them, as the Eussians also do at times, of oil, fish, scraps of meat,, bran, and rice. We even sacrificed our last beans for their benefit, and found — contrary to Dr. Kane's experience — that they would eat them when properly softened. This concoction was stewed slowly on a moderate fire, and when ready, was allowed to cool partially ; it was then turned into a long wooden trough, round which the dogs scrambled and fought, until the last morsels and drops were licked up. It evidently suited them ; they fattened on it. Two Ingelete Indians, who had promised to accompany Ketchum, backed out at the last moment, doubtless afraid of travelling so far from their own villages ; and their place was filled by Co-yukons, with the addition of two boys, one of whom proved the best of the batch. At last, on the 11th, all their preparations were made, and they started with four sledges ; one of these being exclusively filled with dried fish, and another with the lighter necessaries. We all feared that the trip had been attempted too late ; snow had but recently fallen, and the surface of the river was in as soft a condition as it had been in the early winter. We gave them a good start, helping the sledges through the soft snow, while Dyer almost brought down one of the old watch-towers by firing off a rusty, unused piece of artillery which he found lying there. The result of the trip I must leave to its proper place in the narrative. In place of interspersing the numerous references to Indians among other matters, as in my journal, I have massed them together in the succeeding chapter. As In- dians come to Nulato, even from a distance of several hun- dred miles, we had much opportunity of intercourse with them. 204 Co-Yukon Tribe, CHAPTER XVII. THE CO-YUKON INDIANS. Co-yukon Tribe. — Fashions. — The Nulato Massacre. — Incidents of the Attack. — Indian Murders. — Mourning Observances. — " Wake." — Four- post Coffins. — Superstitions. — " Corralling" deer. — News travels fast. — Furs and Trading. — Indian Women. — Indian " Goggles." — Children's Dolls. The Co-yukon is the largest tribe on the Yukon Eiver, and extends virtually from the confluence of the Co-yukuk River to Nuclukayette, at the junction ©f the Tanana with the Yukon ; for, although some of the intervening tribes have local names, yet they speak one dialect, and may fair- ly be considered as one people. They also inhabit the banks of the Co-yukuk and other interior rivers. In general appearance they somewhat resemble the In- geletes before mentioned, but have a wilder and more ferocious cast of feature. The true Co-yukon dress is a doubled-tailed coat, one tail before, and one behind. If the reader will imagine a man dressed in two swallow-tail coats, one of them worn as usual, the other covering his stomach and buttoned behind, he will get some idea of this garment ! Owing to intertribal commerce, Malemute cloth- ing is much seen on the Yukon ; but the style just men- tioned is regarded as a Co-yukon fashion, and, with various modifications, is adopted by the other tribes on the Upper Yukon for at least a thousand miles of its course. The women's dress is more squarely cut ; and they adopt very much a long ornament of Hy-a-qua shells (Dentalium), ob- tained from both the trading companies on the river. This Nulato Massacee. 205 is worn on the nose, and runs through a hole made in the cartilage between the nostrils. Strange to say, higher up the river, as will be mentioned hereafter, it is the men ex- clusively who adopt this ornament. The Co-yukon winter dwellings are under-ground, the same as those already de- scribed. » These people are much feared by surrounding tribes, and gave the Eussians much trouble in the early history of Nulato. Behind the post there is a small burial-ground, where lies one brave Englishman, a lieutenant of our navy, and a member of Captain (now Admiral) Collinson's ex- pedition, who, in the search for Sir John Franklin, met his death at the hands of these Indians. The narrative of this occurrence, as learned from the Russians, is as fol- lows : Lieutenant Barnard was landed at St. Michael's on. Oc- tober 12, 1850, and remained there till the commander of the post at Nulato came down in the early winter. He then accompanied this Russian up to the Yukon, travelling there by the route used by ourselves. Mr. Adams, an assistant surgeon, R. N., and one seaman, were left at St. Michael's. On arriving at Nulato, Lieutenant Barnard dispatched one of the employes of the fur company and an Indian to Co-yukuk to make some inquiries. The Russian, on arrival there, fell asleep on his sledge, and, in the absence of his Indian servant, was killed by the Co-yukons. The Indian, who had but gone a little way to obtain water, on his re- turn found his master dead, and immediately ran away affrighted. The others beckoned him back, saying they had no intention of injuring him. He, believing them, re- turned, and, as he approached, was shot by arrows, and kill- ed also. The murderers, numbering, it is said, more than a hun- dred men, then started down for JSTulato. About fort}?- 206 Nulato Massacee. Nulato Indians were congregated in some under-ground houses near the mouth of the Nulato Eiver, and not more than a mile from the post. The Co-yukons surrounded these dwellings, heaped wood, broken canoes, paddles, and snow-shoes over the entrance and smoke-holes, and then set them on fire. All of the unfortunate victims below were suffocated, or shot in attempting to escape. Only five or six solitary Kulatos are now in existence. Early the next morning the Co-yukons swarmed into the court-yard of the fort, which then had no picket-fence surrounding it. A fatal security reigned among the Eus- sians, and they had not even secured the doors ; it is said that an Indian woman in the fort knew of the occurrence of the night before, but was afraid to impart her knowledge to the others. Finding the commander outside, they stab- bed him in the back repeatedly. He lived for a few min- utes, only just managing to stagger into his own doorway. The Indians then rushed into the room where Barnard and another man, an interpreter, were still lying on their beds. They jumped up and grasped their guns and pistols. The Englishman fired several shots, but without much effect, and a powerful struggle ensued. His double gun was afterward found broken in the stock. At last numbers overpowered him, and they threw him on the bed, stabbing him re- peatedly. The interpreter was also severely wounded. As they came out from this house a Eussian shot at them from the building opposite through a hole in one of the gut windows. Instantly an Indian raised his bow and arrow in position, when the Eussian again fired and shot him so dead that he fell with the bow and arrow stiff in his grasp. The others immediately dispersed. An Indian "lofka" was at once dispatched to St. Mi- chael's with a letter for Mr. Adams, the surgeon there. This native put the paper in his skin boot, and was on the road Mystery of the Butchery. 207 confronted by the Co-yukons, who examined his blankets and clothes ; they, however, overlooked his boots, and did not therefore discover his ruse. Mr. Adams at once start- ed up, but arrived too late to be of any assistance. The cross and inscribed board on the grave, put up by this gentleman, were last summer (1867) in good preserva- tion. The commander of Nulato is said to have' ill-used these Indians, but their reason for this wholesale butchery is in- volved in mystery. Admiral Collinson very kindly put his notes of this transaction at my disposal, and I found no essential difference in the two versions of this sad story, excepting only as to whether the Indian murders preceded or followed those of the white men. We heard of recent brutal murders among themselves; and although we got along well enough with them, they are, undoubtedly, a wilder and more savage race than those of the coast. In the autumn of 1865 an Indian of this tribe went hunting in the mountains with two men, broth- ers, inhabitants of the same village as himself. In the woods he got them apart on some pretense, and succeeded in killing both. He returned to the village, seized their possessions in fish and furs, and bullied the widow of one of them into living with him. Some of the murdered men's relatives came from a distance to punish this monster, but he learned of their approach in time, and escaped to the forest, taking the woman with him ; up to the time of our leaving he had not been caught, but will eventually meet his reward, as the Indians round were much exasperated at his villainy. These tribes mourn for the dead one year, and the wom- en during that time often gather together, talking and cry- ing over the deceased. At the expiration of that term they have a feast or " wake," and the mourning is over. One 208 Mourning Observances. such entertainment took place at Nulato during our stay, and by special request was allowed to be held in the gener- al barrack of the fort. It was to commemorate the death of a Co-yukon child, and was a queer mixture of jollity and grief. The poor old mother and some of her friends wept bit- terly, while the guests were gayly dancing round a painted pole, on which strings of beads and some magnificent wolf- skins were hung. They kept up singing, dancing, and feasting to a fashionable hour of the morning ; and one lit- tle savage, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs CO-YUKON FOUR-POST COFFIN. for hours, got up the next day without any voice at all — a case of righteous retribution. The decorations of the pole were divided among those who took part in the " wake." So vigorously did they dance, that the old oven, used in warming the building, shook to its foundations, and part of it fell in. "Corralling" Deer. 211 They do not inter the dead, but put them in oblong box- es, raised on posts, sometimes decorated with strips of skin hanging over them, sometimes with the possessions of the deceased (as a " baidarre," or other canoe, with paddles, etc.) on the top of the box. Small possessions are often put inside with the corpse. The tomb can not be better described than as a four-post coffin. These are common to the coast tribes also. They have certain superstitions with regard to the bones of animals, which they will neither throw on the fire nor to the dogs, but save them in their houses or caches. When they saw us careless in such matters, they said it would pre- vent them from catching or shooting successfully. Also, they will not throw away their hair or nails, just cut short, but save them, sometimes hanging them in packages to the trees. The mode of fishing through the ice practiced by the Kussians is much in vogue with them, and they also have an ingenious mode of catching reindeer in the mountain valleys. A kind of corral, or enclosure, elliptical in form, and open at one end, is made on a deer-trail, generally near the outlet of a wood. The farther end of the enclosed space is barricaded ; the sides are built of stakes, with slip- nooses or loops between them. Herds of deer are driven in from the woods, and, trying to break from the trap, gen- erally run their heads into the nooses, tighten them, and so get caught, or are shot, while still bewildered and running from side to side. Near the opening it is common to erect piles of snow, with " port-holes," through which natives hidden shoot at the passing deer. It is surprising in this thinly-inhabited country, how fast news of any kind will travel from tribe to tribe. Should a vessel call at St. Michael's, in a week or two it will be known on three parts of the Yukon. During win- 212 News Travels Fast. ter false rumors reached our men at the coast station that we had been attacked by Indians, and Captain Ennis imme- diately sent up, offering assistance. On the other hand, re- ports, equally false, reached us with regard to the coast parties, all being probably caused by some petty disagree- ment, exaggerated from mouth to mouth. We once said, jokingly, that if supplies did not come in faster, we should have to eat up the plump babies of the settlement. Before many days elapsed, it was spread all over the country that we were cannibals, and devoured children wholesale ! and many a serious inquiry was made about it. Generally speaking, we found it answered our purpose to joke, sing, and affect gayety with them, but we had to be very careful what statements we advanced. We told them confidently, however, of the expected advent of a big steamer for the Yukon, as, indeed, we ourselves be- lieved at the time ; but, unless some private individuals do what our company proposed to do, I am afraid the Indians will think us terrible liars. .Many of them went down to see our little steamer, then at the mouth of the Unalachleet Kiver, and it excited a good deal of interest, as they spread the news throughout the country. Few individuals, even of the Co-yukons, have ever tasted " fire-water." How long that happy state of things will last remains to be seen. Their smoking habits are the same as those of the coast peoples, modified, of course, by the introduction of pipes of a larger growth, introduced by the trading companies and ourselves. The women are often passably pretty, and, when living in the forts, often improve in habits. They are there sometimes allowed a " steam-bath." They are very fond of playing together, behaving at such times like children, snow-balling each other, rolling each other in the snow, or sliding down banks on sledges or snow-shoes. I think Furs and Trading. 