PRESENT COMMERCE AMONG ARCTIC COAST ESKIMO. 
27 
of investigation, no doubt, for industries there varied considerab* 
ly among tribes. By the Port Clarence people the Unalit were 
considered to excel in the making of wooden ware, and practic- 
ally none was made by the Port Clarence people, though materials 
were abundant. They depended almost exclusively on purchase 
from the Unalit and acted as middlemen between them and 
Siberia, though they could easily have made their own trading 
stock had they cared to. The Diomedes people were considered 
to excel in the making of waterboots and many were purchased 
of them, though sealskins were plenty at Port Clarence. Stone 
lamps were made occasionally, but they were considered poor 
compared with the “lamps from the east." The eastern lamps 
were supposed to “save oil” — ^apparently in a (to our minds) 
miraculous way. It was said that though a home-made lamp 
were a duplicate in shape and size of the imported article, it 
would use twice as much oil and give no more light or heat. 
Among the Copper Eskimo the Haneragmlut are considered 
by the Kanhifyuarmiut to excel in bow making, though bows 
are purchased also from the Puiblirmlut. On the other hand, 
the sleds and tent sticks purchased of the same two tribes are 
under a reverse estimation — those from the Puiblirmlut are 
preferred. As said above, the Puiblirmlut make only part of 
the wooden ware they sell; a large part comes from the PSl- 
lifmlut and KbgluktGgmmt, who, therefore, deserve much of what 
credit there is in the sleds, etc., sold to the KanhiryuarmlOt. 
The Kanhiryuarmiut make bows only in an extremity, and 
consider them poor bows. 
In general, those who get wood on Dease river finish only 
a few of the articles intended for sale — they finish all sleds 
and tent sticks and most tables, lamp stands, and floor planks. 
Snowshovels, bowls, dishes, etc., are generally sold “in the 
rough” and finished by the buyer. 
Among the NagyuktGgmiut I found during the winter 
1910-11, that a large snowshovel is one of the most valuable 
of a man’s possessions. One I bought was valued at two butcher 
knives and sold reluctantly at that, while the same man offered 
me the better of his two dogs or a big new sled for one knife, 
selling the shovel for two knives only when he found he could 
