Chapter III: Introduction (2)

[Footnote N25: Op. cit. p. 254.]

PATHOLOGY.

Diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs are the most frequent and serious ailments from which they suffer. The former are most prevalent toward the end of summer and early in winter, and are due to the natives sleeping on the damp ground and to their extreme carelessness in exposing themselves to drafts of wind when overheated. Nearly everyone suffers from coughs and colds in the latter part of August, and many deaths occur at this season and the beginning of winter from a disease which appears to be pneumonia. A few cases, one fatal, of hemorrhage of the lungs were observed, which were probably aggravated by the universal habit of inhaling tobacco smoke. The people suffer from diarrhea, indigestion, and especially from constipation.

Gonorrhea appears common in both sexes, but syphilis seems to be unknown in spite of the promiscuous intercourse of the women with the whalemen. One case of uterine hemorrhage was observed. Cutaneous diseases are rare. A severe ulcer on the leg, of long standing, was cured by our surgeon, to whose observations I am chiefly indebted for what I have to say about the diseases of these people; and one man had lost the cartilage of his nose and was marked all over the body with hideous scars from what appeared to be some form of scrofulous disease. A single case of tumor on the deltoid muscle was observed. Rheumatism is rather frequent. All are subject to snow blindness in the spring, and sores on the face from neglected frost bites are common. Many are blind in one eye from what appears to be cataract or leucoma, but only one case of complete blindness was noticed. Dr. Sutherland states that he does not recollect a single instance of total blindness among the Eskimo that he saw in Baffin Land, and expresses the opinion that “An individual in such a state would be quite unfit for the life of toil and hardship to which the hardy Esquimaux is exposed. The neglect consequent upon this helpless condition most probably cuts off its afflicted objects.”[N26]

[Footnote N26: Journ. Ethnol. Soc., vol. 4, p. 206.]

This seems quite reasonable on a priori grounds, but nevertheless the blind man at Cape Smyth had lived to middle age in very comfortable circumstances, and though supported to a great extent by his relatives he was nevertheless able to do a certain share of work, and had the reputation of being a good paddler for a whaling umiak.

Injuries are rare. One man had lost both feet at the ankle and moved about with great ease and rapidity on his knees. All are subject to bleeding at the nose and usually plug the bleeding nostril with a bunch of deer hair.[N27]

[Footnote N27: Compare what Davis wrote in 1586 of the
Greenlanders: “These people are much given to bleed, and,
therefore, stoppe theyr noses with deere hayre or the hayre of an
elan.” Hakluyt, Voyages, etc., 1589, p. 782.]

This habit, as it has been termed, of vicarious hemorrhage seems to be characteristic of the Eskimo race wherever they have been met with, and has been supposed to be a process of nature for relieving the fullness of the circulatory system caused by their exclusively animal diet.[N28]

[Footnote N28: Egede, Greenland, p. 120; Crantz, vol. 1, p. 234
(Greenland); Southerland. Journ. Ethnol. Soc., vol. IV, p. 207
(Baffin Land); Chappell, “Hudson Bay,” p. 74 (North Shore of
Hudson Strait); Lyon, Journal, p. 18 (Hudson Strait); Franklin,
1st Exp., I, p. 29 (Hudson Strait); Parry, 2d Voy., p. 544
(Igluilik); Hooper, Tents of the Tuski, p. 185 (Plover Bay,
Siberia).]

Natural deformities and abnormalities of structure are uncommon, except strabismus, which is common and often, at least, congenital. One boy in Utkiavwĭñ had his forehead twisted to one side, probably from some accident or difficulty during delivery. His intelligence did not seem to be impaired. The people are, as a rule, right handed, but that left-handed persons occasionally occur is shown by their having a word for a left-handed man. We also collected a “crooked knife,” fitted for use with the left hand.[N29]

[Footnote N29: I have an indistinct recollection of having once
seen a left-handed person from Nuwŭk.]

PSYCHICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

As a rule they are quick-witted and intelligent, and show a great capacity for appreciating and learning useful things, especially mechanical arts. In disposition they are light-hearted and cheerful, not easily cast down by sorrow or misfortune, and though sometimes quick-tempered, their anger seldom lasts long.[N30] They have a very keen sense of humor, and are fond of practical jokes, which they take in good part, even when practiced on themselves. They are generally peaceable. We did not witness a single quarrel among the men during the two years of our stay, though they told us stories of fatal quarrels in former years, in which firearms were used. Liquor may have been the cause of these fights, as it is said to have been of the only suicide I ever heard of among them, which I am informed by Capt. E. E. Smith, the whaling master already referred to, occurred in 1885 at Nuwŭk. Disagreements between man and wife, however, sometimes lead to blows, in which the man does not always get the best of it.

[Footnote N30: Holm calls the East Greenlanders “et meget livligt
Folkefærd” Geogr. Tidskrift, vol. 8, p. 96.]

When the station was first established many of the natives began pilfering from our stores, but they soon learned that by so doing they cut themselves off from the privilege of visiting the station and enjoying the opportunity for trading which it afforded, and were glad to promise to refrain from the practice. This promise was very well observed, though I think wholly from feelings of self-interest, as the thieves when detected seemed to have no feeling of shame. Some, I believe, never yielded to the temptation. There was seldom any difficulty in obtaining restitution of stolen articles, as the thief’s comrades would not attempt to shield him, but often voluntarily betrayed him. They acknowledged that there was considerable thieving on board of the ships, but the men of Utkiavwĭñ tried to lay the blame on the Nuwŭk people, and we may suppose that the charge was reciprocated, as was the case regarding the theft of the _Plover’s_ sails.[N31] We also heard of occasional thefts among themselves, especially of seals left on the ice or venison buried in the snow, but men who were said to be thieves did not appear to lose any social consideration.

[Footnote N31: Simpson, op. cit., p. 248.]

Robbery with violence appears to be unknown. We never saw or heard of the “burglar-alarm” described by Dr. Simpson,[N32] which I am inclined to believe was really a “demon trap” like that described by Lieut. Ray (see below, under Religion).

