Motives and geographical conditions. It is possible that in man — and most pronouncedly in primitive man — there is an impulse to wander which forbids him to remain in the same place always.[1] The Eskimos are very fond of travelling and are not usually shy of long journeys, for they make their way hunting, holding the old proverb ubi bene, ibi patria in high regard. A Pâdlimio, who now lives at Hikoligjuaq, read a challenge in the teasing of some Utkuhigjalingmiut, who asserted that his tribe were no travellers. He related that he therefore journeyed to Back River with his family and remained among the Utkuhigjalingmiut for a long time. I dare not guarantee the truth of the story, but it is not improbable.
The psychological motives of the journeys of the Eskimos are, however, powerfully supported by obvious, material inducements, which again are a consequence of the geography of their area. It has been pointed out in one of the foregoing chapters (p. 69 seqq.) that hunting involves a constant moving about; the demands of the hunt are, in reality, the principal reason why a family seldom remains more than one or two months at a time in the same place. But whereas the hunting expeditions keep within narrow limits, that is to say those which underlie the diffusion of the various tribes, other journeys take the Eskimos much further afield. Considerable distances are often travelled for the purpose of fetching a product that is not to be had in the home area, for instance wood or soapstone. Journeys to visit distant relations are also common, and, in addition, a by no means insignificant trade brings together even tribes which live a long way from each other. Journeys to the various trading posts have now to some degree taken the place of the original trading journeys.
The geography of the country has not only influenced the motives but also the methods of travelling, and in this the inland life of the Caribou Eskimos, in contrast to the littoral life of their kinsmen, is very marked. In winter, when other tribes move about with the sledge on the sea ice, the Caribou Eskimo has to keep to the snow of the interior and, even if this is quite firm and hard, it is
- ↑ Numelin 1918; 94 seqq.
