saw boats from which, when the two rowers had stepped out, a third
person crept who had lain almost hermetically sealed in the interior
of the _kayak_, stretched on the bottom without the possibility of
moving his limbs, or saving himself if any accident should happen.
It appeared to be specially common for children to accompany their
elders in _kayak_ voyages in this inconvenient way.

After the natives came on board a lively traffic commenced, whereby I
acquired some arrow-points and stone fishing-hooks. Anxious to procure
as abundant material as possible for instituting a comparison between
the household articles of the Eskimo and the Chukches, I examined
carefully the skin-bags which the natives had with them. In doing so I
picked out one thing after the other, while they did not object to me
making an inventory. One of them, however, showed great unwillingness to
allow me to get to the bottom of the sack, but this just made me curious
to ascertain what precious thing was concealed there. I was urgent, and
went through the bag half with violence, until at last, in the bottom, I
got a solution of the riddle--a loaded revolver. Several of the natives
had also breechloaders. The oldest age with stone implements, and the
most recent period with breechloaders, thus here reach hands one to the
other.

[Illustration: HUNTING IMPLEMENTS AT PORT CLARENCE.
1. Bird dart with wooden handle for throwing, one-ninth of the
natural size.
2. Whale harpoon with flint point, one-twelfth.
3. Harpoon-point of bone and nephrite, one-half.
4. Bone leister, one-third.
5. Awl, one-half.
6. Harpoon, one-twelfth.
7. Flint dart-point, one-half.
8. Arrows or harpoon-ends with points of iron, stone or glass,
one-eighth.
9. Quiver, one-eighth. ]

[Illustration: ESKIMO FAMILY AT PORT CLARENCE. (After a photograph by
L. Palander.) ]

Many natives were evidently migrating to more northerly
hunting-grounds and fishing places, perhaps also to the markets and
play-booths, which Dr. John Simpson describes in his well-known
paper on the West Eskimo.[347] Others had already pitched their
summer tents on the banks of the inner harbour, or of the river
before mentioned. On the other hand, there was found in the region
only a small number of winter dwellings abandoned during the warm
season of the year. The population consisted, as has been said, of
Eskimo. They did not understand a word of Chukch. Among them,
however, we found a C