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FIELDIANA ^'^^ "^^

Anthropology

Published by Field Museum of Natural History Volume 70

E.W. NELSON'S NOTES ON THE INDIANS OF THE YUKON AND INNOKO RIVERS, ALASKA

Edited with an introduction by JAMES W. VANSTONE

April 28, 1978

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY

A Continuation of the

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES

of

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

VOLUME 70

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CHICAGO, U.S.A.

E.W. NELSON'S NOTES ON THE INDIANS OF THE YUKON AND INNOKO RIVERS, ALASKA

FRONTISPIECE: Edward William Nelson, 1855-1934. (Smithsonian Institution, Na- tional Anthropological Archives).

FIELDIANA Anthropology

Published by Field Museum of Natural History

Volume 70

E. W. NELSON'S NOTES ON THE INDIANS OF THE YUKON AND INNOKO RIVERS, ALASKA

Edited with an introduction by JAMES W. VANSTONE

Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology Field Museum of Natural History

AprU 28, 1978 Publication 1281

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 77-091447 ISSN 0071-4739

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

Page List of Illustrations ix

Introduction 1

Preface to Nelsons Account 16

E.W. NELSON'S Notes On Indians of the Yukon

and Innoko Rivers 17

Messenger or barter festival 17

Festival to the dead 18

Festival of the dressing of the dead 21

Bladder festival 22

Anvik doll festival 25

Anvik mask festival 27

Burial customs of Yukon Indians 28

Hunting 34

Fishing 36

Physical development and character 37

Customs and beliefs 40

Villages and houses 44

Implements and trade 46

Raven tale of the stolen wife 47

Raven's search for his friend's wife 51

Tale of the returned one 55

Tale of the two shamans 56

Raven brings the light 58

Bird myth 60

Notes 62

References 74

Index 78

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece: Edward William Nelson, 1855-1934 iv

1. Map of Alaska 2

2. Map of the lower-middle Yukon and lower Innoko rivers 9

3. Indian graves on the Innoko River 32

4. A kashim on the Innoko River 45

INTRODUCTION'

On November 16, 1880, E. W. Nelson, Signal Service observer at St. Michael, and a companion, S. A. Fredericks, a fur trader station- ed at Anvik, left St. Michael with dogs and sledges for a trip to the lower-middle Yukon River and its major tributary in this area, the Innoko.

Europeans and Americans had been in the Yukon area and even on the Innoko for nearly 50 years, but the tributaries of the lower Yukon and their inhabitants were almost as little known in 1880 as they had been at the conclusion of Lieutenant Lavrentiy A. Zagoskin's explorations for the Russian-American Company 35 years before. Nelson's manuscript account of this trip, published here for the first time, therefore fills a large gap in our knowledge of the area.

Russian explorers may have reached the Yukon River overland from Cook Inlet as early as the 1790's (Chernenko, 1967, pp. 9-10, 29-30; Fedorova, 1973a, p. 6) or from Iliamna Lake in 1818 (Fedorova, 1973b, pp. 64-68), but it was not until 1833 when the Russian-American Company established Mikhailovskiy Redoubt near the mouth of the Yukon that they were able to penetrate the in- terior of Alaska via its major river. After unsuccessful explorations in the Yukon Delta that same year, Audrey Glazunov, a Creole employee of the company, was chosen to lead a small expedition overland in January, 1834. His journey, a major accomplishment in the history of Alaskan exploration, resulted in the first account of the Yukon Valley and its inhabitants.

Glazunov ascended one of the streams flowing into Norton Sound east of Mikhailovskiy Redoubt, crossed over to the upper Anvik

'Although primarily a product of historical research, this paper has benefited from my two seasons of field work in the lower Yukon-Innoko area supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and the James R. Getz Fund of Field Museum of Natural History. For critical comments and helpful sug- gestions during the preparation of this paper, I am grateful to Dorothy Jean Ray and my wife, Mary W. Helms. The maps were drawn by Zbigniew Jastrzebski.

A V

A \ \ V

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 3

River, a major tributary of the lower-middle Yukon, and descended it to the Ingalik Indian village of Anvik at the mouth. After distributing trade goods and exhorting the Indians to bring their furs to Mikhailovskiy to trade, Glazunov proceeded down the Yukon trading, and taking a similar message to the inhabitants of Magimiut (Bonasila) and Anilukhtakpak (near Holy Cross). From Anilukhtfikpak he proceeded over the portage to the Kuskokwim River and reached the company's small trading post, later known as Kolmakovskiy Redoubt, in mid-February. In an attempt to reach Cook Inlet, Glazunov ascended the Kuskokwim and the Stony River as far as the Lime Hills, but was forced to turn back after experienc- ing extreme hardship and starvation. His return route is not definitely known, but was probably by way of the Kuskokwim. In any event, Glazunov and his party arrived back at Mikhailovskiy Redoubt in mid- April (VanStone, 1959).

