The Central Eskimo Part 4

Later in the season they live in tents, and the hunting of seals and walrus is continued as long as the presence of ice permits. The greater part of the Aivillirmiut live near Depot Island (Pikiulaq). Here, on Cape Fullerton, and near the northern entrance of Chesterfield Inlet, the natives deposit their stores for winter use. As soon as the ice is gone they resort to the mainland, where deer, which descend to the sh.o.r.e at this season, are hunted. When the snow begins to cover the country they move inland, where they continue the deer hunt. In October they settle near a deer pa.s.s or a lake which is crossed by the herds migrating southward. In December all the deer have left the country and the natives live upon the stores deposited in the fall. Towards the beginning of the new year part of them return to the sea and live upon the deposits of walrus meat or disperse over the land floe, where seals are killed in their breathing holes. Another part take to the hills near Chesterfield Inlet and Wager River, a favorite feeding ground for the musk ox. They only return to the bay in March or April, to hunt seals until the breaking up of the ice. If the supplies of walrus meat are very abundant the Eskimo gather in one large settlement.

It appears from Klutschak's own journal that this report is not quite complete, and I shall therefore add those of his own observations which seem to be important:

The natives who had hunted deer in the fall returned in December to Depot Island, where ten inhabitants lived at that time. They hunted walrus at the edge of the floe during the whole winter, but did not exclusively use their old stores (Klutschak, p. 32). In summer whales were hunted by means of kayaks, the blubber and meat being immediately stored for future use (p. 269). It is interesting to learn that a single family spent a whole year in the interior of the country, about two or three days' journey west of Depot Island, living on the flesh of the musk ox most of the time (p. 196). He does not say what kind of fuel they used.

In Klutschak's chart of Hudson Bay, which is published with his essay, a winter settlement is marked on Wager River, where the natives probably lived on seals caught in the breathing holes.

The mode of life of this tribe, as observed by Hall during his stay among them in 1864, differs in some material points from Klutschak's account. It is particularly important that Hall found them at Wager River.

About forty Eskimo are said to have lived in Nuvung during that year, while others were at Depot Island. Large depots of deer meat were scattered over the country around the settlement (Hall II, p. 76) and were brought in by the natives one by one. In the middle of November, after having finished the work of currying their deerskins, they commenced the walrus hunt, but meantime they frequently fed on deer meat from their depots (Hall II, pp. 102, 128, 132, 133). Towards the end of February they commenced to disperse, at first moving southward in order to be nearer the floe edge (p. 144). In the beginning of March an advance party of natives moved to Wager River, where they intended to catch salmon through the ice and to visit depots in that part of the country (p. 149). In April all the former inhabitants of Nuvung had settled on the ice of Wager River, where salmon in moderate numbers were caught (p. 164), but the main subsistence was the seals, which were at first watched for at the breathing holes, while later on they were killed when basking on the ice.

As a summary of the foregoing statements, we may say that the five princ.i.p.al settlements of the Aivillirmiut are Pikiulaq (Depot Island), Nuvung and Ukusiksalik (Wager River), Aivillik (Repulse Bay), Akugdlit (Committee Bay), and Maluksilaq (Lyon Inlet). They may be divided into two groups, the former comprising the southern settlements, the latter the northern ones. Every one of these settlements has certain well known sites, which are frequented at the proper seasons.

It yet remains to describe the roads which are used in the intercourse between these settlements. From Pikiulaq to Nuvung the natives travel by means of sledges. In the winter of 1864-'65 two journeys were made, the first in December, the latter in January. Besides, boats are used in traveling along the sh.o.r.e in summer. Sledge journeys from Nuvung to Ukusiksalik cannot be accomplished on the ice, as in the entrance of the bay large water holes are formed. The sledges follow a chain of long, narrow lakes beginning near Nuvung and running almost parallel with the coast through a deep gorge. The bay is but a short distance beyond this gorge. I am not acquainted with the sledge road from Nuvung to Aivillik.

Rae was visited at Fort Hope by a number of Eskimo, who came by sledges from Nuvung in June (I, p. 169). Hall traveled with the natives in boats, pa.s.sing the narrows and following the edge of the land ice, while the rest of the families sledged on the sh.o.r.e or on the land ice (II, p.

