beside me, and Captain Amundsen's book open on the table, I spoke to the
man of his general conduct and reputation. I read the derogatory remark
about him in the book "printed for all the world to read," and told him
that of all the people, white and native, the captain had met on his
journeys, only one was spoken of harshly and he was the one. It made a
great impression on the man. The chief and the native minister followed
it up with their harangues, and the net result was a thorough change in
his whole attitude and demeanour. He told us he felt the shame of being
held up to the world as rude and impudent and would try to amend. He has
tried so successfully that he is now one of the politest and most
courteous Indians in the village, for which, if this should ever chance
to reach Captain Amundsen's eye, I trust he will accept our thanks.

Fort Yukon, where the headquarters of the archdeaconry of the Yukon are
now fixed, grows in native population and importance. A new and sightly
church, a new schoolhouse, a new two-story mission house, a medical
missionary and a nurse in residence, as well as a native clergyman, mark
the Indian metropolis of this region and perhaps of all interior Alaska.
Self-government is fostered amongst the people by a village council
elected annually, that settles native troubles and disputes and takes
charge of movements for the general good, and of the relief of native
poverty. The resident physician has been appointed justice of the peace
and there is effort to enforce the law of the land at a place where
every man has been a law unto himself. But it is a very slow and
difficult matter to enforce law in this country at all, and more
particularly at these remote points; and the class of white men who are
to be found around native villages, many of whom "fear not God neither
regard man," pursue their debauchery and deviltry long time unwhipped.

FOOTNOTE:

[F] I take pleasure in naming Mr. U. G. Myers as the United States
commissioner in question and Mr. Jack Robinson as the deputy United
States marshal, and I mention their names the more readily because Mr.
Myers, after his long and excellent service, has just been removed for
political reasons. (May, 1916.)

CHAPTER X

FROM THE TANANA RIVER TO THE KUSKOKWIM--THENCE TO THE IDITAROD MINING
CAMP--THENCE TO THE YUKON, AND UP THAT RIVER TO FORT YUKON

THE discovery of gold on the Innoko in the winter of 1906-7, and the
"strike" on t