CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 29 



a part of the river where it is divitU-d into three parts, and trinn hei'e on many islands were 

 found. On an ishmd which we reached ahoiit 11 p. ni. we discovered tw(^ Indian women, witli 

 three chiklren, awaiting- the expected run of salmon. Their husbands were away in the mount- 

 ains hunting deer, and the women and children had been subsisting for days on the young 

 shoots of the willows growing near the river banks. We gave them a feast in the way of pem- 

 mican, hard bread, and tea, and when we finished Ijy a present of a small quantity of tobacco 

 their gratitude seemed to be beyond expression. 



The skin boat was unloaded here and several weak places in her bottom rei)aired by the 

 women. They also repaired the boots of the party while we were asleep. We observed with 

 each day's advance a lowering of the temperature of the river water, caused no doubt by num- 

 bers of small tributary streams, fed by the melting snow and ice iu the moimtains. In this 

 connection it may be of interest to note that many small streams flowing into the Kowak from 

 the mountains, wliich are at the present time much lower in tem])erature than the river water, 

 do not freeze during the winter on account of the fact that they are fed by springs whose tem- 

 l)crature never gets sufficiently low to freeze. I could not help but think that these streams, 

 some of wliich I found contained from two to two and a half fathoms water, wonld afford 

 excellent facilities for laying up l^oats used by future exjjlorers or traders on this river. 



< )ii July 10. after leaving a suiati supply of provisions witli tlie Indian women, we pushed 

 ahead up stream, and notwithstanding tiie fact that the launcli was urged to her full capacity, 

 the current became so .strong as we advanced that Imt indifferent progress was made. A short 

 while after leaving camp we came to a part of the river where it suddenly widens and forms a 

 kind of lake, about half a mile in diameter. The water, separated into many small channels 

 l)y sand and gravel bars, became quite shoal; but we managed to get the launch through liy 

 getting overboard and towing her over the worst parts. Whenever opportunity offered, towing 

 along shore was resorted to, bnt on account of the prevailing high water the beaches were all 

 submerged, leaving no i)lace to walk along the banks. To add to our discomfort we were in 

 constant danger (jf being swamjied by floating trees, which we freqiieutly encountered. Tlicir 

 progress was so rapid and yet so im-perceptible that it recpiired the utmost caution to avoid 

 them. Probably in no way can the strength of tlie current be better understood than by 

 watching the progress of one of these trees down stream. At first it appears as a mere speck 

 on the surface of the river, seemingly quite stationary; then, as it reaches the influence of some 

 eddy, its course is changed and it shoots directly across the stream until it brings up witii a 

 tremendous crash against the opposite bank. Here it will remain an obstacle to navigation 

 until some future freshet tears its clinging roots from the shore and sends it tearing on its 

 downward course again. Sometimes it happens that a large tree with roots filled with earth, 

 and looking as if liut recently fallen, will groixnd on some gravel bed in mid-stream. The top 

 swings slowly down stream and the water pours Ln a cataract over the roots. In a moment 

 the loose earth is washed away, the strong, pliant branches, borne down by the giant grasp of 

 the river. Ijend and break; and when at List the tree shakes off this terrible grip and rises to 

 the surface there remains only a whitened finger of vengeance, which points sailly at the mur- 

 derer as he flees to the sea. 



Now the river contracts its b^d to one hundred and fifty yards in width and runs directly 

 under the shadow of the mountains forming its norj:hern boundary. The slujres are rocky and 

 the sides of the mountains are moss-covered to their to^js. Forests of spruce, pine, and birch 

 give to the scene an air of peaceful repose, more in accord with the character of a New England 

 landscape than is generally looked for within the Arctic Zone. 



The general trend of the mountains is still east and west, and the course of the river, althoiigh 

 exceedingly tortuous, follows the same general direction. The mountains which ])ound the 

 Kowak Valley on the soutli are aliout ten miles away at this point, and now begin to assume a 

 more definite shape and direction. Their general direction being southwest and northeast, the 

 two ranges rajiidly (^)n\'erge. and at a point far ahead seem to almost join. To-day we passed 

 two mouths of the E-yog-a-lok-tak. or Rocky River, and it is evidently a stream of some con- 

 siderable size, as its course could be traced for a longdistance to the northward, and its delta 

 was two or three miles long. In this vicinity the country lying between the Kowak and Noatak 



