[109] 'The dead body of a chief is embalmed with moss, and buried.' Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 177.
[110] 'In one of the small buildings, or kennels, as they may very properly be called, was a woman who had retired into it in consequence of the death of her son.' Lisiansky's Voy., p. 184.
[111] 'The word Aleutian seems to be derived from the interrogative particle allix, which struck strangers in the language of that people.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. iii., p. 312. The Unalaskas and 'the people of Oomnak, call themselves Cowghalingen.' 'The natives of Alaska and all the adjacent islands they call Kagataiakung'n.' Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 154. 'The inhabitants of Unalashka are called Kogholaghi; those of Akutan, and further east to Unimak, Kighigusi; and those of Unimak and Alaxa, Kataghayekiki. They cannot tell whence these appellations are derived; and now begin to call themselves by the general name of Aleyut, given to them by the Russians, and borrowed from some of the Kurile Islands.' Coxe's Russ. Dis., p. 219.
[112] Yet, says D'Orbigny, Voyage, p. 577: 'Si on interroge les Aléoutiens sur leur origine, ils disent que leurs ancêtres ont habité un grand pays vers l'ouest, et que de là ils sont avancés de proche en proche sur les îles désertes jusq'au continent américain.'
[113] Trapesnikoff took from an unknown island in 1753, 1920 sea-otter skins. Durneff returned to Kamchatka in 1754, with 3,000 skins. In 1752 one crew touched at Bering Island and took 1,222 Arctic foxes, and 2,500 sea-bears. Cholodiloff, in 1753, took from one island 1,600 otter-skins. Tolstych in one voyage took 1,780 sea-otter, 720 blue foxes, and 840 sea-bears. Coxe's Russ. Dis., pp. 43, 44, 49, 51, 53.
[114] Sparks, Life of Ledyard, p. 79.
[115] A great deal of character. Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 32.
[116] 'Rather low of stature, but plump and well shaped; with rather short necks; swarthy chubby faces; black eyes; small beards, and long, straight, black hair; which the men wear loose behind, and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.' Cook's Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. 'Von Gesicht sind sie platt und weiss, von guter Statur, durchgängig mit schwarzen Haaren.' Neue Nachr., p. 150. 'Low in stature, broad in the visage.' Campbell's Voy., p. 112. Hair 'strong and wiry;' scanty beard, but thick on the upper lip. Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 154.
[117] 'Les femmes aléoutes portaient aux mains et aux pieds des chapelets de pierres de couleur et préférablement d'ambre.' D'Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. 'None are so highly esteemed as a sort of long muscle, commonly called sea-teeth, the dentalium entalis of Linnæus.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 40. 'Women have the chin punctured in fine lines rayed from the centre of the lip and covering the whole chin.' They wear bracelets of black seal-skin around the wrists and ankles, and go barefoot. Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 155. 'Im Nasen-Knorpel und der Unterlippe machen beide Geschlechter Löcher und setzen Knochen ein, welches ihr liebster Schmuck ist. Sie stechen sich auch bunte Figuren im Gesicht aus.' Neue Nachr., p. 169. 'They bore the upper lip of the young children of both sexes, under the nostrils, where they hang several sorts of stones, and whitened fish-bones, or the bones of other animals.' Staehlin's North Arch., p. 37.
[118] 'Leur conformation est robuste et leur permet de supporter des travaux et des fatigues de toute sorte.' D'Orbigny, Voy., p. 577.