assing the line, for from now on until
we reached the lake our boats had to be towed against a swift current.

That day we made about eight miles, and camped shortly after five
o'clock. It rained hard during the night, and the next morning broke
cloudy. The river for the first two days wound through the lowlands, but
from this point on the banks seemed higher and the current perceptibly
swifter, while breaking water showed the presence of rocks under the
surface. The country back from the stream began to be more rolling, and
as the river occasionally made some bold bend the Kenai Mountains could
be seen in the distance.

Again it rained hard during the night and continued well on into the
next morning, so we made a late start, breaking camp at eight o'clock.
Spruce, alders, willows, and birch were the trees growing along the
banks, and we now passed through the country where the moose range
during the summer months. Already the days had become perceptibly
shorter, and there was also a feeling of fall in the air, for summer is
not long in this latitude.

At this point in the river we encountered bad water, and all hands were
constantly wet, while the natives were in the glacial stream up to their
waists for hours at a time. Therefore we made but little progress. That
night there was a heavy frost, and the next morning dawned bright and
clear. The day was a repetition of the day before, and the natives were
again obliged to wade with the tow-line most of the way. But they were a
good-natured lot, and seemed to take their wetting as a matter of
course. About ten o'clock the next morning we reached the Kenai Rapids,
where the stream narrows and the water is extremely bad, for the current
is very swift and the channel full of rocks. We navigated this place
safely and came out into the smooth water beyond. Here we had tea and a
good rest, for we felt that the hardest part of this tiresome journey
was over. Above the rapids there are a few short stretches of less
troubled water where the oars can be used; but these are few and far
between, and one must count upon warping the boat from tide water to
within two miles of the lake--an estimated distance of between
thirty-five and forty miles.

We had hardly got started the following day before it began to rain
heavily. We were soon wet to the skin and thoroughly chilled, but we
kept on until late in the afternoon, when we camped in a small Indian
cabin some three miles from th