708 
as far as c (five or six times as far as in fig. 10) 
that the superincumbent weight becomes great 
enough to break off the projecting bank along 
ed; and cd S,as a solid, frozen mass, tum- 
bles in around the axis c, and, being too heavy 
for the water to sweep away, it remains until 
thawed out and washed away. 
I have roughly attempted to (&%,, *. 
show this in fig. 12. I think gpd 
any one will acknowledge 
that the raft #, carried by a 
current sweeping to- 
wards C, is not in a 
very desirable posi- y 
tion. It is gener- Yj 
ally bad enough on Ys 
any river with a sin- 
gle line of trees 
along its scarp, but on the Yukon it is as much 
worse as I have shown. In fig. 12 the maxi- 
mum is depicted just as the bank falls; and it 
requires but a few days for all the outer trees 
to be packed away by the swift current, and a 
less bristling aspect presented, the great mass 
acting somewhat as a barrier to again erode 
the bank for a long while. In many places 
along the river, this undermining had gone so 
far that the bank seemed full of caves; and, 
drifting close by, one could see and hear the 
dripping from the thawing surface, cS (fig. 
11). In other places the half-polished surface 
of the ice could be seen in recent fractures as 
late as July, and even August. 
On the 18th, shortly after noon, we passed a 
number of Indians on the right bank with six- 
teen canoes. It was probably a trading or hunt- 
ing party, there being one for each canoe, and 
no women with them. About 8.30 p.m. we 
passed an Indian camp on the left bank, which, 
from the apparent good-looking quality of their 
tents as viewed from the river, 
we thought might be a mining- 
party. From them we learned 
that a deserted white man’s 
store was but 
a few miles 
farther on, 
but that the 
man had left 
a number of 
months be- 
fore, going down to salt water, as they ex- 
pressed it. Wecamped that night at the mouth 
of a conspicuous but small stream coming in 
from the east, that we afterwards learned was 
called Deer Creek by the traders, from the large 
number of caribou seen in its valley at certain 
times of their migrations. At this point the 
SCIENCE. 
eg ee eee | ee, 
[Vor. IIL, No. 71. 
Yukon River is extremely narrow for such a 
distance from its head, and considering its pre- 
‘vious mean width, being between two hundred 
and two hundred and fifty yards. It must have 
great depth, for its increase in current does not 
seem adequate to carry its previous volume. 
Believing I was now near the British bound- 
ary, I reluctantly determined on giving a day 
(the 19th of July) to astronomical observa- 
tions, — reluctantly, because every day was of 
vital importance in reaching St. Michael’s, 
near the mouth of the river, in time to reach 
any outgoing vessels for the United States. 
That day, however, proved so tempestuous, 
and the prospects so uninviting, that, after get- 
ting a couple of poor ‘ sights’ for longitude, I 
ordered camp broken, and we got off at 11.10 
A.M. A few minutes before one o’clock we 
passed the abandoned trading-station on the 
right bank of the river, which, we surmised 
from certain maps, and information received 
afterwards, was named Fort Reliance. It was 
a most dilapidated-looking frontier pile of 
Zy 
LI ZZA 
wae 
LEE bag 
og 
Fie. 12. 
shanties, consisting of one main house, the 
store above ground, and three or four cellar- 
like houses, the roofs of which were the only 
parts above the level of the ground. We 
afterwards learned that the trader, Mr. Mc- 
Question, had left, fearing some harm from 
the Indians. ; 
Nearly opposite Reliance was the Indian 
village of Noo-klak-o, numbering about a 
hundred and fifty souls. Our approach was 
announced by the firing of from fifty to seventy- 
five discharges of guns, to which we replied 
with a much less number. This method of sa- . 
luting is very common along the river, from here 
down, and is an old Russian custom that has 
found its way this far up the stream, much 
beyond where they ever traded. It is a cus- 
tom often mentioned in descriptions of travels 
farther down the river. The permanent num- 
ber of inhabitants, according to Mr. McQues- 
tion, was about seventy-five to eighty; and 
therefore there must have been a great number 
of visitors among them at the time of our 
passing. They seemed very much disap- 
pointed that we did not visit them, and the 
