PRESENT COMMERCE AMONG ARCTIC COAST ESKIMO. 27 



of investigation, no doubt, for industries there varied considerab- 

 ly among tribes. By the Port Clarence people the Unalit were 

 considered to excel in the making of wooden ware, and practic- 

 ally none was made by the Port Clarence people, though materials 

 were abundant. They depended almost exclusively on purchase 

 from the Unalit and acted as middlemen between them and 

 Siberia, though they could easily have made their own trading 

 stock had they cared to. The Diomedes people were considered 

 to excel in the making of waterboots and many were purchased 

 of them, though sealskins were plenty at Port Clarence. Stone 

 lamps were made occasionally, but they were considered poor 

 compared with the "lamps from the east." The eastern lamps 

 were supposed to "save oil" apparently in a (to our minds) 

 miraculous way. It was said that though a home-made lamp 

 were a duplicate in shape and size of the imported article, it 

 would use twice as much oil and give no more light or heat. 



Among the Copper Eskimo the Hanefagmmt are considered 

 by the Kanhiryuarmmt to excel in bow making, though bows 

 are purchased also from the Puiblfrmiut. On the other hand, 

 the sleds and tent sticks purchased of the same two tribes are 

 under a reverse estimation those from the Puiblifmiut are 

 preferred. As said above, the Puiblirmlut make only part of 

 the wooden ware they sell; a large part comes from the Pal- 

 lifmiut and KoglQktogmiut, who, therefore, deserve much of what 

 credit there is in the sleds, etc., sold to the Kanhiryuafmlut. 

 The Kanhiryuafmlut make bows only in an extremity, and 

 consider them poor bows. 



In general, those who get wood on Dease river finish only 

 a few of the articles intended for sale they finish all sleds 

 and tent sticks and most tables, lamp stands, and floor planks. 

 Snowshovels, bowls, dishes, etc., are generally sold "in the 

 rough" and finished by the buyer. 



Among the Nagyuktogmiut I found during the winter 

 1910-11, that a large snowshovel is one of the most valuable 

 of a man's possessions. One I bought was valued at two butcher 

 knives and sold reluctantly at that, while the same man offered 

 me the better of his two dogs or a big new sled for one knife, 

 selling the shovel for two knives only when he found he could 