177). The princ.i.p.al road across Rae Isthmus leads over North Pole Lake and is described by Rae and Hall. The latter accompanied the natives on two sledge roads, the one leading from Sagdlua, in Haviland Bay, to Qariaq, in Lyon Inlet, the other crossing the land farther south. I am not sure whether a road leading from Nebarvik to Committee Bay connects Maluksilaq with Akugdlit. It is doubtful whether the coast between Aivillik and Gore Bay is visited by the natives.

It is remarkable that the Aivillirmiut very rarely go to Southampton Island, though they are sometimes carried across Frozen Strait or Rowe's Welcome by drifting ice. Scarcely ever of their own accord do they visit the island, which they call Sagdlirn. They know that it is inhabited, but have very little intercourse with its people.

_The Kinipetu or Agut.i.t._--The reports upon the Kinipetu or Agut.i.t of Chesterfield Inlet are very scanty as compared with those of the beforementioned tribe. All authors agree that they differ materially in their habits from the Aivillirmiut, and it has often been affirmed that they scarcely ever descend to the sea. As there is, however, no other tribe mentioned south of the Aivillirmiut besides this one and as in every voyage to these sh.o.r.es, even far south of Chesterfield Inlet, Eskimo are met with who frequently visit Fort Churchill, the most northern station of the Hudson Bay Company, there can be no doubt that they also visit the sh.o.r.e and the islands and hunt seals. Probably the greater part of the tribe live inland from July to March, hunting deer and the musk ox, and in winter only descend to the sea in order to procure blubber and sealskins during the season in which these are most easily obtained. It may be that another part stay near the head of Chesterfield Inlet all the year round or remain in the hilly country between the deep gulf and Back River hunting the musk ox. According to all reports, they are rather independent of the hunt of sea animals, and they do not even use their skins for garments (Klutschak, Deutsche Rundschau fur Geographie und Statistik, III, p. 419). For this reason they would afford interesting material for investigation, and it is unfortunate that no trustworthy accounts of the tribe exist. Back, on his journey to the sh.o.r.es of the Arctic Ocean, found traces of the Eskimo on the lakes of Back River, ample proof that they were in the habit of visiting this region every summer. He found the first traces near 107 west longitude, and farther down, at the mouth of Baillie River. He did not see the natives whom Anderson and Stewart met in the summer of 1855 near McKinley River and later between Pelly and Garry Lakes. Their clothing and even the covers of their kayaks were made of deer and musk ox skins. They observed among these natives such articles of European make as the Hudson Bay Company used for barter and which were traded to the most southern Eskimo tribes of Hudson Bay. Therefore it is likely that these natives belonged to Chesterfield Inlet. This opinion is supported by Klutschak's remark that a native of the mouth of Back River knew an overland route leading from the lakes at its upper course to Chesterfield Inlet.

_The Sagdlirmiut of Southampton Island._--Before leaving the subject of the Hudson Bay Eskimo I may mention the inhabitants of Southampton Island, a tribe which is almost unknown and the only record of which was obtained by Captain Lyon during the few hours which he pa.s.sed among them in 1824 (Attempt to reach Repulse Bay, p. 54). In August he found a few families on the island south of Cape Pembroke, who were living upon salmon which had been deposited in stone caches and who had tents made of sealskins. A winter house was found at the same point. About 1865 an American whaling vessel found some natives on Manico Point living in five tents. Even then they had scarcely any iron, but used the old stone implements; this proves the want of all communication with the natives of the mainland. Parry found traces of Eskimo in York Bay and they have been seen on many other parts of the island. The Hudson Bay tribes call this tribe the Sagdlirmiut, i.e., the inhabitants of Sagdlirn, and their knowledge about them is very scanty, as they meet very rarely and by chance only.

_The Sinimiut._--Northwest of Hudson Bay we find a tribe in Pelly Bay.

