28 THE POINT BARKOW ESKIMO. 



village of Nmviik is situated. At various points along the beach are 

 heaps of gravel, sometimes ~&amp;gt; or (&amp;gt; feet in height, which are raised by the 

 ice. Masses of old ice, bearing large quantities of gravel, are pushed 

 iij) on the beach during severe storms and melt rapidly in the summer, 

 depositing their load of gravel and pebbles in a heap. These masses 

 are often pushed up out of reach of the waves, so that the heaps of 

 gravel are left thenceforth undisturbed. 



Between Imeruyu and Elson Hay (Ta syuk) is a series of large shal 

 low lagoons, nearly circular and close to the beach, which rises in a regu 

 lar sea-wall. All have low steep banks on the land side, bordered with 

 a narrow beach. The first of these, I kplllii (&quot;that which has high 

 banks&quot;), breaks out in the spring through a narrow channel in the beach 

 in the manner already described, and is salt or brackish. The next is 

 fresh and connected with Ikplllii by a small stream running along be 

 hind the beach. It is called Sl n-nyii, and receives a rivulet from a 

 small fresh-water lake . i or 4 miles inland. The, third, Inie kpiin (&quot;great 

 water&quot;), is also fresh, and has neither tributary nor outlet. The fourth, 

 Imekpii niglu, is brackish, and empties into Elson Hay by a small stream. 

 Between this stream and the beach is a little fresh-water pond close to 

 the bend of Elson Bay, which is called KIkyukta ktoro, from one or two 

 little islands (klkyu ktis) near one end of it. 



Hack from the shore the land is but slightly elevated, and is marshy 

 and interspersed with many small lakes and ponds, sometimes con 

 nected by inconsiderable streams. This marsh passes gradually into 

 a somewhat higher and drier rolling plain, stretching back inland from 

 the cliffs and growing gradually higher to the south. Dr. Simpson, on 

 the authority of the Point Barrow natives, describes the country as 

 &quot;uniformly low, and full of small lakes or pools of fresh water to a dis 

 tance, of about 50 miles from the north shore, where the surface becomes 

 undulating and hilly, and, farther south, mountainous.&quot; 1 This descrip 

 tion has been substantially verified by Lieut. Kay s explorations. South 

 of the usual deer-hunting ground of the natives he found the land decid 

 edly broken and hilly, and rising gradually to a considerable range of 

 mountains, running approximately east and west, which could be seen 

 from the farthest point he reached. 2 



The natives also speak of high rocky land &quot;a long way off to the 

 east,&quot; which some of them have visited for the purpose of hunting the 

 mountain sheep. The low rolling plain in the immediate vicinity of 

 Point Barrow, which is all of the country that could be visited by our 

 party when the laud was clear of snow, presents the general appear 

 ance of a country overspread with glacial drift. The landscape is 

 strikingly like the rolling drift hills of Cape Cod, and this resemblance 

 is increased by the absence of trees and the occurrence of ponds in all 

 the depressions. There are no rocks in situ visible in this region, and 



1 Arctic papers, p. 233. 



Report U. S. International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, p. 28. 



