MURDOCH.] VILLAfiES. 79 



Arrangement in riU(i(irs. — Tlic village of Utkiavwin (iccuiiics a narrow 

 strip of ground aloii.i;- the <'il.i;c of tlic clilfs of ('a|ii- Siiiydi, alioiil 1,(10(1 

 yards long, and cxtriKling some I.'.O yanls inlaiid. Tlir lionsi's arc 

 scattered among the liillocks without any altcmiil al rc;;iilaiil\- and at 

 diiferent distaures from each otlicr, sonictinics alone and sonu'timcs in 

 groups of two coutiguous houses, A\hi<h oftm lia\c a common cache 

 frame. Nuwuk, from Dr. Simpson's account ' and wind wc saw ii] onr 

 hurried visits, is scattered in the same way over the knolls of I'oint 

 Barrow, but has its greatest extension in an cast and \\'est direction. 

 From Simpson's account {il)id.) douliie houses appear moic common at 

 Nuwuk than at Utkiavwin, and he even si)eaksof a few threefold ones. 

 All the houses agree in facing south. This is undoulitedh to a<imit 

 the greatest amount of light in winter, an<l seems to lie a tolerably 

 general custom, at least aTuong the northern Eskimo. -' 



The custom of having the dwelling faee south appears to l)e a deeply 

 rooted one, as eveu the tents in summer all face the same way." 



The tents on the sandspit at Plover Bay all face west. The same was 

 observed by the Krause brothers at East ( 'ape. ' At Utkiavwin there 

 are twenty-six or twenty-seven inhabited houses. The nninhaliited are 

 mostly ruins and are chiefly at the soidhwest end of the xilla.^c, though 

 the breaking away of the cliffs at the other end has ex]iose(l the ruins 

 of a few otherold houses. Near these are also the ruins of the buildings 

 destroyed by the ice catastrophe desciilied al)ove ()>. ol). The mounds 

 at the site of the United States signal station arc also tlie ruins of 

 old iglus. We were told that "long ago," before they had any iron, 

 five families who "talked lik(^ dogs" inliabited this village. They 

 were called Isii'tkwamiun. Similar mounds are to li(> seen at rernyi'i, 

 near the jiresent summer camp. .Vboiit these we only learned that 

 people lived there "long ago." AVe also heard of ruined houses on the 

 banks of Kulugrua. 



Besides the dwellings there are in Ttkiavwin three and in NiiwOk 

 two of the larger buildings used for dancing, and as workrooms for the 

 men, so often spoken of a ig other ivskimo. 



Dr. Simpson states-' that they are nonunally the property of some of 

 the more wealthy men. We did not hear of this, nor did we ever hear 

 thedift'erent buildings distingiushed as "So and-so's," as I am inclined 

 to thiidi woidd have been the case had the custom still prcvaileil. They 

 are called kn'dyigi or kiVdrigi (karrigi of Simps., n), a word which (;or- 

 resjionds, mutatisniutandis, with the (irccniandic kagsse, which means, 

 first, a circle of hills round a small deep valley, and then a circle of 



' Op. cit., 11. 2,")6. 



"For oxainpl.-, I find it inrTili.ninl in OniiilMii.I liy Kano, 1st Grinuc-U Exp., p. 40; .itlglulikby 

 Parry, 2(1 Voy., p. 4'J;); .in.l .it iIh „...nll, h1 iIr- Ma.ki-nzie by Fraukliii, 2d Esp., p. 121, as well as 

 by Dr. Sim[wonat Nuwuk, i.|. .il , ]. -.Ml 



» Froliisl.cr »ay.s tlio tents in M. t:i I ,„ H-^nilii (in l.'-.TT) wi.ro "so pitched up, th,at tl.o entrauco into 

 thoin, is alwaius'soutb, or aKamsl III.- Simm-. ' Uakluyfs Voyages, etc., (ISSD) p. 028. 



*tleograplii8cUo Blatter, vol. 5, p. 27. 



» Op. cit., p. 259. 



