The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

26

'During the summer, when on whaling or sealing excursions, a coat of the gut of the whale, and boots of seal or walrus hide, are used as water-proof coverings.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53. At Point Barrow they wear 'Kamleikas or water-proof shirts, made of the entrails of seals.' Simpson's Nar., p. 156. Women wear close-fitting breeches of seal-skin. Hooper's Tuski, p. 224. 'They are on the whole as good as the best oil-skins in England.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 340.

27

The dress of the two sexes is much alike, the outer shirt or jacket having a pointed skirt before and behind, those of the female being merely a little longer. 'Pretty much the same for both sexes.' Figuier's Human Race, p. 214.

28

'They have besides this a jacket made of eider drakes' skins sewed together, which, put on underneath their other dress, is a tolerable protection against a distant arrow, and is worn in times of hostility.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 340. Messrs Dease and Simpson found those of Point Barrow 'well clothed in seal and reindeer skins.' Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221. 'The finest dresses are made of the skins of unborn deer.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 306. 'The half-developed skin of a fawn that has never lived, obtained by driving the doe till her offspring is prematurely born.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 160. Eskimo women pay much regard to their toilet. Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 355.

29

Their dress consists of two suits. Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 52. 'Reindeer skin – the fur next the body.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 149. 'Two women, dressed like men, looked frightfully with their tattooed faces.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 191. Seal-skin jackets, bear-skin trowsers, and white-fox skin caps, is the male costume at Hudson Strait. The female dress is the same, with the addition of a hood for carrying children. Franklin's Nar., vol. i., p. 29. At Camden Bay, reindeer-skin jackets and water-proof boots. Simpson's Nar., p. 119. At Coppermine River, 'women's boots which are not stiffened out with whalebone, and the tails of their jackets are not over one foot long.' Hearne's Travels, p. 166. Deer-skin, hair outside, ornamented with white fur. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 416. The indoor dress of the eastern Eskimo is of reindeer-skin, with the fur inside. 'When they go out, another entire suit with the fur outside is put over all, and a pair of watertight sealskin moccasins, with similar mittens for their hands.' Silliman's Journal, vol. xvi., p. 146. The frock at Coppermine River has a tail something like a dress-coat. Simpson's Nar., p. 350.

30

'Some of them are even half-naked, as a summer heat, even of 10° is insupportable to them.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 205.

31

'Down to the frozen subsoil.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 310. 'Some are wholly above ground, others have their roof scarcely raised above it.' Beechey's Voy., vol. ii., p. 301.

32

'Formed of stakes placed upright in the ground about six feet high, either circular or oval in form, from which others inclined so as to form a sloping roof.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 149. 'Half underground, with the entrance more or less so.' Dall's Alaska, p. 13. 'They are more than half underground,' and are 'about twenty feet square and eight feet deep.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 57.

33

'The whole building is covered with earth to the thickness of a foot or more, and in a few years it becomes overgrown with grass, looking from a short distance like a small tumulus.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 310.

34

A smaller drift-wood house is sometimes built with a side-door. 'Light and air are admitted by a low door at one end.' Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 245.

35

'The fire in the centre is never lit merely for the sake of warmth, as the lamps are sufficient for that purpose.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 58. 'They have no fire-places; but a stone placed in the centre serves for a support to the lamp, by which the little cooking that is required is performed.' Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 348.

36

'On trouva plusieurs huttes construites en bois, moitié dans la terre, moitié en dehors.' Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. At Beaufort Bay are wooden huts. Simpson's Nar., p. 177. At Toker Point, 'built of drift-wood and sods of turf or mud.' Hooper's Tuski, p. 343. At Cape Krusenstern the houses 'appeared like little round hills, with fences of whale-bone.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 237. 'They construct yourts or winter residences upon those parts of the shore which are adapted to their convenience, such as the mouths of rivers, the entrances of inlets, or jutting points of land, but always upon low ground.' Beechey's Voy., vol. ii., p. 300.

37

'I was surprised at the vast quantity of driftwood accumulated on its shore, several acres being thickly covered with it, and many pieces at least sixty feet in length.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 104.

38

'Eastern Esquimaux never seem to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth.' Simpson's Nar., p. 346.

