In approaching the
Dangerous Rapids from Cockburn Bay, Henry had found an island where on
the Admiralty chart is marked a point of the mainland. In fact, there
is a delta at the mouth of the river. Narleyow led them to a place in
the branch of the river flowing to the westward of this island, where
he said a rocky ridge froze to the bottom, making a pocket which held
fish. They dug four holes within an area of ten feet, and in one day
caught fifty-seven of the immense salmon for which this river is
famous. He cooked one for us, which was the largest I ever saw. Joe
measured the cross-section of one he saw in the native igloos below our
camp that measured over one foot. I asked him how much over, but he
couldn't tell, he said, as his pocket measure was "only a foot long".
[Illustration: VIEW ON BACK'S RIVER.]
The largest number of fish caught here are what the natives call
"cow-e-sil-lik," and are peculiar to these waters. They are something
like very large herring, and the flesh much coarser than salmon or
trout. All the fish here are quite fat, the salmon especially. We bought
several bags of salmon oil from the natives, which we used, so long as
it lasted, as a substitute for reindeer tallow, which is all gone now.
The weather is intensely cold -62 degrees Fahrenheit on the 10th, the
day the remainder of our party rejoined us at this camp.
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