1. The Tshuktshi.—This is the name of the Esquimaux of Asia. It is generally accompanied by the epithet sedentary, so that we speak of these people as the sedentary or settled Tshuktshi. This distinguishes them from the so-called Reindeer Tshuktshi, a tribe of the Koriak family. For either one or the other of these tribes the name of Tshuktshi should be abolished. It is my impression that the differences between the Esquimo of Asia and America do not represent more than a few centuries of separation.
2. The Kuskokwim.—This tribe, which occupies the banks of the river from which it takes its name, may stand as the representative for the tribes between Cape Rodney and the Peninsula of Aliaska. Its numbers are estimated at upwards of 7000. Transitional in character to the tribes of the coast and interior, its manners coincide with its geographical position. In the use of certain so-called ornaments, it agrees with the other Esquimaux tribes; as it agrees with the Esquimaux and Finn tribes in the use of the sweating-bath. The Kuskoquimers count distance by the number of nights requisite for the journey. Of the constellation they have a detailed knowledge, founded upon observations. The most prominent of their institutions is the Kahim; a building found in every village; erected like an amphitheatre, capable of containing all the males of the place, and which, over and above many peculiar domestic purposes connected with its erection, serves as a council-hall for the males of the population.
3. The Tshugatsh.—Natives of Prince William's Sound, and closely allied to the islanders of Cadiack, with whom they agree in language. Their historical traditions are, that they came from the coast, and from the north; their mythological ones, that they are descended from the Dog.
These three divisions are not only indubitably Esquimaux, but have also been recognised as such.
Those that follow are generally referred to another ethnological group. In the parts about Cook's Inlet (Bay of Kenay) and Mount St Elias, a second race is said to make its appearance, and this is generally separated from the Esquimaux by a broad line of demarcation. It is called the Kolooch race or family, and is generally placed in contrast with the Esquimaux. Isolated tribes akin to the Kolooches, and worthy of special notice, are the following:—
1. The Ugalyachmusti or Ugalentses, consisting of about 38 families.—They change their localities with the season, and are Kolooch in manners and conformation. Living around Mount St. Elias they are frontier tribes to the Tshugatshes.
2. The Kenays, inhabiting the coast of Cook's Inlet, 460 families strong.—Historically, they assert that their origin is from the hills of the interior, from whence they descended coastward. Their mythological and ultimate origin is from the raven, connected with which they have a complex cosmogony. Descent from the raven, or descent from the dog, is considered, for these tribes we are speaking of, as an instrument in ethnological criticism. Like the Ugalentses, they are in contact with Tshugatsh Esquimaux.
3. The Atnahs, dwelling on the Copper River, 60 families strong, hunters of rein-deer, and workers in iron as well as copper.—They coincide with the typical Kolooches in burning their dead, in ascribing the origin of their race to the raven, and in most other particulars.
These three tribes are unequivocally connected closely with each other, and with the other members of the Kolooch group. The position of the following is less definite:—
1. The Kolshani.—These represent the natives of the interior. They fall into two divisions, whereof the nearer can make itself intelligible to the Atnas and Kenays. The more distant one is savage, inhospitable, unintelligible. Cannibalism is one of their real or accredited characteristics.