84 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



tafiiniun traders, and the whalemen, and are joined later in the season 

 by the trading parties returning from the east, all of whom stop for a 

 few days at Pernyu. On returning to the village also, in September, 

 the tents are pitched in dry places among the houses and occupied till 

 the latter are dry enough to live in. Tents are used in the autumnal 

 deer hunts, before, snow enough falls to build snow houses. In the spring 

 of 1SS3, when the land Hoe was very heavy and rough oft Utkiavwin, 

 all who were going whaling in the Utkiavwin boats went into camp 

 with their families in tents pitched on the crown of the beach at Imek 

 pun, whence a path led off to the open water. 



The tents are nowadays always made of cloth, either sailcloth obtained 

 from wrecks or drilling, which is purchased from the ships. The latter 

 is preferred as it makes a lighter tent and both dark blue and white are 

 used. Reindeer or seal skins were used for tents as lately as 1854. 

 Elson saw tents of sealskin lined with reindeer skin at Refuge Inlet, 1 

 and Iloopep mentions sealskin tents at Cape Smyth and Point Barrow. 2 

 Dr. Simpson gives a description of the skin tents at Point Barrow. 3 

 Indeed, it is probable that canvas tents were not common until after the 

 great &quot;wreck seasons&quot; of 1871 and 1&amp;lt;S7(&amp;gt;, when so many whaleships 

 were lost. The Nuiiatanmiun at Pernyu had tents of deerskin, and I 

 remember also seeing one sealskin tent at the same place, which, it is 

 my impression, belonged to a.man from Utkiavwin. Deerskin tents are 

 used by the Anderson River natives, 4 while sealskins are still in use in 

 Greenland and the east generally. 6 The natives south of Kotzebue 

 Sound do not use tents, but have summer houses erected above ground 

 and described as &quot; generally log structures roofed with skins and open 

 in front.&quot; 6 That they have not always been ignorant of tents is shown 

 by the use of the word &quot;topek&quot; for a dwelling at Norton Sound. 7 



The tents at Point Barrow are still constructed in a manner very sim 

 ilar to that described by Dr. Simpson (see reference above). Four or five 

 poles about 12 feet long are fastened together at the top and spread out 

 so as to form a cone, with a base about 12 feet in diameter. Inside of 

 these about (i feet from the ground is lashed a large hoop, upon which 

 are laid shorter poles (sometimes spears, umiak oars, etc.). The canvas 

 cover, which is now made in one piece, is wrapped spirally round this 



1 Beochey s Voyage, p. 315. 



2 Tents, etc., pp. 210, 225. 

 Op. cit., p. 260. 



4 MacFarlane MSS. jftid IVtitot, Monographic, etc., p. XX, &quot;destcntes eoniques (tnppepk) en peaux de 

 reone. 1 



6 See Kink, Talcs, etc., p. 7 (&quot;skins&quot; in this passage undoubtedly means sealskins, as they are more 

 plentiful than deerskins among tlie Greenlanders, and were uaedt or this purpose in Egede s time Green, 

 land, p. 117; and Kiimlien, op.eit., p. 33.). In east Greenland, according to Holm, &quot;OmSommerenbo Anga- 

 magaalikerne i Teltc, der crobc.truknc med dobbelteSkind &amp;lt;&amp;gt;g have Tarmskinds Forhieug.&quot; Geogr. Tids., 

 vol. 8, p. 89. In Frobishcr s description of Meta Incognita (in 1577), he says: &quot;Their houses are tents 

 made of seale skins, pitched up with 4 Firro quarters, foure square, meeting at the toppe, and the skinnea 

 sewed together with sinewcs, and layd thereupon.&quot; llakluyt s Voyages, etc. (158!)), p.C28. See also lioaa, 

 &quot;Central Eskimo.&quot; 



Petroff, op.eit., p. 128. 



Ball, Alaska, p. 13. 



