MURDOCH.] INSECTS PLANTS. 59 



Insects and other invertebrates. Of insects, they recognize the trouble 

 some mosquito, kiktorii! (Culex spp.), flies, humblebees, and gadflies 

 (CEestrus tarandi), both of which they seem much afraid of, and call i gu- 

 tyai, and the universal louse, ku iuuk. All the large winged insects, 

 including the rare butterflies and moths and crane flies, are called tu- 

 klhYkica, or tukiliikldja ksuu, which is also the name of the yellow poppy 

 (Papaver nudicaule). We were told that &quot;by and by&quot; the poppies 

 would turn into &quot; little birds&quot; and fly away, which led us to suppose 

 that there was some yellow butterfly which we should find abundant 

 in the later summer, but we saw none either season. A small spider is 

 sometimes found in the Eskimo houses, and is called pidrairu ri;, &quot; the 

 little braider.&quot; They pay but little attention to other invertebrates, 

 but are familiar with worms, kupidro, a species of crab, kinau ru, (Hyas 

 latifrous), and the little brauchipus, iritu na (Greenlandic issitorak, 

 &quot; the little one with big eyes&quot;), of the fresh water-pools. Cockles (Buc- 

 ciiium, etc.) are called siu tigo (Gr. sinterok, from siut, ear), and clams 

 have a name which we failed to obtain. Jellyfish are called ipiaru ru, 

 &quot; like bags.&quot; They say the &quot; Kuiimiulllfi &quot; eat them! 



PLANTS. 



Few plants that are of any service to man grow in this region. The 

 willows, ii kplk, of various species, which near the coast are nothing 

 but creeping vines, are sometimes used as fuel, especially along the 

 rivers, where they grow into shrubs 5 or 6 feet high. Their catkins are 

 used for tinder and the moss, mu nik, furnishes wicks for the lamps. 

 We could find no fruit that could be eaten. A cranberry (Vaccinium 

 vitis-idaea) occurs, but produced no fruit either season. No use is made 

 of the different species of grass, which are especially luxuriant around the 

 houses at Utkiavwln, where the ground is richly manured with various 

 sorts of refuse, 1 though the species of mosses and lichens furnish the rein 

 deer with food easily reached in the winter through the light covering 

 of snow. Little attention is paid to the numerous, and sometimes 

 showy, flowering plants. We learned but two names of flowers, the 

 one mentioned above, tukilu kica, tukilukidja ksun, which seemed to be 

 applied to all striking yellow or white flowers, such as Papaver, Ranun 

 culus, and Draba, and mai sun, the bright pink Pedicularis. All the 

 wood used in this region, except the ready-made woodeuware and the 

 willow poles obtained from the Nunatafmiiun, conies from the drift on 

 the beach. Most of this on the beach west of Point Barrow appears 

 to come from the southwest, as the prevailing current along this shore 

 is to the northeast, and may be derived from the large rivers flowing 

 into Kotzebue Sound, since it shows signs of having been long in the 

 water. The driftwood, which is reported to be abundant east of Point 

 Barrow, probably comes from the great rivers emptying into the Arctic 



- The oil had acted as a manure on the soil, and produced a luxuriant crop of grass from 1 to 2 feet 

 high &quot; (village at Point Atkinson, east of the Mackenzie). Richardson Searching Eip.,vol. 1, p. 254. 



