TO POINT IJAIMIOW, ALASKA. 41 



reindeer and water fowl they lake, are looked upon more, as a luxury th;-u a i\- and tlio 



llesh of the reindeer is the greatest luxury of all ; those- who have it carefully hoard it, and wln-n 

 they knew that: we had some in stoic they would often conn; and beg for a small piece to !> i 

 as medicine for some sick person. 



Immediately after the departure of the sun, when food is plentiful, it is customary for each 

 village to hold a, kind of high carnival for three days; friend-; are invited from the neighboring 

 villages, and the time is passed in dancing, singing, and feasting; the "kudyigin" (council-house) 

 is fitted up with a new roof of ice, and crowded day and night, fresh dancers tailing the places of 

 those tired out, and the dull tuni-tum of the drum, mingled with snatches of song and shouts of 

 laughter can be heard coming from almost every iglu. 



It is customary at this season to exchange presents, especially among the more wealthy and 

 iiillueutial ones; but the giver expects value received in return, and should he fail to recei, 

 satisfactory present he does not fail to let his wants be known, and he often announces beforehand 

 what articles would bo most desirable in case he should make a present. In iss:', I was invited to 

 attend one of these gatherings at Numiik, and the old omelik who was sent as bearer of the 

 invitation brought a statement of what they were going to give me; after waiting around the 

 station for an hour or two he called me to one side and called over a long list of articles that they 

 expected me to give in return, but as rum (tufi-a), rifles, and ammunition were leading items in the 

 list, the visit Avas never made. A trade is made a matter of grave debate, and frequent discussions 

 asking for a little more, no matter how much has been offered, and when an oiler has been made 

 they will go away and send the article by another person; and often when a trade has been 

 completed they will come and demand their goods back, often leaving the articles they had received 

 on the door-step, and when asked what they will take have great ditlieulty in making up their 

 minds; and in making boots and clothing they will slight their work in every imaginable way 

 unless carefully watched. I had occasion to purchase seal-oil, and they commenced bringing it to 

 me in old tin cans that they had picked up at the station, and after a few honest deliveries they 

 commenced bringing us cans filled with two-thirds ice and a little oil on top, and betrayed themselves 

 by being over-anxious to get their pay before we emptied the cans. 



My first invitation to one of their ceremonies came in December, 1881, through old Nikawaalu, 

 of tTglaamie, who came over to the station with a small delegation and in a grave, dignified manner 

 said that the people of Uglaamie would be made glad if Captain Ilerendeen and myself would conio 

 with him and seethe dance. AVe at once started over, and as we approached the village we found 

 a crowd upwards of 200 people collected around the council house; besides the Oglaamie people, 

 there were delegations from Nuwnk and Sidaru. They were silently watching a pantomime that 

 was being enacted by live men and two women who were standing in a row with the women on the 

 right and left, facing the south, with the council-house behind them, and the crowd in front. They 

 were attired iu new suits of deer-skin worn with the rlesh side out, dressed perfectly white : the 

 men wore tall conical hats of seal-skin, ornamented with dentalium shells and tufts of ermine and 

 Arctic fox fur. The women were bareheaded, with their hair neatly plaited. I'.ehind the dam 

 eat a drummer and two singers, to whose doleful chant the dancers kept time with their feet, at the 

 same time swaying their bodies from right to left with spasmodic .jerks, the women occasionally 

 joining in the song, while the men one at a time would spring a few paces to the front and in wild 

 gestures portray how they had taken seal, bear, or deer, being cheered by the crowd as they fin- 

 ished and took their place in the line. The day was clear, and their grotesque figures showed in 

 sharp relief against tins southern sky that glowed with the twilight of a winter noon ; their wild 

 surroundings, backed by a frozen ocean, made up a picture peculiar only to the Arctic, and. once 

 seen, not soon to be forgotten. After each had danced in turn, and it seemed a long time to ns 

 standing waiting in the snow in a temperature of IS" 1 , they adjourned to the council house, where aa 

 many crowded in as could find standing room, in a room 1(5 by L'O; the air was redolent \\ ith odors 

 from the lamp and the unwashed crowd, and, as the frost had hermetically scaled the roof and 

 walls, there was no ventilation and the heat and stench soon bccame.almost unbearable to ns who 

 were unaccustomed to such life. Two large stone lamps lit up the low room with a ha/.y light; 

 across the side opposite to the entrance a space ti by * feet was curtained oiV with deer-skins, and 

 in front of it was a model of a tree suspended from the ceiling, and, as the knowledge of the native 

 H. Ex. 44 G 



