184 J. E. McGrath — The Alaskan Boundary Survey. 



was more hideous than anything I ever read of the worst effects 

 of plague or leprosy. ^ 



In spring, summer and fall this section is the home for in- 

 numerable geese, swans and ducks. The Maklemut then lives 

 well, and we Avere told wonderful stories of the number of birds 

 killed by single hunters in a day's hunting. Two wild geese 

 could be bought in some places for a head of tobacco, and a 

 miner told us that the ruling rate for wild-goose eggs at the 

 trader's store near cape Romannoff was a head of tobacco, or one- 

 third of a pound of lead for 150 eggs. It is needless to say that 

 the native inhabitants of this section are not very particular 

 about the quality or condition of the food they eat. There are 

 no fastidious scruples about the cause of the death of their game- 

 A white Avhale or seal that drifts ashore is taken with thanks, 

 and if it is evident that the creature has been dead for some time 

 there is the compensating advantage that the flesh is more tender. 



The Yukon river does not lack for settlements, but their size 

 and condition hardly satisfied the ideas we had formed of them 

 before they greeted our vieAV. Kotlik is the home for a single 

 white man, the old Russian trader and his family. Andreafski 

 is only a name ; a portion of the old storehouse here came in 

 very handy for wood supplies when -we passed it going up river. 

 Ikogumut has some importance because it is the home of the 

 Russian priest who has spiritual charge of most of the natives of 

 the lower river. Kozerehhski is a few miles above the large 

 Catholic mission of the Holy Cross. White Anvik affords a home 

 to the bishop elect of the Episcopal diocese of interior Alaska. 

 Next above Anvik is Nulato, once the outpost of the Russian 

 Trading company and noted for being the scene (so graphically 

 described by Professor Dall in his work on Alaska) of the only 

 massacre perpetrated by the Indians on white people in the 

 Yukon valley. The next station of note after passing Nulato is 

 Nuklukayet, the emporium for the trade of Tanana river and the 

 most productive trading post On the Yukon. About 100 miles 

 above Nuklukayet the Yukon begins to spread out into the great 

 lake-like section which is locally known as the " flats." In this 

 portion of its course the stream is dotted with myriads of islands 

 The great width of the river and the constant changes in the 

 shallow channels leading to every point of the compass make 

 this the most dreaded part of the river for the steamboat-men. 

 Near fort Yukon the river is said to be seven miles wide. 



