SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS. 



The people \vli()s<' ;irts and industries are represented l.y tlie eoUee- 

 tiou to be de.seril)ed are tlie Eskimo of tlie northwestern extremity of 

 the coutinent of North Anieriea, w ho make peiuiaiient homes at the two 

 vilhiges of Xuwfik and f^tkiavwiu. Small eontribntions to the collec- 

 tion were obtained from natives of Wainwrisht Inlet and from peojile of 

 the Inland Itiver (Xunatanminn) who visited the imrthern villag«'s. 



Xuwnk. "tlie Point." is situated on a slightly elevated knoll at the 

 extremity of Point liairow. in lat. 71° 23' N., long. I.jO'^ 17' W.. and 

 Utkiuvwih. -tlu' Clitfs." at the l)eKinmug- of the high land at ('ai)e 

 Smyth, 11 miles southwest from Xuwfik. The name Utkiavwin was ex- 

 plained as meaning "the high place, whence one can look out," and was 

 said to be equivalent to ikpik. a cliff. This name appears on the various 

 maps of this region under several corrupted forms, due to carelrssness 

 or inability to catch the liner distinctions of sound. It tirst a]i|iears on 

 Capt. Maguire's map' as "Ot-ki-a-wing," a form of the word \i-ry near 

 the Eskimo pronunciation. Ou Dr. Simpson's map'' it is changed to 

 "Ot-ke-a-vik," which on the admiralty chart is misprinted "Otkiovik." 

 Petroff ou his map' calls it "Ootiwakh." while he gives an imaginary 

 village "Ootkaiowik, Arctic Ocean," of :>:> inhabitants, in his census of 

 the Arctic Division (op. cit., p. 4), which does not appear upon his map. 



Our party, I regret to say, is responsible for the name " Ooglaamie " or 

 "ITglaamie," which has appeared on many nia]>s since our return. Strictly 

 speaking this name should be used only as the official name of the United 

 States signal station. It arose fi'om a misunderstanding of the name as 

 heard the day after we arrived, and was even adopted by the natives in 

 talking with us. It was not until the second year that we learned the 

 correct form of the word, which has been carefully verified. 



The inhabitants of these two villages are so widely separated from 

 their neighbors — the nearest iieiinanent villages are at Point Belcher 

 and Waiuwright Inlet, 75 miles southwest, and Demarcation Point, 3.50 

 miles east^ — and .so closely c(jnnccted with each other by intermarriage 

 and common interests, that they may be considered as a single people. 

 In their hunting and trading expeditions they habitually range from the 

 neighborhood of Prfugi' Inlet along the coast to Barter Island, going 

 inland to the upprr waters <,f the large rivers which How northward 

 into the Arctic Ocean east of Point Barrow. Small parties occasionally 

 travel as far as Waiuwright Inlet and more rarely to Point Hope, ami 



iParl. Eeportfl, 1854. vol.42, p. 180. 

 'Further Papers, &c.. Pari, Ei-p. (1855). 

 ^Report on the population, etc., ol" Alaska. 



«Capt. E. E. Smith, who in command of a ateani whaler penetrated as far east as Ketnrn Eeef iu the 

 summerof 1685, saya that the natives told him there was no permanent village west of Herschel Island. 