39

Their houses are 'moveable tents, constructed of poles and skins.' Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 469. 'Neither wind nor watertight.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 361. At Cape Smythe, Hooper saw seven Eskimo tents of seal skin. Tuski, p. 216. 'We entered a small tent of morse-skins, made in the form of a canoe.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 226. At Coppermine River their tents in summer are of deer-skin with the hair on, and circular. Hearne's Travels, p. 167. At St Lawrence Island, Kotzebue saw no settled dwellings, 'only several small tents built of the ribs of whales, and covered with the skin of the morse.' Voyage, vol. i., pp. 190-191.

40

'In parallelograms, and so adjusted as to form a rotunda, with an arched roof.' Silliman's Jour., vol. xvi., p. 146. Parry's Voy., vol. v., p. 200. Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 44.

41

'These houses are durable, the wind has little effect on them, and they resist the thaw until the sun acquires very considerable power.' Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 350.

42

The snow houses are called by the natives igloo, and the underground huts yourts, or yurts, and their tents topeks. Winter residence, 'iglut.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 310. Beechey, describing the same kind of buildings, calls them 'yourts.' Voy., vol. i., p. 366. Tent of skins, tie-poo-eet; topak; toopek. Tent, too-pote. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 381. 'Yourts.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59. Tent, topek. Dall says Richardson is wrong, and that igloo or iglu is the name of ice houses. Alaska, p. 532. House, iglo. Tent, tuppek. Richardson's Jour., vol. ii., p. 378. Snow house, eegloo. Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 47.

43

They are so fond of the warm blood of dying animals that they invented an instrument to secure it. See Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 344. 'Whale-blubber, their great delicacy, is sickening and dangerous to a European stomach.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 192.

44

Hearne says that the natives on the Arctic coast of British America are so disgustingly filthy that when they have bleeding at the nose they lick up their own blood. Travels, p. 161. 'Salt always appeared an abomination.' 'They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a substitute for fire.' Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201. At Kotzebue Sound they 'seem to subsist entirely on the flesh of marine animals, which they, for the most part, eat raw.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 239.

45

'During the two summer months they hunt and live on swans, geese, and ducks.' Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 346.

46

'Secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for the lamps of a whole village, and there is great rejoicing.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 313. 'The capture of the seal and walrus is effected in the same manner. Salmon and other fish are caught in nets.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 61. 'Six small perforated ivory balls attached separately to cords of sinew three feet long.' Dease & Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., 222.

47

Near Smith River, a low piece of ground, two miles broad at the beach, was found enclosed by double rows of turf set up to represent men, narrowing towards a lake, into which reindeer were driven and killed. Simpson's Nar., p. 135.

48

'Ce qu'il y a encore de frappant dans la complexion de ces barbares, c'est l'extrême chaleur de leur estomac et de leur sang; ils échauffent tellement, par leur haleine ardente, les huttes où ils assemblent en hiver, que les Européans, s'y sentent étouffés, comme dans une étuve dont la chaleur est trop graduée: aussi ne font-ils jamais de feu dans leur habitation en aucune saison, et ils ignorent l'usage des cheminées, sous le climat le plus froid du globe.' De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 261.

49

'The voluptuousness and Polygamy of the North American Indians, under a temperature of almost perpetual winter, is far greater than that of the most sensual tropical nations.' Martin's British Colonies, vol. iii., p. 524.

50

'The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnishing oil and blubber, but the skin used for their canoes, thongs, nets, lassoes, and boot soles.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 161.

51

They have 'two sorts of bows; arrows pointed with iron, flint, and bone, or blunt for birds; a dart with throwing-board for seals; a spear headed with iron or copper, the handle about six feet long; and formidable iron knives, equally adapted for throwing, cutting, or stabbing.' Simpson's Nar., p. 123. They ascended the Mackenzie in former times as far as the Ramparts, to obtain flinty slate for lance and arrow points. Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 213. At St. Lawrence Island, they are armed with a knife two feet long. Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., pp. 193, 211. One weapon was 'a walrus tooth fixed to the end of a wooden staff.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 343.

52

At the Coppermine River, arrows are pointed with slate or copper; hatchets also are made of a thick lump of copper. Hearne's Travels, pp. 161-9.

