.Ias. 10, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



4 71 



across their breasts, signifying that they took the words to 

 1 in ii- hearts, Everyone bow commenced the Pipe song, 

 and the Bear-woman passed the pipe-stem" over different 

 if tin uicte woman's body, after Which she arose and 

 left the lodge. 



Ilu- old man then look a common pipe which had been 

 lighted Sflfl Mew three Whiffs of smoke toward the sky, three 

 10 the ground and three on Hie bear-pipe-stem, and then re- 

 peated much the same prayer as that said in the ceremony of 

 the o-kaii, Three drums were then produced, the war song 

 CTlttlflettCed, anil the old man, rattle in hand, danced three 

 times from his seat to the doorway Mid back, This was an 

 cidiich in w dance to the writer, and was intended to imi- 

 tate the movements of the bear. The old man stooped down 

 very slightly, kept all hie limbs very rigid, extended ins 

 arras like one (jiving a benediction, and danced back and 

 forth in time to the movie in quick, sudden step.-,. He then 

 took the pipe-stem, and holding it in front el' him. went 

 through the same performance. Afterward the pipe-stem 

 landed to the guests, and each one holding it aloft for 

 a few seconds made a short prayer. The person who Bftl on 

 die left of the writer prayed for a continuance of life for his 

 .•ind children, tin- person on the right prayed for suc- 

 cess in UOrSe stealing. This concluded the ceremony. 



DOWN THE YUKON ON A RAFT. 



BY I.IF.TT. ffBKP'H si IIWATKA, D, S. ARMY. 



Third Paper. 



LOOKING out upon Lake Lindeman a most beautiful 

 Alpine-like sheet of water was presented to our view, 

 While a.) our feet came in a mountain Creek entirely too swift 

 and powerful 10 wade with safety, and over which a green 

 willow tree was supposed to do duty as a foot-log. My first 

 attempt ft} pass over it, sank it down into the rushing waters 

 until I wisher! I had gotten off and swam. A ramble 

 among the woods next day to inspect, for raft timber showed 

 a number of bear, caribou and other game tracks, but noth- 

 ing could be seen of the representatives themselves, A few 

 gulls and terns were seen on the lake, and a small Hock of 

 pretty harlequin ducks gave ns a lone- but unsuccessful shot. 

 The interior lakes gave Roth, the cook, a couple of green- 

 winged teal, duck end drake, as a reward for a late evening 

 StrOll— for it must, be remembered we Were close enough 

 bordering into the Arctic regions to prevent perfect darkness 

 even at midnight, when coarse print eeuld be read, 



Two of the Tahk-heesh or "Stick" Indians who had come 

 with us had stored away in this vicinity a couple of the 

 most dilapidated looking craft that ever were seen and a. 

