ers a a ECA BATS HH ‘eh ah ‘ *y Ap Ryne “i ‘ 6 2 3 melah it er ; se ¥ To Salon au , Nees , : SURLY 4d LOTS Ba Sa * 5 vs ” 2 s < % ’ ue t . . MLAS, ; ete Medias : be ok i ; : f ; i ‘,) Ree Me " beet ese oe i A AP, Sines eeeath ; ; ‘ ere? ‘ %, ay ‘ 9, ' ey Shae . f J [ 3 ? ‘ ; » Sri hitches toe ; tae Terie i ri i i ; 3 ‘ s a zis) i ; a ‘ ay , f : nore: A , pentht oe un > La) ant 5 . ’ ‘ Us Wit ieee Ba : ; a? irerpatices , . (* i , ; he 1S { ' iy Hoe pe j aa er sate . ‘ 4 tH" ‘ eer Bis 8 tert Bethe Le 54 i) wed Yt valet | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS = ores a ce oe ee daa! ‘4 bp ‘ ; iapaneseatt ane 34 eit ebihe be mes 00011015116 Mois Sea MM DL Ceci a om caer ua a hdd) Nang ; 1s Ay AY ay CRUISE OF ‘pre REVENUE-STEAMER CORWIN ALASKA AND THE N. W. ARCTIC OCEAN SS fe: NOTES AND MEMORANDA: MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL; BOTANICAL; ORNITHOLOGICAL. », as > Py ‘ “OF WAgHiN® WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1883. Document No. 429. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Secretary—R. M. t LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, IN RESPONSE TO A resolution of the House of Representatives transmitting the observations and notes made during the cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin in 1881. MARrcH 3, 1883.—Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 3, 1883. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of resolution of the House, dated March 3, 1883, requesting that the Secretary of the Treasury furnish, as soon as convenient, to the Speaker of the House copies of documents in the possession of the Treasury Department containing obser- vations on glaciation, birds, natural history, and the medical notes made upon cruises of revenue- cutters in the year 1881. In reply, I transmit herewith the observations on glaciation in the Arctic Ocean and the Alaska region, made by Mr. John Muir; notes upon the birds and natural history of Bering Sea and the northwestern region, by Mr. E. W.-Nelson; and medical notes and anthropological notes relating to the natives of Alaska and the northwestern Arctic region, made by Dr. Irving C. Rosse. All these notes were made upon the cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin in 1881. Very respectfully, H. F. FRENCH, Acting Secretary. Hon. J. W. KEIFER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. (3) MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES ON ALASKA. BY IRVING C° ROSSE, M.D. MEDICA AND ANTE ROPOLOGICAL NOTES. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. WASHINGTON, April 29, 1882. Str: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of medical and anthropological notes of the cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, IRVING C. ROSSE, M. D. (Through Revenue Marine.) The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. (7) D s ° : ii . a ‘& cy a ae . ' iy 9 * , Uae oa ee Pee MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTHS. GENERAL NOTES. For the man of broad ideas and enthusiasm for humanity, more especially for the medical man, there exists but one people, namely, the human race, which he studies in all its varieties, physical and moral, in order not to hesitate, according to the expression of Hippocrates, in the treatment of disease. Experience and observation show, however, that no wide differences exist in the race when regarded from a biological or a medical aspect; and the infirmities of men, notwithstanding their physical inequalities and the extended range of the nosological table, are much the same the world over, no matter whether they be classified as belonging to the Caucasian, Mongolian, or Hyperborean races. The object of this paper is to record, in a fragmentary way, some observations, as they have occurred to the writer during a late hyperborean experience, which afforded exceptional advan- tages for noting a few of the changes and variations that are brought about in the human economy by climatic influences and the environments of high latitudes—by the surroundings, in fact, of that part of the earth which Hippocrates places under the constellation of the Bear and beyond the Riphzan Mountains whence blows the north wind, and where the sun, says he, is near them only in the summer solstice, but warms these places only a short time; the winds which blow from warm countries reaching there but seldom and with little force. These simple, true, and philosophical observations of the “divine old man,” it may be remarked, are in striking contrast to those of Tacitus, who indulges in the usual mixture of true and false which fills the pages of the ancieuts when treating of geographical subjects. Whether the early Greek conception of the people living beyond the north wind and giving rise to the Delian legends was based on any geographical relations at all, or was originally the myth- ical notion of the poets relative to an imaginary race, it is difficult to say—the question only raising a doubt that places us in a dilemma. Fabulous or not, we know that the subject was one of pop- ular interest in high antiquity, giving rise to a work on the Hyperboreans in the time of Alexander the Great, and that when Virgil and Horace speak of the “‘ Hyperboree ore” and “ Hyperborei campi” to indicate most northerly, they only made use of expressions which have served as con- necting links in literature to extend the interest from the epoch of Hecatieus of Abdera down to the days of Mr. James Gordon Bennett. Among the numerous historic men who have sought adventure in this most weird, remote, and wonderful part of the globe from the early times of Naddod the Viking and Garder, down to Markham and De Long, we hear such tales of privation, disease, and suffering that the wonder is that men should still see about the mysterious regions of the north so much that is fascinating and romantic. But as the subject is not to be treated from a sentimental or an esthetic point of view, these prefatory remarks must yield to considerations of a more practical and commonplace character. THE VOYAGE. In obedience to instructions I proceeded overland to San Francisco, Cal.; and after an unavoid- able delay of several days from irregularities of railway travel, which had been interrupted by the floods of the Missouri-Mississippi River, I joined the Arctic Relief steamer Corwin on May 2. An inspection showed the Corwin to be in good sanitary condition with the exception of imperfect ventilation of the berth-deck and ward-room, the means for furnishing air to these overcrowded apartments being inadequate to supply every occupant with the twenty cubie feet of fresh air every minute which the best authorities agree that a healthy man requires. The insalubrity of the (9) H. Ex. 105 2 had 10 ORUISE OF STEAMER CJRWIN IN THE AROTIC OCEAN. berth-deck was further increased by the humidity brought about by the habit of deluging the decks above and below every morning with water. At my suggestion this very reprehensible practice was happily abolished on the berth-deek, scraping and dry serubbing being substituted, and the deck was not wetted oftener than once or twice a month, and only at times when the prevalence ot fine weather would justify doing so. ‘ After procuring such a medical outfit as the exigencies of the cruise might require, and after taking the necessary precautions as to the hygienic condition of the vessel and crew, we started on our humane mission, putting to sea on May 4 and meeting with seven or eight uneventful days of pleasant weather, exceptionally so for the season. The ocean, somewhat deserving of the adjective that designates it, displayed its prettiest combinations of lapis lazuli and ultramarine tints and sunset effects as we steamed through miles of meduside; and had it not been for the occasional sight of whales and little black divers, with the daily fall in the thermometer, we should not have known of our approach to the north. This happy state of affairs did not continue long on reaching a higher latitude, where we were beset by pelting hail and furious storms of snow and all the discomforts of sea life, causing a pénible navigation in every sense of the term. The increased cold, as we neared the north, had no perceptible effect for the worse on the health of the ship’s company; and it is gratifying to state that but few serious cases, either surgical or medical, occurred during the entire voyage, a happy event, undoubtedly owing to the careful precautionary measures taken to secure full efficiency and to the excellent rontine and discipline. The Corwin is a good sea vessel, being tolerably dry in bad weather, and her oscillations are easy for a small craft. At the outset of the cruise, however, we were placed in the best possible conditions for studying both subjectively and objectively the strange phenomena of that doleful tribute of suffering that so many people are obliged to pay to the sea. Unfortunately so little is known of the nature and origin of this most distressing affection, and medical science has done so little to assuage its attacks, the wonder is that more extended experiments are not made by inedical men in regard to seasickness. In spite of many theories and hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the phenomena of this so-called disease, we know that its causes are purely physical ; the swinging of the diaphragm, the disturbance of the equilibrium in the fluid contents of the body—just as the mereury pumps up and down in a barometer—and the consequent reflex: impres- sibility of the ganglionic, pneumogastric, and cerebro-spinal system of nerves preducing a kind of trisplanchnic neurosis, which varies in different individuals according to peculiarity of strueture and susceptibility. Experience convinces that no drug known to the pharmacope@ia will prevent or cure seasick- ness, notwithstanding the assertions of eminent medical authority to the contrary. Resolute effort of the will and the resort to such palliatives as drinks containing an excess of carbon dioxide, iced champagne and bottled Milwaukee beer for example, and oranges, were found to be the most efficacious modes of treatment adopted in the numerous cases of this almost unmitigated evil coming under my observation. A portion of the crew suttered from violent phlegmon of the hand, arising doubtless from the combined inflinences of long confinement on shipboard, sea diet, and unusual climatic conditions. This affection was not confined to our vessel alone, for it prevailed extensively among the whale- men as well. The worst cases occurred among men whose history revealed the previous existence of syphilis. To remedy the condition it was recommended that the entire ship’s company be allowed a run ashore as often as practicable, and that there be added to the usual dietary a ration of cranberries, a supply of which had been laid in among other antiscorbutics. Happily, these directions were complied with as far as possible, and I had the satisfaction to witness the good results. Another affection prevailing extensively among the crew was a cutaneous eruption attended by excessive itching, which [ at first suspected to be due to the presence of pediculi; but subsequent experience showed that temporary alleviation could be brought about by the administration of salcined magnesia and the topical application of vinegar and water. 1 may mention incidentally that my friend Dr. Charles Smart, U.S. A., who has eruised in the Arctic as far as latitude 82° on a Peterhead whaleman, says that he has often noticed the foregoing symptoms in connection with rheumatism among sailors, and also among soldiers in Arizona, who had been living for some time ee CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OGEAN. 11 on the army ration. He regards the symptoms to arise from inanition, and as the ones that usually precede an outbreak of scurvy. ; A few cases of return of intermittent fever brought about by wet and fatigue, and of rheuma- tism—which seemed to be the prevailing ailment—the usual quota of headaches, constipation, and colic, with several cases of minor surgery, and a few cases of venereal contracted at Ounalaska, make up the sick-list so far as the crew proper is concerned. It may not be foreign to the subject to remark that the sanitary condition of the Corwin, and indeed of other vessels in the revenue service, might be greatly improved by covering the berth-deck with a coating of shellac; and better ventilation might be secured by an arrangement similar to that found on the latest English naval vessels, where a flue passes up through the side of the ship until if opens just beneath the hammock-rail on the inside of the bulwarks, and is covered with a Venetian blind. Further advantage, especially in the way of lightmg, would result from larger air-ports having a glass, convex externally and prismoidal on its inner surface, in order to facilitate the dispersion of light when the port is closed. The galley situated on the berth-deck of the Corwin was the source of excessive condensation and drip, which was always increased in the morning by shutting a small skylight when washing down decks; a proceeding seemingly incon- sistent with enlightened common sense, especially when the decks have been wet the whole previous twenty-four hours from rain or the seas washing over them. The nuisance was in a measure abated by wiping the beams overhead and lighting a fire in a drying stove. The facilities for warming were good throughout the ship, and the water supply was perhaps better than usual, owing to the fact that the water in the Arctic contains but a small percentage of organic or earthy impurities. At Ounalaska water was obtained from a small reservoir in an adjacent hill, but it had an unpleasant earthy taste. Better water was had at Saint Michael’s Here a spring wells up amid some rocks on the sea beach, and at low tide water may be obtained with great facility. Good water was procured nearly everywhere in the Arctic, notably at Chamisso Island and Choris Peninsula, and it was of unusual excellence at Cape Thompson, also at Herald and Wrangel Islands. Distilled water, supplied by the engineers, was occasionally used during the cruise, but as it was condensed from the main boiler without filtration it had that peculiar nauseating, oily flavor which rendered it unfit for potable purposes. The articles of food, consisting of the regular rations, to which had been added pemmican and the usnal antiscorbutics, such as potatoes, desiccated onions, sauerkraut, and cranberries, were of good quality and kept remarkably well, some butter in barrels being as good on our return as on the day we left. Frequent opportunities also occurred to get fish and game, the ration being varied from time to time with salmon and coregonus, auks, eider-ducks, geese, eggs (of which great quan- tities were found on the Diomede Islands), seal, bear, and reindeer. These supplementary articles proved not only an appetizing change from the regular ration, but their use was followed by a sense of well-being and by improved nutrition. The ordinary clothing was supplemented with a hooded coat of reindeer skin, seal skin trousers, and a foot covering similar to that worn by the Eskimo. Over an ordinary pair of stockings were drawn a pair of reindeer socks, with the hair turned in, the foot being next thrust into an Eskimo boot of seal skin, inte the bottom of which a small quantity of straw was placed as a non-conduetor, and the whole secured by thongs after the manner of a sandal. This rig answered the purposes of warmth and comfort; but the effect was anything but picturesque, as the foot resembled a disabled extremity that some bungling hospital nurse had endeavored to inclose in a poultice. Beyond the meteorological summary obtained from the signal station at Saint Michael’s, there are no extended weather observations to report in regard to any fixed geographical point, for the reason that the ship seldom remained longer than a few days at a time in any one place, and it was impossible to get any definite information from the natives, whose knowledge in this respect does not extend beyond noticing whether the snowfall is great or little during the winter. As regards the weather during the past season there is a marked contrast when compared to that experienced on the Corwin’s former voyage. The sea was freer from ice, a fact doubtless owing to the preceding mild winter and other concurrent causes, but the number of fine days was comparatively few, and a series of gales and snow-storms continued throughout the summer. Even as late as July 18 ghe decks were covered with snow and hail, and a bitter cold wind penetrated iy CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, our winter clothing. In striking opposition to this was the uncomfortably murky temperature of July 21, when the thermometer registered 45°. While the above is true of the weather in the more northern part of the Arctic, we found it in Kotzebue Sound, later in the season, much milder than it was at a corresponding date of the previous year. In the latter part of June at Saint Michael’s we found the sun almost overpowering, although the thermometer registered but 60°. Why this incongruity should exist between the sensation of heat as experienced by the human body and the actual temperature as revealed by the thermometer, we are not prepared to say. All that we know from writers on the subject is that the sensations of heat and cold are relative and not absolute. In different latitudes, among the Andes in Peru, for instance, the opposite condition is often noticed, a disagreeable sensation of cold not indicated by the thermometer being one of the experiences of travelers in that part of the world: the cold is keen and penetrating with the thermometer standing at but 60°. An excellent distinction is that which mentions these phenomena as physical cold and physiological cold; the former indicating that revealed by the thermometer, the latter that not indicated by instruments. Many Arctic travellers have noticed this relative sensation of cold as well as ialie impunity, and even a certain degree of comfort, with which they can expose themselves to a low temperature, which would be attended by serious results in a more southern clime. Dr. Hayes relates that in Greenland he went swimming in a pool of water on the top of an iceberg, and the captain of a New Bedford whaler has frequently gone swimming off the coast of Siberia. Taking advantage of one of these physiologically warm days, I took a plunge into the icy Arctic water, with no such TAO HVs however, as that of Leander, nor did I, like Byron, have the ague after it; on the contrary, a swim of no great discomfort was follewed nS a pleasurable reaction. The actual rise of temperature that follows upon stripping in a cold atmosphere or upon first entering into a cold bath, is not one of the least curious phenomena of the regulative function of the pyrogenetic mechanism. Nor is the busy activity of the metabolic tissues and the metabolism of the food within the alimentary canal, which accounts for the source of the heat of such homother- mous animals as whales, seals, walrus, and the pygopodous birds, a subject to be passed by unmentioned. By what physical and chemical laws can we explain this morphological process— this physiological action of the protoplasm resulting in the evolution of kinetic energy sufficient to supply bodily heat to such animals as the seal and the whale, and enable them by remarkable adaptability to withstand the extreme cold of the Arctic? Does the rete miribilia of the whale and of the duck enable them to combine a greater quantity of oxygen with hemoglobin and thereby act as a source of heat, or is the function of the liver the chief thermogenic source? By what means does the energy-yielding material become changed into actual energy? Does the nervous system, acting as a liberating force like the throttle-valve in a steam-engine, remove hinderances or impediments to the conversion of potential into kinetic energy, or do all the internal work of the animal organism, all the mechanical labor of the internal muscular mechanism, with their accompanying frictions, and the molecular labor of the nervous and other