g2 CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIX. 



birch-bark canoes they use ia fishing are never taken as far as the head of the river. I was 

 informed that it wonkl take ns at least twelve days to reach the head of boat navigation, and that 

 then we wonld have to leave onr boats and travel by foot along the bank of the river one day 

 more, as there are two waterfalls to be passed, and the river-bed is filled with rocks, and it would 

 be folly to attempt to pass tliroiigli the rapids with a boat. I also learned that from this village a 

 portage could be made to the Kowak, and we would strike the river some twenty-five or thirty 

 miles u]) stream from the mouth of the Umakalookta. The Indians agreed to help us make the 

 portage if wo remaiued with them till morning. By this means we could retrieve the day lost 

 in coming here, and I detcruiined to take this means of returning to the river. We had some 

 delicious salmon for supper to night, freshly caught from the ice-cold little stream which flashes 

 down between banks covered with snow to the Kowak, with whose water it mingles and takes 

 up its march to the sea. 



July 28, 1884.— At 8 a m. we started on our way to the river by way of the portage, and after 

 eioht iiours of hard work we reached the Kowak at a point about thirty-five miles from the mouth 

 of the Umakalookta. Our first portage was about a mile over tundra land bordering the Uma- 

 kalookta up the side of a hill still covered with snow, and ilown into a small lake, in which we 

 launched our boat; and, in company with about twenty Indians who came along with their birch- 

 bark canoes, we crossed this lake and gained our second portage. Here it was necessary to take 

 the boat through a dense thicket of willows, and the walking was very bad. Over stumps and 

 through mud and water sometimes knee deep we floundered along for a distance of a (luarter of a 

 mile and again we struck the shores of a lake. This was much larger than the first lake traversed, 

 and it took us about four hours to cross it. The high trees of the river could now be seen, but 

 between us lay a morass into which we plunged, and for the space of an'hour struggled to 

 get through. At last we succeeded and reached the Kowak, whose broad, unobstructed surface 

 seemed to welcome us back. Launching our boat we paddled away up stream until we reached a 

 small fishing settlement, and here I called a halt, as the skin boat was leaking badly and had 

 to be repaired immediately. Andre soon had two Indian women at work on the boat, and while 

 he was preparing our supper I climbed up on the side of the mountain and looked around me. The 

 river winds its sinuous way around the foot of the mountains and otf into the le\el country 

 beyond, its surface sometimes broken into a thousand ripples by the force of the current, and 

 a"-ain lying smooth and glassy under the lee of some projecting point. Far beyond a range of 

 nrouutains rear their whitened summits to the skies, and the Indians informed uie that from the 

 tops of the mountains the high peaks around the head of the river can be seen on a clear <lay. 

 Bricflv stated, our condition was as follows: Wo were about 125 miles from the launch and had 

 five days' provisions with us. We had still about 275 miles to go before we could reach the water- 

 fall at the head of boat navigation. It would take us twelve days to reach this ])oiiit. The Indians 

 had a"r(>ed to go with us eight days, and they now wanted to return. It would take seven days 

 to -^et^a fresh supply of provisions from the launch, and in the mean time our boat was rotting and 

 becoming unsafe from the wear of the sand unavoidably taken in her and by being dragged over 

 .shoal places. In the event of an accident to her my base of supplies was so far removed that it 

 would be impossible for me to reach it without placing my party in a very bad position. Within 

 the last two or three or five days I had observed a considerable fall of the water and a diminution 

 of the force of the current, and as the Indians informed me that the wjiter would now get lower 

 with every day's fine weather, I decided to abandon the present project and to return to the launch, 

 there to niake a fresh start, and by working day and night to get both boats as high as the rapids, 

 and then renew tlie attempt to reach the water-fall with the skin boat. Having reai^hed this con- 

 elusion we made ready for an early start the next day for the launch. To- night we were presented 

 by the Indians with some excellent salmon, and returned the compliment by a present of beads 

 and tobacco. Temperature, 95°. 



July 29 1884.— The weather all day was warm and pleasant, but it was so cloudy at noon that 

 I coulil not get an observation. The Indians who aceomi)anied us had taken up their residence 

 on this beach for all summer apparently, as they had construetea a iiiiniber of houses by weaving 

 together the supi)le willow boughs in basket fashion and covering tluin with skins and old i>ieces 



