irst ice. One
is often glad to have had experiences that one would by no means repeat,
and this is a case in point. We had learned a good deal about ice; we
had taken liberties with ice that none of us had ever thought before
could be taken with impunity; we had learned to trust ice and at the
same time to distrust it and in some measure to discriminate about it.
The "last ice" is bad, but the "first ice" is much worse, and all
three of us were agreed that we wanted no more travelling over it and no
more pulling of a sled "by the back of the face."

Then followed a very happy, busy time of several weeks while the river
ice was consolidating and the land trails establishing; happy with its
manifold evidences of the rapid advance the natives were making under
Miss Carter's able and beneficent sway, busy with the instruction of
people eager to learn. It was busy and happy for Doctor Burke also; busy
with the many ailments he relieved, happy with the beginnings of an
attachment which two years later culminated in his marriage to Miss
Carter's colleague at this mission.

CHAPTER VII

THE KOYUKUK TO THE YUKON AND TO TANANA--CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS AT SAINT
JOHN'S-IN-THE-WILDERNESS

LEAVING Fort Yukon on the 26th of November, 1909, and going again over
almost the same route we followed during the first journey described in
this volume, we reached the new mission at the Allakaket on the Koyukuk
River on the 14th of December, after a period of almost continual cold.
The climate of the interior of Alaska varies as much as any climate. The
previous year, continuing the journey described in "The First Ice," I
had passed over this same route in the opposite direction, between the
same dates, with the thermometer well above zero the whole time. This
trip the _mean_ of the minimum reading at night, the noon reading, and
the reading at start and finish of each day's journey was -38 1/4 deg.. Many
days in that three weeks we travelled all day at 45 deg. and 50 deg. below zero,
and we spent one night in camp at 49 deg. below.

It was the beginning of a severe winter, with much snow north of the
Yukon and long periods of great cold.

[Sidenote: BIRTH, BURIAL, AND DANCING]

The two weeks or so spent at the mission of Saint
John's-in-the-Wilderness was enjoyed as only a rest is enjoyed after
making such a journey; as only Christmas is enjoyed at such a native
mission. It is the time of the whole year for the people; they come in