tissues produce a certain amount of heat, and thus account for the special function of calorification ? The foregoing physiological queries, with many others, suggested themselves on hearing the statements of whalemen and walrus hunters with reference to the scalding. sensation produced by the spurting blood while handling the bodies of recently kiJled animals, and it occurred to me that a series of thermometric observations, something after the manner of the experiments of Dr. Kidder in connection with the Fish Commission, but having for their object the investigation of the manifestation of animal heat by the marine mammaiia, would prove interesting and supply a scientific desideratum in addition to their novelty. While ample opportunities occurred to make these experiments, yet it is to be regretted that the only available instrument, a clinical thermometer, was unfortunately broken early in the season. The experiments were, to say the least, so rough and inconclusive that any record of them would be of questionable value. Another question in conection with the Arctie cold is, whether a sojourn in this region does not render one more susceptible to colds and disorders of the respiratory organs on returning to more temperate latitudes. The history of Eskimo who have spent any time in our comparatively moder- ate climate shows how they have suffered in this respect, and colds have been known to preyail EL <<< = CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. te endemically among the healthy crews of vessels lately arrived from the Aretic. It is related of a ship of the Franklin Search Expedition, the North Star, which was frozen up during one of the severest Arctic winters on record, in Wostenholm Sound, that the men maintained their health perfectly during all the trials to which they were exposed; but on their return to England in the early summer, every man within a week was on the sick list with some form of bronchial or pulmonary disorder. The reporter assigns the shaving off the beard as the cause of this illness. On board the Corwin on her return to San Francisco in October, and at a time, too, when “ the glorious climate of California” appeared at its best, no such cause existed, yet colds of the most violent kind prevailed generally among a previously healthy crew. Before dropping the question, it may be asked whether the psychical effects of climate were not apparent in some of the subjective sensations as experienced by myself and others. Something more than auditory spectra must account for some of them. For instance, when climbing a steep cliff, with no sound to interrupt except the scream of wild sea-birds, or ascending a mountain side amid scenery the most desolate that can well be conceived, and in a stillness so great that the arterial pulsations are audible, how is it that certain trains of the most incongruous and absurd thoughts usurp a prominence in the mind? Onsuch an occasion, why should the strains from wedding-marches be continually running through one’s head? What gives birth to the floating succession of ideas regarding the delights of prospective dinners? And why does the presence of the midnight sun cause one to forget, like Horace Greeley, whether one has dined or not? While navigating through ice aid fog, often within sight of a coast that is treeless and swardless, why should one dream of the laughing aspect of tropical vegetation, and of swinging in a hammock in a garden through which the summer wind bears the fragrance of flowers? And why should a diet of pork and beans cause a man during a series of nights to dream of sumptuous dinners, and at other times in his dreams to take part in a Barmicidal feast ? Among various meteorologival phenomena witnessed during the cruise were parhelias and fog bows, which were of common occurrence otf Wrangel Island; and toward the latter part of our stay in the Arctic, when the sun was no longer in the summer solstice, northern lights of varying intensity appeared, a peculiarity about one of them being a white are extending across the heavens and accompanied by curtain-like fringes of light. Not the least curious of the atmospheric phenomena are the modifications of nervous excitability in connection with the perception of light—the wonderful optical illusions witnessed from time to time during periods of extraordinary and unequal refraction. One day in July, at Saint Michael’s, I saw on looking northward an island high up in the air and inverted; some distant peaks, invisible on ordinary occasions, loomed up at one time the very shape of a tower-topped building magnified, and suddenly changing assumed the shape of immense factory chimneys. Again, off Port Clarence, was witnessed the optical phenomenon of dancing mountains and the mirage of ice fifty miles away, which caused our experienced ice pilot to say, “ No use to goin here; don’t you see the ice ?” Again, the mountains of Bering Straits have so betrayed the imagination that they have been seen to assume the most fantastical and grotesque shapes, at one moment that of a mountain not unlike Table Mountain, off the Cape of Good Hope; then the changing diorama shows the shape of an immense anvil, followed by the likeness of an enormous gun mounted en barbette, the whole stand- ing out in silhouette against the background, while looking in an opposite direction at another time a whaling vessel turned bottom upward appeared inthe sky. On another occasion, in latitude 70°, when the state of the air was favorable to extraordinary refraction, a white gull swimming on the water in the distant horizon was taken for an iceberg, or more correctly a floeberg, other gulls in the distance, looming up, looked for all the world like white tents on a beach, while others resem- bled men with white shirts paddling a canoe. Again, two whaling ships that we knew to be sixty miles away, appeared on the distant sky as elongated afternoon shadows ; minute stones and other small objects on a mountain side were so distinctly seen as to cause almost a glamour, a kind of witchery, to come over the eyesight, which, if there were no evidence to the contrary, might have been taken as one of the hallucinations that precede certain forms of insanity, where, for example, the sense of sight becomes so acute that a person reads a newspaper or tells the time of day from a small watch, on the opposite side of the street. Odd phenomena were oecasionally witnessed while looking at the midnight sun, especially when he began to get low in the horizon. His disk 14 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. would sometimes appear flattened like a door-knob, or to convey a more sensuous image, like a huge crimson pegtop with purple bands. It was easy, also, to distinguish by means of a marine glass the solar spots, the eye not being overwhelmed by the light but readily accommodating itself to the rays of the summer sun, which, owing to his low declination, are nowhere so delicate as they are in the far north. Some of the strange acoustics experienced in this region are not unworthy of mention. A remarkable multipleecho was noticed between two mountains at Plover Bay, Siberia; another noticed by our sledge party in a cliff at Cape Onmann, Siberia, gives back more than a dozen echoes, and Baron Wrangel relates that a pistol tired near some cliffs on the River Lena is echoed a hun- dred times. The great distance to which small sounds are sometimes transmitted is also worthy of record. ‘The first time this acoustic clearness of the atmosphere came under observation was at Saint Michael’s, where a conversation carried on at an ineredible distance could be distinetly heard. Amid the grim silence and desolation of heretofore untrodden Wrangel Island, at a time, too, when the air was acoustically opaque for that latitude, I distinetly heard our boatswain, a small man, with a voice of no great volume, giving orders two miles away, while laughter and sounds of the voice, when any one spoke above the ordinary tone, were heard with such amazing distinctness as to suggest telephonic communication. Where the conditions were so favorable to the reflection of sonorous waves, it was natural to expect the occurrence of a rarer phenomenon, an echo at sea, such as L once noticed in a fog off the Newtoundland Banks while crossing the Atlantic in a Freneh steamer, whose fog-whistle was echoed in a surprising manner. But at no time was it observed that the nephelogical state of the atmosphere overhead or the prevalence of fog banks gave rise to anything like an aerial echo. Although as a rule no very marked differences in the deep sea and surface temperatures were observed, yet a few of the anomalies noticed are deserving of mention. For instance, near Herald Island, on July 30, the temperature at the bottom was 48° and 49°. A few days later off the Siberian coast, 100 miles to the southward, it measured 57°; while laterin Bering Sea, over 600 miles to the southward, it fell to 35° The density of the sea water, as observed by Mx. F. E. Owen, assistant engineer of the Corwin, is shown in the accompanying table. The instruments used in obtaining the results were a ther- mometer and a hydrometer. Water was drawn at about 6 feet below the surface and heated to a temperature of 200° F., and the saturation or specific gravity is shown by the depth to which the hydrometer sinks in the water. As sea water commonly contains one pare of saline matter to thirty- two parts of water the instrument is marked in thirty-seconds, as 34, 4, a and the densities are ingonional Pans of one abate -second : : 2 s = 2 Points of observation. 2 = =) Zz g | 6 & | A At Saint Michael's, Bering Sea..... pe 50 + Off Plover Bay, Asia................. : 34 ? Arctic Ocean, near Bering Straits Aly cee ? Arctic Ocean, near ice on Siberian coast H 32 4 Bering Sea, off Saint Lawrence Island 34 Fy Golovnine Bay, Bering Sea, July 10 ; 42 t Bering Sea, between King's Island and Cape Prince of W ales, “July A 3 Entrance to Kotzebue Sound, July 13 7 i Cape Thompson, Arctie Ocean, July 17 36 2 Icey Cape, July 24.. 36 i Herald Island, in the ‘ice, July : 3 BI ; Cape W: ankarem, Siberia, Augus 5 33 i Wrangel Island (surface in ice) Augus 31 ; Wrangel Island (below surface 6 feet) Ai 31 i The use of the dredge resulted in finding the usual bathybian forms that have been already described in works relating to Arctic voyages. In latitude 70°, longitude 170°—a spot known among the whalers as the “ Post-Office”—the dredge brought up some mud of a temperature of 32°, while the water near the surface measured 34°. Microscopic examination of the mud revealed some shells of foraminifera. F In passing Bering Straits the brownish tint of the water was noticed. Lt resembled that often seen in the water of mill-ponds which has been discolored by decaying leaves. The phosphores- ORUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 15 vence of the sea was also observed in September in latitude 70°. And several patches of red snow were seen at Plover Bay and at Herald Island, but whether the tint was owing to the presence of some red protophyte or not | am unable to say. ; The meteorological records kept on board the Corwin, being of use in connection with the navi- gation of the vessel only, are, therefore, untrustworthy so far as making any deductions from them in regard to climatology is concerned. In connection with this subject it may be inferred from the absence of glaciers above Bering Straits and the existence of huge ones in the more southern part of Alaska, compared with which the great Aletsch glacier of the Alps is a mere pygmy, that the: amount of precipitation is much less in the higher latitudes of the Pacific Arctic. But the finding of terminal and lateral moraines, rock scratches, and other evidences of former glaciation, as well as of coal, which geology says is the sun’s rays in potential form, and also the fossil remains of the mammoth along with luxuriant tropical or semi-tropical vegetation, would imply the existence at a remote period of a different climatological condition, a change in which has been brought about, according to the explanation of the meteorologists, in long lapses of time through the change in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit in combination with the precession of the equinoxes and the movement of the apsides. Whether a milder climate existed in former days, enabling the mam- moth to subsist on vegetable food, as suggested by Professor Owen, or whether the mammoth, in his personal locomotions while endeavoring to overcome the influence of climate, was detained in his present position by the sudden freezing, it is impossible to say. Sir Charles Lyell seems to account satisfactorily not only for the presence of these animals in the northern parts of Siberia and America, but for the permanent masses of ice known as mammoth cliffs. His explanation is as follows: This snow is commonly blown over the edges of steep cliffs, so as to form an inclined talus hundreds of feet high; and, when a thaw commences, torrents rush from the land and throw down from the top of the cliff alluvial soil and gravel. ‘This new soil soon becomes covered with vegeta- tion, and protects the foundation of snow trom the rays of the sun. Water occasionally penetrates into the crevices and pores of the snow; but as soon as it freezes it serves the more effectively to consolidate the mass into compact ice. It may sometimes happen that cattle grazing in a valley at the base of such cliffs, on the borders of a river, may be overwhelmed by drift snow, and at length inclosed in solid ice, and then transported toward the polar region. Ora herd of mam- moths, returning from their summer pastures in the north, may have been surprised, while cross- ing a stream, by the sudden congelation of the waters. In the course of the summer we fell in with most of the vessels of the whaling fleet, to several of which medical services were rendered, the cases being such as are common to seafaring men. The most notable ones were of consumption and constitutional syphilis among men who should never have been shipped in the first place. There also came under notice a case of polydipsia, in which it would have been desirable to try large doses of valerian—a medicine not among the stores— consequently the patient was unbenefited by treatment; and there oceurred two deaths, one each from consumption and ascites. One man of the escaped crew of the bark Daniel Webster, which was crushed in the ice, on being rescued, after two weeks of exposure, terror, and starvation, was completely insane, but subsequently regained his reason. It seems that the act of deserting ship in the Arctic not only taxes all the resources of manliness but the situation conduces to bringing about mental derangement. One of the oldest and most experienced Arctic whalers tells me that he has seen men from an abandoned ship so lose their wits as to ery like children, sit helpless on the ice, and refuse to move until the most rigorous measures were taken to force them. Another whaleman told me that some years ago, having to retreat from his erushed ship across the ice, two of his crew, becoming raving maniacs, finally drowned themselves; and the insane seamen of the Jeannette party is fresh in the minds of every one. The rescued crew of the Webster were on the verge of starvation when picked up, and among the nine taken on board the Corwin there prevailed for some weeks a peculiar disturbance of the digestive organs, characterized by a furred tongue, indigestion, and a sense of heaviness and pain in the epigastric region. But the demands for medical services were more urgent among the inhabitants of several remote places where the Corwin touched, notably at Ounalaska and at Saint Michael’s, the most northern station of the Alaska Commercial Company, and one of the few unprovided with a physician. 16 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Arrived at Ounalaska and securely moored in a land-locked harbor surrounded by Alp-like hills, which presented a dreary picture of snowy desolation, we found the air uncommonly chilly and apparently disagreeable enough to give a seal bronchitis, although the inhabitants called it mild weather. An epidemic, from which a large portion of the native population of the island had died, prevailed in the little village off which we anchored, and the only physician of the place being also dangerously ill, the sick were without medical advice or attendance. During the few days of our stay every assistance in our power was rendered the sufferers, and we hope that our advent among them was the means of averting several funerals that otherwise would have taken place. DISEASES PECULIAR TO THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION. Clinical observation of the disease in question showed marked dyspncea, broncophony, imper- fect arterialization of the biood, cough, with expectoration, pain, insomnia, and great depression both physical and psychical; in fact the latter symptom was the most characteristic; and it seemed impossible to impart the least ray of hope to a patient who had made up his mind to die from the offset of his attack. The disease was very rapid in its course and, considering the gravity of these assembled phenomena, there was but little of the fever that usually attends pneumonitis. The main symptom calling for relief seemed to be the marked asthenia, to combat which the administration of quinia, stimulants, and milk were resorted to with beveficial effects. It may be mentioned that the administration of quinia to these natives is attended with the happiest results. The attending physician at Ounalaska intorms me that most of the ailments he has to treat among them being of an adynamic character he invariably gives quinia, the effect of which, he says, is almost magical. It is very much to be regretted that time and opportunity forbade a necropsy in one of these cases, for ainong the different and varied forms under which pneumonitis presents itself, and this type differing from any I have heretofore seen, itis not at all incredible that there may have been something distinctive about its morbid anatomy. What connection there may have been between the outbreak of the epidemic and the prevailing climatic and telluric influences it is impossible to say; but the well-known relations of meteoro- logical conditions to certain diseases would lead one to infer that the previous occurrence of several earthquake shocks, or, what is more probable, a relatively mild winter, with an unusual amount of precipitation, may have been the predisposing cause; not to mention the interminable diet of fish and whale of the Aleutian, his fondness for ‘“ quass,’ and his inability to resist slight causes of psychical depression. So far as it is possible to ascertain the disease seems to have been confined almost exclusively to the native population. At Ounalaska the only sufferer not a native was from the Island of Mauritius. The epidemic also prevailed extensively at Saint Paul’s, Unga, Kodiak, Cook’s Inlet, and Prince William Sound, a singular coincidence connected with the outbreak being its appear- ance at these places immediately or soon atter the arrival of the first vessel in port. This cireum- stance so impressed itself on the native mind as to give rise to a general and strong belief in the importation of the disease. It is not at all unlikely that sickness of the foregoing character has occurred from time to time among the Aleutians. We have a mention of at least one outbreak, where it is stated that during a few days of unusually warm weather an epidemic of bilious pneumonia made its appear- ance at Kodiak, one of the adjacent islands, attacking about fifty of the natives.