smaller skin boat, yet carried five persons, a tent, blankets, cooking utensils, and guns, two bags of biscuit (100 lbs.), 150 lbs. of flour, with smaller packages. Our crew comprised Kuriler, as steersman, and two Indians,-one a representative of the Ingeletes, the other, of the Co-Yukons. Dall and myself paddled usually, while the others rowed: we also carried a sail, but no rudder; Kuriler steered us with a paddle, and helped us along at the same time. The river was still full of ice and drift-wood, and navigation was difficult. The only way of ascending the stream was by keeping near, generally very near the banks. We had frequently to cross and recross the stream to get into quieter water, and at such times exerted ourselves specially, so that we might not lose much by the operation. As it was, we usually drifted down half a mile or so.

How shall I, in few words, describe this immense stream, one that our men were wont to compare with the Mississippi! At Nulato, which is 600 miles above its mouths-as before stated, it is from bank to bank one mile and a quarter wide, while in other places it opens out into lagoons, four to five miles in width, studded with innumerable islands. Our explorers have travelled up it 1800 miles. Its tributaries to be hereafter mentioned-would be large rivers in Europe, and I can therefore understand the proud boast uttered by a native of its banks, and translated for our benefit,- -" We are not savages, we are Yukon Indians!"

About a mile above Nulato, steep cliffs abut on the west side of the river, showing a sandstone formation, with shale intermingled, and with numerous plants and ferns growing at their base. About noon we stopped for tea; a fire was soon made on a very shelving bank, not selected from choice, but

THE YUKON IN SPRING: BREAK UP OF THE ICE.

CHAP. XVIII.] DANGERS OF THE NAVIGATION.

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from necessity. A small creek of limpid ice-cold water was near it, and we enjoyed a simple lunch, and then resumed our trip.

We had proceeded but a short distance when we came to turns of the river, round which logs and ice, and drift-wood, were sweeping at a great rate. It was absolutely necessary for one man at this time to stand in the bows of the canoe, with a pole shod at one end with iron, to push away the masses of ice and tangle of drift wood, lest a collision should ensue. We saw large trees pass under the Russians' canoe, and positively lift it for a moment out of the water, although it weighed at least three tons and had eight men on board. This can be understood by taking into consideration the great momentum that a floating mass acquires when sweeping at the rate of six or eight miles an hour, and itself somewhat sunken by the rapidity of the current. Had the same logs struck the canoe broadside, or directly in the bows, in all probability a serious disaster would have occurred. We could often feel the ice and logs rolling and scraping under the keel of our canoe, and it was a very uncomfortable sensation. It was not the thickness of a plank between us and destruction, but simply that of a piece of seal-skin, an eighth or a tenth of an inch thick. Still a skin boat has its advantages; the tough flexible skin will give for several inches without necessarily tearing. It is in such a river infinitely safer, and will stand more wear and tear than the cedar canoes of British Columbia; and birch-barksat least while there is yet a flow of ice in the water-are evidently very unsafe craft. On the other hand, we found that the seams where the skins were sewn together were very liable to rip,-especially on the flat bottom of the

canoe, when passing over logs and ice, or stones and snags," in shallow water.

66

At one of the above-mentioned bluffs so difficult was it to proceed, that the Russians, after vainly struggling against the current, gave in, drifted down a little way, and then camped. Our steersman grinned, and asked whether we also meant to turn back, or whether we would run all risks, and try to cross the great torrent into quieter water by the other bank. We immediately saw a brilliant chance of distinguishing ourselves, and told him we would proceed. The Russians had rather pooh-poohed the notion of Dall and myself both comparatively young men-ever reaching Fort Yukon; so we were on our mettle, and paddled and rowed with great vigour. We had many a close shave with the floating ice and wood, and sometimes had to stop and drift down to let some more than usually cumbersome mass pass on its way; but by Kuriler's excellent steering we crossed safely, and then travelled along the bank for some distance a-head of our Muscovite friends. Nothing could exceed the glee of our Indians, and they could not understand how Dall and myself could show no more excitement about it, overjoyed as we evidently were. We at length came to a comparatively dry spot on some low ground, and made our camp. It was on the east side of the river, and the land was level for some distance back. It terminated at a distance of thirty miles in the snow-capped range of the T'Kitske Mountains. We had included a tow-line in our apparatus, but no tracking was possible for a week after this date; many of the lower banks and islands were submerged. We erected our tents, and indeed needed them, as it rained incessantly.