being no bad rapids, and it came out of a lake much larger than any I
had yet passed.

[Footnote 5: The Tahkeena was formerly much used by the Chilkat Indians
as a means of reaching the interior, but never by the miners owing to
the distance from the sea to its head.]

"Here I may remark that I have invariably found it difficult to get
reliable or definite information from Indians. The reasons for this are
many. Most of the Indians it has been my lot to meet are expecting to
make something, and consequently are very chary about doing or saying
anything unless they think they will be well rewarded for it. They are
naturally very suspicions of strangers, and it takes some time, and some
knowledge of their language, to overcome this suspicion and gain their
confidence. If you begin at once to ask questions about their country,
without previously having them understand that you have no unfriendly
motive in doing so, they become alarmed, and although you may not meet
with a positive refusal to answer questions, you make very little
progress in getting desired information. On the other hand I have met
cases where, either through fear or hope of reward, they were only too
anxious to impart all they knew or had heard, and even more if they
thought it would please their hearer. I need hardly say that such
information is often not at all in accordance with the facts.

"I have several times found that some act of mine when in their
presence has aroused either their fear, superstition or cupidity. As an
instance: on the Bell River I met some Indians coming down stream as I
was going up. We were ashore at the time, and invited them to join us.
They started to come in, but very slowly, and all the time kept a
watchful eye on us. I noticed that my double-barrelled shot gun was