[Footnote N32: Op. cit., p. 247.]

They are in the main truthful, though a detected lie is hardly considered more than a good joke, and considerable trickery is practiced in trading. For instance, soon after the station was established they brought over the carcass of a dog, with the skin, head, feet, and tail removed, and attempted to sell it for a young reindeer; and when we began to purchase seal-oil for the lamps one woman brought over a tin can nearly filled with ice, with merely a layer of oil on top.

Clothing and other articles made especially for sale to us were often very carelessly and hastily made, while their own things were always carefully finished.[N33]

[Footnote N33: Compare Nordenskiöld’s experience in Siberia. The
“Chukches” sold him skinned foxes with the head and feet cut off
for hares, (Vega, vol. 1, p. 448), young ivory gulls for
ptarmigan, and a dog’s skull for a seal’s (vol. 2, p. 137).
Besides, “While their own things were always made with the
greatest care, all that they did especially for us was done with
extreme carelessness” (ibid). The Eskimos at Hotham Inlet also
tried to sell Capt. Beechey fishskins sewed together to represent
fish. (Voyage, p. 285.)]

Their affection for each other, especially for their children, is strong, though they make little show of grief for bereavement, and their minds are easily diverted by amusements. I am inclined to believe, however, from some cases I have observed, that grief is deeper and more permanent than superficial appearances would indicate.

Their curiosity is unbounded, and they have no hesitation in gratifying it by unlimited questioning. All who have read the accounts of the Eskimo character given by explorers in other parts of the Arctic regions will recognize this as a familiar trait. We also found the habit of begging at first quite as offensive among some of these people as other travelers have found it, but as they grew better acquainted with us they ceased to beg except for trifling things, such as a chew of tobacco or a match. Some of the better class never begged at all. Some of them seemed to feel truly grateful for the benefits and gifts received, and endeavored by their general behavior, as well as in more substantial ways, to make some adequate return. Others appeared to think only of what they might receive.

Hospitality is a universal virtue. Many of them, from the beginning of our acquaintance with them, showed the greatest friendliness and willingness to assist us in every way, while others, especially if there were many of them together, were inclined to be insolent, and knives were occasionally drawn in sudden fits of passion. These “roughs,” however, soon learned that behavior of this sort was punished by prompt ostracism and threats of severer discipline, and before the first nine months were past we had established the most friendly relations with the whole village at Cape Smyth. Some of those who were at first most insolent became afterwards our best friends. Living as these people do at peace with their neighbors, they would not be expected to exhibit the fierce martial courage of many other savages, but bold whalemen and venturous ice-hunters can not be said to lack bravery.

In their dealings with white men the richer and more influential among them at least consider themselves their equals if not their superiors, and they do not appreciate the attitude of arrogant superiority adopted by many white men in their intercourse with so-called savages. Many of them show a grace of manner and a natural delicacy and politeness which is quite surprising. I have known a young Eskimo so polite that in conversing with Lieut. Ray he would take pains to mispronounce his words in the same way as the latter did, so as not to hurt his feelings by correcting him bluntly.[N34]

[Footnote N34: Compare Vega, vol. 1, p. 489. The Chukches were “so
courteous as not to correct but to adopt the mistakes in the
pronunciation or meaning of words that were made on the _Vega_.”]

TRIBAL PHENOMENA.

We were unable to discover among these people the slightest trace of tribal organization or of division into gentes, and in this our observations agree with those of all who have studied the Eskimos elsewhere. They call themselves as a race “In´uĭn,” a term corresponding to the “Inuit” of other dialects, and meaning “people”, or “human beings”. Under this name they include white men and Indians as well as Eskimo, as is the case in Greenland and the Mackenzie River district, and probably also everywhere else, though many writers have supposed it to be applied by them only to their own race.

They have however special names for the former two races. The people of any village are known as “the inhabitants of such and such a place;” for instance, Nuwŭ´ñmiun, “the inhabitants of the point;” Utkiavwĭñmiun, “the inhabitants of Utkiávwĭñ;” Kuñmiun (in Greenlandic “Kungmiut”), “the people who live on the river.” The people about Norton Sound speak of the northern Eskimo, especially those of Point Barrow and Cape Smyth, as “Kûñmû´dlĭñ,” which is not a name derived from a location, but a sort of nickname, the meaning of which was not ascertained. The Point Barrow natives do not call themselves by this name, but apply it to those people whose winter village is at Demarcation Point (or Herschel Island, see above, p. 26). This word appears in the corrupted form “Kokmullit,” as the name of the village at Nuwŭk on Petroff’s map. Petroff derived his information regarding the northern coast at second-hand from people who had obtained their knowledge of names, etc., from the natives of Norton Sound.

The people of the two villages under consideration frequently go backward and forward, sometimes removing permanently from one village to the other, while strangers from distant villages sometimes winter here, so that it was not until the end of the second year, when we were intimately acquainted with everybody at Utkiavwĭñ, that we could form anything like a correct estimate of the population of this village.[N35] This we found to be about 140 souls. As well as we could judge, there were about 150 or 160 at Nuwŭk. These figures show a great decrease in numbers since the end of 1853, when Dr. Simpson[N36] reckoned the population of Nuwŭk at 309. During the 2 years from September, 1881, to August, 1883, there were fifteen deaths that we heard of in the village of Utkiavwĭñ alone, and only two children born in that period survived. With this ratio between the number of births and deaths, even in a period of comparative plenty, it is difficult to see how the race can escape speedy extinction, unless by accessions from without, which in their isolated situation they are not likely to receive.[N37]

[Footnote N35: See “Approximate Census, etc.,” Report of Point
Barrow Exp., p. 49.]

[Footnote N36: Op. cit., p. 237.]

[Footnote N37: Petroff’s estimate (Report, etc., p. 4) of the
number of natives on this part of the Arctic coast is much too
large. He gives the population of “Ootiwakh” (Utkiavwĭñ) as 225.
Refuge Inlet (where there is merely a summer camp of
Utkiavwĭñmiun), 40, and “Kokmullit,” 200. The supposed settlement
of 50 inhabitants at the Colville River is also a mere summer
camp, not existing in the winter.]