* The same authority reports the prevalence of intermittent fever at Cook’s Inlet among a white population who lived on a bluff several hundred feet high in houses exposed to a strong breeze directly from the inlet. The reporter states that the disease might have been contracted elsewhere; but happening after a sea voyage of forty days, and in persons previously in good health, he attributes it to locality. In a conversation with Mr. Petroft, whose topographical knowledge of this part of Alaska qualifies him to give an intelligent opinion, he informed me that for many miles around the bluff in question the land is low and marshy, but he thinks it is not malarious, and quotes the opinion of Dr. Goyorlivo, a Russian surgeon, who says that in summer the weather of Cook’s Inlet is warm and clear; in winter the thermometer falls to 40° below freezing; rain and fog are rare, and the atmosphere is clear, bracing, and healthy. These observations, the Doctor adds, are supported by Admiral Tebenkoff. * Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal, 1870, vol, iv, p. 337. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. ie Another observer, Assistant Surgeon John Brooke, U.S. A., ina report tothe War Office, ISTU—74, speaking of the execrable climate of a part of Alaska in the same latitude, as Kodiak, remarks: It might naturally be supposed that, in such a climate, acute rheumatism and acute pulmonary inflammations would be very common; but such is not the case. During a tour of nearly fifteen months I have seen but one case of typical acute rheumatism, and not a single case of uncomplicated pneumonia or pleuritis. Ce and pains and aches of a few days’ duration, are very frequent. Pulmonary phthisis is not unconimon, and forms a large percentage of the cases of disease even among the native Indians. »s of sub-acute rheumatism, however, a +t Cases of sickness not infrequently occur in which there is a general adynamic condition of the system, without definable disease, a condition which is doubtless due to the depressing influences of almost continuous wet, and cool, and cloudy weather; a monotonous diet, in which fresh fruits and vegetables play an insignificant part; the almost entire absence of out-door amusements, and the want of opportunities for sufficient exercise in the open air. The subject cannot be dismissed without some further historical mention, for which, by the way, Tam largely indebted to Mr. Petroff, who has obtained his information from original Russian soarces not generally accessible to the ordinary reader. From 1800 to 1820 no special diseases existed in the Russian colonies exclusive of scurvy and syphilis. At the end of 1819 a fever accompanied by a reddish eruption broke out, from which forty-two deaths occurred at Kodiak and twenty-five at Sitka. No physicians were in the colonies at that time, except those accompanying the ships of the company from St. Petersburg. It seems that subsequently two hospitals were established in 1844, one at Sitka of forty beds, and qne at Kodiak of ten beds; and in 1862 the company had in its service three physicians, eleven stewards, five surgeons and apothecaries’ assistants, two mid- wives and two assistants. From 1840 to 1860 a most fatal epidemic in the form of an exanthematous fever prevailed at Ounalaska. The same disease in 1848 prevailed at Uniga, Sitka, and the Alaska Peninsula, three hundred natives having died therefrom. The reporter further says that the great mortality was owing to loss of courage and refusal to take medicine. Tikhmenief, in his historical review of the Russian colonies, says that the prevailing diseases among the native population of Alaska are consumption, ulcers, scurvy, and syphilis, they being indebted to the Russians for the importation of the latter. He also mentions the occurrence of epidemic pneumonia in 1852 at Sitka, Kodiak, and the missionary establishment at Bristol Bay. At the first-mentioned place the disease occurred principally among children. In 1853 there were sixty-four cases of scurvy at Sitka, of which nine died; and in 1855 an epidemic typhoid fever like yellow fever occurred. It was believed to have been imported by a ship which had come around the globe from Russia. The mortality, however, does not appear to have been excessive, for out of three hundred and forty-one cases there were but thirteen deaths. The same year there was also an epidemic of pneumonia, three hundred and ninety-eight cases having occurred at Sitka and Kodiak with sixty deaths. In 1860 epidemic measles attacked both adults and children, causing eighty-one deaths in the whole colonies. From a report of the ‘Russian American Company on the sanitary condition of New Arch- angel and other posts from May 1, 1861, to May 1, 1862, it is learned that for 1861 and the first third of 1862 and those of previous years there existed both in the number and character of the cases a marked difference that was very gratifying. The mean daily number of patients in the New Archangel Hospital was ten persons, besides the fact is worthy of attention that scorbutic and syphilitic diseases had almost entirely disappeared. In April, 1562, there was not a single case of the latter disease. Dr. Markoffski ascribes this circumstance to many judicious measures taken for the extirpation of these diseases by the chief director of the colony, as well as to the greatly improved treatment of such patients. The number of patients admitted to the New Archangel Hospital was 663, of whom 626 recovered and 8 died. In the Kodiak Hospital there were 360 admis- sions, with 330 recoveries and 7 deaths. At Afognak typhus fever appeared but was promptly suppressed. Inoculation (?) is reported to have been carried out generally and successfully in the colonies. A medical and sanitary inspection of the northérn districts in 1861 showed the accom- modations of the unmarried workmen of the coal expedition to be in excellent condition ; the hearty and healthy appearance of the men showing that they had been well cared for, notwithstanding the difficult under-ground character of their work ; and the surgery is reported to have been in good condition. Dr. Markoffski also makes a favorable report for Michalowski (Saint Michael’s) and speaks of the new Kasharn as light, spacious, and very comfortable; and of the lazarette and surgery as well provided and in good order. H. Ex. 105——3 18 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. No epidemics are mentioned, except one of gastric fever, the result of immoderate eating, which prevailed on Saint George’s Island. It yielded to treatment. The houses of this island are reported to be in a satisfactory condition, sanitary conditions being observed as far as possible, also order and cleanliness; and the Kashim (or club-house) comes in for favorable mention. On the Island of Saint Paul the regulations established for cleanliness are reported to have been generally obeyed. Inoculation (?) was generally carried out, and almost all the children were vaceinated except at Ikogmut Mission, where the natives refused to adopt this method of protec- - tion; but it is stated that this obstinacy may be overcome by time or accidental circumstances such as the prevalence of an epidemic. A disease called the ‘black measles” appeared at Kodiak and the adjoining islands in 1875, from which the Alaska Herald of August 3, 1875, reports the following deaths to July of that year : Kodiak. 22-2: se. ese wanes eect ee opt Soper 5: ee ee =A Wood wisland 2.222 2-42 2 - F es s Bee cote a ee Re aes Se ee ee 50 Afognak _...------- : ws so eS SSE ERE wo he ee oe ae ew a ee 20 MELONS at an ahs es ows aoe ne eo oes eee ee eee eee = sere iL) PASS HALDOR== oon on conc nea aoee = — an ae eee z Spee #1) TOAD oe a oo ne se a teks Rl a pas a ks Ne ge aa ery 130 The natives of the Pribylof Islands, being better housed than those on the Aleutian Islands, «uppear of late to have fared better as regards health than their more southern neighbors. The wonder is, though, after visiting these islands, that so littfe sickness exists among a population most of whom live but a few hundred yards away from the carcasses of thousands of seals in all stages of decomposition. On the island of Saint Paul, for instance, where the climate is as humid and disagreeable as possible, the carcasses of the 80,000 seals that are slaughtered yearly are left to decay in the open air in the immediate vicinity of the village, and the stench therefrom is any- thing but pleasant. One night the Corwin anchored under the lee of the island, about a mile off shore, and the stench was so great as to preclude sleep during the night. A stroll ashore on Saint Paul afforded a fine opportunity to study comparative anatomy, especially of the marine mammalia; for in addition to the millions of live seals to be seen hauled up on the rookeries, we walked through the green, slimy ooze, the remains of thousands of seals slain years ago, oceasionally sinking over our ankles in a substance resembling adipocere ;* picked our way through the scattered anatomy of last year’s seal and walrus; witnessed the remains of the 1,500 seals killed but yesterday and of the 1,200 killed the day before. From information furnished by Special Agent Otis, it is learned that the prevailing diseases are of a pulmonary and cutaneous character, but the mortality returns of a late year show three deaths each from scrofula and cerebro-spinal meningitis. Since 1869, out of a population of about 300, the increase has been but slight, the births and deaths having about balanced each other. The mortality per thousand being nearly three times greater than that among more civilized communi- ties under more favorable conditions, and the Aleutian women, as a rule, being unprolific, it is hardly reasonable to look for any decided increase in the population except under changed and more favorable conditions. Mr. George Kennan, the genial author of “Tent Life in Siberia,” has kindly furnished a trans- lation of the chapter from Veniamenoft’s History of the Aleutian Islands, relative to “Diseases and their Treatment,” from which the following notes are taken: “Tt appears that in the early days of the Russian occupation the Aleutians had some crude notions of human anatomy, which they aequired from the dissection of the dead bodies of their slaves, and they also had considerable knowledge of medicine and surgery the practice of which, being prohibited and suppressed by the Russians, is now entirely lost. Among the diseases most common to them were a skin disease known as ‘seep;’ itch, boils, diarrhaa, and fever—the latter called ‘common’ because no one escaped it—and consumption of two kinds generally considered incurable. The first variety was simply a decay of the lungs attended by such symptoms as cough, spitting of blood, and shortness of breath; the second, proceeding from decay of the liver, was accompanied by griping of the intestines and rapid emaciation. “They were also acquainted with another disease which they called the ‘inward disease.’ Scurvy and venereal disease were formerly unknown to them. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. iN) “Their principal therapeutic measures consisted in patience and strict diet, the patient being allowed only a gargle and two spoonfuls of water in the twenty-four hours. Dangerous wounds were treated by prolonged fasting, as they considered food and drink extraordinarily dangerous for the patient, and creating a liquid in the wound which caused inflammation and even death. The writer states that this method of treatment is still pursued, and thinks that even now it saves many from death. Accidental wounds from fox-traps were quite common, the barbed iron teeth usually taking effect in or near the knee-joint. At Ounalaska out of forty or fifty cases but two are known to have died. In gunshot wounds, aside from diet, they used for cleansing and keeping unds alive the fat of fishes and various land animals, especially fat from the head of the fox. Over deep wounds they sifted burnt teeth reduced to powder and applied a fresh mouse-skin every day. Swellings and rheumatisms they treated with various fomentations and ointments, or by poultices made of roots. Other external diseases they hardly treated at all, except by employing the universal medicines, diet and patience. “Tn fevers they employed decoctions of bitter herbs and guarded the patient carefwlly from the external air. Herbs were also used in consumption of the first kind, but if the expectoration proved troublesome, the patient was submitted further to the operation of ‘pricking.’ In both kinds of consumption the Aleut doctors supposed the bad symptoms to proceed from bad blood, or a ferment, or spirit. The operation just mentioned was performed by thrusting stone lancets on both sides immediately under the ribs, and was done by the most skillful surgeons only, because it required accurate knowledge of the internal parts and of just how much of the spirit to let out, as there was danger of letting it all out and thus sending the patient to the other world. The operation, also used as a remedy for ‘internal disease,’ was considered the most approved treatment for colic, and patients expressed themselves as having received decided benefit therefrom. ‘Puncture’ in critical conditions was resorted to as the last and sole remedy. It was also used in many other diseases, for example in diseases of the eyes, where the skin was pricked between the eyes or on the nape of the neck. In fact, this operation was done on all parts of the body, and an instance was known of an Aleut having submitted to it forty times, various parts of his body having been punctured. The operators were men famous for their skill, and imparted their knowledge to the best-beloved of their children or nephews; for this reason the art is of late become almost lost. Common bleeding from the arm and leg was employed to reduce large swellings and correct morbid conditions of the blood; also to combat sluggishness or weakness, headache, and loss of appetite. ‘< Por diarrhea astringent roots and diet were employed or the root of the ‘makarsha.’ Another treatment in ‘internal diseases,’ generally resorted to by old women, consisted in a sort of manipu- lation of the belly while the patient was lying on his back. It was used principally against griping pains, and elicited high praise from the men who have experienced the treatment.” EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL. The principal vices among these people, who are generally mild and inoffensive, seem to be a fondness for games of chance and an uncontrollable craving for alcoholic drinks—an appetite which, by the way, two seasons of personal observation and experience in the Arctic convince me is something of a physiological necessity. The taste, however, seems to be an acquired one by the aborigines, for I saw a man at Nounivak Island to whom the taste was foreign, and on tasting both brandy and whiskey he made a wry face and spat them out with evident disgust. Late authorities testify strongly in favor of the benefit to be derived from moderate indulgence in drink during an Arctie sojourn. In looking over a précis of the evidence taken by the Parlia- mentary Committee appointed to inquire into the adequacy of the provision in the way of food, medicines, and medical comforts furnished to the Nares Arctic Search Expedition, we learn that Sir Edward Parry attributed the greatest antiscorbutie effect to beer; and Dr. Colan, RK. N., fleet surgeon (Alert), says it is the opinion of all the men he has read about who spoke about beer in the Arctic regions. Dr. Barnes believes beer decidedly antiscorbutic and recommends it should be given. Sir George Nares says abstainers are no better off than others as regards scurvy. Captain Markham says he would as soon take a man of temperate habits on an expedition as an abstainer ; the two total abstainers of his sledge suffered severely, and he himself felt better after he took to drinking his rum. Sir L. McClintock says there is no advantage in teetotalers; Mr. Alexander 20 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Gray, that there is no advantage in health in abstainers on board whalers, while Dr. A. Envall, who accompanied Nordenskidld, condemns excess, but says he believes spirituous liquors to be of great use in small and moderate quantities. Further mention may be made to Professor Nordenskidld and Lieutenant Palander, who in 1873 undertook a sledging journey from their winter quarters in Spitzbergen, in latitude 79° 53’ north, and were away sixty-six days. During the whole journey, there was no scurvy, though the party had no lime juice. The diet consisted of pemmican, biscuit, salt pork, butter, coffee in abundance, and a little spirits daily. All returned in excellent health. Comparison may be made between the Alert, of the Nares Expedition, aboard which scurvy prevailed notwithstanding the careful daily administration of lime juice, and H. M.S. Assistance, in 185051. In the A&sistance there was beer brewed on board, while the Alert had no such advan- tage. No scurvy prevailed on board the former ship. Captain Markham, speaking of the preven- tion of scurvy in any future expedition wintering in high latitudes, says that the dietetic causes may be reduced to a minimum by varying the diet with condensed milk, butter, eggs, beer, and wine. He also observes in regard to the adequacy and completeness of outfit that former expedi- tions had the means of brewing beer on board, while the Nares Expedition had no such advantage. Markham moreover says that Captain Hall, of the Polaris, who died of apoplexy, was a teetotaler and was much annoyed at seeing others drink. Whatever conclusions may be deduced from the foregoing, it is evident that there is an abso- lute consensus of opinion both among executive and medical officers of late Arctic Expeditions in regard to the judicious use of alcoholic beverages. It only remains to add that personal experi- ence and observation convince that there is an indescribable something in the Arctic atmosphere that produces what is called the northern craving for drink, even among persons who care nothing for it in temperate latitudes. Being of abstemious habits, I would not for the world say anything to favor intemperance, but facts warrant in testifying to the undeniable good effects of whiskey when served out to the crew after unusual fatigue and exposure; and I know of no place, cireum- stance, or condition under which such beverages as beer and claret are more palatable or more valuable from a hygienic point of view than when taken at meals during an Arctic voyage. Tllicit traders, taking advantage of this northern craving for drink, have of late years been in the habit of supplying the most villainous compounds, in exchange for small quantities of which the improvident Eskimo gives his choicest furs. Some captured specimens of these prohibited articles, bearing the respective labels of Bay Rum, Jamaica Ginger, Pain Killer, and Florida Water, with a view to defrauding the revenue, proved on examination to be nothing but cheap alcohol of a highiy inflammable nature to which a little coloring matter had been added. Loath as I am to give the least eneouragement to intemperance, being rather an advocate of temperance, | cannot help thinking that it would be a step in the right direction, and one productive of good, if instead of the present prohibitory measures the fur companies were allowed to sell small quantities of beer and claret. In addition to their value as antiscorbutics, their use would be eminently better for the natives from a moral point of view than the present use of “ quass,” a vile native decoction made from sugar and flour, both of which articles the traders have a right to dispose of in unlimited quantities. To the alleged introduction of spirituous liquors is said to be due the famine and excessive mortality among the natives of Saint Lawrence Island, one thousand of whom it is estimated have died in the last three years. Several visits to this island revealed the fact that it is fast becoming depopulated. The first village at which we landed was entirely deserted ; at a second not a living being was to be seen, but in and around the houses were counted fifty-four dead bodies, all adults. Many laid unburied on the adjacent hills, while others had died in bed, where they still remained. A third village, which must have been a very old settlement, judging from the thousands of walrus skulls strewn inevery direction and from the character of the kitechen-middens, was also depopulated. It was a Golgotha in every sense of the word. A great many dead were found here, laid promis- cuously out of doors, and in one house we found sixteen bodies. Among these remains were those of several children, a fact which tended to remove previous suspicions of cannibalism on the part of the sufferers. At these villages was made a fine collection of Innuit crania and other ethnological curiosities for the Smithsonian Institution. Finally we visited at the northwest extremity of the island a settlement where lived several hundred Eskimo. They informed us that two hundred CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN ARCTIC OCEAN. 