Glazunov's account, which has never been pubhshed in full (Fedorova, 1973b, p. 31), provides the first ethnographic infor- mation concerning the Ingalik, westernmost members of the Atha- paskan language family, and his explorations, together with those of other explorers in the Nushagak and Kuskokwim drainages (VanStone, 1967, pp. 3-11), served to open all of southwestern Alaska to the fur trade. Glazunov's success led to further explora- tion of the Yukon Delta and to the establishment of a trading post at Ikogmiut in 1836. Of equal significance, it also led to Petr Vasilevich Malakhov's travels on the upper-middle Yukon for the purpose of extending the fur trade in that direction

Malakhov, Uke Glazunov an employee of the Russian-American Company, left Mikhailovskiy Redoubt in February, 1838 and reach- ed the Yukon by way of the Unalakleet River portage. He ascended as far as the mouth of the Koyukuk and was undoubtedly the first European to see that river. After establishing the Nulato trading post, he descended the Yukon to its mouth the next spring, and was thus the first Russian to navigate a significant portion of its great length. During his descent he apparently entered Shageluk Slough and may have continued down the lower Innoko to its confluence with the Yukon. If so, he was probably the first Russian to navigate any portion of that important Yukon tributary (Chernenko, 1967, p. 10; Zagoskin, 1967, p. 298).

By 1839 the Russians were reasonably familiar with the Unalakleet and Anvik rivers, the Yukon between Nulato and its

4 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

mouth, and considerable portions of the Kuskokwim and Nushagak drainages. The Russian- American Company now needed to fill gaps in its knowledge of the interior of west-central Alaska by obtaining more information concerning the area between the Yukon and Kuskokwim drainage systems. Glazunov had failed to bridge this particular geographical gap, being unable to reach Cook Inlet by way of the Stony River, so it was still necessary to explore a route from the Kuskokwim to the Yukon well above the usual portages and at the same time to obtain first-hand information concerning the potentially rich fur-bearing area of the Innoko River and its tributaries.

In the fall of 1839 Petr Fedorovich Kolmakov, son of Fedor Kolmakov, pioneer explorer of the Kuskokwim and Nushagak rivers, crossed over from the Takotna, a tributary of the Kuskokwim below the present village of McGrath, to the upper reaches of the Innoko which he called the Tlegon. His journal in- dicates that he collected a large number of beaver pelts and descend- ed the Innoko in search of a short route to the Yukon. At some point during his journey, probably at the village of Dementi opposite the mouth of the Iditarod River, a major Innoko tributary, Kolmakov learned that the post at Ikogmiut had been attacked and destroyed, and the occupants massacred in the spring of 1839. He was there- fore obliged to turn back. It is not clear whether this attack was per- petrated by the natives of the Kuskokwim or the lower Yukon, but it seems likely that Kuskokwim Eskimos from near the present village of Bethel were responsible. Destruction of the post may have been in retaliation for the disastrous smallpox epidemic of 1838-1839 for which the Indians and Eskimos of western Alaska held the Russians responsible (Chernenko, 1967, p. 10; Zagoskin, 1967, pp. 81, 236-237, 275, 300; Russian-American Company records, communications sent, vol. 20, no. 486, folios 403-404, October 15, 1841).

The next Yukon exploration of major importance was that of naval lieutenant Lavrentiy Alekseyevich Zagoskin for the Russian- American Company from 1842 to 1844. In the administration's orders to Zagoskin he was directed to explore the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Innoko rivers, to ascertain the most practical por- tages between these rivers, and to explore the drainage of the Buckland River which was known to flow into Kotzebue Sound. Zagoskin's expedition left Mikhailovskiy Redoubt on December 4,

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 5

1842' and proceeded to the Yukon by way of the Unalakleet River, the route pioneered by Maleikhov. Arriving at Nulato in mid- January, 1843, his party, during the winter, explored the lower Koyukuk searching for a short route to the Buckland River and Kotzebue Sound. Zagoskin eventually abandoned this part of his planned exploration since he had neither the time nor the resources to reconnoiter as far as the coast.