SOCIAL SURROUNDINGS.

CONTACT WITH UNCIVILIZED PEOPLE.

_Other Eskimo._--The nearest neighbors of these people, as has been stated above, are the Eskimo living at Demarcation Point (or Herschel Island), eastward, and those who inhabit the small villages between Point Belcher and Wainwright Inlet. These villages are three in number. The nearest to Point Belcher, Nuna´ria, is now deserted, and its inhabitants have established the new village of Sida´ru nearer the inlet. The third village consists of a few houses only, and is called A´tûnĕ. The people of these villages are so closely connected that they are sometimes spoken of collectively as Sida´ruñmiun. At a distance up the river, which flows into Wainwright Inlet, live the Ku´ñmiun, “the people who live on the river.” These appear to be closely related to the people of the first village below Wainwright Inlet, which is named Kĭlauwitawĭñ. At any rate, a party of them who came to Cape Smyth in the spring of 1883 were spoken of indifferently as Kuñmiun or Kĭlauwitawĭ´ñmiun.

Small parties from all the villages occasionally visit Point Barrow during the winter for the purpose of trade and amusement, traveling with sledges along the land ice where it is smooth, otherwise along the edge of the cliffs; and similar parties from the two northern villages return these visits. No special article of trade appears to be sought at either village, though perhaps the southern villages have a greater supply of skins of the bearded seal, fit for making umiak covers, as I knew of a load of these brought up for sale, and in the spring of 1883 a party went down to the inlet in search of such skins. Single families and small parties like that from Kĭlauwitawĭñ, mentioned above, sometimes spend the whaling season at Point Barrow, joining some of the whaling crews at the northern villages. The people that we saw from these settlements were very like the northern Eskimos but many of them spoke a perceptibly harsher dialect, sounding the final consonants distinctly.

The people at Point Hope are known as Tĭkera´ñmiun “inhabitants of the forefinger (Point Hope)”, and their settlement is occasionally visited by straggling parties. No natives from Point Hope came north during the 2 years of our stay, but a party of them visited the _Plover_ in 1853.[N38] We found some people acquainted by name with the Kuwû´ñmiun and Silawĭ´ñmiun of the Kuwûk (Kowak or “Putnam”) and Silawik Rivers emptying into Hotham Inlet, and one man was familiar with the name of Sisualĭñ, the great trading camp at Kotzebue Sound. We were unable to find that they had any knowledge of Asia (“Kokhlitnuna,”) or the Siberian Eskimo, but this was probably due to lack of properly directed inquiries, as they seem to have been well informed on the subject in the _Plover’s_ time.[N39]

[Footnote N38: Maguire, NW. Passage, p. 384.]

[Footnote N39: It is to be regretted that the expedition was not
supplied with a copy of Dr. Simpson’s excellent paper, as much
valuable information was missed for lack of suggestions as to the
direction of inquiries.]

With the people of the Nu´natăk (Inland) River, the Nunatañmiun, they are well acquainted, as they meet them every summer for purposes of trading, and a family or two of Nunatañmiun sometimes spend the winter at the northern villages. One family wintered at Nuwŭk in 1881-’82, and another at Utkiavĭñ the following winter, while a widower of this “tribe” was also settled there for the same winter, having married a widow in the village. We obtained very little definite information about these people except that they came from the south and descended the Colville River. Our investigations were rendered difficult by the engrossing nature of the work of the station, and the trouble we experienced, at first, in learning enough of the language to make ourselves clearly understood. Dr. Simpson was able to learn definitely that the homes of these people are on the Nunatăk and that some of them visit Kotzebue Sound in the summer, while trading parties make a portage between the Nunatăk and Colville, descending the latter river to the Arctic Ocean.[N40] I have been informed by the captain of one of the American whalers that he has, in different seasons, met the same people at Kotzebue Sound and the mouth of the Colville. We also received articles of Siberian tame reindeer skin from the east, which must have come across the country from Kotzebue Sound.

[Footnote N40: Op. cit., pp. 234 and 236.]

These people differ from the northern natives in some habits, which will be described later, and speak a harsher dialect. We were informed that in traveling east after passing the mouth of the Colville they came to the Kûñmû´dlĭñ (“Kangmali enyuin” of Dr. Simpson and other authors) and still further off “a great distance” to the Kupûñ or “Great River”--the Mackenzie--near the mouth of which is the village of the Kupûñmiun, whence it is but a short distance inland to the “great house” (iglu´kpûk) of the white men on the great river (probably Fort Macpherson). Beyond this we only heard confused stories of people without posteriors and of sledges that run by themselves without dogs to draw them. We heard nothing of the country of Kĭtiga´ru[N41] or of the stone-lamp country mentioned by Dr. Simpson.[N42] The Kûñmûdlĭñ are probably, as Dr. Simpson believes, the people whose winter houses were seen by Franklin at Demarcation Point,[N43] near which, at Icy Reef, Hooper also saw a few houses.[N44]

[Footnote N41: This was the name of a girl at Nuwŭk.]

[Footnote N42: Op. cit., p. 269.]

[Footnote N43: Second Exp., p. 142.]

[Footnote N44: Tents of the Tuski, p. 255.]

As already stated, Capt. E. E. Smith was informed by the natives that there is now no village farther west than Herschel Island, where there is one of considerable size. If he was correctly informed, this must be a new village, since the older explorers who passed along the coast found only a summer camp at this point. He also states that he found large numbers of ruined iglus on the outlying sandy islands along the coast, especially near Anxiety Point. We have scarcely any information about these people, as the only white men who have seen them had little intercourse with them in passing along the coast.[N45] The Point Barrow people have but slight acquaintance with them, as they see them only a short time each summer. Captain Smith, however, informs me that in the summer of 1885 one boat load of them came back with the Point Barrow traders to Point Barrow, where he saw them on board of his ship. There was a man at Utkiavwĭñ who was called “the Kûñmû´dlĭñ.” He came there when a child, probably, by adoption, and was in no way distinguishable from the other people.