213 they treat their children well, and the young mothers are certainly very fond of their first-born. One day in summer Dall gallantly presented a wild rose to a young Indian damsel. She accepted it graciously, but did not appear to know what to do with it. He put it up to her nose, when she turned away with a " puh !" as con- temptuous as Hamlet's ! It will not, perhaps, do to put this down as a national trait. Of the furs obtained by them, a portion only reached the Eussian forts. Some were accumulated till spring, when at Nuclukayette they could trade them' to their neighbors, or to the Hudson's Bay Company. Another part of the trade reaches the coast, and eventually the Tchuktchi natives, as before men- tioned. Still, in one season at ISTulato, the Eussians have taken 5000 marten, and large quantities of beaver, with an occa- sional black or silver-gray fox. They did not trade guns or ammunition on the Yukon, and the Indians were very dissatisfied with both their tariff and goods. Our powder and balls, with some additional supplies contributed by Dall, were invaluable. With regard to beads, it was required that they should not be fragile — a strong, large porcelain bead was the cor- rect thing ; combs were much desired, and' looking-glasses were not bad things for trade ; cotton of various kinds was much in demand, while trinkets went for very little. They commonly tested beads by rapping them sharply on wood, on the table, etc. If they were not broken, all was well. Flints and steels, knives and scissors, were all in demand, and soaps and matches would both have been, could we have spared any. Our needs were chiefly confined to the purchase of supplies and skin clothing ; special services were paid for by larger rewards, guns, blankets, or clothing* The Co-yukon dialect is, with slight variations, spoken 214 Indian Goggles. by the tribes of the Middle and* Lower Yukon for several hundred miles of its course. The Ingelete dialect, as be- fore mentioned, is closely allied to it. It appears to be totally distinct from those of the coast peoples. In the brief vocabularies of Co-yukon and Malemute words to be found in the Appendix (V.), there is hardly a word which seems to have a common origin. That the coast natives of Northern Alaska are but Americanized Tchuktchis from Asia, I myself have no doubt ; but where shall we look for the stock from which the Yukon Indians came ? They appear to be more nearly allied to the true North Ameri- can Indian. These natives very constantly reminded me of Catlin and the older writers, and they almost appeared like old friends. CO-YUKON GOGGLES. In spring, the Co-yukons, in common with all the sur- rounding tribes, adopt wood "goggles" when hunting or Precocious Youth. 215 travelling. These are used to prevent the glare of the sun- light on the snow from producing blindness. These "specs" are made of many shapes, all having a narrow slit, through which the wearer can see with sufficient distinctness. We wore colored glasses for the same purpose. For the amusement of children, the women manufacture dolls, often very fair copies of themselves or the men in dress and general appearance. But the children soon de- velop into men and women ; and, at ten years old, a boy may possess and know how to make good use of a gun, while a girl at fifteen may have a husband, or, at all events, be setting snares for one ! 216 Spring. CHAPTER XVIII. CANOE JOURNEY. — ASCENT OF THE YUKON. Spring. — Thaw. — Break-up of the Yukon. — Preparations for Journey. — Oar Canoes. — Start. — Dangerous Condition of River. — Its Size. — Current. — Perilous Navigation. — Submerged Islands. — Co-yukuk. — Birch-bark Fleet. — Sachertelontin. — Lagoon. — Newicargut. — Purchase of Supplies. — Tooth-brush Experiences. — Medicine-making. — Indian Dissipation. — Child's birch-bark Chair. Although snow covers the ground, and the rivers are frozen for nearly eight months of the year in Northern Kussian America, winter can hardly be said to exist for that timfe. As early as April 5 a thaw occurred, and though it again got cooler, it proved to us that spring was fast approaching. On the 9th flies made their appearance, the court-yard of the post became a swamp, and, on the 10th, I found the willows and smaller trees budding. The Russians at last became convinced that winter was over, and commenced clearing the fast-melting snow from, the roofs and yard. The houses leaked much, and trenches had to be dug in the enclosure and round the fort. It was amusing to watch the lazy employes of the fur company. Their mode of proceeding was somewhat as follows : One Russian shovelled a few pounds of snow on to a hide. Two others then, with great appearance of fatigue, dragged it slowly to the edge of the bank and dropped it over. This unparalleled exertion rendered it necessary for the trio to sit down and smoke. After an interval of repose, and the "bidarshik" making his appearance, with great zeal and alacrity they started to work again. The "bidar- Break-Up of the Yukon. 217 shik," satisfied that they were indefatigable servants of the company, went in himself to take a nap, or to play a game of cards with his clerk. They repeated the process, and cleared up a few inches more ; it was then time to " chi peat "(drink tea), and they adjourned for the purpose. Their mode of working was on economical principles, each doing as little as he could ; the company paid them in ex- act proportion. From the 11th to the 25th of April the weather got cooler, with slight falls of snow. After the latter date, however, the thermometer rarely fell below freezing-point, and, by comparison with our winter experiences, it seemed quite warm. On the 28th of the same month the first goose from the south arrived, and "Kuriler " was in his element. He frequently scrambled across the opening and fast-thawing ice of the river to the island opposite our station, remaining there all night, and never returning empty-handed. On the 5th of May the Nulato Eiver made a decided break-up ; it had shown many signs of it before, but its ardor had been nipped in the bud. This time it burst in good earnest, and on the 12th it opened still more, and ran out on the top of the Yukon ice for more than a mile up the great river. In many places the rain had bared the ice from its usual covering of snow ; it is, without doubt, a powerful agent in breaking up these great rivers. The general effect was mess and confusion ; the ice dirty, and mixed with logs and debris, and the water, in tortuous streams, running all over its surface. Several persons be- longing to the fort, who had been shooting on the island opposite, had much difficulty in getting back ; and Ivan, the " bidarshik," almost came to grief, getting wedged in between loose ice, and up to his neck in water. He was rescued by canoes from the fort. Indians have been car- 218 Appearance of the Yukon." ried away and drowned by an unexpected break-up of the river, and the fish-traps are invariable swept away. On the 12th musquitoes made their first appearance, and on the 13th the swallows arrived, and were flitting round the fort, or building under the eaves of the roof. The indefatigable Kuriler bagged six geese, and, the fol- lowing day, ten more. The weather was now so warm and sunny that we felt enervated and oppressed by it. 19th. — First real break-up of the Yukon, the ice coming down in a steady flow at the rate of five or six knots an hour. For several days afterward this continued, and was an exciting scene after the monotony of the winter. A constant stream of broken ice passed the station, now surging into mountains as it met with some obstacle, now grinding and crashing on its way, and carrying all before it. Whole trees and banks were swept away before its victorious march, and the river rose some fourteen feet above its winter level. On the 22d, a quantity of " black ice," i e., ice discolored by some very dark-looking earth, went by. By the 24th the river was beginning to clear. The varied conditions in which we found the ice would make a very interesting study. Some of it was beautifully clear, representing perfect ice, while a larger proportion seemed to be in a sodden, half water-logged state. One variety appeared to be riddled or honey-combed, while a very common kind appeared to be in a rotten, yet crystal- line condition. When this struck against a second floating lump it cracked into a thousand fragments, and there was a constant sound as of the smashing of glass. As before stated, much dirt, and that of many shades, was mingled with the ice, and the water was as discolored as that of the Thames at London. Much well-packed snow still remain- ed on the miniature floating bergs ; and trees, whole or in fragments, came down imbedded in them. The Russians Preparations foe Journey. 219 often dragged quantities of this drift-wood ashore, and kept it for fuel and building purposes. Our man Pickett was set to work in the same way, and succeeded in collecting a good quantity. All was now activity, the Eussians preparing for their spring trading excursion, Dall and myself for our projected trip, and Mr. Dyer for his journey down the river to its mouths, where he expected to meet Mr. Everett Smith — a gentleman of our service employed in taking soundings there. Provisions and goods had to be selected, weighed out, and packed, guns and pistols cleaned, and oars and paddles manufactured by the dozen. The skins from our " baidarre " and Mr. Dyer's three- holed "baidarke" were taken off their frames, repatchedin rotten places, soaked in water, etc., and then again put on, well oiled, and fat rubbed into the seams. By the 25th we were all ready and anxious to get away. Although it was raining hard on the morning of the 26th, at 7 A.M. Mr. Dyer, with two Indians, left us to descend the river, and by eight o'clock the Eussians and ourselves made our start up. The Eussians, with Indian workmen, numbered eight per- sons, under the direction of our friend " Ivan," the head man and trader of the Nulato Fort. Their skin boat was of large size, had a rudder, mast, and large square-sail : it carried over two tons of goods and provisions. Our craft was a much smaller skin boat, yet carried five persons, a tent, blankets, cooking utensils, and guns, two bags of biscuit (100 lbs.), 150 lbs. of flour, with smaller packages. Our crew comprised Kuriler, as steersman, and two Indians — one a representative of the Ingeletes, the other of the Co-yukons. Dall and myself paddled usually, while the others rowed. We also carried a sail, but no rudder; Kuriler steered us with a paddle, and helped us along at the same time. The river was still full of ice and drift- 220 Description of the Yukon. wood, and navigation was difficult. The only way of ascending the stream was by keeping near, generally very near the banks. "We had frequently to cross and recross the stream to get into quieter water, and at such times ex- erted ourselves specially, so that we might not lose much by the operation. As it was, we usually drifted down half a mile or so. How shall I, in few words, describe this immense stream, one that our men were wont to compare with the Missis- sippi ! At Nulato, which is 600 miles above its mouths, as before stated, it is, from bank to bank, one mile and a quarter wide, while in other places it opens out into la- goons four to five miles in width, studded with innumera- ble islands. Our explorers have travelled up it 1800 miles. Its tributaries — to be hereafter mentioned — would be large rivers in Europe, and I can therefore understand the proud boast uttered by a native of its banks, and translated for our benefit, "We are not savages, we are Yukon Indians!" About a mile above Nulato steep cliffs abut on the west side of the river, showing a sand-stone formation, with shale intermingled, and with, numerous plants and ferns growing at their base. About noon we stopped for tea ; a fire was soon made on a very shelving bank, not selected from choice, but from necessity. A small creek of limpid ice-cold water was near it, and we enjoyed a simple lunch, and then resumed our trip. We had proceeded but a short distance when we came to turns of the river, round which logs, and ice, and drift- wood were sweeping at a great rate. It was absolutely necessary for one man at this time to stand in the bows of the canoe, with a pole shod at one end with iron, to push away the masses of ice and tangle of drift-wood, lest a col- lision should ensue. "We saw large trees pass under the Eussians' canoe, and positively lift it for a moment out of Dangers of the Navigation. 223 the water, although it weighed at least three tons, and had eight men on board. This can be understood by taking into consideration the great momentum that a floating mass acquires when sweeping at the rate of six or eight miles an hour, and itself somewhat sunken by the rapidity of the current. Had the same logs struck the canoe broadside, or directly in the bows, in all probability a serious disaster would have occurred. We could often feel the ice and logs rolling and scraping under the keel of our canoe, and it was a very uncomfortable sensation. It was not the thickness of a plank between us and destruction, but simply that of a piece of seal-skin an eighth or a tenth of an inch thick. Still a skin boat has its advantages; the tough flexible skin will give for several inches without necessarily tearing. It is in such a river infinitely safer, and will stand more wear and tear than the cedar canoes of British Co- lumbia ; and birch-barks — at least while there is yet a flow of ice in the water — are evidently very unsafe craft. On the other hand, we found that the seams where the skins were sewn together were very liable to rip, especially on the flat bottom of the canoe, when passing over logs and ice, or stones and " snags," in shallow water. At one of the above-mentioned bluffs so difficult was it to proceed, that the Eussians, after vainly struggling against the current, gave in, drifted down a little way, and then camped. Our steersman grinned, and asked whether we also meant to turn back, or whether we would run all risks, and try to cross the great torrent into quieter water by the other bank. We immediately saw a brilliant chance of distinguishing ourselves, and told him we would pro- ceed. The Russians had rather pooh-poohed the notion of Dall and myself — both comparatively young men — ever reaching Fort Yukon ; so we were on our mettle, and pad- dled and rowed with great vigor. We had many a close 224 Submerged Islands. shave with the floating ice and wood, and sometimes had to stop and drift down to let some more than usually cum- bersome mass pass on its way ; but by Kuriler's excellent steering we crossed safely, and then travelled along the bank for some distance ahead of our Muscovite friends. Nothing could exceed the glee of our Indians, and they could not understand how Dall and myself could show no more excitement about it, overjoyed as we evidently were. We at length came to a comparatively dry spot on some low ground, and made our camp. It was on the east side of the river, and the land was level for some distance back. It terminated at a distance of thirty miles in the snow- capped range of the T'Kitske Mountains. We had in- cluded a tow-line in our apparatus, but no tracking was possible for a week after this date ; many of the lower banks and islands were submerged. We erected our tents, and indeed needed them, as it rained incessantly. 