[Illustration: CROSS-SECTION AYAN CANOE PADDLE.]
Mr. Homan succeeded in getting a photograph (page 221), of a group of Ayan or Iyan Indians, with their birch-bark canoes. We found it very difficult to keep these nervous fellows still; and, as far as fine rendering of features is concerned, the photograph was not perfect. Their birch-bark canoes are the best on any part of the long river for lightness, compactness, and neatness of build and design, and form a most remarkable contrast to the unwieldy dilapidated "dug-outs'" of the Tahk-heesh Indians above them on the Yukon. The Ayan canoe paddle, well shown in outline in the hands of one of the group, is of the cross-section on this page, the ridge or rib _r_ being always held to the rear in using it. In addition to the paddle, the canoeman keeps with him two light poles, about as long as the paddle itself, and as heavy as its handle; and these are employed in ascending the river, the pole man keeping near the shallow shores, and using one in each hand on either side of the canoe, poling against the bottom. So swift is the river in these parts (and in fact it is extremely rapid during its entire course), that the native canoemen use no other method in ascending it, except for very short distances. The Eskimo method, in use on the lower part of the river, of harnessing dogs to their craft like canal horses and towing them along the banks, I did not see in operation during my stay among the Ayans, although they possessed all the requisites for such an easy and convenient method of navigation. In descending the river the current is the main motive power, especially for long journeys, and the paddle is only sparingly used to keep the canoe in the swiftest part of the stream. When required, however, they can go at a speed that few canoemen in the world, savage or civilized, can equal.
[Illustration: AYAN INDIANS AND THEIR BIRCH-BARK CANOES.]
Two species of fish were caught from the banks near the site of Selkirk, the grayling being of the same kind we had caught near the rapids just above and below the Grand Cañon, and had found in varying numbers from Perthes Point in Lake Bove, to the mouth of White River, nearly a hundred miles below Selkirk, averaging a trifle over a pound in weight; and a trout-like salmon, caught occasionally from Lake Nares to White River, sometimes with an artificial fly, but more frequently on the trout lines with baited hooks that were put out over night wherever we camped. A most disgusting and hideous species of eel-pout monopolized our trout lines whenever they were put out at this point, from which even the invincible stomachs of our Indian allies and visitors had to refrain. Small black gnats, somewhat resembling the buffalo gnats of the plains, were observed near Selkirk in considerable numbers, and our Indians hinted that they indicated the presence of large game, a story which we would gladly have had corroborated, but in this we were disappointed.