206 THE RED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
pretty thoroughly frightened. One or two villages were 
passed, but the inhabitants were all so busy with their 
salmon-fishery that they paid but little attention to the 
whites, probably thinking them a party of fur-traders 
going out from the interior. The size of the company on 
the raft was now such as to intimidate any ordinary band 
of natives, no matter how warlike their inclinations. 
On about the fifth day they knew they must be cross- 
ing the boundary of Alaska ; in other words, the one hun- 
dred and forty-first meridian west from Greenwich. 
They were now fairly in Alaskan territory, and felt that 
they were nearing their goal. Every night the larger 
raft was moored to the lower end of an island, with its 
more fragile consort, that of Mr. Button and the boys, 
close at hand. The whole party slept on board, going 
ashore only to cook, eat, and hunt. 
The broad and dreary " Yukon Flat Lands " were 
now reached, where the river spreads out in a perfect 
network of shallow, swift streams, cutting off hundreds 
of islands, and measuring ten miles in width from bank 
to bank. The greatest care was necessary, lest they 
should take the wrong channel, and be obliged to abandon 
the raft. Indeed, this very accident occurred to the 
smaller craft, which got swept into a narrow passageway 
between two sandbars, and presently grounded, sticking 
so fast that it was useless to try to get it off before the 
next freshet. Three of the remaining Chilkat packers 
were now paid up and discharged. 
