REMINISCENCES OF YUKON EXPLORATION 135 



Avill be prudent to sleep at noon and utilize the cooler hours when the 

 sun sweeps low along the northern horizon and the insects are less 

 active. 



As the summer ripens the mosquitoes become less troublesome, 

 i hough never entirely absent. The strenuous period of the spring floods 

 being over, the great river settles down into its normal summer flow. 

 Early in July it was the ancient custom for the Yukon Men, the 

 Mountain Men from the Tanana Eiver, and sometimes strangers from 

 the Upper Yukon or the Koyukon tributary, to meet on a small fiat 

 island where the Tanana and Yukon come together. This was the 

 neutral ground, Nu-klfik-a-yet' in the Indian tongue. Here no man 

 might bring his quarrel, no tribe its feud. The meeting was devoted 

 to the peaceful barter of furs, and to festivities where food, the weird 

 Indian music and Indian dances, were the rule. 



Many years ago I was fortunate enough to be present at the annual 

 meeting. My companion and myself were the first whites to have that 

 experience. On arrival, after the usual harangue from the senior 

 chief ashore and the spokesman of our party, and several salvos from 

 flintlock muskets ashore and the shot guns afloat, we were allowed to 

 land and a camping ground designated for us by the master of cere- 

 monies, who held his office with dignity. 



Later on shouts announced the arrival of the Mountain Men and 

 we hastened to the beach to witness their reception. Dressed in his 

 finest array the senior chief stood at the top of the bank, his followers 

 all arrayed in their best, standing with loaded muskets ready for the 

 salute. 



Swiftly around the bend in the river came the little fleet of birch 

 canoes elegantly fashioned, uniform in length and pattern, each holding 

 one man with his bundle of furs and store of provisions. They were 

 uniformly dressed in their purely aboriginal costume of dressed deer- 

 skin, ornamented with fringes, quill embroidery, and patterns drawn 

 in red, derived from a soft argillaceous ore of iron. The trousers were 

 continuous with the moccasins, and the upper garment bore a pointed 

 skirt or pendant before and behind. Their long hair tied in two locks 

 at the side of the head, wound with beads and polished with bear's 

 grease, was sprinkled with the chopped up down of swans. Their faces 

 were painted with red ochre, every man wore an ornament piercing 

 the cartilage of the nose, and a belt of dentalium shell or caribou 

 teeth. Their guns lay beside them. With military precision the paddles 

 struck the water in unison, the canoes wheeled and came to rest, paddles 

 uplifted, a short distance from the beach, while every gun on shore 

 boomed its salute. The ceremonies of landing and camping once over, 

 the interest felt in meeting these handsome athletic men, who had 

 never before seen or been seen by whites, was very great. Although 



