and river systems in the Caribou Eskimo territory are, however, no hindrance to communication anywhere, and only to a small extent do they form boundaries between the tribes. On the whole, natural boundaries between them are difficult to draw, and they seem mostly to be of historical origin.
Hall mentions the Qaernermiut from "the vicinity of Chesterfield Inlet".[1] Gilder places their country "about seventy miles west and north from Marble Island", but writes in another place that they formerly — also? — occupied the region round Connery River north of the Inlet.[2] The first indication agrees with the fact that Klutschak likewise shows them as living south of the inlet.[3] Nowadays by far the greater number of Qaernermiut live in the Baker Lake region, but principally north of it and towards the big lake Taherjualugjuaq. The watershed towards Back River may be regarded as their northern boundary; but as no Eskimo group has any definitely outlined area. it simply means that Qaernermiut camps are rarely, if ever, met with north of this line. At times some live west of Baker Lake, near Schultz Lake. Hanbury mentions Iglorjualik, between the two lakes named, as the most westerly winter camp, although he saw summer tents as far to the west as Tibjalik or Beverley Lake, and J. W. Tyrrell a little further still to the west, almost there where the river changes its course suddenly from north to east.[4] South of Baker Lake there are Qaernermiut only in the immediate vicinity of the lake, the country further away being inhabited by Harvaqtôrmiut. At Chesterfield Inlet itself there are only very few Qaernermiut; on the whole there are only very few Eskimos at all by the fjord, and these are principally Aivilingmiut who have been drawn south by the trading post at the mouth. At the time when the whalers used to winter at Marble Island or Fullerton there were Qaernermiut at the ships every winter; but since the tribe has gone back to its old mode of living, which keeps it in the interior all the year round, only one or two families have remained at the coast; these are in so far an exception to all other Caribou Eskimos, as they live there during the winter and hunt the seal at this season. The name Qaernermiut might indicate that they formerly lived southeast of Baker Lake, and indeed according to tradition their territory has been shifted to the north.
The Hauneqtôrmiut visit the coast in the early summer between Rankin and Dawson Inlet and otherwise live inland to the west of it up towards Kazan River. Whether the camp which J. B. Tyrrell saw at Ferguson Lake[5] was inhabited by Hauneqtôrmiut or not is not
