ALASKA. 
*7 
f ukon district on the south and the Arctic Ocean on the north, 
rhis division, situated almost entirely above the Arctic Circle, is 
mown only from observations made on the seacoast. The vast 
nterior, consisting probably of frozen moors and low ranges of 
lills, intersected here and there by shallow streams, remains almost 
entirely unknown. The Meade, Ikpikpung, and Colville rivers 
:mpty into the Arctic Ocean, and the Selawik (flowing through 
•ielawik Lake), the Noatak, and the Kowak empty into Kotze- 
>ue Sound. The natives report the existence of settlements on 
ill these rivers except the Colville, whose head waters no white 
nan has ever visited. The coast settlements between Cape 
D rince of Wales and Point Barrow are visited annually by many 
chooners and ships engaged in whaling, hunting, and trading, and 
he inhabitants are better accustomed to white men than the 
latives of any other regions of Alaska. They carry on an exten- 
ive traffic with the natives of the Arctic coasts of Alaska and 
\sia. Kotzebue Sound is by far the best harbor in this section 
>f the Arctic Ocean. 
RIVER SYSTEM. 
One of the characteristics of Alaska is the network of rivers 
hat covers its surface, and that serves as the most available means 
if transportation. In the Sitkan district, says Mr. Petroff, land 
ravel is simply impracticable. Nobody goes on a road; savages 
nd whites all travel by water. In the more northern regions “the 
ountry, outside of the mountains, is a great expanse of bog, 
ikes, large and small, with thousands of channels between them.” 
ly ascending Lynn Channel, the head waters of the Yukon can be 
eached by the Chilkoot, the Chilkat, or the White passes; the 
"opper and Tanana rivers, the Copper and Sushitna, the Tanana 
nd White, the Sushitna and Kuskokwim are connected by trails, 
'here is a trail of 6 miles between branches of the Yukon and Kus- 
okwim. 1 In the Alaska peninsula, there is a route from Bristol 
1 According to the map in Nansen’s “ Farthest North.” 
No. 86- 2 
