24 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 



Everywhere south of Point Hope a plentiful arctic vegetation is 

 found. Although the country is destitute of trees, along the courses 

 of streams and in sheltered spots on the southern slopes of hills a more 

 or less abundant growth of willows and alders is found. This is the 

 case even at the head of Kotzebue sound, directly under the Arctic 

 circle. Over a large portion of the low, gently rolling country are beds 

 of sphagnum interspersed with various grasses and flowering plants. 

 Inland, along the water courses, there occur spruce and white birch in 

 addition to the plants which are found nearer the coast. The villages 

 of the western Eskimo are located always near the sea or directly along 

 the water courses, such situations being necessitated by their depend 

 ence for the greater portion of their subsistence on game and the fish 

 obtaiued from the wators in their vicinity. 



Driftwood is abundant along most parts of the American coast within 

 the region discussed in this work, and the food supply also is more 

 abundant than is found in most regions inhabited by the eastern 

 Eskimo, so that the conditions of life with the Alaskan people are 

 much more favorable. The shores of Bering sea north of the Kusko- 

 kwim mouth are icebound from early in November until about the end 

 of May or early June of each year. North of Bering strait the sea ice 

 is present for a somewhat longer period. 



Although the aborigines living along the American .coast from Point 

 Barrow to Kuskokwim river are not separated by physical barriers, 

 ^hey are divided into groups characterized by distinct dialects. 







DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES AND DIALECTS 



The Shaktolik people told me that in ancient times, before the Rus 

 sians came, the Uualit occupied all the coast of Norton sound from Pas- 

 tolik northward to a point a little beyond Shaktolik. At that time the 

 southern limit of the Malemut was at the head of Norton bay. They 

 have since advanced and occupied village after village until now the 

 people at Shaktolik and Unalaklit are mainly Malemut or a mixture of 

 Malemut and Unalit. They added that since the disappearance of the 

 reindeer along the coast the Malemut have become much less numerous 

 than formerly. 



Various Russians and others, who were living in that region in 1872 

 and 1873, informed me that at that time there were about two hundred 

 people living in the village of Kigiktauik, while in 1881 I found only 

 about twelve or fourteen. At the time first named the mountains bor 

 dering the coast in that neighborhood swarmed with reindeer, and in 

 addition to the Unalit many Malemut had congregated there to take 

 advantage of the hunting. 



During November, 1880, I found a family of Malemut living in a 

 miserable hut on the upper part of Auvik river. As stated else 

 where, these people have become spread over a wide region. About 

 the middle of March. 1880, between Cape Nome and Sledge island, I 



