They wear no hats except in the extreme hot weather of July and August-and, though the mercury never aspires to any great height on the coast, there is abundant evidence to substantiate the assertion that in the interior of northern Alaska during those two months the heat becomes well nigh unendurable. Their sun hats are carved out of single blocks of wood, with broad oval brim in front, and are generally ornamented with strips of ivory set on edge, and upon which is carved the totem or tradition of the family of which the owner is a member. And it cannot be said of the interior Alaskans, as it was of the party in the song, that they "wear no socks." These they do wear, but not of any pattern to be found on the shelves of a well stocked hosiery store; they are made of the grasses indigenous to the section in which they live, closely and neatly braided, and preferable to any other, in that climate, summer or winter.

These interior natives, as well as those on King Island, Cape Prince of Wales, and the coast generally, shear the crown of the head tonsure style and sport labrets, some of the latter being of enormous size, though these fashions are confined principally to the males. In southeastern Alaska the labret is worn in the center of the lower lip, varying in size, according to the age

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of the wearer, and in proportion to the gradual enlargement of the perforation. But among these northern people a single perforation is not deemed exactly the proper thing, and every male of any consequence must have two slits through the lower lip, one at each corner of the mouth, in which he wears a pair of labrets about the size and shape of an ordinary cuff button. These are generally made of a kind of mottled stone somewhat resembling gray granite, of jade, of ivory, some being round, some square, some oblong, the largest flange of which is always worn outside. Some of these labrets are the size of a half-dollar and others at least an inch square, the making of which must involve a great deal of patient labor. They are not worn with any other object than that of personal adornment, any more than the stone and ivory ear trinkets are by the women.

Three large rivers, the Noatag, Kowak and Selawik, flow into Hotham Inlet. Very little is known of either of these streams, except the Kowak, which was explored by Lieutenant Stoney, U. S. N., in 1885-6. Lieutenant Howard, also of the navy, accompanied Stoney on his expedition up the Kowak, and from its head waters traversed the portage to the head waters of the Colville, which river he descended to its mouth, and thence made his way along the coast

of the Arctic to Point Barrow. The reported discovery of gold at the head waters of these rivers would seem to confirm the opinion expressed by both these intrepid officers in their reports to the war department.

CHAPTER XI.

Kotzebue Sound to Point Barrow-Immense Coal Veins -Point Barrow-Native Villages-The Whaling Industry-How the Whales are Taken-Country not Devoid of Means of Human Subsistence-The Arctic Eskimos, Their Mode of Living, Customs and Habits.

At Point Hope, which is the most westerly projection of the mainland north of Cape Prince of Wales, and probably the most barren, desolate place imaginable, there is the largest Eskimo settlement to be found on the Arctic coast. There are, however, smaller villages scattered all along the coast as far as Point Barrow, but most of these latter consist only of summer habitations of parties engaged in fishing and hunting.

Beyond Cape Lisburne, which is in longitude about 167, the coast trends to the northeast until Point Barrow is reached, and thence south of east to and beyond the 141st meridian. Between Cape Lisburne and Point Sabine the coast is more or less rugged, high, almost perpendicular sandstone bluffs enclosing a narrow, sandy beach, in front of which the water is too shoal to permit close approach except in small boats. In these bluffs, looking from the deck of the ship,

at a distance of two miles, can be seen large seams of coal which have been exposed by the action of the waves dashing against and breaking or wearing away the face of the cliffs. Some of these veins are more than thirty feet thick, while the coal has been pronounced by competent judges a semi-bituminous-fully as good as the celebrated Cardiff coal. For miles upon miles along the water front these immense coal seams can be seen protruding from the nearly perpendicular sandstone cliffs facing the sea and indicating the existence of a coal field the extent and value of which, were it but within easy reach of the centers of trade and manufacture, could scarcely be overestimated. But there is no harbor anywhere in its near vicinity, and if there were, the coal could not be shipped by water during a season of more than three months in each year. A railroad 250 miles in length would cover the distance between the mines and the most feasible shipping point on Norton Sound, but would add only about one month more to the season during which shipment could be made by water to San Francisco and other ports on the Pacific. Therefore, however extensive these coal measures may be, they will never be utilized to any appreciable extent until the railroad, which, it is predicted, will sooner or later girdle the earth, is completed to Bering Strait, when they can be reached by