The reports upon it are very scanty and it is difficult to find out the extent of the district which is occupied by it. Ross did not fall in with the tribe, and in the accounts of the Netchillirmiut on their journey to Repulse Bay no mention is made of an intervening tribe (II, p. 263). In April, 1847, Rae found signs of the tribe near Helen Island, in Pelly Bay (I, p. 113). There was an abundance of seals on the ice all around the islands (p. 111), but besides these they had large stocks of dried musk ox and salmon (p. 124). On his second journey he found their winter habitation on Barrow and Cameroon Lakes (II, p. 938), and on the 20th of April he met with seventeen natives on the mainland west of Augustus Island, among whom were five women. In traveling farther west he fell in with a native who had been hunting the musk ox.

On the 17th of May he found twelve natives settled in the same place and living on seal (II, p. 842).

Hall met with this tribe twice, in 1866 and in 1869. On the 28th of April, in his first attempt to reach King William Land, he found the Sinimiut settled near Cape Beaufort, in Committee Bay, where they were probably sealing (II, p. 255). No further account of this meeting is found except the remark that these natives were on their way to Repulse Bay (p. 259). Therefore it is rather doubtful whether the eastern sh.o.r.e of Simpson Peninsula belongs to their customary district. In April, 1869, on his second visit to Pelly Bay, Hall found their deserted winter huts on Cameroon Lake (p. 386). In the early part of the spring they had lived on the ice south of Augustus Island, the only place where seals could be caught, as the rest of the bay was filled with heavy floes which had been carried south by the northerly winds prevailing during the preceding fall. The natives themselves were met with on the mainland west of Augustus Island, where they were hunting the musk ox. When Hall crossed the bay in the first days of June the natives had changed neither their place nor their mode of subsistence.

There is a discrepancy in Nourse's extract from Hall's journal, for he sometimes refers to the Pelly Bay natives as different from the Sinimiut, while in other pa.s.sages all the inhabitants of the bay are comprised in the latter term. I think this discrepancy is occasioned by the fact that a number of Aivillirmiut had settled in Pelly Bay and some others were related to natives of that locality; the latter Nourse calls the Pelly Bay men, the rest the Sinimiut. The place Sini itself, according to a statement of Hall, is near Cape Behrens, on the northwestern sh.o.r.e of the bay.

As the winter huts of the Sinimiut have been found four times on the lakes of the isthmus of Simpson Peninsula, we may suppose that they generally spend the winter there, living on the stores deposited in the preceding season and occasionally angling for trout and salmon (Rae I, p. 110) or killing a musk ox. In March they leave for the sea in order to hunt seals and to secure a fresh supply of blubber for their lamps.

Their chief subsistence is the musk ox; besides, salmon are caught in great numbers, for they live on dried fish until spring (Rae I, p. 124).

BOOTHIA FELIX AND BACK RIVER.

_The Netchillirmiut._--Following the sh.o.r.e westward we find the interesting tribes that inhabit Boothia Felix, King William Land, and the mouth of Back River. Among them the Netchillirmiut are the most important. Their favorite hunting grounds seem to have undergone a remarkable change since they were first visited by Ross in 1829. At that period their district occupied the southern part of Boothia Felix, particularly the narrow isthmus and the adjoining parts of both coasts.

They were acquainted with Bellot Strait (Ikerasaq), which they described as the way the Victory had to take in order to effect a pa.s.sage to the western sea. A part of the tribe was in the habit of wintering on Owutta Island; they also probably visited the eastern part of King William Land. The southwestern termination of their district cannot be exactly defined, but from their description of the land south of Lake Willerstedt it appears that they visited Shepherd Bay; besides, I find that in June, 1831, a number of families lived south of Netchillik, i.e., probably in Rae Strait or on Shepherd Bay (Ross II, p. 537).

So far as can be gathered from Ross's account the tribe had three winter settlements, one on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Isthmus of Boothia, another at Lake Netchillik, and the third on Owutta Island.[3] As to the first meeting of the natives with the Victory two contradictory accounts are found. At first it is related (p. 252) that they came from Akugdlit, having been on the road ten days. Later, and this is more probable, it is said that two natives had descried the ship in September, 1829, when pa.s.sing near Victoria Harbor (p. 309). Being in great fear, they had immediately traveled to Netchillik to communicate with their countrymen.

