80 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



lationship with the Shoshoni and with other cultures on the south, 

 those of the basket maker and the pueblo, is not yet clearly defined. 

 Further research along the Snake River and its tributaries in south- 

 ern Idaho, northern Utah, and Nevada will no doubt bring out addi- 

 tional evidence of relationships with the preagricultural peoples of 

 the Southwest. 



Mr. Henry B. Collins, jr., assistant curator of ethnology, and Mr. 

 T. Dale Stewart, of the division of physical anthropology. United 

 States National Museum, were detailed to conduct field work along 

 the coast of western Alaska, including the island of Nunivak, for 

 the purpose of observing these people, their manner of life, and their 

 physical type, as well as to collect skeletal and cultural material from 

 inhabited, and abandoned villages. From the standpoint of the 

 anthropologist, the section of Alaska from Bristol Bay northward 

 along the coast to the mouth of the Yukon is one of much interest, 

 for here dwell the most primitive group of Eskimo to be found in all 

 of Alaska. The work was conducted under the auspices of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, the United States National Museum, 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the 

 American Council of Learned Societies. 



Transportation to Nunivak Island was obtained on the U. S. S. 

 Boxer, through the courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Education, 

 which operates this boat in the interest of the native schools it main- 

 tains throughout Alaska. The Boxer stopped at Unalaska, Akutan, 

 and Ugashik on the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula, and 

 later at Kanakanak on the upper part of Bristol Bay. 



Leaving Bristol Bay, the journey was continued northward along 

 the coast, stopping at Kukukak, Togiak, Mumtrack. and Tanunuk. 

 The Eskimo here live in small villages, usually along the coast near 

 the mouth of a stream. They subsist principally on fish, seal, and 

 birds, together with berries and a few other native plants. The most 

 important item of their clothing is the parka, a long coatlike gar- 

 ment made of feathers or fur. Their dwellings are semisubterra- 

 nean, consisting of a square or octagonal excavation from 1 to 3 

 feet deep, with walls and roof built up of successive tiers of drift- 

 wood logs, for there is no timber anywhere along the coast north of 

 Bristol Bay. The outside is completely covered with sod. 



For winter travel the Eskimo use sleds and dog teams, while in 

 summer most of their journeys are made in the kayak, the in- 

 geniously made skin boat so typical of the Eskimo everywhere. 



On June 21 Mr. Collins and Mr. Stewart landed at Nash Harbor 

 on the northwestern end of Nunivak Island. 48 days after leaving 

 Seattle. Here at the small native village of Kligachimiuny is located 

 the school of the Bureau of Education. Nunivak Island is 70 miles 