21 people of the village had died of famine, as near as we could make out from a very imperfect inter- pretation, and that food became so scarce they were obliged to eat dried walrus skins and their dogs, having but one dog left, when happily the capture of a whale afforded timely relief. A number of these fur and feather-clad aborigines, having their heads shaved after the manner of Zurbaran’s pictures of monks in the middle ages, were clamorous in importuning for whiskey, and the chief of the village refused to sell us a few reindeer skins unless we gave him liquor in exchange, this too while the poor remaining dog, looking wistfully up into his face, seemed to be a living warning not to try as a remedy the hair of the dog that had bitten the village. To attribute the late cause of death among these people entirely to intemperance admits of some doubt. Itseems impossible for them, owing to lack of means, to have procured enough drink to last more than a few days, or at least during the short stay of any trading vessel that may have arrived. Then again it is probable that some epidemic influence was the main factor, if we may rely upon the statement of a whaling captain who visited the island during the time so many were dying. He tells me that the disease was what he calls “measles or black tongue.” Admitting the prevalence of sickness of this kind among an improvident and shiftless people, starvation must follow as an inevitable and necessary result. Similar conditions having prevailed among the Asiatic Eskimo of Plover Bay and East Cape, many of whom have died in the last few years, it would, perhaps, be nearer the truth to say that the mortality in question was due to the combined influences of intemperance, sickness, and starvation. EFFECTS OF CLIMATE. At Saint Michael’s, almost under the Arctic Cirele, I found that pulmonary troubles and the constitutional effects of syphilis prevailed among the small population to an alarming extent. Here also, as in most every northern place we touched at, the wicked thirst for ram exercised a domi- nating influence. The winters are long and cold, with high winds and gales and a great deal of snow; the thermometer falls to —45°, and the winter previously to our coming was so severe that owing to the great and long continued cold Eskimo dogs and wild geese ‘are reported to have frozen to death. The accompanying meteorological suminaries from the records of the Signal Office give a more detailed account of the weather : METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY. AMOUNT OF RAIN AND BAROMETER. THERMOMETER. WIND. Range. tange. S) July, 1879, to end of June, 1880. ber of auroras. during month. Mean relative humidity. Maximum. =) } Maximum velocity | Minimum. | Difference. | Highest. Lowest = z= ° = a a & Z Miles July...... 30, 244 1 36 | 32 82.6 , North.... 57 65 16 0 August. 30.186 | 5 3D | 27 88.8 North... 53 83 18 0 Septembe 30, 097 ‘i 19 | 39 88.3 North... 49 64 21; 0 October... Ne 3 | 39 94.7 South... 76 25 16 1 Novembe 1. —12 148 98.5 | South... 7 03 | 4 December... 1. —32 | 68 99.7 North... 68 OT 10 3 1880. January... —45 60 100 North, 64 4. 671 0 9 3 February —i1 | ? 99.1 South. 75> 11.406 | ? 17 0 March.. —37 ? 99.0 South, 69 12.598 | ? 20) 0 April. i fi 97.8 | N. E...... 49 | 7.042 10 (?) 14 0 —1 P. 97.0 North 52 6, 808 21 ll 0 GENERAL REMARKS. 1879: July.—Cold and damp; rain or fog nearly every day. August.—Cold and rainy. September.— Winter commenced the last of the month; remarkably early. October.—Almost a continuous series of gales all the month. November.—Series of gales the last of the month. December.—Mild temperatures and gales the last half of month, ending abruptly in severely cold weather. Station: Saint Michael's, Alaska. 1880: January.—Remarkably high barometer the first of month; long continued cold weather with high winds the last. February.—A continuous series of gales accompanied by snow all the month. March.—Extraordinarily large snow fall during the month; but the accompanying gales, as in February, prevented measurement. April.—Very cold; unusually fine weather toward the last of month, but low temperatures still prevailed. May.—Winter continued unbroken until the 18th inst., when it became suddenly warm, and the water-fowl began arriving. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN 22 “SBIOANE JO LOQUIONS ~ a “Tes AOUS IO TI YOIYA UO sep Jo soquany (sq}pe1puny pus MOUS paz[9UI IO ULBI Jo JUNOUTY soyour) ‘Wuord JuLmnp a i le al Nin he | 7 MLA ie 74 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 35 snail or a marsupian into its snug retreat. When the mother wants to remove it she bends forward, at the same time passing her left hand up the back under her garments, and seizing the child by the feet, pulls if downward to the left; then, passing the right hand under the front of the dress, she again seizes the feet and extracts it by a kind of pedalic delivery. Another common way of carrying children is astride the neck. The subject is one that the Chuckchii artist often carves in ivory. The play-impulse manifests itself among these people in various ways. They have such mimetic objects as dolls, miniature boats, &c. Ihave seen a group of boys, sailing toy boats in a pond, behave under the circumstances just as a similar group has been observed to do at Provinee- town, Cape Cod, and the same act, as performed in the Frog Pond of the Boston Common, may be ealled only a differentiated form of the same tendency. Their dolls, of ivory and clothed with fur, seem to answer the same purpose that they do in civilized communities—namely, the amusement of little girls—for at one place where we landed a nuinber of Eskimo girls, stopping play on our approach, sat their dolls up in a row, evidently with a view to .give the dolls a better look at the strange visitors. Spinning tops, essentially Eskimo and unique in their character, are held in the hand while spinning ; on the Siberian Coast foot ball is played, and among other questionable things acquired from contact with the whalemen, a knowledge of card playing exists. We were very often asked for cards, and at one place where we stopped and bartered a nuinber of small articles with the natives they gave evidence of their aptitude at gaming. The game being started, with the bartered articles as stakes, one fellow soon scooped in everything, leaving the others to go off dead broke amid the ridicule of some of our crew, and doubtless feeling worse than dead, for among no people that I have seen, not even the French, does ridicule so effectually kill. PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION. Among the means taken by these people to produce personal ornamentation that of tattooing the face and wearing a labret is the most noticeable. The custom of tattooing having existed from the earliest historical epochs is important not only from an ethnological but from a medical and pathological point of view, and even in its relation to medical jurisprudence in cases of contested personal identity. Without going into the history of the subject, it may not be irrelevant to mention that tattooing was condemned by the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian among others, who gives the following rather singular reason for interdicting its use among women: “Certi sumus Spiritum Sanctum magis masculis tale aliquid subseribere potuisse si feminis subscripsisset.”* In addition to much that has been written by French and German writers, the matter of tattoo- marks has of late claimed the attention of the law courts of England, the chief-justice, Cockburn, in the Tichbourne case, having described this species of evidence as of ‘“ vital importance,” and in itself final and conclusive. The absence of the tattoo-marks in this case justified the jury in their finding that the defendant was not and could not be Roger Tichbourne, whereupon the alleged claimant was proved to be an impostor, found guilty of perjury, and sentenced to penal servitude. t The accompanying representations, showing extensive markings on different parts of the body, are from photographs obtained in Japan. Why the ancient habit of tattooing should prevail so extensively among some of the primitive tribes as it does, for instance, in the Polynesian Islands and some parts of Japan, and we may say as a survival of a superstitious practice of paganism among sailors and others, is a psycho- logical problem difficult to solve. Whether it be owing to perversion of the sexual instinct, which is not unlikely, or to other cause, it is not proposed to discuss. Be that as it may, the prevalence of the habit among the Eskimo is confined to the female sex, who are tatooed on arriving at the age of puberty. The women of Saint Lawrence Island, in addition to lines on the nose, forehead, and chin, have uniformly a figure of strange design on the cheeks, which is suggestive of cabalistic import. It could not be ascertained, however, whether such was the case. The lines drawn on the chin were exactly like the ones I have seen on Moorish women in Morocco. Another *De Virginibus velandis. Lutetiz Parisiorum, 1675f°., p. 178. +See Guy’s Hospital Report, XIX, 1874; also ‘‘Histoire Médicale du Tatouage,’’ in Archives de Médecine Navale, Tom. 11 et 12, Paris, 1869. 36 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. outlandish attempt at adornment was witnessed at Cape Blossom in a woman who wore a bunch of colored beads suspended from the septum of her nose. These habits, however, hardly seem so revolting as the use of the labret by the ‘‘Mazinka” men on the American coast, of Tl ( Style of personal ornamentation adopted by the women of Saint Lawrence Island. whom it is related that a sailor seeing one of them for the first time, and observing the slit in the lower lip through which the native thrust his tongue, thought he had discovered « man with two mouths. The use of the labret, like many of the attempts at primitive ornamentation, is very old, it having been traced by Dall along the American Coast from the lower part of Chili to Alaska. Persons fond of tracing vestiges of savage ornamentation amid intellectual advancement and esthetic sensibility far in advance of the primitive man, may observe in the wearers of bangles and ear-rings the same tendency existing in a differentiated form. DIVERSIONS. I doubt whether Shakespeare’s dictum in regard to music holds good when applied to the Eskimo, for they have but little music in their souls, and among no people is there such a notice- able absence of ‘‘ treason, stratagem, and spoil.” A rude drum and a monotonous chant consisting only of the fundamental note and minor third, are the only things in the way of music among the more remote settlements of which I have any knowledge. Mrs. Micawber’s singing has been described as the table-beer of acoustics. Eskimo singing is something more. ‘The beer has become flat by the addition of ice. One of our engineers, who is quite a fiddler, experimented on his instrument with a view to see what effect music would have on the “savage breast,” but his best efforts at rendering Madame Angot and the Grande Duchesse were wasted before an unsym- pathetic audience, who showed as little appreciation of his performance as some people do when listening to Wagner’s “‘ Musie of the Future.” Where they have come in contact with civilization, their musical taste is more developed. At Saint Michael’s I was told that some of their songs are so characteristic that it is much to be regretted that some of them cannot be bottled up in a phonograph and sent to a musical composer. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. - 37 On the coast of Siberia I heard an Eskimo boy sing correctly a song he had learned while on board a whaling vessel, and on several of the Aleutian Islands the natives play the accordion quite well, have music-boxes, and even whistle strains from Pinafore. From music to dancing the transition is obvious, no matter whether the latter be regarded in a Darwinian sense as a device to attract the opposite sex or as the expression of joyous excitement. This manifestation of feeling in its bodily discharge, which Moses and Miriam and David indulged in, which is ranked with poetry by Aristotle, and which old Homer says is the sweetest and most perfect of human enjoyments, is’a pastime much in vogue among the Eskimo, and it required but little provocation to start a dance at any time on the Corwin’s decks when a party happened to be on board. Their dancing, however, had not the cadence of ‘‘a wave of the sea,” nor was there the harmony of double rotation circling in a series of graceful curves to strains like those of Strauss or Gungl. On the contrary, there was something saltatorial and jerky about all the dancing I saw both among the men and women. It is the custom at some of their gatherings, after the hunting season is over, for the men to indulge in a kind of terpsichorean performance, at the same time relating in Homeric style the heroic deeds they have done. At other times the women, more décolleté than our beauties at the German, for they strip to the waist, do all the dancing, and the men take the part of spectators only in this choregraphical performance. ART INSTINCT. The aptitude shown by Eskimo in carving and drawing has been noticed by all travellers among them. Some I have met with show a degree of intelligence and appreciation in regard to charts and pictures searcely to be expected from such a source. From walrus ivory they sculpture figures of birds, quadrupeds, marine animals, and even the human form, which display considerable indi- viduality notwithstanding their crude delineation and imperfect detail. I have also seen a fair carving of a whale in plumbago. Evidences of decoration are sometimes seen on their canoes, on which are found rude pictures of walruses, &e., and they have a kind of picture-writing by means of which they commemorate certain events in their lives, just as Sitting Bull has done in an auto- biography that may be seenat the Army Medical Museum. When we were searching for the missing whalers off the Siberian Coast some natives were come across with whom we were unable to communicate except by signs, and wishing to let them know the object of our visit, a ship was drawn in a note-book and shown to them with accompanying gesticulations, which they quickly comprehended, and one fellow, taking the pencil and note-book, drew correctly a pair of reindeer horns on the ship’s jib-boom—a fact which identified beyond doubt the derelict vessel they had seen. At Point Hope an Eskimo, who had allowed us to take sketches of him, desired to sketch one of the party, and taking one of our note-books and a pencil, neither of which he ever had in his hand before, produced the accompanying likeness of Professor Muir: At Saint Michael’s there is an Eskimo boy who draws remarkably well, having taught himself by copying from the Illustrated London News. He made a correct pen-and-ink drawing of the Corwin, and another of the group of buildings at Saint Michael’s, which, though creditable in many respects, had the defect of many Chinese pictures, being faulty in perspective. As these drawings equal those in Dr. Rink’s book, done by Greenland artists, I regret my inability to reproduce them here. As evidences of culture they show more advancement than the carvings of English rustics that a clergyman has eaused to be placed on exhibition at the Kensington Museum. -Sir John Ross speaks highly of his interpreter as an artist; Beechy says that the knowledge of the coast obtained by him from Innuit maps was of the greatest value, while Hall and others show their geographical knowledge to be as perfect as that possible of attainment by civilized men unaided by instruments. 1 had frequent opportunities to observe these Eskimo ideas of chartography. They not only understood reading a chart of the coast when showed to them, but would make tracings of the unexplored part, as I knew a native to do in the case of an Alaskar river, the mouth only of which was laid down on our chart. Manifestation of the plastic art, which is found among tribes less intelligent, is rare among the 38 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Eskimo. In fact, the only thing of the kind seen was some rude pottery at Saint Lawrence Island, the design of which showed but crude development of ornamental ideas. The same state of advancement was shown in some drinking cups carved from mammoth ivory and a dipper made from the horn of a mountain sheep. COMBATIVENESS. In one of the acts of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages the Eskimo plays a very unimportant role. Perhaps in no other race is the combative instinct less predominant; in none is quarreling, fierce- ness of disposition, and jealousy more conspicuously absent, and in none does the desire for the factitious renown of war exist in a more rudimentary and undeveloped state. Perhaps the constant fight with cold and hunger is a compensation which must account for the absence of such unmitigated evils as war, taxes, complex social organization, ind hierarchy among the curious people of the icy north. The pursuits of peace and of simple patriarchal lives, notwith- standing the fact that much in connection therewith is wretcbed and forbidding to a civilized man, seem to beget in these people a degree of domestic tranquillity and contentment which, united to their light-hearted and cheery disposition, is an additional reason for believing the sum of human happiness to be constant throughout the world. MENTAL CHARACTER AND CAPACITY. The intellectual character of the Eskimo, judging from the information which various travellers have furnished, as well as my personal knowledge, produces more than a feeble belief in the possibility of their being equal to anything they choose to take an interest in learning. The Eskimo is not “‘muffled imbecility,” as some one has called him, nor is he dull and slow of understanding, as Vitruvius describes the northern nation to be “from breathing a thick air”—which, by the way, is thin, elastic, and highly ozonized—nor is he, according to Dr. Beke, ‘‘degenerated almost to the lowest state compatible with the retention of rational endowments.” On the contrary, the old Greenland missionary, Hans Egede, writes: ‘“‘I have found some of them witty enough and of good capacity ;” Sir Martin Frobisher says they are ‘“‘in nature very subtle and sharp-witted ;” Sir Edward Parry, while extolling their honesty and good nature, adds, “Indeed, it required no long acquaintance to convince us that art and education might easily have made them equal or superior to ourselves ;” Sauer tells of a woman who Jearned to speak Russian fluently in rather less than twelve months, and Beechy and others have acknowledged the intelligent help they have received from Eskimo in making their explorations. Before going further, it may not be amiss to speak in a general way of the bony covering which protects the organ whose function it is to generate the vibrations known as thought. Of one hundred crania, collected principally at Saint Lawrence Island, a number were examined by me at the Army Medical Museum, through the courtesy of Dr. Huntington, with the result of changing and greatly modifying some of the previous notions of the conventional Eskimo skull as acquired trom books on craniology. Perhaps after the inspection and examination of a large collection of erania it may be safe to pronounce upon their differential character; but whether the differences in configuration are constant or only occasional manifestations admits of as much doubt as the exceptions in Professor Sophocles’s Greek grammar, which are often coextensive with the rule.