98 Report of the Brown-Harvard Expedition. 



crowded down close to the water, from which most of them 

 rose up precipitously except for a short talus at the bottom; 

 and similar steep cuts extended up into the tributary valleys. 

 The heights varied probably from 3,500 to 5,000 feet. We 

 sailed and rowed for four hours through this gorgeous 

 scenery, under a sky entirely clear except for a few high, 

 fleecy clouds. Our Eskimo crew were friendly and inter- 

 esting. At the end they demanded but one plug of tobacco 

 apiece for their services. We landed at 6.30, and were soon 

 again on the march. We had not proceeded far, however, 

 before we sighted two caribou, a doe and a fawn. We 

 dropped our packs and went in pursuit; but darkness inter- 

 vened before we could overtake them, and so they happily 

 escaped. A hard walk through soft bog and over rough 

 talus brought us back to our packs, where we camped for the 

 night. The auroral display was the finest we had seen. It 

 covered almost the entire sky and gave a light almost as 

 brilliant as moonlight. There was a great variety in the pat- 

 terns it formed, with an uneasy, restless play and quivering 

 of the bands, as though a light wind were blowing wnth enor- 

 mous rapidity through a bright, thin mist. 



On Wednesday, the 22d, we arose at five o'clock. A 

 thin, chill fog was in the air, and after a little it began to 

 sprinkle. At 6.20 the temperature was 45°. At 6.30 we 

 were started on our fourth day's journey. The valley that 

 lay before us, running up into the mountains northward from 

 Saglek Bay, was wide and level for the first two miles, formed 

 of alluvial deposits, and then ascended gradually in a narrow 

 line between steep slopes of talus. Its bottom formed the 

 bed of a mountain torrent. Its eastern border was a single 

 huge mass whose summit towered probably four to five thou- 



