92 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



There were indications that all these villages existed up to the time of 

 the coming of the Russians and some even until the arrival of Ameri- 

 cans, the last remnants of their people dying out during the influenza 

 epidemic of 1919. The natives now on these rivers are almost all 

 later comers with accretions from places as far distant as Togiak and 

 the Kuskokwim. No part of this region had ever heen touched by a 

 scientific man and it therefore presented a virgin field for exploration. 

 The old sites yielded much precious skeletal material, hut all attempts 

 at archeological excavation had to he abandoned for the time, owing 

 to complete lack of labor. 



The measurements on the living and the skeletal remains showed 

 conclusivelv that the entire watershed of the Nushagak, with the 

 probable exception of the uppermost reaches of the Molchatna, was 

 peopled by a uniform type of Eskimo population, identical with that 

 of the Kuskokwim basin. The burials also were of the Kuskokwim 

 type, with local modifications. A few of the burials in the old sites 

 had been above ground, but the majority were from 2\ to 3^ feet deep 

 in the ground, which was still partly frozen. The bodies in the older 

 burials were invariably in the contracted position. 



Upon return to Naknek a second effort was made to excavate the 

 burials of the old " Aleut " village of Pawik, uninhabited for at least 

 75 years and covering a large site on the high right bank of the Naknek 

 River, not far from its mouth. But the ground was still frozen 

 so deeply that not much could be done, and so I proceeded 35 miles 

 westward, to the Egigik River. Here was found the very advantage- 

 ously situated burial ground of the old Egigik village, and a few days 

 of trenching and other excavation produced some excellent material. 

 Here is also one of the shortest and still used passes across the 

 Peninsula. It takes but nine hours with a small motor boat and 

 over the short portage to reach the Pacific. 



All through these regions and those visited later there were heard 

 tales, both from the natives and the old white settlers, of former in- 

 cursions from the Kuskokwim, from Togiak, from Kanakak, and even 

 from the western " Aleut " territory, and of consequent " battles," 

 some of which " made the waters run red." It was invariably those 

 from the north or the west who were attacking the people of the 

 eastern parts of the Peninsula. The results of this were the intro- 

 duction of more or less newer blood and customs, but also more or 

 less local breaking up or depopulation. The complete extinction of the 

 old peninsular villages however is ascribed invariably to epidemics 

 brought by the white man, the final blows having been the several 

 attacks of the " flu." That of 1919 left so many dead in places that 