21th. — Started at 3 a.m., and proceeded with rather less difficulty, finding the water comparatively quiet between the numerous islands. Many of them were entirely sub- merged, and we floated over some of the lesser tree-tops. At noon we arrived at the Co-yukuk village and river, stopped at the home of our Co-yukon boatman, and bought a large pike there — a not uncommon fish on the river.' Hard by was an Indian four-post grave-box enclosed with rails, and a flag waving over it. Near this spot the " Co-yukuk Sofka," or mountain, terminated on the river in a very grand and steep sand- stone bluff of castellated appearance, perpendicular strata taking the place of the more usual horizontal formation. Eound its rugged base the water swept with terrific force, and we had again to cross the river, which at this point makes a great bend to the eastward. We passed several small encampments of Indians, and Our Travelling Companions. 225 were accompanied by a fleet of canoes,, their owners all bound for the annual trading-meetings at Newicargut and Nuclukayette. Their canoes were of birch-bark, covering a well constructed and light frame of willow and birch, and varied in length from eight to sixteen feet, according as they were intended for one or three persons. The seams of these frail barks are sewn with the finer roots of spruce- fir, and are calked with spruce-gum. When a leak is dis- covered, they go ashore, light a small fire, warm the gum, of which they always carry a supply, turn the canoe bot- tom upward, and rub the healing balm in a semi-fluid state into the seam until it is again water-tight. Single paddles are usually adopted ; double ones, like those used by the Greenlander in his " kyack," are occasionally seen. It is a common thing for them to use no paddles at all in shallow water, but simply stakes or poles (like small stilts) in either hand ; and they will sometimes stand up when progressing in this way. Each man had some little dried meat, but trusted main- ly to finding something by the way. They surrounded our camp with hungry looks ; our plan was to give to those only who worked for us. Occasionally we allowed our In- dians, when fatigued, to change with some of the owners of these birch-barks, and so kept our crew fresh. Steady exertion is foreign to them, and they made a great fuss over any trifling blisters raised on their hands in the un- accustomed exertion of rowing. Still they behaved better than I had expected, and little Mikeshker, our Ingelete, was a capital fellow, the first to volunteer in any thing that was to be done. Some of the Indians travelling up with us had cotton-drill tents made by themselves, in imitation of the Eussians; our own men usually rigged up our sail into a shelter-tent. Ivan, in the evening, gave us some wild-duck eggs he P 226 Sacheetelontin — Lagoon. had obtained in trading ; they were not plentiful at this part of the river, We camped on the east side of the river after a long search for a spot of dry land. 28th. — Made an early start 1 a.m., and crossed the river three times, once where it was two miles wide. A light breeze enabled us to use our sail with fair effect. We found at this part of the river some tall, straight poplars, all, how- ever, with a curious bend, or " kink," near the top. We passed several Indian graves and camps. The Eussians, on nearing any Indian locality, announced their arrival by firing a large flint-lock gun, something of the calibre of a whaling-gun. We camped about 2 P.M. on a steep bank. Rain fell in the evening, and it was almost welcomed, as it kept off the musquitoes. On the 30th we waited over a whole day in camp to re- grease our "baidarre." The Russians did the same, and our Indian friends also, so that there was a large encamp- ment. It rained incessantly. Slst. — We passed the fishing- village of Sachertelontin. From this point I kept a constant running survey (bearings and apparent distances). Our only authority — the map of Zagoskin — terminates about this point. (With many wind- ings, the general direction to. Fort Yukon is N.E. magnetic ; and so little does it vary from this that my notes contain little else but points ranging from 1ST. to E.) 1st June. — We arrived at a large opening or lagoon on the river about eight miles long and five wide. It ran in an easterly direction, and had several large islands in it. At its termination the river again narrowed. Sand- stone bluffs and some crags of conglomerate bordered the lagoon. Within three days we obtained one heron, two or three ducks and geese, and a few eggs ; also some bea- ver-meat. The heron was decidedly tough eating ; the bea- ver-meat was very musk-like in flavor, the tail alone ex- The Melozecakgut Rivek. 229 cepted, which is the trapper's greatest luxury, and was re- ally delicious. The -natives here, when very short of supplies, eat the flesh of marten, owls, hawks, etc., but it is from necessity rather than choice. They "ken eat crow, tho' they don't hanker arter it." In point of fact, I noticed these luxuries generally fell to the lot of the old people, who do not have a very pleasant time of it if they happen to get feeble or decrepit. They are not ill-used, but simply neglected. At this part of the river's banks we found the spruce-fir unusually large, and the river itself was full of great nat- ural rafts of trees and drift-wood, which came whirling- down with great rapidity in the ever-varying current. Now they would seem to be gliding along steadily, when, all at once, they got into an eddy and spun round, so that you could not answer for their course. They frequently scraped and jarred against our canoe, and steering had to be an ever- watchful operation. 2d. — Large mountains to the ET.N.E. The Suquonyilla range. We reached the mouth of a large stream, the Melo- zecargut River, which enters from the N.W. (the termina- tion cargut simply means "small river" in the Co-yukon dialect; be it observed that the Melozecargut is only small by comparison with the Yukon). We passed a large log of maple lying on the beach ; our men found none gro wing- below Fort Selkirk, so that it must have travelled from some point very near the head-waters of the Yukon. The afternoon was so intensely warm that we slept for several hours on the bank, resuming our trip in the evening, and travelling till 2 a.m. on the 3d. On this latter day we started early, and camped with the Russians in the early afternoon opposite Newicargut, one of the most important halting-places on the river. The chief came over to us in the night and invited us at once to the village, and we 230 Newicargut, broke camp and returned with him. On the S.E. side of the Yukon we found a comparatively narrow opening, leading into a kind of bay into which the Newicargut Eiver empties itself. The Russians and ourselves saluted the village with a miscellaneous discharge from revolvers, car- bines, and shot-guns, as is the delight of all the Indians of the country, and they re- turned the compliment with great zest. Our man, Kuri- • ler, blazed away, until we had to threaten to take away his powder-flask. Here we met about 150 Indians of a highly decora- ted and oainted kind, wear- ing almost universally the double-tailed coat, much or- namented with bead trim- mings, and elaborately-work- ed fire-bags, knife-sheaths, and belts. They were al- most all of them living in either cotton-drill tents made by themselves, or in open booths, constructed of poles set up and tied together roof fashion, a few green boughs, pieces of birch-bark and skins covering them. Little fires were burning every- where, to keep off the musquitoes. The weather was in- tensely warm, the thermometer standing at 72° in the shade. YUKON FIRE-BAG, KNIFE, SHEATH, ETC. Medicine-Making. 231 While the Russians were busily trading for beaver, mar- ten, and other furs, Dall purchased about 250 lbs. of dried deer and moose meat and fat, and also a kind of native pemmiean. He very kindly undertook this part of the performance, my line of business was exclusively managing the crew and the travelling arrangements. An extra canoe was bought, and two Indians engaged to navigate it ; it was a sort of tender to our craft. We were not well pro- vided with trading-goods, and both Dall and myself had, in common with many of our men elsewhere, to find a good deal for the necessary payments, presents to chiefs, etc. Spare shirts, socks, pocket or sheath knives, and other pos- sessions gradually melted from our gaze. At this place the Newicargut chief asked me for my towel and soap ; and as he had been useful in whipping up supplies for us, I let him have them, knowing that Dall was pretty well provided in this matter. But here it did not rest, he saw me with a tooth-brush, and wanted that also. I need not say he did not get it; but the future traveller should either cut down his own kit to the lowest standard, or take all the little luxuries of life by the dozen. Much the same sort of thing once befell me in an airy board-and-shingle " hotel " in Car- iboo, where I found a miner (evidently from Pike County, Missouri) who was engaged in cleaning up quartz speci- mens with my tooth-brush, of the use of which he was to- tally ignorant. Seeing a just perceptible shade of annoy- ance flitting over my face, he asked me whether I wanted it? I assured him I had done with it forever. In the evening of the 4th, "Larrione," a Co-yukon, made medicine over a sick man. A group of Indians en- circled the invalid; in the midst of them burnt a dim fire. A monotonous chorus in an uncler-tone was kept up, while Larrione went through an elaborate performance, some de- tails of which would be unfit for the reader's perusal. Now 232 Indian Dissipation. he appeared to draw the evil spirit from the sick man, and, wrestling with it, threw it on the fire, and then repelled, ran wildly from it with mock terror and affright. Now it had possession of him, and he gesticulated, groaned, and frothed at the mouth — the whole accompanied by a recita- tive, artistically managed in connection with the chorus. The affair was not unlike a weird scene in a sensation drama, taking into consideration the accessories — the over- hanging trees, the twilight, the dim fire. At last the performance assumed a gayer tinge ; the chorus grew louder and livelier ; the man was supposed to be dispossessed, and he hobbled from the scene. I should imagine that the Indians were very divided in opinion on Larrione's skill ; some, from the expression of their faces, were apparently impressed, others seemed to laugh his pre- tensions to scorn, and to look on the whole thing as a farce. The Indians on the river had, in the summer-time, a peculiarly haggard appearance, caused apparently from in- cessant dissipation! They were constantly dancing, sing- ing, or eating, and slept but little. The perpetual day- light of the short summer has a wakening tendency ex- cept when one is thoroughly fatigued, and the natives seemed to feel it. I saw at this village and elsewhere on the river small chairs composed of birch-bark, intended for the use of chil- dren. The engraving explains their shape, and shows the arrangement of a piece of wood so placed that the child's limbs are not likely to become bow-shaped! The infant sits comfortably on a layer of moss, and is often carried on the maternal back on such a contrivance. The sketch is respectfully dedicated to the mothers of England, and any enterprising Oxford Street baby -jumper or rocking-chair maker is welcome to the idea. Child's Birch-Bark Chair. 233 If birch-bark is not obtained, let him substitute papier- mache or gutta-percha. Through the child's nose will be seen a miniature ornament, like that already described in connection with Indian children of a larger growth. In this case also "all rights are " not "reserved." INDIAN CHILD'S BIRCH-BARK CHAIR. 234 Meet a De.serter, CHAPTER XIX. CANOE JOURNEY {continued). — ASCENT OF THE YUKON. Meet a Deserter. — Indian Taste for "Nigger " Minstrelsy. — Tracking. — La- goon. — Piles of Drift-wood. — Nuclukayette. — Unsophisticated Indians. — Ceremony. — Leave the Russians. — The Indian's Head. — Mountain Gorge — Indian Dogs. — Canoe Leak. — The Rapids. — The "Ramparts." — Moose-hunting. — Islands. — Overhanging Banks. — Shallows. — Short- est Night. — First English Indians. — Porcupine River. — Fort Yukon. June 5th. — We got off about 5 a.m., and travelled till the noonday heat compelled us to camp for a time. The even- ing and early morning are the only times for travelling in this country during the brief summer. Few would believe that here, almost in the latitude of Behring Straits, it was nearly 80° in the shade, and the effect was nearly doubled by the fact that this heat followed so closely on the intense cold of winter. We wished, as far as possible, to accom- pany the Eassian traders, or we would long ere this have travelled exclusively by night ; but they preferred the day, for reasons best known to themselves. After we left them we followed our own ideas in this matter. In the cooler afternoon we again started, and were pro- ceeding steadily, when we were surprised to see, a little way ahead, a large fire on the beach. Indians rarely make such, but prefer to sit, even in winter, shivering over a few sticks, and we felt sure that it must be the camp of a white traveller or travellers. We landed, ran up to the place, and found standing there a deserter from the Hudson Bay Company's fort. He had, with one Indian, descended the river thus far, when his canoe had upset, and his few world- The Deserter's History. 