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Dr. Coffin, Wyse, Rivers and myself are to stay here until the "Helen" returns for us and the remainder of the stuff. I always volunteer to stay at camp when a person is wanted, for in this way I get in some collecting. The rest don't see so much fun in staying at camp. It may be two weeks before the boat gets back and, outside of my camp duties, I shall have considerable leisure for my favorite pastime. Doctor and I went out and got thirteen ducks, which made a good meal for the crowd before they started. We also had a large mess of stewed salmon berries which, though very tart, proved a most acceptable change from our dried fruit.

"Helen" and Crew Start up the Kowak River.

Mission Inlet. Aug. 9.—The "Helen" left for the Kowak yesterday and the weather has been perfect, so we hope she has safely crossed Holtham Inlet. Until she returns we four are to keep camp and finish up some work for the winter. We are becoming acquainted with the natives. Like those I knew in Dakota and the Indian Territory, they are very superstitious. They make us pass in front of a tent in which is a sick person, and if we are towing a boat past along the beach, we must get into the water and row around the camp so as not to walk past. Many of them are ill, and they lay It to the gold hunters: but it is really from exposure in following the whites around. The doctor has treated several, and if they recover he is "all right;" but if they die, it is his fault. Not so very unlike other folks! The doctor makes the natives pay for medicine, as this, he says, "is the better policy." He charged a salmon for some pills last night, and in another case where more extended services were required, he charged a nickel and two salmon. He does not intend to infringe upon any existing fee bills in the States, but if any "medicos" thereabouts pine for a more profitable field, there is plenty of room at Kotzebue Sound.