* The typical Eskimo skull, according to popular notion, is one exhibiting a low order of intelli- gence, and characterized by small brain capacity, with great prominence of the superciliary ridges, occipital protuberance, and zygomatic arches, the latter projecting beyond the general contour of the skull like the handles of a jar or a peach basket; and lines drawn from the most projecting part of the arches and touching the sides of the frontal bone are supposed to meet over the forehead, forming a triangle, for which reason the skull is known as pyramidal. The first specimen, examined from a vertical view, shows something of the typical character as figured in A, and when viewed posteriorly there is noticed a flattening of the parietal walls with an elongated vertex as shown in D; while a second specimen, represented by B, shows none of the foregoing characteristics, the form being elongated and the parietal walls so far overhanging as to conceal the zygomatic arches in the vertical view, so that if lines be drawn as previously men- * See Retzius, Finska Kranier, Stockholm: 1878. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 39 tioned, instead of forming a triangle they may, like the asymptotes of a parabola, be extended to infinity and never meet: For purposes of comparison a number of orthographic outlines, showing the contour of civil- ized crania from a vertical point of observation, are herewith annexed. No. 1 is that of an eminent mathematician who committed suicide; No. 2, a prominent politician during the civil war; No. 3, a banker; and No. 4, a notorious assassin. Nos. 5 and 6 are negro skulls. Further comparison may be made with the Jewish skull, as represented in No. 7, in which the nasal bones project so far beyond the general contour as to form a bird-like appendage: A collection of Aleutian heads, as seen from a vertical point of observation, when I looked down from the gallery of the little Greek church at Ounalaska, presented at first sight certain collective characters by which they approach one another. But anatomists know that a careful comparison of any collection will show extremely salient differences. In fact, individual difter- ences, SO numerous and so irregular as to prevent methodical enumeration, constitute the stumbling- block of ethnic craniology. Take, for instance, a number of the skulls under consideration: in proportions they will be found to present very considerable variations among themselves. The skulls figured by A and B are respectively brachycephalie and dolichocephalic. The former has an internal capacity of 1,400, the latter 1,214 cubic centimeters; but the facial angle of each is 809, and in one Eskimo cranium it runs up to 849. If the facial angle be trustworthy, as a measure of the degree of intelligence, we have shown here a development far m excess of the negro, which is placed at 70°, or of the Mongolian at 75°, and exceeding that observed by me in many German 40) CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROTIC OCEAN. skulls, which do not as a rule come up to the 90° of Jupiter Tonans or of Cuvier, in spite of the boasted intelligence of that nationality. Vo. 2. Words SE Pa ubtnite AE \= In none of the skulls of the collection is there observable the heavy superciliary ridges alleged to be common in lower races, but which exist in many of the best-formed European crania—shall anomalies or as individual variations? Nor is the convexity of the squamo-parietal suture such as characterizes the low-typed cranium of the chimpanzee or of the Mound Builder. we say as On the contrary, the orbits are cleanly made and the suture is well curved. Besides, a low degree of intelligence is not shown by observing the index of the foramen magnum, which is about the same as that found in Huropean crania; and the same may be said of the internal capacity of the To illustrate the latter remark is appended a tabular statement made up from Welcker, Broca, Aitken, and Meigs: cranium, Cubic centimeters. Amstralian 7) 5 soo oie: ops ea eee ee Pe PRL ee Pe eae ogee ee 1, 228 Polymesian) 2y 2252 he = ees Se ee ee See ee ee ee 1, 230 Hottentotebetose- 2a Sa SR ns Ded ae ee Pe tes ae At Be 1, 230 Mexicans3.*= 2503.2 2 J SaaS y ete ed ee ee ee ee ae 2 ae Be 1, 296 Malays ict = 5207. Sosa ee ee eee" ae. ee oe 1, 328 Ancient Peruvian... 2252 2. in ee ee 1, 361 REN CH Ake ee ee Ce ee ee rps em fore Ga Te See ets se ee 1, 403 to 1, 461 German a 20S Se eee ee ee SES. yoo stows Oo os Diese Sere 1, 448 13121141: eee a Rete ees Bet er ro Me emery = SESS Pid Pei De els Saft Sy 1, 572 An average of the Eskimo skulls, some of which measure as much as 1,650 and 1,715 e. ¢., will show the brain capacity to be the same as that of the French or of the Germans. them, however, approaches the anomalous capacities of two Indian skulls on exhibition at the Army Medical Museum, one of which shows 1,785 ¢. ¢., and the other the unprecedented measurement of 1,920 ¢. ¢. None of CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. H. Ex. 105——6 41 42 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROCTIO OCEAN. If the foregoing means for estimating the mental grasp and capacity for improvement be correct, then we must accord to the most northern nation of the globe a fair degree of brain energy—potential though it be. Aside from the mere physical methods of determining the degree of intelligence it is urged by some writers, ameng them the historian Robertson, that tact in commerce and correct ideas of property are evidence of a considerable progress toward civilization. The natural inference from this is that they are tests of intellectual power, since mind is a combi- nation of all the actual and possible states of consciousness of the organism, and an examination of the Eskimo system of trade draws its own conclusion. Their fondness for trade has been known for a long time, as well as the extended range of their commercial intercourse. They trade with the Indians, with the fur companies, the whalers, and among themselves across Bering Straits. Many of them are veritable Shylocks, having a thorough comprehension of the axiom in political economy regarding the regulation of the price of a thing by the demand. THE MORAL SENSE AND THE RELIGIOUS INSTINCT. With the aptitudes and instincts of our common humanity Eskimo morals, as manifested in truth, right, and virtue, also admit of remark. Except where these people have had the bad example of the white man, whose vices they have imitated not on account of defective moral nature but because they saw few or no virtues, they are models of truthfulness and honesty. In fact their virtues in this respect are something phenomenal. The same cannot be said, however, for their sexual morals, which asa rule are the contrary of good. Even a short stay among the hyperboreans causes one to smile at Lord Kames’s “ frigidity of the North Americans” and at the fallacy of Herder who says, “ the blood of man near the pole circulates but slowly, the heart beats but languidly ; consequently the married live chastely, the women almost require compulsion to take upon them the troubles of a married life,” &c. Nearly the same idea, expressed by Montes- quieu, and repeated by Byron in “happy the nations of the moral north,” are statements so at variance with our experience that this fact must alone excuse a reference to the subject. So far are they from applying to the people in question, that it is only necessary to mention, without going into detail, that the women are freely offered to strangers by way of hospitality, showing a decided preference for white men, whom they believe to beget better offspring than their own men. In this connection one is soon convinced that salacious and prurient tastes are not the exclusive privilege of people living outside of the Arctic Circle; and observation favors the belief in the existence of pederasty among Eskimo, if one may be allowed to judge from circumstances, which it is not necessary to particularize, and from a word in their language signifying the act. Since morality is the last virtue acquired by man and the first one he is likely to lose, it is not so surprising to find outrages on morals among the undeveloped inhabitants of the north as it is to find them in intelligent Christian communities among people whose moral sense ought to be far above that of the average primitive man in view of their associations and the variations that have been so frequently repeated and accumulated by heredity ; and where there is no hierarchy nor established missionaries it is still more surprising to find any moral sense at all among a people whose vague religious belief does not extend beyond Shamanism or Animism, which to them explains the more strange and striking natural phenomena by the hypothesis of direct spiritual agency. It must not be understood by this, however, that these people have no religion, as many travellers have erroneously believed; that would be almost equivalent to stating that races of men exist without speech, memory, or knowledge of fire. A purely ethnological view of religion which regards it as “ the feeling which falls upon man in the presence of the unknown,” favors the idea that the children of the icy north have many of the same feelings in this respect as those experienced by ourselves under similar conditions, although there is doubtless a change in us produced by more advanced thought and nicer feeling. On the other hand, how many habits and ideas that are senseless and perfectly unexplainable by the light of our present modes of life and thought can be explained by similar customs and prejudices existing among these distant tribes. Is there no fragment of primitive superstition or residue of bygone ages in the supposed influence of the “Evil Eye” in Ireland, or in the habit of ‘‘ telling the bees” in Germany? Is there not something of intellectual fossildom in the popular notion about Friday and thirteen at table, and CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 43 in the ancient rite of exorcising oppressed persons, houses, and other places supposed to be haunted by unwelcome spirits, the form for which is still retained in the Roman ritual? And is not our enlightened America “the land of spiritualists, mesmerism, soothsaying, and mystical congre- gations”? When the native of Saint Michael’s invokes the moon, or the native of Point Barrow his erude images previously to hunting the seal, in order to bring good luck, is not the mental and emotional impulse the same as that which actuates more civilized men to look upon “ outward signs of an inward and spiritual grace,” or not to start upon any important undertaking without first invoking the blessing of Deity? And are not the rites observed by the natives on the Siberian coast, when the first walrus is caught, the counterpart of our Puritan Thanksgiving Day ? Perhaps the untutored Eskimo has the same fear of the dangerous and terrible, the unknown, the infinite, as ourselves, and parts with life just as reluctantly; but it cannot be said that our observation favors the fact of his longevity, although long life seems to prevail among some of the circumpolar tribes, the Laps, for instance, who, according to Scheffer, in spite of hard lives enjoy good health, are long lived, and still alert at eighty and ninety years.—(De Medecina Laponum.) Owing to his hard life, the conflict with his circumstances, and his want of foresight, the Eskimo soon becomes a physiological bankrupt, and his stock of vitality being exhausted, his bodily remains are covered with,stones, around which are placed wooden masks and articles that have been useful to him during life, as I have seen at Nounivak Island, or they are covered with drift wood as observed in Kotzebue Sound, or as at Tapkan, Siberia, where the corpse is lashed to a long pole and is taken some distance from the village, when the clothes are stripped off, placed on the ground and covered with stones. The cadaver is then exposed in the open air to the tender mercies of crows, foxes, and wolves. The weapons and other personal effects of the decedent are placed near by, probably with something of the same sentiment that causes us to use chaplets of flowers and immortelles as funeral offerings—a custom that Schiller has commemorated in “ Bringet hier die letzen Gaben.” The future destiny of these people is a question in which the theologian and politician are not less interested than the man of science. Some observers seem to think that their numbers are diminishing under the evil influence of so-called civilization. But as every race participates in the same moral nature, and the entire history of humanity, according to Herder, is a series of events pointing to a higher destiny than has yet been revealed, there is no reason why the sum of human happiness, under proper auspices, should not be increased among the Innuit race. Arch- deacon Kirkby, a Church-of-England clergyman who has lately visited them in a missionary capacity as far as Boothia, speaks in the highest terms of their intelligence and capacity for improvement. Here then is a brilliant opportunity for some one full of propagandism and charity to imitate the acts of the modern Apostles, and extend the influence of civilization to the gay, lively, curious, and talkative hyperboreans whose home is under the midnight sun and on the borders of the Icy Sea. eu -_ is ny, ; ‘ an iy SMe 11} WAS ve RX ATI ee 414 } Ty 7 a TALE mG , Aaa Pdi r = t VOLE awed Wis ahah | “igh afhiein ech My ee oes am Wimmera Brew eisitelnr eo. Vault eal eae parts ity at Adit , 7 uel A Fj hive! wee ‘ ‘ POST VE (OS SG He ikaialt ite loiy MARA Y prt a ' Wait de web gistingaltiecibewie ng ogee oy ‘+ aon oP 0b ete etpaG Taig i at Ph Tipe rls Pane || ie ihre ge rehire dyin Pie tee p : ; ; hoe® ou Ali Somtenl dating Ww) oa : He al nirtecd fr Ginga? write a 5 FHpds. ptav Fe +H hat iindint Gee _ ELA BY* brad ey ji Papa ~a TE oaths Qalegyirs “iV 9 al OU sh ipinl var Las: we é " i = ee Wik, PLA Ok gaa - Md Ae eat : 1020 ra een ee : ‘ cf) eltincetede ian re wi ra . (wineytiy ayy” lente ys doy Sw ole Lied -.) wie) Bier) ae : : ey nig ihe | ’ rn Th in atoeiley . ¥ “ f wri) iy! ae . ' » SF i me ATS i or ae Aca iit Ag, & ~ heh @ ‘Seta eee we ilies Wey : ii 7h Vaphgue obtains heed Chel) teal feuel Peni rgl i - 0 + 4 thy y 4 d il j 1 - 5 a Te hal ¥ by 2 - owlintad we | uy ei i ‘ 1 arity it) WB ade iy 3 BOTANICAL NOTES ON ALASKA. BY JOHN MUIR. BOTANICAL NOTES. By JoHN MUIR. INTRODUCTORY. The plants named in the following notes were collected at many localities on the coasts of Alaska and Siberia, and on Saint Lawrence, Wrangel, and Herald Islands, between about latitude 54° and 71°, longitude 161° and 178°, in the course of short excursions, some of them less than an hour in length. Inasmuch as the flora of the arctic and subarctic regions is nearly the same everywhere, the discovery of many species new to science was not to be expected. The collection, however, will no doubt be valuable for comparison with the plants of other regions. In general the physiognomy of the vegetation of the polar regions resembles that of the alpine valleys of the temperate zones; so much so that the botanist on the coast of Artic Siberia or America might readily fancy himself on the Sierra Nevada at a height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea. There is no line of perpetual snow on any portion of the arctic regions known to explorers. The snow disappears every summer not only from the low sandy shores and boggy tundras but also from the tops of the mountains and all the upper slopes and valleys with the exception of small patches of drifts and avalanche-heaps hardly noticeable in general views. But though nowhere excessively deep or permanent, the snow-mantle is universal during winter, and the plants are solidly frozen and buried for nearly three-fourths of the year. In this condition they enjoy a sleep and rest about as profound as death, from which they awake in the months of June and July in vigorous health, and speedily reach a far higher development of leaf and flower and fruit than is generally supposed. On the drier banks and hills about Kotzebue Sound, Cape Thompson, and Cape Lisbourne many species show but little climatic repression, and during the long summer days grow tall enough to wave in the wind, and unfold flowers in as rich profusion and as highly colored as may be found in regions lying a thousand miles farther south. OUNALASKA. To the botanist approaching any portion of the Aleutian chain of islands from the southward during the winter or spring months, the view is severely desolate and forbidding. The snow comes down to the water’s edge in solid white, interrupted only by dark outstanding bluffs with faces too steep for snow to lie on, and by the backs of rounded rocks and long rugged reefs beaten and overswept by heavy breakers rolling in from the Pacific, while throughout nearly every month of the year the higher mountains are wrapped in gloomy dripping storm-clouds. Nevertheless vegetation here is remarkably close and luxuriant, and crowded with showy bloom, covering almost every foot of the ground up to a height of about a thousand feet above the sea—the harsh trachytic rocks, and even the cindery bases of the craters, as well as the moraines and rough soil beds outspread on the low portions of the short narrow valleys. On the 20th of May we found the showy Gewm glaciale already in flower, also an arctostaphylos and draba, on a slope facing the south, near the harbor of Ounalaska. The willows, too, were then beginning to put forth their catkins, while a multitude of green points Were springing up in sheltered spots wherever the snow had vanished. At a height of 400 and 500 feet, however, winter was still unbroken, with scarce a memory of the rich bloom of summer. 47 48 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. During a few short excursions along the shores of Ounalaska Harbor and on two of the adjacent mountains, towards the end of May and beginning of October we saw about fifty species of flowering plants—empetrum, vaccinium, bryanthus, pyrola, arctostaphylos, ledum, cassiope, lupinus, zeranium, epilobium, silene, draba, and saxifraga being the most telling and characteristic of the genera represented. Hmpetrum nigrum, a bryanthus, and three species of vaccinium make a grand display when in flower and show their massed colors at a considerable distance. Almost the entire surface of the valleys and hills and lower slopes of the mountains is covered with a dense spongy plush of lichens and mosses similar to that which cover the tundras of the Arctie regions, making a rich green mantle on which the showy flowering plants are strikingly relieved, though these grow far more luxuriantly on the banks of the streams where the drainage s less interrupted. Here also the ferns, of which I saw three species, are taller and more abundant, some of them arching their broad delicate fronds over one’s shoulders, while in similar situations the tallest of the five grasses that were seen reaches a height of nearly six feet, and forms a growth close enough for the farmer’s scythe. Not asingle tree has yet been seen on any of the islands of the chain west of Kodiak, excepting a few spruces brought from Sitka and planted at Ounalaska by the Russians about fifty years ago. They are still alive ina dwarfed condition, having made scarce any appreciable growth since they were planted. These facts are the more remarkable, since in Southeastern Alaska lying both to the north and south of here, and on the many islands of the Aexander Archipelago, as well as on the mainland, forests of beautiful conifers flourish exuberantly and attain noble dimensions, while the climatic conditions generally do not appear to differ greatly from those that obtain on these treeless islands. Wherever cattle have been introduced they have prospered and grown fat on the abundance of rich nutritious pasturage to be found almost everywhere in the deep withdrawing valleys and on the green slopes of the hills and mountains, but the wetness of the summer months will always prevent the making of hay in any considerable quantities. The agricultural possibilities of these islands seem also to be very limited. The hardier of the cereals—rye, barley, and oats—make a good vigorous growth, and head out, but seldom or never mature, on account of insufficient sunshine and overabundance of moisture in the form of long- continued drizzling fogs and rains. Green crops, however, as potatoes, turnips, cabbages, beets, and most other common garden vegetables, thrive wherever the ground is thoroughly drained and has a southerly exposure. SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND. Saint Lawrence Island, as far as our observations extended, is mostly a dreary mass of granite and lava of various forms and colors, roughened with voleanic cones, covered with snow, and rigidly bound in ocean ice for half the year. Inasmuch as it lies broadsidewise to the direction pursued by the great ice-sheet that recently filled Bering Sea, and its rocks offered unequal resistance to the denuding action of the ice, the island is traversed by numerous ridges and low gap-like valleys all trending in the same general direction, some of the lowest of these transverse valleys having been degraded nearly to the level of the sea, showing that had the glaciation to which the island has been subjected been slightly greater we should have found several islands here instead of one. At the time of our first visit, May 28, winter still had full possession, but eleven days later we found the dwarf willows, drabas, crizerons, saxifrages pushing up their buds and leaves, on spots bare of snow, with wonderful rapidity. This was the beginning of spring at the northwest end of theisland. On July 4 the flora seemed to have reached its highest development. The bottoms of the glacial valleys were in many places covered with tall grasses and carices evenly planted and forming meadows of considerable size, while the drier portions and the sloping grounds about them were enlivened with gay highly-colored flowers from an inch to nearly two feet in height— Aconitum Napellus, Li. var. delphinifolium ser. Polemonium ceruleum, L. Papaver nudicaule, Draba alpina, and Silene acaulis in large closely flowered tufts, Andromeda, Ledum Linnea, Cassiope, and several species of Vaccinium and Saxifraga. