CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 33 



degrees in the shade and seklom fell below eighty -eight degrees during the day, while that of 

 tlie water ranged from thirty-six to forty-two degrees. 



I never saw men work more faithfully than did tliese natives. I left the entire manage- 

 ment (jf the party to Tah-tali-rok and it was seldom he failed to get less than fourteen hours' 

 ^v'(^rk out of them. While with the launch I got into several bad scrapes by following the advice 

 of the Indians, who never seemed to realize that the launch could not be handled as easily as one 

 of their own boats; biit it is really marvelous what jiulgment and skill are shown by them in 

 handling the skiai boat, and I am convinced that they accomplished more than twice as much 

 as would have been accoinplished by less exijerienced men in this peculiar style of navigation. 



The character of the river changes very little as we slowly advance. Low green shores, 

 are fringed by a gi'avel beach which gradually widens as we approach a bend until it forms a 

 spit extending almost across the stream, then narrows again until it disappears entirely, and we 

 have to cross the river to get a place to walk again. A diagi-am will prol)ably better show the 

 formation of the beaches: 



When it becomes necessary to cross the river the boat is liaulcd alongside the bank, and 

 the Indians carefully shake all the sand from their feet and ste]> into her. They grasp their 

 paddles, take a (juick look down stream to note the jjosition of any rocks, and with a short cry 

 of preiiaration shove olf. In a moment the strong current strikes the light lioat and bears her 

 olF like a leaf. The paddles, descending in perfect unison and wilh savage earnestness, send the 

 water away in circling eddies astern. It is quick, sharp work, and altliough tlie river was seldom 

 more than one hundred yards wide at this point, we were often carried twice that distance do\\'n 

 stream Ijefore reaching the opposite bank. When the water is sufficiently shoal, as frinpiently 

 happens during this part of the journey, the paddles are thrown aside and poling is resorted to. 

 In either case the Indians stand well forward and so l)ring the Ijoat down l)y the head, as in 

 this way they can liold Iwr head in any direction with greater ease than if slie were <m an even 

 keel. 



Toward 4 o'clock we jiassed the junction of the Kowak with a river flowing in from the north, 

 called by the natives Arko-shei'-wak, or Beaver River. The mouth of this stream was about 

 seventy-five yards wide, and there were from five to seven feet of water nearly all the way across. 

 This forms the outlet to Lake Mene-kok-o-shah of the natives, and is one of the principal feed- 

 ers of the Kowak. At this point the course of the Kowalc took us more towards the south and 

 neared the mountains forming the watershed between it and the Ko-you-kuk River, and the 

 toi)ography of the country would indicate that somewhere in this vicinity the courses of the 

 two streams are nearly jiarallel and the distance between them not over sixty miles. 



Game was found in the greatest abundance in this locality.' At nearly every bend of the 

 river, and especially where small willow islands were seen, we came upcni large flocks of half- 

 grown geese, whose awkward efforts to escape were ludicrous in tlie extreme. Sometimes we 

 surprised a flock in mid-stream, and they would attempt to evade us by diving. Being as yet 

 not fully fledged, this was not always successful, and they would only be able lo jmt their heads 

 under water, and in this ijosition would fall easy victims to the Indians. 



During the day (July 15) we passed many small tril^itary streams flowing intf) tlie Kowak, 

 and the natives assured me that the valley was full of many small lakes, ivom which these 

 streams flowed. 



The shores of the stream are generally low in this region, and the heavy timber is on the 

 sides of the moi;ntains, and only approaches the river where ridges run in on the stream from 

 the foothills. We experienced some difficulty in finding suitable camping places on account of 

 H. Ex. 153 5 



