30 CRUISE OK THE STEAMER CORWIN. 



Rivers is Very inouul.-iinous. and tln' natives ussuru me tliat there ;ire large numbers of \'ei-y 

 deep lakes luid small ri\ crs. 



Among tlie timlirr ohserx-ei] dur attcntiuii lias been attraetoil to large groves of tlie IJalm 



ot'Gilead. 



Many (leserteil winter villages were observed iu this region, and now and then we eateh 

 sight of a tall pole, bearing a llullei-ing pennant of some gaily eoloreil cdoth, marking the grave 

 of some departed brave. 



The niiniberof islamls increased as we advanced. and thedepthof water was greatly dimin- 

 ished by being divi<hHl into so many channels. We were compelled to take the largest channel 

 iu ordi'r to avoid getting ashore, an ai-cideut whiih we had by this time learned to dread. 

 The moment tlir lannidi grounded we lost all control of her movemeids; she generally swung 

 around broadside to the cui'renL antl then lay over on her beam-ends. It often required two 

 or three hours of tlie most fatiguing work, during whiidi the whole party would be wet from 

 head to foot in the icy water, to extricate her from this awkward position. 



Tlu! Indians informed me that Lieutenant Stoney abandoned his lauiicdi niiudi further down 

 stream last year, but realizing the importance of keeping tlie party undivided as long as possible, 

 I determined to push the launch as far as she could pi.issibly go, trusting to future rains to get 

 lier down again. 



Toward '.) ]). m. we emeiged from a densely wooded Lend of the river into a reach trend- 

 ing to the southeast, and belii'hl a. low range of mountains bearing south and about twenty 

 mile.s distant. The sun had been obscured all day and the rain had fallen with a steady per- 

 sistence; which threatened either to reduce us to pulp or drive us mad. Now, liowever, the 

 weatlier cleared, the rugged, storm-worn clouds rolled slowly away, and the sun burst forth, 

 causing the somber Lmdscape to blossom into life. On the mountains the moss lay in patcdies 

 of red, brown, and gray, and below it the forests of s])ruce were turning from green \n blue, 

 from blue to purple, and soon would now be black. The river, which a moment before had 

 seemed a turbid, muddy torrent, t'tuched by the sunlight, became tiamedike in its radiance, 

 anil, like a vast mirror frameil with flowa'rs. retlected the sun-kissed heights, and darkening 

 glens with truthful impartiality. A dying doli)hin assumes the colors of the i-ainbow; .so dies 

 a summer day in the hind of the nndnight sun. 



At da, in., July 11, we were again under way and struggling slowly ahead against th" strong 

 current. By D a., m. we readied a series of rocky blulfs running in on the river from the mount- 

 ains on our ieft. Here the sun came out long enough for me to get an observation. an<l tixed the 

 position approximately as latitude Cil 51' N.. longitude 150' 21' W. The river here is about two 

 liundred yards wide and filled with gravel beds in every direction. The shores are rocky and the 

 undergrowth reaches the water's edge. The course of the stream was generally to the east- 

 southeast by conii)ass. Several times to-day we were compelled to haul the laundi |iast stiff 

 l>ortions ofthe cui'rent, and we had long since stopped towing the skin boat, it being found 

 more advantageous to allow the Indians to get it 14) as they saw lit. By :.' p. m. we came in 

 sight of an exceedingly rugged range of mountains, forming a spur of the boun<lary range on 

 our left, and hidden until then by the foot-hills along the river. 1 judged the height of these 

 mountains to be twenty-five hundred to thi'ee thousand feet; but they seemed at first sight 

 much highiM- on account of fierce ])i-eci|iitous formations. 



We observed many fresh signs of bear, porcupine, and deer along tlu; rivei' liaid<s. and the 

 natives informed me tiiat those animals were very plentiful in the mountains in this region. 

 During the colder wealliei' of the wintei' nioidhs the deer migrate' farther to the northeast. 

 About t ]). m. the expedition reached a, very narrow portion of the river, where the shores were 

 c(mi])osed of almost ])ei')iendicular masses of conglomerate rock, and the bed of the stream was 

 strewn with huge bowlders, worn smooth and round by erosion. 



Tlu! current at this point was tremendous, and it was only after about two hours" hard 

 steaming, and with all hands i.ullingou the tow-line, that we got the laun(di through and into 

 a somewhat easier I lort ion of the river. A mile or two farther up stream and we i-eached 

 another narrow bend, and here the rocks reached entirely across the stream, leaving only small 

 openings, through which the water forced itself with terrible velocity. We stopped and made 