235 ly possessions, including his gun, had gone to the bottom. He and his companion had managed to get ashore, clinging to the canoe, and were now calmly drying their clothes, waiting for something to " turn up." We of course frater- nized and supplied them with a few necessaries. The " white man" — very slightly the whiter of the two, by-the- by — declared that our supper that night beat any thing he had eaten for years. Ivan, who camped near us, imme- diately asked him to "chi peat," and gave him a blanket. We tried to induce him to return with us, which he would have done willingly enough, but for the fear of being treat- ed as a deserter. Poor fellow, he had experienced a hard life for many years, and some real or fancied grievance at Fort Yukon had caused him to take this step. He had been in the Company's service for a long period, and had entered it when quite a youth-. We learned subsequently that he made his way to St. Michael's, and got away on a vessel touching there. As he had been through a large part of the Hudson Bay and Russian American Companies' posts from the Atlantic to the Pacific, he had certainly made the " North-west Passage " by land with a vengeance. 6th. — Bidding adieu to the stranger in the afternoon, we travelled steadily till 4 a.m. on the 7th. There was no darkness whatever — night was no night: a subdued twi- light stood in its place, and the sunset glow never left the horizon till it merged in sunrise. The Indians worked steadily, for Indians ; we did our best to keep them in a good-humor, and they were specially fond of harmony. I will guarantee that any future traveller on the river, within the next few years, will hear snatches of " nigger" min- strelsy which we taught them. They readily acquired sim- ple tunes; their great favorites were "Marching through Georgia" and "Excelsior." The latter, with its insane 236 Tracking. chorus of Upidee-idee-ida ! is well adapted for any nation, people, or tongue. The water had now fallen several feet, and we began to get a good deal of tracking. Our Indians were sometimes barefooted, but more commonly wore the water (or summer) boots of the country, i. e., boots made entirely from seal-skin well greased, and water-proof, and varying only in length. The work was no joke; now they were floundering in slimy mud, now climbing over logs or round small rocky bluffs, with the line fixed to their shoulders, and the cur- rent making the canoe drag on them. The steersman had enough to do to keep the boat off shore or out of too shal- low water. We again entered a lagoon of the river, run- ning in a northerly direction for twenty-five miles, with high bluffs on the east side, and, as usual, full of islands. Bounding one of these appeared an interminable journey, and Dall seriously asked me to turn the canoe round ; he considered we were in some tributary of the Yukon ! We at last reached the main stream, however ; the island was fifteen miles in length. On the 7th we passed low, swampy land, whose principal production appeared to be musquitoes, and early on the 8th reached the mouth of a large stream entering from the west, and known by the Indians as the Towshecargut River. At the confluence we found an immense pile of drift-wood, perhaps fifty feet high, the accumulation of ages. We lighted our fire near it, took our regular dose of tea, and then proceeded on our journey. We again got a favorable breeze for a short time. The river there was very wide, with many islands. In the evening we made the junction of the Tanana River and the Yukon, between which, on a tongue of land, Nuclukayette, an Indian trad- ing-ground of importance, is situated. We purposely passed it by nearly two miles, and then, with the Russians and a TANANA INDIAN. Unsophisticated Indians. • 239 whole fleet of Indian canoes, crossed the river, so that with drifting down we should just make the village. On arrival the Kussians fired their large gun, and we kept up a run- ning volley from our miscellaneous collection of arms. This place is the furthest point ever reached by the Kus- sian traders, and is about 240 miles above Nulato. Within the last two or three years some of the Hudson Bay Com- pany's men have also come down with trading-goods to this village. Hither come Indians from all quarters. Co-yu- kons, Newicarguts, Tananas, and even the Kotch-a-kutchins from Fort Yukon. On some occasions their gatherings have numbered 600 persons. The Tananas had not arrived, but we met a number afterward. I believe them to be the most unsophisticated Indians to be met with at the present day. They were gay with painted faces, feathers in their long hair, patches of red clay at the back of their heads covered with small fluffy feathers, doubled-tailed coats, and panta- loons of buckskin, much adorned with fringes and beads, and elaborately-worked fire-bags and belts. They reminded me of the ideal North American Indian I had read of but never seen. On landing at this village a ceremony had to be gone through, possibly to test whether we had "strong hearts" or not. The Indians already there advanced, whooping, yelling, and brandishing their guns till they reached us, and then discharged them in the air. We, with the Indians just arrived, returned the compliment, and then the chief whose acquaintance we had made during winter came for- ward and welcomed us. This man had treated Ketch- um and Labarge very well in their trip in the winter, and they had left a letter for us, asking us to give him powder, etc. We found this place almost bare of provisions; the Indians dancing and singing all the same with empty stom- achs, knowing that the season for moose-hunting was at 240 Leave the Eussians. hand. The chief and some others brought us small quan- tities of sweet fat. We had expected to meet Antoine Houle, a half-breed interpreter from the English fort, but he had left the day before we arrived, having traded all his goods. He had virtually been starved out of this village. We dispatched an Indian " express " after him, to ask him to wait and bear us company ; but the man returned without succeeding in reaching him, having delayed by the way to shoot two moose. 9^. — We rested here till half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, and then bade adieu to our Eussian friends. We hired an Indian from the Nuclukayette village in place of one of those from Newicargut ; and he proved a good, sturdy, steady -going native, with an intimate acquaintance with the great river. Several canoes again accompanied us, each with a wooden bowl or birch-bark basket of embers on board, the smoke from which kept off the musquitoes, and enabled the travellers to raise a fire ashore at camp- time, or when their craft required repairs. Among our In- dian escort at this time were some Tanarias. I have spoken of the patches of red clay stuck on the back of their heads, and their purpose, which is one of adornment. But when they are not in full dress, when the feathers have tumbled out and left a mass of fluff and dirt in the hair, it has a very disagreeable appearance. The first time I observed it I supposed the man had some terrible head disease, and offer- ed him a small piece of soap, requesting him at the same time to keep out of my tent till he had washed himself. He took the soap, smiled at my ignorance of the fashions, and went away. I suspect his head is unwashed to the present day. It is a question whether he had ever before seen soap. Immediately above Nuclukayette the river narrows, and The Rapids. 241 is shut in by wooded hills and craggy heights. From this point we travelled exclusively by night, or by what stood in its place. As we had two men navigating our birch-bark tender, we were able to change our crew occasionally, and keep all pretty fresh. Birch-barks are so easily navigated that I should adopt them exclusively if travelling in that country again. The dogs belonging to the Indians with us went the larger part of the journey by land, and often had a good deal of trouble in getting round the cliffs jutting into the river. When we crossed the stream, an event of constant occurrence, they swam after us through very swift , rapids, and where there was a width of half or three-quarters of a mile. These dogs had a better time of it, though, than those at the Russian forts, where it was usual in summer to let them forage for themselves. Here they always got some- thing given them, and often fed luxuriously. They proved of a good deal of use, as they constantly scoured the woods for something eatable. In the evening they found a young moose, which they surrounded till the Indians were enabled to kill it. We travelled this night about twenty-six miles. Early in the morning of the 10th we found our skin boat leaking badly, from having touched on rocks. We immediately went ashore, and found too large slits ripped in the seams. Fortunately, Indian women among those accompanying us were ready to sew the places for a con- sideration of a (penny) looking-glass and a few trifles, to which we added a cup of tea, with a little broken biscuit floating on the top of it — a ruse worthy of the traveller's no- tice whose supply may be limited. The biscuit swells con- siderably, and looks imposing, while it serves to disguise the weakness of the tea ! 10th, 11th. — Started about 2 p.m., and again tracked the larger part of the distance. Travelled generally in a N.N .E. direction. In the evening we came to the " Rapids," an Q 242 The "Ramparts." exaggerated account of which, derived from the Russians, had made us fear that we might find great difficulty in pass- ing them. The river here is comparatively narrow ; and a long island of rocks, at that time submerged, makes an ob- struction, and the water boils, fumes, and frets around them. But there is a clear channel on either side ; that on the west side is especially good. There were other rocks more or less submerged, and the water was very strong, running perhaps seven knots. For the greater part of the way we tracked from rocks on the west side, occasionally having to take our Indians on board and paddle with great vigor. It would be easy to make this a sensational affair, but in truth we passed them without great difficulty. A steamer could go through them, except perhaps for the first fort- night in June, when the water is at its strongest. A good deal, however, depends on the height of the water. Ketch- um, the previous year, found it ten feet higher, and there- fore could not track from the rocky bank. The water had fallen at this time at least twelve feet (from its highest poinj, of the season). The heights surrounding the gorge we were now passing through are known (at Fort Yukon) as the " Ramparts," from crags and rocks of castellated structure which tower grandly above the river. The Indians brought Dall a fossil tooth of a large size, and there is little doubt that some interesting collections might be made in this direction. See Appendix (VI.). A small stream enters the Yukon about six miles above the' "Rapids" on the west side, known as the Klakinikot River. The dogs found a porcupine, and one of the Indians shot it. We camped at 4 a.m., finding wild gooseberry and cur- rant bushes on the bank. I had previously seen a quantity cf wild rhubarb, which the Indians gather in quantities, ;,:■ ,, : ; -a H\ ! . . ' ' , ■.;,;,.; Moose-Hunting. 245 and it really was very little inferior in flavor to the culti- vated kind. The wild rose was everywhere abundant. 11th, 12th, — We made a start at half-past 4 p.m., still passing through a mountain gorge, but of a more open na- ture. About 9 P.M. found we had again damaged our ca- noe, and stopped to repair it. This part of the river abounds witJi moose. At this sea- son the musquitoes m the woods are a terrible scourge, and even the moose can not stand it. He plunges into the wa- ter, and wades or swims, as the case may be, often making for the islands.* This is therefore a favorite part of the Yukon for the Indian hunter. The moose are scarce below Kuclukayette, and never 'known as low as Nulato. They must, however, be abundant on the smaller rivers, as, for example, on the Newicargut, where the meat obtained was nearly all of this animal. In winter, it is said, the Indians can, by following them on snow-shoes, tire them out, and so get near enough to kill them. Later in the evening the dogs found one near the river and fastened on him, and he was soon dispatched. In the water he is a very clumsy animal. The meat is excellent ; far above deer or even reindeer meat, and its nose, properly stewed down, is a great luxury — better to my mind than the other extremity of the beaver, its tail, which is every- where considered something specially delicious. But for the occasional excitement of hunting, our trip on this part of the river would have been very monoto- nous. On the 13th June the dogs again routed a moose out of the woods, and we easily shot it. Early the next morning we shot a second. On the evening of the 15th we were proceeding steadily, when we saw a cow-moose, with a calf * In some cases the Indians in numbers surround an island known to have moose or reindeer on it, and a regular battue ensues. 