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 49 SAINT MICHAEL’S. The region about Saint Michael’s is a magnificent tundra, crowded with Arctic lichens and mosses, which here develop under most favorable conditions. In the spongy plush formed by the lower plants, in which one sinks almost knee-deep at every step, there is a sparse growth of grasses, carices, and rushes, tall enough to wave in the wind, while empetrum, the dwarf birch, and the various heathworts flourish here in all their beauty of bright leaves and flowers. The moss mantle for the most part rests on a stratuin of ice that never melts to any great extent, and the ice on a bed rock of black vesicular Java. Ridges of the lava rise here and there above the general level in rough masses, affording ground for plants that like a drier soil. Numerous hollows and watercourses also oceur on the general tundra, whose well-drained banks are decked with gay flowers in lavish abundance, and meadow patches of grasses shoulder high, suggestive of regions much farther south. The following plants and a few doubtful species not yet determined were collected here : Linnea borealis, Gronoy. Oaytropis podocarpa, Gray. Cassiope tetragone, Desv. Andromeda polifolia, L. Astragalus alpinus, LL. frigidus, Gray, var. Nitoralis. Loiseleuria procumbeus, Desy. Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Ledum palustre, L. Nardosmia frigida, Hook. Saussurea alpina, Di. Senecio frigidus, Less. palustris, Hook. Arnica angustifolia, Vahl. Artemisia arctica, Bess. Matricaria inodora, L. Rubus chame morus, L. articus, L. Potentilia nivea, L. Dryas octopetala, L. Draba alpina, L. incana, L. Entrema arenicola, Hook ? Pedicularis sudetica, Willd. euphrasioides, Steph. Langsdorfiii, Fisch, var. lanaia, Gray. Diapensia Lapponica, L. Polemoium ceruleum, L. Primula borealis, Daly. Lathyrus maritimus, Bigelow. Arenaria lateriflora, T. Stellaria longipes, Goldie. Silene acaulis, L. Savifraga nivalis, L. , hieracifolia, W. and K. Anemone narcissiflora, L. parviflora, Michx. Cultha palustris, L., var. asarifolia, Rothr. Valeriana capitata, Willd. Lloydia serotina, Reichmb. Tofieldia coccinea, Richards. Armeria vulgaris, Willd. Corydalis paucifiora. Pinguicula Villosa, 1. Mertensia paniculata, Desv. Polygonum alpinum, All. Epilobium latifolium, L. Betula nana, L. Alnus viridis, D1. Eriophorum capitatum. Carex vulgaris, Willd, var. alpina. Aspidium fragrans, Swartz. Woodsia Iloensis, By. GOLOVIN BAY. The tundra flora on the west side of Golovin Bay is remarkably close and luxuriant, covering almost every foot of the ground, the hills as well as the valleys, while the sandy beach and a bank of coarsely stratified moraine material a few yards back from the beach were blooming like a garden with Lathyrus maritimus, Tris sibirica, Polemonium ceruleum, &c., diversified with clamps and patches of Elymus arenarius, Alnus viridis, and Abies alba. This is one of the few points on the east side of Bering Sea where trees closely approach the shore. The white spruce occurs here in small groves or thickets of well developed erect trees 1o or 20 feet high, near the level of the sea, at a distance of about 6 or 8 miles from the mouth of the bay, and gradually become irregular and dwarfed as they approach the shore. Here a number of dead and dying specimens were observed, indicating that conditions of soil, clima’e, and relations to other plants were becoming more unfavorable, and causing the tree-line to vevede from the coast. H, Ex, 105——7 50 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. The following collection was made here July 10: Pinquicula villosa, L. Lloydia serotina, Reichemb. Faceinium vitis Idea, WL. Chrysanthemum areticum, 1.. Spirea. betuliefolia, Pallas. Artemisia Tilesii, Ledeb, Rubus arcticus, L. Arenaria peploides, L. Epilobium latifolium, L. Gentiana glanca, Pallas, Polemonium cavuleum, L. Elymus arenarius, L. Trientalis europra, L. var. arctica, Ledeh. Poa trivialis, L. Entrema arenicola, Hook. Carex vesicaria, L. var. alpigma, Fries. Tris sibirica, L. Aspidium spinulosum, Sw. KOTZEBUE SOUND. The flora of the region about the head of Kotzebue Sound is hardly less luxuriant and rich in species than that of other points visited by the Corwin lying several degrees farther south. Fine nutritious grasses suitable for the fattening of cattle and from 2 to 6 feet high are not of rare occurrence on meadows of considerable extent and along streambanks wherever the stagnant waters of the tundra have been drained off, while in similar localities the most showy of the Arctic plants bloom in all their freshness and beauty, manifesting no sign of frost, or unfavorable condi- tions of any kind whatever. A striking result of the airing and draining of the boggy tundra soil is shown on the ice-bluffs around Eseholtze Bay, where it has been undermined by the melting of the ice on which it rests. In falling down the face of the ice-wall it is well skaken and rolled before it again comes to rest on terraced or gently sloping portions of the wall. The original vegetation of the tundra is thus destroyed, and tall grasses spring up on the fresh mellow ground as it accumulates from time to time, growing lush and rank, though in many places that we noted these new soil-beds are not more than a foot in depth, and lie on the solid ice. At the time of our last visit to this interesting region, about the middle of September, the weather was still fine, suggesting the Indian Summer of the Western States. The tundra glowed in the mellow sunshine with the colors of the ripe foliage of vaccinium, empetrum, arctostaphylos, and dwarf birch; red, purple, and yellow, in pure bright tones, while the berries, hardly less beautiful, were scattered everywhere as if they had been sown broadcast with a lavish hand, the whole blending harmoniously with the neutral tints of the furred bed of lehens and mosses on which the bright leaves and berries were painted. ' ° On several points about the sound the white spruce occurs in small compact groves within a few miles of the shore; and pyrola, which belongs to wooded regions, is abundant where no trees are now in sight, tending to show that areas of considerable extent, now treeless, were once forested. The plants collected are: Pyrola rotundifolia, Li. var. pumila, Hook. Savifraga tricuspidata, Retg. Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Trientalis europwa, L. var. arlica, Ledeb. Cassiope tetragone, Desr. Lupinus articus, Watson, Ledum palustre. Hedysarum boreale, Nutt. Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Galium boreale, L. Uliginosum, L. var. mucronata, Hender. Armeria vulgaris, Willd, var. Arctica, Cham. Empetrum nigrum. Allium schenoprasun, L. Potentilla, anserina, L. var. Polygonum Viviparwn, L. biflora, Willd. Castilleia pallida, Kunth. Sruticosa. Pedicularis sudetica, Willd. Stellaria longipes, Goldie. verticillata, L. erastium alpinum, L. var. Behringianun. Regel. Senecio palustris, Hook. Mertensia maritima, Derr. Salix polaris, Wahl. Papaver nudicale, 1. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br. CAPE THOMPSON. The Cape Thompson flora is richer in species and individuals than that of any other point on the Arctic shores we have seen, owing no doubt mainly to the better drainage of the ground through the fissured frost-cracked limestone, which hereabouts is the principal rock. Where the hill-slopes are steepest the rock frequently occurs in loose angular masses and is CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Al entirely bare of soil. But between these barren slopes there are valleys where the showiest of the Arctic plants bloom in rich profusion and variety, forming brilliant masses of color—purple, yellow, and blue—where certain species form beds of considerable size, almost to the exclusion of others. The following list was obtained here July 19: Phlox Sibiriea, L. Potentilla biflora, Willd. Polemonium humile. Willd. nived, Li. cerulewn, L. Draba stellata, Jacq. var. nivalis, Regel. Myosotis sylvatica, var. alpestris. incana, L. Eritrichium nanwn, var. arctioides, Hedu. Cardamine pratensis, L. ? Dodecatheon media, var. frigidum, Gray. Cheiranthus pygmeus, Adans. Androsace chamejasme, Willd. Parrya nudicaulis, Regel. var. aspera, Regel. Anemone narcissiflora, L. Hedysarum borealis, Nutt. multifida, Poir. Oxytropis podocarpa, Gray. parviflora, Michx. Cerastium alpinum, L. var. Behringianum, Regel. parviflora, Michx. var. Silene acaulis, L. Ranunculus affinis, R. Br. Arenaria verna, L. var. rubella, Hook, f. Caltha aserifolia, Di. Arctica, Ster. Geum glaciale, Fisch. Stellaria longipes, Goldie. Dryas octopetala, L. Artemisia tomentosa. Polygonum Bistorta, L. Pedicularis capitata, Adans. Rume« Crispus, L. Papaver nudicaule, L. Boykinia Richardsonii, Gray. Epilobiwn latifolium, L. Saxifraga tricuspidata, Retg. Cassiope tetragone, Desr. cernud, L. Vaccinium uliginosum, 4. var. Mucronata, Hender. flagellaris, Willd. Vitis Idea, L. Dawvarica, Willd. Salix polaris, Wahl, and two other species undetermined. punctata, Le Festuca Sativa? nivalis, L. Glyceria, Nardosmia carymbosa, Hook ? Trisetum subspicatum, Beaur, var. Molle, Gray. Erigeron Muirii, Gray, 1. sp. Carex variflora, Wahl. Taraxacum palustre, Di. vulgaris, Fries, var. Alpina, (C. rigida, Good). Senicio frigidus, Less. Cystoperis fragilis, Bernt. Artemisia glomerata, Ledt. CAPE PRINCE OF WALES, At Cape Prince of Wales we obtained : Loiseleuria procumbens, Desr. Tofieldia coccinea, Richards. Andromeda polifolia, L. forma arctica. Armeria arctica, Ster. Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Taraxacum palustre, D1. Androsace chamejasme, Willd. TWENTY MILES EAST OF CAPE LISBOURNE. Lychnis apetala, L. Oxytropis campestris, D1, Androsace chamejasme, Willd. Erigeron uniflorus, L. Geum glaciale, Fisch. Artemisia glomerata, Ledb. Potentilla nivea, L. Saxifraga escholtzii, Sternb. biflora, Willd. flagellaris, Willd. Phlow Sibirica, L. Chrysosplenium alternifolium, L. Primula borealis, Daly. Draba hirta, L. Anemone narcissifiora, L. var. CAPE WANKEREM, SIBERIA. Near Cape Wankerem, August 7 and 8, we collected: Claytonia Virginica, L.? Chrysanthemum arcticum, L. Ranunoulus pygmeus, Wahl. Senecio frigidus, Less. Pedicularis Langsdor fii, Fisch. Artemisia vulgaris, var, Telesii, Ledeb, Chrysosplenium alternifolium, L. Elymus arenarius, L. Saxifraga cernua, L. Alopocurus alpinus, Smith. stellaris, L. var. cornosa. Poa arctica, R. Br. rivularis, L. var. hyperborea, Hook. Calamagrostis deschampsioides, Trin. ? ‘Polemonium coeruleum, L. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br. Lychnis apetala, L. spicato Desv. Nardosmia frigida, Hook, 52 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. PLOVER BAY, SIBERIA. °° The mountains bounding the glacial fiord called Plover Bay, though beautiful in their combi- natious of curves and peaks as they are seen touching each other delicately and rising in bold, picturesque groups, are nevertheless severely desolate looking from the absence of trees and large shrubs, and indeed of vegetation of any kind dense enough to give color in telling quantities, or to soften the harsh rockiness of the steepest portions of the walls. Even the valleys opening back from the water here and there on either side are mostly bare as seen at a distance of a mile or two, aud show only a faint tinge of green, derived from dwarf willows, heathworts, and sedges chiefly. The most interesting of the plants found here are Rhododendron Kamtschaticum, Pall., and the handsome blue-Howered Sacifraga oppositifolia, L., both of which are abundant. The following were colleeted July 12 and August 26: Gentiana glauca, Pall. Rhododendron Kamtschaticum, Pall. Geum glaciale, Fisch. Cassiope tetragona, Desy. Dryas octopetala, L. Anemone narcissiflora, L. Aconitum Napellus, L. var. delphinifolium, Ser. Arenaria macrocarpa, Pursh, Saxifraga oppositifolia, L. Draba alpina, L. punctata, L, Parrya Ermanni, Ledb. cespitosa, L. Oxytropis, podocarpa, Gray. Diapensia Lapponica, 1. HERALD ISLAND. On Herald [sland the common polar ecryptogamous vegetation is well represented and developed. So also are the flowering plants, almost the entire surface of the island, with the exception of the sheer crumbling bluffs along the shores, being quite tellingly dotted and tufted with characteristic species. The following list was obtained : Saxifraga punctata, L.? Draba alpina, L. serpyllifolia, Pursh. Gymnandra Stelleri, Cham. & Schlecht. sileniflora, Sternb. Stellaria longipes, Goldie, var. Edwardsii T. & G-. bronchialis, L. Senecio frigidus, Less. atellaris, L. var. comosa, Poir. Potentilla frigida, Vill? rivularis, L. var. hyperborea, Hook. Salax polaris, Wahl. hieracifolia, Waldst & Kit, Alopecurus alpinus, Smith. Papaver nuedicaule, 1. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br. WRANGEL ISLAND. Our stay on the one point of Wrangel Island that we touched was far too short to admit of making anything like as full a collection of the plants of so interesting a region as was desirable. We found the rock formation where we landed and for some distance along the coast to the eastward and westward to be a close-grained clay siate, cleaving freely into thin flakes, with here and there a few compact metamorphic masses that rise above the general surface. Where it is exposed along the shore bluffs and kept bare of vegetation and soil by the action of the ocean, ice, and heavy snow-drifts the rock presents a surface about as black as coal, without even a moss or lichen to enliven its sombre gloom. But when this dreary barrier is passed the surface features of the country in general are found to be finely molded and collocated, smooth valleys, wide as compared with their depth, trending back from the shore to a range of mountains that appear blue in the distance, and round-topped hills, with their side curves finely drawn, touching and blending in beautiful groups, while scarce a single rock-pile is seen or sheer-walled bluff to break the general smoothness. The soil has evidently been derived mostly from the underlying slates, though a few frag- mentary wasting moraines were observed containing traveled boulders of quartz and granite which doubtless were brought from the mountains of the interior by glaciers that have recently vanished—so recently that the outlines and sculptured hollows and grooves of the mountains have not as yet suffered sufficient post glacial denudation to mar appreciably their glacial characters. The banks of the river at the mouth of which we landed presented a striking contrast as to vegetation to that of any other stream we had seen in the Arctic regions, The tundra vegetation CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 53 was not wholly absent, but the mosses and lichens of which it is elsewhere composed are about as feebly developed as possible, and instead of forming a continuous covering they occur in small separate tufts, leaving the ground between them raw and bare as that of a newly-ploughed field. The phanerogamous plants, both on the lowest grounds and the slopes and hilltops as far as seen, were in the same severely repressed condition and as sparsely planted in tufts an inch or two in diameter, with about from one to three feet of naked soil between them. Some portions of the coast, however, farther south presented a greenish hue as seen from the ship at a distance of eight or ten miles, owing no doubt to vegetation growing under less unfavorable conditions. From an area of about half a square mile the following plants were collected : Saxifraga flegellaris, Willd. Senecio frigidus, Less. stellaris, Li. var. cornosa, Poir. Potentilla nivea, L. sileneflora, Sterub. Srigida, Vill.? hieracifolia, Waldst. & Kit. Armeria macrocarpa, Pursh, rivularis, L. var. hyperborea, Hook. vulgaris, Willd. bronchialis, L. Stellaria longipes, Goldie, var. Edwardsii T. & G. serpyllifolia, Pursh Cerastium alpinum, L. Anemone parviflora, Michx. Gymnandra Stelleri, Cham & Schlecht. Papaver nudicaule, L, Salix polaris, Wahl. Draba alpina, L. Luzulu hyperborea, R. Br. Cochleria officinalis, L. Poa arctica, R. Br. Artemisia borealis, Willd, Aira cespitosa, L. var. Arctica. Nardosmia frigida, Hook. Alopecurus alpinus, Smith. Saussurea monticola, Richards. 