This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ...to-day our position in relation to prominent mountains in the vicinity had not materially changed. When the sun had set and the shades of night were coming on we reached a deserted viHage, and as I had sent the tent back with Mr. McLenegan we turned in for the night in a vacant hut, where we were at ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ...to-day our position in relation to prominent mountains in the vicinity had not materially changed. When the sun had set and the shades of night were coming on we reached a deserted viHage, and as I had sent the tent back with Mr. McLenegan we turned in for the night in a vacant hut, where we were at least safe from the rain. Despite the bal weather we made 28.6 miles to-day. Average temperature, 85. July 25, 1884.--The day was warm and pleasant throughout, and we started to pack our boat at 5 a. m., when Andre discovered several places worn through on the bottom which bad to be sewed up before we went any farther. This work delayed us somewhat, and it was not until 9 a. m. that we got off. We made excellent time up the river, but the course of the stream is very crooked, and there are a great many islands lying in the bends. The country on both sides was, as usual, spongy tundra backed by rolling country to the mountains, sixteen to twenty miles distant. The banks of the river are moderately high, and composed of a dark-colored soil of a clayey nature, above which lies a thick layer of black earth m which the fiber of decayed vegetable matter can be seen in great quantities. The banks seem to be undergoing a continual change of form, as we frequently saw portions twenty-five to fifty feet square become detached and fall into the water. Sand-lurs and shoals abound in many places, and the current remained about as usual. Every night I set the Indians at work making a map of that part of the river ahead of us, and it is remarkable how exact they are in details. From them I learned that during the winter all the Indians who come down to fish in the summer live near the headwaters of the river, and that after snow has fallen they make sledge...
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4to. 28cm, 129p. with 40 plates [16 being full-page, 22 with double illustrations, & 2 full colour lithographed bird plates], original brown cloth boards, gilt titles, some wear at the edges, a very good to fine copy. (ads) A.B. 18400. The expedition sailed to the Bering and Chukcki Seas, during which an exploring party under Lt. Cantwell (A Narrative of the Exploration of the Kowak (Kobuk) River); landed at Hotham Inlet on Kotzebue Sound to survey the Kokuk River. The report includes details of the local illness that Eskimos, the natural history of maritime Alaska, and information concerning a new volcano in the Bering Sea. (illustrated with 6 photographs). Healy was born on a plantation in Georgia, the son of an Irish immigrant father and a slave mother. Among his brothers were Patrick Healy, a Jesuit priest who became president of Georgetown University, and James A. Healy, the first African-American Bishop of Portland, Maine. He ran away from home twice to go to sea, and ultimately became the first African-American Commander in the service of the Coast Guard, having joined the Revenue Cutter in 1865. Apparently Jack London's novel, Sea Wolf, was based in part of the noteworthy life of Captain Healy. His race was strategically ignored during the tenure of his long and distinguished service for the Coast Guard. He spent the last portion of his career cruising up and down the Alaskan Coast, aimed at controlling contraband trade and supervising the whaling fleet. A film biography about him, made for television, was produced during 1999.