MURDOCH.] SOCIAL SURROUNDINGS OTHKR ESKIMO. 49 



tions with the eastern people are now perfectly friendly. We heard 

 nothing of the precautionary measures described by Dr. Simpson,- 1 and 

 the women talked frequently of their trading with the KunimYdliil and 

 even with the Kupuumiun. 2 We did not learn definitely whether they 

 met the latter at Barter Point or whether they went still farther east. 



Some of the I oint Harrow parties do not go east of the Colville. The 

 articles of trade have changed somewhat in the last 30 years, from the 

 fact that the western natives can now buy directly from the whalers iron 

 articles, arms, and ammunition, beads, tobacco, etc. The Nunataiimiun 

 now sell chiefly furs, deerskins, and clothing ready imule from them, 

 woodemvare (buckets and tubs), willow poles for setting nets, and some 

 times fossil ivory. The double-edged Siberian knives are 110 longer in 

 the market and appear to be going out of fashion, though a few of them 

 are still in use. Beady-made stone articles, like, the whetstones men 

 tioned by Dr. Simpson, 3 are rarely, if ever, in the market. We did not 

 hear of the purchase of stone lamps from the eastern natives. This is 

 probably due to a cessation of the demand for them at Point Barrow, 

 owing to the falling off in the population. 



The Kufimu dlln no longer furnish guns and ammunition, as the west 

 ern natives prefer the breech-loading arms they obtain from the whalers 

 to the flintlock guns sold by the Hudson Bay Company. The trade with 

 these people seems to be almost entirely for furs and skins, notably 

 black and red fox skins and wolverine skins. Skins of the narwhal or 

 beluga are no longer mentioned as important articles of trade. 



In return for these things the western natives give sealskins, etc., 

 especially oil, as formerly, though 1 believe that very little, if any, whale 

 bone is now carried east, since the natives prefer to save it for trading 

 with the ships in the hope of getting liquor, or arms and ammunition, 

 and various articles of American manufacture, beads, kettles, etc. I was 

 told by an intelligent native of Utkiavwlfi that brass kettles were highly 

 prized by the Kupufimiun, and that a large one would bring three wolver 

 ine skins, 4 three black foxskins, or five red ones. One woman was anxious 

 to get all the empty tin cans she could, saying that she could sell them to 

 the Kunmu dllfi for a foxskin apiece. We were told that the eastern na 

 tives were glad to buy gun flints and bright-colored handkerchiefs, and 

 that the Xunatanmiun wanted blankets and playing-cards. 



Indians. They informed us that east of the Colville they sometimes 

 met &quot; rtkii dllfi,&quot; people with whom they could not converse, but who 

 were friendly and traded with them, buying oil for fox skins. They 

 were said to live back of the coast between the Colville and the Macken 

 zie, and were described as wearing no labrets, but rings in their ears and 

 noses. They wear their hair long, do not tonsure the crown, and are 

 dressed in jackets of skin with the hair removed, without hoods, and 



&amp;gt;Op. cit., p. 265. 



In the Plover s time they were left a day s journey iii the rear. 

 Op. cit., p. 266. 



4 T. Simpson saw iron kettles at Camden Hay which Lad been purchased from the western natives 

 At two wolverine skins apiece. Narrative, p. 171. 

 9 ETII 1 



