"To determine which channel is the main one, that is, which carries the greatest volume of water, or is best available for the purposes of navigation, among these islands, would require more time than I could devote to it on my way down; consequently I cannot say more than that I have no reason to doubt that a channel giving six feet or more of water could easily be found. Whenever, in the main channel, I had reason to think the water shallow, I tried it with my paddle, but always failed to find bottom, which gives upward of six feet. Of course I often found less than this, but not in what I considered the main channel.
"Thirty-six and a quarter miles below the Big Salmon, the Little Salmon—the Daly of Schwatka—enters the Lewes. This river is about 60 yards wide at the mouth, and not more than two or three feet in depth. The water is clear and of a brownish hue; there is not much current at the mouth, nor as far as can be seen up the stream. The valley which, from the mouth, does not appear extensive, bears north-east for some distance, when it appears to turn more to the east. Six or seven miles up, and apparently on the north side, some high cliffs of red rock, apparently granite, can be seen. It is said that some miners have prospected this stream, but I could learn nothing definite about it.
"Lewes River makes a turn here to the south-west, and runs in that direction six miles, when it again turns to the north-west for seven miles, and then makes a short, sharp turn to the south and west around a low sandy point, which will, at some day in the near future, be cut through by the current, which will shorten the river three or four miles.
"Eight miles below Little Salmon River, a large rock called the Eagle's Nest, stands up in a gravel slope on the easterly bank of the river. It rises about five hundred feet above the river, and is composed of a light gray stone. What the character of this rock is I could not observe, as I saw it only from the river, which is about a quarter of a mile distant. On the westerly side of the river there are two or three other isolated masses of apparently the same kind of rock. One of them might be appropriately called a mountain; it is south-west from the Eagle's Nest and distant from it about three miles.
"Thirty-two miles below Eagle's Nest Rock, Nordenskiold River enters from the west. It is an unimportant stream, being not more than one hundred and twenty feet wide at the mouth, and only a few inches deep. The valley, as far as can be seen, is not extensive, and, being very crooked, it is hard to tell what its general direction is.
"The Lewes, between the Little Salmon and the Nordenskiold, maintains a width of from two to three hundred yards, with an occasional expansion where there are islands. It is serpentine in its course most of the way, and where the Nordenskiold joins it is very crooked, running several times under a hill, named by Schwatka Tantalus Butte, and in other places leaving it, for a distance of eight miles. The distance across from point to point is only half a mile.
"Below this to Five Finger Rapids, so-called from the fact that five large masses of rock stand in mid-channel, the river assumes its ordinary straightness and width, with a current from four to five miles per hour. I have already described Five Finger Rapids; I do not think they will prove anything more than a slight obstruction in the navigation of the river. A boat of ordinary power would probably have to help herself up with windlass and line in high water.
"Below the rapids, for about two miles, the current is strong—probably six miles per hour—but the water seems to be deep enough for any boat that is likely to navigate it.
"Six miles below this, as already noticed, Rink Rapids are situated. They are of no great importance, the westerly half of the stream only being obstructed. The easterly half is not in any way affected, the current being smooth and the water deep.
"Below Five Finger Rapids about two miles a small stream enters from the east. It is called by Dr. Dawson Tatshun River. It is not more than 30 or 40 feet wide at the mouth, and contains only a little clear, brownish water. Here I met the only Indians seen on the river between Teslintoo and Stewart Rivers. They were engaged in catching salmon at the mouth of the Tatshun, and were the poorest and most unintelligent Indians it has ever been my lot to meet. It is needless to say that none of our party understood anything they said, as they could not speak a word of any language but their own. I tried by signs to get some information from them about the stream they were fishing in, but failed. I tried in the same way to learn if there were any more Indians in the vicinity, but again utterly failed. I then tried by signs to find out how many days it took to go down to Pelly River, but although I have never known these signs to fail in eliciting information in any other part of the territory, they did not understand. They appeared to be alarmed by our presence; and, as we had not yet been assured as to the rumor concerning the trouble between the miners and Indians, we felt a little apprehensive, but being able to learn nothing from them we had to put our fears aside and proceed blindly.