246 Islands. following her, swimming for the very bank that we must pass, and paying no attention whatever to us, although we made a good deal of noise. I instantly jumped ashore and ran along the beach, but the mother was too quick for me, and managed to get into the woods. I shot the calf, with some qualms of conscience, I must admit. It proved the very finest meat we had tasted ; others were shot subsequently by us, and one was killed in the water by the knife of an Indian. The natives do not always waste powder and shot over them, but get near the moose, manoeuvring round in their birch-bark canoes till the ani- mal is fatigued, and then stealthily approach and stab it in the heart or loins. When full grown, they weigh 700 lbs. and upward, and have been obtained 1200 lbs. in weight. As long as we were among the " Earn parts" we tracked constantly from the beach, but on the 15th we emerged from the gorge, and found the river again opening out into lagoons and shallows, with innumerable islands. The banks are much worn away and undermined by the current. It is no uncommon thing to find trees growing with their roots dangling in the air, and only supported by a little moss-bound earth. These are, of course, frequently falling in. It was sometimes difficult to avoid getting our canoe half-filled with loose earth which was slipping from these " leaning" banks, and the edges of the river were much ob- structed by half-sunken trees and logs. We frequently tracked from the water, our men proceeding carefully for long distances in apparently interminable shallows. Our baidarre seams ripped frequently, and needed constant sew- ing ; and travel was therefore somewhat harassing. 19ih, 20th. — The water alternately strong and shallow, sometimes both together. Early on the 20th a terrific rain- cloud burst over us: at last we gave in from sheer fatigue, drenched to the skin. We soon made all right by raising Shortest Night. 247 a gigantic fire near a pile of drift-wood. On other Ameri- can rivers wood for a steamer is sometimes a matter of dif- ficulty ; here it is ready, only requiring to be cut into lengths. 21st, 22d. — We knew that we could not be far from our destination, and travelled hard to make it. This was the shortest night of the year — the sun setting at a few minutes after 11, and rising about a quarter to 12. How near we were to the Arctic Circle I leave to those who thoroughly understand the sub- ject; suffice it to say, the sun was ab- sent from our gaze not oyer forty-five minutes. Toward 7 o'clock in the morning we met the first of the Upper Indians, a branch of the Kotch-a-kutchins. They were camped by a "slough" of the river, engaged in drying fish, some of which they were glad to trade for our tobacco, the supply at Fort Yukon having been exhausted. They were apparently better provided with guns, clothing, and tents than the " Kus- sian" Indians. They were cleaner, and better mannered. In the course of the morning their chief — "Sakne- ota " (known as " Senitee" at the fort) — arrived, and immediately made us a present of moose- meat, and we returned the compliment in some trifles. 22cZ, 23d — We determined this night to make our des- tination, and let nothing stop us, and therefore halted twice for rest and refreshment in place of once, as heretofore. YUKON INDIAN S KNIFE. 248 Foet Yukon. We travelled very steadily, refusing to listen to our In- dians, who were very fatigued, and wished to camp ; and a little before noon we made the mouth of the Eat or Por- cupine Kiver, entering the Yukon from the north. Half a mile's paddling brought us in sight of Fort Yukon, and we gave vent to our jubilant feelings in a volley of fire-arms, which was immediately answered from shore. As to Kuri- ler, he blazed away till we were all deaf, but for once we let him have his way. Landing, we found two young Scotchmen and a French half-breed, the sole occupants of the fort, the commander and many of his men being absent on the annual trip for supplies. A large crowd of Indians, awaiting their return, were camped outside. We shook hands with every body, including the Indians, and were soon installed in a room of the fort. Thus ended a jour- ney of 600 miles, occupying twenty-nine days — twenty-six of which had been engaged in actual travel. ■'."/ % It tk Life at Fort Yukon. 251 CHAPTER XX. FORT YUKON. Return of the Commander and Missionary. — Information received from them. — Mackenzie and the Yukon. — The Indians. — Numerous Tribes. — The Furs. — Fictitious Black Fox. — Missionary Work. — Return of our Explorers from the Upper Yukon. — Fort Yukon Sledges, etc. On the 26th June, the commander, Mr. M'Dougall, re- turned, and with him the Rev. Mr. M 'Donald, a missionary of the Church of England stationed there. Both of these gentlemen welcomed us warmly, and in their society we spent many pleasant hours. Their news from the outer wo*rld was later than ours. Copies of The Nor'-wester, a paper published in Red River Settlement, and of dates up to the end of 1866, told us of the successful working of the Atlantic cable, and many other events of the day. Our new friends did all that was possible to make our stay agreeable, and, as they had just brought in their sea- son's goods, we fared luxuriously for such an out-of-the- world place. Our stores, too, were of some assistance, yet we had a taste of the kind of life they endure year after year. Moose-meat boiled, varied by boiled moose-meat, alternating with the meat of moose boiled, was our staple diet! This fort is so inaccessible that little else but trad- ing-goods are brought in. The commander and one or two of the men get a small allowance of flour, and all get a few pounds of tea, but the quantity is so small that it does not hold out more than two or three months, and for the 252 Supply at Foet Yukon. remainder of the year they return to the eternal moose. Everything brought to this station is transported through the whole series of forts from York Factory, in Hudson's Bay, the men of each post contributing something toward their transmission. The employes of Fort Yukon fetch their goods* from La Pierre's house, a small post on the upper part of the Porcupine Eiver, a distance of 600 miles. The trip occupies them twenty days ascending the Porcu- pine, camping regularly, and but five or six days descend- ing it without camping. Between La Pierre's house and the Peel Eiver, a tributary of the Mackenzie, mountains intervene, and a long portage of eighty miles has to be made, over which the goods are packed on men's shoulders for the greater part of the distance. The nearest station on Peel Eiver is Fort M'Pherson, which is situated thirty miles above its confluence with the Mackenzie. The nearest fort on the Mackenzie is Fort Simpson, distant 1500 miles from Fort Yukon. The Porcupine or Eat Eiver is undoubtedly that men- tioned in Mackenzie's "Voyages." When on- the great stream that now bears his name, he was told of a river "in comparison of which," he says, " that on whose banks we then were was but a small stream ; that the natives were very large and very wicked, and kill common men with their eyes ;" that they were " adorned with wings," and that they could eat " a large beaver at a single meal." His informants also described it as falling into a great lake or * I took the measurements of the boats used for this trip, thinking that it might prove an item of importance to some future expedition. The boats, when loaded with a hundred "pieces," or package*s, of an average weight of ninety pounds, draw" only 2 to 2£ feet of water, and are of the following dimensions : Total length 41 feet. Length of keel 29 feet. Depth from gunnel to keel 3 feet 2 inches. Width of beam 9 feet 6 inches. Fort Yukon. 253 sea. ISTow the Porcupine, with its virtual continuation the Yukon, answers well enough to this ; but it need hardly be said that the people — as we found them — were compara- tively commonplace after this description. Fort Yukon was founded in 1847. The present erec- tion was, however, commenced in 1864, and was in an un- finished condition last year (1867). The older fort was built a mile higher up the river, but the bank on which it was placed had been gradually undermined by the strong current, and the process of destruction had almost reached the gafe of the station. It may fairly be considered as the most remote of the Hudson's Bay Company's forts, and is in approximately the high latitude of 66° N. It is well known to be within the boundary-line of Eussian America, and the Hudson's Bay Company did for a time, at least, pay the Eussian American Fur Company for the privilege of trading within their territory. After our experience of the rather dirty Eussian forts, it was quite a relief to find newly-plastered walls, glazed windows, capital floors, open fire-places, and a general ap- pearance of cleanliness. In addition to the dwellings of the commander and men, there were magazines, stores, fur- room, fur-press, ice and meat wells. The river near the fort has no less than five distinct channels, and intervening islands prevent your seeing from bank to bank. After a few days the Indians mustered very strongly; canoe after canoe arrived, and there was a constant blazing of musketry, as though the fort was in a state of siege. Over 500 natives were at one time congregated outside the station. They erected tents, open booths, and "lodges;" the latter being constructed of poles and moose-hides, and usually placed two together, the doorways facing each other, with a small fire burning between them. Each 254 Muster of Indians. male, on arrival at the fort, received a present of a small cake of tobacco and a clay pipe ; and those who were out of provisions drew a daily ration of moose-meat from the commander, which rather taxed the resources of the estab- lishment. Indian hunters are attached to the fort, and some of the canoes brought in large loads of fresh and dried meat. There was a decided difference between the Upper and Lower Yukon forms of clothing. At this place we saw quantities of buckskin dresses, and moccasins were com- monly worn. The leading men of the tribes assembled wore mock uniforms, presented to them by the company ; old " Eed Leggings" in particular, one of the Kotch-a- kutchin chiefs, was gorgeous in one with immense gilt epaulets, brass buttons, and trimmings, and had as many colored ribbons hanging from his cap as would stock ten recruiting-sergeants for life. Many had "capotes," shirts, and coats of civilized appearance, purchased in the store. In winter these people wear moose-skin shirts or robes, with the hair turned inward. We here met the representatives of many tribes. The Kotch-a-kutchins* (or lowland people) are the Indians of the immediate neighborhood. Higher on the Yukon (or Pelly, as it has been long marked in our maps) dwell two tribes, the " An Kutchins " and the " Tatanchok Kutchins." The former are known by the " voyageurs " of the company by the nattering epithet of Gens defoux, and the latter bear * In the Appendix (V.) will be found a full vocabulary of the Kotch-a- kutchin dialect, made by the late Major Kennicott, whose death while en- gaged in our service I have already recorded. It was compiled long before, during his visit to the ' territory in 1859-62, when he passed through the larger part of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. He never lived to make the trip nearest his heart — that from the Pacific (Norton Sound, Behring Sea) to Fort Yukon, the journey above described. His lengthened journey just mentioned was made from the Atlantic States, and Fort Yukon was the farthest point he reached. Hya-qua Shells. 255 the name of Gens de hois. Some of the Gens de bouleau, or Birch Eiver Indians, and Gens de rats, or Eat (or Porcupine) River Indians, were also present Large numbers of the Tanana Indians, Gens de butte (or knoll people), the original " mountain men," mustered on this occasion, and were, as I have before stated, undoubtedly the most primitive people we met. Their clothing was much befringed with beads, and many of them wore through the nose (as did most of the other Indian men present), an ornament composed of the Hya-qua shell {Dentalium entcdis or Entails vulgaris). Both of the fur companies on the river trade with them, and at very high prices. These shells* were formerly used, and still are, to some extent, as a medium of currency by the natives of Vancouver Island and other parts of the north-west coast. I saw on the Yukon fringes and head ornaments, which represented a value in trade of a couple of hundred marten-skins. Of the great river on which the Tanana people dwell we know nothing. From information derived at Fort Yukon I infer that its upper waters are not far from the Upper Yukon. The Tananas sometimes cross to Fort Yukon by a land-route. From the diminished volume of the Yukon * See the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London," March 8, 1864, where specimens, brought home by J. K Lord, Esq., are commented on by Dr. Baird. Mr. Lord says, speaking of their use among the inhabit- ants of Vancouver Island and British Columbia and adjoining coasts, "The value of the Dentalium depends upon its length. Those representing the greater value are called, when strung together end to end, a ' Hi-qua ;' but the standard by which the Dentalium is calculated to be fit for a 'Hi-qua' is that twenty-five shells placed end to end must make a fathom, or six feet in length. At one time a ' Hi-qua ' would purchase a male slave, equal in value to fifty blankets, or about £50 sterling." These shells are generally obtained from the west coast of Vancouver Island. Although I have, in the above quotation, followed Mr. Lord in his meth- od of spelling the word "Hi-qua," I must lean to my own mode printed in the text as conveying a closer approximation to the usual pronunciation of the word. 256 Miserly Indians — Furs. water above the confluence of the Tanana Eiver, the latter must evidently be a very grand stream. The women of all these upper tribes dress more simply than the men, and wear few ornaments. They do more drudgery than the females of the Lower Yukon and coast of Eussian America. They adopt a loose sack garment very plainly cut, with large loose sleeves. In the fort some of the Indian women wore European clothing. It is said that some of the chiefs and "big Injiens" of these tribes have large piles of beads — of which they make