256 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



graceful spired spruce-tops, delicate in texture, varying 

 in forms, fringes the gilded horizon, while all is dimly re- 

 flected in the gliding sweep of the current below. 



August 24. On the night of August 23 there was a 

 heavy frost and the next day was perfect cloudless and 

 calm. We divided the time all day between poling and 

 tracking. In the morning I saw a flock of geese, which 

 kept alighting and flying ahead of us all day. Two more 

 bald eagles appeared, and for the second time I saw a 

 goshawk chasing a kingfisher. Both lynx and wolf tracks 

 were abundant on the bars. I noticed that the bears, 

 after catching salmon, had always taken them into the 

 woods or brush to eat. The water of the river was more 

 broken, and the wading reminded me of my arduous trip 

 up the North Fork of the MacMillan River. Old Indian 

 camps and caches were often seen on the bank. 



After six in the evening we reached a part of the river 

 where it was confined to a short, narrow canon between 

 ridges on both sides. The bottom was filled with huge 

 boulders and big rocks. The rapids surged over the 

 rocks and whirled around the boulders, eddying among 

 the deep pools below them. When I was hauling the 

 boat, with Jefferies in the stern guiding it with the paddle, 

 and we were well inside of the canon, I saw a black bear 

 rapidly approaching along the bank three hundred yards 

 ahead on our side of the river. Beckoning to Jefferies, 

 I pulled the boat to the shore, and taking out my rifle told 

 him to hold the canoe. He was greatly excited, having 

 seen the bear just before it went out of sight behind a jut- 

 ting cliff. I seated myself facing in the direction of the 