After spending the spring at Nulato collecting natural history specimens and data on the fur trade, Zagoskin's party started up the Yukon on June 4, and explored as far as the mouth of the Nowit- na River, just above the present village of Kokrines. Somewhere near Kokrines they met an encampment of upper Innoko Indians, from \Yhom Zagoskin obtained useful information about their area, supplementing data he had already obtained from Petr Kolmakov's map.

On August 2, 1843 Zagoskin and his companions left Nulato after a stay of some seven months, this time going down the Yukon. On August 13 the party arrived near the entrance to Shageluk Slough but being unable to enter because of shallow bars at the entrance, continued to Anvik, Anilukhtsikpak, and Ikogmiut, which became Zagoskin's headquarters for the winter of 1843-1844. Thus far he had explored and described more than 500 miles of the Yukon River.

For the purposes of this introduction, Zagoskin's most pertinent explorations during that winter were along the lower reaches of the Innoko, although he also traveled to the Kuskokwim twice. He ex- plored the Innoko between February 10 and March 10, 1844, and, although he describes and names a number of settlements on the river and gives detailed information concerning the environment, it is not possible to determine his route with complete certainty. He apparently reached the mouth of the Iditarod and believed that he had ascended the river to at least the point that Petr Kolmakov had reached from the opposite direction. Having accomplished this, Zagoskin then realized that it was possible to travel from the upper Kuskokwim to the lower Yukon by way of the Innoko, although this route was obviously longer and more difficult than the short, customary portages leading from the Yukon River settlements of Paimiut and Ikogmiut.

'Dates are according to the Georgian calendar which was 12 days behind the Julian in the nineteenth century.

6 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

Having completed their Kuskokwim explorations, Zagoskin and his party were back in Ikogmiut on June 10, 1844 for the last time, and left on the 13th. They descended the Yukon to its mouth, mak- ing their way along the coast to Mikhailovskiy Redoubt where they arrived on June 21, having been away from the post for more than a year and a half.

Zagoskin's report, first published in 1847-1848, republished in a carefully edited edition in 1956, and in an English translation in 1967, is the primary source for information on the history, geography, and ethnography of west-central Alaska during the Rus- sian period. The Russian-American Company made no further at- tempts at comprehensive interior exploration. Traders stationed at Mikhailovskiy and Ikogmiut visited the Indian villages periodically to collect furs, and a priest from the Russian Orthodox mission, which was established at Ikogmiut in 1845, also traveled extensive- ly. Although they experienced extensive contact with village in- habitants, it is doubtful whether, in the course of their travels, they added greatly to the knowledge which the company already possess- ed concerning the country and its inhabitants.

At the time of the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States in 1867 American explorers were already in the newly ac- quired territory. Members of the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany Expedition, an elaborate undertaking to survey a route for a telegraph line that would cross the Bering Sea to Siberia and thus connect America with Europe, were at Mikhailovskiy Redoubt in the winter of 1865 and at Nulato in the spring of the following year. Although the lower-middle Yukon and the Innoko were traversed, the various parties did little more than pass through these areas and they seem to have been largely unaware of previous explorations. Nevertheless, members of the Telegraph Expedition could not help noting that the Indians with whom they came in contact were familiar with white men and had established procedures for dealing with them. In various publications relating to the work of the ex- pedition references are made to the fur trade and useful information is sometimes provided concerning the early stages of culture change in the Yukon-lower Innoko area (Whymper, 1869, pp. 264-265; Dall, 1870, pp. 219-222).

In the summer of 1869 Captain Charles W. Raymond, U.S. Corp of Engineers, traveled from St. Michael, as Mikhailovskiy was call- ed after the purchase, to Fort Yukon in a small steamer to ascertain

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 7

the amount of trade carried on by the Hudson's Bay Company in American territory and to determine the latitude and longitude of that post. Like members of the Telegraph Expedition, Raymond makes useful contributions to our knowledge of the fur trade at the beginning of the American period, but he spent very little time in the area of interest to us here. He noted the existance of Shageluk Slough, but made no attempt to explore in that direction and only commented that the Innoko Valley was reported to be the richest fur country in the lower Yukon (Raymond, 1871, 1873).

In summary, much of the exploration of interior Alaska by both Russians and Americans between 1845 and 1880 was superficial and was not accompanied by the accurate surveying and mapping that characterized some coastal explorations being carried out at the same time. Writing as late as 1886, Henry W. Elliott, a noted authority on Alaska and former member of the Western Union Telegraph Company Expedition, noted that although the Yukon flowed through some of the most unexplored country in the north, the river itself was one of the best known waterways in Alaska (Elliott, 1886, pp. 412-413).

