170 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [eth. ANN. 46 



shore they were seen from East Cape along the Arctic coast to Cape 

 Wankarem. . . . 



" On the shore of the bay on the southern side of St. Michael Island 

 I dug into an old village site where saucer-shape pits indicated the 

 places formerly occupied by houses. The village had been burned, 

 as was evident from the numerous fragments of charred timbers 

 mixed with the soil. In the few cubic feet of earth turned up at 

 this place were found a slate fish knife, an ivory spearhead, a doll, 

 and a toy dish, the latter two cut from bark. The men I had with 

 me from the village at St. Michael became so alarmed by their super- 

 stitious feelings that I was obliged to give up the idea of getting 

 further aid from them in this place. I learned afterward that this 

 village had been built by people from Pastolik, at the mouth of the 

 Yukon, who went there to fish and to hunt seals before the Russians 

 came to the country. 



" On the highest point of Whale Island, which is a steep islet 

 just offshore near the present village of St. Michael, were the ruins 

 of a kashim and of several houses. The St. Michael people told me 

 that this place was destroyed, long before the Russians came, by a 

 war party from below the Yukon mouth. The sea has encroached 

 upon the islet until a portion of the land formerly occupied by the 

 village has been washed away. The permanently frozen soil at this 

 place stopped us at the depth of about 2 feet. Here, and at another 

 ancient Una lit village site which was examined superficially, we 

 found specimens of bone and ivory carvings which were very ancient, 

 as many of them crumbled to pieces on being exposed. 



" Along the lower Yukon are many indications of villages de- 

 stroyed by war parties. According to the old men these parties 

 came from Askinuk and Kushunuk, near the Kuskokwim, as there 

 was almost constant warfare between the people of these two sec- 

 tions before the advent of the Russians. 



" Both the fur traders and the Eskimo claim that there are a large 

 number of house sites on the left bank of the Yukon, 35 a few miles 

 below Ikoginut. This is the village that the Yukon Eskimo say had 

 35 kashims, and there are many tales relating to the period when it 

 was occupied. At the time of my Yukon trips this site was heavily 

 covered with snow, and I could not see it ; but it would undoubtedly 

 well repay thorough excavation during the summer months. One 

 of the traditions is that this village was built by people from Bristol 

 Bay, joined by others from Nunivak Island and Kushunuk. One 



35 This is the "village of 32 kashims." which 1 mention in the Narrative and of which 

 I heard independently (p. 71). The present Eskimo claim that it existed on the right 

 bank, about 12 miles below Russian Mission ( Ikoginut i. My visit and subsequently that 

 of Mr. Chris Betsch, the kind and interested trader at Russian Mission, the latter with 

 an old Eskimo, failed to definitely locate the site, but further efforts are desirable. 



