They kindled fire by striking
together a piece of iron pyrites and touchwood, and never travelled
without a small bag containing such materials.
The Amerindians along the lower Mackenzie had heard vague and terrible
legends about the Russians, far, far away on the coast of Alaska; they
were represented as beings of gigantic stature, and adorned with
wings; which, however, they never employed in flying (possibly the
sails of their ships). They fed on large birds, and killed them with
the greatest ease. They also possessed the extraordinary power of
killing with their eyes (no doubt putting up a gun to aim), and they
travelled in canoes of very large dimensions.
[Illustration: BIG-HORNED SHEEP OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS]
"I engaged one of these Indians," writes Mackenzie, "by a bribe of
some beads, to describe the surrounding country upon the sand. This
singular map he immediately undertook to delineate, and accordingly
traced out a very long point of land between the rivers ... which he
represented as running into the great lake, at the extremity of which
he had been told by Indians of other nations there was a white man's
fort." The same people described plainly the Yukon River westward of
the mountains, and told Mackenzie it was a far greater stream than the
one he was exploring. This was the first "hint" of the existence of
the great Alaskan river which was ever recorded.
Pages:
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381