St. Michael was one of the early stations of the Signal Service of the United States Army in Alaska. This program was established in 1874, largely through the efforts of Spencer Baird, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The observers selected for these sta- tions were young men interested in all aspects of natural history and thus qualified to make profitable use of their time when not per- forming their meteorological duties. In June, 1877 Private Edward William Nelson was assigned to St. Michael and directed by the Chief Signal Officer to obtain, in addition to weather observations, data on the geography, ethnology, and zoology of the area (Sher- wood, 1965, pp. 93-94).

Edward Nelson was born near Manchester, New Hampshire on May 8, 1855.' The family moved to Chicago following his father's death in the Civil War. Intermittently between 1872 and 1875 he at- tended the Cook County Normal School and at the age of 17 made his first field collecting trip to the far west. His principal interest at this time and throughout the early years of his career was orni-

'A detailed account of Nelson's life stressing his accomplishments in the fields of ornithology and mammology is found in Goldman (1935). His anthropological con- tributions are described and evaluated by Lantis (1954).

8 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

thology and his first papers, on birds of Illinois, were published in 1876 and 1877.

With the assistance of Baird, Nelson was accepted as a weather observer in the Signal Service for assignment to Alaska and in April, 1877 he sailed from San Francisco. During his term of duty at St. Michael he traveled extensively and, in addition to collecting birds and mammals, made the superb collection of Eskimo ethnographic specimens, now in the National Museum of Natural History, which has secured his fame among later generations of arctic anthropologists.

Nelson remained at St. Michael until 1881 and his last journey during the winter prior to his departure is the subject of this ac- count. Leaving St. Michael on November 16, 1880 with dogs and sledges. Nelson and Fredericks crossed the mountains to the upper Anvik River, and thence dgwn the river to its confluence with the Yukon. After being delayed at Anvik a few days because of bad weather, the two men traveled up the Yukon a short distance before crossing overland to the Innoko River and exploring its upper reaches (Nelson, 1887, p. 16; 1899, p. 20).

The exact route traveled by Nelson and his companion is uncer- tain in part because his accounts, both published and unpubhshed, are sketchy and vague on this subject, but also because of certain geographical characteristics of the area. About 75 miles above its confluence with the Yukon the Innoko is joined to the latter by Shageluk Slough, an anabranch which runs in a meandering north -south direction generally parallel to the two rivers for a distance of some 40 miles and joins the Innoko approximately 15 river miles above the village of Shageluk. A branch of Shageluk Slough, HoUkachuk Slough, flows into the Innoko above the village of Holikachuk, formerly a sizeable settlement but abandoned in the 1960's when the inhabitants moved to the Yukon.

A glance at the map (fig. 2) will show that Shageluk Slough, together with the Innoko River, creates a large island roughly in the shape of an inverted triangle with Fox Point Island in the northwest corner, Holikachuk in the northeast corner, and the confluence of the Innoko and the Yukon at the apex. This arrangement has created confusion in geographical naming and identification by early explorers, traders, and missionaries. In some written ac- counts, including Nelson's manuscript, Shageluk Slough is con-

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES

Fig. 2. Map of the lower-middle Yukon and lower Innoko rivers.

sidered to include not only the slough but the lower Innoko as well. For these writers the name Innoko is applied only to the river above the mouth of Holikachuk Slough. It is easy to see why some observers considered the entire complex of sloughs and a section of the lower Innoko to be simply a large anabranch of the Yukon, because it is certainly true that both sloughs deliver a considerable amount of Yukon water to the Innoko in the spring. Zagoskin (1967, p. 298) noted that the Indians he encountered referred to the upper

10 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

Innoko as the Tlegon, a name, it will be recalled, which Petr Kolmakov also obtained in 1838. The "middle course" was called "Shiltonotno or Innoka," while the lower reaches between the point where Holikachuk Slough enters and its junction with the Yukon was designated "Ittege" by the local people and "Chagelyuk," or Shageluk, by the neighboring Eskimos. Zagoskin believed the name Shageluk to mean "willow," a reference to the heavy growth of these trees along the river's banks. According to one source (Osgood, 1958, p. 27), Innoko is an Ingalik word meaning "in the woods," but there is no general agreement as to its meaning or origin.

