the nooses, tighten them, and so get caught, or are shot, whilst still bewildered, and running from side to side. Near the opening it is common to erect piles of snow, with "portholes," through which natives hidden shoot at the passing deer.

It is surprising, in this thinly inhabited country, how fast news of any kind will travel from tribe to tribe. Should a vessel call at St. Michael's, in a week or two it will be known on three parts of the Yukon. During winter false rumours reached our men at the coast station that we had been attacked by Indians, and Captain Ennis immediately sent up, offering assistance. On the other hand, reports, equally false, reached us with regard to the coast parties; all being probably caused by some petty disagreement, exaggerated from mouth to mouth.

We once said, jokingly, that if supplies did not come in faster, we should have to eat up the plump babies of the settlement. Before many days elapsed, it was spread all over the country that we were cannibals, and devoured children wholesale! and many a serious enquiry was made about it. Generally speaking, we found it answered our purpose to joke, sing, and affect gaiety with them, but we had to be very careful what statements we advanced. We told them confidently, however, of the expected advent of a big steamer for the Yukon, as, indeed, we ourselves believed at the time; but, unless some private individuals do what our Company proposed to do, I am afraid the Indians will think us terrible liars. Many of them went down to see our little steamer, then at the mouth of the Unalachleet River, and it excited a good deal of interest, as they spread the news throughout the country. Few individuals, even of the Co-Yukons, have ever

CHAP. XVII.]

FURS AND TRADING.

189

tasted "fire-water." How long that happy state of things will last, remains to be seen. Their smoking habits are the same as those of the coast peoples, modified, of course, by the introduction of pipes of a larger growth, introduced by the trading companies and ourselves.

The women are often passably pretty, and when living in the forts often improve in habits. They are there sometimes allowed a "steam-bath." They are very fond of playing together, behaving at such times like children, snow-balling each other, rolling each other in the snow, or sliding down banks on sledges or snow shoes. I think they treat their children well, and the young mothers are certainly very fond of their first-born.

One day in summer, Dall gallantly presented a wild rose to a young Indian damsel. She accepted it graciously, but did not appear to know what to do with it. He put it up to her nose, when she turned away with a "puh!" as contemptuous as Hamlet's! It will not, perhaps, do to put this down as a national trait. Of the furs obtained by them, a portion only reached the Russian forts. Some were accumulated till spring, when at Nuclukayette they could trade them to their neighbours, or to the Hudson's Bay Company. Another part of the trade reaches the coast, and eventually the Tchuktchi natives, as before mentioned.

Still, in one season at Nulato, the Russians have taken 5000 marten, and large quantities of beaver, with an occasional black or silver-grey fox. They did not trade guns or ammunition on the Yukon, and the Indians were very dis satisfied with both their tariff and goods. Our powder and balls, with some additional supplies contributed by Dall, were invaluable.

With regard to beads, it was required that they should not be fragile—a strong large porcelain bead was the correct thing; combs were much desired, and looking-glasses were not bad things for trade; cotton, of various kinds, was much in demand, while trinkets went for very little. They commonly tested beads by rapping them sharply on wood, on the table, &c. If they were not broken, all was well. Flints and steels, knives, and scissors, were all in demand, and soaps and matches would both have been, could we have spared any. Our needs were chiefly confined to the purchase of supplies and skin clothing; special services were paid for by larger rewards, guns, blankets, or clothing.

The Co-Yukon dialect is-with slight variations-spoken by the tribes of the middle and lower Yukon, for several hundred miles of its course. The Ingelete dialect, as before mentioned, is closely allied to it. It appears to be totally distinct from those of the coast peoples. In the brief vocabularies of Co-Yukon and Malemute words to be found in the Appendix (V.), there is hardly a word which seems to have a common origin. That the coast natives of Northern Alaska are but Americanised Tchuktchis from Asia, I myself have no doubt; but where shall we look for the stock from which the Yukon Indians came? They appear to be more nearly allied to the true North American Indian. These natives very constantly reminded me of Catlin and the older writers, and they almost appeared like old friends.

In spring, the Co-Yukons, in common with all the surrounding tribes, adopt wood "goggles" when hunting or travelling. These are used to prevent the glare of the sunlight on the snow from producing blindness. These " specs" are made of many shapes, all having a narrow slit through