53

'The old ivory knives and flint axes are now superseded, the Russians having introduced the common European sheath-knife and hatchet. The board for throwing darts is in use, and is similar to that of the Polynesians.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53.

54

The 'baydare is a large open boat, quite flat, made of sea-lions' skins,' and is used also for a tent. At Lantscheff Island it was 'a large and probably leathern boat, with black sails.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., pp. 202, 216. 'The kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks with oars.' Can 'propel their kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., pp. 238, 358. At Hudson Strait they have canoes of seal-skin, like those of Greenland. Franklin's Nar., vol. i., p. 29. Not a drop of water can penetrate the opening into the canoe. Müller's Voy., p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are 'much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.' Hooper's Tuski, pp. 226, 228. Oomiaks or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. Simpson's Nar., p. 148. 'With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.' Dall's Alaska, p. 380. 'Frame work of wood – when this cannot be procured whalebone is substituted.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; 'sewed in some parts, and tied in others.' Voyages, p. 67. They also use a sail. 'On découvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait à la voile; elle était en cuir.' Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. They 'are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. 'It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.' Campbell's Voy., p. 114. 'The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 346.

55

The 'kajak is shaped like a weaver's shuttle.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 308. 'The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56.

56

'The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. They strike 'the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.' Cook's Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 516. 'Wiegen nie über 30 Pfund, und haben ein dünnes mit Leder überzognes Gerippe.' Neue Nachrichten, p. 152. 'The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 40. At the Shumagin Islands they 'are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.' Meares' Voy., p. x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 157, 159.

57

'They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.' 'The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56. At Saritscheff Island 'I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 201. 'To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; 'neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or lashings of whale-bone.' Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, Voyages, pp. 67, 68.

58

'About the size of those of Newfoundland, with shorter legs.' Dall's Alaska, p. 25. 'Neither plentiful nor of a good class.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 171.

59

The dog will hunt bear and reindeer, but is afraid of its near relative, the wolf. Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 474.

60

'An average length is four and a half feet.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 183. 'The Innuit snowshoe is small and nearly flat,' 'seldom over thirty inches long.' 'They are always rights and lefts.' Ingalik larger; Kutchin same style; Hudson Bay, thirty inches in length. Dall's Alaska, pp. 190, 191. 'They are from two to three feet long, a foot broad, and slightly turned up in front.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 60.

61

'Blue beads, cutlery, tobacco, and buttons, were the articles in request.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 352. At Hudson Strait they have a custom of licking with the tongue each article purchased, as a finish to the bargain. Franklin's Nar., vol. i., 27. 'Articles of Russian manufacture find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast, eastward to Repulse Bay.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 317.

62

Are very anxious to barter arrows, seal-skin boots, and ivory ornaments for tobacco, beads, and particularly for iron. Hooper's Tuski, p. 217. Some of their implements at Coppermine River are: stone kettles, wooden dishes, scoops and spoons made of buffalo or musk-ox horns. Hearne's Travels, p. 168. At Point Barrow were ivory implements with carved figures of sea-animals, ivory dishes, and a 'fine whalebone net.' Also 'knives and other implements, formed of native copper' at Coppermine River. Simpson's Nar., pp. 147, 156, 261. At Point Barrow they 'have unquestionably an indirect trade with the Russians.' Simpson's Nar., 161.

63

'They are very expert traders, haggle obstinately, always consult together, and are infinitely happy when they fancy they have cheated anybody.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 211. 'A thieving, cunning race.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 110. They respect each other's property, 'but they steal without scruple from strangers.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 352.

64

'They have a chief (Nalegak) in name, but do not recognize his authority.' Dr Hayes, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 6. Government, 'a combination of the monarchical and republican;' 'every one is on a perfect level with the rest.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59, 60. 'Chiefs are respected principally as senior men.' Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. At Kotzebue Sound, a robust young man was taken to be chief, as all his commands were punctually obeyed. Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 235. Quarrels 'are settled by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately, until one of them gives in.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 326. Every man governs his own family. Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 475. They 'have a strong respect for their territorial rights, and maintain them with firmness.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 351.