Since Nelson reserved the name Innoko for that part of the river above the entrance to Holikachuk Slough, it is possible, with the help of the few actual dates in his account, to reconstruct with some degree of certainty at least part of his route. After leaving Anvik, it is likely that Nelson and Fredericks ascended the Yukon to a point in the vicinity of the present village of Grayling, occupied by the former residents of Holikachuk, and then crossed over to the Innoko River in the vicinity of Holikachuk village. A winter trail in the area is still frequently used today. From that point the route can only be surmised. Nelson obviously ascended the Innoko, probably one of the few white men to do so since Petr Kolmakov had traversed the same territory from the opposite direction in 1838. It is doubtful, however, if he reached the headwater tributaries that Kolmakov had followed in going from the Kuskokwim drainage to that of the Yukon. The return journey probably followed much the same route since Nelson (1887, p. 16) mentions stopping again at Anvik, but the two travelers then proceeded down the Yukon and along the coast to St. Michael rather than by way of the Anvik River. This return route is of some importance in interpreting the information in his ac- count because it means that he did not visit the lower Innoko at any time during these travels, though he refers to "the Shageluk" in his manuscript.

Edward Nelson left St. Michael in late June, 1881 aboard the Revenue steamer Corwin, serving as naturahst that summer on her northward voyage in search of the missing ship Jeannette. The Cor- win visited the north coasts of Alaska as well as the Diomede Islands and St. Lawrence Island before returning to San Francisco in October (Nelson, 1887, p. 16). Nelson never did further work in Alaska, but spent the remainder of his long career in the southwest.

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 11

California, Mexico, and in various administrative positions for the Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture. His interest in Alaska and writings on Alaskan subjects continued, however, and in 1899 he pubHshed his major ethnographic work, "The Eskimo About Bering Strait," in which he carefully described the approximately 10,000 specimens collected in the course of his sledge and boat journeys from St. Michael. He retired from govern- ment service in 1929 and died on May 19, 1934 (Goldman, 1935, pp. 145-148; Lantis, 1954, pp. 9-10).

Nelson's sledge journey to the Yukon and upper Innoko in the winter of 1880 would have been a truly remarkable accomplishment for anyone else, but for this indefatigable man it was simply one of many such trips, all equally long and arduous. Although lacking in specific geographical information, Nelson's account of his journey is an important source for the ethnography of the area. It provides more information relevant to nineteenth century culture change than any other single source prior to the establishment of the Episcopal and Roman Catholic missions on the lower Yukon seven years later. Nelson (1887, p. 16) acknowledged that the emphasis of his trip was ethnological and he did not hesitate to supplement data obtained by personal observation with information provided by others. Through the co-operation of men like L. N. McQuesten, a pioneer Yukon trader who made frequent trips to St. Michael, Nelson derived his information concerning the Koyukon Indians of the Nulato area and the lower Tanana River (Sherwood, 1965, p. 94).

The most significant information in the notes on his journey, however, concerns the Ingalik Indians of the Anvik area. Cornelius Osgood, whose field work in the 1930 's has provided most of the ethnographic information available concerning the Ingalik, believ- ed, at the time of his field work, that these Athapaskan speakers comprised four units or subdivisions based on subtle linguistic and cultural differences. The first was the Anvik-Shageluk group, which centered around the village of Anvik on the Yukon and in set- tlements on the lower Innoko River, particularly Shageluk. The second group was identified with the now-abandoned village of Bonasila on the Yukon River approximately 22 miles above its con- fluence with the Innoko. A third group inhabited the villages of Holy Cross on the Yukon and Georgetown on the Kuskokwim. Osgood was less certain about the fourth subdivision, the McGrath group, occupying the drainage of the upper Kuskokwim (Osgood,

12 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

1940, p. 31). More recent research suggests that the Ingalik oc- cupied only a small section of the Kuskokwim Valley above the village of Stony River as well as the drainages of the Swift and Tatlawiksuk rivers, Kuskokwim tributaries (Kraus, 1974).

Osgood's (1940, 1958, 1959) exhaustive reconstructions of tradi- tional Ingalik culture constitute the most comprehensive account of any northern Athapaskan peoples. He did not, however, concern himself with problems of culture change, although he was aware of the contributions of Glazunov and Zagoskin and summarized their data on the Ingalik and neighboring peoples well before information concerning the activities of these explorers was available in English (Osgood, 1940, pp. 35-50). From the standpoint of its usefulness for the study of Ingalik culture change. Nelson's account is important because his observations in the area took place after those of Zagoskin but before missions were established in 1887. From that time on, the published and unpublished writings of mission person- nel form the basis for our understanding of the Ingalik reaction to the ever-increasing presence of Euro- Americans in their area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It seems safe to say that between the departure of Zagoskin in 1844 and the arrival of Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries 43 years later. Nelson and Hieromonk Illarion, the Russian Orthodox priest at Ikogmiut, were the only white men with an interest in observing and writing about the native peoples to visit the territory of the Ingalik.