 traveler called upon to stretch bis conscience and call 

 "canoes." The only thing that ever kepi them afloat was 

 the possih). reason', as the Irishman said, "That for every 

 hole where the water could come in there was ball' a dozen 

 where it could run out." The canoes, called by most of the 

 white people "cotton wood ' canoes, are really, f believe, 

 made from a sort of poplar, and as the trees are not very 

 large, the' material "runs out," so to speak, along the waist", 

 Where a greater amount is required to reach around, and 

 this deficiency is made up by substituting strips tacked or 

 sewed on as gunwales and the crevices amply chinked with 

 gum. At bOW and si, ni .some rude attempt is made to warp 

 them into canoe lines, and this necessitates a number of 

 cracks, all smeared with gum. The thin bottom is a perfect 

 gridlroi ;l ! i p I closed with gum, and the propor- 

 tion of the gum increases with the canoe's age. These 

 were the fragile crafl Unit were brought to me 

 with a tender to transport my effects (nearly three 

 tons! the length of the lake, about, ten miles, and 

 they had the assurance In offoi to do it in two days, 

 f gave llti-m a couple of load'- of material that could lie lost 

 without damage, weighing 800 to 400 pounds, and as at that 

 time I did not kuow the length of the lake I thought 1 

 would await theirreturn before farther progress. A. southern 

 gal Setting in shortly after their departure, with running 



■ ' mi I lie lake a fool or two high, was too terrible a storm 

 for the little craft, and we never -aw anything of them or 

 their owner- until three days later, when the men came 

 creeping back overland — the gain still raging— to explain 

 matter:' thai required 00 explanation. In the meantime the 

 best i-logfl available rat her .small ones of stunted spruce and 



contorted pine, had been floated down the little stream and 

 tracked up and down along the shores of the lake and a rafL 

 made from them of the rather formidable looking dimensions 

 of fifteen by thirty feet. The lashings used on the loads of 

 the Indian packers were put to duly in landing the logs to- 

 gether, bul.'lhe. great est relian I inVooden pins 

 uniting them through auger holes bored in both. A deck 

 was made on the corduroy plan of light seasoned pine poles. 

 and high enough to prevent wetting the effects in ordinary 

 sized waves, while a pole was rigged with a wall tent for "a 

 sail, and an oar bow and stern with which to do the steering. 

 The evening of the 14th of June the craft; was completed, 

 when we found that, as a. number of us had surmised it was 

 not of sufficient hUOyancytO hold all the effects and the 

 whole party of whites and natives. The next day only three 

 white men. picked with reference to weight as anything else, 

 were placed in charge, about half the stores were' put oil the 



deck, the raft swung into the current of the stream to float 

 tier out; into the lake, and, as the rude sail was s pre ad, the 

 primitive Craft commenced a journey thai measured over 

 1,300 miles before be rom. libs knots and bark were laid 

 to rest on the great river, nearly 500 miles of whose secrets 

 were given up to geographical science through the medium of 

 her staunch and trusty bones. As she slowly obeyed her 

 motive power, the wind began blowing harder and harder. 

 until the craft was pitching tike a vessel laboring in an ocean 

 storm; but despite this (lie middle of the afternoon saw her 

 journey across the lake completed, and this without any 

 damage to her load. The men bad had a hard, ttm* of if. 

 however, and had been compelled to take in their sail, for 

 when this was lashed down over the stores there was enough 

 surface presented to drive them along at a good round gait, 

 especially when near the bold, rocky shores, where all their 

 vigilance and muscle were needed to' keep from being dashed 

 to pieces in the breakers. They had started with half a dozen 

 stout poles, Vmt in poling through the rocks occasionally one 

 would cramp between a couple of submerged stones and be 

 wrested from their hands before it could lie extricated as the 

 raft -wept by. 



The rest of the p- mound, white and native, scrambled over 

 the mountain spurs on the east side of the lake, wading 

 through bog and tangled underbrush, then up steep slippery 

 granite rocks on to the ridtie tops bristling with fallen lim- 

 ber, the one common suffering being from the mosquitoes. 

 The resl of the Stores not taken on the raft found their way 

 slow ly along by means of the two Valenciennes canoes, pre - 

 ynously described, in Bbe hands of our own Indians. We 



found that Lake Lindeman was drained by a small river from 

 50 to tin or 75 yards wide, and but little over a mile long. It 

 was for the whole length a perfect repetition of rapids, 

 shoals, cascades, boulders, liars and drift timber. Right in 

 the center of it the worst cascade was split bv a huge project- 

 ing boulder, just at a sudden bend of the stream, aud either 

 channel was barely large enough to allow the raft to pass if 

 it, came end on, otherwise it would he sure to jamb. Through 

 this narrow chute the raft. WAS "shot" June 10, and although 

 our predictions were verified at the cascade, n few minutes' 

