T$0. 3.] ANDERSON — NORTH-WESTERN AMERICA. 137 



portion of this ridge, as given by Mr. G-. M. Dawson, is 2,000 

 feet. The western and northern portions of this vast watershed 

 are the Kocky Mountains as far as the head of the North 

 Saskatchewan. From this portion of the watershed, in about lat. 

 6-1°, the range forming the Arctic watershed diverges, termi- 

 nating at the mouth of the Mackenzie. 



Alaska. — The Kwitchpak or Yukon is the principal stream 

 of this extensive region — a river of very considerable magnitude. 

 The Hudson's Bay Company have long had posts on the upper 

 waters of this stream, within the British territory ; but it is 

 chiefly from the reports of the party sent for exploration in con- 

 nection with the projected telegraph through Siberia that our 

 knowledge of the lower portion is derived. Thence it appears 

 that the river is navigable for steamers for 1,000 miles or more ; 

 that the ice breaks up about the 23rd of May, and that naviga- 

 tion is practicable about the 25th. The length of the Yukon, 

 including its windings, I compute to be about 1,600 English 

 miles. The volume of water ejected by it, according to the 

 accounts received, is probably not less than that emitted by the 

 Mackenzie ; but the area drained by it and its tributaries 

 (about 229,000 square miles) is very much smaller. Hence it 

 may be inferred that the snow-fall in the mountains of Alaska 

 is proportionately heavy, a result readily conceivable from its 

 geographical position — directly interceptive of the vapour-drift 

 from the Pacific. The upper portions of the Yukon and its tribu- 

 taries, the Porcupine and other streams, are well wooded, and 

 abound with animals yielding furs of a quality peculiarly fine. 

 Moose-deer are numerous along the rivers and in the lower eleva- 

 tions. In the more precipitous ridges of the mountains the Wild 

 Goat is found ; on the sloping spurs the Mountain Sheep or Big- 

 horn. Rein-deer are numerous ; the larger variety frequenting the 

 interior parts, the smaller, or Barren-ground Rein-deer the coast- 

 ward tracts. Fish of various kinds are numerous in the waters; 

 and among these, two varieties, at least, of Salmon periodically 

 ascend from the sea. The larger of these (Salmo dermatinus, of 

 Richardson) attains a weight of from forty to fifty pounds ; the 

 smaller ($. consuetus) from twenty to twenty-five pounds. The 

 natives of the interior of Alaska, distinguished as the Koochin 

 tribes, are a branch of the great Dinnee (or ' Tinneh') family. The 

 Koochins have the character of being industrious, and are in many 

 respects a somewhat superior race. They are divided into some 



