﻿KUSKUTCHEWAK. 365 



Kuskutchewak alluded to above, from which I 

 shall make a few extracts for the purpose of com- 

 parison with the better-known manners and customs 

 of the Eastern Eskimos. The Kuskutchewak inhabit 

 the banks of a river which falls into the sea on the 

 60th parallel, between the island of Nuniwak and 

 Cape Newenham. They are neither a nomadic nor 

 hunter folk, but dwell in winter in stationary vil- 

 lages built on the river, and in summer disperse 

 themselves inland to collect provisions. They have 

 a strong attachment to their ancestral abodes. 

 Their winter dwellings are partly sunk in the earth, 

 as on the Eskimo coasts, but no where else to the 

 eastward of the Rocky Mountains. On the west 

 coast this mode of building extends as far south as 

 Unalaschka ; and in Cook's Third Voyage there is 

 a representation of a winter house at that place far 

 superior in size, accommodation, and furniture, to 

 any that we saw on the northern shores. 



In each village of the Kuskutchewak there is a 

 public building, named the Kashim, in which coun- 

 cils are held and festivals kept, and which must be 

 larsfe enouo;h to contain all the OTOwn men of the 

 village. It has raised platforms round the walls, 

 and a place in the centre for the fire, with an 

 aperture in the roof for the admission of light.* 



* In Franklin's Second Overland Journals there is a plan 

 of the Point Atkinson kashim, which answers to the above de- 

 scription. 



