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on the currents, tides, etc. He was to have been assisted by the natives, but the rough weather prevented work. About 5:30 we left the Diomede for Marcus Bay in order to land Joe, the Chukehi. The sea is smooth now. At a quarter of an hour before midnight , and there is a lovely orange-and-gold sunset. The gulls are still on the wing. July 2. Clear, calm, sunful; the coast of Asia is seen to excellent advantage; crowds of glacial peaks, ice fountains and fiords far inreaching. The snow on them is melting fast. About noon, 12 canoes from a large village 20 miles N. of Marcus By came off to trade. The schooners that came to this region to trade were perhaps afraid to touch her. Consequently the Corwin was the first vessel with trade goods that they have seen this year, and the business in bone and ivory went on with hearty vigor. A hundred or more Chukehis were aboard at once, making a stir equal to that of a country fair. One of them spoke a little whaler English, ¾ of which is profanity and nearly ¼ slang. He asked the Captain why he did not like him, and intimated that if he should come ashore to his house he, the Indian, would show him his treatment that he liked him very much. We are now, at five in the afternoon, approaching Marcus B, where Joe lives, for the purpose of taking him home. For his month’s work and his team of five dogs he has been paid a box of hard bread, 10 sacks of flour, some calico, a rifle, and a considerable quantity of ammunition. Although this is doubtless 5 times more than he expected he does not show any excitement or rise of spirits, but only a stoical composure, which seems so arctic and immovable that I doubt whether he would move a muscle of his face if her were presented with the whole ship’s cargo and the ship itself thrown in.
Date Original
1881
Source
Original journal dimensions: 11.5 x 21 cm.
Resource Identifier
MuirReel27Journal02P029B.tif
Publisher
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Rights Management
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Keywords
John Muir, journals, drawings, writings, travel, journaling, naturalist