Nelson's account also contains data on the inhabitants of the up- per Innoko River whom he termed "Kolchan," a name which has had varied usage in the historical and anthropological literature on western Alaska. While at Anvik in January, 1834 Glazunov learned of a group of Indians called "Kyltchanes" who were said to inhabit the upper Kuskokwim River (VanStone, 1959, p. 43). Writing in 1839 Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangell, a former general manager of the Russian- American Company, noted that the Ahtna and Tanaina, Athapaskan groups in the Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet areas respectively, used the names "Kolchan" or "Goltsan" to refer to unspecified peoples in the interior. The names were said to mean "strangers" or "visitors" (Wrangell, 1970, pp. 8-9). Wrangell may have had access to Petr Kolmakov's unpublish- ed journal since Zagoskin (1967, p. 300) noted that the explorer used a similar name to refer to the inhabitants of the upper Innoko and translated it as "nomads." Zagoskin himself applied the name

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 13

"Goltsan" to the inhabitants of the upper Kuskokwim and believed that Kolmakov had been in error in extending its use to include the upper Innoko (Zagoskin, 1967, p. 243). Hieromonk lUarion referred to the Indians of the upper Kuskokwim and upper Innoko as "Kolchanes" and noted, at the time of a visit in May, 1866, that Holikachuk was "the first Kolchane village" (Oswalt, 1960, pp. 104, 109, 116-117).

Perhaps the most significant point to be derived from the above information is that the earliest travelers on the Innoko recognized a linguistic and cultural distinction between the inhabitants of the lower Innoko and the river above the settlement of Holikachuk. It is probable, however, that the name "Kolchan" and its many varia- tions was simply a designation in several Athapaskan languages to identify people who lived inland from the speakers. Zagoskin (1967, p. 243) appears to have suspected as much when he noted that the name was "applied to all tribes of the interior by those living on the coast." Osgood (1940, pp. 31, 33), as we have noted, tentatively plac- ed the upper Kuskokwim within Ingalik territory and he considered the upper Innoko to be within the area occupied by Koyukon Athapaskans. Holikachuk was thus a Koyukon village linguistically but because of frequent interaction with the Ingalik the inhabitants were culturally aligned with those people. This latter point is cer- tainly correct, but the recent linguistic research of Kraus (1974) and his colleagues has resulted in the delineation of a new Athapaskan group which he calls Holikachuk and which includes the upper In- noko and a small section of the Yukon in the vicinity of the village of Grayling. As previously noted, the former inhabitants of the Innoko community now occupy this latter area. As for the upper Kuskokwim, Hosley (1968), on the basis of research in the McGrath region, designated the inhabitants of this area as an independent group of northern Athapaskans and gave them the traditional name of Kolchan. Kraus (1974) recognizes the linguistic distinctiveness of this area but prefers to designate it simply as Upper Kuskokwim.

The reader of Nelson's account who is primarily seeking informa- tion on the nature and quality of Ingalik life in the late nineteenth century just prior to the impact of missions and the influx of popula- tion resulting from the discovery of gold on the upper Yukon may be somewhat disappointed. More than half the manuscript is devoted to an account of myths, most of which are duplicated in other collec- tions, and a description of festivals in the winter cycle of social and

14 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

religious ceremonies which are described in greater detail by Osgood (1958, pp. 73-146). It was undoubtedly the weather-induced delay at Anvik which enabled Nelson to collect so much of these kinds of data. His eye-witness accounts of the ceremonies, however, are important primary source material. Combined with later descriptions by missionaries and Osgood's excellent ethnographic reconstructions, Nelson's data on ceremonies helps to make the ceremonial cycle of the Ingalik as well known as that of the adjacent Eskimos and better known than that of any other northern Athapaskan group.

Perhaps the most valuable information in Nelson's account con- cerns Indian-Eskimo relations, particularly Ingalik trade with the Eskimos of the Norton Sound area. Also valuable are his observa- tions on resource utilization, and on changes in the resource base, and in hunting and trapping methods in response to the re- quirements of the fur trade. Particularly detailed is his discussion of the seasonal round of subsistence activities, a pattern that is dif- ficult to determine in other nineteenth-century sources and even in Osgood. As a result, it is possible to ascertain the extent to which the Ingalik were involved in the fur trade in the 1880's. Nelson's in- formation on death and burial customs usefully supplements data in Osgood, as does his reasonably detailed discussion of girls' puberty observances, courtship, and marriage.