There they met with a woman who had been on board of Parry's ships, and she had induced all the natives, by her stories, to be on the lookout for the Europeans. At the first meeting, on the 9th of January, 1830, 31 men approached the ship. This would answer to a population of about one hundred and twenty persons, and it is quite unprecedented that such a party should travel for any distance and even beyond the limitations of their own territory and of their customary migrations. Probably a traveling party had joined the Netchillirmiut, who had lived somewhere in Lord Mayor's Bay, and they all went to meet the ship.

[Footnote 3: From a rather ambiguous statement (p. 355) it would seem that Owutta belongs to the territory of the Ugjulirmiut; but in later pa.s.sages ample proof is found that it is inhabited by the Netchillirmiut (pp. 423, 427). I myself was formerly misled by the above pa.s.sage (Zeitschr. Gesell. Erdk., p. 171, Berlin, 1883).]

From Ross we also learn that during January and February these natives lived on seals, which were killed with harpoons (pp. 250, 255, 259), but, in addition, they had deposits of venison, seal blubber, and fish (pp. 251, 262). Sometimes they went hunting the musk ox on the mainland farther north, and a small party may have staid there throughout the winter (p. 265). In the first days of March they began to scatter all over the ice (p. 290), in order to have a better chance of sealing and of catching young seals in the white coat (pp. 293, 295). The young sealing commenced about the 10th of March. It is worth remarking that this is the only tribe on the continent of America which pursues the young seal; they are enabled to do this by the extent of the land floe in the large bays. In the last days of March some of the natives started for Sarvaq and Netchillik to fetch their kayaks (p. 315), which they had left there the preceding season. As they intended to hunt deer at the lakes farther north, they were obliged to have their boats at hand at the breaking up of the ice. The further the season advanced the more the settlements were broken up (p. 338), and towards the end of April the first families left for Netchillik to join the other part of the tribe (p. 323). At this season the musk ox and the returning reindeer were frequently hunted (pp. 252, 335, 349). In the first days of May some of the natives went to Netchillik (p. 337), and another party followed a month later (p. 383). They stopped on Middle Lake for a short time to fish for trout (p. 384). A number of families remained near the ship, sealing, catching salmon, and hunting the musk ox (pp. 436, 441, 450, 453) until the beginning of July, when the fishing season ended and they went to the inland lakes to hunt deer and fish for trout in the rapids between the lakes (p. 450). In the summer their princ.i.p.al fishing stations were Lindsay River and Sarvaq.

The other part of the tribe which had lived at Lake Netchillik were even more numerous than that of the coast, as 21 snow houses were found which had been inhabited by them during the winter (p. 389). The number of inhabitants of this village was about one hundred and seventy, and, since there were a few who lived on Owutta Island and yet others who may have been scattered in different parts of the country, it is probable that the whole tribe numbered 350 persons.

As they were seen only a few times by the expedition the reports are rather incomplete. In the winter they lived on a plain, which was called Okavit, on the eastern sh.o.r.e of Lake Netchillik (p. 315). The exact position cannot be learned from Ross's journal. As some mention is made of blubber deposits at Netchillik (p. 388), it is probable that they lived on stores deposited in summer. Toward the end of May and in the beginning of June they were met with at Spence Bay and Josephine Bay.

One of their stations was on the island Inugsulik, near Padliaq, the head of Spence Bay. Here their princ.i.p.al food was codfish, which they caught in holes cut through the ice, while the sealing was there a less important interest (pp. 391, 426). The kayaks which were found deposited on the west sh.o.r.e of Boothia as far as Josephine Bay proved that they resorted to this region in the deer hunting season (pp. 406, 407). The families who had been at Owutta during the winter of 1829-'30 were found in June, 1831, in Padliaq, whence they crossed the isthmus and visited Tarionitjoq (p. 431).

In 1830 no natives were seen after the usual time of their departure for the interior of the country, and it was not until April, 1831, that they were found again. They had wintered at Lake Avatutiaq, on the eastern sh.o.r.e of Boothia (p. 511), where they had lived on a large stock of salmon caught in the fall (p. 531) and on musk oxen which were hunted during the entire year in the hilly country near the lakes. Others had wintered farther south, on Lake Owen (p. 524). A portion of these Eskimo set out for Netchillik in April (p. 522), while the others remained in Tom's Bay and subsisted upon codfish, salmon, and seals (p. 546).

