“In remote ages there lived a powerful shaman, pronounced Tshaumen by the Indians, this being the local name for what is known as medicine man among the Indians farther south and east.  The Tshaumen holds a position and exercises an influence among the people he lives with, something akin to the wise men or magi of olden times in the East.  In this powerful being’s locality there lived a poor man who had the great misfortune to have an inveterate scold for a wife.  He bore the infliction for a long time without murmuring, in hopes that she would relent, but time seemed only to increase the affliction; at length, growing weary of the unceasing torment, he complained to the Tshaumen who comforted him, and sent him home with the assurance that all would soon be well.

“Shortly after this he went out to hunt, and remained away for many days endeavoring to get some provisions for home use, but without avail; he returned weary and hungry, only to be met by his wife with a more than usually violent outburst of scolding.  This so provoked him that he gathered all his strength and energy for one grand effort and gave her a kick that sent her clean across the river.  On landing she was converted into the mass of rock which remains to this day a memorial of her viciousness and a warning to all future scolds.  The metamorphosis was effected by the Tshaumen, but how the necessary force was acquired to send her across the river (here about half a mile wide), or whether the kick was administered by the Tshaumen or the husband, my narrator could not say.  He was altogether at a loss to account for conversion of the husband into the mass of rock on the west side of the river; nor can I offer any theory unless it is that he was petrified by astonishment at the result.

“Such legends as this would be of interest to ethnologists if they could be procured direct from the Indians, but repeated by men who have little or no knowledge of the utility of legendary lore, and less sympathy with it, they lose much of their value.

“Between Forty Mile River and the boundary line no stream of any size joins the Yukon; in fact, there is only one stream, which some of the miners have named Sheep Creek, but as there is another stream further down the river, called by the same name, I have named it Coal Creek.  It is five miles below Forty Mile, and comes in from the east, and is a large creek, but not at all navigable.  On it some extensive coal seams were seen, which will be more fully referred to further on.

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“At the boundary the river is somewhat contracted, and measures only 1,280 feet across in the winter; but in summer, at ordinary water level, it would be about one hundred feet wider.  Immediately below the boundary it expands to its usual width, which is about 2,000 feet.  The area of the cross section measured is 22,268 feet, the sectional area of the Teslintoo, as determined by Dr. Dawson and already