One theme that runs through Nelson's account is his opinion that the Ingalik and also the "Kolchan" had borrowed a considerable body of customs and beliefs from the neighboring Eskimos. He saw this as a result of the long history of interaction between the three peoples and was convinced that the Ingalik and "Kolchan" were the borrowers because Eskimo culture traits were found only among In- dians living in close proximity to Eskimo territory. More recent students of Athapaskan culture have been less willing to commit themselves on this subject although they readily acknowledge the obvious resemblances. In writing of the rich ceremonial life of the Ingalik, for example, Osgood (1959, p. 274) noted that his research failed to reveal satisfactory evidence of the borrowing of most of the ceremonies from the neighboring Eskimos. His informants believed the performances to be basically Athapaskan and he was unwilling to make a judgement either way in the matter. Whatever may have been the extent of Ingalik borrowing, it is clear that their way of life, as well as that of the Koyukon, Tanana, and Tanaina— other

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 15

Athapaskans living in close proximity to the major waterways of western Alaska— resembled to a marked degree that of the riverine Eskimos of the same area.

PREFACE TO NELSON'S ACCOUNT

Nelson's manuscript account of his travels on the Yukon and In- noko rivers in November and December, 1880 is undated and con- sists of 91 handwritten pages. It is deposited in the National An- thropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, where it bears the designation BAE ms. no. 2109. The full title is "Manuscript on the 'Tinne' tribes of Alaska, information mainly from Anvik Indians, with some from Yukon Indians, and 'Kolchan' Indians from Innoko River." Although most of the information in this manuscript was never utilized in Nelson's many publications on Alaskan subjects, some material on birds and mammals was incorporated into his "Report Upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska. ..." (1887).

In the following pages Nelson's manuscript is reproduced virtual- ly complete with the exception of a very brief section consisting almost entirely of musical transcriptions. Also eliminated are the sketches of artifacts which the author interspersed throughout the text, but which are crudely drawn and do not supplement the writ- ten material in any way. An outline sketch-plan of an Indian house on the upper Innoko River is retained, however (fig. 4). Since Nelson made no attempt to divide his account into logical paragraphs, this has been done by the editor, necessitating some punctuation changes. Words appearing in brackets are those of the editor, while those in parentheses are part of the original manuscript. The few footnotes in the manuscript have been either eliminated or incor- porated into the text. All editorial footnotes are numbered and plac- ed at the end of Nelson's account.

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E. W. NELSON'S NOTES ON INDIANS OF THE YUKON AND INNOKO RIVERS, ALASKA

Messenger or Barter Festival: Anvik Indians

This festival is ordinarily one of the first ones held in winter. It generally takes place in November and seems to have no significa- tion except the exchange of articles from one village to the other and the promotion of good fellowship between villages. This is a com- mon festival with the Innuits from the Arctic Coast and Bering's Straits to Bristol Bay.

This festival is begun as follows: After winter sets in the people in a certain village find that they have more than they need of various articles of value such as deerskins, wooden dishes, or other things and they lack certain other desirable articles. They decide to hold a barter festival and invite the people of the neighboring village.

Nearly everyone in the village has some article he wishes to ex- change and in consequence he becomes one of the feast givers. When a large supply of food is prepared and all is ready the two head men of the villages prepare two slender batons which they peiint with bright colors and then these are given to two young men who £ire in- structed to give the batons to the two head men in the village decid- ed upon by the feast-givers.

The messengers arrive at their destination and deliver their batons and tell who sent them. Then the messengers recite to the assembled villagers the things most desired by the feast makers and the articles that will be given out by them at the festival. Each of the messengers is given some new article of clothing and they are treated as guests of honor during their stay.

The villagers meike ready and, placing their articles on sledges, start for the feast. When one day's journey from the village giving the feast, one of the messengers hurries on ahead to notify his people. The next day the other messenger runs on ahead and notifies the people of the approach of the guests.

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18 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 70

The guests are received with great hospitality and are apportion- ed among the different householders. The last messenger who leaves the approaching guests is told by each of the guests what he par- ticularly desires such as an article of clothing or other thing.

Soon after the arrival of the guests all gather in the sweat house and the women bring in a bountiful supply of food. When everyone has feasted to his content each man brings in some article asked for by one of the guests and gives it to him and if it is an article of clothing, he helps the guest put it on. Then the hosts unite in a dance and song of welcome which occupies the first evening.

The second evening the guests bring in and distribute their presents after which they dance and sing a song addressed to their hosts.

