308 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH.ANX. 18 



is called kn-u-nnli . If a seal carcass is taken from the netting place 

 or from the cache and carried to the village before the netting season 

 is over, it is claimed that all the other seals will know it and become 

 angry, so that no more will be taken during that season. 



If meat is needed a piece of flesh may be cut from the seals and 

 carried overland to the village, but a person must be very cautious 

 and keep away from the shore. At the close of the netting season the 

 seal bodies may be taken from the cache and carried to the village by 

 water. 



The idea that unexpected game is a kind of treasure trove is firmly 

 fixed in the minds of these people. On occasions when I sent men out 

 to shoot waterfowl and they chanced to kill a seal they always consid 

 ered the latter their own property, although they were hired to hunt 

 and were paid for their time. In such instances if I obtained the seal 

 it was by paying for it in addition to the regular wages. Their invari 

 able reply when asked about this would be: &quot;You said nothing about 

 killing a seal, so it is mine.&quot; 



On one occasion, while stopping for a short time in a small village 

 just west of Cape Darby, on the shore of Norton sound, I refused to 

 buy the ivory carvings and other ethnological specimens offered, telling 

 the villagers that I would return in a few days and buy the things they 

 had to sell. On my return I found the entire village was offended at 

 my having refused to buy their articles on the former visit, and not one 

 of them would trade with me. 



As a rule the Eskimo sold their implements and ivory carvings at 

 prices fixed by myself and seemed to regard it as a great piece of sport 

 that anyone would be simple enough to purchase such objects. At 

 Sabotuisky, on the Yukon, the people took whatever I offered, and 

 laughed over obtaining such prizes as needles, buttons, tobacco, etc, 

 in exchange for such objects, saying that I was giving away my goods. 



In large villages the people would frequently struggle to get within 

 reach of me, each striving to be first, saying that my goods would be 

 gone before they could get any of them. At a village on the lower 

 Yukon it was amusing to witness the absurd delight some of the natives 

 exhibited when I bought their carvings and other small objects. 



About St Michael the children were always pleased to be employed 

 on little errands or jobs of light work, and they were eager to trap and 

 bring me mice and shrews for specimens. They were given in return 

 gun caps, matches, or ship s bread, and the deliberate gravity with 

 which some of them would decide what they would have for a mouse 

 was very amusing. They are very mischievous in a quiet way, delight 

 ing in petty practical jokes on one another. One day I surprised a boy 

 10 years of age who was following close behind me mimicking my 

 motions, while his comrades stood at a safe distance greatly enter 

 tained by the performance. 



The young men are cheerful, light-hearted, and fond of jokes and 



