A remarkable difference exists between the customs of the western tribes
who live on the continent of America and those of the tribes that
inhabit Baffin Land and Melville Peninsula. This is chiefly due to the
difference in the nature of their territorial surroundings and to the
presence of the musk ox, which they frequently hunt. In addition, the
tribes of the continent do not hunt the seal in the winter, laying up
instead their supply of meat and blubber in the fall. The information in
regard to two of these tribes is quite complete, as they have been
visited by explorers frequently and at all seasons. The two tribes
referred to are the Aivillirmiut, of the northwestern part of Hudson
Bay, and the Netchillirmiut of Boothia Felix. Unfortunately the
information in respect to the others, the Kinipetu or Agutit, the
Sinimiut, Ugjulirmiut, and Ukusiksalirmiut, is less complete.
_The Aivillirmiut._--In order to describe the mode of life of the
Aivillirmiut I shall give an abstract of Dr. John Rae’s observations in
1846-’47 and 1854-’55, of C. F. Hall’s life with these natives from 1864
to 1869, and of Lieut. F. Schwatka’s residence among them from 1877 to
1879. A pretty correct idea of the migrations and favorite resorts of
this tribe at the different seasons may be obtained from the journals of
these travelers.
When Rae arrived in Repulse Bay in the latter part of July, 1846, he met
with twenty-six natives who were deer hunting among the numerous lakes
of Rae Isthmus (I, pp. 35, 40, 48). Another part of the tribe had
resorted to Akugdlit, where they hunted the musk ox near Point Hargrave
(I, p. 49). Committee Bay (Akugdlit) was filled with a heavy pack about
that time, and the natives hunted walrus in their kayaks (I, p. 58).
Wherever they killed a deer or musk ox they made deposits of the meat
and carefully put up the walrus blubber in sealskin bags for use during
the winter. When, about the end of September, the deer were migrating
southward and new ice was forming on the lakes, the natives settled in
the center of that part of the country which had been their hunting
ground during the summer, in order to be near their depots. For this
reason they were well scattered all over the country, some establishing
their tents on the lakes of the isthmus, others staying on the shore of
Repulse Bay, where large deposits of deer meat and blubber had been
made. During the winter most of the natives gathered in one settlement
east of Fort Hope (near Aivillik), whence they started to bring in their
deposits. About the 20th of February they scattered all over the bay
(I, p. 91), but it is doubtful whether they did this in order to be
nearer their depots or to go sealing. In March the first deer of the
season were seen. (I, p. 93), but it was not until April that larger
herds passed Repulse Bay on their migration northward (I, p. 99). At
this time a small supply of trout was procured from Christie Lake, but
it was not sufficient for the support of the natives (I, p. 99). Caches
of venison were made and frequently visited until late in June (p. 166).
The sealing had begun in the beginning of May (p. 135), when the first
animals were seen basking on the ice. But the Eskimo were now almost
independent of their old food supply. When the salmon left the lakes and
the deer were roaming among the hills the time of plenty was at hand.
The salmon creeks were visited, deer were caught, and seals pursued on
the ice (p. 170). Although the first deer were caught in traps in May,
the principal season for deer hunting opened after the breaking up of
the ice, when they were easily taken while crossing the lakes.
When Rae wintered the second time in Repulse Bay (1854-’55) he was much
surprised to find no natives there. They had wintered farther south, and
did not come to the bay until May, 1855, when they could catch seals on
the land ice. In 1864, when Hall arrived at Wager River, Repulse Bay was
again deserted. This year of Hall’s stay in Hudson Bay is very
instructive, as we learn from his account the particulars of the
migration of the Aivillirmiut from Nuvung to Repulse Bay. The following
facts are taken from his journal:
In June, 1865, a traveling party arrived in Repulse Bay (Hall II, p.
177), where numerous deer were met with. Their tents were erected on
Uglariaq, whence seals were pursued, and they began at once to make
blubber deposits (p. 179). They were very eager to store as much
provision as possible, as there was no chance of obtaining a fresh stock
at Repulse Bay during the winter. Some of the party brought their boats
to the floe edge in order to follow the seal and walrus, which were
swimming in the water or lying on the drifting ice in great numbers,
while others preferred sledging on the land floe and shooting the
basking seals (p. 181). After the breaking up of the ice, whales were
seen, and kayaks and boats were made ready for their pursuit. In
September most of the natives returned to North Pole Lake to hunt deer
at the lower narrows (p. 202), where the meat was deposited for winter
use (p. 204).
On the 19th of October the last deer was killed (p. 205), and most of
the natives returned to the bay. They located at Naujan, the men in the
party numbering 43 (p. 216). During the winter no kind of hunt was kept
up, only a few salmon and trout being caught in the lakes (p. 210).
Towards the latter part of March the settlement was broken up and its
members scattered for the purpose of hunting and fishing (p. 227).
