deliverance with joy; but the weather-beaten explorers, with their carefully matured plans for more thorough and extended explorations during the coming year, felt a regret and disappointment which could hardly be over-estimated, as with a few words these prospects were destroyed. There was, of course, nothing to be done but to pitch our tents on the beach, and there await the return of the vessel, now absent in search of the parties which had been left at Grantley Harbor, Bering Strait. Arrival of the vessel. CHAPTER IV. Arrange to remain in the country. - Departure of the Clara Bell. Mushrooms. Plans for the season. - - Start for Unalaklik. The Major's Cove. - Voyage to Kegiktowruk. - Description of the casine. End of the old bidarra. Leave Kegiktowruk. - Crossing the bar of the Unalaklik River. - Send back for the goods. - Trip to Ulukuk. - Death of Stareek. - Bears and bear-hunting. Geological reconnoissance, and discovery of fossils. Return to Unalaklik. Purchasing winter supplies. — Innuit of Norton Sound. — Tribes, physique, games, kyaks. Disposition, morality, marriages, and infanticide. - Treatment of the women, and work allotted to the sexes. Dress, labrets of the different tribes.Property, method of computation, and map-drawing. — Fire-drills.- Weapons of bone, flint, and ivory.— Guns and trading. — Intercourse with Indians, and boundary lines of their territory. Shamanism. - Patron spirits. Interment of the dead. Habits, and means of gaining subsistence throughout the year. Dances and festivals. Arrival of my new bidarra. - Sudden illness, and departure for the Redoubt. - Storm and detention at Kegiktowruk. - Proceed to the Redoubt on foot. - Return to Unalaklik. Kill a deer. Cowardly abuse of the natives by the Russians. Kamokin and his barbarity to the sick. — Deaths in the village. — - Making dog-harness. A LONG month passed by and brought no signs of the ship. A party of seven bidarrás, manned with Okeeógemuts and other Bering Strait Innuit, arrived at St. Michael's. They brought the news that the Grantley Harbor parties had safely embarked, and departed. We began to fear that some accident had happened to the vessel. Our daily walk was invariably to the northeast bluff, whence we could look seaward. A pound of tobacco was promised to the first person who should see the ship. About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th of August an old woman came breathless from the bluff, saying the ship was coming. All started to confirm the report, which proved true, and the venerable Martha was made the recipient of more tobacco than she had ever before possessed. It was the Clara Bell, and about eight o'clock she anchored in the bay. I had by this time become pretty well versed in colonial Russian, as spoken in the territory. I had also some knowledge of the Innuit and Indian dialects, and understood the mode of life necessary in the Yukon Territory. I had formed my plans, and immediately took the opportunity of explaining them to Major George M. Wright, adjutant of the Expedition, and now in charge of all the men and materials which were to be shipped on board the Clara Bell. A pretty thorough reconnoissance had been made of the geology and natural history of the Yukon above and at Nuláto, and on the shores of Norton Sound. The Lower Yukon and the delta had yet to be examined. I felt unwilling that the plans of Mr. Kennicott, so far carried on successfully, should be left uncompleted. I therefore proposed to carry them out alone, and at my own expense, and relied on Major Wright for the co-operation necessary to accomplish this arrangement. With his characteristic politeness he agreed to do what lay in his power. He could leave me no provisions, as they were already short of them. He could sell me, at the Company's prices, a small amount of trading-goods, and he would pay a certain proportion of the salary due me from the Company into the hands of Stepánoff (the chief factor of the Russian American Company at St. Michael's), who could furnish me with some trading-goods and a limited supply of provisions; while for the rest I must depend upon the natural resources of the country. Explaining to Stepánoff that I had no desire to interfere with the fur-trade, he expressed himself willing to co-operate with me, and the proposed arrangement was carried into effect. To my companions of the previous year, and to the officers of the vessel, I was greatly indebted for many articles useful in the country, and otherwise unattainable. The boy who had been brought from Fort Yukon was left in my care to be sent home. My mail was made up for transmission by the vessel to San Francisco; the Reports on the Medical Department and the Scientific Corps were placed in the adjutant's hands. The collections. of the previous year were also sent aboard. I depended, for the means of reaching civilization again, on some passing