Arizona weekly citizen., 1892-06-11

| SdllUOn. AuH. 1t, SOtIlc
 dians came down the river and were a
 portion of the party to go with us to its mouth. One clear day we could see Mount Wrangell, one the highest Alas | kan peaks, and it was smoking at
 the apex all day. The old Russians pro-
 nounced this a volcano, but there has
 been some unwarranted doubt n bout it. | That night my house contained a Go zen | savages, stark naked, perched on the wide bench along the wall, all taking a
 sweat bath and singing a most vocifer- ous wild chant. The room was steam ing, the stench wes mephitic, and the
 whole thing diabolica in the extreme. Nicolai told me of the lynching by
 white men at Cooks Inlet of one of the Atnas las this band is calledl that spring, shortly before our arrival I
 understood him to say this was why he was anxious to have me, as chief, sleep in his room, as his men had not deter
 mined what to do about 1t. He thought
 the best would be to withdraw all
 trading from that district and transfer
 it to the Copper's mouth,- where they
 were now going Their boat, in which
 we descended the Copper, was of
 strong wooden frame. we'll put to-
 gether and neatly covered with seal
 skins from the coast. It was from 25 to 30
 feet in length and with eleven Ind fans
 whites and a load of furs and oth CT ma
 terial that reached the gunw ala t
 drew foot to fourteen inches of wa ter
 and stood about the same amount
 above. We got away the 18th, at in
 the morning, the Indians paddling hard
 and loudly singing an air that was not
 unpleasant. The first four or five miles
 was through a canyon, but it was not
 formidable. Occasionally rocky points
 gave some rough water and the Indians
 were as afraid of them as if they had
 the hydrophobia. No doubt the heav-
 lly-laden hat-bOttomed craft was not
 life boat, but the small dangers which
 they erergetically avoided explained
 why they doubted our shooting the
 Neezeenah in the Eli" and had op-
 posed our taking it further. Any
 thing we met on the Copper would have
 been child's play for the canvas craft
 we left at Taral. About we could SC
 we were getting out of the interior ba- sin and cutting through the rim range of mountains that separated it from the coast. At wecamped in a misera ble place, all brush and boulders, on steep slope, fifty miles from Taral. One of the Indians loaned me fine large bearskin to supplement my scanty bedding. The next day we were away early, the Indians stopping at times to cache salmon in the rocky crevices of the banks for the return trip. At Taral we misunderstood there would be trouble with the two great glaciers near the Copper's mouth, but just how was not clear, but a rapid nrOunn IF n1n6ar of cerned in some way. At noon we came | to the glacier they said we must port l age. The river was very narrow but | seemingly not bad as far as we could | see. Nicolai went ahead to inspect | the trail over the moraine and | on returning we packed up | and at 4:l5 started over the portage | to strike the river beyond the rapids, | some two miles away, reaching it at 2 | over an Hadesian trail. Just before ar irving the Indians had long exciting chase after a bear, the poor brute being |; finally surrounded and badly wounded, taking to the swift rapids, where he was probably carried against the face of the opposite glacier and dashed to death by the falling ice. These two great glaciers both reach the river and are constantly shedding icebergs into it. The Indians are greatly afraid of the first, since for two or three miles they have to navigate in front of it and the lake-lke expansion of the river which faces 1t gives the waves made by the falling ics5ergs . terrific sweep which would engulf any boat I hays 'een falling ieebergs ana tsysers of water over 100 feet into the air, the tidal wave being ten to fifteen 'eet high. Fortunately there is nearly always an ice-p pack down the lakes center which acts like a breakwater and partially protects any craft under its lee In front of the next glacier he river is narrower and swifter, but the ice falls in smaller masses and the Indians are not so afraid of it. All night we could hear the laundering of he glaciers like sea-coast batteries, md the flashing of the waters on the ake shores. At. daylight the next , r@Fs'@~ sAs Ipdiaas stsFtsd hsck., ts