The Yakutat Indians. . 81 



together with the sale of less valuable skins and the money 

 received for baskets, etc., made by the women for the tourist 

 trade in Sitka, brought a considerable revenue to the village. 

 Improvident, like nearly all Indians, the Yakutat villagers soon 

 spend at the trading post the money earned in this way. 



The Yakutats belong without question to the Thlinket stock ; 

 Ijut visits from tribes farther westward, who travel in skin boats, 

 are known to have been made, and it seems probable that some 

 mixture of Thlinket and Innuit blood may occur in the natives 

 at Yakutat. But if such admixture has occurred, the Innuit ele- 

 ment is so small that it escapes the notice of one not skilled in 

 ethnology. 



A¥e found Mr. Hendriksen most kind and obliging, and are 

 indebted to him for manv favors and great assistance. Arrange- 

 ments were made with him for reading a base-barometer three 

 times a day during July and August. He also assisted us by 

 acting as an interpreter, and in hiring Indians and canoes. 



The weather continued thick and stormy after reaching Yaku- 

 tat bay, and Captain Farenholt did not think it advisable to take 

 his vessel up the main inlet, where many dangers were reported 

 to exist. A canoe having been purchased from the trader and 

 others hired from the Indians, a start was made from the head 

 of Yakutat bay early on the morning of June 28, in company with 

 two of the Pirdah boats loaded with supplies, under the com- 

 mand of Ensign C. W. Jungen. 



Canoe Trip up Yakutat Bay. 



Bidding good-bye to our friends on the Pinta, to whom we were 

 indebted for many favors, we' started for our trip up the bay in 

 a pouring rain-storm. Our way at first led through the narrow, 

 placid water-ways dividing the islands on the eastern side of the 

 bay. The islands and the shores of the mainland are densely 

 wooded, and appeared picturesque and inviting even through 

 the veil of mist and rain that shrouded them. The forests con- 

 sist principally of spruce trees, so dense and having such a tangle 

 of underbrush that it is only with the greatest difficulty that one 

 can force a way through them ; while the ground Ijeneath the 

 • forest, and even the trunks and branches of the living trees, are 

 covered and festooned with luxuriant growths of mosses and 

 lichens. Our trip along these wooded shores, but half revealed 



