4 
FEBRUARY 22, 1884. ] 
Tahk-heesh Indians who were hunting black 
bear, said to be very numerous in this vicinity. 
During the evening we could hear many hoot- 
ing-grouse (Bonasa Sabinii) in the spruce 
woods of the hillsides, this part of the day 
seeming to be their favorite time for this 
Pulling 
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Cange SS prach iY 
a => 
currel if 
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pe 
SCIENCE. 223 
ie) 
) 
and Dayay, like most streams fed by glaciers, 
have their waters noticeably white and chalky. 
Not a‘ bite,’ nor a‘ rise,’ could be had in either 
with bait or flies, although the Indians catch 
trout in them in their fish-wears. 
At the head of the Nourse River the Indians 
Push ing 
Shore E 
= 
SS 
Tracking 
Current 
X Indvairs 
METHODS OF TRACKING -A CANOE UP A RAPID. 
strain. I could but notice the very peculiar 
expressions of surprise given by the Chilcat 
Indians. Whenever one sets up a‘ Ya-a-a!’ at 
any thing that attracts his notice, especially 
the ludicrous mishap of a companion, every one 
in hearing, from two to two hundred, joins 
instantly ; and a prolonged. shout goes up that 
would astonish one not used to it. This may 
be repeated a number of times in a minute; 
and the suddenness with which it commences 
and stops is astonishing, and strongly reminds 
one of a gang of coyotes howling, or the bay- 
ing of Indian dogs, from which I think they 
have borrowed it. 
The head of canoe navigation on the Dayay 
is ten miles from the mouth of the river, al- 
though fully fifteen are travelled by the canoe- 
men in ascending its tortuous course. They 
‘track’ against the current in two ways, two 
persons being necessary for each method for a 
single canoe. The diagrams above will show 
these methods without further explanations. 
The current of the Dayay is very swift, and 
it often takes two days’ ‘ tracking’ over the 
navigable part. Every few hundred yards or 
so the river has to be crossed, and oftentimes 
a hundred yards is lost in this undertaking. 
From the head of canoe navigation on the 
Dayay to the point where the Indian packers 
left the party is twenty-six miles, or the true 
length of the portage. Two miles and a half 
beyond the head of canoe navigation the Cut- 
lah-cook-ah of the Chilcats comes in from 
the west. ‘This is really larger in volume and 
width than the Dayay, the two averaging re- 
spectively fifty and forty yards in width by es- 
timation. I shortened its lengthy name, and 
called it after Professor Nourse of the U.S. 
naval observatory. Large glaciers feed its 
sources by numerous waterfalls, and its caiion- 
like bed is very picturesque. Both the Nourse 
say there is a very large lake. Its westward- 
bounding mountains are capped with an im- 
mense glacier, that could be traced along their 
summits for probably ten or twelve miles, and 
was then lost in the lowering clouds that these 
icy crowns form from the moisture-loaded at- 
mosphere of the warm Pacific.’ These light 
fogs are frequent in the warm days, when the 
difference of temperatures at the upper and 
lower levels is more marked, clearing up at 
night as they approach each other. 
The march of the 10th of June was a very 
rough, fatiguing one of about ten miles, con- 
suming from 7.30 a.m. till 7.15 e.m. It brought 
us to the foot of the mountain pass on the other 
side of which we should find the sources of the 
Yukon. I noticed that day that all my Indians, 
in crossing logs over streams, always turned 
the toes of both feet in the same direction 
(to the right), although they kept the body 
square to the front, or nearly so, and each foot 
passed the other at every step, as in natural 
walking. The advantage to be gained was not 
obvious to the author ; as the novice, in attempt- 
POSITION OF THE FEET IN WALKING A LOG, AS PRACTISED BY 
THE ALASKAN INDIANS. 
ing it, feels much more unsafe than in ordi- 
nary walking. Every evening was spent by the 
Indians in their gambling games, their orgies 
1 This glacier (see ilhustration, p. 222) was named after Prof. 
S. F. Baird of Washington, D.C. 