[Footnote N45: All the published information there is about them
from personal observation can be found in Franklin, Second Exp.,
p. 142; T. Simpson, Narrative, pp. 118-123; and Hooper, Tents,
etc., pp. 255-257 and 260.]

Father Petitot appears to include these people in the “Taρèoρmeut” division of his “Tchiglit” Eskimo, whom he loosely describes as inhabiting the coast from Herschel Island to Liverpool Bay, including the delta of the Mackenzie,[N46] without locating their permanent villages. In another place, however, he excludes the “Taρèoρmeut” from the “Tchiglit,” saying, “Dans l’ouest, les _Tchiglit_ communiquaient avec leurs plus proches voisins les Taρèoρ-meut,”[N47] while in a third place[N48] he gives the country of the “Tchiglit” as extending from the Coppermine River to the Colville, and on his map in the same volume, the “Tareormeut” are laid down in the Mackenzie delta only. According to his own account, however, he had no personal knowledge of any Eskimo west of the Mackenzie delta. These people undoubtedly have a local name derived from that of their winter village, but it is yet to be learned.

[Footnote N46: Monographie, p. xi.]

[Footnote N47: Ibid, p. xvi.]

[Footnote N48: Bull. de la Société de Géographie, 6^e sér., vol.
10, p. 256.]

It is possible that they do consider themselves the same people with the Eskimo of the Mackenzie delta, and call themselves by the general name of “Taρèoρmeut” (= Taxaiomiun in the Point Barrow dialect), “those who live by the sea.” That they do not call themselves “Kûñmû´dlĭñ” or “Kanmali-enyuin” or “Kangmaligmeut” is to my mind quite certain. The word “Kûñmû´dlĭñ,” as already stated, is used at Norton Sound to designate the people of Point Barrow (I was called a “Kûñmû´dlĭñ” by some Eskimo at St. Michaels because I spoke the Point Barrow dialect), who do not recognize the name as belonging to themselves, but have transferred it to the people under consideration. Now, “Kûñmû´dlĭñ” is a word formed after the analogy of many Eskimo words from a noun kûñme and the affix lĭñ or dlĭñ (in Greenlandic lik), “one who has a ----.” The radical noun, the meaning of which I can not ascertain, would become in the Mackenzie dialect kρagmaρk (using Petitot’s orthography), which with -lik in the plural would make kρagmalit. (According to Petitot’s “Grammaire” the plural of -lik in the Mackenzie dialect is -lit, and not -gdlit, as in Greenlandic). This is the name given by Petitot on his map to the people of the Anderson River,[N49] while he calls the Anderson River itself Kρagmalik.[N50] The father, however, had but little personal knowledge of the natives of the Anderson, having made but two, apparently brief, visits to their village in 1865, when he first made the acquaintance of the Eskimo. He afterwards became fairly intimate with the Eskimo of the Mackenzie delta, parties of whom spent the summers of 1869 and 1870 with him. From these parties he appears to have obtained the greater part of the information embodied in his Monographie and Vocabulaire, as he explicitly states that he brought the last party to Fort Good Hope “autant pour les instruire à loisir que pour apprendre d’eux leur idiome.”[N51] Nothing seems to me more probable than that he learned from these Mackenzie people the names of their neighbors of the Anderson, which he had failed to obtain in his flying visits 5 years before, and that it is the same name, “Kûñmû´dlĭñ,” which we have followed from Norton Sound and found always applied to the people just beyond us. Could we learn the meaning of this word the question might be settled, but the only possible derivation I can see for it is from the Greenlandic Karmaĸ, a wall, which throws no light upon the subject. Petitot calls the people of Cape Bathurst Kρagmaliveit, which appears to mean “the real Kûñmû´dlĭñ” (“Kûñmû´dlĭñ” and the affix -vik, “the real”).

[Footnote N49: See also Monographie, etc., p. xi, where the name
is spelled Kρamalit.]

[Footnote N50: Vocabulaire, etc., p. 76.]

[Footnote N51: Bull. Soc. de Géog., 6^e sér., vol. 10, p. 39.]

The Kupûñmiun appear to inhabit the permanent villages which have been seen near the western mouth of the Mackenzie, at Shingle Point[N52] and Point Sabine,[N53] with an outlying village, supposed to be deserted, at Point Kay.[N54] They are the natives described by Petitot in his Monographie as the Taρèoρmeut division of the Tchiglit, to whom, from the reasons already stated, most of his account seems to apply. There appears to me no reasonable doubt, considering his opportunities for observing these people, that Taρèoρmeut, “those who dwell by the sea,” is the name that they actually apply to themselves, and that Kupûñmiun, or Kopagmut, “those who live on the Great River,” is a name bestowed upon them by their neighbors, perhaps their western neighbors alone, since all the references to this name seem to be traceable to the authority of Dr. Simpson. Should they apply to themselves a name of similar meaning, it would probably be of a different form, as, according to Petitot,[N55] they call the Mackenzie Kuρvik, instead of Kupûk or Kupûñ.

[Footnote N52: T. Simpson, Narrative, p. 112.]

[Footnote N53: Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 264.]

[Footnote N54: ibid, p. 263.]

[Footnote N55: Bull. Soc. de Géog., 6^e sér., vol. 10, p. 182.]

These are the people who visit Fort Macpherson every spring and summer,[N56] and are well known to the Hudson Bay traders as the Mackenzie River Eskimo. They are the Eskimo encountered between Herschel Island and the mouth of the Mackenzie by Franklin, by Dease and Simpson, and by Hooper and Pullen, all of whom have published brief notes concerning them.[N57]

[Footnote N56: Petitot, Monographie, etc., pp. xvi and xx.]

[Footnote N57: Franklin, 2d Exp., pp. 99-101, 105-110, 114-119 and
128; T. Simpson, Narrative, pp. 104-112; Hooper, Tents, etc., pp.
263-264. There is also a brief note by the Rev. W. W. Kirkby, in a
“Journey to the Youcan.” Smithsonian Report for 1864. These, with
Petitot’s in many respects admirable Monographie, comprise all the
information regarding these people from actual observation that
has been published. Richardson has described them at second hand
in his “Searching Expedition” and “Polar Regions.” The “Kopagmute”
of Petroff (Report, etc., p. 125) are a purely hypothetical people
invented to fill the space between “the coast people in the north
and the Athabascans in the south.”]

