38 HXI'KDITION TO POINT UAKKOW, ALASKA. 



extremely small and symmetrical ; they are graceful in their movements when unincumbered !>y 

 heavy clothing : I hey arc kind and gentle in disposition and extremely hospitable to strangei .> : 

 though they may rob a stranger of every means of obtaining a subsistence one moment, they will 

 divide with him their hist piece of meat the next. They have no form of government, but live in 

 a condition of . anarchy : they make no combinations, either for ofl'ensive or dcfeiiMve purposes, 

 having no common enemies to guard against, nor have they any punishment for crimes. I never 

 knew one to attempt to reclaim stolen property, though they might see it in the hands of the thief 

 or left on his cache; though given to petty pilfering they rarely, if ever, break into a cache 

 (except into one of meat when driven to it by hunger) or enter a tent or lint for that purpose. 

 During the first winter we had stores, of which they were in great need, in a Sibley tent, and they 

 all knew they were there; and although the tent was only tied, with no regular guard over it, 

 nothing was ever disturbed, though if anything was carelessly left out it would be stolen at once. 

 They never made the slightest resistance to our reclaiming property when discovered, and would 

 laugh about it as though it were a good joke. They are very social in their habits and kind to 

 each other; we never witnessed a quarrel between men during the whole time we were on the, 

 coast, neither did we ever see a child struck or punished; and a more obedient or better lot of 

 children cannot be found in all Christendom. I never saw one of any age do a vicious or mean 

 act. and while they were always around the station during the fall and winter, they did no 

 mischief, but, on the contrary, would busy themselves in shoveling the snow out of the tunnels and 

 running on errands and doing any work they could for a little food each day. The children would 

 wait around the door for members of the party to come out to take their daily exercise, and, even 

 more, would accompany each member, and every few moments they would say " naumi-tuiiity '' 

 (now let me see), and would scan the traveler's face for frost-bites, and were ever ready with ;v 

 handful of snow to be applied should they detect the slightest sign of free/ing; for when tho 

 temperature gels below 15, and there is a light breeze, it cuts every exposed part of the body 

 as though white hot metal were applied, causing no pain. Their games were very alike what wo 

 see played among children of our own race, and in imitating the pursuits of the elders, we often 

 saw them with snow play-houses cut into the hard snow, with snow images set up. and the little 

 fur-clad mites of humanity bustling around, playing at keeping house and making calls, wiiii 

 the temperature at 40. 



All the people on that 'coast from \Vainwright Inlet around to the mouth of the Colville an) 

 comprised in the following villages whose population comprise all the inhabitants of this coast : 



Xamoofvili. Loc.r ,*-,_ ^ 



Knnar'iuii "\Vairnvri-lit luii't Ii> 



Siilaru Soiitlnvost Point ll.-I.-li.T... 



8 50 | 



f'Slajuuiti Cape Smytho '. 23 130 



Nuwuk... . 1'oint Barrow. .. :jl 150 



I . 



Total 410 







Between Point Marrow and the Colville the country is uninhabited in tin; winter. Tho 

 resources of this region are so limited that in the struggle for existence, these people are obliged 

 to devote all their energies and time to procuring necessary food and clothing to maintain 

 never being able to get a snth'cient supply of meat ahead to lay in a reserve; famine always Bts 

 them in the face should they relax their efforts. 



With the return of the sun each year their active life commences. Those that have arms 

 and dogs go into the interior about the 1st of February to hunt reindeer: those belonging to the 

 villages of Xuwuk and Uglaamie go to the south and hunt along the Meadc and Ik-pik pun : those, 

 from the vicinity of Wainwright Inlet hunt along the Ku ; the others scatter along the western 

 shore for the purpose of taking seal, and ducks as the season advances. Their tents, one or 

 in a place, seen by summer voyagers in this sea, has given rise to the belief that this coast is much 

 more densely populated than it is in fact. For when the tents are out the villages are empty. 



