THE PELLY RIVER 179 



summer. Horse, canoes, and provisions were loaded on 

 the boat, and at 2.30 in the afternoon we started and were 

 soon steaming up the Pelly River. 



July 17. The Vidette was a small stern-wheel steamer 

 of light draft and powerful engines; her captain and pilot 

 were experienced river navigators and had long been in 

 the service of the government. Two of the trappers, Van 

 Gorda and Corning, were returning to their cabins on 

 the upper Pelly above Hoole Canon. Another, Rose, had 

 a cabin on the Pelly, fifty miles below Ross River; and 

 two other prospectors were about to winter at Hoole 

 Canon to prospect the creeks in that vicinity. 



How delightful it was to be again steaming up the 

 Pelly in a comfortable little steamer, under sunny skies, 

 with interesting companions, and with the anticipation of 

 exploring new country and studying the sheep! 



Two of the trappers had occupied cabins that I had 

 seen the previous year on the banks of the MacMillan, 

 and I tried to get from all as much information as possible 

 about the country and its animals. But the trappers and 

 even the market hunters of Yukon Territory and Alaska, 

 with rare exceptions, care little about the habits of ani- 

 mals and have not cultivated the power of accurate 

 observation. Though some are good moose hunters, and 

 understand where to find and how to kill these animals, 

 they appear to know little about their life history, and 

 even such observations as they have made are unusually 

 tinctured with erroneous interpretation. Many of them 

 agree on the methods of trapping lynxes, martens, and 

 beavers the principal animals trapped but all differ as 