We are still somewhat at a loss for the proper local names of the last labret-wearing Eskimo, those, namely, of the Anderson River and Cape Bathurst. That they are not considered by the Taρèoρmeut as belonging to the same “tribe” with themselves is evident from the names Kρagmalit and Kρagmalivëit, applied to them by Petitot. Sir John Richardson, the first white man to encounter them (in 1826), says that they called themselves “Kitte-garrœ-oot,”[N58] and the Point Barrow people told Dr. Simpson of country called “Kit-te-ga´-ru” beyond the Mackenzie.[N59] These people, as well as the Taρèoρmeut, whom they closely resemble, are described in Petitot’s Monographie, and brief notices of them are given by Sir John Richardson,[N60] McClure,[N61] Armstrong,[N62] and Hooper.[N63] The arts and industries of these people from the Mackenzie to the Anderson, especially the latter region, are well represented in the National Museum by the collections of Messrs. Kennicott, Ross, and MacFarlane. The Point Barrow people say that the Kupûñmiun are “bad;”[N64] but notwithstanding this small parties from the two villages occasionally travel east to the Mackenzie, and spend the winter at the Kupûñmiun village, whence they visit the “great house,” returning the following season. Such a party left Point Barrow June 15, 1882, declaring their intention of going all the way to the Mackenzie. They returned August 25 or 26, 1883, when we were in the midst of the confusion of closing the station, so that we learned no details of their journey. A letter with which they were intrusted to be forwarded to the United States through the Mackenzie River posts reached the Chief Signal Officer in the summer of 1883 by way of the Rampart House, on the Porcupine River, whence we received an answer by the bearer from the factor in charge. The Eskimo probably sent the letter to the Rampart House by the Indians who visit that post.

[Footnote N58: Franklin, 2d Exp., p. 203.]

[Footnote N59: Ibid., p. 269.]

[Footnote N60: Franklin, 2d Exp., pp. 193, 203 and 230; Searching
Exp., and Polar Regions, p. 300.]

[Footnote N61: N. W. Passage, pp. 84-98.]

[Footnote N62: Personal Narrative, p. 176.]

[Footnote N63: Tents, etc., pp. 343-348.]

[Footnote N64: Compare what Petitot has to say--Monographie, etc.,
p. xiii and passim--about the turbulent and revengeful character
of the “Tchiglit.”]

The intercourse between these people is purely commercial. Dr. Simpson, in the paper so often quoted, gives an excellent detailed description of the course of this trade, which agrees in the main with our observations, though we did not learn the particulars of time and distance as accurately as he did. There have been some important changes, however, since his time. A small party, perhaps five or six families, of “Nunatañmiun” now come every summer to Point Barrow about the end of July, or as soon as the shallow bays along shore are open. They establish themselves at the summer camping ground at Pérnyɐ, at the southwest corner of Elson Bay, and stay two or three weeks, trading with the natives and the ships, dancing, and shooting ducks. The eastward-bound parties seem to start a little earlier than formerly (July 7, 1853, July 3, 1854,[N65] June 18, 1882, and June 29, 1883). From all accounts their relations with the eastern people are now perfectly friendly. We heard nothing of the precautionary measures described by Dr. Simpson,[N66] and the women talked frequently of their trading with the Kûñmû´dlĭñ and even with the Kupûñmiun.[N67] We did not learn definitely whether they met the latter at Barter Point or whether they went still farther east.

[Footnote N65: Dr. Simpson, op. cit., p. 264.]

[Footnote N66: Op. cit., p. 265.]

[Footnote N67: In the Plover’s time they were left a day’s journey
in the rear.]

Some of the Point Barrow parties do not go east of the Colville. The articles of trade have changed somewhat in the last 30 years, from the fact that the western natives can now buy directly from the whalers iron articles, arms, and ammunition, beads, tobacco, etc. The Nunatañmiun now sell chiefly furs, deerskins, and clothing ready made from them, woodenware (buckets and tubs), willow poles for setting nets, and sometimes fossil ivory. The double-edged Siberian knives are no longer in the market and appear to be going out of fashion, though a few of them are still in use. Ready-made stone articles, like the whetstones mentioned by Dr. Simpson,[N68] are rarely, if ever, in the market. We did not hear of the purchase of stone lamps from the eastern natives. This is probably due to a cessation of the demand for them at Point Barrow, owing to the falling off in the population.

[Footnote N68: Op. cit., p. 266.]

The Kûñmû´dlĭñ no longer furnish guns and ammunition, as the western natives prefer the breech-loading arms they obtain from the whalers to the flintlock guns sold by the Hudson Bay Company. The trade with these people seems to be almost entirely for furs and skins, notably black and red fox skins and wolverine skins. Skins of the narwhal or beluga are no longer mentioned as important articles of trade.

In return for these things the western natives give sealskins, etc., especially oil, as formerly, though I believe that very little, if any, whalebone is now carried east, since the natives prefer to save it for trading with the ships in the hope of getting liquor, or arms and ammunition, and various articles of American manufacture, beads, kettles, etc. I was told by an intelligent native of Utkiavwĭñ that brass kettles were highly prized by the Kupûñmiun, and that a large one would bring three wolverine skins,[N69] three black foxskins, or five red ones. One woman was anxious to get all the empty tin cans she could, saying that she could sell them to the Kûñmû´dlĭñ for a foxskin apiece. We were told that the eastern natives were glad to buy gun flints and bright-colored handkerchiefs, and that the Nunatañmiun wanted blankets and playing cards.

[Footnote N69: T. Simpson saw iron kettles at Camden Bay which had
been purchased from the western natives at two wolverine skins
apiece. Narrative, p. 171.]

