Sum Dum Bay 



Ignorant. Toward the middle of the afternoon they 

 engaged our crew in a race. We pushed a little way 

 ahead for a time, but, though possessing a consider- 

 able advantage, as it would seem, in our long oars, 

 they at length overtook us and kept up until after 

 dark, when we camped together in the rain on the 

 bank of a salmon-stream among dripping grass and 

 bushes some twenty-five miles beyond Cape Fan- 

 shawe. 



These cold northern waters are at times about as 

 brilliantly phosphorescent as those of the warm 

 South, and so they were this evening in the rain and 

 darkness, with the temperature of the water at forty- 

 nine degrees, the air fifty-one. Every stroke of the 

 oar made a vivid surge of white light, and the canoes 

 left shining tracks. 



As we neared the mouth of the well-known salmon- 

 stream where we intended making our camp, we 

 noticed jets and flashes of silvery light caused by the 

 startled movement of the salmon that were on their 

 way to their spawning-grounds. These became more 

 and more numerous and exciting, and our Indians 

 shouted joyfully, "Hi yu salmon! Hi yu muck-a- 

 muck!" while the water about the canoe and be- 

 neath the canoe was churned by thousands of fins 

 into silver fire. After landing two of our men to com- 

 mence camp-work, Mr. Young and I went up the 

 stream with Tyeen to the foot of a rapid, to see him 

 catch a few salmon for supper. The stream was so 

 filled with them there seemed to be more fish than 

 water in it, and we appeared to be sailing in boiling, 



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