macthornberry

From this elevated point, 2,700 feet above the sea and 1,900 feet above camp Co lonna, an excellent view was obtained of the surrounding country. To the eastward the windings of the Porcupine could be traced for miles; to the westward a short but bold range of mountains, seemingly volcanic, cut off the view. A bank of fog overhung the river, and masses of vapor filled the valleys in various directions. There was scarcely enough wind blowing to lift a feather, and all looked forward in happy anticipation to a swift and easy journey. It was determined to camp for the night in a small valley some few miles to the northward, and all haste was made to .rejoin the sleds, which were on the full gallop and liable to outdistance us. A few minutes after overtaking the sleds a sudden roaring assailed our ears, a fog-bank to the eastward burst asunder, and from its recesses issued forth a wind that nearly swept us from our feet. Clouds of glittering snow filled the air and beat upon us with all the fury of a hail-storm. It was only by the most strenuous exertions that we were enabled to reach the sleds, which had taken shelter under the lee of a small hill. In that brief time the end of my nose, one temple and the tip of the right ear were frozen solid, and a broad white streak fully an inch wide, extending from eye to chin, bore evidence of the rapidity with which a man may freeze if the conditions be favorable. All expedition possible was necessary to gain the shelter of the friendly trees. For the remainder of that day, that night, and until noon of the fol�lowing day the shrieking north wind swept over the trackless wastes in all the fury of a Dakota blizzard. Traveling was quite out of the question ; men and dogs huddled together in a pro�miscuous heap, striving to secure protection from the biting blast. The next morning the Redmi loans had changed; the sun shone out bright again, and the wind had died away. During the fore�noon we climbed continually up the further side of the valley, and about 12 o’clock reached the summit of a pass at an alti�tude of 2,500 feet. Spread out before us and extending eastward to the furthest horizon, appeared a plain covered with a dense growth of spruce, birch and cottonwood�a veritable oasis in the midst of utter desolation. Its western limit was a plateau, doubtless the northern continuation of the eastern front of the Porcupine ramparts. Fifty miles away to the northward a range of low mountains was discerned, trending to the eastward, and forming the northern boundary of the plain. As I afterward discovered, they form the true water-shed-of northeastern Alaska and the country beyond to Mackenzie river. On the first day a tribe of Nigalek Eskimos were encountered. They were fine-looking savages and seemed much surprised to meet white men so far away from the trading posts. They broke camp on the following day and started northward for the summer hunt on the Arctic.