trader or the annual store-ship of the Russians. On the 23d of August everything was concluded, and I went on board and bade all hands. good by. I returned, with the boy Johnny and Stepánoff, in the Russian boat. About four o'clock in the afternoon the Clara Bell stood out to sea. As I saw her white sails disappear in the distance I realized more thoroughly the loneliness of my position, and that I was the only person in the whole of that portion of the territory who spoke English. If I needed companions, I must seek them among alien convicts or Indians, in a foreign tongue. Returning to my room in the fort, I soon stifled any feeling of regret by busying myself in putting on paper a brief sketch of my plan of exploration for the coming year. Stepánoff called me, saying that there was no meat or other fresh provisions in the fort, and we must go out and get something for dinner. At first I took down my gun, but he informed me that it was unnecessary, and after walking a short distance he pointed out various fungi, which he assured me were eatable. They were of two or three species, all poisonous in our climate; but in this extreme northern region they proved to be innocuous and eatable, though quite tasteless. During our walk we came to a definite conclusion on the subject of fur-trading. Stepánoff said that he did not believe in the rumor which prevailed as to the sale of the country; that his duty to the Russian American Company would compel him to prevent any one from trading except the authorized employés of the Company; that when the official information should arrive I might trade as much as I chose, but until then I must refrain. I assured him that trading was not my object in remaining in the country, and that I would not do anything of the kind until he had received definite information. The latter might be expected, if at all, by a midwinter courier from Nushergák to the Kólmakoff Redoubt on the Kuskoquím. Such couriers had been sent on rare and important occasions, and a mail was always sent to Nushergák from St. Michael's every December. Stepánoff begged me to consider myself his guest while at the Redoubt, and offered to have any orders sent to Nuláto in regard to the building in which we had spent the previous winter, if I desired to use it during the coming season. My plans were as follows: First, to examine the rocks along the shores of Norton Sound and across the portage as thoroughly as possible. Next, to take my trading-goods and such provisions as I could obtain to Nuláto; spend the winter in making explorations in that vicinity, and, if possible, make a winter visit to Kot zebue Sound; to take a boat across the portage and descend the Yukon in the spring, examining the rocks carefully, and making as thorough collections as possible of specimens of natural history; to spend some time at the Yukon-mouth; and finally return by sea to the Redoubt, and there await some opportunity of getting a passage to Sitka or San Francisco with the collections. I therefore requested Stepánoff to order Iván Pávloff to have the house put in thorough repair, the seams calked, floor put in order, and the peechka replastered. The building at Fort Kennicott was too large and too cold to be readily made habitable. The orders were sent by Kurilla, whom I engaged as my permanent assistant. He, with Antóshka and Tékunka, started for Nuláto via Unalaklik, in the three-holed bidárka in which Dyer had descended the Yukon. Kurilla was to get our dogs and sleds together, hire Indians, buy úkali for dog-feed, and meet me at Unalaklík as soon as the Yukon was ice-bound. Then we would proceed together to Nuláto. I furnished him with the necessary trading-goods for purchasing dog-feed and hiring Indians, and he departed in high spirits at the responsibility intrusted to him. One day when Stepánoff was away shooting, on the marshes about the Canal, one of the Russians came to me with a sable, for which he wanted alcohol. I refused him, and added that I had promised Stepánoff not to purchase furs, and should keep my word. The meaning of truth and honesty is incomprehensible to these degraded wretches, and he still urged me, saying Stepánoff would never hear of it. As he did not take any notice of repeated refusal, I became at last so angry that I pitched him heels over head out of the door and down the steps, into the muddy courtyard, greatly to the amusement of old Martha, who had just previously brought in some work, and was waiting for her pay. Life among the natives is far preferable to being surrounded by white men of such a despicable class. It is not to be wondered at that the knout and the brand were formerly in use in Russia. Nothing else would seem capable of inspiring a respect for the law in such minds. My time was passed in running lead into balls, adding to the collection, and making general preparations for starting for Una |