2 ia _ e > yt ee — wiTtG ay ¥ ie erwil , ' Sail ily ; al ea? uly, aa Mie wey { j at w a | riod 7 i NT Eee ae er The last of June, 1881, the United States revenue steamer Corwin reached Saint Michaels, Alaska, on her cruise to Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The object of this cruise was to search the yarious accessible portions of the Arctic for traces of the Jeannette and two missing whaling vessels which were lost the same season that the Jeannette entered the ice. Through the courtesy of the Secretary of the Treasury, | was taken on board and accompanied the Corwin throughout the remainder of the season. On June 21, we left Saint Michaels and crossed Bering Sea to Saint Lawrence Island and Plover Bay on the Siberian coast; thence along this coast through the Straits and northwest in the Arctic to the vicinity of Nordenskidld’s winter quarters, where we took on board a sledge party which had been left there earlier in the season to search the coast in that district. Thence we returned again to Saint Lawrence Island and to Saint Michaels. After remaining here a short time, we returned to the Arctic, touching at all the islands in Bering Straits; and during the remainder of the summer visited in succession the eutire Alaskan coast line from Bering Straits to Point Barrow, including Kotzebue Sound and on the Siberian shore from the Straits to North Cape. We also cruised along the edge of the ice-pack, landing upon Herald and Wrangel Islands. On September 14, we passed through Bering Straits bound south; and after remaining some time at Ounalaska in the Aleutian islands, fitting the vessel for a voyage to San Francisco, we left, October 4, homeward bound. The observations on which the present paper is based were made both during the cruise just detailed, and in addition are the results of observations made by myself during over four years’ residence at Saint Michaels, and explorations carried on in various directions from that point. In addition, I have used information obtained from various reports which have been issued regarding the region in question, so far as the limited time at my disposal would allow. The species given for the Alaskan coast and the islands of Bering Sea are almost, or quite, a complete list of the birds found there; but the species mentioned upon the Siberian coast form only a small quota of those occurring in that region. This is mainly due to the little that is known concerning that region and the inaccessibility of its literature. The Arctic waters lying between Greenland and Europe on the southeast, and America on the southwest, have been visited by so many naturalists accompanying the various exploring and other expeditions, that the vertebrate fauna, at least, has become pretty well known. This is certainly true as regards the distinction of most of the species, though the life histories of many undoubtedly yet require the patient research of some enthusiastic student ready to face the dis- comfort, and often misery, entailed by such work in boreal regions. Leaving this comparatively well-trodden field, however, where is the naturalist who is pre- pared to state authoritatively just what is found at other portions, or on other coasts of this great frozen ocean? The reply is simple, for as yet no one has been able to do more than to touch at some remote corners of the coast; or a vessel’s prow may have pressed into the shifting ice-pack a short distance only to be rebutfed or else caught and held in an uny ielding grasp. Exceptionally favorable opportunities of the writer in the unknown region of Bering Sea and the adjoining portion of the Arctic Ocean to the north have been detailed in the present paper, with such other information as could be obtained from other sources; as we visited all parts of the basin lying to the south of the solid ice-pack, and between Alaska on the east and south, Bering straits and part of Siberia completing the southern limit, and the same portion of Siberia and Wrangel Island forming, with the ice-pack, the western border. Within this area, visiting all the shores named, among which as specially noteworthy may be mentioned Herald and Wrangel Islands, respecting which the only knowledge existing was that two bodies of land were known to lie there, one of which, in fact, was previously considered almost mythical till the work of the 6a 56) CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Rogers and the Corwin has defined it. Further work will undoubtedly add other species to the list and widen the range of others. But it is thought the present paper will give a very good idea of the bird life of the regions visited. Having the continent of America on the one side and Asia on the other, it might be anticipated that we should secure specially rich results from the combinations of two faunas; yet, although this is true to a certain extent, there are predominating reasons to prevent the very marked exhibition of this. The first is the location of the region within the limits inhabited by a circum- polar fauna, and in consequence frequented by many species of wide distribution. The next is the similarity of the two barren coast lines and outlying islands, offering but small inducements to land birds, while the sea birds, as usual, are species common to extended areas. The usually low but rolling coast country, a monotonous grass-grown plain, varied by lichen or moss-covered slopes, or wind-swept hills reaching back far into the interior, are the only variations to the general level. Here and there afew weathered pieces of driftwood break the cold gray of the shingly beach, while clusters of native huts or tents lend a passing interest to the cheerless coast, thus offering but slight inducements for birds. As might well be expected, the former region north of Bering Straits is entirely Arctic ; and south of Bering Straits in Bering Sea the water birds may be divided into two groups—those fre- quenting the deep water surrounding the Aleutian, Fur Seal, and Bering Strait Islands, and the adjoining Siberian coast for the first group; and the shallow-water species occurring along the Alas- kan shore from the mouth of the Kuskoquin River to the vicinity of Bering Straits. The former group includes the auks and allied species; also the Rogers Fulmar and Steller’s eider; and the second group such species as the emperor goose, the spectacled eider, and many of the fresh and brackish water ducks. This distinction of the two shores holds also, to a certain extent, north of Bering Straits, these two shores having there somewhat the same relationship I have just mentioned. There is also a difference still more striking to be noted between the species frequenting the sea north of Bering Straits and those to the south. North of the straits the auks are very rare, while south throughout the Aleutian Islands, over all the other islands of Bering Sea, except along its eastern border, including even the islands in Bering Straits, they swarm in the greatest abundance ; while the presence in Bering Sea of several other species, including gulls and petrels not found north of the straits, makes the difference still more striking. Beyond these differences, however, it is difficult to divide the region into any well-marked faunal districts. Though along some parts of the coast the breeding water fowl! fill the marshes with life, yet the rocky islands of Bering Sea are the places about which birds exist in the greatest numbers ; and as Baron Nordenskiéld well remarks in his account of the Vega’s voyage, “It is not the larger inhabitants of the Polar regions, such as the whale, walrus, bear, and seal, which first attract the cx- plorer’s attention, but the innumerable flocks of birds that swarm around the polar traveller during the long summer day of the North. And this is espeeially striking about any of the islands which birds—the gulls, guillemots, and auks—seek as breeding-places. The islands of Bering Straits resemble enormous bee-hives, about which the birds swarm in countless numbers, filling the air with their swiftly moving forms in every direction, and the waters are covered with them all about the islands, while every jutting point and place where foothold can be obtained is taken possession of by them for breeding- places. Although Herald Island is almost perpetually surrounded by the ice-pack, yet we found it swarming with murres, guillemots, and gulls; as were also some of the cliffs on Wrangel Island. Still to the westward, on some of the islands visited by the Jeannette crew on their retreat towards the Siberian coast, this was also found to be the case, as Mr. Newcomb informs me and they found there guillemots in extreme abundance, although the islands were surrounded by an almost un- broken ice-pack. For the benefit of naturalists visiting this region in future, I will mention a few localities where certain species of considerable interest may be obtained. The Emperor Goose is quite abundant on the southwestern portion of Saint Lawrence Island, frequenting the low, flat portion of the island intersected by lagoons. The islands of Bering Strait are all of them resorted to by the Crested Parrot-billed and Least Auks, and the Diomede Islands in particular are frequented by myriads CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 5t&e of them throughout the summer season. Along the coast of Siberia from just north of Bering Straits to wherever the shore is low and bordered by lagoons or shallow river mouths, oceur the Steller’s and the King Eider in great numbers. According to Nordenskiéld the Emperor Goose also visits this coast. At Tapkan we found Steller’s Eider in excessive abundance during our stay there, as detailed in the following pages. The Alaskan coast, from Tey Cape to Point Barrow, is also frequented by the King Hider in great abundance. The Kotzebue Kittiwake nest in large numbers upon a small rocky islet just off Chamisso Island at the head of the Kotzebue Sound, and also upon the cliffs bordering the northern shore of Norton Sound in Bering Sea, especially those at Cape Darby and Cape Denbigh. Adams’s Loon is found rather commonly upon the rivers flowing into the head of Kotzebue Sound, especially along the Kunguk. Some small rocky islets in the middle of Akutan Pass near Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands, are the breeding places of the beautiful little Forked-tailed petrel; and the coast line of Alaska from Cape Vancouver to the middle of the Yukon delta is the great breeding-ground of the Emperor geese. From the northern border of the Yukon delta north to Norton Bay the Spectacled Hider breeds among the brackish water lagoons and ponds where the shore is flat and marshy. North of Saint Michaels, however, this species is rare, occurring in its greatest abundance between Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth. The principal sources from which information has been desires in addition to my own observations, haye been Dall and Bannister’s list of birds in the “Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences” for 1869, and Dr. Coues’ Ornithology of the Pribylov Islands in Elliott’s “Condition of Affairs in Alaska,” Treasury Department, 1874. The seasons of navigation upon the two shores of Bering Sea are usually somewhat uneven, the ice remaining longer in spring upon the Alaskan coast than it does on the Siberian shore; and the reverse in autumn, when the ice from the Arctic forces its way through Bering Strait and fills the western portion of this sea for some distance before ice commences to form on the east coast. On shore we have the reverse,’and in the spring of 1881, when we left Saint Michaels, the last of June, the hills were covered with green grasses, and willows and alders were commencing to show their summer foliage, while numerous northern flowers were already in blossom. Only a rare patch of snow was to be seen here and there on the distant hillsides, and summer was apparently at hand. When we reached the Siberian coast, however, winter still appeared in force, and the snow reached from the tops of the highest hills to the water’s edge in immense banks and drifts, although many places where the snow or wind had opportunity to exert its influence showed the bare lichen-covered rocks; but the vegetation was extremely backward, only just commencing to start, in fact. This, however, is accounted for from the fact that the waters of western Bering Sea are deeper and far colder than those of the eastern shore in summer, where the shallow water and great amount of warm fresh water brought down by the numerous rivers flowing into the sea change the tempera- ture very rapidly and at the same time rapidly affect the surrounding atmosphere. On the Siber- ian coast, on the contrary, the ice is swept away by the strong currents which flow north and in spring carrying with it ice, leaving the coast free from the latter, but at the same time surrounding the shores with water at an icy temperature which falls but little throughout the summer. The basin-like character of Norton Sound, as also of Kotzebue Sound in the Arctic, aid in giving them a much milder climate than their northern location would indicate. The coast of Bering Sea from the Yukon mouth north to Bering Strait is broken occasionally . by rugged clifis, but, as a rule, is low and undulating, and covered with grass and mosses, inter- spersed with ponds, where the various species of fresh-water fowl breed. Along the beach is strewn great quantities of driftwood, which comes from the Yukon freshets, but trees occur only along a small portion of the coast extending from the vicinity of Unalakleet north around the coast to near Cape Darby, where the spruces are found in some places within a few yards of tide-water. From this point north not a tree approaches within miles of the coast-line. At the head of Kotzebue Sound a few spruces may be seen on the sides of distant mountains, and beyond this the country has the peculiarly barren Arctic appearance. At the head of the Kotzebue Sound a species of tall grass grows in considerable abundance; but leaving this sound to the north the coast becomes 56d CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. more and more barren, until from Tey Cape north it is a flat or slightly rolling monotonous stretch ot Arctic bogs. At Plover Bay, on the Siberian shore, are low hills or mountains rising to 1,500 feet or more, almost sheer from the bay in many places, and made up of enormous masses of rock, down the sides of which the crumbling talus of splinters and fragments, weathered off, make the slopes difficult to surmount. About here the attractions for the birds are very small, and but few species except water fowl are found. On the north, towards Bering Strait, the coast is somewhat hilly; but only at East Cape, the easternmost point of Siberia, do we find it rising again to a rugged mountainous peak. Thence, again, along the northern coast the shore gradually becomes lower until it finally assumes the low undulating barren character of the Arctic tundra; nor does this last appear much more inviting to land birds than does the harsh faces of the broken and mount- ainous districts. The islands of Bering Sea, as are most islands frequented by sea-birds in the north, are enormous masses of rock apparently forced up out of the water, with almost precipitous sides, affording innumerable chinks and crevices wherein the birds find shelter and places for rearing their young; but with only a slight amount of vegetation, and much more familiar with cold fogs and icy storms at all seasons, than they are with clear skies or warm sunshiny days. In conclusion, I have only to express my thanks for the courtesies rendered, first to General W. B. Hazen, Chief Signal Officer, and to the Secretary of the Treasury, through whose kind per- mission and co-operation I was enabled to accompany the Corwin; and also to Professor 8. F. Baird and Mr. R. Ridgway, of the Smithsonian Institution, for aid in the preparation of this report. E. W. NELSON, Signal Service, U.S. A, WASHINGTON, May 18, 1883, ERRATA. Owing to the absence of the author, and the haste with which this paper has been put through > ? the press, the writer had no opportunity to correct the proofs, and in consequence a number of typographical errors are present—the most important of which are detailed in the following list. Page 59, in place of “ sencica” read ‘suecica.” Page 60, in place of “sylvai” read “ sylvia.” Page 63, in place of “clata” read ‘“ celata.” Page 64, in place of “ myvodioctes ” read “ myiodioctes.” Page 66, in place of “ cucoptera ” read “ leucoptera.” Page 70, in place of “ alandinus” read “ alaudinus.” Page 72, in place of “P. iliaca” read “ No. 44 Passerella iliaca townsendi.” Page 74, in place of “ alandidiwe” read “ alandidie.” Page 76, strike out one “a” in “ virginiaanus.” Page 77, in place of “swinia” read “surnia”; in place of “ candicaus” read “ caudicans.” Page 79, in place of “ sanctic” read “ sancti.” Page 80, strike out one “e” in “ Haliaeetus;” for “ Tetracnide” read “ Tetraonidae.” Page 81, for “ruspestris ” read “ rupestris.” Through an error the notes mder numbers 78 and 79 were not placed under a single heading. Page 82, for “ oecidentalis” read “ atkhensis.” Page 85, for “ scolopacenus” read “ scolopaceus”; for “imaritima” read “ couesi, Ridg.” Page 87, for “ pygranus” read “ pygmieus.” Page 89, for“ tlairipes ” read “ flavipes.” Page 93, for ‘“‘ albifrous” read “ albifrons.” Page 103, for “ groculide ” read “ graculida.” 5 Page 107, ‘Larus cachinnans” appears under two headings by an error. Page 112, for “ fulmorus ” read “fulmarus ” and space between this word and the next. Page 114, for “ Polb6lli” read “ Holbolli.” Page 115, for “seplentrionalis ” read septentrionalis”; for “ corinculala” read “ corniculata.” Page 116, for “ Simorhynchut cristatelhus” read “ Simorhynchus cristatellus”; for “antiguus” read ‘‘antiquus.” 56e - a : »* 2. j pital “ipLtere i ibe tas 5) iq sayy : r§ ie ars. ¢ 1 eee ae = viii Gis ’ | | prctBret eh Ais | rida Lee 2 i a Ae ig nae agi cen 7h “ite ee Kj an iy ae 7 f= e] | 508 DK tat, Vey" eles a“) - | per hot 2 Silay Ge ea | acest shy oe my ore, ee 1 TSR AT sek MIE — ER RE Pax gy + Uidterq maint gyi a ire act TS 9 jet Coes Cee Th Ts abies et : tie ee igen a hee neh Mae itt (ute viilden init wert u fi - ee rhea) ° m1 Ku nl i ny vet) Go at ny “a ) i P ira t 4 i i P\ hdr! ; \ \ AS as We ane v ¥ ~ . Petes > OF be RING SEA AND THE Miri Om mA N’. TURDIDA. THRUSHES. HYLOCICHLA ALICIZ Baird. (1.) Tae GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. in middle latitudes where our acquaintance is made with this bird we associate it with damp woodlands and sheltered glens, and it would seem almost incongruous to one familiar with it in such surroundings to look for it as an inhabitant of the barren stretches of arctic lands where for many miles not a tree raises its shaft. Such is its northern home, however, and throughout the entire arctic region north of Hudson’s Bay to Bering Strait and across into Kamtchatka the bird is found in a greater portion of this range as an extremely abundant species. Wherever clumps of dwarf willows or alder have gained a foothold along the sterile slopes and hillsides in the north, a pair or more of these wanderers may be looked for. Along the entire Bering Sea coast of Alaska, and north around the shores of Kotzebue Sound, it is numerous among the many alder bushes found on these shores, and the record of the bird from Kamtchatka renders certain its presence on the adjoining shores of Northeastern Siberia. It is the most northern species of thrush found in America and its breeding range is limited only by the absence of a bust in which to place its nest. It passes by the groves and farms of the Northern States just as the buds are swelling and the warin, misty rains of spring are quickening into life the sleeping seeds and rootlets; filled with buoyant exultation it pauses now and then to pour forth those strange but pleasing cadences which once heard in their full sweetness will never be forgotten. Butit has no time to tarry, and ere long it is already far on its way to the north. The strange, wild song which arose but a short time since in pleasant woodland spots and quiet nooks in southern groves is now heard by wandering Indians who seek their summer fishing-grounds by the banks of northern streams. Yet a little later and it troops in abundance near to the shores of the Arctic, where the Mackenzie and other rivers pour their spring floods into the icy sea. Down the Yukon these birds pass, using the densely bush-grown bank of the river as their highway, raising now and then their song which finds here fittest surroundings. Reaching the mouth of the Yukon, many wander along the coast of Bering Sea to the north, and some are said to cross the straits. They have now reached their summer homes, and in sheltered thickets among many of their kind they choose their mates and prepare for rearing their young. Ere long their joyous song is heard no more, but instead the sprightly bird is busily engaged in caring for its gaping brood. In the course of time the young are fledged, and now the unwary birds fall an easy prey to the untried bows of the native boys, who follow them into their bushy coverts and slay many a helpless victim with their blunt-pointed arrows. The skins of the birds killed by the boys are kept till winter and hung in rows as trophies of the young hunters’ skill, to be brought out at the great midwinter hunt- ing festival. As the cold storms of autumn arise the birds, which have escaped the various dangers, and which are easily affected by cold prepare to returu, and retracing their way along the course pursued in spring they pass again to the south, now shy and silent, awakening the echoes no longer with joyous melody, but apparently imbued with the saddening spirit of autumn they pass quickly by and are gone. H. Ex. 105——8 97 58 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. HYLOCICHLA NANUS Aud. (2.) THE DWARF THRUSH. The presence of this species in my list is owing entirely to the identification of Gmelin’s Ounalaskan