ALASKA. 47 



The Diomedes, King's Island, Sledge Island, and Saint 



Laweence — 



Are inhabited by a few Eskimo, but tbere is no trade with 

 tbem worth mentioning ; they have a little walrus-oil and ivory, 

 and a few red foxes, and occasionally get some whalebone. 



Saint Michael's : 



This is a shipping-point only for the accumulated furs gath- 

 ered by the traders from the Lower and Upper Yukon, at Nu- 

 lato, Fort Yukon, and the Tannanah. The present annual yield 

 from these points is the largest and most valuable from the 

 mainland of Alaska. A vessel coming to Saint Michael's in the 

 summer will find from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 

 Indians; they have come in from long distances to the north- 

 west, eastward, and southward ; but the fur-trading on the 

 Yukon Eiver and its many tributaries is very irregular as to 

 time and place year after year, the traders constantly moving 

 from settlement to settlement. This year they may only get a 

 thousand skins where they got five thousand last season, and 

 vice versa. It is impossible to say where the best place for 

 trade will be, the catch in differeut sections varying every 

 winter with the depth of snow, the severity of climate, &c. 



NUNIVAK : 



Trade here is small and unimportant, principally walrus-oil, 

 some ivory, and a few red foxes. 



Cape Eomanzot : 



Traders come up from the Koskoquim and down from the 

 Yukon to this point, where they get some very good furs, mink, 

 marten, and foxes. At Cape Aviuova, the district there is quite 

 celebrated for its marten catch, both in quantity and qualitj'; 

 a large number of brown bear range here, where they subsist 

 upon berries, roots, reindeer, &c. The Indians live in small 

 huts and settlements scattered all along the coast down from 

 Saint Michael's. 



Koskoquim : 



The trade is extensive, and done principally at Kolmakov 

 Eedoubt, about one hundred and fifty miles up the river from 

 its mouth, and at a station some sixty miles below it. The 

 traders come down the river in June with their cargoes and 

 meet the ships. The principal trade is beaver, red foxes, mink, 



