Had a long march, from ten to five, over miles of swampy, 
Sept. 20th semi-frozen tundra and through thick alder bushes; a fine, 
driving, snow hitting us in the face the while. Left the trail 
at 11.30 A. M., the McCornicks having borne away to hunt¬ 
ing-grounds in another direction, at the point then reached. 
Killed two porcupine and three duck during the day’s 
march, and enjoyed the latter in a stew this evening. Every¬ 
body is tired and anxious to be at the caribou grounds, which, 
at our present rate of travel, should be reached about day 
after to-morrow. 
Distance covered to-day,—about fifteen miles. 
We felt warm when we woke in our tent this morning, 
Sept. 2lst and were not at all surprised to find the ground covered with 
snow. A few inches of this upon a tent makes a remarkable 
difference in the temperature inside. 
Broke camp at 9.30, marching until 5.30, with one hour’s 
stop between for lunch. Had rather stiff climbing crossing 
the snow line, in coming over a mountain range, but the day 
as a whole was not nearly so hard as that before. 
The view from the mountain top—the white peaks stretch¬ 
ing off, apparently, interminable—was wonderfully beautiful, 
particularly since atmospheric conditions were just right for 
seeing a great distance. We were able to recognize one peak 
off, at least seventy-five miles, toward the Stickine. 
Shot two ptarmigan en route. 
We are practically in the caribou country now, and by 
aid of glasses, late this evening, saw a herd of the animals 
on a neighboring mountain. Will march several hours fur¬ 
ther in, to-morrow, before making permanent camp. 
Stretched out in the snuggest camp we have made to date, 
Sept. 22d —warm and cozy, and with our Indians chanting the “Cari¬ 
bou Song” of the Tholtan tribe about,-—it seems hard to re¬ 
alize that only this morning we were marching, half-frozen, 
cross the mountain-tops, facing blinding snowstorms. The 
camp is appreciated all the more through contrast with the 
very poor one made last night. 
We saw a large herd of caribou en route, but there was 
too much snow to use our binoculars to advantage in deter¬ 
mining the size of the heads. Nevertheless we made an ex¬ 
cellent stalk to within forty yards, crawling over the snow 
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