MI-HOOCH.] TOPOGRAPHY OF THE { Ol XTRY. 27 



sonic times as far a.s the Mackenzie River. The extent of their wander 

 ings will be treated of more fully in connection with their relations to 

 the other natives of the Northwest. They appear to he unacquainted 

 with the interior except for about 100 miles .south of Point Barrow. 



The coast from Refuse Inlet runs nearly straight in a generally north 

 east direction to Point Barrow, and consists of steep banks of clay, 

 gravel, and pebbles, in appearance closely resembling glacial drift, bor 

 dered by a narrow, steep beach of pebbles and gravel, and broken at 

 intervals by steep galleys which are the channels of temporary streams 

 running only daring the period of melting snow, and by long, narrow, 

 and shallow lagoons, to whose edges the cliffs slope gradually down, 

 sometimes ending in low, steep banks. The mouths of these lagoons 

 are generally rather wide, and closed by a bar of gravel thrown up by 

 the waves during the season of open water. In the spring, the snow 

 and ice on the land melt months before the sea opens and Hood the ice 

 on the lagoons, which also melts gradually around the edges until there 

 is a sufficient head of water in the lagoon to break through the bar at 

 the lowest point. This stream soon cuts itself a channel, usually about 

 20 or . 50 yards wide, through which the lagoon is rapidly drained, soon 

 cutting out an open space of greater or less extent in the sea ice. 

 Before the sea opens the lagoon is drained down to its level, and the 

 tide ebbs and flows through the channel, which is usually from knee- 

 deep to waist-deep, so that the lagoon becomes more or less brackish. 

 When the sea gets sufficiently open for waves to break upon the beach, 

 they in a short time bring in enough gravel to close the outlet. The 

 cliffs gradually decrease in height till they reach Cape Smyth, wheue 

 they are about 25 feet high, and terminate in low knolls sloping down 

 to the banks of the broad lagoon Isutkw, which is made by the con 

 fluence of two narrow, sinuous gulleys, and is only 10 feet deep in the 

 deepest part. 



Rising from the beach beyond the mouth of this lagoon is a slight ele 

 vation, 12 feet above the sea level, which was anciently the site of a 

 small village, called by the same name as the lagoon. On this elevation 

 was situated the United States signal station of Ooglaamie. Beyond 

 this the land is level with the top of the beach, which is broad and nearly 

 flat, raised into a slight ridge on the outer edge. About half a mile 

 from the station, just at the edge of the beach, is the small lagoon 

 Imernyu, about 200 yards in diameter, and nearly tilled up with marsh. 

 From this point the land slopes down to Elson Bay, a shallow body 

 of water inclosed by the sandspit which forms Point Barrow. This is 

 a continuation of the line of the beach, varying in breadth from 200 to 

 COO yards and running northeast for 5 miles, then turning sharply to the 

 east-southeast and running out in a narrow gravel spit, 2 miles long, 

 which is continued eastward by a chain of narrow, low, sandy islands, 

 which extend as far as Point Tangent. At the angle of the point the 

 land is slightly elevated into irregular turf-covered knolls, on which the 



