Few plants that are of any service to man grow in this region. The
willows, ŭ´kpĭk, of various species, which near the coast are nothing
but creeping vines, are sometimes used as fuel, especially along the
rivers, where they grow into shrubs 5 or 6 feet high. Their catkins
are used for tinder and the moss, mû´nĭk, furnishes wicks for the
lamps. We could find no fruit that could be eaten. A cranberry
(Vaccinium vitis-idæa) occurs, but produced no fruit either season. No
use is made of the different species of grass, which are especially
luxuriant around the houses at Utkiavwĭñ, where the ground is richly
manured with various sorts of refuse,[N92] though the species of
mosses and lichens furnish the reindeer with food easily reached in
the winter through the light covering of snow. Little attention is
paid to the numerous, and sometimes showy, flowering plants. We
learned but two names of flowers, the one mentioned above,
tûkĭlû´kica, tûkĭlûkĭdja´ksûn, which seemed to be applied to all
striking yellow or white flowers, such as Papaver, Ranunculus, and
Draba, and mai´sun, the bright pink Pedicularis. All the wood used in
this region, except the ready-made woodenware and the willow poles
obtained from the Nunatañmiun, comes from the drift on the beach. Most
of this on the beach west of Point Barrow appears to come from the
southwest, as the prevailing current along this shore is to the
northeast, and may be derived from the large rivers flowing into
Kotzebue Sound, since it shows signs of having been long in the water.
The driftwood, which is reported to be abundant east of Point Barrow,
probably comes from the great rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean.
This wood is sufficiently abundant to furnish the natives with all
they need for fuel and other purposes, and consists chiefly of pine,
spruce, and cottonwood, mostly in the form of water-worn logs, often
of large size. Of late years, also, much wood of the different kinds
used in shipbuilding has drifted ashore from wrecks.
[Footnote N92: “The oil had acted as a manure on the soil, and
produced a luxuriant crop of grass from 1 to 2 feet high” (village
at Point Atkinson, east of the Mackenzie). Richardson Searching
Exp., vol. 1, p. 254.]