CRUISE OF THE STEAMER OORWIN. 63 



of cotton cloth. At 7 a. ni. we bade good-bye to them (after distributing some tobacco) and 

 started on our way. Tlie scene ou the beach was one of life and spirit. The men were all grouped 

 together near the center hut and were waving their arms and shouting vociferously to our two 

 Indians, who did not lose au opportunity of shouting quite as lustily in reply. 



The women, in frail canoes, were running out their nets or hauling them up on the gravel 

 beach alive with the gleaming white flsli, salmon and trout; and as we whirled past them one of 

 their number seized a struggling king salmon by the tail and by a dextrous movement twirled it 

 higli in the air and it fell struggling and Hopping into our boat. This feat was greeted with a 

 tremendous "kay " of approval, and the sound of their shouts could be heard long after a bend 

 in the river hid them from our view. All day we sped down the river, stopping only once to boil 

 a pot of tea and then on again at break-neck speed. Where we had avoided the current in coming 

 up we now sought its aid. In the swirls and eddies of deep pools the light skin boat was some- 

 times unmanageable, but we escaped any serious injury. About 2 p. m. we were running through 

 a narrow and deep slough of the river when suddenly the boat was caught in au eddy and hurled 

 with great violence against a steep bank. All of us were unseated by the shock and the midship 

 thwart was displaced. An examination disclosed no serious damage, however, and we proceeded. 

 I examined the mouth of the Notmoktowoak or "Pack" River, a branch of the Kowak, which 

 drains the country between the Noatok and the latter stream, and passed through two sloughs 

 which I had not seen in coming up. The character of the shores remained the same throughout 

 the day. Steep black banks from twenty to thirty feet high, and occasionally a jutting point of 

 fine mica and gravel, show that underneath this layer of mold there is a substratum of sand and, 

 I think, clay. The boat leaked considerably during the aftv^^rnoon and at 8 p. m., when opposite 

 the Indian village at which we first camped in coming up, I resolved to stop and have a look at 

 her. We hauled her out, but Andre could not find any fresh leaks, although she was thoroughly 

 saturated and tilled with sand and needed a good drying in order to make her tight. Accordingly 

 1 concluded to stop here until the next night, when she would be in good condition again. Average 

 temperature, 95°. 



July 30, 1884. — Light northeast breeze with clear, warm weather throughout the day. This 

 morning we discovered that during the night a long seam in the stem of the boat had opened and 

 I sent across the river for an Indian woman to repair it. This job would occupy some time, 

 and as the boat needed a day's drying I resolved to seize the opportunity of visiting the Jade 

 Mountain, which is about twelve miles distant from this i)lace. Accordingly at 9 30 a. m. I started, 

 accompanied by Andre and Natorak. The other Indians of our party refused to go, as they said 

 that their shaman had declared the devil in the mountains would surely catch them if they went on 

 any such excursion. Our walk across to the mountains was attended by excessive fatigue. Our 

 way lay across the soft, yielding tundra through lagoons, around lakes and dense thickets of 

 tangled willows and cottonwood, and long stretches of pine woods, where fallen trees caused 

 us constantly to turn aside and travel by a circuitous roui e. At one moment exposed to the burning 

 heat of the summer sun, and the next floundering, plunging, and struggling waist deep in dark 

 pools of stagnant water where the light of day never penetrates, we reached at last the banks of a 

 roaring torrent which sweeps around the base of the Jade Mountain and separates it from a high 

 rugged peak of the same range. The bed of the stream was tilled with stones, and huge heaps of 

 them had been piled up with humanlike intention by the ice. Andre and I began at once our 

 search for the green stone, but the heart of Natorak failed him here and he could not be induced 

 to go any nearer to the supposed residence of his satauic majesty. We left him to make the 

 cam]) fire and cook the supper, while we took our way further up stream. Large quantities of 

 green stone were found in the bed of the stream and scattered along its banks. The whole 

 mountain seems to be composed of it, and the sides of the clifls are like polished glass, so smooth 

 have they been made by pressure or friction. Following the course of the stream we collected a 

 number of specimens of stone aggregating in weight about seventy-five or one hundred pounds and 

 returned to the camp, when we divided our specimens into three packs convenient for carrying, 

 and as it was by this time about 11 p. m., we drank a cup of tea and lay down by the fire to snatch 

 a few hours' sleep prior to our return. Average temperature, 90°. « 