 energetic work pried it off, with the loss of a side-log or 

 two. aud all were glad to see it towed alongside the. gravelly 

 beach on the new lake, with so little damage done, and 

 where we at once commenced enlarging its dimensions on a 

 scale commensurate with our entire load, pers/miid and 



One of the delights of raft making is standing a greater 

 part of the day in ice water just, off the mountain tops, and in 

 strange contrast with this annoyance was the mosquitoes' buz- 

 zing around the head while the feet were freezing. A number 

 of larger logs were secured and built into the raft on a plan of 

 fifteen by forty, bat really sixteen by forty-two, taking into 

 accouut'the projections beyond the pins from which the 

 measurements were made. " These dimensions were never 

 afterward changed, Two decks were now made separated 

 by a central space, where two cumbersome oars being rigged 

 " t the rate of 



it' was possible to row the ponderous craft 

 nearly a mile an hour, and these side oars were oft 

 ward" used to reach a camping place on the beach of a lake 

 when the wind had failed us or set in ahead. The bow and 

 stem steering oars were still retained, and we thus had sur- 

 plus oars for either service, if one should break, by borrow- 

 ing from the other, for the two services were never employ cd 

 at once. There was only one fault with the new construc- 

 tion and that was that none of the logs extended Ihe Whole 

 length of the raft, and if seemed 10 be nearer two rafts 

 slightly dovetailed In the center so as to unite them than one 

 of solid build. 



One of the Tahk-heesh Indiaus that visited us on this por- 

 tage between the two lakes stammered like a horse-fiddle, 

 and 1 note it a.s the only case of that, great family with an 

 impediment in their speech. The impediment in their hon- 

 esty usually absorbs all others. 



The new lake on which we found ourselves, and which 

 was about thirty miles long, I called Lake Bennett, after thai 

 friend of geographical research who had done more for its 

 extension than any living American not actually undergoing 

 the hardships of the explorers themselves. To its right were 

 the same old blue-ice glaciers, but. in pretty relief wen- the 

 red rocks sticking through them, Similarly colored rocks 

 on the lake s beach and near by showing iron as their color- 

 ing matter, 1 named them the "Iron-Capped Mountains." 



0%lbe morning of the 19th of June the naval constructors 

 reported that their work was done, and the raft was 

 immediately put. in commission, the load put on. how and 

 stern line cast loose and. after rowing for two or three 

 hundred yards to get past the mud flats deposited by the 

 stream, the old wall tent was spread from Us ridge" pole 

 lashed to the top of the rude mast, and the journey resumed. 

 The scenery along Lake Bennett is very much like the narrow 

 inland passages of Alaska visited by tourists, except, that, 

 t here is considerably less timber on t lie hills. There was a 

 fair witid in our favor as we started, but accompanied with 

 a disagreeable rain which made things very unpleasant, as 

 We hail no sign of a cover on our open bend.. Under this 

 wind we made about a mile and a half an hour, and as it 

 kept increasing we dashed along at the dizzy gait of two to 

 (wo and a half miles an hour. 



This increasing wind, however, also had its defects, for on 

 long, unprotected stretches of the lake the water was. swell- 

 ing into waves that gave us no little apprehension for our 

 vessel, not that she would strike a leak or a rock, but in her 

 ambitious explorations might spread herself over the lake 

 and her contents over its bottom. By 8 in the afternoon the 

 waves were dashing high over the stern, and, having no logs 

 run clear through, she was working in the center like an 

 accordeon, aud with as much distraction to her occupants. 

 Still it was too important to take advantage of every possible 

 breath of wind in the right direction; and we held" her nose 

 to the north until about, 5 in the afternoon, when a perfect 

 hurricane was howling, the waves sweeping the rowing 

 space so that no one could stand, let alone sit "down here to 

 work at the oars, and as a few of the faithful pins com- 

 menced snapping we headed her for the shore at as sharp an 

 angle as it was possible to make, running before the wind, 

 or about two points of the compass. This soon brought us 

 to a rough, rocky beach strewn with boulders along the 

 water's edge and the waves dashing over them in a boiling 

 sheet of water that looked threatening enough; but aline 

 was soon gotten ashore, and while two or three kept the 

 raft off with poles, the remainder of the party tracked 

 her back about half a mile to a sheltered cove where 

 she was beached, and we began looking arannd for 

 enough long logs to run the Whole length of the raft. 

 Four quite large ones were found and all the next day, 

 the 20th. was occupied in cutting them down, clearing 

 a waj for them through the timber to the water's edge, and 

 prying, pulling and pushing them there and then incorporat- 

 ing them into the raft. Two were used for the side logs and 

 two for the center, and when we were through it v 

 that a much needed improvement had been made. It was 

 just made in time, too, for our tools were going to pieces 

 rapidly, the last auger had slipped the nut that held it in the 

 handle and it could not be withdrawn to clear the shavings, 

 but a hand-vise was screwed on. and this too fell overboard 

 on the outer edge, of the raft, in eight or ten feet of water A 

 magnet was placed on the end of a long pole and we fished 

 for the instrument, that we could not see. but without avail. 

