were made use of in various ways. Originally it went as far south as almost to Churchill, and as late as in 1897 two stray individuals were seen between Churchill and York;[1] now, however, its territory is very restricted. It is mostly found west of Chesterfield Inlet and northwards to the coast of the Arctic Sea, whereas south of Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake it scarcely appears elsewhere than west of Hikoligjuaq. Twenty years ago it was still common at Baker Lake, and at the same time big herds were seen at Thelon River.[2] The musk-ox is now a strictly preserved animal everywhere in accordance with the Northwest Game Act. The Caribou Eskimos have learned this of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Hudson's Bay Company and seem to conscientiously observe the regulation, which may only be broken in case of famine.
In common with southwest Greenland there is the Alpine hare (Lepus variabilis var. glacialis), the Arctic fox (Canis lagopus) and the caribou (Rangifer arcticus). The hares are not numerous, and they are not of much importance to the Eskimos. It is otherwise with the foxes, of which by far the most are white and only very few blue. Their importance is of recent date, however, and exclusively commercial. The Hudson's Bay Company encourage the Eskimos to hunt the fox, and to the company a good man is synonymous with a skilful trapper. It is not to be denied that by this means the life of the Eskimos is to some extent being led into a wrong path, which, however, is as yet less observable in the southern Barren Grounds than for instance among the Aivilik tribe. As was already stated in the introduction, the caribou is the axis on which everything turns in the existence of the Barren Grounds Eskimos. It is still present in incalculable herds and provides the population with practically everything they need. How this takes place will appear from the later chapters; for a description of the life of the Caribou Eskimos is at the same time a constant reference to the caribou itself and its products.
Autumn. The arctic summer makes its appearance suddenly, but winter arrives stealthily, almost imperceptibly. Autumn is a long transitional period. Even in the middle of August 1922 the flowers were dying off at the mouth of Chesterfield Inlet, and one could feel that indefinable something that is called "autumn in the air". In the course of September all the smaller lakes freeze over, and as early as the latter half of the month J. B. Tyrrell found the small lakes
