30 THE POINT HARROW KSKIMO. 



narrow strip of land, and is so large that a man standing oil the north 

 ern shore, can not see the &quot;very high&quot; laud on the southern. It takes 

 an umiak a day to travel the length of the lake under sail with a fair 

 wind, and when the Xunatanminn coming from the south first saw the 

 lake they said &quot;Taxaio!&quot; (the sea). 



On Capt. Maguire s map 1 this lake is laid down by the name 

 &quot;Taso kpoh 7 &quot;from native report.&quot; It is represented as lying between 

 Smith Hay and Harrison Bay, and connected with each by a stream. 

 Maguire seems to have heard nothing of Ikpikpufi. This lake is not 

 mentioned in the body of the report. Dr. Simpson, however, 2 speaks of 

 it in the following words: &quot;They [i. e,., the trading parties when they 

 reach Smith Bay] enter a river which conducts them to a lake, or rather 

 series of lakes, and descend another stream which joins the sea in Har 

 rison Bay.&quot; They are well acquainted with the Colville Itiver, which in 

 their intercourse witli us they usually called &quot;the river at Ni galek,&quot; 

 Nl galgk being the well known name of the trading camp at the mouth. 

 It was also sometimes spoken of as the &quot;river of the Nnnataumiun.&quot; 

 The Mackenzie River is known as &quot;Kupiiii 1 (great river). We found 

 them also acquainted with the large unexplored river called &quot;Kok&quot;on 

 the maps, which flows into Wainwright Inlet. They called it &quot;Ku&quot; (the 

 river). The river &quot;Cogrua,&quot; which is laid down on the charts as empty 

 ing into Peard Bay, was never mentioned by the Point Barrow natives, 

 but we were informed by Capt. Gilford, of the whaler Daniel Webster, 

 who traveled along the coast from Point Barrow to Cape Lisburne after 

 the loss of his vessel in 1 881, that it is quite a considerable stream. He 

 had to ascend it for about a day s journey 20 miles, according to Capt. 

 Hooper 1 before he found it shallow enough to ford. 



CLIMATE. 



The climate of this region is thoroughly arctic in character, the mean 

 annual temperature being 8 F., ranging from 65 to 52 F. Such 

 temperatures as the last mentioned are, however, rare, the ordinary 

 winter temperature being between 20 and 30 F., rarely rising 

 during December, January, February, and March as high as zero, and 

 still more rarely passing beyond it. The winter merges insensibly by 

 slow degrees into summer, with occasional &quot;cold snaps,&quot; and frosty 

 nights begin again by the 1st of September. 



The sun is entirely below the horizon at Point Barrow for 72 days in 

 the winter, beginning November 15, though visible by refraction a day 

 or two later at the beginning of this period and a day or two earlier at 

 the end. The midday darkness is never complete even at the winter 

 solstice, as the sun is such a short distance below the horizon, but the 

 time suitable for outdoor employments is limited to a short twilight 

 from 9 a. in. to 3 p. m. Theie is, of course, an equal time in the summer 



Parl. Rep., 1854, vol. 42, opp. p. 186. J Op. cit., p. 2C5. Corwin Report, p. 72. 



