i 4 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



then only when other meat is lacking. As a fish for the 

 frying pan they are most inferior, for when cooked they 

 are soft and have not much flavor. It is said that later 

 in the fall they become harder, and perhaps that is so, 

 but on the whole I am convinced that they could never 

 satisfy the taste of one accustomed to trout, bass, or even 

 perch. Still, they do afford a relief from bacon and beans, 

 and when travelling in the north I have always been 

 glad to get them. After catching a mess of grayling, I 

 took my rifle and made a wide circle around a ridge 

 behind the cabins, seeing abundant old moose tracks, 

 two or three olive-backed thrushes, and a few juncos and 

 red squirrels. Returning to camp about 10.30 at night 

 I took the rod again and quickly captured three more 

 graylings from the same pool, even after Rungius had 

 just caught some before me. At 11.30 I rolled under 

 my blanket, beginning to realize that the continual day- 

 light caused irregular hours. It did not, however, inter- 

 fere with sound sleep. 



July 12. Starting up the creek we found it was 

 becoming narrower and swifter, descending more rapidly. 

 We travelled on bars, fording back and forth, often cut- 

 ting trails through the woods until we reached the en- 

 trance to the canon five miles up. We had passed be- 

 yond the signs of man, except now and then the evidence 

 of a trapper or an Indian. Near the canon the moun- 

 tains were higher, some rising above timber-line, where 

 the sides and tops were smooth and mossy, and in some 

 places covered with snow. As we loitered for a few 

 moments on a bar in the creek, I scanned the side of the 



