8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 51 



nected by portages with those of the Innoko and Kuskokwim rivers. 

 There are no settlers living on this stream, although deserted winter 

 cabins of the lonely trapper were passed several times on our journey. 

 The stream flows by a tortuous, meandering course through a low 

 alluvial valley covered with a dense growth of alder, willow, poplar, 

 birch, and spruce. Its course forms a series of curves alternately 

 sweeping from right to left, the channel being confined between 

 banks of unconsolidated alluvium and silt from twelve to fifteen feet 

 in height. It presents the typical effects of meandering erosion so 

 well described by Maddren 1 in his description of the lower reaches 

 of the Porcupine, i. c, "cutting away the banks on the concave side 

 and depositing the material removed lower down on the opposite side 

 as bars" (see pi. vi, fig. i). Often the water has cut in under the 

 bank, which extends out over the stream like a great shelf. The 

 trees growing on these undermined banks frequently lean far over 

 and dip their tops in the water before being carried away. Large 

 blocks of the bank, with its superincumbent vegetation, cave off into 

 the stream, where they remain standing half submerged for long 

 periods. Another feature of the undermined banks is the mantle of 

 moss that hangs down from the top like a curtain (see pi. 11, fig. 2), 

 as if to hide the destruction the waters have wrought. This blanket 

 is composed of the tenacious and closely woven moss and rootlets 

 which everywhere cover the ground throughout these lowlands. 



The banks are not sufficiently high to prevent their overflow by 

 the spring floods, and the quantity of drift materials lodged in the 

 growth on top of the banks indicates the great volume of water that 

 flows down during the spring break up. Lanes through the dense 

 undergrowth indicate recently abandoned watercourses, many of 

 which hold ponds and sloughs. The erosional effects of ice are also 

 seen in the scarred and abraded tree trunks and the deep gouges and 

 gashes along the higher banks. 



The bars on the lower part of the stream are low and frequently 

 covered with stranded trees and other drift materials, but on the 

 upper reaches where the bends are more abrupt, they are fairly clear 

 of drift and furnish a good path for the "trackers." On some of the 

 upper river bars the interstratified sands and gravels have been piled 

 in great heaps nearly as high as the inclosing banks. In ascending 

 the stream, the first two days good progress was made with the pad- 

 dle against the clear but sluggish current, but on the third day, to 

 facilitate our movements against the rapidly increasing current, a 



1 Maddren. A. G. : Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. xux, No. 1584, 1905. pp. 

 0-11. 