On the third evening the hosts bring in and distribute fresh presents and this is followed by a general dance in which both sides take part and the festival is ended.

Frequently more than one village is invited to take part in one of these festivals. The next year some of the guests at this festival will make another one and invite their hosts of the year before. In this way a considerable exchange of goods is brought about.'

Festival to the Dead

On December 10, 1880, during one of my sledge journeys, I came to a small Indian village near the head of the Innoko River. There I found nearly all of the able-bodied men of the Kol-chan Indians assembled by invitation to witness and take part in a feast given in honor of the dead.

The principal feast makers were a young man and an old man, but the entire village took a more or less active part in it. The shades to be honored in chief, however, were relatives of the two men named, and, in a general way, the shades of other village dead whose rela- tives took part.

I arrived after the festival began and from that time on kept note of all the ceremonies. The two principals, I was told, sang a song prepared for this occasion in the morning and the evening before the day set for the festival to begin.

On the evening of my arrival I noticed some excitement about the sweat house and went in. All of the women came in and sat opposite

VANSTONE: NELSON'S NOTES 19

the doorway. In the middle of the room in a row facing the door sat four old men. These men sang several songs, each one ending with a low but high pitched "hoo, hoo, hoo." In about half an hour some young men held up two blankets so as to conceal the door and all of that side of the room. Directly after this two women and five men came in and ranged themselves along the wall behind the blankets, one woman at each end of the Une, and the blankets were taken away.

One man wore the tail feathers of a white owl in a fillet so ar- ranged that the feathers stood up straight from the forehead. The other men each had a similar fillet in which were the feathers of a gyr-falcon or some other bird of prey.

Three of the men each had a large downy feather fastened in some way to the tips of their noses. The men all wore new blouses of fancy ticking. The women had one or two black-tipped wing feathers of a seagull in their hair and wore blouses of bright colored calico, also new. In her right hand each woman held a slender rod about 3 ft. long and tipped with a large, downy white feather.

The old men at once resumed their song, beating time with slender sticks on a smooth, round log that lay before them. The new comers began a slow dance in time to the song. The movements of the men consisted of a mere jogging of the weight first on one leg and then on the other, with a corresponding heave of the shoulders, all without moving the feet from their place on the floor.

The women made a forward and backward motion of the body at the hips accompanied by a Ught bending of the knees each time and a slight twisting or rotary motion of the body as the last, or recov- ery, movement. The women kept their wands in constant slight mo- tion in time to the song. After the dance had gone on for some time the singers uttered the final "hoo-hoo-hoo" and stopped. The danc- ers stopped at once and turned with their faces to the wall and stood thus until the song was taken up again when they would wheel about and begin once more. This was repeated several times. All of the dancers wore mittens and every now and then during the dance they would draw out a pinch of fine white down in one hand and blow it toward the middle of the room where the singers sat. When this was finished everyone went to bed.

At 2:00 A.M., the next morning, I was awakened by the singing of the old men on the roof of the sweat house. The song ceased and the

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hewn end of a stick was pushed a little way into the smoke hole and then came a long song. After it was finished the end of the stick was pushed slowly down until a young man inside caught hold of it and drew it down until the end rested on the floor. It was a slender spruce pole, unpeeled except a little bit at the butt. All along its sides were stuck long, downy white feathers.

After singing another song the men on the outside came in. The chief shaman of the village then started a song which was taken up by the other old men and followed by the seven dancers of the eve- ning before. The latter wore old clothing and gathered in a ring about the spruce pole and began to dance as before.

These dancers were soon joined by another who brought a wolf- skin over his head. He circled once around and touched the pole and then one of the seven dancers took the wolfskin and hung it on the wall of the room. In this way the dance went on for hours, some new man, or woman, bringing in a contribution every 15 or 20 min. In the end a varied lot of stuff hung along the wall consisting of wolf, wolverine, and other skins, calico, drilling, tobacco, etc., etc. There averaged from 8 to 12 dancers and the unvarying song was kept up with all the power of their lungs.

The old men and dancers did most of the singing as the others very rarely joined in. The song was an endless repetition of the syl- lables "oh-hee-ha; hee-ha; hee-ha-hay" varied by "ha-ha-hay; hee-ha; hee-hee-ha." The dancers threw the upper part of the body back and forth violently and stamped time vigorously on the floor with one foot. The dancers streamed with perspiration and as fast as one became exhausted and dropped out of line his, or her, place was taken by a newcomer.

The dance ended at 10:00 A.M. and food was brought in. After some fragments of food from each