_Indians._--They informed us that east of the Colville they sometimes met “Itkû´dlĭñ,” people with whom they could not converse, but who were friendly and traded with them, buying oil for fox skins. They were said to live back of the coast between the Colville and the Mackenzie, and were described as wearing no labrets, but rings in their ears and noses. They wear their hair long, do not tonsure the crown, and are dressed in jackets of skin with the hair removed, without hoods, and ornamented with beads and fringe. We saw one or two such jackets in Utkiavwĭñ apparently made of moose skin, and a few pouches of the same material, highly ornamented with beads. They have long flintlock guns, white man’s wooden pipes, which they value highly, and axes--not adzes--with which they “break many trees.” We easily understood from this description that Indians were meant, and since our return I have been able to identify one or two of the tribes with tolerable certainty.

They seem better acquainted with these people than in Dr. Simpson’s time, and know the word “kŭtchin,” people, in which many of the tribal names end. We did not hear the names Ko´yukan or Itkalya´ruin which Dr. Simpson learned, apparently from the Nunatañmiun.[N70] I heard one man speak of the Kŭtcha Kutchin, who inhabit the “Yukon from the Birch River to the Kotlo River on the east and the Porcupine River on the north, ascending the latter a short distance.”[N71]

[Footnote N70: “The inland Eskimo also call them Ko´-yu-kan, and
divide them into three sections or tribes. * * *

One is called I´t-ka-lyi [apparently the plural of Itkûdlĭñ],
* * * the second It-kal-ya´-ruīn [different or other Itkûdlĭñ],”
op. cit., p. 269.]

[Footnote N71: Dall, Cont. to N. A. Ethn., vol. 1, p. 30, where
they are identified with Itkalyaruin of Simpson.]

One of the tribes with which they have dealings is the “Rat Indians” of the Hudson Bay men, probably the Vunta´-Kŭtchin,[N72] from the fact that they visit Fort Yukon. These are the people whom Capt. Maguire met on his unsuccessful sledge journey to the eastward to communicate with Collinson. The Point Barrow people told us that “Magwa” went east to see “Colli´k-sina,” but did not see him, only saw the Itkûdlĭñ. Collinson,[N73] speaking of Maguire’s second winter at Point Barrow, says: “In attempting to prosecute the search easterly, an armed body of Indians of the Koyukun tribe were met with, and were so hostile that he was compelled to return.” Maguire himself, in his official report,[N74] speaks of meeting _four_ Indians who had followed his party for several days. He says nothing of any hostile demonstration; in fact, says they showed signs of disappointment at his having nothing to trade with them, but his Eskimo, he says, called them Koyukun, which he knew was the tribe that had so barbarously murdered Lieut. Barnard at Nulato in 1851. Moreover, each Indian had a musket, and he had only two with a party of eight men, so he thought it safer to turn back. However, he seems to have distributed among them printed “information slips,” which they immediately carried to Fort Yukon, and returning to the coast with a letter from the clerk in charge, delivered it to Capt. Collinson on board of the _Enterprise_ at Barter Island, July 18, 1854. The letter is as follows:

FORT YOUCON, _June 27, 1854_.

The printed slips of paper delivered by the officers of H.M.S.
_Plover_ on the 25th of April, 1854, to the Rat Indians were
received on the 27th of June, 1854, at the Hudson Bay Company’s
establishment, Fort Youcon. The Rat Indians are in the habit of
making periodical trading excursions to the Esquimaux along the
coast. They are a harmless, inoffensive set of Indians, ever ready
and willing to render any assistance they can to the whites.

WM. LUCAS HARDISTY,
_Clerk in charge_.[N75]

[Footnote N72: Ibid., p. 31.]

[Footnote N73: Arctic Papers, p. 119.]

[Footnote N74: Further papers, etc., pp. 905 et seq.]

[Footnote N75: Arctic Papers, p. 144.]

Capt. Collinson evidently never dreamed of identifying this “harmless, inoffensive set of Indians” with “an armed body of Indians of the Koyukun tribe.” It is important that his statement, quoted above, should be corrected lest it serve as authority for extending the range of the Koyukun Indians[N76] to the Arctic Ocean. The Point Barrow people also know the name of the U´na-kho-tānā,[N77] or En´akotina, as they pronounce it. Their intercourse with all these Indians appears to be rather slight and purely commercial. Friendly relations existed between the Rat Indians and the “Eskimos who live somewhere near the Colville” as early as 1849,[N78] while it was still “war to the knife” between the Peel River Indians and the Kupûñmiun.[N79]

[Footnote N76: Koyū´-ku´kh-otā´nā, Dall, Cont. to N. A. Eth.,
p. 27.]

[Footnote N77: Ibid., p. 28.]

[Footnote N78: Hooper, Tents, etc. p. 276.]

[Footnote N79: Ibid., p. 273.]

The name Itkû´dlĭñ, of which I´t-ka-lyi of Dr. Simpson appears to be the plural, is a generic word for an Indian, and is undoubtedly the same as the Greenland word erĸileĸ--plural erĸigdlit--which means a fabulous “inlander” with a face like a dog. “They are martial spirits and inhuman foes to mankind; however, they only inhabit the east side of the land.”[N80] Dr. Rink[N81] has already pointed out that this name is in use as far as the Mackenzie River--for instance, the Indians are called “eert-kai-lee” (Parry), or “it-kagh-lie” (Lyon), at Fury and Hecla Strait; ik-kil-lin (Gilder), at the west shore of Hudson Bay, and “itkρe´le´it” (Petitot) at the Mackenzie. Petitot also gives this word as itkpe´lit in his vocabulary (p. 42). These words, including the term Ingalik, or In-ka-lik, applied by the natives of Norton Sound to the Indians,[N82] and which Mr. Dall was informed meant “children of a louse’s egg,” all appear to be compounds of the word erĸeĸ, a louse egg, and the affix lik. (I suspect erĸileĸ, from the form of its plural, to be a corruption of “erĸiliĸ,” since there is no recognized affix -leĸ in Greenlandic.)

[Footnote N80: Crantz, vol. 1, p. 208.]