Thrush as this bird by Mr. Ridgway. If Gmelin’s bird was one of these thrushes, as the imperfect description may be interpreted to affirm, it occurs there merely as a straggler, for since the original record not a specimen has been obtained at Ounalaska, or elsewhere on the Aleutian Islands, by any of the numerous naturalists who have visited them. The description is so vague and imperfect as given by Gmelin that absolute identification is impossible, and from the geographical position of the original locality the chances are equally as favorable for H. alicia to occur as for the Dwarf Thrush. MERULA MIGRATORIA Linn. Sw. & Rich. (3.) THe AMERICAN ROBIN. The breeding limit of this bird is restricted to the wooded part of the interior, but it occurs as a straggling migrant on the coast of Norton Sound and Bering Straits and a wind-bound visitant to the Seal Islands. It is present as a summer resident on Kodiak Peninsula, as shown by skins brought me by the Esquimaux. No doubt it is a straggler thence to Northeastern Asia or Chukehi land. It also visits the shores of Kotzebue Sound in the course of its migrations, but I do not know of its nesting anywhere near tide-water on this coast. It is a pleasant experience for one in a far-off region like this to come across the familiar forms known in other days. The sight of this bird gleaning its food about the houses on a frosty spring morning in May, carries one’s mind back from sterile arctic scenery to the blossoming orchards, the hum of bees, and such other pleasant sounds and sights of nature as go to make up a beautiful spring day in lower latitudes. One misses, however, the warbling strain of the blue bird, and the cheerless surroundings soon bring the stern reality too closely home. The birds too seem impressed with the gloomy surroundings, and I have never heard them utter their notes during the time of their visits to the sea-coast. In the wooded interior, however, they regain their spirits and rear their young even north of the circle, and here their cheering notes enliven the wooded river courses during the long summer days, in striking contrast to the silence of a few months earlier when a deathly hush made the shadows of the forests a fitting haunt for the wolf and wolverines. There is no record of the occurrence of the robin in Northeastern Asia, that I have found, although as before mentioned it undoubtedly is a casual visitant to that region. Elliott found a single bird wind-bound upon the Seal Islands, beyond which there is no record of its occurrence on any of the islands in Bering Sea. HESPEROCICHLA NZVIA (Gmel.) Baird. (4.) THE VARIED THRUSH. This handsome bird equals the robin in its northern range in Alaska, and quite a number of skins have been brought me from the northern shore of Norton Sound and from the Kotzebue Sound region. The Eskimo have assured me of its range considerably beyond this district, and Richardson found it on the Mackenzie River, within the Arctic Circle, where he tells us it arrives very soon after the Robin and the Yellow Warbler. It, like the Robin, prefers to nest in the wooded country, but unlike the latter it nests at times in the alder clumps close to the shore of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds. It is unknown from the islands and Asiatic shore of Bering Sea. I have not had the pleasure of studying the life habits of this bird, so have nothing to add in this particular, but may say that its habits during the breeding season are but little known, very few naturalists haying had opportunity to study its nidification. CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 59 CINCLIDZ. WATER OUZELS. CINCLUS MEXICANUS Swains. (5.) THe AMERICAN WATER OUZEL. Throughout the year, along the sparkling streams which descend in a series of cascades from the summits of the mountains on the Aleutian Islands, the cheerful presence and strange habits of this odd little bird animate the silent and otherwise lifeless gorges and ravines furrowing their steep slopes. It braves the wild tempestuous winters of this part of the North Pacific and Bering Sea, and is found farther north wintering even on streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean. This half aquatic thrush is found about open spots on streams flowing into the head of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds, where it braves the severest temperatures of the harsh winters, regardless of the intense cold prevailing for weeks at a time. It searches busily for its food in the icy waters of the swiftly running streams by whose mossy banks, overhung with stunted pines and willows, it rears its young in summer. It is unknown whether this or its closely allied Asiatic relatives is found in Chukehi Land. But neither form is found on the islands of Bering Sea, except in the Aleutian Chain, nor were any seen at Plover Bay or East Cape, where, however, the conditions are scarcely favorable for their presence. SAXICOLIDH. STONE CHATS. CYANECULA SENCICA (Linn.) Behm. (6.) THE BLUE THROATED WARBLER. The presence of this oddly marked songster here is owing solely to the occurrence of several specimens at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound, where several were taken by Dr. Adams in June, 1852. The various authorities who have written on the habits of the Swedish nightingale, either as seen in Northern Europe or Siberia, agree in giving it rare powers of song, especially in mimicking the notes of other birds. So varied and peculiar are its capabilities in this respect that we can but regret that its presence on American shores is due to mere accident. The bird, though quite distinct in several characteristics, especially of color and pattern of body, is closely allied to saxicola, as it possesses the peculiar distribution of color on the tail feathers almost precisely as in this later genus, and other marks of resemblance. I do not know of its oceurrence in Northeastern Siberia, although its summer distribution is subarctic, and it has been found on the Lower Lena and in various parts of Middle Siberia. SAXICOLA CG]NANTHE (Linn.) Bechst, (7.) THE STONE CHAZ. The Wheat Ear, although long known as a rather common summer resident in the northeast- ern corner of America and in Greenland, has but recently been found in Alaska, where Mr. Dall was the first to find it. He obtained a number of specimens in the middle Yukon region, since which time Dr. T. H. Bean has found it not uncommon on the Arctic Coast from Kotzebue Sound to Cape Lisburne, and the writer has taken it in the fall and spring on the shores of Norton Sound at Saint Michael’s, and a native brought a skin of one of these birds on board the Corwin at King Island the summer during one of our visits there. This list of occurrences shows that the bird is to be considered a somewhat regular visitant to some parts if not all of Northern Alaska. It is very erratic in its occurrence, however, and where quite common one season may not be found at all the next. In the summer of 1880, Dr. Bean found the bird not uncommon in the range just given, whereas in the summer of 1881 I visited the same shore in the Corwin and failed to find a single individual, although keeping a sharp watch for birds wherever we landed. Strangely enough this bird has not been taken anywhere in Eastern Siberia, so that its presence in Alaska must be 60 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. supposed to result from its passage westward along the northern shore of America from Greenland and its adjoining habitat, evidently entering Northern Alaska and perhaps Northeastern Asia from Europe by way of the Northwest Passage. SYLVIIDH. OLD-WORLD WARBLERS. SYLVAI EVERSMANNI. (8.) EVERSMANN’S WARBLER. Flocks of this small bird came during the middle of June and settled on the Vega at Tapkan, her winter quarters, northwest of the Straits. This was before the ground was free from snow, and the birds appeared to be much exhausted. PHYLLOSCOPUS BOREALIS (Blas.) Dresser. (9.) Kennicori?’s WARBLER. The first American specimen of this Siberian Warbler was taken by the naturalist of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound, in 1866. Since then no others have been secured until the three specimens I had the good fortune to obtain at the same locality during my residence at that place. Its recurrence appears to be very irregular, as it was found only in two seasons out of four, during which I kept a sharp lookout and had native collectors searehing for them, but obtained and saw only the examples mentioned. It has never been taken on the Siberian shore of the region covered by this paper, but further towards Middle Siberia it is known to be common, extending its summer range to the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, passing south through Eastern and Central Asia in its autumnal migration. In the region of Lake Baikal it isa common migrant, as well as further east in Siberia. How gen eral its range in Northeastern Siberia is can only be determined when the numerous ornithological problems of that country are solved by the work of some ornithologist. PARIDA. TITMICE. PARUS ATRICAPILLUS SEPTENTRIONALIS (Harris.) Allen. (10.) THE LoNG-TAILED CHICKADEE. An irregular visitor to the Alaskan shore of Bering Sea, mainly about Norton and Kotzebue Sounds, where it is not a rare bird in the fall and at times also in the spring. But it is never resident here, owing to the lack of suitable shelter. PARUS CINCTUS GRISESCENS, Sharp & Dresser. (11.) Dae SIBERIAN CHICKADEE. Though to be accounted a Siberian species by right of general distribution and priority of discovery, yet this little Chickadee makes its home among the spruce and paper-birch forests of Northern Alaska, and like the preceding makes occasional excursions to the adjoining coasts and comes familiarly about the houses, where it enlivenes the gloomy opening of the long cheerless winter or breaks into the monotony of the silent frosty days later in the season. Although Mr. Ridgway identified the original American specimens of this bird as typical Parus cinctus, a more careful examination of a much larger series made by myself shows that it is really referable to the much grayer and somewhat larger Eastern Siberian form, described in “ Dresser’s Birds of Europe,” and to which all American specimens should be referred. PARUS HUDSONICUS Forst. (12.) THE HupDSONIAN CHICKADEE. This bird is the third and last of a band of active, cheerful wood-sprites, whose busy notes and amusing motions while playing at gymnastics, as they rove in merry troops through the wood- CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 61 lands of the interior, holding their own against the inclement winter with its cold and famine, render them the most interesting of the winter inhabitants of northern forests. Their odd self- assertion and seeming importance render them noticeable and attractive wherever one goes. Like its relatives, a few of the more adventurous of this species also pay flying visits to the sea-shore, where for a short time they flit about searching the crevices of the log houses, climbing about the fences, and making themselves thoroughly at home for a short season and then betake themselves to more suitable quarters again. TROGLODYTIDZ. WRENS. ANORTHURA ALASCENSIS (Baird) Coues. (13.) THE ALASKAN WREN. This sturdy representative of the common winter wren of the Eastern United States makes its permanent home on the foggy, storm-beaten Aleutian and Fur Seal Islands. Here, in spite of inclement weather and the harsh, cheerless form assumed by nature on all sides, this plain but interesting Wren passes its life. All about snow-elad hills or rugged, rock-strewn cliffs and steep mountain slopes rise against a cloud-hidden sky. Masses of sleet and rain dash down the slopes and ravines, sending sheets of spray across the water and driving all else to seek shelter ; yet this bird holds its own on some partly sheltered slope or grassy flat, and if spring be at hand its clear notes may be heard breaking forth during a lull in the storm as the hardy songster holds by a firm grasp upon some small bush beaten back and forth in the wind, or perhaps from some jutting rock. The ravines are still bedded with snow in many places, when he has already chosen a partner and is deep in the mysteries of family life. In autumn he is found sprightly as before, but less musical, as he flits about the grassy flats and hilly slopes, generally in pairs, so that it may be possible he is paired for life. What its habits are during winter I cannot say, but so brave a heart in so small a body, that bids its owner endure this long, cheerless season, with its weeks of tempests raging over the snow- covered mountains and through the narrow valleys, commands one’s admiration. Though the smallest of the birds found on these islands it seems capable of enduring as much as the hardiest of them. It is one of the peculiar forms, limited to these forbidding islands, whose influence upon their inhabitants is not alone shown by the peculiar character of their bird life, but also in their people as well, the language and customs of the latter having their insular peculiarities as striking as those distinguishing this wren from its mainland kin, though in some customs our little troglodyte has varied less than his human fellow-inhabitant, and he still makes his snug nest in some cosy nook in the rocky cliffs bounding the grim faces of the many surrounding mountains, or a cleft in a rocky ledge becomes the chosen spot. While the Corwin lay at Ounalaska, the last of September and first of October, 1881, these birds were common in pairs, as if permanently mated. They kept among the tall grasses, ferns, and small willows formed on the flats at the heads of the inner bays, but were remarkably silent ; and though their movements were active and they were frequently seen balancing on the tops of the tall plants, not a note was heard, and their movements can only be described as similar to those of any wren .in such a position. Mr. Elliott tells me that during exceptionally severe winters on Saint George Island large numbers of these birds perish. A few seasons, however, suffice to bring the number up to its original stand-point. Another curious point in the history of this bird is the fact, as ascertained by the same observer, that although one of the commonest birds on Saint George Island it is totally unknown on the adjoining island of Saint Paul. This is a remarkable instance of the strange and often unaccount- able limitation to the distribution of birds. Saint Paul Island is only about thirty miles from Saint George, where the wren is abundant, but not one is known to pass from one island to the other. One hundred and eighty miles separate Saint George Island from the nearest of the Aleutian, which latter islands must be considered as the birds’ original habitat. 62 ORUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROTIO OOEAN. MOTACILLIDA. WAGTAILS. BUDYTES FLAVA (Linn.) Gray. (14.) THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. As a summer resident on the shores of Bering Sea, in Alaska, this handsome bird makes its appearance the last of May or the first of June, according to the season, and very soon after is mated and performing its summer duty of nesting and rearing its young,in all the suitable portions of the low, open country, from the Yukon mouth on the south to the southern shore of Kotzebue Sound on the north. Saint Michael’s may be taken as the center of abundance of this bird in Alaska. At the Yukon mouth, I found it rare in the spring of 1879 and during the summer of 1880. I only found two or three specimens at the various landings made in Kotzebue Sound; it was, also, found sparingly at Plover Bay, where nearly every naturalist who has landed there has also found jt. It was not seen on the Arctic shore of Siberia visited by the Corwin, nor does Nordenskjéld mention it as being found at his wintering place. As autumn approaches, towards the last of August, these gentle birds prepare to return to their winter quarters in Southeastern Asia and adjoining islands. One by one they leave our shore, and unless some waif is caught, like the one Mr. Dall secured at sea, off Saint Matthew’s Island, nothing more is heard of them in America until they recross the sea again in spring. Meanwhile they have twice passed the strange scenes of China, Japan, and other adjoining lands of the Orient, and penetrated the countries of Southeastern Asia and the adjoining islands, joming meanwhile in pleasant fellowship with many a strange feathered companion, whose experience wots not of the wide lands roamed over by his jaunty, tip-tilted friend, whose air of complacent impertinence speaks of much sight-seeing in foreign parts ; and who knows but he even affects a slight Eskimo lisp as the result of his voyage across the seas ? However, he is a very welcome summer visitor to the cheerless bogs of Northwestern Alaska and makes a pleasant addition to the slightly varied character of the bird life in this portion of the far north. ANTHUS LUDOVICIANUS (Gm.) Licht. (15.) THE AMERICAN TITLARK. During the early spring the Titlark is found sparingly along the entire Alaskan coast of Bering Sea, but does not breed to my knowledge south of the straits, except perhaps on the mountains back from the coast, and I have not found it numerous at any season, though it is said to be common in the interior.. It also occurs on the Chuckchee peninsula and Aleutian Islands. The first of August it comes straggling slowly back from its breeding ground in the north, bringing its young in train, and after lingering for a short time about Parana spots in the sities of Saint Michael’s passes on to seek winter quarters far to the south. ANTHUS PRATENSIS (Linn.) Bechst. (16.) THE EUROPEAN TITLARK. This widely-spread Old World bird has been taken but once within the region treated of in this paper. A single specimen was secured at Saint Michael’s by Mr. Dall, during the Russian- American Telegraph Expedition, and remains the only evidence of its presence on either shore of Bering Sea. MOTACILLA OCULARIS Swirshoe. (17.) Tor SIBERIAN WAGTAIL. All the later naturalists who have visited Plover Bay, Siberia, have secured specimens of this handsome bird, Dall, Bean, and myself in succession finding it there. The two former took it late in the season in imperfect plumage, while during the second visit of the Corwin to this bay, the last of June, 1881, I secured a fine adult male in perfect breeding plumage, the handsome plate CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 63 accompanying this volume showing the bird mentioned. They are found on the grassy flats which cover the spit making out at the mouth of the bay, and are very unsuspicious, if my single example is to be taken as typical. It was close to the Eskimo huts and lighted upon a stone as I drew near, allowing me to approach very closely. I thus obtained the prize without the slightest difficulty. Mr. Turner states that he observed one of these birds on the island of Atka, the westernmost of the Aleutian Chain, in the spring of 1881. And one of the most remarkable facts in connection with the history of this species is the fact that a specimen has lately been received at the National Museum, obtained by Mr. L. Belding in Southern California, where it was obtained in the early winter of 1881-1882, thus introducing it as a member of the fauna of North America. It is a common and pretty well-known bird in collections from Eastern Siberia. Its life history, however, still remains to be worked out. The accompanying plate represents it in the act of darting at an insect in the characteristic manner of this and allied birds. The specimen of this bird, which I obtained June 26, 1881, at Plover Bay, Siberia, is an adult male in full spring plumage, of which the following is a description : Back nearly uniform ashy, changing on upper tail coverts to blackish, with an ashy wash on edges of feathers. All but two outer tail feathers black ; the two outer feathers white, each having a narrow longitudinal band of black from base along the edge of inner web, which runs out towards the end of the feathers an inch from tip of first and close to tip of second.