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UNIVERSITY "■ 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



By Edward William jS^elson 



INTRODUCTORY 



The collections and observations on which the present work is based 

 were obtained by the writer during a residence of between four and five 

 years in northern Alaska. The fur-trading station of St Michael, situ- 

 ated about 65 miles north of the Yukon delta and some 200 miles south- 

 ward from Bering- strait, was my headquarters during the greater x^eriod 

 of my residence in that region. 



On June 17, 1877, 1 reached St Michael and remained there until the 

 last of June, 1881, except during the time consumed by a number of 

 excursions to various parts of the surrounding country. Owing to the 

 fact that my ofBcial work was that of procuring an unbroken series of 

 meteorological observations, whatever I did in other branches of science 

 had to be accomplished in odd moments or during the short periods 

 when the agents of the Alaska Commercial Comi)any kindly relieved 

 me of my duties by making the necessary observations. 



During the first year I exj)Iored the district lying immediately about 

 St Michael. The next year my investigations were extended over a 

 wider field, and on the 1st of December, 1878, I left St Michael in com- 

 pany with Charles Petersen, a fur trader, each of us having a sledge 

 and team of eight dogs. We traveled southward along the coast to the 

 mouth of the Yukon, and thence up that stream to Andreivsky, which 

 was Petersen's station and the second trading post from the sea. From 

 this i)oint we i^roceeded south westward ai;ross the upper end of the 

 Yukon delta, passing the eastern base of the Kusilvak mountains and 

 reaching the seacoast just south of Cape Roman zof at a previously 

 unknown shallow bay. From this point we proceeded southward, 

 keeping along or near the coast until we reached Cape Vancouver, 

 opposite Nunivak island. The second day beyond this point, Peter- 

 sen, who had accompanied me thus far, said the weather was too bad 

 to continue the journey and he therefore turned back. 



From the last-mentioned point I proceeded, accompanied by an 

 Eskimo, to the mouth of Kuskokwim river. After traveling some dis- 

 ance up its course we turned back toward the Yukon, which we reached 

 at a point about a hundred miles above Andreivsky. Turning up the 

 river the journey was continued to Paimut village, the last Eskimo 

 settlement on the Yukon. At Paimut I turned and retraced my steps 

 down the river and thence along the coast back to St Michael. 



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