[Footnote N81: Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1885, p. 244.]

[Footnote N82: Dall, Alaska, p. 28 and Contrib., vol. 1, p. 25.]

Petitot[N83] gives an interesting tradition in regard to the origin of this name: “La tradition Innok dédaigne de parler ici des Peaux-Rouges. L’áyant fait observer á mon narrateur Aρviuna: ‘Oh!’ me repondait-il, ‘il ne vaut pas la peine d’en parler. Ils naquirent aussi dans l’ouest, sur l’ile du Castor, des larves de nos poux. C’ést pourquoi nous les nommons Itkρe´le´it.’”

[Footnote N83: Monographie, p. xxiv.]

CONTACT WITH CIVILIZED PEOPLE.

Until the visit of the _Blossom’s_ barge in 1826 these people had never seen a white man, although they were already in possession of tobacco and articles of Russian manufacture, such as copper kettles, which they had obtained from Siberia by way of the Diomedes. Mr. Elson’s party landed only at Refuge Inlet, and had but little intercourse with the natives. His visit seemed to have been forgotten by the time of the _Plover’s_ stay at Point Barrow, though Dr. Simpson found people who recollected the visit of Thomas Simpson in 1837.[N84] The latter, after he had left the boats and was proceeding on foot with his party, first met the Nuwŭñmiun at Point Tangent, where there was a small party encamped, from whom he purchased the umiak in which he went on to Point Barrow. He landed there early in the morning of August 4, and went down to the summer camp at Pernyɐ, where he stayed till 1 o’clock in the afternoon, trading with the natives and watching them dance. On his return to Point Tangent some of the natives accompanied him to Boat Extreme, where he parted from them August 6, so that his whole intercourse with them was confined to less than a week.[N85]

[Footnote N84: Op. cit., p. 264.]

[Footnote N85: Narrative, pp. 146-168.]

The next white men who landed at Point Barrow were the party in the _Plover’s_ boats, under Lieuts. Pullen and Hooper, on their way to the Mackenzie, and the crew of Mr. Sheddon’s yacht, the _Nancy Dawson_, in the summer of 1849. The boats were from July 29 to August 3 getting from Cape Smyth past Point Barrow, when the crews were ashore for a couple of days and did a little trading with the natives, whom they found very friendly. They afterwards had one or two skirmishes with evil-disposed parties of Nuwŭñmiun returning from the east in the neighborhood of Return Reef. The exploring ships _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ also had casual meetings with the natives, who received tobacco, etc., from the ships.

The depot ship _Plover_, Commander Maguire, spent the winters of 1852-’53 and 1853-’54 at Point Barrow, and the officers and crew, after some misunderstandings and skirmishes, established very friendly and sociable relations with the natives. The only published accounts of the _Plover’s_ stay at Point Barrow are Commander Maguire’s official reports, published in the Parliamentary Reports (Blue Books) for 1854, pp. 165-185, and 1855, pp. 905 et seq., and Dr. Simpson’s paper, already mentioned. Maguire’s report of the first winter’s proceedings is also published as an appendix to Sherard Osborne’s “Discovery of the Northwest Passage.”

We found that the elder natives remembered Maguire, whom they called “Magwa,” very well. They gave us the names of many of his people and a very correct account of the most important proceedings, though they did not make it clear that the death of the man mentioned in his report was accidental. They described “Magwa” as short and fat, with a very thick neck, and all seemed very much impressed with the height of his first lieutenant, “Epi´ana” (_Vernon_), who had “lots of guns.”

It was difficult to see that the _Plover’s_ visit had exerted any permanent influence on these people. In fact, Dr. Simpson’s account of their habits and customs would serve very well for the present time, except in regard to the use of firearms. They certainly remembered no English. Indeed, Dr. Simpson says[N86] that they learned hardly any. The _Plover’s_ people probably found it very easy to do as we did and adopt a sort of jargon of Eskimo words and “pigeon English” grammar for general intercourse. Although, according to the account of the natives, there was considerable intercourse between the sailors and the Eskimo women, there are now no people living at either village who we could be sure were born from such intercourse, though one woman was suspected of being half English. She was remarkable only for her large build, and was not lighter than many pure-blooded women.

[Footnote N86: Op. cit., p. 251.]

Since 1854, when the first whalers came as far north as the Point, there has hardly been a season in which ships have not visited this region, and for a couple of months every year the natives have had considerable intercourse with the whites, going off to the ships to trade, while the sailors come ashore occasionally. We found that they usually spoke of white men as “kablu´na;” but they informed us that they had another word, “tû´n-nyĭn,” which they used to employ among themselves when they saw a ship. Dr. Simpson[N87] says that they learned the word “kabluna” from the eastern natives, but that the latter (he gives it Tan´-ning or Tan´-gin) came from the Nunata´ñmiun. He supposes it to apply to the Russians, who had regular bath days at their posts, and says it is derived from tan-nikh-lu-go, to wash or cleanse the person.

[Footnote N87: Op. cit., p. 271.]

The chief change resulting from their intercourse with the whites has been the introduction of firearms. Nearly all the natives are now provided with guns, some of them of the best modern patterns of breechloaders, and they usually succeed in procuring a supply of ammunition. This is in some respects a disadvantage, as the reindeer have become so wild that the natives would no longer be able to procure a sufficient number of them for food and clothing with their former appliances, and they are thus rendered dependent on the ships. On the other hand, with a plentiful supply of ammunition it is easier for them to procure abundance of food, both deer and seals, and they are less liable to famine than in former times.

There is no reason to fear, as has been suggested, that they will lose the art of making any of their own weapons except in the case of the bow. With firearms alone they would be unable to obtain any seals, a much more important source of food than the reindeer, and their own appliances for sealing are much better than any civilized contrivances. Although they have plenty of the most improved modern whaling gear, they are not likely to forget the manufacture of their own implements for this purpose, as this important fishery is ruled by tradition and superstition, which insists that at least one harpoon of the ancient pattern must be used in taking every whale. All are now rich in iron, civilized tools, canvas and wreck wood, and in this respect their condition is improved.

