THE YUKON TERRITORY.	179
made of twisted deer sinew in a running loop. This is attached to a pole, balanced, as in the preceding sketch, between two branches, and caught over a horizontal pole by means of a small pin tied to the snare. Brush is piled on each side of the tracks which the grouse run in, so that they have to pass through the opening where the snare is set. A touch loosens the pin, and the heavy end of the pole falls, hanging the partridge or rabbit in the air. Some seasons hundreds are caught in this way. These grouse feed entirely on the willow buds, and the crop will some-times contain a pint. The flesh is hard, dry, and tasteless ; a long experience in eating it has left an unfavorable impression. Our fish-trap was in process of manufacture, but illness prevented me from assisting. I seldom rose from my bed, except to weigh out the daily allowance of bread, and I felt my strength failing fast. In spite of this, I could hardly force myself to eat, and was tormented with constant headache.
Cold days alternated with warm weather, and even occasional rain. Pavloff said he had not known such a season for sixteen years. Such mild weather in January was unprecedented.
January 16th the Indians and some Russians, whom I had hired to help, commenced putting down my fish-trap. Kurilla came home with an ugly wound in the thigh, from falling from the sled upon an ice-chisel. I dressed his wound, but this disablement was a serious misfortune. All the Kaiyuh Indians, starved out by the unwonted scarcity of fish, had gone to Ulukuk, where there is always abundance, to stay until March. Weeks passed by, and not an Indian came near the fort.
The Russians were totally without fish, returning from the examination of fifteen baskets . with three poor whitefish. They were living on tea and bread. Their dogs were nearly starving. Ivan started up the river on his annual trip to Nowikakat, and hoped to find dog-feed on the road.
Kurilla's wound healed rapidly, and to my great thankfulness he was able to ride on the sled and examine the fish-trap, which had caught six whitefish, — a good omen. The first week or two, before the resin is washed out of the wood, the trap rarely catches anything. On the 24th of January there were twelve fish in the trap. From that time forward we obtained from ten to thirty fish every two days, which drove the wolf from the door, and