14 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and eggs, including some new species of the latter from west of Lake 

 Winnipeg, lias been received from Mr. Donald Gunn, and of insects 

 and birds from the vicinity of Hudson's bay from Mr. James Lockkart 

 and Mr. B. B. Boss, to both of whom acknowledgments for valuable 

 services have been frequently rendered in previous reports. 



Mr. W. H. Dall, who was mentioned in the last report as having suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Kennicott as chief of the natural history corps of the Eussian 

 telegraph expedition, remained after the abandonment of that enterprise 

 to continue his explorations among the Indians and Esquimaux along the 

 Yukon, and within the Arctic Circle, including the most northern part of 

 our new possessions. He has just returned and brought with him a valua- 

 ble collection of the natural productions, as well as illustrations of the 

 ethnology of the regions he has visited. Mr. Dall visited Sitka with 

 the telegraph expedition, in 1865, then went to the Aleutian islands, 

 and afterwards to Plover bay, in Eastern Siberia. He spent the winter 

 of 1866 in the vicinity of St. Michael's, Norton's sound ; went the next 

 spring, with a single companion, to Fort Yukon, near the headwaters of 

 the river of the same name, and continued his explorations on either side of 

 the Arctic Circle until September, when he returned to Norton's sound to 

 report the result of his labors to the engineer-in-chief of the telegraphic 

 expedition. But learning that the enterprise had been abandoned, he 

 concluded to remain in the country and continue the exploration on his 

 own account. In the prosecution of this purpose he left St. Michael's 

 in October, and spent the following winter among the Indians and 

 Esquimaux, in the region between the Yukon and Norton's sound. In 

 the spring he descended the Yukon, and in July commenced his home- 

 ward journey. His collections are rich in birds, eggs, plants, smaller 

 animals, fish, fossils, and especially in ethnological illustrations. He 

 also made copious notes on the physical geography, geology, and meteor- 

 ology of the country. The first winter — 1866-'67 — was very cold, the 

 thermometer descending, near Nulato, as low as 68° below zero. The 

 second was much warmer ; rain fell almost every day, and, with the 

 exception of one occasion, the thermometer ranged from 10° below to 

 8° or 10° above the freezing point. As if, however, to compensate for 

 this, the spring was longer and colder than had been known for 16 pre- 

 vious years. The short summers are quite warm, no snow remaining on 

 the ground. Eapidly growing vegetables are cultivated by the Eussian 

 traders, such as turnips, radishes, and lettuce. An attempt to grow 

 potatoes failed at St. Michael's, although a similar experiment is said to 

 have been successful at Fort Yukon. This part of the country is of no 

 vai ue in an agricultural point of view, but affords an abundance of rich 

 furs. It is thickly wooded in the interior, principally with spruce, pop- 

 lar, and willow. Mr. Dall was kindly entertained by the inhabitants, 

 who, on all the coasts north of the Aleutian islands and on that of the 

 Arctic sea, consist of Esquimaux, while the inhabitants of the interior 

 are Indians. 



