KXl'lllMTION TO POINT UAUKOW, \L.\SKA. 27 



country after leaving the const \v;is (hit, ami in the SIHIIIIHT must be almost entirely covered with 

 \vater, a.s we traveled tin- whole afternoon over a scries of small lakes without seeing a >ingli- ele. 

 ration of land that was over live feet above the surrounding eoiinlry. Saw but few sijrns of ieiu- 

 deer anil no natives, but saw where a hunting party had been in camp a few dav s before. Our 

 dogs hauled their load with ease, though Iliere was over seven hundred pounds weight on the sled. 

 "Weather clear, with light northeast \\ind. 



M cr/i :.'!>. Snowing- hcavilv this morning when we broke camp at <J a. in. After traveling 

 Ibnr miles "we struck a stream about thirty yards wide, within a narrow \ alley. Mowing to imrtlie. 

 Natives gave it the name of liiarn. The storm broke at ten o'clock and the sun came out by 

 eleven. The country grew more rolling and broken, and at 1^ m. \vecame in sijjht of Meafie l.'iver, 

 Avhich iiere (lows through a, valley about one and one-half miles wide, with bold bluffs on cither 

 bank from forty to sixty feet high ; obtained a meridian sight of the sun at noon for latitude and 

 a fair sight for time during p. in. Traveled up the river on the ice six miles and then left it 

 on our right: crossed a neck of land eight miles wide and struck it again at a point where a !; 

 stream called I "suuktn comes in from (lie eastward, \vith a channel about forty yards wide and high, 

 bold banks. Here we again traveled on the ice to a point lour miles above the mouth of 1'sul.tn, 

 and camped at !..">() p. in. on the left bank of the river: marched fifty-three mile*. 1 found an 

 Uglaamio native herein camp : he was engaged in fishing, and told us his ncis were set just opposite 

 to the camp. "We obtained from him some line whitetish : having no rifle he had been unabl. 

 take an\ deer. I ascended the bluffs on the right bank, which were here fifty feet high. On them 

 found the ruins of several winter huts, built entirely of turf: the natives say that three general- 

 ago all this region was inhabited by a people (hat lived b\ fishing, and hunting reindeer. "and did 

 not come to the coast, but that the deer and fish grew scarce and there came a very cold season 

 and the people nearly all died from cold and starvation ; the few that survived went away to the < 

 ville or joined the little bands on the coast, so that now this whole region is not inhabited and is 

 never visited except by the hunters from Xuwfik and O'glaamie, who come here for deer during the 

 months of February and March; each year a few lish are also taken with gill-nels in the deep holes 

 along Meade Kiver, the fish being here confined by the river freezing solid on the liars : all move- 

 ment of water on this water-shed is suspended during the winter, there being no rainfall or melting 

 of snow from October to May, and springs are unknown. 



March li!(. ]>roke camp at (i a. in. ; weather clear and moderate. ( 'ontinucd the march in a. 

 southerly direction along the river-bed four miles, when we left it. climbing some high bluffs on 

 the left bank to get on the level plain above and avoid the windings of the river : traveled parallel 

 with- its general course all day, crossing it twice, and camped at 5 p. m. on a small tributary of 

 Meade l.'iver, and about six miles from the main stream. Marched twenty-live miles: during the 

 afternoon passed a high blulf which is a noted landmark among the natives and known as 

 Xua-.suk-nan : it is in latitude 7(P ,'!7' >'.. longitude \'>1 11' \Y.. and rises from fifty to seventy-live 

 feet above the surrounding country and is visible tor many miles around. Camped to-night with 

 Mu'nialu, a native whom 1 had furnished with a rifle and ammunition to kill deer for the station. 

 Found he had a tine supplv on hand, and he very proudly showed us ten as our share. ( lot excellent 

 sights of the sun during the day for latitude and longitude. Sa\\ several large bands of reindeer and 

 our guide succeeded in killing two. Temperature last night -f l(! c : during day rose to L'ii^.li. 



Man-It 31. Weather cold and stormy, and as we are in a very comfortable snow-house we 

 conclude to lie over for the day. My guide has never been beyond this camp, and I c:in see he 

 has no desire- to add to his knowledge of the geography of this region, so 1 have made anangcmcnts 

 with MiYfiialu to go on with me. They were busy at work to-day preparing their sleds to haul in 

 their venison to the settlement on the coast: their manner of doing it I have never befoie seen 

 noted. The sleds which they use for this purpose are made from drift-wood fastened with whale- 

 bone and raw-hide lashing: they arc about ten feet long, two feet wide, and the runners eight, 

 inches wide and one and one-half inches thick, straight on top and no rail: they are shod for 

 ordinary use with strips of bone cut from the whale's jaw-bone, and sometimes with walrus iv. 

 but this would not do in hauling a heavy lo. id over the snow where there is unbeaten trai' 

 they are shod with ice in the following manner : From the ice on a pond that is free from fractnie 

 they cut the pieces (he lea.nth of a sled runner, eight inches (hick and ten inches wide : into these 