Salmon were caught in North Pole Lake and deer shot in the narrow passes
(p. 227). The sealing did not begin until the first of April (p. 239).
In the summer, deer, seal, walrus, and salmon were caught in great
abundance. In the following years the mode of life was about the same,
but it maybe remarked that in August the natives lived at Pitiktaujang
and afterwards went to Lyon Inlet (Maluksilaq) to hunt deer (p. 323).
Part of them returned to Repulse Bay, where walrus were caught on the
drifting ice during September. In the ensuing winter (1867-’68) 55
natives had gathered in a village about twenty miles east of Fort Hope
(p. 333), where they lived on the stores deposited during the preceding
summer. After the breaking up of the ice they succeeded in killing
several whales, which afforded an ample supply of meat and blubber
(p. 363). Subsequently, they hunted deer west of Repulse Bay (p. 364)
and near Lyon Inlet, where probably the greater part of the families had
staid since the previous year.
In November, Hall found near the head of this inlet a number of natives
who came to Repulse Bay towards the end of the year, having heard that a
whale had been taken there. By this addition the village of Repulse Bay
suddenly increased in population to 120 inhabitants (p. 369). This was
the only winter in which the natives, began sealing in January (p. 371).
In March they built their huts upon the ice and scattered early in the
spring for sealing and catching salmon.
From these reports and some more general accounts of these travelers, an
idea can be formed of the mode of life of this part of the Aivillirmiut
during the different seasons. In the spring, when the seals commence to
bask upon the ice, the tents are established on the floe of Repulse Bay,
the large winter settlements being broken up into a number of smaller
ones. During this season they begin to store away blubber, which is
carefully put into sealskin bags. Besides, reindeer are killed in the
deer passes. In July a great number of the natives leave the ice and
resort to the salmon rivers, where an abundant supply of food is
secured, but the sealing is also continued until the breaking up of the
ice. At this time of the year (i.e., in August), walrus and seal are
taken in large numbers, and thus an ample stock of provisions for winter
use is collected. In some seasons a few whales are caught and stored
away at once. In September, most of the natives move to the lakes or
rivers, particularly North Pole Lake, to hunt deer as well as the musk
ox on the hills. Other favorite localities for deer hunting are west of
Repulse Bay or near Lyon Inlet. Large deposits of venison are made, and
when the deer go south the natives settle in the center of their
summer’s hunting ground, building their snow houses on the lakes in
order to have a supply of water near at hand. About January most of them
gather in one settlement, which is established at Uglariaq, Naujan, or
Inugsulik. Those who come from Lyon Inlet do not always join the Repulse
Bay tribe, but may be identical with Parry’s Winter Island Eskimo, who
move to the bay south of Lyon Inlet in winter. They go sealing in winter
only in case of need, for the hunt seems to be unproductive, and they
subsist on the stores deposited during the preceding summer. Towards the
latter half of March the settlements are broken up and some of the
natives go to the lakes to fish for trout and salmon, while others begin
the sealing.
Another winter station of the Aivillirmiut is Akugdlit, which, however,
has never been as important as Aivillik itself. Rae found some families
here in August, 1846. They hunted the musk ox on the western shore of
the bay, and later in the season, upon the pack ice which filled the
sea, they hunted the walrus (Rae I, p. 58). They reported that the bay
was very unfavorable for any kind of chase, as it is usually filled with
closely packed ice, which prevents the visits of animals and endangers
the boats of the natives (p. 49). In July the salmon creeks of Akugdlit
(Committee Bay) were visited by these families, who extended their
hunting ground from Colville Bay to the most northern parts of Melville
Peninsula (p. 145). According to Hall a number of families live here at
times. They were in the habit of staying at Repulse Bay during the early
part of the summer and went to Akugdlit in the autumn to hunt the musk
ox and deer. In the winter they transferred their deposits of blubber
from Aivillik across the lakes to their settlement. Probably these
families returned to Repulse Bay about the first of March, at which time
their deposits were always exhausted (Hall II, p. 383). In some seasons
the natives journey much farther south, that is, to the country between
Cape Fullerton and Wager River. Klutschak’s report upon this subject,
which is extracted from his observations during Schwatka’s search for
the Franklin records, will be found tolerably correct (Deutsche
Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik, III, 1881, p. 422). The report
contains the following statement:
In the spring of every year these Eskimo live on the land floe of
Hudson Bay, at some distance from the point where the tides and
winds carry the pack ice past the shore. Here is the favorite
feeding place of the walrus, and the Eskimo confine themselves to
the pursuit of this animal. They settle near one of the numerous
islands situated near the shore.
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 shore
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 pass 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
principal 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 shore 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, passing the narrows and following the edge of the land ice, while
the rest of the families sledged on the shore or on the land ice (II, p.
177). The principal 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 Agutit._--The reports upon the Kinipetu or Agutit 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 shores, 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 shore 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 für 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 shores 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 passed 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 shore
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 passages 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 shore 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).