CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 51 



explorfition of the Noiitak. and that tin- (,<>nrhi Lad lice)! seen off Cape lilossoiia a few days 

 bi'i'ore, on lier way north, and had left word she would return by September 1. 



Of our subsequent operations there is little of interest to relate. We stoj)ped at this place 

 long enough to get a set of observations. Having got the lauucli in sailing trim again, we pro- 

 ceeded leisurely down the iidet, sounding along the shores and examining the different entrances 

 to the Kowak, of which we noted fifteen, and on August 24 we reached a sand-spit twelve 

 miles from the entrance to Hothani Inlet, upon which Lieutenant Stouey had placed his supplies, 

 and there found the Explorer, which had returned from up the river for another load, with 

 Lieutenant Stoney in command. Here also was Mr. McLenegan, who had been anxiously 

 awaiting the Corwiii, and came this far to meet me on my way down the inlet. About one 

 hundred and seventy-five Indians belonging to the Kowak and Selawik River region had 

 encamped on the spit on their way home from the rendezvous. The howling of some fifty or 

 seventy-five imiiatient dogs made night hideous; but the many fires along the beach, the 

 huge boats turned over so as to form teuts, and the crowds of Indians around the fires, formed 

 a scene at once picturesi|ue and novel. 



Finally, on August :i."), we parted com])aiiy with Lieutenant Stoney "s party, after tranr- 

 ferring to him several snuili articles of outfit which would Ije of service to him, and our exjjc- 

 dition now turned toward HoIIkuu Inlet and Kotzebue Sound. We arrived safely at the ren- 

 dezvous and took up our old (piarters in the little lagoon called l)y me Refuge Lagoon, and, 

 in commemoration of the nreeting of McLenegau's alid my party, we called the canij) Reunion. 

 A f(nv natives yet remained at the rendezvous, and were soon on hand to welcome us. 

 ()ne old fellow no doubt had been a clo.se observer of the white men, for he brought with him 

 and complacently offered for oiir delectation a copy of Harjjcr's Weekly some twenty years 

 old. with the re(|uest that after reailiiig it we would return it. Some one had given this old 

 fellow a high silk hat, and the solicitude with which he stowed it away under the covering cif 

 his ])oat on the slightest ;ij)pearance of a shower was truly amusing. 



While here we had an oi)portunity of witnessing a most singuhxr performaiu'e, much 

 resenrbling B spiritualistic seance. The wife of one of the natives, a blear-eyed old hag sixty 

 or sixty-five years old, was ol)served to drop suddenly on the ground, and when we ran up to 

 ascertain the cause she was to all appearances in a deail faint. Her lijis were blue and teeth 

 set hard together, while her laborwl breathing i)roduced a light froth u[)on her lips. The eyes 

 were closed, but when I opened them the pupils were much contracted, and the whole appear- 

 ance of the eye was expressionless. Her hiisband immediately ran to her, and passing a stout 

 deer-skin thong or strap around her head, secured it to the end of a stout staff' about six feet in 

 length. He tlieu sat down near tlie woman's head, aud bi-ought the staff" across his thighs in 

 such a way as to make it a lever of the first class. Then he began in a chanting sort of tone 

 to speak to some spirit of the dead find to ask ijuestious concerning his probalile success during 

 the approaching hunting season. Wlien a question was to be answered, he paused and tried 

 to lift the head of the woman from the ground. If he succeeded in accomijlishing this feat, 

 the answer was construed to be //c.v, and if not. the contrary was to be understood as the aiiswLi . 

 This performance went on for some time, aud such was the force used by the man to lift the 

 poor creature's head that at times I feared her neck would be broken. 



During the sckiicc, if we may so call it, the man had his rifle and hunting-knife brought 

 and placed near by, for tlie purpose of a.scertaining their good or bad qualities. When all 

 had been asked and answered, the thong was removed from the wonian's head, and, with a few 

 ])asses exactly similar to those commonly used by mind readers, the woman was restored to 

 consciousness. For a while she seemed dazed aud unsteady, but soon commenced to narrate 

 what .she had seen while in the trance. She idainied to have been far away in the deer country, 

 and to have seen relatives and friends of those present, who listened with rapt attention, and 

 with the appearance of perfect confidence in her veracity, to the messages and news which she 

 brought to them. 



Without attempting to explain this curious exhibitiou of second sight, I leave it fpr 



