io THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



some Alaska jays, and a rough-legged hawk. After we 

 had pitched the tents and had some tea, I took my rifle and 

 went up the creek, but returned after two hours, having 

 seen no signs of active animal life except a few birds. 



July io. We packed and started late the next morning, 

 still endeavoring to follow the blazed trail, which we had 

 been told would lead to an abandoned logging camp, six- 

 teen miles up the river. Here and there we could pick it up 

 and follow it for a short distance, but most of the time we 

 travelled independently, following the bars of the river, 

 fording it many times, while the woods on both sides were 

 so thick that Gage was constantly obliged to go ahead and 

 cut a trail so that the horses could get through with their 

 packs. Rungius and myself wore leather moccasins, the 

 worst possible footgear in which to ford these northern 

 rivers, where the current runs from six to ten miles an 

 hour over an extremely rocky bottom on which the smooth 

 moccasins slip almost as if on ice. In many places it 

 would have been dangerous to fall, since a foothold could 

 not be regained and one might become entangled in the 

 driftwood or hurled against rocks while being carried down 

 the continuous rapids. The others wore hobnail shoes, 

 the only thing in which to travel along rocky rivers which 

 have to be forded. Time after time we saved ourselves 

 from falling by holding onto the horses, for they had no 

 difficulty in keeping a solid footing. 



Most of the day was perfect, though a light thunder 

 shower fell in the evening. Soon after starting we saw 

 the old track of a black bear; later we killed a porcupine 

 and two Alaska Spruce grouse. We ate the porcupine 