 "Billy," our half-breed Chilkut interpreter, then dove down 

 into the ice-cold water and revealed that near where it, fell a 

 precipitous bank sloped down to unfathomable depth and it 

 had probably rolled down Ibis, or the magnet would have 

 secured it. Other means were employed and we wriggled 

 through. The day we repaired the raft a good steady wind 

 from the south kept us in perfect agony seeing sn much good 

 energy that we solely needed go to waste, and we consoled 

 ourselves with the only good it did do us, that is to keep the 

 mosquitoes down. 



On the 21st we started early. With a good breeze behind US 

 which, on the long stretches, gave us very heftvy seas and 

 which tested the raft very thoroughly, and with a result 

 much to our satisfaction. It no longer conformed to the 

 Surface ol the waves, but remained rigidly intact, the 

 helmsman getting considerably splashed as a consequence. 

 The high red rocks that I have "mentioned finally culminated 

 in one bold beetling pinnacle, well isolated from the rest and 

 quite noticeable for many miles along the Lake, and which 



I called Bichards's Rock, afier Vice-Admiral Richards of the 

 Royfll Navy. The country was becoming a little more open 

 as we near'ed the northern end of the lake, and, indeed, 

 more picturesque in its relief from the everlasting bold 

 nature of the mountain scenery. At S in the afternoon the 

 northern end or outlet of the lake was reached, and as we 

 entered a river 100 to •.'hit yards wide and started forward til. 

 a speed of three or lour "miles an hour— and which really 

 seemed ten times as l':i<t as lake traveling since we were so 

 much nearer the shore, where we could see 0U1 relative mo- 

 tion much plainer— our spirits ascended and the whole bril- 

 liant prospects when we should be rid of the lakes were joy- 

 ouslv discussed and not ended when we grounded and ran 

 up on a mud flat that took us t vo hours of hard work, 

 standing waisl deep in ice water, to get off. 



This shorl stretch of the river, nearly two miles long, is 

 called by the natives "the place where the caribou cross," 

 and at certain seasons of the year these animals— the wood- 

 land reindeer— pass over this part of the river in large num- 

 bers in their migrations to their different, feeding grounds 

 thai the seasons open and close. Unfortunately for us it was 

 not, at this time of the year, although a dejected Tahk-heesh 

 camp not far away of two families had anarchteological bam 

 of reindeer hanging in front of their brush tent, which we 

 did not care to buy. The numerous tracks confirmed the 

 Indian stories, however, and as I looked at our skeleton 

 score and chewed on the Government bacon, I wished sin- 

 cerely that June was oue of their months of migration, and 

 the g 1st, 01 '22d about the time of their maximum strength. 

 The very few" Indians living in this part of the country— the 

 Tahk-heesh— subsist mostly on these animals and mountain 

 goats, and even an occasional moose wandering into their 

 district, while black bear form no immaterial part of their 

 commissary. You would expect to find such followers of 

 the chase the very hardiest of all Indians, conformable lo the 

 same rule in other countries, that places the hunter above 

 the fisher, hut, this is not so along this great river, where il 

 appears that the further down the" Indian gets, and the more 

 he subsists entirely on fish, the hardier, the more robust, the 

 more demanding and impudent he becomes. After prying 

 our raft off of the soft mud flat we spread our sail for the 

 beach of the little lake and went into camp after having been 

 on the water (or in it) for over thirteen hours. 



The country was now decidedly opening, and it, 

 evident that we were getting out, of the mountai 

 flat level places were appearing, the hills were lei 



the snow was meltiti; 

 blossoms were found along 

 many wild onions with whic 

 grouse that we killed, and s 

 verdure for the better. Thet 

 ■ Shoppers that fee 

 Alpine air, as if to tempt us t 

 thing that we needed for that 

 tl 



f't 



Many 

 ;ep and 



the 



the ' 



their tops. 



