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T l x ’’ relieved, and are sometimes twenty-six inches in length.
For what purpose they are used I know n o t; but part of the last link is
ore frequently left solid, and formed in imitation of a whale; and these
chains being strong, they may in some way or other be appropriated to
the capture of that animal.
Among a great many singularly shaped tools in the possession of
these people, we noticed several that are not in Captain Parry’s catalogue,
such as instruments for breaking wood short off; small hand
chisels, consisting of pieces of hard stone fixed in bone handles adapted
to the palm of the hand; meshes for making n e ts; an instrument made
with the claw's of a seal, for cleansing skins of their fat. Sec. Though I
never saw the screw in use among this tribe, yet I found a worm properly
cut upon the end of one of their fishing implements. The pannn,
or double-edged knife, is also in use with these people; some of them
were inlaid with brass, and undoubtedly came from the Tschutschi.
The language of the AAfostern Esquimaux so nearly resembles that
of the tribes to the eastward, as scarcely to need any further mention,
particularly after the fact of Augustus, who was a native of Hudson’s
Bay, being able to converse with the Esquimaux w'hom he met at the
mouth of the Mackenzie Kiver. It may, how'ever, be useful to show by
means of a vocabulary, compiled from the people we visited, how nearly
it coincides with that given by Captain Parry; some allowances being
made for the errors to which all collectors are liable, who can only make
themselves understood by signs, and who collate from small parties,
residing perhaps at a distance from each other, and who, though they
speak the same language, may make use of a different dialect. It does
not appear that this language e.xtends much beyond Norton Sound,
certainly not down to Oonalashka; for the natives of that island, who
are sometimes employed by the Russians as interpreters, are of no use
on the American coast, near Beering’s Strait. The language, notwitli-
standing, has a great affinity, and may be radically the same.
It is unnecessary to pursue further the peculiarities of these people,
which are so similar to those of the eastern tribes, as to leave no
doubt of both people being descended from the same stock ; and thougli
the inhabitants of Melville Peninsula declared they knew of no people
to the w'cstward of Akoolee, there is much reason to believe, from the C H A P .
articles of Asiatic manufacture found in their possession, that there is
an occasional communication between aU the tribes on the north coast
Oct.
1827.
of America.
The subject of currents in Beering’s Strait has lost much of its
interest by the removal of the doubt regarding the separation of the
continents of Asia and America; and it is now of importance only to
the navigator, and to the natural philosopher.
It does not appear, from our passages across the sea of Kams-
chatka, that any great body of water flows towards Beering’s Strait. In
one year the whole amount of current from Petrapaulski to St. Lawrence
Island was S. 54° W . thirty-one miles, and in the n ex tN . 50° W .
fifty-one miles, and from Kotzebue Sound to Oonemak N . 79° W .
seventy-nine miles. Approaching Beering’s Strait, the first year, with
light southerly w'inds, it ran north sixteen miles per day; and in the
next, with strong S. AA". winds, north five miles; and with a strong
N. E. wind, N. 34° AA". tw'enty-three miles. Returning three different
times with gales at N. AA". there was no perceptible current.
By these observations it appears, that near the strait with southerly
and easterly w'inds there is a current to the northward; but w'ith northerly
and north-w'esterly winds there is none to the southw'ard, and consequently
that the preponderance is in favour of the former, and of the
generally received opinion of all persons w'ho have navigated these seas.
I prefer this method of arriving at the set of the current to giving
experiments made occasionally W'ith boats, as they would lead to a
result, which w'ould err according to the time of the tide at which they
were made.
To the northw'ard of Beering’s Strait, the nature of the service
we were employed upon confined us within a few miles of the coast;
there the northerly current w'as more apparent. AA"e first detected
it oft' Schismareff' Inlet; it increased to betw'een one and tw'o miles an
hour off Cape Krusenstern, and arrived at its maximum, three miles an
hour, ofi’Point Hope ; this was with the flood tide ; the ebb ran AV. S. AA".
half a mile an hour. Here the current was turned off to the north-
w'est by the point, and very little was afterwards felt to the northward.
4 E