CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIN. 87 



supplies in tow, so that very extensive collections could not be transported. There was much 

 rainy weathei', making it difficult to collect as well as to dry Isird-skins, and the mosquito 

 ])lague was always a serious drawback in fair weather unless there was a breeze blowing to 

 lessen the force of the attack. We welcomeil the occasional chilly days that gave us respite 

 from mosquito persecutic^n. Otherwise we were compelled to wear a coating of tar and car- 

 bolized oil on our faces and hands for days together, imtil the feverish and smarting skin 

 demanded its removal. Daily ablutions under sucli circumstances could not of course be 

 indulged in. 



Prolonged rambles back from the river ;ire impracticable, on account of the exhausting 

 labor of tramping through the hummocks and moss of the tundra, or frozen morass. The 

 sjiliagnum tundra gro^vth is omnipresent, extending even up on tlie mountains, and forms a 

 heavy cover-ing for the ice which is everywhere beneath it. Moss-coveied hummocks stand so 

 close as to present a false level — a "'spongy flush," as John Muir describes it — through which 

 one is constantly breaking, frequently sinking thigh deep in the icy water underneath, of 

 which the flower-dotted surface gives no indication. 



In addition to these " slight drawbacks" in the way f)f natural history c(j]lecting in Alaska^ 

 one finds that fragile specimens have a perverse way of getting trodden upon in the boats, and 

 the Bacchanalian native exhibits betimes an untoward desire to use the alcohol in the fish-tank 

 as a beverage, from which he must needs be restrained, lest the ichthyological specimens be 

 stinted, to their detriment. Indeed, at St. Paul's Island, one night in September, a couple of 

 Aleuts broke into the building where my alcohol was kept, for the purpose of stealing some^ 

 and accidentally set fire to it. In their efforts to put out the fire their hands were frightfully 

 burned. This loss compelled me to put my specimens on short allowance, and to collect with 

 discrimination during the rest of the season. 



It is, however, quite imnecessary for me to write further of the general features of the 

 Kowak country, as Lieutenant Cantwell discusses the subject very fully in his narrative of 

 the voyage. 



MAMMALS. 



Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus (Kerr). Reindeer. 



Reindeer skin appears to Ije the princijial material used for clothing by the natives of the 

 Kowak River region, but judging from the number of "• piebald" garments we saw, the stock 

 is derived chiefly from the domesticated variety, which is herded in great numbers on the Asiatic 

 side of Bering Straits, and obtained l)y means of exchanges carried on in summer. The wild 

 Alaskan variety of a reindeer is proliably not very numerous in the Kowak region, although 

 Mr. Cantwell saw a few small herds among the hills at the headwaters of tlie river, to which 

 they migrate in summer. It is not improbable that they seek the higher lands to escape the 

 mosquito plague that makes life miserable for beast as well as nuin in the tundra sections. 

 We saw a few fresh tracks in the sand of the lower river in July. On August 1, I saw a rein- 

 deer with horns still in the velvet. I was hunting with a light shot-gun among some hills 

 several miles from the river and paused for a rest, when a reindeer approached through the 

 dense mist and inspected me at a distance of less than forty yards. I remained perfectly quiet, 

 sitting among the low bushes, while the excited animal played all around me. He would bect>rae 

 frightened at times and dash away to a slight eminence near by, from -vvhich he snorted at me 

 in great alarm; but overcome by curiosity, he approached repeatedly for a nearer view. 



At the end of half an hour, when the mist had turned to rain, I left him, still watching me 

 from a safe distance, and went away and meditating on the perversity with which game 

 appears when one has the wrong kind of arms or none at all. 



This deer was not large, in fact not nearly as large as I expected to find an adult reindeer 

 with fully developed antl^-s. The hides which we saw in possession of the people did not 

 apparently indicate as large an animal as the Calif ornian Cariacus columbianus, so that it is 

 probable that the small barren-ground reindeer, or caribou, is the only variety found in North 



