234 EIVERS OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



from the north shore, where the surface becomes undulating and 

 hilly, and, farther south, mountainous. The level part is a peat- 

 like soil covered with moss and tufty grass, interspersed with 

 brushwood, perfectly free from rocks or stones, and only a little 

 gravel is seen occasionally in the beds of rivers. The bones of 

 the fossil elephant and other animals are found in many localities, 

 and the tusks of the former are used for some purposes. Small 

 pieces of amber are also frequently found in the pools inland, or 

 floating on the sea, to which they have been carried in the summer 

 by the floods. The whole is intersected in various directions by 

 rivers, which are traversed by boats in the summer and by sledges 

 in the winter. Many of the streams seen from the coast become 

 united, or have a common origin in some pool in the interior, and 

 sometimes offer a short channel from bay to bay, deep enough for 

 boats, which thus avoid a more circuitous and inconvenient passage 

 round the coast. 



The largest and best known rivers are four, all of which take their 

 rise far to the south-east in a mountainous country, inhabited by 

 Indians. The most northerly of these is the Kang'-e-a-nok, which 

 flows some distance westward, then turns northward, receiving on 

 its right bank two tributaries, called the A'-nak-tok and Kil'-lek. 

 At a distance of probably one hundred miles from the coast it 

 divides into two streams, the eastern of which follows a nearly 

 north course to the Arctic Sea, one hundred and forty miles east of 

 Point Barrow, where it has been identified with the Colville. It 

 bears the native name of Nig'-a-lek Kok, or Goose Eiver, and is 

 said to receive a large tributary at thirty miles from its mouth, 

 called the It'-ka-ling Kok, or Indian River, coming in from the 

 mountains in the east. The other division flows through the level 

 country nearly due west to fall into Wainwright Inlet, ninety miles 

 S.W. of Point Barrow, when it is named Tu-tu-a-ling, but is more 

 generally known as Kok or Kong, " the River." The next is called 

 the Nu-na-tak', also a large river, whose source is very close to that 

 of the Colville ; but instead of turning, like the latter, northward, 

 it pursues a westerly course through the heart of the country ; 

 then, bending to the south and a little east, falls into Hotbani Inlet, 

 near its opening into Kotzebue Sound. This certainly, in the 

 estimation of the Point Barrow people, is the most important river 

 in their country, and gives its name to by far the larger portion of 

 the inhabitants of the interior. At one point of its course it 

 approaches so near a bend of the Colville that boats can be trans- 

 ported in less than two days from one river to the other. The K6- 

 wak is the next in order as well as in size and importance, chiefly 



