84 CRUISE OF THE STEAMER COUWIN. 



sex, but the outer "parkii" is made with a hood, which is drawu over the hea<l, leavint,' only the 

 face exposctl during cohl weather. Around the edge of the liood a ])iece of some longliaireil fur is 

 sewed to protect the eyes from flying particles of snow. Wolf-skin is usually preferred for this 

 purpose. The women's "parkas" are much longer than the men's, reaching below the kiice in 

 front and behind, but cut up ou the sides almost to the waist to allow of a free use of the legs iu 

 walking. 



Tlic women wear a belt to confine their "parkas" around the waist, and to it are fastened by 

 short deer skin thongs bits of ivory, metal buttons, leather bags in which are kept tobacco, matches, 

 needles, etc., and any other small article of value to them. This belt also enables a mother to carry 

 her baby underneath the folds of her " parka," which is the usual resting place of the young Eskimo. 

 In addition to the boots, inner shoes or socks made of soft, tanned buck or hair-seal skin are worn. 

 Mittens made of reindeer skin, with the hair turned in, are worn winter and summer. During the 

 summer season much lighter and generally more worn clothing is used, the inner garments are 

 discarded, and where cloth can be obtained it is substituted for fur. The skins of the muskrat 

 and squirrel are extensively used for summer parkas. At several places on the Kowak I observed 

 children with only one garment on — a parka — which left their legs bare to the attacks of the 

 blood-thirsty mosquito, and compelled them to crouch down near the ground and withdraw their 

 arms from the sleeves of the parka to avoid these pests. Some of the children's parkas are made 

 of bird-skins sewed together, and the sight of half a dozen of these little savages sitting crouched 

 along the banks of the river reminded us of a flock of storks fishing. All the clothing of these 

 tribes, and, in fact, everything they wear or use capable of harboring life, abounds in vermin. Their 

 houses are so filled with these disgusting creatures that after one sad experience I never entered 

 a winter habitation. The women make all of the clothing and keep it in order. They are expert 

 in the use of the needle, but their work in this respect does not compare with that of the coast 

 natives. Thread is made of deer sinew, and I saw a few specimens of needles made of bone, but 

 they are now almost obsolete, being rei)laced by steel needles obtained in barter on the coast. 



Transportation and locomotion. — The interior of northwest Alaska is con)i)osed of detached, 

 broken, and ii-regular mountain ranges and vast stretches of sjjonged sphagnum or tundra plains. 

 These plains are crossed in everj" direction by small streams, which take their rise in innunuirable 

 lakes. If the inexperienced traveler, tired of the confinement of his boat, leaves her and attemiits 

 to walk, he will not get very far before he finds himself plungiug and floundering in an impassable 

 morass. Underneath the moss-covered surface the earth has been reduced to a mud-like consistency 

 by the ( onstant rain from overhead and the melting ice which forms the base of the thin layer of 

 soil. There are no continuous mountain chains where by seeking the high ridges one may avoid 

 the tundra, and even on the mountains the dense growth of moisture-holding moss is found at an 

 elevation of 2,000 feet. In such a country the use of a boat for summer traveling is imperative. 

 The native never thinks of making a journey of any consequence at this season by any other way 

 than by water. 



At the settlements near the coast the ordinary skin boats and kaiaks of the Eskimo are used, 

 but when we reached the region of the Upper Kowak, where timber was abundant, wo found the 

 skin boat had been rei)laced by boats made of spruce and birch bark. The former material is used 

 extensively in the construction of the large boats used by the women while fishing and for the 

 purpose of general transportation. Lighter canoes of most ex(piisite design arc made of birch 

 bark stretched over frames made of well-seasoned wood. These little boats are from eight to ten 

 feet long by two feet wide at the point of greatest breadth of beam, a little forward of the center 

 of the boat. From here the sides curve to a point at each end. They are undecked except for a 

 short distance forward, where a piece of bark is laid across the bow and secured to the rail on 

 either side. The bark is put ou the frame in transverse sections for greater strength and is secured 

 in i)lace by lashings made of willow bark. The seams of all the bark canoes and boats are made 

 water tight by cementing them with melted spruce gum. The single-bladed i)addle is used exclu- 

 sively in the large boats, but in the small canoes both single and double bladed paddles are used. 

 In shoal water, or when keeping close to shore to avoid the current, paddles are discarded and the 

 boats are forced ahead by "poling"; short sticks or the shafts of spears are used for this purpose. 

 The canoes are used exclusively by the hunters, and, although they are very frail and do not weigh 