' teb. with 

 night-iron 



hange of 



i ■■■!■. . . ii s number of rbeu- 

 ,- jumped along in the cold 

 o fishing, and in fact every - 

 . . reation was to be had except 

 fish. A number of lines put out overnight rewarded us 

 with a large- salmon trout, being the first fish we had caught 

 on the trip'. 



The new lake now turned abruptly to the cast and our old 

 dependence, the south wind, was of but little use to us, in 

 fact we did not get off of this short, eastern stretch of ten or 



e days, bo baffling was the wind. 



led delays gave us many chances for 

 miry, some of which we improved, 

 in contact with the grouse of these 

 nods, and while the little chicks 

 went scurrvint' through the tall grass to hunt a hiding place, 

 the old one's walked along in front of the intruder often but, 

 a few r feet, seemingly devoid of fear, and probably never 

 having heard a shot fired. The temptation to kill them was 



fifteen mil. 



Of course, these prot 

 rambles around the 

 Everywhere we can; 

 regions, all of them with 



afb 



a subsistence the 

 rough out-of-door 

 them ruthlessly de> 

 fears of the game la 

 or compassion of at 

 the scale, for they w 



been so long without fresh meat, 

 appetite loudly demands in the. 



life 



of 



! by 



, lo 



A. 



ad 



Of 



i (ought 



edt 



xplorer 



Indians 



's qualms of conscience 



mr desire to the zero of 

 leather and as tasteless 



,vc were willing to allow 

 them all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to a higher 

 grade of animals. Quite, a number of marmots were seen by 

 our Indians, and their hole* dotted the hillsides. The In- 

 dians catch them for fur and food (in fact, everything living 

 is used for the hitter purpose) by means i " 

 put over their holes, eh old ug the' little an 

 make his exit from home. A finely-split c 

 the whole length of the rib of the feather, i 

 noose proper, and the instant this is sprung i 

 own flexibility. The rest is a sinew string lied to a Bush 

 near the hole. Nearly all the blankets of this tribe of In- 

 dians arc made from these marmot skins, and they are ex- 

 ceedingly light for their warmth. Much of the warmth, 

 however, Ls lost by the ventilated condition in which they 

 maintain them, as it costs labor to mend them, but nothing 



utiing nooses 



us he tries to 



t quill. running 



ed for the 



it closes by its 



The ft 



ound and sh 

 been near us al Caribou Crossing 

 night after we camped on the 

 canoe, that we towed along tin; 

 eies, faded from view at. the same 

 associate the two events together 

 as inclined to appropriations. I 

 cumstance that we were not won 

 ward until we could purchase 

 hardly thought such a thine pi 



had we used tl 



y Tab} 



ddenly i 



nd 



ed ft 



ash that had 

 appeared the 

 s our gum 

 r emergen- 

 re forced to 

 liese fellows 

 rtunate cir- 

 if one aflcr- 

 Ithough we 

 tie, so much 

 ids. 



The 38d of June we got across the little lake, the wind dy- 

 ing down as we went through its short draining river, having 

 made only three miles. The next day, the 24th, the wind 

 seemed to keep swinging around in a circle, and although we 

 made five miles, I think we made as many landings, so' often 

 did the wind die out, or set, in ahead. On both sides of these 

 lakes could be seen a series of terraces rising one above the 

 Other, and evidently the ancient beaches of "the lakes when 

 their outlets were closed much higher than at present, and 

 when, probably, great bodies of ice on their surface plowed 

 up the beach into these terraces. The next day, the 35th, it 

 was the same light with a baffling wind from 0:30 in the 

 morning until ft at; night, but, we managed to make twelve 

 miles, and better than all, got on our old course pointing 

 northward. 



At one of our stoppages our Indians amused themselves 

 wasting government matches that they had never seen in such 

 profusion before, aud in a little while succeeded in getting 

 BOmfi dried dead spruce tree on fire, and these eommunieaf- 

 iug to the living ones above them, soon sent, up great billows 

 of dense resinous smoke that must have been Visible t'ormiies. 

 aud which lasted for a numberof minutes after we had gotten 

 away. Before camping that evening we could see a verydis 

 moke, apparently six or seven miles ahead, but really 



