ANAKTUVUK PASS 23 



afforded meager fuel for winter use. In March 1948, they returned 

 north into Anaktuvuk Valley to camp on the east side of Tuluak Lake. 

 This lake (lat. 68°19' N., long. 151°26' W.; see fig. 4) is situated on 

 the eastern side of the valley near the northern edge of the mountains 

 which they call the mountain line. The lake, almost a mile long, is 

 fed on its eastern side by streams from Kakagnik Springs which re- 

 main open through the winter. Remains of ancient habitations and 

 stone corrals for caribou drives, and the stories told by old Eskimos, 

 indicate that this region has been the site of many old camps. Flint 

 artifacts found near there at Imaiginik are assigned to the Cape 

 Denbigh type of the earliest Alaskan artifacts yet described (William 

 Irving, 1951) . The modern residents of the mountains, who still sub- 

 sist mainly by hunting caribou, thus follow the ancients in recognizing 

 the suitability of this mountain valley for their way of life. 



On June 1, 1948, with my younger son, Laurence H. Irving, I again 

 visited the Tuluak Lake camp for a week. The winter snow had melted 

 from the valley floor and lower mountains. The first flowers and 

 pussywillows were showing. Wandering tatlers and yellowlegs were 

 numerous and several of them, with some long-tailed jaegers, were held 

 captive for me in the tents of the Eskimo people. Plovers and sand- 

 pipers, ducks, loons, Alaska and Smith's longspurs and, in fact, all 

 birds were either still moving north or settling down to nest in the 

 valley. This lively spring scene was changed after a few days with 

 the fall of 6 inches of snow and the return of cold weather. Shore birds 

 perched disconsolately on the few emerging rocks or willows along 

 the shore of Tuluak Lake, but in a day or two tlie weather again 

 warmed and migration and nesting were resumed. 



Many records, specimens, and accounts were presented to me. Every 

 report was clear as to location, time, and circumstances. These reports 

 covered observations made during the preceding winter at the camp 

 in the spruce timber along the John River, durmg the gradual travel 

 of the Eskimo people north through Anaktuvuk Pass, and during 

 their stay since the end of March at Tuluak Lake. The terse and 

 precise written or spoken narrative style of Simon Paneak impressed 

 me then with high regard for his powers of observation and his re- 

 spect for accuracy. The outline picture of the resident, migrant, and 

 nesting birds presented to me during my winter visit at Chandler 

 Lake began to gain supporting data. With my own eyes I could ob- 

 serve the intensity of the migratory and nesting activity. It was 

 plain that the arriving birds were robust and in fine shape. They 

 were not groping their way into the arctic regions exhausted by 

 forced flights nor were they harried by competitive search for a 

 meager food supply. On the contrary, the arctic mountain valley 

 provided so well for their sustenance that the long days were filled 



469496—60 S 



