Until the visit of the _Blossom’s_ barge in 1826 these people had never seen a white man, although they were already in possession of tobacco and articles of Russian manufacture, such as copper kettles, which they had obtained from Siberia by way of the Diomedes. Mr. Elson’s party landed only at Refuge Inlet, and had but little intercourse with the natives. His visit seemed to have been forgotten by the time of the _Plover’s_ stay at Point Barrow, though Dr. Simpson found people who recollected the visit of Thomas Simpson in 1837.[N84] The latter, after he had left the boats and was proceeding on foot with his party, first met the Nuwŭñmiun at Point Tangent, where there was a small party encamped, from whom he purchased the umiak in which he went on to Point Barrow. He landed there early in the morning of August 4, and went down to the summer camp at Pernyɐ, where he stayed till 1 o’clock in the afternoon, trading with the natives and watching them dance. On his return to Point Tangent some of the natives accompanied him to Boat Extreme, where he parted from them August 6, so that his whole intercourse with them was confined to less than a week.[N85] [Footnote N84: Op. cit., p. 264.] [Footnote N85: Narrative, pp. 146-168.] The next white men who landed at Point Barrow were the party in the _Plover’s_ boats, under Lieuts. Pullen and Hooper, on their way to the Mackenzie, and the crew of Mr. Sheddon’s yacht, the _Nancy Dawson_, in the summer of 1849. The boats were from July 29 to August 3 getting from Cape Smyth past Point Barrow, when the crews were ashore for a couple of days and did a little trading with the natives, whom they found very friendly. They afterwards had one or two skirmishes with evil-disposed parties of Nuwŭñmiun returning from the east in the neighborhood of Return Reef. The exploring ships _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ also had casual meetings with the natives, who received tobacco, etc., from the ships. The depot ship _Plover_, Commander Maguire, spent the winters of 1852-’53 and 1853-’54 at Point Barrow, and the officers and crew, after some misunderstandings and skirmishes, established very friendly and sociable relations with the natives. The only published accounts of the _Plover’s_ stay at Point Barrow are Commander Maguire’s official reports, published in the Parliamentary Reports (Blue Books) for 1854, pp. 165-185, and 1855, pp. 905 et seq., and Dr. Simpson’s paper, already mentioned. Maguire’s report of the first winter’s proceedings is also published as an appendix to Sherard Osborne’s “Discovery of the Northwest Passage.”