In June another party left for Netchillik, whence some of the natives, who had not seen the ship before, arrived at Victoria Harbor in July, probably having heard of her new station at this place through the returning families (p. 577). In August the last of them left, going west (p. 592).

Though these reports are rather imperfect, they enable us to get a fair idea of the mode of life of this tribe.

In the large bays on the eastern side of the isthmus the natives live just as do the southern tribes of Baffin Land, pursuing the seal at its breathing hole during the winter. Here, as everywhere else, the settlements were broken up early in the spring. The fishing is commenced remarkably early, while in the east scarcely any salmon are caught before the breaking up of the lakes. West of Melville Peninsula the fishing is commenced in March or even earlier. On Boothia the most important means of subsistence for the natives is the codfish, on which they live during the spring and probably during a part of the winter.

It is also an important article of food for the other tribes of this region, while farther east it is of no importance. The salmon fisheries of Boothia are very productive, of which Netchillik and Padliaq in Josephine Bay, Stanley and Lord Lindsay Rivers, Qogulortung, Angmalortuq, and Sarvaq may be considered the most important. Deer are hunted while swimming across the numerous lakes of Boothia, and the musk ox in the granite hills of its northern part. Here is also another winter resort of the tribe, from which the island Tukia, north of Lake Avatutiaq, is visited in summer, to collect pyrite or native iron (p. 362), which is used for kindling fire. The life of the western part of the tribe, as far as we are acquainted with it, was described in the foregoing paragraph.

Neither Dease and Simpson, who visited Castor and Pollux River in 1839, nor Rae, on his second voyage to Boothia, met the natives themselves; the latter, however, saw their marks on the islands of Acland Bay (II, p. 840).

The next traveler who fell in with the tribe was M'Clintock, who visited King William Land in search of the Franklin records. In February, 1859, he met several families near Cape Adelaide (p. 230). They traveled during the spring all along the sh.o.r.e and had been near Tasmania Islands in March and April. They were seen by him on their return journey to Netchillik, near Cape Nicholas. They traveled slowly south, hunting seals. They knew the coast as far as Bellot Strait and were able to name every cape of this district. A few families who had wintered in company with this party at Cape Victoria had returned to Netchillik when the other parties started north (p. 253). On the 4th of May, twenty deserted snow huts were found on the southwest point of Matty Island (p. 257).

From the direction of the sledge tracks, M'Clintock concluded that the natives who had formerly lived here had gone to Netchillik. On the 7th of May a settlement of 30 or 40 individuals was found on the eastern coast of King William Land (p. 260). This party had not communicated with the villages on the mainland of Boothia since the preceding fall (p. 260).

An interesting change in the territory which is inhabited by this tribe has occurred since Ross's visit to this country. In order to describe it more fully, I must refer to the relations of the Netchillirmiut to the Ugjulirmiut. At this early period the intercourse between the tribes of Ugjulik and Netchillik was of little consequence. No European had ever been in their districts, which included Adelaide Peninsula and the southern sh.o.r.e of King William Land (Ross II, p. 317), but quite a number of persons were known to the Netchillirmiut (p. 357), who had met them in their trading excursions. In addition to this, a young single man of Ugjulik had been adopted by a Netchillirmio who lived on the eastern coast of King William Land and on Owutta Island (p. 355). When the Franklin expedition perished on King William Land, in 1848, the Netchillirmiut had not yet visited that part of the country. From Schwatka's inquiries we learn that the tribe that found Crozier and his fellow sufferers did not extend its migrations beyond Adelaide Peninsula and the southern sh.o.r.e of King William Land. In the summer of 1848 they attempted in vain to cross Simpson Strait, and were compelled to stay on the island. They traveled all over the country as far as Peel Inlet, opposite to Matty Island (Gilder, p. 91). Hence it is obvious that the Netchillirmiut, up to the time of the Franklin catastrophe, lived in their old territory, as the inhabitants of Boothia in 1859 had only indirect news of the shipwreck.

