REVIEWS. 431 
make his statements thoroughly reliable. Alaska is in most respects & 
new country,—the hand of civilized man has scarcely made its mark on 
the face of nature, the Indians and Innuits will soon disappear, domesti- 
cated and introduced species of animals and plants have scarcely taken 
up their abode and begun to wage war against the native species, and 
just at this juncture the record of a naturalist who has watched the 
changes of each season for two years in succession is a contribution of 
the first importance to scienc 
The first half (Part I) of i book is a personal narrative of travels on 
second year he remained after the expedition returned, and prosecuted his 
explorations alone and at his own expense. The second part treats of the 
geogr mh history, inhabitants, and —— of Alaska 
In reading the narrative w nally meet with a aridi of gen- 
eral Co to our Senden.. Let ‘the mt give us his first impressions 
of the Yukon: 
“Passed over (p. a the — er — nie hills, — one of which I caught my first 
glimpse of the great river Yukon and ice-bound. A natural "e p ati urged 
me forward, and eie a smart M Mb sem real miles kii arrived a the steep bank of me 
river. It was with a Witi akin to e 
HOr ioeveren ocean, mas I irc ir tho dogs and down the steep deelivity, side 
and to enjoy the magnificent prospect before 
me. 
Th lay a stretch of Lida’ miles of this great, broad, snow-covered river, with phim en frag- 
ments of i k 1 y light of the setting sun; the low opposite s 
miles away, s eemed a mere black streak on the horizon. A aw islands covered with dark 
rii huc T M sight Nue Bel Į th 
tains. 
t w banks near me ge the 
eer à asi a “This “was the river I had read and dreamed pig hich had seemed as 
phronded mn mystery, in Spe o the tales of Spr who bad seen it. oe its banks live thou- 
look to it a itte and even for clothing. 
no ukon 
baad f 
siae indeed. must he be, who surveys the broad cpu the pines of the North for 
the first time More emotion. A little Innuit lad, who ran Sollee the dogs and saw it for the 
first time, shouted at the sight, saying, amidst his expressions of astonishment, ‘It is no 
river, it is a sea!’ and ! lians had d of ridicule for him, oft they had 
it.” 
The anthropologist will glean much valuable information from the nar- 
is an imp 
ie tci: the Innuit casine, or town hall, it is stated t 
“There a nail pin in the structure, which is of the most solid description. 
patas nd te eon are two “feet in diameter, ‘and the broad se ats on both sides, previously re- 
p gle p four inches wide, thirty feet long, and four 
aiani pons, 'These plank: Sera logs. a " 
of the natives 
Of € eas, the number of North American species of which is now 
in disp 
“There are three species large brown bear of the mountains, known as the ‘ grizzly” 
among the pad Bay voyagers the barren-ground bear (Ursus Richardsonii of Mayne 
Reid), which is eonfined an America to the extreme north-east; and the black bear, 
