N TO POINT KAKi;O\Y, ALASKA. 101 



The "run" lasts until about (lie 1st of July, utter which, during the .season of open water, 

 there are no whales until about, the middle, or end of August, when they begin to "come out," as 

 the whalemen say, generally moving back at some distance from the shore. 



The whaling fleet generally catch a few whales in Bering Strait and outside of the ice early 

 in the season, when they first come into the Arctic. They then endeavor to reach Point Barrow 

 by the middle or end of July so as to meet the whales when they coine out. 



Some ships work as far to the eastward of the point as the ice will permit and follow the 

 whales out. Many whales were taken in 1882 between Point Barrow and Itcturn lleef. Other 

 ships, if the whales do not appear soon after their reaching the point, turn back and go off to the 

 western whaling in the neighborhood of Herahl Island. The fall whaling is carried on as late as 

 the ice will permit. In 1882 some of the ships staid in the neighborhood of Point Barrow until 

 nearly the end of September. 



The season of 1883 was very unfavorable for the whaling fleet. The ships were unable to get 

 any distance east of the point, and although whales had been plenty in the spring migrations 

 they did not begin to come out till the end of August, and then in comparatively small numbers. 

 None of the ships accomplished much. 



The natives pursue the whales during the spring migrations, hauling their boats on sleds 

 across the rough ice to the open water. About twenty umiaks, carrying each a crew of from eight 

 to ten men, are fitted out for whaling from the two villages, and when there is open water and any 

 prospect of whales they spend all the time out at the edge of the " lead" on the lookout for whales 

 while the women travel backwards and forwards Avith their food. 



Each boat is supplied with several harpoons, to each of which is attached a short lino and a 

 pair of floats made of inflated seal-skins, and they endeavor to get so many of these floats fastened 

 to the whale that he can no longer sink, when they paddle up and dispatch him. They formerly 

 used stone-headed lances for this purpose, but are all now provided with regular steel whale lances, 

 and many of them also have bomb-guns which they have bought of the whalemen or obtained 

 from wrecks. 



They have also plenty of iron harpoons of the best pattern, but it was decided in 1883 that 

 they would have no luck in whaling unless the first harpoon darted at the whales was of the old- 

 fashioned stone-headed kind, such as their grandfathers killed so many whales with. 



When the " lead" of water is narrow the whales are sometimes shot with a bomb-gun from the 

 edge of the ice. 



As soon as a whale is killed it is towed to the edge of the solid ice-lloe, and there all hands 

 men, women, and children go to work at once with "spades" and knives to cut off all the blubber 

 and meat they can get at. The whale frequently sinks or is carried off by the current under the 

 ice'before they have succeeded in saving more than a portion of the blubber. Every one is enti- 

 tled to all he can get of the blubber and " blackskin," but the whalebone (sltukuk), which is the 

 great staple of trade with the white men, is portioned out according to a regular rule. The crews 

 of all the umiaks that were in sight at the time the whale was struck have an equal share of the 

 whalebone. 



The "blackskin" mentioned above, which is the epidermis of the whale, and has been very 

 often described, is considered as great a delicacy by these natives as it is by the eastern Eskimos. 

 They would go anywhere or do anything to secure a feast of "muktuk," as they call it. 



It is the custom on most whaleships, when "boiling out" near shore, to allow the natives to 

 come on board and cut off the blackskin, provided they do not take off too much blubber with it, 

 and I have seen boat-loads carried off from one ship. They are also very fond of the tough, white 

 gum round the roots of the whalebone, which goes by the name of u mum-ma." These are almost 

 invariably eaten raw, for very few Eskimos would be able to wait for their muktuk to be cooked. 



They are not very expert or very bold in their whaling, and consequently do not capture many 

 whales. Only three were killed in the two seasons we were there. Cupt. L. (.'. Owen, however, 

 informs me that one season ten whales were taken by the boats of the two villages. 



In speaking of whales to the white men the Eskimos call them Pu'ahi, which is an attempt 

 to pronounce the word il Bowhead." 



