48 The American Naturalist. [January 
Fort Good Hope, which is almost exactly under the Arctic Circle. 
From here he paddled alone in a small canoe to Fort McPherson,- 
two hundred and eighty miles farther north. Here he was joined by 
the celebrated French explorer, Count de Sainville, with whom he kept 
company for the remainder of his trip. While going to the mouth of 
the Mackenzie, some hundred and sixty miles below, he killed a grizzly 
bear as it was swimming the river. From the mouth of the Mackenzie 
he paddled his canoe through the ice-floes in the Arctic Sea to Herschel 
Island, a distance of one hundred miles, this being, in all probability,. 
the first time a one-man canoe has ever gone over these waters. Several 
American whaling vessels had passed the previous winter at Herschel 
Island, and left two days after Mr. Russel reached that point. He 
made arrangements with Captain Newth, of the steam-whaler “ Jean- 
ette,” for transportation to San Francisco, at the end of the whaling 
season. Two months were spent in making ornithological and ethno- 
logical collections on this island and the adjacent mainland, a remark- 
ably fine series being secured. 
August 30th, the “Jeanette” returned to Herschel Island and took 
on board Mr. Russell and his collections. The vessel then sailed to 
the region north of Wrangel Land, and here the passenger had the 
pleasure of seeing the process of killing and cutting up a large whale. 
Turning southward, the “Jeanette” touched at two points on the 
Siberian Coast, where Mr. Russell secured a monster Polar bear skin 
and skull, numerous ethnological specimens, and a unique collection of 
Esquimaux ivory work, graved, etched and colored, besides a pair of 
enormous walrus tusks. After a very rough voyage, the vessel en- 
tered the Golden Gate on October 27th, bearing the two passengers 
who had been the first men to traverse the vast length of the Atha- 
basca, Slave and Mackenzie basins to the coast, returning to civiliza- 
tion by way of the Arctic Sea, Behring Straits and California. 
Mr. Russell’s collections have all been received in excellent. condi- 
tion, and constitute probably the finest series of zoological and ethno- 
logical specimens which have thus far been brought from the far north 
by any one explorer. 
C. C. Nurrine. 