65

They are 'horribly filthy in person and habits.' Hooper's Tuski, p. 224. 'A husband will readily traffic with the virtue of a wife for purposes of gain.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 195. 'More than once a wife was proffered by her husband.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 356. As against the above testimony, Seemann affirms: 'After the marriage ceremony has been performed infidelity is rare.' Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. 'These people are in the habit of collecting certain fluids for the purposes of tanning; and that, judging from what took place in the tent, in the most open manner, in the presence of all the family.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 407.

66

'Two men sometimes marry the same woman.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. 'As soon as a girl is born, the young lad who wishes to have her for a wife goes to her father's tent, and proffers himself. If accepted, a promise is given which is considered binding, and the girl is delivered to her betrothed husband at the proper age.' Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. Women 'carry their infants between their reindeer-skin jackets and their naked backs.' Simpson's Nar., p. 121. 'All the drudgery falls upon the women; even the boys would transfer their loads to their sisters.' Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201.

67

The 'Kashim is generally built by the joint labour of the community.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 311.

68

'Their dance is of the rudest kind, and consists merely in violent motion of the arms and legs.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 63. They make 'the most comical motions with the whole body, without stirring from their place.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 192. Their song consisted of the words: 'Hi, Yangah yangah; ha ha, yangah – with variety only in the inflection of voice.' Hooper's Tuski, p. 225. When heated by the dance, even the women were stripped to their breeches. Simpson's Nar., p. 158. 'An old man, all but naked, jumped into the ring, and was beginning some indecent gesticulations, when his appearance not meeting with our approbation he withdrew.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 396.

69

'C'était la plus grande marque d'amitié qu'ils pouvaient nous donner.' Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 5. 'They came up to me one after the other – each of them embraced me, rubbed his nose hard against mine, and ended his caresses by spitting in his hands and wiping them several times over my face.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., pp. 192, 195.

70

'Their personal bravery is conspicuous, and they are the only nation on the North American Continent who oppose their enemies face to face in open fight.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 244. 'Simple, kind people; very poor, very filthy, and to us looking exceedingly wretched.' McClure's Dis. N. W. Passage, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 242. 'More bold and crafty than the Indians; but they use their women much better.' Bell's Geog., vol. v., p. 294.

71

'Their diseases are few.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. 'Diseases are quite as prevalent among them as among civilized people.' Dall's Alaska, p. 195. 'Ophthalmia was very general with them.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 345. 'There is seldom any mortality except amongst the old people and very young children.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 197.

72

At Point Barrow, bodies were found in great numbers scattered over the ground in their ordinary seal-skin dress; a few covered with pieces of wood, the heads all turned north-east towards the extremity of the point. Simpson's Nar., p. 155. 'They lay their dead on the ground, with their heads all turned to the north.' 'The bodies lay exposed in the most horrible and disgusting manner.' Dease and Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221, 222. 'Their position with regard to the points of the compass is not taken into consideration.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. 'There are many more graves than present inhabitants of the village, and the story is that the whole coast was once much more densely populated.' Dall's Alaska, p. 19. Hooper, on coming to a burial place not far from Point Barrow, 'conjectured that the corpses had been buried in an upright position, with their heads at or above the surface.' Tuski, p. 221.

73

Kadiak 'is a derivative, according to some authors, from the Russian Kadia, a large tub; more probably, however, it is a corruption of Kaniag, the ancient Innuit name.' Dall's Alaska, p. 532. Holmberg thinks that the word Kadiak arose from Kikchtak, which in the language of the Koniagas means a large island. 'Der Name Kadjak ist offenbar eine Verdrehung von Kikchtak, welches Wort in der Sprache der Konjagen "grosse Insel" bedeutet und daher auch als Benennung der grössten Insel dieser Gruppe diente.' Ethnographische Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen Amerika, p. 75. 'A la division Koniagi appartient la partie la plus septentrionale de l'Alaska, et l'île de Kodiak, que les Russes appellent vulgairement Kichtak, quoique, dans la langue des naturels, le mot Kightak ne désigne en général qu'une île.' Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 347. Coxe affirms that the natives 'call themselves Kanagist.' Russian Dis., p. 135. And Sauer says, 'the natives call themselves Soo-oo-it.' Billings' Ex., p. 175. 'Man verstand von ihnen, dass sie sich selbst Kanagist nennen.' Neue Nachr., p. 114.