Exploring the great YukonAn adventurous expedition down the great Yukon River, from its source in the British North-west Territory, to its mouth in the territory of Alaska . ovethe deep snow, and into the cave-like crevices thenatives crawl for protection whenever the snow hasburied all other tracts, or the cold wind from the gla-ciers is too severe to permit of sleep in the open. Allaround us was snow or the clear blue ice of the glacierfronts, while directly northw^ard, and seemingly impas-sable, there loomed up for nearly four thousand feet theprecipitous pass through the mountains, a blank
Exploring the great YukonAn adventurous expedition down the great Yukon River, from its source in the British North-west Territory, to its mouth in the territory of Alaska . ovethe deep snow, and into the cave-like crevices thenatives crawl for protection whenever the snow hasburied all other tracts, or the cold wind from the gla-ciers is too severe to permit of sleep in the open. Allaround us was snow or the clear blue ice of the glacierfronts, while directly northw^ard, and seemingly impas-sable, there loomed up for nearly four thousand feet theprecipitous pass through the mountains, a blank massof steep white, which we were to essay on the morrow. Shortly after camping I was told that the Indians hadseen a mountain goat nearly on the summit of the westernmountain wall, and I was able to make out his presencewith the aid of field-glasses. The Indians had detectedhim with their unaided eyes, in spite of his white coat 82 ALONG ALASKAS GREAT RIVER. being against a background of snow. Had the goatbeen on the summit of a mountain in the moon I shouldnot have regarded him as any safer than where he was,if the Indians were even half as fatigued as I felt, and. CHASING A mou:ntain goat in the perriek pass. they had carried a hundred pounds over the trail and Iliad not. But the identity of the goat was not fullyestablished before an Indian, the only one who carried agun, au old flint-lock, smooth bore, Hudson Bay mus-ket, made preparations for the chase. He ran across thevalley and soon commenced the ascent of the mount- OVER THE MOUNTAIN PASS. 8S ains, in a little while almost disappearing on the whitesides, looking like a Hy crawling over the front of ahouse. The Indian, a Stick, linally could be seenabove the mountain goat and would have secured him,but that a little black cur dog which had started to fol-low him when he was almost at the summit, made itsappearance on the scene just in time to frighten the ani-mal and started him running down the mountain sidetoward th
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Keywords: ., bookauthorschwatka, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1890
