INTRODUCTORY. 



In taking up the subject of Alaskan ethnology I feel the natural hesitation of an inexperi- 

 enced observer to advance any new theories, or even discuss old ones, touching such a vast branch 

 of the study as treats of the origin of the Eskimos and their tribal classification. The object of 

 this report will be, then, to describe as simply as possible the characteristic feature of the natives 

 as they appeared to me during the work of exploration of the Kowak River and Selawik Lake 

 region, leaving to more competent ethnological students the important work of sifting and reducing 

 the evidence as here presented into such form as may be of service in the preparation of a more 

 formal and pretentious work. 



Range of observation. — For reasons fully explained in the narrative account of the exidoration 

 of the Kowak, the expedition was compelled to relinquish the attempt to reach the headwaters of 

 the river and to return to the coast. When this had been accomplished there still remained a 

 sufficient time from the period allotted me to make a short journey by boat through the Selawik 

 Lake region, embracing the circumnavigation of the lake and a partial examination of the river 

 delta. This reconnaissance not only brought me into contact with the native living in this region, 

 but furnished me with information in regard to the topography, which resulted in several important 

 changes being made in the maps of that section of the country. (See description of chart.) 



After the completion of Miis work I moved our camp to a sand-spit projecting into Kotzebue 

 Sound, from the southern side of the entrance to Hotham Inlet, where the coast natives of the 

 several settlements from Bering Strait, northward to Cape Lisburne, had rendezvoused to trade 

 with the natives of the interior living on the Noitoc, Kowak, and Selawik Rivers. The opportunity 

 thus offered me for observation was not lost, and in company with Mr. McLenegan and our interpre- 

 ter I visited the rendezvous every day. By persistent questioning and close personal observa- 

 tions the information which is here furnished was verified and corrected, and afterwards reduced 

 to its present state. I have resisted the temptation seemingly inseparable from the first attempts 

 of a writer in an entirely new field to exaggerate the facts falling under my notice, and hare rejected 

 all material which did not stand the test of thorough investigation, or about which there existed 

 any material difference of opinion. In this way I believe I have obtained data in regard to these 

 people which, if not all new, is at least reliable, and will furnish available matter for tilling in a 

 portion of the blank space on the ethnological chart of Alaska. 



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