KAREATIVE. 13 



to secure an unbroken, meteorologic record, was fully accomplished, and a record of nearly 

 twelve thousand observations was brought back. During my residence as the guest of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company the agents of this company very kindly volunteered to take my 

 observations during various periods, thus enabling me to make a number of expeditions in differ- 

 ent directions, by means of dog-sledges in winter and by kyaks in summer. 



A few days after my arrival at Saint Michaels the fur traders from the Yukon arrived with 

 their annual supply of furs from that region. These traders are of various nationalities, and are, 

 as a rule, very hospitable and obliging in every way, as I had ample opportunity to learn. 



The stations, or trading posts, on the Yukon extend from Kotlik, in the Yukon delta, to Fort 

 lieliance, on the Upper Yukon, close to the British boundary, and about 1,500 miles from the sea- 

 coast. There are eight trading posts in this distance, with one white roan at each. The traders 

 select their stock of goods at Saint Michaels each spring after the arrival of the annual supply 

 vessel, and having loaded them into barges the latter are towed to their respective stations by a 

 small steamer. The year is then passed in trading with the natives, and the succeeding spring 

 they return to Saint Michaels with their boats laden with furs. As each trader brings a crew of 

 natives from his station, all dressed in holiday finery, and the coast traders bring in their Eskimo 

 employes, Saint Michaels becomes the center of an extremely picturesque and animated gathering 

 for a few weeks during the last of June and first of July. After true Indian custom the representa- 

 tives of each Indian tribe try to outdo their rivals in wrestling or other pastimes, and the period 

 covered by'these visits is a very animated one and full of inter- st even to the casual observer. 



The brief holiday season is soon gone, the vessel leaves for San Francisco and the traders for 

 their stations, and Saint Michaels is left to itself and the permanent residents. These latter, 

 during my stay, consisted, besides myself, of from two to three agents of the fur company and 

 the Eussian workingman, who cared for the dogs and kept us supplied with fire-wood from the 

 drift along the beach. From time to time the arrival of a party of Eskimos, on a trading expe- 

 dition, and m winter an occasional fur trader from the stations within a few hundred miles, 

 afforded the only breaks in the sameness, except such amusements as we contrived to devise our- 

 selves. 



During the first year I explored the district lying immediately about Saint Michaels, and 

 secured a considerable series of zoologic and ethnologic specimens in addition to the meteorologic 

 work. The next year my investigations were extended over a wider field, and the 1st of De- 

 cember, 1878, in company with Charles Petersen, a fur trader, I lefc Saint Michaels with a sledge 

 and team of eight Eskimo dogs. We traveled along the coast to the mouth of the Yukon, and up 

 that stream to Andreovski, Petersen's Station, and the second trading post from the sea. Thence 

 we proceeded southwest across the upper end of the Yukon delta, by the eastern base of the 

 Kuslevak Mountains, and reached the sea-coast just south of Cape Eomanzoff'at a previously un- 

 known shallow bay, which I have named in honor of Capt. C. L. Hooper, U. S. E. M. From this 

 point we proceeded south along the coast, or near it, to Cape Vancouver. Just north of this cape 

 lies a large shallow bay, previously unknown, which I named in honor of General W. B. Hazen, 

 Chief Signal Oflicer. A high mountain capping the short range which extends out on Cape Van- 

 couver I named Mount Eobert Lincoln, and a large inlet back of the island upon which is situated 

 Cape Vancouver I named in honor of Prof. S. F. Baird. 



Theislandupon which Cape Vancouver and Mount Eobert Lincoln arc situated has been named 

 in honor of the discoverer by the Chief of the Geographical Division of the Census Bureau, to 

 whom these discoveries were first submitted. 



A large shallow lake near the head of Baird Inlet I named in honor of Mr. W. H. Dall, of the 

 Coast Survey, whose extensive investigations in this region are well known. 



The second day beyond Cape Vancouver, Petersen, who had accompanied me thus far, said 

 that the weather was too bad to travel further and turned back. From that point I proceeded, 

 accompanied by an Eskimo, to the mouth of the Kuskoquim Eiver. After traveling about 90 

 miles up its course we turned back toward the Yukon, which we struck about 100 miles above 

 Andreovski. Turning up the river I then continued the journey to Paimut Village, the last Eskimo 

 settlement on the Yukon. A few miles above this point is the first settlement of pure-blooded 

 Indians, or Tinn6. At Paimut I turned back again and retraced my steps down the river to the 

 sra coast and along the coast .to Saint Michaels. 