no use — secreted, miser-like, in the woods. They had bought them, not knowing how better to invest their capi- tal, after acquiring all the guns, blankets, knives, and pots they needed. Generally they appeared to thrive under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, who I believe treat them better than they do their own employes at these inac- cessible posts. The first Indian who brings furs can get any thing there is in the fort ; the men can only draw a fixed amount of clothing and tobacco, and get the poorest kind of provisions. I am well aware that this is not the case in the larger forts and factories, but at a place like Fort Yukon — which must be, by the way, a profitable sta- tion — no provisions worth speaking of are brought in at all, although large quantities of heavy goods, hardware, guns, etc., are transported thither. The fur-room of the fort was a sight not to be witnessed every day; thousands of marten-skins hanging from the beams, and huge piles of common furs lying round. They also get a very respectable number of silver-gray and black foxes. Apropos of the latter, I once heard an anecdote, bearing rather heavily on the Hudson's Bay Company. A man in their service purchased, in the hurry of trading, a fictitious black-fox skin — one that had been originally white, but that had been dyed by Mr. Indian, perhaps as a grim Missionary Work. 257 joke on the company. Of course the fraud was eventually discovered, but it did not end there. The full commercial value of the fur was charged against the salary of the un- fortunate trader, who thus paid more pounds than it had cost shillings at the time of purchase. If this be true, com- ment is superfluous. The wolverine is specially valued by all the Indians, on account, doubtless, of the difficulty in capturing it. These furs — in commerce nearly worthless — are yet bought by the Hudson's Bay Company, who then intrust them to In- dians well known at the forts to trade at a distance for marten or other skins. Mr. Eed-skin is allowed half profits. The tariff fixed for Fort Yukon was rather higher than that of the Eussian posts. A gun nominally worth about forty shillings brought twenty "skins." This term is the old one employed by the company. One "skin" (beaver) is supposed to be worth two shillings (!) and it represents two marten, and so on. You heard a great deal about "skins" at Fort Yukon, as the workmen were also charged for clothing, etc., in this way. If we asked the worth of a pair of unmentionables, we were told six "skins:" a pair of common moccasins represented one skin, and so on. During our stay, the Eev. Mr. M 'Donald, who is a repre- sentative of our Church Missionary Society, held several services with the Indians, addressing them sometimes di- rectly, and sometimes through the fort interpreter, Antoine Houle — a man who speaks French, English, and any num- ber of Indian dialects. They listened with apparent atten- tion, and joined in some singing. This gentleman has taught some of the younger people to read English, and his influence is doubtless good. I could not, however, help thinking that with an audience of Indians, representing half a dozen different tribes, speaking as many dialects, it must be very questionable whether they all understand the E 258 Missionary Work. missionary's words. As in other places, so here there is a general jargon called " broken slavee," used for purposes of intercourse ; but such a bastard dialect will barely ex- press the language of common life, how much less then the figurative language of the Bible.* One of the great diffi- culties in Mr. M 'Donald's way in this place is that the In- dians are for the larger part of the year scattered all over the country hundreds of miles apart. Of the gentleman himself I can only speak in the highest terms ; he is an undoubtedly earnest and zealous missionary, and he has one point in his favor, that so far no whisky trader has come in to interfere with the good work in which he is en- gaged, and that no rival sect, so far as Fort Yukon is con- cerned, is present to unsettle the minds of his converts. It is worthy of mention that minute specks of gold have been found by some of the Hudson's Bay Company's men in the Yukon, but not in quantities to warrant a " rush" to the locality. On the 29th June Ketchum and Labarge returned from their trip to Fort Selkirk. It will be remembered that in the winter they left us at Nulato, and were to proceed on the frozen Yukon to the Hudson's Bay fort. This trip they had performed, but with great difficulty. It had oc- cupied them nearly two months, owing mainly to the soft- ness of the snow and insufficient dog-feed. The river, too, * We find in our own land that the Oriental tinge, the metaphors and parables of the Bible, render it somewhat hard to be understood, though we are addressed by teachers of our own race, who have a perfect command of our own language. The missionary, with at the best a foreigner's knowl- edge of a strange tongue, addresses those who have no collateral education to assist them, and who know little of any thing but their own immediate sur- roundings. I have shown before how a phenomenon of nature had no name in the Chinook jargon, and that the phrase "children of the forest" could only be translated in a manner to excite the Indian's laughter. It is not, then, difficult to understand how the poetry of the Bible might become the subject of a jest, and its imagery be wholly unintelligible. The Upper Yukon. 259 commenced its break-up before they reached Fort Yukon, and their journey lay through rotten ice and water. As soon as the river broke up fairly, and at about the same time that we started for Fort Yukon, they started for Fort Selkirk (always known as Mr. Campbell's Fort), now an abandoned station. Great difficulty had been experi- enced by the Hudson's Bay Company in keeping that fort supplied with trading-goods ; and Indians coming from a distance, and unable to sell their furs, had threatened the garrison on several occasions. After it was deserted the natives had burnt it down ; Ketchum brought us a piece of its blackened remains. He found the Upper Yukon running for the most part through mountain gorges, but navigable for the whole dis- tance (600 miles). Their supplies of meat and game had been good, the Indians everywhere peaceable, and desirous of seeing more of the white man ; their trip had been made in twenty-nine days, ascending and camping every night, and four days descending the stream (without camping). The general course of the river agreed with that laid down on Arrowsmith's maps. Ketchum gave me two fir-cones, brought from Fort Selkirk, which Dr. Hooker kindly ex- amined, and determined to be Pinus contorta — a variety never observed by us on the lower course of the Yukon, much of which is, be it observed, in a higher latitude. I had, in conversation with the Eev. Mr. M 'Donald, learned that the Indians from the Chilcat Kiver (N. W. coast of Eussian America, about lat. 59° N.) sometimes came across to the Yukon at Fort Selkirk in fifteen or twenty days. Ketchum's inquiries elicited the same fact, which has been confirmed since my return to England by infor- mation obtained from Captain Dodd, of the "Beaver,"* by * The old " Beaver," now temporarily used as a surveying-vessel on the coast of British Columbia, was the first steam-vessel on the Pacific. She 260 The Eat Indians. Admiral Collinson, C.B., who has very obligingly laid be- fore me extracts from his private journal (kept on H. M.S. " Enterprise " when engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin). Up to the present time, I believe, no white man has ever made the journey. Mr. Campbell used, by means of the natives, to communicate with Captain Dodd on board the " Beaver " in Lynn Canal. A copy of a chart rudely drawn by the natives was obtained by Admiral Collinson. This sketch-map showed a river, emptying into the west branch of Lynn Canal, which the natives ascended, and then made a land journey to a lake which itself was the source of the Lewis Eiver, a tributary of the Yukon. The return journey occupied them fifty days, much of it being against the stream. The Eat Indians (the natives on the Eat or Porcupine Eiver, who trade at Fort Yukon) also communicate, main- ly via the Mackenize Eiver, with the coast natives. In an extract from Admiral Collinson's journal (July 24, 1854, Camden Bay), I find the following note. Speaking of some delay, he says, " It was so far fortunate as it enabled our Baxter Island friends (the Esquimaux) to pay us another visit, and we soon found out that they had several strangers with them, the chief of whom produced a paper on which was written, ' The printed slips of paper delivered by the officers of H. M. S. " Plover" on the 25th April, 1854, to the Eat Indians, were received on the 27th June (of the same year) at the Hudson's Bay Company's establishment, Fort Yukon.' The Eat Indians are in the habit of making was taken out in 1835 (via Cape Horn) by the Hudson's Bay Company, and this fact deserves to be recorded,; as it was not till 1838 that the "Great Western" — the pioneer of our ocean service to America — made her first trip across the Atlantic. The "Beaver" is now commanded by Lieut. Fender, R.N. , who has been so often honorably mentioned in connection with this survey by Sir Roderick I. Murchison, in his annual addresses to the Royal Geographical Society. Foet Yukon Sledge. 261 periodical trading excursions to the Esquimaux along the sea-coast. They are a harmless, inoffensive set of Indians, ever ready and willing to render every assistance they can to whites." This paper was signed by Mr. Hardisty, then clerk in charge of Fort Yukon, now commander of the whole district (Mackenzie Eiver, northern department). These facts may be of some value to the future traveller in that country. The sledge used at this fort, and generally through the Hudson's Bay territory at this part of the continent, is per- haps the simplest in the world. It is nothing but a plank twelve to sixteen feet in length, one end bent upward in a prow-like form, having been softened by steam for the pur- pose. Thongs keep the curved end in its place, and a few cross-pieces and lashings complete it. It is a kind special- ly adapted for soft snow. Eunners are occasionally, but by no means universally, added. The snow-shoes common- ly adopted were shorter than those employed by the Eus- sians, and were pointed at either end. FORT YUKON SLEDGE (LOADED). 262 Drifting down Stream, CHAPTER XXI. DESCENT OF THE YUKON. Drifting down the Stream.— Yukon Salmon. — Arrival at Nulato. — Over- dose of Arsenic and Alcohol. — Trip resumed. — Indian Music. — Anvic. — The Mission. — Earthquake on the Water. — Andreavski. — The Mouths of the Yukon. — Smith's Observations. — Pastolik. — St. Michael's. — Prog- ress of the Telegraph. — Frozen Soil. — Scurvy. — Arrival of our Bark. — Plover Bay. — Return to San Francisco. On the 8th July our "baidarre" having been repaired, we took two additional birch-bark canoes, and all started down, determined to travel day and night to Nulato. Bid- ding adieu to our friends, who honored us with a grand salvo of musketry, we pushed out into the stream, and soon found we should have little need to exert ourselves. The current took us at the rate, of 100 miles a day (of twenty- four hours) ; and usually our canoes were all lashed togeth- er, with sometimes a rude awning erected over all three, under which we smoked and dozed. We slept and ate our frugal meals on board, only going ashore twice or thrice a day to boil our tea and fry our fish. This was in- deed a holiday excursion, and all the more appreciated aft- er our experience of ascending the stream. All that was necessary was for one man to steer ; and, except when we drifted out of the current, or stuck on a bar, our trip was made without trouble of any kind. I do not, of course, propose to narrate the incidents of our return journey to Nulato, as it was over the same part of the river that we had already passed over. On the 10th we arrived at the Yukon Salmon. 263 "Kapids" above Nuclukayette, and found the Island of rocks looming out of the water very distinctly, and the cur- rent much less strong than before. Early on the 11th we reached Nuclukayette ; the Indians had separated, and only a few remained on the opposite side of the river drying fish. The Yukon salmon is by no means to be despised. One large variety is so rich that there is no necessity, when fry- ing it, to put fat in the pan. They are taken all down the river in weirs set in shallow places, in hand-nets of circular form, and by spearing. We saw the very pretty sight of a whole fleet of birch-barks, proceeding together as regularly as a company of soldiers. At a given signal the owners of each dipped his round hand-net into the water, and if, on raising it, a big salmon came up struggling to get away, there was a general shout of derision. I saw so much harmless fun and amusement among these Indians, and they evidently find so much enjoyment in hunting and fishing, that I could only wish they might never see much of the white man, and never learu the baneful habits and customs he is sure to introduce. There are at least two, and I think three, varieties of Yukon salmon.* The larger kind sometimes measures five feet. I have seen boats whose sides were made of the tough skin ; they are, however, not common, and no^ confined to the Lower Yukon and coast. On the 13th we arrived at Nulato. Our journey had occupied but five days twenty hours for 600 miles. f Here we received an indefinite com- munication with regard to our company ; one part of it was, however, plain — that every thing portable was to be brought to St. Michael. * Two varieties of Yukon salmon (obtained through the Hudson's Bay Company), Sahno consuetus and Salmo dermatinus, are described in the " Zoology of the Voyage of H. M. S. Herald." f It will be remembered that the same distance had taken us twenty-six days ascending the stream. 