DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 113 



all formalities are dispensed with, and they enter at once into the rela- 

 tion of man and wife. Long - courtships are of rare occurrence, and 

 they do not seem to be attended with any great degree of romance. It 

 a young man has an elaborately trimmed artiger which he wishes to 

 present to a girl, he seldom offers it until he is pretty certain that she 

 will accept it. The idea that seems to prevail is that this article is 

 secured by a young man and sent to the object of his affections as a 

 proffer of marriage, and that his heart ceases to beat from that time 

 until it is returned to him or he sees it upon her back, the former as a 

 notice that she has refused him, and the latter that she accepts his pro- 

 posal ; but this idea seems to be a thing of the past and a part of Eskimo 

 etiquette concerning courtship that lives only in memory. A gift of an 

 artiger seems to be a popular one when a couple are about to live 

 together, and is a symbol of actual engagement. 



The practice of manufacturing liquor, so prevalent among the coast 

 natives throughout southern Alaska, seems not to be indulged in 

 among the Eskimo of this region to any extent. There are isolated 

 cases where rudely constructed stills are made to produce a vile decoc- 

 tion called " tarny uk," from molasses and flour, but they are very rare. 

 Neither is liquor sold to the people by whaling vessels to any extent, 

 if at all. 



While it is a fact that some of the whaling vessels carry more or less 

 on board, it is disposed of on the Siberian side, and comparatively little 

 is brought across Bering Strait and distributed to the natives on this 

 side. Indeed, there is little inducement for the vessels to carry on this 

 traffic with the Alaska natives, for none of them ever possess furs or 

 whalebone of sufficient value to warrant the whalers in trading it, 

 when by so doing they run the almost certain risk of being seized and 

 having all their property confiscated. Even if there were a disposi- 

 tion to trade liquor among the Eskimo ou this side, the presence of the 

 revenue steamer Bear patroling these waters from the time the navi- 

 gation first opens until it is closed by seas of ice in the fall acts as a 

 standing menace against such a project. 



The Arctic Alaska Eskimo is physically a tine specimen of the human 

 race. While as a rule they will not average over 5 feet 6 or 8 inches in 

 height, occasionally a G-footer is found, but he is a very rare exception. 

 They are not by any means dwarfish in stature or slow and sluggish 

 in their movements; neither are they dull and stupid intellectually. 

 The casual observer might think them so, for they appear subdued and 

 reserved when among the whites; but when away from them and left 

 to act freely, they are bright, cheerful, and intelligent. 



A stout or corpulent Eskimo is never seen. Their whole life is one 



which calls into play every muscle of the body, and they are distinctly 



an athletic race. Not a pound of superfluous flesh is on their closely 



knitted frames, and, while their hands, lower limbs, and feet are very 



S. Ex. 70 8 



