NELSON] TRADING VOYAGES 229 
Siberia, and sold as curiosities to the American Eskimo, before the Rus- 
Sians took possession of the country. They also informed me that the 
use of tobacco was introduced among them, before they were brought 
into direct contact with white. men, by means of trade with their 
Asiatic neighbors, who brought across Bering strait small bundles, 
called “hands,” of Circassian leaf tobacco. 
In ancient times intertribal communication along the coast was irreg- 
ular and uncertain, owing to the hostile attitude of the people toward 
one another. For this reason trading was then confined to those villages 
which happened to be on friendly terms. Now the old barriers have 
been broken down, and active barter between the different communities 
has become a marked feature of their life. This is particularly the case 
among the people living between the Kuskokwim and Kotzebue sound. 
The numerous fur-trading stations which have been established among 
them, and the visits of trading vessels and whaling ships to the coast 
of Bering strait, have served to quicken and encourage among them 
the spirit of trade. In summer the people of Bering strait make visits 
to the head of Kotzebue sound and to the mouth of the Yukon, carry- 
ing the skins of tame reindeer purchased from the people of the Asiatic 
coast, for which they receive in barter skins of various fur-bearing 
animals that are used in turn for trading with vessels in Bering strait 
or with their Asiatic neighbors. For the latter purpose beaver and 
land-otter skins are the most highly prized, as the Chukchi of Siberia 
will always offer two full-size deerskins for one of either of the’skins 
named. They cut them into strips for trimming the collars of their 
deerskin coats, and use them also for trading with the Russians. 
Parties of traders from East cape, Siberia, and the Diomede islands 
also make yearly voyages to Kotzebue sound, where the Eskimo of 
Kowak and Noatak rivers hold a sort of summer fair. After the sea 
freezes in winter, the Eskimo, who have thus obtained a stock of rein- 
deer skins, start out with dogs and sledges to travel along the coast 
and barter for furs. In the winter of 1880 I met, on Norton sound, a 
sledge party of Eskimo, who were making a trading trip from Sledge 
island to Kotzebue sound. 
The Malemut along Kotzebue sound make trading trips southward 
to the Yukon, and even to their enemies, the Tinné, of Koyunkuk river. 
The Malemut are the most energetic and enterprising of all the people 
of this region. They are great traders, and are more courageous and 
domineering than most of the natives with whom they deal, and are 
m consequence much disliked by the people with whom they come in 
contact. 
When, in 187374, the reindeer suddenly left the shores of Norton 
sound, these people pushed on in family parties from point to point 
until, in 1877~78, they had reached Kuskokwim river, Nunivak island, 
and Bristol bay. 
During trading voyages there are carried from one part of the coun- 