264 Indian Music. In our absence, P , a workman, bad stolen some ar- senically prepared alcohol, intended for tbe preservation of natural history specimens. Wishing to ingratiate him- self with the Eussians, and, 'as we charitably presumed, believing the alcohol to be pure, he gave some of them a good drink. The result can be imagined. Our poor Mus- covite friends suffered severely from inward gripes and colic ; bad it not been for the large quantity they had taken they would have been killed. The overdose saved them. Before leaving we obtained a larger skin boat and two extra Indians, and at half-past eleven of the evening of the 15th July we made a start down the great river, determin- ing to travel as before without camping. Before six o'clock next morning we passed Coltog, the point where we had in our sledge journey first struck the Yukon. This, a dis- tance of forty-five miles, was made within seven hours, a result due partly to our vigorous rowing, partly to the swift current. We passed many Indian villages, at which the Ingeletes were drying fish. Our Indians, as well as ourselves, made the hills and river-banks echo with songs ; all of us feeling " gay and festive," as the Americans say, and cheerfully looking forward to seeing our ships. I could not help remarking the air of an Indian chorus sung by our boatmen, — usually in unison — which is here presented to the reader, a " song without words." Lento. Tremolando. It was said to be an obsolete song, for the words were not intelligible to the present people of the Yukon. On the 17th, at 3 A.M., we reached Yakutzkelignik, an Indian village then uninhabited, and later in the day we Village of Anvic. 265 passed several small villages, among the principal of which was Shaglook, which is situated on the western bank, op- posite the mouth of a river of the same name, and where a great "slough" of the Yukon exists. At several of the villages we obtained salmon, dried and fresh, and one white swan, which proved very tough eating. In the evening we came to rapids, of which the Eussians had given us a very exaggerated account. A steep bluff abutting on the river, and no beach, makes "tracking" from the bank dif- ficult, but the current is simply unusually strong, and we saw no falls whatever. On the 18th a head-wind impeded us, and we stopped at the village of Anvic, at the mouth of the river of the same name. It is one of the largest Indian settlements of the Lower Yukon. There we saw native pots and jars of clay, well fashioned, and used by the Indians for cooking pur- poses. The natives there, and generally on the lower river, were of miserable appearance and badly clothed ; they see less of traders than even the upper Indians. They were very easily satisfied with our payments for fish, etc. For five needles, or less than that number, we could buy a thirty -pound salmon, and tobacco went further than we had ever known it do before. Glazoonav, the first Russian ex- plorer of the Yukon, reached this point from the northern mouth of the river in 1835. 19th. — Head-wind. We passed three villages, at one of which the wooden bowls, or "contogs," used all over the country, are manufactured. The tribe inhabiting this part of the country is known as the " Primoske " people. On the 20th, at half-past four in the morning, we reached the " Missie," or Mission, once exclusively what its name im- plies, but now both the residence of a priest of the Greek Church and the sole Russian trading-post on the lower river. We met the priest, or " pope," as the Russians term 266 Clergy of the Greek Church. him, afterward at St. Michael's, and a very saintly and heavily-bearded individual he was, but said to be by no means averse to the bottle. The inferior clergy of the Greek Church generally are, as far as my experience goes, a convivial and social set of men. At Petropaulovski, on one festive occasion, the most inebriated person present was one of these representatives of the Church. It struck us as a very curious thing to hear the foreign merchants at the above town speaking of Madame , the "pope's wife," although we were well aware that the Greek clergy were allowed to marry. I had the honor of dancing on one occasion with the " pope's" daughter. The Russians had centralized their forces at the Mission, and had withdrawn them from Andreavski — to be hereafter mentioned — and from the KolmakofT Redoubt on the Kos- kequim River. From this place they made periodical trad- ing excursions. Most of the Russians were absent on their annual trip to St. Michael's, but those remaining — three in number — soon placed the " samovar" on the table, and we went through the indispensable rite of drinking tea together. They had experienced a shock of earthquake the night be- fore ; we had felt it on the water as though our canoe had suddenly come into collision with a rock or " snag." The cliff at the Mission is of rock, riddled with holes — like that' of St. Michael's — but of a more crumbling nature. The settlement comprises a chapel, with two buildings attached, the property of the priest, and three log-houses appertain- ing to the fur company. There is no fort or enclosed space. Immediately adjoining is a Primoske village, with houses on the surface much resembling those we had seen at Sitka. We stopped there about three hours, and then resumed our journey, passing more Indian houses and one village like that just mentioned. The Indians brought alongside Andreavski. 267 our large boat, fish, ducks, and geese, and always appeared contented with what we paid them, asking for no presents — a circumstance that surprised and gratified us, as we were nearly out of trading-goods. All were poorly clothed, and rich in nothing but fish, their staple diet summer and winter. It is so abundant that they rarely hunt, although the country looks like a good locality for deer. It is wood- ed, with hills more or less bare. We travelled almost exclusively on the west side of the river from Nulato downward. The night of the 20th-21st we drifted into a heavy fog, so that we could not see the bows of our canoe, and trusted ourselves entirely to the current. The morning broke fine, and cleared up for a hot day, 76° Fahr. in the shade. The banks of the lower river are much wooded. Long stretches of uninviting country, islands, and "sloughs" innumerable made our travelling monotonous. The current was more sluggish, yet certainly averaged three knots an hour. In spring it is much more rapid. A steamer, of good power, capable of going ten or twelve knots, and built in the American manner, as most suitable to a swift shallow river, with flat bottom and stern- wheel, could proceed 1800 miles on the Yukon, and sap the entire fur-trade of the country. Such an experiment has been projected by traders in San Fran- cisco. If the United States Government would — in the in- terests of exploration — undertake this, a comparatively in- expensive survey of the whole Yukon and surrounding country might be very easily accomplished. On the early morning of the 22d we reached the aban- doned fort Andreavski (Andreas Adanotchke), and found there one solitary white man, with an Indian. He was, for a Kussian, in a very deplorable plight — he was quite out of tea ! and, as we were enabled to supply him with a little, we made his heart rejoice. He soon busied himself in get- 268 Mouths of the Yukon ting out some coarse bread and raw salt-fish. This place had a regular enclosure, but had no bastions. Two old cannon were lying rusty and unused in the yard. We borrowed the Eussian's sole companion to show us the opening to the " Aphoon," or northern mouth of the Yukon. The course followed was approximately N.N.W. to the sea, but the other mouths trend much to the W. and S.W. At half-past 8 o'clock on the morning of the 23d we entered it. This mouth is distinguished from the others by willows and larger trees on its banks ; the other open- ings are larger, and more shallow, and have little vegeta- tion on the islands and banks. The Aphoon mouth is a passage of a narrow and intricate nature ; streams enter it, and passages from the Kwich-pak mouth. There is water enough for a clumsy sloop or "barkass" brought up an- nually by the Eussians. It has a tide. Mr. Everett Smith — a sailor by profession, and a member of our expedition — very carefully examined the Kwich- pak* or Yukon mouths, and from his notes, obligingly put at my disposal, I glean the following information. Mr. Smith found that while the " Koosilvac" mouth gave soundings of from two and a half to nine fathoms, a vessel could only enter it by going out first some distance to sea. The intermediate mouths were too shallow, and he came to the conclusion that the Aphoon mouth was the only avail- able one. His sketch-map (which I have incorporated with my own) shows innumerable passages running between the * Kwich-pak (pronounced Kwif-pak) is the name given to the river by the Indians of the neighborhood, and the term was adopted by the Rus- sians. On the upper river the Co-yukons and other natives call it "Yu- kona," and the Hudson's Bay Company adopted their name. Both signify "big river." Perhaps "Yukon" would better represent the true pronun- ciation of the word. It has not yet become a familiar name to geogra- phers, and, in consequence, may be found spelled in all ways — Yukon, Yvcon. Youcon, and Youkon. Pastolik — St. Michael's. 269 mouths. He found them blocked with ice till the first of June. Generally the water outside was extremely shoal; Smith found it fresh ten miles out at sea, and there is little doubt that this is true for a greater distance. The Indians drive the "balouga," or white grampus, into the shallow water of the Kwich-pak, and there spear them. On native authority, it is said that whales from Behring Sea go into the mouths to calve. Geese and ducks are for a season extremely abundant ; some breed there, but a larger num- ber take their flight to the Arctic. Smith, in three days, shot 104. My 'friend, Mr. Dyer, our Nulato quartermaster, who accompanied Smith for a part of the time taken up in this examination of the mouths, told me that wild fowl and geese eggs were so plentiful that he could purchase from the Indians ten for a needle ! and obtain them by the hun- dred. 23d — We reached Pastolik, a village on the coast at the outlet of the Aphoon mouth sixty-five miles from St. Mi- chael's, and, for the first time after leaving Nulato, slept ashore. This place is celebrated for the manufacture of skin boats, and among the natives we saw a number of small bone carvings, some of which we purchased for nee- dles, etc. On the morning of the 24th we hired a second and more sea-worthy "baidarre," and, dividing our crew, sailed in company ; passing the Magemute village of Pik- migtalik, we reached in the evening the "canal" (as the Russians term it, and it is really little more) which sepa- rates the Island of St. Michael's from the main-land. We tracked through some parts of it, and proceeding without camping at night, arrived at Redoubt St. Michael's at 3 p.m. on the 25th. Our journey of nearly 1300 miles had occu- pied us but fifteen and a half days (Y. e., nine and a half days from Nulato, added to five days twenty hours from Fort Yukon to Nulato). 270 Abandonment of the Telegraph. Oar friends of the expedition gave us a warm reception, and informed us that Major Wright had called at St. Mi- chael's in the bark u Clara Bell" to give us notice to get ready for an immediate departure — that the telegraph en- terprise had been abandoned. Our men during winter had been employed in building telegraph, and camping out for weeks together at tempera- tures frequently below the freezing-point of mercury ! In such a climate this work was no joke, and the simple proc- ess of digging a hole to receive the telegraph-pole became a difficult operation when the ground was a frozen rock with five feet of snow on the top of it, and where the pick and crow-bar were of more use than the spade or shovel. Frequently the snow drifted over these holes lightly, and many amusing incidents had occurred of men tumbling down into them head first, or slipping in and getting half buried in holes that they had dug themselves. Their depth was usually three feet, varying somewhat with the nature of the soil ; to dig six such, and clear the overlying snow, was considered a good day's work. In the autumn of 1865 Colonel Bulkley visited both sides of Behring Straits. In Grrantley Harbor, Port Clarence (Russian America), he found that the ground, covered with a heavy growth of moss in detached bunchy masses, was itself only thawed to about ten inches beneath the surface, and below that was frozen solid. Light soil on the Yukon was, we found, in summer thawed to fifteen or eighteen inches, while on the Siberian side of Behring Straits the loose, broken debris of rocks was thawed to a depth of three feet. The latter was almost devoid of vegetation. Then, again, our men had found that their axes and other tools constantly lost their edges, when used on frozen wood or soil, and cracked to pieces from the influence of intense cold. Yet they had persevered, and had put up a Plover Bay. 271 large piece of the line ; and I can sympathize with the feel- ing that prompted some of them at Unalachleet, Norton Sound, on hearing of the withdrawal of our forces, to hang- black cloth on the telegraph-poles and put them into mourn- ing! Some few of the workmen had suffered from frost-bite and scurvy. Apropos of the latter terrible scourge, it is to be remarked that our men at Port Clarence, the WGrst fed of all our parties, who had lived for a long time on a native diet of walrus and seal blubber, had not suffered from it at all, while those in Norton Sound, who got a fair amount of flour, etc., from the Eussian posts, suffered severely from the disease. On the 18th August, after many a false alarm of a " ship outside," the " Clara Bell" arrived, and on the 29th of the same month we were all gathered once more in Plover Bay, on the opposite Asiatic shore, awaiting the arrival of our largest