C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

62THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATstream, we paddled steadily downward with a fair wind behind us, we seemed tobe drifting or even merely floating in one spot on the face of the water, but whenwe looked at the banks, there they were apparently rushing past us. Also, whenpaddling down we would often mistake a rock or snag for some animal swimmingup towards us.One day we sailed for some distance, with a moderate and pleasant breeze,using the sail from the police barracks and wrapping ourselves in warm garmentsuntil the sun came out, hot and burning. The river side was rich in wild life andon one rocky bluff there were martins' nests, clustered as thickly as a swarm ofbees. We saw loons too, and peregrines, ravens, gulls and ducks. Once, we saw ayoung black bear on the shore and we were entranced in watching his movements,but all too soon he went gambolling away into the bushes, with his strange playfulwalk that seemed to be crying aloud for a companion. Later we saw a prehistoriclookingporcupine, with wind-blown spinal fringe of fur, ambling about on anisland, but when he spotted us he shuffled away, moving with a graceless ambleand showing all his quills behind.One day at lunchtime we climbed a rocky cliff and found that the top wascovered with low-growing alpine flowers, most of them familiar to us both. Thenwe came to a camp of Indians who were catching king salmon in nets, and we wentashore and talked to the men, but the women were too shy to come near us. Theriver had now become tortuous again and was filled with islands and channelsand many snags. It was not at all easy to follow its course and once we took a wrongchannel, but David soon discovered his mistake and then we had a hard battleagainst the current before we got back to the main river again. We camped soonafter that adventure and slept on a bed of stones and spruce boughs, watching,behind the pointed firs, a beautiful sunset glow.On the fourth day out from Old Crow we had brilliant sunshine, but whatwith the heat, and the glare from the water, we had great difficulty in keepingawake, even when we were paddling, but we managed to keep going, turn andturn about, for we felt that it would be bad for David's morale if we both slept atthe same time. As a matter of fact, there was only one comfortable place where wecould sleep and that was in the stern where one person, and one only, could curlup comfortably like a hedgehog.The river was running in great curves now, with never a long straight reach andnever a hairpin bend, but always with generous, gigantic loops. The banks werelined with spruce and poplar and here and there with birches. In the evening we