36 RECONNAISSANCE IX NORTHERN ALASKA IN 1901. 



fox, beaver, muskrat, and lemming-. Of those, the most important for food and 

 clothing-, and fortunately the most abundant, is the caribou, whose migrations the 

 natives follow. Berries and roots are also used for food by the natives. 



As the coast region is destitute of timber, affording- only a few dwarfed willows 

 at distant points along- the rivers and inlets, the principal fuel of the natives is drift- 

 wood, most of which has been discharged into the ocean by the larger arctic rivers, 

 whose headwaters lie in forested regions. This is fairly well distributed along 

 the coast, but is not so abundant as often supposed. 



The Alaskan Eskimos, so far as seen by the writer, are not the dwarfed race of 

 people they are often depicted. The men will probably average nearly 5% feet in 

 height and 150 pounds in weight. They are generally robust, muscular, and active, 

 inclining rather to angularity than to corpulence. The face may be described as flat, 

 broad, and rounded, with high cheek bones. The eyes are brown or dark and the 

 hair is black. As a people they are relatively intelligent and industrious and appear 

 to be reasonably honest and moral. They are hospitable, good-humored, and cheerful, 

 apparently free from care, and generally patient and tactful in manner. Their feel- 

 ings have been described as lively but not lasting, and their temper is frequently 

 quick but placable. The conjugal and parental affection is strong. Though thankful 

 for favors, their gratitude is of short duration. 



Owing to its mixture with that of representatives of other races who reach the 

 arctic regions, principally on whaling vessels, the blood of the Alaskan Eskimo is 

 rapidly losing- its purity. Children of pure Eskimo blood are reported to be very few. 



Whites. — There are atpresent about a dozen white persons living atPoint Barrow. 

 There is a mission school here at present, in charge of Doctor and Mrs. Call. A 

 trading post, maintained here hj the Cape Smyth Whaling and Trading Company 

 for purposes of trade with the natives and whalers, is now in charge of Charles 

 Brauer. The keepers of the post engage to some degree in whaling, in which thej r 

 employ the natives. Early in April the whaling parties proceed by dog sled 10 or 

 more miles out over the ice to the open sea, where they pursue their calling- in open 

 skin boats. 



Point Barrow is almost annually visited by vessels of the United States Revenue 

 Service and by various whaling vessels. Ten of the latter are reported to have called 

 there during the summer of 1901. Whaling in this part of the Arctic Ocean has 

 been carried on with varying success by several companies during the last half 

 century, but is now reported to be on the decline. The pursuit is hazardous, as the 

 vessels are often caught in the ice pack. 



In 1901 effort was being made by a Japanese to establish a small trading post at 

 the mouth of Staines River, near the one hundred and forty -sixth meridian. 



