724 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou. XXXII. 
very abundant within the usual range of the Point Barrow 
Eskimos, they were in the habit of clothing themselves almost 
exclusively in reindeer skins, which are the most admirable 
material yet found for cold-weather clothing. Reindeer veni- 
son was a highly prized luxury, the antlers furnished material 
for all sorts of implements, while the long tendons of the back 
and legs were dried and split up into thread for sewing gar- 
ments. The only other animals of great importance to these 
Eskimos were the walrus and whale. Although the latter 
animal was by no means essential to their existence, never- 
theless the capture of several large whales every season added 
most materially to their comfort, and made them far more pros- 
perous than most of the Eskimo communities with which we 
are familiar. : 
Let us now consider the habits of these animals somewhat 
in detail, taking up first the seals, walrus, and whales, then the 
bears and other beasts of prey, and next the other land mam- 
mals and the birds. The ringed seal was the most abundant 
of all the seals, in fact the only one which could really be called 
common, but as they are chiefly to be found in the neighbor- 
hood of the ice, they were rarely seen in summer when the sea 
was clear. When, however, much loose ice was running, seals 
were always to be found in plenty and many were shot from the 
umiaks. They were also sometimes captured in stake nets in 
the shallow bays east of Point Barrow. After the sea began to 
close they became quite abundant, resorting for air to the open 
pools amongst the pack. At this season most of the hunters 
were out every day, carrying a rifle and a small harpoon suit- 
able for throwing, with which they retrieved such seals as they 
succeeded in shooting. At this season of the year there is 
considerable danger in going out upon the ice, as a sudden 
shift of the wind frequently carries out to sea large portions of 
the still loose pack. The natives used to be very careful not 
to leave a crack between themselves and the land if the wind, 
' however light, was blowing offshore, but, in spite of their care, 
men were every now and then carried off and never seen again. 
At this season of the year, as I have said, a single calm night 
is sufficient to cover any open water with young ice strong 
