52 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 
had obtained from Siberia by way of the Diomedes. Mr. Elson’s party 
landed only at Refuge Inlet, and had but little intercourse with the 
natives. His visit seemed to have been forgotten by the time of the 
Plover’s stay at Point Barrow, though Dr. Simpson found people who 
recollected the visit of Thomas Simpson in 1837.' The latter, after he 
had left the boats and was proceeding on foot with his party, first met 
the Nuwtmmiun at Point Tangent, where there was a small party en- 
camped, from whom he purchased the umiak in which he went on to 
Point Barrow. He landed there early in the morning of August 4, and 
went down to the summer camp at Pernyr, where he stayed till 1 o’clock 
in the afternoon, trading with the natives and watching them dance. 
On his return to Point Tangent some of the natives accompanied him 
to Boat Extreme, where he parted from them August 6, so that his 
whole intercourse with them was confined to less than a week.’ 
The next white men who landed at Point Barrow were the party in 
the Plover’s boats, under Lieuts. Pullen and Hooper, on their way to the 
Mackenzie, and the crew of Mr. Sheddon’s yacht, the Nancy Dawson, in 
the summer of 1849. The boats were from July 29 to August 3 getting 
from Cape Smyth past Point Barrow, when the crews were ashore for a 
couple of days and did a little trading with the natives, whom they 
found very friendly. “They afterwards had one or two skirmishes with 
evil-disposed parties of Nuwtimiun returning from the east in the neigh- 
borhood of Return Reef. The exploring ships Enterprise and Investi- 
gator also had casual meetings with the natives, who received tobacco, 
ete., from the ships. 
The depot ship Plover, Commander Maguire, spent the winters of 
185253 and 185354 at Point Barrow, and the officers and crew, after 
some misunderstandings and skirmishes, established very friendly and 
sociable relations with the natives. The only published accounts of the 
Plover’s stay at Point Barrow are Commander Maguire’s official reports, 
published in the Parliamentary Reports (Blue Books) for 1554, pp. 
165-185, and 1855, pp. 905 et seq., and Dr. Simpson’s paper, already 
mentioned. Maguire’s report of the first winter’s proceedings is also 
published as an appendix to Sherard Osborne’s ‘‘ Discovery of the North- 
west Passage.” 
We found that the elder natives remembered Maguire, whom they 
called ‘“Magwa,” very well. They gave us the names of many of his peo- 
ple and a very correct account of the most important proceedings, though 
they did not make it clear that the death of the man mentioned in his 
report was accidental. They described “ Magwa” as short and fat, with 
a very thick neck, and all seemed very much impressed with the height 
of his first lieutenant, ‘“ Epi/ana” (Vernon,) who had “lots of guns.” 
It was difficult to see that the Plover’s visit had exerted any perma- 
nent influence on these people. In faet, Dr. Simpson’s account of their 
habits and customs would serve very well for the present time, except 
1 Op. cit., p. 264. 2 Narrative, pp. 146-168. 
