défi"[1]. For better or worse the Eskimo will increasingly feel that the white man is upon him.
The first step has already been taken, even if we disregard the slight contact which the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Churchill has meant. When the Fifth Thule Expedition stayed among the Caribou Eskimos, similar posts were found at Chesterfield Inlet, dating from 1912 (fig. 1), at Baker Lake from a few years later, at Eskimo Point since 1921, and at Ennadai Lake. At Nueltin Lake the Révillon Frères established a post in 1922. For a year or two the firm of Lamson & Hubbard also had posts at Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake. These have now been abandoned, but the Hudson's Bay Company has made a new advance, and, if the railway to Hudson Bay is built, whether it be from Winnipeg or the more problematical connection with Great Slave Lake, the speed will be increased even more. At Chesterfield a detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also stationed, and there is a Catholic Mission under the leadership of Mgr. A. Turquetil, O. I. M.
Intercourse with the whalers was of another nature, particularly because it only comprised one of the Caribou Eskimo tribes, the Qaernermiut or "Kinipetu", who in fact owe this meaningless name to the whaler jargon. It was Rae's expedition which drew the attention of the public to the chances in Hudson Bay, and in 1860 the first American whalers made their appearance in the northwest of the Bay.[2] The Americans from New Bedford and adjacent ports took the lead in these virgin waters, whilst the Scottish whaler fleet kept to the old grounds in Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound. The American methods were very different to those of the Scots, and this difference was of extreme importance to the Eskimos. The ships were fitted out for wintering once or twice, and this usually took place at Marble Island, Fullerton, Whale Point or Repulse Bay. Immediately a ship arrived at the coast, a number of Eskimo families were employed. These were mostly Aivilingmiut, although some Qaernermiut also entered the service. In the winter the natives hunted seal, caribou and musk-ox for the purpose of supplying the ship with fresh meat, and during the “open period" they helped to man the boats. In contrast to the Scots, the Americans did not use their ships for whaling, but cruised with whale-boats in Roe's Welcome from May until the beginning of September.
In this manner the Eskimos learned to steer a sailing boat, and the use of the kayak in the hunting of aquatic mammals was forgotten. In other ways, too, the influence of the whites was felt. Thus