When the Ugjulirmiut obtained an enormous stock of metals and wood by the destruction of Franklin's ships, the Netchillirmiut commenced to visit King William Land, in order to partake also of these riches. Thus they began, by degrees, to move westward, and became intermingled with the Ugjulirmiut. Hall mentions quite a number of Boothians who had met Ross on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the isthmus, though they were living on King William Land at that time (Hall II, p. 405). Besides, according to all accounts, the number of women is much smaller among the Netchillirmiut than that of men, and these are obliged to look for wives among the neighboring tribes, particularly among the Ugjulirmiut. As these do not differ in the fashion of their clothing and tattooing from the Netchillirmiut, it is scarcely possible at the present time to separate the tribes. It is worth remarking, however, that Gilder and Klutschak use both terms, and therefore I conclude that the natives themselves are conscious of belonging to different tribes.

Schwatka describes the limits of their territory as he learned them from his observations in the summer of 1879 (Science, December 19, 1884, p. 543). He found them on the mainland opposite King William Land and along the islands in the vicinity of Simpson Strait. They were most numerous along the northern sh.o.r.es of Adelaide Peninsula, their villages being scattered every few miles along the coast from Montreal Island to Smith Point. On the chart accompanying this account the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Back River estuary is included in the district inhabited by the Netchillirmiut.

It is important to compare this description with the observations which were made by Hall in 1869. He found the first traces of natives at the very head of Shepherd Bay, where a sledge track was observed (p. 395).

Near Point Acland several snow huts and a number of natives were met with on the 30th of April (p. 396). Farther west he found a village on Point Booth (p. 397), but the most interesting fact is that in May, 1869, the party had fresh salmon from Netchillik (p. 400). This statement is decisive of the question whether the Netchillirmiut still continued their visits to the isthmus from which they take their name.

From Klutschak's journal a few more details may be gathered. From it we learn that in summer the Netchillirmiut scatter, and, while some go sealing near Montreal Island (p. 75), many others go inland to hunt deer in the lakes of the peninsula and farther south (p. 119). A third party resort to King William Land, the southern sh.o.r.e of which they frequent until September, while the more northern parts are seldom visited (p. 79). At this season they leave the island and all return to Adelaide Peninsula (p. 126). I suppose, however, that this report does not refer to the whole tribe, but that another party visited Shepherd Bay in winter. It seems to me very improbable that in the interval between 1869 and 1879 a total change should have occurred. In the spring they catch salmon, which are dried and stored to be used in winter. Their stock of blubber and deer meat is sufficient to last them during the greater part of the winter. At this season they fish only in holes made through the ice. Important winter settlements are at Point Richardson and at the outlet of Qimuqsuq (Sherman Inlet), where all the deer needed are caught in the fall while they are crossing the bay.

Although these statements do not altogether harmonize, it appears, notwithstanding, that King William Land and Adelaide Peninsula, which were not visited by the tribe in the early part of our century, became its favorite hunting ground after the loss of the Franklin expedition.

Since that period the more northern parts of Boothia may have been abandoned by the natives, though no certain proof of this can be offered. Netchillik itself and the more southern parts were visited up to 1869, and probably they are yet inhabited by the Eskimo. This cannot be said with positiveness, however, for this part of the country has not been visited since the times of Ross and M'Clintock. The migration of the natives was caused, without doubt and as we have already remarked, by the profusion of metals and wood obtained from the wrecks and the starved traveling parties.

_The Ugjulirmiut._--Several important facts regarding the Ugjulirmiut are mentioned above. Dease and Simpson found their first traces on the western sh.o.r.e of Adelaide Peninsula. From Ross's account (I, p. 427) it appears that their territory was the same at that period as it is now, and M'Clintock's meeting with them on the sh.o.r.e of King William Land may be adduced as a proof of this. Their old country is now inhabited by both Ugjulirmiut and Netchillirmiut. Therefore their mode of life is identical and requires no comment. Visits to the northern parts of King William Land have been very rare, but it was on one of these that Franklin's ships were discovered (Klutschak). They rarely went hunting beyond Cape Herschel, but looked for driftwood on the northern sh.o.r.e of the island.

