ANAKTUVUK PASS 21 



By the first of June willows are flowering and large active bumble- 

 bees cover themselves with reddish pollen, often working in freezing 

 temperatures when the sun is obscured. By mid- June mosquitoes are 

 active and soon form an abundant cloud about each person and dog, 

 even in the wind. Later they are supplemented locally by much 

 more poisonous black flies. 



Ranunculus (anemone) and Pedicularis (louse wort) flower early 

 in June, followed by Potentilla and Dryas^ while in July Pinguicola, 

 a beautiful small insectivorous plant, Epilohium (fireweed), and a 

 number of lupines and vetches brighten the tundra. The willow 

 leaves are well out in July, when the dwarf Arctic Rhododendron 

 flowers fall, and the early part of that month is a colorful period, 

 particularly along the small streams. Grasses, sedges, and leafy 

 plants develop so slowly that their green does not conceal the old 

 vegetation mitil mid-July. Many lichens show little color in the dry 

 summer, but in the moist weather of August their green begins to 

 freshen and it remains bright long after being covered with snow in 

 the fall. Altogether, the summer scene is delightful and in no place 

 have I seen people, animals, and birds, appearing so well adjusted 

 to their environment as in these arctic mountain valleys. 



The Nunamiut 



The 70 Eskimo people of the mountains trace their origin to 

 Nunamiut ancestors. For them, the term designates an etlinic group 

 as well as a community, and they consider themselves different from 

 other Eskimo people. Their ancestors have lived in the mountains 

 north of the forests, along the southern watershed of the Colville 

 River, where they formed the flourishing interior population which 

 Stoney and Howard met in 1885 and 1886 (Stoney, 1900; W. Irving, 

 1953 ; L. Irving, 1953 ; and L. Irving and Paneak, 1954) . In historic 

 times, and in the relatively recent prehistoric times which their stories 

 penetrate, they ranged westward to meet for trade the Eskimo of the 

 Kobuk, Noatak, and Utokok Rivers. But they did not themselves 

 regularly traverse the mountains west of Howard Pass and they 

 have little knowledge of the western arctic coast. Southward they 

 sometimes encountered the Indians, with whom there have been 

 alternating periods of conflict and rather indifferent accord. A 

 tundra culture requires considerable modification in order to suit 

 forest life, and the southern experience of the Nunamiut apparently 

 just penetrates the edge of the forests. Their territory has not 

 extended north of the Colville River in recent times. As a result of 

 occasional conflicts at the border they have carefully left that country 

 to its inhabitants, the coastal Eskimos, except for traffic along regular 

 routes of travel. 



