SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS. 



The people whose arts and industries are represented by the collec 

 tion to be described are the Eskimo of the northwestern extremity of 

 the continent of North America, who make permanent homes at the two 

 villages of Nmvfik and Utkiavwiu. Small contributions to the collec 

 tion were obtained from natives of Wainwright Inlet and from people of 

 the Inland River (Xunatafimiun) who visited the northern villages. 



Nuwuk, &quot;the Point,&quot; is situated on a slightly elevated knoll at the 

 extremity of Point Barrow, in lat. 71 23 N., long. 1500 17- \y _ an( i 

 Utkiavwlfi, &quot;the Oliffs,&quot; at the beginning of the high land at ( ape 

 Smyth, 11 miles southwest from Nuwuk. The name Utkiavwln was ex 

 plained as meaning &quot;the high place, whence one can look out,&quot; and was 

 said to be equivalent to Ikplk, a cliff. This name appears on the various 

 maps of this region under several corrupted forms, due to carelessness 

 or inability to catch the finer distinctions of sound. It first appears on 

 Capt. Maguire s map 1 as &quot;Ot-ki-a-wing,&quot; a form of the word very near 

 the Eskimo pronunciation, (hi Dr. Simpson s map it is changed to 

 &quot;Ot-ke-a-vik,&quot; which on the admiralty chart is misprinted &quot;Otkiovik.&quot; 

 Petroff on his map 3 calls it &quot;Ootiwakh,&quot; while he gives an imaginary 

 village &quot; Ootkaiowik, Arctic Ocean,&quot; of 55 inhabitants, in his census of 

 the Arctic Division (op. cit., p. 4), which does not appear upon his ma]). 



Our party, I regret to say, is responsible for the name &quot; Ooglaamie &quot; or 

 &quot;Uglaamie,&quot; which has appeared on many maps since our return. Strictly 

 speaking this name should be used only as the official name of the United 

 States signal station. It arose from a misunderstanding of the name as 

 heard the day after we arrived, and was even adopted by the natives in 

 talking with us. It was not until the second year that we learned the 

 correct form of the word, which has been carefully verified. 



The inhabitants of these two villages are so widely separated from 

 their neighbors the nearest permanent villages are at Point Belcher 

 and Waimvright Inlet, 75 miles southwest, and Demarcation Point, 350 

 miles east 4 and so closely connected with each other by intermarriage 

 and common interests, that they may be considered as a single people. 

 In their hunting and trading expeditions they habitually range from the 

 neighborhood of Refuge Inlet along the coast to Barter Island, going 

 inland to the upper waters of the large rivers which flow northward 

 into the Arctic Ocean east of Point Barrow. Small parties occasionally 

 travel as far as Waimvright Inlet and more rarely to Point Hope, and 



Parl. Reports, 1854. vol.42, p. 186. 

 Further Papers, &&amp;lt;., Parl. Rep. (1855). 

 Report ou the population, etc., of Alaska. 



4 Capt. E. K. Smith, who in command of a steam whaler penetrated as tar east as Return Reef in the 

 flummerof 1885. says that the uativeg told him there was no permanent village west of Hersfliel Island. 



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