138 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viiL 



twenty or more different septs, each bearing a specific cognomen 

 with the general affix " Koochin," meaning I believe "people." 

 Approaching the coast the country assumes the generally deso- 

 late aspect of the Arctic Ocean confines, and the Esquimaux 

 occupy the immediate sea-board. It is probable that with time 

 mineral deposits of various kinds may be developed in Alaska. 

 So far copper is known to exist in parts ; and during the past 

 summer some gold-seekers have been working upon streams 

 falling into Cook's Inlet, the daily yield of whose labours is re- 

 ported to have been moderately productive, averaging from $4. 00 

 to $5.00 per man. Fossil ivory, as on the Siberian shore, is 

 known to exist in the northern part of Alaska, adjoining 

 Behring's Strait.* The name Alaska I believe to be a modifi- 

 cation of the term for this coast employed by the natives of 

 Kamtchatka ; who,according to Benyowski (Voyages et Memoires, 

 &c. Paris 1791) distinguished the main shore of America as 

 Alacsina (or Alacsa), the termination being apparently an affix. 

 The Point " Le Grande Alacsina" mentioned at page 413 of 

 vol I, I identify with what is now known as Cape Prince of 

 Wales. 



Mackenzie River. — This river, with its tributaries, drains an 

 area of about 520,000 square miles, or more than double that 

 drained by the Yukon. Its length from the mouth on the Arctic 

 Ocean to its remote heads in the Bocky Mountains, by the 

 line of Peace Biver, and including windings, is little, if at all, 

 short of 2,000 miles. Unlike the Yukon, there are several 

 lakes of very large dimensions connected with it. The lower 

 part of the Mackenzie shares the generally barren and inhospit- 

 able nature of the Arctic coast ; and there is little vegetation 

 beyond a few stunted willows, the cranberry, the widely distri- 

 buted "Labrador Tea" (Ledum palustre) and other products 

 of a congenial class. Yet even amid this scene of desolation, 

 Mackenzie noticed, in July, tracts of luxuriant grasses mingled 

 with gay flowers, covering the iec-bound soil ; just as navigators 

 have noticed the same seeming anomaly in Kotzebue Sound and 

 elsewhere along the Strait of Behring. Bein-deer are the only 

 species of the family found here ; Foxes of several varieties, includ- 

 ing the white ( Vulpes Lagopus) occur ; also the Marmot, the Bear, 



* Kotzebue, in 1816, when landed on Chamissa Island in Kotzebue 

 Sound, discovered the remains of Elephas primigenius, apparently 

 portions of a large deposit, imbedded in the land ice. 



