ALASKA. 



285 



On the 8th of July the travellers started on their return journey, under a 

 salute from their hospitable hosts. They canoed down the river day and night, 

 only stopping two or three times a day to prepare their tea and cook their fish. 

 It was a holiday excursion, the current sweeping them along at the rate of four 



miles an hour. Once, by aid of rowing, they made forty-five miles in seven 

 hours. They followed the river clear to its mouth. For the seven hundred 

 miles below Nulato, near where they had struck the river on their upward 

 journey, the region is comparatively poor. It lies out of the way of traders ; 

 fish are plenty and cheap enough. Five needles were considered a fair price 



