62 (JKUISE OF THE STEAMER COIIWIN. 



birch- bark ciiiioes tliey use in lisliing are uever taken as far as the hi-ad of the river. I was 

 iiilbriued that it woiiUl take us at least twelve days to reach the head of boat navigation, and that 

 then we would have to leave our boats and travel by foot ahmg the bank of the river one daj- 

 more, as there are two water-falls to be passed, and the river-bed is lilled witli rocks, and it would 

 be folly to attempt to pass through the rapids with a boat. I also learned that from this village a 

 portage could be niadf to the Kowak, and we would strike the river some twenty live or thirty 

 miles up-stream from the mouth of the Umakalookta. The Indians agreed to iielp us make the 

 portage if we remained with them till morning. By this means we could retrieve the day lost 

 in .coming here, and I determined to take this means of returning to the river. We had some 

 delicious salmon for sui)per to-night, freshly caught from the ice-cold little stream whi(th Hashes 

 down between banks covered with snow to the Kowak, with whose water it mingles and takes 

 uj) its march to the sea. 



July 28, 1884. — -Vt 8 a m. we started on our way to the river by way of the portage, and after 

 eight hours of hard work we reached the Kowak at a point about thirty-tive miles from the mouth 

 of the Unmkalookta. Our first portage was about a mile over tundra laud bordering tlie Uma- 

 kalookta up the side of a liill still covered with snow, and down into a sn.all lake, in which we 

 launched our boat; anil, in company with about twenty Indians who came along with their birch- 

 bark canoes, we crossed this lake and gained our .second i)ortage. Ilere it was necessary to take 

 the boat ilirough a dense thicket of willows, and the walking was very bad. Over stumps and 

 through mud and water sonu'times knee deep we llonndered along for a distance of a quarter of a 

 mile, and again wo struck the shores of a lake. This was much larger than the first lake traversed, 

 and it took us about four hours to cross it. The high tre«s of the river could now be seen, but 

 between us lay a morass into which we i)liingeil, and for tiie space of an hour struggled to 

 get through. At last we succeeded aud reached the Ivowak, whose broad, unobstructed surface 

 seemed to welcome us back. Launching our boat we paddled away up stream until we reached a 

 small fishing settlement, and here I called a halt, as the skin boat was leaking badly and had 

 to be repaired immediately. Andre soon had two Indian women at work on the boat, and while 

 he was preparing our supper I climbed up on the side of the mountain and looked around me. The 

 river winds its sinuous way around the foot of the mountains and off into the le\el country 

 beyond, its surface sometimes broken into a tliousand ri[)ples by the force of tlie current, and 

 again lying smooth ami glassy under the lee of some projecting point. Far beyond a range of 

 mountains rear their whitened summits to the skies^and the Imlians informed me that from tlie 

 tops of the mountains the high peaks around the head of the river can be seen on a clear day. 

 Briefly stated, our condition was as follows: We were about 125 miles from the launch and had 

 five days' provisions with us. We had still about 275 miles to go before we could reach the water- 

 fall at the head of boat navigation. It would take us twelve days to reach this point. The Imlians 

 had agreed to go with us eight days, and they now wanted to return. It would take seven days 

 to get a fresh su|)ply of provisions from the launch, and in the mean time our boat was rotting and 

 be(;oming unsafe from the wear of the sand unavoidably taken in her and by being dragged over 

 .shoal places. In the event of an accident to her my base of supi)lies was .so far removed that it 

 would be impossible for me to reach it without i)lacing my party in a very bad j)osition. Within 

 the last two or three or five days I had observed a consideiable fall of the water and a diminution 

 of the force of the cuirent, and as the Indians informed me ihat the water would now get lower 

 with every day's tine weather, I decided to abandon tiie piesent project and to return to the launch, 

 there to make a fresh start, and by working day and night to get both boats as high as the rapids, 

 and then renew the attempt to reach the water-fall with thc^ skin boat. Having reached this con- 

 clusion we made ready for an early start the next day for the launch. To night we were presented 

 by the Indians with some excellent salmon, and returned the compliment by a present of beads 

 and tobac(!0. Temperature, i>5'='. 



■filly 2'.>, 1884.— The weather all day was warm and pleasant, but it was .so cloudy at noon that 

 I could not get an observation. The Indians who accompanied us had taken up theii residence 

 on this beach for all summer apparently, as they had constructed a number of hou.ses by weaving 

 to"ethe» the sui»ple willow boughs in basket fashion and covering them with skins and olil pieces 



