NELSON] 



SUMMER CAMP ON HOTHAM INLET 



261 



At HotLam inlet, near the head of Kotzebue sound, on the 15th of 

 July of the same year, a large gathering of Eskimo from Kowak and 

 Noatak rivers was seen. They were living in a row of conical lodges 

 extending in a line for more than a mile along a low, sandy spit par- 

 allel to the shore of the sound. Figure 88, from a photograph, illus- 

 trates this camp for the season of 1881. This camp was arranged with 

 almost military precision ; along the beach, above high- water mark, 

 with their sterns to the sea, w^ere ranged between sixty and seventy 

 umiaks, turned with the bottom upward and toward the prevailing 

 wind, tilted on one rail, the other being supported on two sticks 3J to 

 4 feet fong. Seventy-five yards back from the umiaks, in a line parallel 

 to the beach, were ranged over two hundred kaiaks, supported about 

 three feet from the ground on low trestles made of branching stakes. 

 Below each kaiak, supported on a rest 3 or 4 inches above the ground, 

 was the set of spears, paddles, etc, belonging to the boat. The kaiaks 

 were all of the long, slender 

 pattern common at Kotze- 

 bue sound, and were ranged 

 parallel to each other, point- 

 ing toward the sea, in a line 

 with the umiaks. Fifty 

 yards back from the kaiaks, 

 and ranged in a line parallel 

 with them, were the conical 

 lodges occupied by the peo- 

 ple; they were framed by 

 slender poles standing in a 

 circle, with the upper ends 

 meeting and held in place 

 by a strong wooden hoop 

 lashed to the poles with 



rawhide cord midway between the ground and the top. The acconi- 

 panying sketch (figure 89) shows the manner of arranging the framework. 



The frames were about 10 feet high and from 12 to 15 feet in diam- 

 eter at the base; they were covered with untanned winter deerskins 

 sewed into squares containing about six deerskins, which were thrown 

 over the framework with the hair outward. Several of these squares 

 were necessary for each lodge. In some cases the deerskins were cov- 

 ered with a laige sheet of drilling or calico, as shown in plate Lxxxiii b. 

 Behind the lodges were stakes to which each family had tied its dogs^ 

 fastened so as to be just out of reach of each other. 



This was a summer trading camp of these people, and contained 

 from six to eight hundred persons. Figure 90 shows the plan of the 

 encampment. 



In size and methodical arrangement this camp presented a very 

 striking appearance and was the only one I ever saw in which the 



Fig. 89— Frame for summer lod":e, Hotliam inlet. 



