1 882.] Limit of the Inmiit Tribes on the Alaska Coast. 575 



migration along the coast at a comparatively recent period, sub- 

 sequent to the invention of the kaiak or a similar structure. 



The lines of demarkation between the Innuits and Thlinkets in 

 the St. Elias Alpine region are very clearly drawn, and we 'can 

 account for the presence of the former with the very customs and 

 habits characterizing their kindred in the north and west among 

 entirely different surroundings only by a migration southward 

 after these habits were formed, and thus far I have been able to 

 obtain no authentic information of any real traces of Innuit occu- 

 pation beyond the point indicated. 



The existence of man on the Aleutian islands and the coast of 

 Alaska prior to the arrival of the tribes, we know is at best prob- 

 lematical. Traditions pointing in that direction are by no means 

 wanting among the Aleuts, but our only authority for their exis- 

 tence is Veniaminof. The fable of supernatural beings dwelling 

 in the interior mountain fastnesses of the islands related by .Air. 

 Dail is based upon a failure to recognize a common Russian word. 

 The " Vaygali " or " Vaygli " referred to by that gentleman were 

 fugitives or outcasts who fled from the villages on account of 

 crimes committed, and led a brief and wretched existence among 

 the barren hills. The Russian word " Vaglai " means simply 

 " fugitives." 



From a Shaman of the Chilkhaak tribe, who boasted of his 

 pure Thlinket extraction, I learned that a tradition exists among 

 his people that in times past their ancestors held all the territory 

 to the westward clear to the shores of " another big sea," but 

 that the Innuits came from the north, as he expressed it, like 

 " herrings "—each in his own kaiak. The sea was covered with 

 men, while women and children trudged along the shore. There 



was much fighting and a final reti 



•eat of the Thlinkets, but they 



would one day recover their own. 





One unsupported tradition of th 



is kind, of course amounts to 



nothing. 1 give it here only for 



what it is worth. One thing, 



nowever, has become clear to n 



\y mind during last summer. 



Unless unforseen events interfere 



, the southern limit of Innuit 



tribes on the Alaskan coast will r 



,ot be the same as it is now a 



century hence. Wherever a mixti 



ire with the Kolash has taken 



Place, the latter rapidly gain the 1 



jpper hand, and in a compara- 



t'vely brief time the Innuit ele.nen 



t is completely absorbed. 



