Tanana Station, River Yukon, in Winter.
Fort Selkirk was built in 1850 by the Hudson Bay Trading Company for a trading post with the Indians. But the Chilkats wanted the furs from the interior for themselves; so they gathered a war party together, descended the Yukon river to Fort Selkirk, burned the building, and carried off the goods. Now all that remains of Fort Selkirk is a group of three old chimneys.
Schwatka camped at this spot several days. Near the river bank he came upon a burial ground of the Ayan Indians, who inhabit this part of the country. A fence of rough boards, bound together by willows, is built around each grave. Above the grave there stands a long, light pole about twenty feet high, with a piece of colored cloth hanging from the top. Near the grave, but outside the inclosure, stands another pole of about the same height. To the top of this second pole is fastened a rude carving of a fish, duck, goose, bear, or some other animal or bird.
These poles are called totems. They represent the most clever workmanship of these Indians, and are collected and sold as curiosities. Some of the carvings are very old and display remarkable skill. No one knows exactly what these totem poles mean, as the Indians are unwilling to talk about them, but they are supposed to indicate in some way the history of the buried person or of his tribe. The Indians do not make totem poles any more, but they carefully preserve those which they already have.
At Fort Selkirk the Yukon begins to cut through the northern spurs of the Rocky mountains. This part of the river is known as the Upper Ramparts, and the scenery along the banks for one hundred miles is wondrously beautiful. Schwatka and his party left Selkirk July 15, and traveled through this beautiful country. As they rounded one of the islands, they saw about two hundred Ayan Indians gathered on the beach opposite, waiting to receive them.
The Ayans had heard of the approach of the curious raft with its white owners, and were anxious to show them some attention. Many of the Indians ran up and down the bank, shouting, screaming, and waving their arms wildly. Others in birch-bark canoes surrounded the raft, and escorted it to shore. When the raft came near the shore, men, women, and children waded out to their waists in the ice-cold water and helped to drag it in. Schwatka feared at first that the Indians might do the party some harm, and ordered his companions to keep their guns near. But the Indians were very friendly. They began singing and dancing, while their medicine-man went through the most unheard-of performances.
The Ayan huts are made of spruce brush. Over the top is thrown a piece of dirty canvas or a moose or caribou skin, and the huts are built so low that a man can scarcely stand erect inside. Quantities of salmon hang from the roof, partly dried, but still undergoing a smoking process from the dense clouds of smoke that arise from the fire. The dogs sleep in the house, lying around on the floor. In the winter the Ayans cover their tents thickly with skins and then bank them about with snow.
As the party followed the river from this Indian village, they found the mountains becoming higher and grander, while—by way of contrast—the mosquitoes grew more annoying. The whole region swarmed with them, and the newcomers longed for veils. They were obliged to use small bushes to brush away the mosquitoes.