vessel, the " Nightingale." In Plover Bay were now encamped 120 men who had wintered at places as widely apart as the Anadyr, Plover Bay itself, and Eussian America ; and Major Wright and Captain -Norton, of the " Clara Bell," deserved great credit for the energy with which they had accomplished the task of collecting them. To most of the stations they had paid two visits: the first, of course, to give notice to the em- ployes in the interior. Of the men who wintered in these almost Arctic spots, but one had died, while a second, smit- ten by the charms of some lovely squaw, had determined to remain — a voluntary exile in Eastern Siberia ! Captain Kelsey, who had charge of the Plover Bay station, did all in his power to make the parties comfortable in their tem- porary camps. Eude erections of canvas, sails, poles, and planks, lined the shores of the little harbor, and our stay at " Kelseyville " (as it has been already inserted on a map 272 Beoaching a Keg of Specimens. issued by the Department of State at Washington) will not soon be forgotten by us. Daring our stay, Captain Ked- fleld, of the " Manuella," arrived ; and, after he had got through his trade with the natives, gave them a display of fire-works and blue-lights — a thing frequently done by the whalers. The exhibition took place on a lovely evening, and the calm water of the bay gave double effect to the scene. While stopping in Plover Bay, some of our men found a keg of specimens preserved in alcohol, belonging to one of our Smithsonian collectors. Having had a long absti- nence from exhilarating drinks, the temptation was too much for them, and they proceeded to broach the contents. After they had imbibed to their hearts' content and become " visibly affected thereby," they thought it a pity to waste the remaining contents of the barrel, and, feeling hungry, went on to eat the lizards,- snakes, and fish which had been put up for a rather different purpose ! Science was avenged in the result, nor do I think they will ever repeat the ex- periment. I was informed by my friends, Bush, M'Crea, and Farn- ham, that at the Anadyr Eiver. blinding snow-storms had been prevalent during winter, and between log-houses no more than a hundred yards apart it had been found neces- sary to stretch a guiding-rope for the men. One of our barks, the "Golden Gate," "had been wrecked in Anadyr Bay the previous autumn in the following manner. She had grounded on a sand-bar, and the ice had formed rourid her before she could be got off. At a later period a gale of wind raised a bad sea, and the ice, smashing up round her, stove in an immense leak, and she was eventually much broken up in the hull. All her stores, rigging, and sails were stripped from her, but fortunately no one was lost or injured by her wreck. They had obtained supplies of meat Eeturn to San Francisco. 273 in quantities. On one occasion they purchased 150 head of reindeer, and preserved the venison frozen for several months. The herds belonging to the Tchuktchis of that part of Siberia were numbered by the thousand. On the 6th September Colonel Bulkley arrived in the " Nightingale," and, as soon as every thing and every body was on board, we set sail for San Francisco, and made an excellent run there in twenty-two days. S 274 The Value of Alaska. CHAPTER XXII. THE VALUE OF ALASKA. — THE ORIGIN OF THE ESQUIMAUX OF NORTHERN ALASKA AND GREENLAND. The Value of Alaska. — The Fws and Fisheries. — The Purchase an Act of Justice to Russia. — The Aleutian Islands. — Volcanoes. — Bogoslov Isl- and. — The Asiatic Origin of the Esquimaux. — The Tchuktchis. — Sea- going Canoes. — The Voyages of two Japanese Junks. — The connecting Links between the Tchuktchis and the Esquimaux. — Language. — De- generation of the Esquimaux. — Community of Goods. — The "Scha- man " and the " Angekok." That Russian America is likely to prove a bad bargain to the United States Government, I can not believe. The extreme northern division of the country may, indeed, be nearly valueless, but the foregoing pages will have shown that, in the more central portions of the territory, furs are abundant, and that the trade in them, which may probably be further developed, must fall into American hands. The southern parts of the country are identical in character with the neighboring British territory, and will probably be found to be as rich in mineral wealth; while the timber, though of an inferior growth, owing to the higher latitude, will yet prove by no means worthless. The fisheries may become of great value. There are extensive cod-banks off the Aleutian Isles, and on many other parts of the coast. Salmon is the commonest of com- mon fish in all the rivers of the North Pacific, and is rated accordingly as food only fit for those who can not get bet- ter. In Alaska, as in British Columbia, the fish can be ob- tained in vast quantities simply at the expense of native la- FlSHEBIES. 275 bor. To this add the value of salt (or vinegar), barrels, and freight, and one sees the slight total cost which would be in- curred in exporting to benighted Europe that which there would be considered a luxury.* There is a further reason why the United States have done well to purchase this territory. It is an act of justice to the Eussian Government. For the past twenty years the whalers in Behring Sea and the Arctic — who are mainly Americans — had traded at certain parts of the coast, and had thereby considerably reduced the profits of the Eussian American Fur Company. Although nominally whalers, they were nearly all traders also. The Eussians, albeit al- ways hospitable, were naturally very averse to these vessels putting into their ports, and may be trading under their very noses. A large part of the whaling-captains had conse- quently never visited many of the larger Eussian settle- ments, such as Sitka, Ounalaska, St. Paul's, or St. Michael's. Now all these and many other ports are perfectly open to them, while the cargoes of furs, walrus tusks, oil, etc., will enter San Francisco, or any other port in the United States, duty free — an important consideration to them. The chain of the Aleutian Isles, comprising four groups (the Fox, Andreanoff, Eat, and Blignie islands), f is a valua- * In Petropaulovski a merchant told me that he had made in this way $6000 in one season, at no more trouble to himself than that incurred in a little superintendence of the natives employed. The enterprising Ameri- can is the last man to neglect this source of profit. A recent newspaper " Correspondent " expresses surprise at the latest news from Sitka, which states that the carcass of a deer may still be pur- chased there for three or four dollars (12s. to 16.?.); a grouse or a salmon for 25 cents (Is.). But they are worth no more at this day in Victoria (V. I.), in the towns of the Columbia or Fraser rivers, and, at the date of my visit to Sitka, were to be obtained for a castaway coat, a string of beads, or a few charges of powder. f SarytschefF (who accompanied Billings's expedition in 1791-2) deter- mined the geographical positions of many of these islands. Cook, Kotzebue, Liitke, and others have all done more or less toward the same end. 276 The Aleutian Islands. ble part of the new purchase. The world owes their first discovery to Behring (in 1741). Almost immediately after this (from the year 1745) Eussian merchants of Siberia commenced trading on them, and to them we owe the dis- covery of the larger part of the chain. It tells us plainly how valuable were the cargoes of furs, etc., then obtained, when we find that out of eleven record- ed voyages'* from 1745 to 1778, five were decidedly unfor- tunate, either ending in shipwreck or in the murder of part of the crews, and that, nevertheless, the Eussians persevered in the trade. Nowadays the Aleuts are often to be found serving as sailors on whaling and other vessels in the North Pacific. Until recently they were looked upon as the im- mediate subjects of the Eussian American Fur Company, and each male was required to pass three years in its serv- ice. The company had several stations on these islands, the principal of which was Ounalaska. The Aleutian Islands, besides having some commercial importance, yielding, as they still do, the f urs of amphibious animals to a large amount, have many points of interest. On nearly all of them active or passive volcanoes exist, and on one or two geysers and hot springs have been discover- ed. There are records of very severe shocks of earthquake felt by the Eussian traders and natives dwelling on them. It is more than probable that large deposits of sulphur, as in Sicily, may be found there. On the following islands of the group, large volcanic mountains, etc., exist : Ounimak. (See p. 108.) The volcano of Chichaldinskoi (this mountain emits smoke) ; a second near it, apparently unnamed hitherto ; the Po- grommoi volcano. Akoun. One (smoking) volcanic peak ; hot springs. Akoutan. One active volcano. (See p. 109.) Oumnack. Vcevidovskoi and Toulikskoi volcanoes ; geysers. Bogoslov Island (Joan Bogoslov). (See p. 156). f * Coxe's "Russian Discoveries." f " To the northward of Oumnack is a long reef stretching for twenty- Volcanoes, Etc. 277 Amoukta. Extinct volcanoes. Segouam. Smoking mountains ; hot springs, etc. Atkha. Several, among which are the Korovinskoi and Klutchevskoi mountains. Kanaga. Smoking volcano. Taxaga. Extinct (?) volcanoes. Gorelot. Volcano of the same name, said to be the highest on the chain of the Aleutian Islands. Semisopochnoi. Several volcanoes. The authorities for the above list will be found cited in Findlay's "Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean," and comprise, among the number, the works of Krusenstern, Liitke, and Cook. six miles in a nearly north (true) direction, at the outer point of which is the Ship Rock. It was so named by Cook, and is in the form of a tower. " At 200 fathoms within the Ship Rock is the small Island of Joan Bo- goslov. It is of volcanic origin, and did not appear till 1796, after an earthquake. The length of this small island, from N.W. by N., to S.E. by S., is If mile. Its breadth is about the half of its length. A chain of rocks projects two miles beyond its N.W. extremity, and another a mile be- yond its N.E. point. According to the observations of Captain Wassilieff, the peak in the centre of the island is 2240 feet high. This island, as be- fore stated, is connected with Oumnack by a reef of rocks, which doubtless owe their origin to a similar cause ; for, in 1778, Cook, and, thirty years later, Sarighscheff, sailed between the Ship Rock and the Island of Oum- nack. " Baranoff (the founder of Sitka) furnished Krusenstern in 1817 with some account of this phenomenon, which the latter has recorded in his cele- brated " Memoires Hydrographiques." It is briefly as follows : In 1806 the peak just mentioned was first observed ; and, on May 1 in that year, " a vi- olent tempest from the north occurred, and, during its force, a rumbling noise, and distant explosions similar to thunder-claps, were heard at Ouna- laska. At the commencement of the third day the tempest abated, and the sky became clear. They then observed between Ounalaska and Oum- nack, to the north of the latter, a flame jutting out of the sea, and soon after smoke, which continued for ten consecutive days. After this, a white body, of a round form, was observed to rise out of the water, and increase rapidly in size. At the end of a month the flame ceased, but the smoke increased considerably, and the island kept on increasing. On June 1, 1814, they sent a baidar to examine it, but they could scarcely land, on account of the violent currents and the pointed rocks. The island was formed by preci- pices, covered with small stones, which were being continually ejected from the crater. In 1815 a second expedition found the island very much lower than in the previous year, and its appearance entirely changed. The prec- ipices had fallen, and were continually crumbling away." — Findlay's "Di- rectory," etc. 278 Asiatic Okigin of the Esquimaux. It need not be said that the Aleutian Islands, lying as they do so closely together, could be very easily examined by a scientific traveller who should take up his abode on one of them for a year or two. That they deserve such an examination can hardly be doubted. The allusions to the Tchuktchis, to the trade across Behring Straits, and to the coast peoples of Northern Alas- ka, scattered at intervals throughout many of the previous chapters, serve at least to confirm the observations and the- ories of many previous travellers and authors. Scientific men are now agreed on the Asiatic origin of the Esquimaux, even of those who have migrated as far as Greenland.* Of the Mongolian origin of the Tchuktchis themselves, no one who has seen individuals of that people would for a moment doubt. A Tchuktchi boy taken by Col. Bulkley (our engineer-in-chief) from Plover Bay to San Francisco, and there educated and cared for in the family of a kind-hearted lady, was, when dressed up in European clothes, constantly taken for a civilized Chinaman, and two of our Aleutian sailors were often similarly mis- taken. This happened, it must be observed, in a city which is full of Chinese and Japanese. That the Aleuts, also, are of an Eastern stock, is to my mind undoubted. The intertribal trade carried on so regularly every year via Behring Straits (which is likely now to receive a decided check from the American traders, who will crowd into the country) proved with how little difficulty a colony of " Wan- dering Tchuktchis " might cross from Asia and populate the northern coasts of America. Open skin canoes, capable of containing twenty or more persons with their effects, and hoisting several masts and sails, are now frequently to be * See Markham " On the Greenland Esquimaux," Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1865. Sea-Going Canoes. 279 observed among both the sea-coast Tchuktchis and the in- habitants of Northern Alaska. 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