NELSON] SUMMER CAMP ON HOTHAM INLET 261 
At Hotham inlet, near the head of Kotzebue sound, on the 15th of 
July of the same year, a large gathering of Eskimo from Kowak and 
Noatak rivers was seen. They were living in a row of conical lodges 
extending in a line for more than a mile along a low, sandy spit par- 
allel to the shore of the sound. Figure 88, from a photograph, illus- 
trates this camp for the season of 1881. This camp was arranged with 
almost military precision; along the beach, above high-water mark, 
with their sterns to the sea, were ranged between sixty and seventy 
umiaks, turned with the bottom upward and toward the prevailing 
wind, tilted on one rail, the other being supported on two sticks 35 to 
4 feet fong. Seventy-five yards back from the umiaks, in a line parallel 
to the beach, were ranged over two hundred kaiaks, supported about 
three feet from the ground on low trestles made of branching stakes. 
Below each kaiak, supported on a rest 3 or 4 inches above the ground, 
was the set of spears, paddles, etc, belonging to the boat. The kaiaks 
were all of the jong, slender 
pattern common at Kotze- 
bue sound, and were ranged 
parallel to each other, point- 
ing toward the sea, in a line 
with the umiaks. Fifty 
yards back from the kaiaks, 
and ranged in aline parallel 
with them, were the conical 
lodges occupied by the peo- 
ple; they were framed by 
slender poles standing in a 
circle, with the upper ends 
meeting and held in place 
by a strong wooden hoop 
lashed to the poles with 
rawhide cord midway between the ground and the top. The accom- 
panying sketch (figure 89) shows the manner of arranging the framework. 
The frames were about 10 feet high and from 12 to 15 feet in diam- 
eter at the base; they were covered with untanned winter deerskins 
sewed into squares containing about six deerskins, which were thrown 
over the framework with the hair outward. Several of these squares 
were necessary for each lodge. In some cases the deerskins were coy- 
ered with a large sheet of drilling or calico, as shown in plate LXxxiIt Db. 
Behind the lodges were stakes to which each family had tied its dogs, 
fastened so as to be just out of reach of each other. 
This was a summer trading camp of these people, and contained 
from six to eight hundred persons, Figure 90 shows the plan of the 
encampment. 
in size and methodical arrangement this camp presented a very 
striking appearance and was the only one I ever saw in which the 
Fic. 89— Frame for summer lodge, Hotham inlet. 
