of the state’s coastal and island vil- 
lages to gather specimens from the 
walruses and seals harvested in the 
spring hunts. Hunting with the Di- 
omede people gave me a vivid picture 
of the world in which they live, a 
world dramatically different from any 
I have known. In particular, I learned 
that the Eskimos have a perception 
of animals — indeed, of life itself — 
that is all their own. 
In August 1728 Vitus Bering sailed 
through the strait that Capt. James 
Cook would name for him fifty years 
later. Bering christened two islands 
in the strait after Saint Diomede. De- 
spite their proximity (less than three 
miles apart), Big and Little Diomede 
are split by the international dateline 
and mark the boundaries of two dif- 
ferent worlds. Big Diomede belongs 
to the Soviet Union; Little Diomede, 
called Ign^luk by the inhabitants, is 
the northwesternmost extension of 
Alaska and has been home to a hardy 
group of Eskimos for centuries. Al- 
though many of these people came 
originally from Siberia and Big Di- 
omede, visits between the islands have 
been curtailed since 1948. 
The Little Diomeders are embroiled 
in a newer and more explosive issue 
ivory. This contact spurred a desire 
among the Eskimos for goods that 
were novel and delightful but always 
expensive. Coffee, tea, and sugar be- 
came as much staples for the Eskimos 
as they were for the whalers. 
The coastal Eskimos could trade a 
wide variety of items, including 
baleen, fur, fish, ivory, and jade. The 
Diomeders, however, had mainly iv- 
ory. For centuries the strategic loca- 
tion of their island prompted these 
people to carve and trade, initially, 
for fish and furs from the mainland, 
then for glass beads and Asian trade 
goods via Siberia. Finally, the tempt- 
ing novelties of the Yankee whalers 
were added to the flourishing trade. 
The Diomeders became specialists 
at carving exquisite bracelets of ivory 
and baleen, lifelike walrus images, and 
representations of other animals and 
spirits that shaped their culture. Carv- 
ing evolved over the decades. Ivory 
tusks drilled and etched into cribbage 
boards and such trinkets as swizzle 
sticks, gherkin forks, napkin rings, and 
statuettes of copulating polar bears 
joined the more traditional carvings 
of whales, walruses, and seals. Ivory 
became the basis of the Diomeders’ 
economy. 
Fred Bruemmer 
than detente between governments. 
They are a hunting people. The waters 
of the Bering and Chukchi seas are 
treacherous, but abundantly rich in 
marine life. Walruses, seals, polar 
bears, whales, and sea birds have pro- 
vided the Eskimos with skins and oil, 
meat and sinew, and with the inspi- 
ration for hauntingly beautiful leg- 
ends, powerful dances, and traditional 
ivory carvings. But the Diomeders no 
longer subsist, as they once did, solely 
on the marine plants and animals of 
their islands and of the Bering and 
Chukchi seas. Twentieth-century tech- 
nology has transformed their way of 
life and their relation to the natural 
world. 
Contact with the outside world 
came when Russian and English ex- 
plorers penetrated the northern seas 
in the 1700s. In the nineteenth cen- 
tury, Yankee whalers pushed north 
in quest of bowhead whales. The whal- 
ing ships sailed into the northern Ber- 
ing Sea in late April to early May. 
Waiting for the ice to recede north- 
ward so they could pursue the bow- 
heads into the Beaufort and Chukchi 
seas, the whalers traded with the na- 
tives for hunting implements, skin 
clothing, furs, and raw and carved 
Eskimos unload walrus meat and 
tusks from their umiaks, right. The 
bounty will be transported via 
snowmobile to the village on 
Little Diomede Island. A hunter, 
below, hacks the ivory tusks out 
of a walrus skull. 
50 