_The Ukusiksalirmiut._--The last tribe of the Central Eskimo, the Ukusiksalirmiut, inhabit the estuary of Back River. They were met by Back and by Anderson and Stewart. Recently Schwatka and his party communicated with them on their visit to King William Land. Klutschak affirms that they are the remains of a strong tribe which formerly inhabited Adelaide Peninsula but was supplanted by the Netchillirmiut and the Ugjulirmiut. Klutschak calls them Ukusiksalik; Gilder, sometimes Ukusiksalik, sometimes Ugjulik. The latter author relates that a single family living on Hayes River (Kugnuaq) had formerly had its station on Adelaide Peninsula, but had retired to this country when the warlike Netchillirmiut began to visit King William Land and Adelaide Peninsula.

Schwatka could identify the same man with one of those whom Back had seen in the estuary of the river in 1833 (Gilder, p. 78). Therefore they must have lived in this district a long time before the Netchillirmiut began to move westward. According to Back the party with which he fell in did not know the land beyond the estuary of Back River, which indicates that they were neither from Ugjulik nor Netchillik. As the Ugjulirmiut lived on Adelaide Peninsula when Ross wintered in Boothia, I do not consider it probable that the Ukusiksalirmiut ever lived in that part of the country, and I cannot agree with Klutschak. I may add Parry's remark, that beyond Ukusiksalik (Wager River) another Ukusiksalik (Back River) was known to the natives of Winter Island.

The reports on their mode of life are very deficient. They were met by Schwatka a little above the great bend of Hayes River in May, 1879; he also met another party in December at the Dangerous Rapids of Back River. Schwatka counted seven families at the former and nine at the latter place. Their princ.i.p.al food consisted of fish, which are caught in abundance in Back River (Klutschak, p. 164). It is said that they have no fuel during the winter. Undoubtedly they use some kind of fuel, and I rather doubt the implication that they do not hunt seals at all.

The musk ox and fish, however, are their main food, according to both Klutschak and Gilder. It is very remarkable that all the natives west of Boothia depend much more on fish than do any other tribes of the Central Eskimo.

A word in regard to the roads used in the intercourse between the tribes. From Akugdlit a road leads over the lakes of Simpson Peninsula to Pelly Bay. Rae and Hall traveled over it on their journeys to the northwest and it was used by the Sinimiut when they visited Repulse Bay in 1866. From Pelly Bay two roads lead to Netchillik and the estuary of Back River, the one following the east sh.o.r.e of the Boothia, the other running to Lake Simpson, whence the valley of Murchison River facilitates the access to Inglis Bay. The Isthmus of Boothia is crossed by the two chains of lakes discovered by Ross. In visiting the northeastern part of the peninsula the natives ascend Stanley River and cross the lakes farther north. Between Netchillik and Ugjulik the Eskimo pa.s.s by Owutta Island to Peel Inlet, whence they travel overland to the south sh.o.r.e of King William Land and cross Simpson Strait. Another road leads from Cape Colville to Matheson Point, following the south sh.o.r.e of King William Land. In traveling from Ugjulik to Back River they use Sherman Inlet and the adjoining isthmus. It is probable that Back River is visited by natives belonging to Wager River. The existence of a communication between Back River and Chesterfield Inlet is proved by Anderson and Stewart, who found Eskimo at Lake Garry, and by a remark of Klutschak (p. 170), who learned from a native of Back River that Chesterfield Inlet could be reached from the upper part of that river.

It is quite probable that thus an immediate though limited intercourse is kept up between the Kinipetu and the Ukusiksalirmiut.

SMITH SOUND.

_The natives of Ellesmere Land._--Last of all I have to mention the natives of Ellesmere Land and those of North Greenland. Although the latter are not generally considered as belonging to the central tribes, I find that their habits and their implements resemble those of the Central Eskimo rather than those of the Greenlanders, and therefore a brief mention of them will not be inappropriate. The inhabitants of Umingman Nuna (Ellesmere Land) probably live on the southern sh.o.r.e, near the western part of Jones Sound, and, according to Bessel's and my own inquiries, they travel all around this island, pa.s.sing by Hayes Sound.

_The North Greenlanders._--The North Greenlanders live in the sounds of the peninsula between Melville Bay and Kane Basin, hunting seals on the smooth floes of the bays and pursuing walrus at the floe edges. They make large deposits of the blubber and meat obtained in the fall, on which they live during the winter. They also pursue seals in winter with the harpoon. In summer they hunt reindeer on the mountains adjoining the inland ice.