The only narcotic in use among these people is tobacco, which they obtain directly or indirectly from the whites, and which has been in use among them from the earliest time when we have any knowledge of them. When Mr. Elson, in the _Blossom’s_ barge, visited Point Barrow, in 1826, he found tobacco in general use and the most marketable article.[N108] This undoubtedly came from the Russians by way of Siberia and Bering Strait, as Kotzebue found the natives of the sound which bears his name, who were in communication with the Asiatic coast by way of the Diomedes, already addicted to the use of tobacco in 1816. It is not probable that tobacco was introduced on the Arctic coast by way of the Russian settlements in Alaska. There were no Russian posts north of Bristol Bay until 1833, when St. Michael’s Redoubt was built. When Capt. Cook visited Bristol Bay, in 1778, he found that tobacco was not used there,[N109] while in Norton Sound, the same year, the natives “had no dislike to tobacco.”[N110] Neither was it introduced from the English posts in the east, as Franklin found the “Kûñmû´dlĭñ” not in the habit of using it--“The western Esquimaux use tobacco, and some of our visitors had smoked it, but thought the flavor very disagreeable,”[N111]--nor had they adopted the habit in 1837.[N112] [Footnote N108: Beechey, Voyage, p. 308.] [Footnote N109: Third Voyage, vol. 2, p. 437.] [Footnote N110: Ibid, 2, p. 479.] [Footnote N111: Second Exp., p. 130.] [Footnote N112: See T. Simpson, Narrative, p. 156.] When the _Plover_ wintered at Point Barrow, according to Dr. Simpson’s account,[N113] all the tobacco, except a little obtained from the English discovery ships, came from Asia and was brought by the Nunatañmiun. At present the latter bring very little if any tobacco, and the supply is obtained directly from the ships, though a little occasionally finds its way up the coast from the southwest. [Footnote N113: Op. cit., pp. 235, 236, 266.]