THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 4 
By EpwarpD WILLIAM NELSON 
INTRODUCTORY 
The collections and observations on which the present work is based 
were obtained by the writer during a residence of between four and five 
years in northern Alaska. The fur-trading station of St Michael, situ- 
ated about 65 miles north of the Yukon delta and some 200 miles south- 
ward from Bering strait, was my headquarters during the greater period 
of my residence in that region. 
On June 17, 1877, I reached St Michael and remained there until the 
last of June, 1881, except during the time consumed by a number of 
excursions to various parts of the surrounding country. Owing to the 
fact that my official work was that of procuring an unbroken series of 
meteorological observations, whatever I did in other branches of science 
had to be accomplished in odd moments or during the short periods 
when the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company kindly relieved 
me of my duties by making the necessary observations. 
During the first year I explored the district lying immediately about 
St Michael. The next year my investigations were extended over a 
wider field, and on the Ist of December, 1878, I left St Michael in com- 
pany with Charles Petersen, a fur trader, each of us having a sledge 
and team of eight dogs. We traveled southward along the coast to the 
mouth of the Yukon, and thence up that stream to Andreivsky, which — 
was Petersen’s station and the second trading post from thesea. From 
this point we proceeded southwestward across the upper end of the 
Yukon delta, passing the eastern base of the Kusilvak mountains and 
reaching the seacoast just south of Cape Romanzof at a previously 
unknown shallow bay. From this point we proceeded southward, 
keeping along or near the coast until we reached Cape Vancouver, 
opposite Nunivak island. The second day beyond this point, Peter- 
sen, who had accompanied me thus far, said the weather was too bad 
to continue the journey and he therefore turned back. 
From the last-mentioned point I proceeded, accompanied by an 
Eskimo, to the mouth of Kuskokwim river. After traveling some dis- 
ance up its course we turned back toward the Yukon, which we reached 
at a point about a hundred miles above Andreivsky. Turning up the 
river the journey was continued to Paimut village, the last Eskimo 
settlement on the Yukon. At Paimut I turned and retraced my steps 
down the river and thence along the coast back to St Michael. 
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