They have, however, adopted very few civilized habits. They have contracted a taste for civilized food, especially hard bread and flour, but this they are unable to obtain for 10 months of the year, and they are thus obliged to adhere to their former habits. In fact, except in regard to the use of firearms and mechanics’ tools, they struck me as essentially a conservative people.

Petroff[N88] makes the assertion that in late years their movements have been guided chiefly by those of the whalers. As far as we could observe they have not changed the course or time of their journeys since Dr. Simpson’s time, except that they have given up the autumn whaling, possibly on account of the presence of the ships at that season. Of course, men who are rich in whalebone now stay to trade with the ships, while those who have plenty of oil go east. They are not absolutely dependent on the ships for anything except ammunition, and even during the short time the ships are with them they hardly neglect their own pursuits.

[Footnote N88: Report, etc., p. 125.]

The one unmitigated evil of their intercourse with the whites has been the introduction of spirits. Apart from the direct injury which liquor does to their health, their passionate fondness for it leads them to barter away valuable articles which should have served to procure ammunition or other things of permanent use. It is to be hoped, however, that the liquor traffic is decreasing. The vigilance of the revenue cutter prevents regular whisky traders from reaching the Arctic Ocean, and public opinion among the whaling captains seems to be growing in the right direction.

Another serious evil, which it would be almost impossible to check, is the unlimited intercourse of the sailors with the Eskimo women. The whites can hardly be said to have introduced laxity of sexual morals, but they have encouraged a natural savage tendency, and have taught them prostitution for gain, which has brought about great excesses, fortunately confined to a short season. This may have something to do with the want of fertility among the women.

Our two years of friendly relations with these people were greatly to their advantage. Not only were our house and our doings a constant source of amusement to them, but they learned to respect and trust the whites. Without becoming dependent on us or receiving any favors without some adequate return either in work or goods, they were able to obtain tobacco, hard bread, and many other things of use to them, all through the year. Our presence prevented their procuring more than trifling quantities of spirits, and though the supply of breech-loading ammunition was pretty well cut off, they could get plenty of powder and shot for their muzzle loaders. The abundance of civilized food was undoubtedly good for them, and our surgeon was able to give them a great deal of help in sickness.

In all their intercourse with the whites they have learned very little English, chiefly a few oaths and exclamations like “Get out of here,” and the words of such songs as “Little Brown Jug” and “Shoo Fly,” curiously distorted. They have as a rule invented genuine Eskimo words for civilized articles which are new to them.[N89] Even in their intimate relations with us they learned but few more phrases and in most cases without a knowledge of their meaning.

[Footnote N89: See list of “New Words,” Rep. Point Barrow Exp.,
p. 57.]

There are a few Hawaiian words introduced by the Kanaka sailors on the whaleships, which are universally employed between whites and Eskimo along the whole of the Arctic coast, and occasionally at least among the Eskimo themselves. These are _kau-kau_,[N90] food, or to eat; _hana-hana_, work; _pûnĭ-pûnĭ_, _coitus_, and _pau_, not. _Wahíne_, woman, is also used, but is less common. Another foreign word now universally employed among them in their intercourse with the whites, and even, I believe, among themselves, is “kuníɐ” for woman or wife. They themselves told us that it was not an Eskimo word--“When there were no white men, there was no _kuníɐ_”--and some of the whalemen who had been at Hudson Bay said it was the “Greenland” word for woman. It was not until our return to this country that we discovered it to be the Danish word _kone_, woman, which in the corrupted form “coony” is in common use among the eastern Eskimo generally in the jargon they employ in dealing with the whites. _Kuníɐ_ is “coony” with the suffix of the third person, and therefore means “his wife.” It is sometimes used at Point Barrow for either of a married couple in the sense of our word “spouse.”

[Footnote N90: The history of this word, which also appears as a
Chuckch word in some of the vocabularies collected by
Nordenskiöld’s expedition, is rather curious. Chamisso (Kotzebue’s
Voyage, vol. 2, p. 392, foot-note) says that this is a Hawaiian
corruption of the well-known “Pigeon-English” (he calls it
Chinese) word “chow-chow” recently (in 1816-’17) adopted by the
Sandwich Islanders from the people with whom they trade. I am
informed that the word is not of Chinese origin, but probably came
from India, like many other words in “Pigeon-English.” Chamisso
also calls _pûnĭ-pûnĭ_ a Chinese word, but I have been able to
learn nothing of its origin.]

NATURAL RESOURCES.

ANIMALS.

These people are acquainted with the following animals, all of which are more or less hunted, and serve some useful purpose.

_Mammals._--The wolf, amáxo (Canis lupus griseo-albus), is not uncommon in the interior, but rarely if ever reaches the coast. Red and black foxes, kaiă´ktûk (Vulpes fulvus fulvus and argentatus), are chiefly known from their skins, which are common articles in the trade with the eastern natives, and the same is true of the wolverine, ka´vwĭñ (Gulo luscus), and the marten, kabweatyía (Mustela americana). The arctic fox, tĕrĭgûniɐ (Vulpes lagopus), is very abundant along the coast, while the ermine (Putorius erminea) and Parry’s spermophile (Spermophilus empetra empetra) are not rare. The last is called sĭksĭñ. Lemmings, a´vwĭñɐ, of two species (Cuniculus torquatus and Myodes obensis) are very abundant some years, and they recognize a tiny shrewmouse (Sorex forsteri). This little animal is called ugrúnɐ, a word corresponding to the name ugssungnaĸ given to the same animal in Labrador, which, according to Kleinschmidt,[N91] is an ironical application of the name of the largest seal, ugssuk (ugru at Point Barrow), to the smallest mammal known to the Eskimo. The same name is also applied at Point Barrow to the fossil ox, whose bones are sometimes found. The most abundant land animal, however, is the reindeer, tŭ´ktu (Rangifer tarandus grœnlandicus), which is found in winter in great herds along the upper waters of the rivers, occasionally coming down to the coast, and affords a very important supply of food.

[Footnote N91: Grønlandsk Ordbog, p. 386.]