28 THK POINT BAKHOW ESKIMO. 



villau'c of Xiiwuk is sitn;itcil. At vaiious ])oiiits Mlong tlic hcacli are 

 hca])s ot' ji'iavcl, sonictiiiics '> or leet in height, whidi are laised hy the 

 ice. Masses of old ice. healing huge qimiitities of gravel, are juished 

 ii]i on the beach during severe storms and melt rajjidly in tlie siunmer, 



are often i)ushed up out of reach of the waves, so tiiat the heaj.s of 

 gravel are left thenceforth nndisturlM'd. 



Between luiernyn and IMson I'.ay (Ta'syuk) is a series of large .shal- 

 low lagoons, nearly circulai and close to the beach, which ri.ses in a regu- 

 lar sea-wall. All have low steep haidcs on the land side, l)ordered with 

 a narrow beach. The first of these. i'ki>ilin ("that winch has liigh 

 banks"), breaks out in the spring thiough a narrow channel in the beach 

 ui the manner already (h'scril led, and is salt oi' brackish. The next is 

 fi'esh and connected with Ikpilin by a small stream running along be- 

 hind the beach. It is called Si'nnyu, and receives a rivulet from a 

 small fresh-water lake 3 or 4 miles inland. The third, Inie'kpuu ("great 

 watei""), is also fresh, and has neither tributary nor outlet. The fourth, 

 Imekpu'nigln, is brackish, and empties into Elson Bay by a small stream. 

 Between this stream and the beach is a little fresh-water pond cliise to 

 the bend of Elson P.ay, which is called Kikyi'ikta'ktoro, from one or two 

 little islands (klkyh'kti;) near one end (d'it. 



Back from the shore the land is but slightly elevated, and is marshy 

 and interspersed with many snnill lakes and ponds, sometimes con- 

 nected by inconsiderable streams. This marsh i)asses gradually into 

 a somewhat higher and drier rolling plain, stretching back inland from 

 the cliffs and growing gradually higher to the south. Dr. Simpson, on 

 the authority of the Point Bairow natives, describes the country as 

 "uniforndy low, and full of small lakes or pools of fresh water to a dis- 

 tance ofaliout 50 miles from the north shore, where the surface becomes 

 undulating and hilly, and, farther south, mountainous.'" This descrip- 

 tion has been substantially verilied by Lieut. Ray's explorations. South 

 of the usual deer-hunting ground of the natives he found the land decid- 

 edly broken and hilly, and rising gradually to a considerable range of 

 mountains, running approximately east and west, which could be seen 

 from the farthest point he reached.-' 



Tlie natives also speak of high rocky land -a long way off to the 

 east," wlrich some of them have visited for the jjurpose of hunting the 

 mountain sheep. The hiw rolling plain in the immediate vicinity of 

 Point Barrow, which is all of the country that could be visited by our 

 party when the laud was clear of snow, jjre.sents the general appear- 

 ance of a country overspread with glacial drift. The landscape is 

 strikingly like the rolling drift hills of Cape ( 'od, and this resendilance 

 is increased by the absence of trees and the occurrence of ponds in all 

 the depressions. There are no rocks in situ visible in this region, and 



' Point Barrow, p. 28. 



