24 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
Everywhere south of Point Hope a plentiful arctic vegetation is 
found. Although the country is destitute of trees, along the courses 
of streams and in sheltered spots on the southern slopes of hills a more 
or less abundant growth of willows and alders is found. This is the 
case even at the head of Kotzebue sound, directly under the Arctic 
circle. Over a large portion of the low, gently rolling country are beds 
of sphagnum interspersed with various grasses and flowering plants. 
Inland, along the water courses, there occur spruce and white birch in 
addition to the plants which are found nearer the coast. The villages 
of the western Eskimo are located always near the sea or directly along 
the water courses, such situations being necessitated by their depend- 
ence for the greater portion of their subsistence on game and the fish 
obtained from the waters in their vicinity. 
Driftwood is abundant along most parts of the American coast within 
the region discussed in this work, and the food supply also is more 
abundant than is found in most regions inhabited by the eastern 
Eskimo, so that the conditions of life with the Alaskan people are 
much more favorable. The shores of Bering sea north of the Kusko- 
kwim mouth are icebound from early in November until about the end 
of May or early June of each year.. North of Bering strait the sea ice 
| is present for a somewhat longer period. 
Although the aborigines living along the American coast from Point 
Barrow to Kuskokwim river are not separated by physical barriers, 
they are divided into groups characterized by distinct dialects. 
DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES AND DIALECTS 
The Shaktolik people told me that in ancient times, before the Rus- 
sians came, the Unalit occupied all the coast of Norton sound from Pas- 
tolik northward to a point a little beyond Shaktolik. At that time the 
southern limit of the Malemut was at the head of Norton bay. They 
have since advanced and occupied village after village until now the 
people at Shaktolik and Unalaklit are mainly Malemut or a mixture of 
Malemut and Unalit. They added that since the disappearance of the 
reindeer along the coast the Malemut have become much less numerous 
than formerly. 
Various Russians and others, who were living in that region in 1872 
and 1873, informed me that at that time there were about two hundred 
people living in the village of Kigiktauik, while in 1881 I found only 
about twelve or fourteen. At the time first named the mountains bor- 
dering the coast in that neighborhood swarmed with reindeer, and in 
addition to the Unalit many Malemut had congregated there to take 
advantage of the hunting. 
During November, 1880, I found a family of Malemut living in a 
miserable hut on the upper part of Anvik river. As stated else- 
where, these people have become spread over a wide region. About 
the middle of March, 1880, between Cape Nome and Sledge island, I 
