The Caribou Eskimos/Part 1/Chapter 2

by Kaj Birket-Smith

II. Habitation and Dwellings.

The Distribution of the Tribes.

Tribe-names and local groups. The Caribou Eskimos — like almost all Eskimos — call themselves [inuit], the plural of [inuk], which means, partly, a person and, in its narrower sense, an Eskimo, and partly in the possessive form [inua] a personification of all, live and lifeless, objects. The fundamental meaning is without doubt more "inhabitant", "possessor", and the root seems to be related to [ine], place of residence. Just that feeling of something living, which we connect with the word inhabitant, is strongly expressed in the anthropomorphistic thought of the Eskimos which, of the special term [inua], creates the conception of countless individualities or spirits — a conception that is quite different to that of the soul.

Among the Chipewyan the Eskimos are called [ᵒtᴿæn·a], which, according to the explanation of Mgr. Turquetil, Chesterfield, is a contraction of [otʀæʟ-æn·a] and, translated, means "the enemies (especially Cree) from the flat (i. e. woodless) country.^[1] The Cree call the Eskimos [aⁱski·maʷåk], which literally translated means "those who eat raw meat". This is undoubtedly the same word as our "Eskimo".^[2] It is true that doubt has been raised regarding this etymology, partly by Richardson, whose derivation of ceux-qui-miaux (miaulent) we may doubtless abandon without much harm being done, and partly also by Thalbitzer in more recent times.^[3] According to this writer the word appears for the first time in the forms Excomminquois, Ercomminqui or Escoumins in the Jesuit mission reports from Nouvelle France 1612–14, whereas the modern form has first appeared round about the year 1700. This latter at any rate is incorrect, as Esquimawes is said to be found as early as in Hakluyt 1584, and Esquimaux occurs in the Jesuit report 1640.^[4] From the presumably earlier form of the word Thalbitzer draws the conclusion that it is really identical with the French word excommuniqués. I have discussed this hypothesis with Mgr. Turquetil, who both as a native Frenchman and as a catholic prelate is specially qualified to pronounce judgment upon the question, but who describes this etymology as impossible, both linguistically and ecclesiastically. A heathen. people can never be described as excommunicated; this term can only be applied to people who belong to the church. When we furthermore see that [a'ski·maʷåk], singular ['askimau], is in fact used by the Cree and, in root and formation, is a genuine Indian word, whilst corresponding terms are used in other Algonkian dialects, there does not seem to be any reason for resorting to rather bold constructions.^[5]

Another term for the Eskimos which is sometimes heard at Hudson Bay, is the half contemptuous "Husky". This is presumably an abbreviation of the word Eskimo, ornamented with a "Cockney h" under the influence of the adjective "husky".

In a political respect there are no tribes among the Eskimos, but there are certain local bands which regard themselves, and are so regarded by others, as a sort of unit, and it is these which in ethnographic literature appear as Eskimo "tribes". Perhaps as a consequence of the great uninhabited stretches on the Barren Grounds, perhaps owing to the levelling influence of European culture not having made itself felt much here, these groups of the Caribou Eskimos are of a much more distinctly outlined character than in Greenland. Thus there are two or three sub-divisions which are subordinate to the others and purely geographic, whereas others at any rate come near to expressing a conception that is more than this and, more or less consciously, comprises uniformity of dialect and culture. The linguistic and cultural differences are, however, so small that for this reason alone they do not form any foundation for a strongly developed feeling of independence, and even for these groups the term "tribe" is therefore more incorrect than correct. If only care is taken not to read anything in the nature of organisation or politics into the word, it can, however, in the absence of anything else, be used as a convenient term.

The Caribou Eskimos comprise the following "tribes": the Qaernermiut, Hauneqtôrmiut, Harvaqtôrmiut and Pâdlimiut. In culture and language the first two are a little more closely connected to each than to the latter two.

Qaernermiut [qaᴱrnᴇrmiut] means "the dwellers of the flat land", which is the term for the stretches behind Rankin Inlet. This tribe is mentioned en passant by Hall,^[6] but became better known through the Schwatka Expedition; for it is this that, under the name of Kinipetu, has hitherto figured as the type of inland Eskimos. The word Kinipetu is always used by the whites at Hudson Bay but never by the Eskimos themselves, of whom only the few who have regular intercourse with the whites know it at all. It ought therefore to be expunged from scientific terminology. As to its origin the following anecdote is related: When one of the first whalers wintered at Marble Island, the ship was one rainy day visited by some Qaernermiut. A woman, who wished to dry her clothes at the stove, pointed to them and said [kinip·atut], "they are wet", and this was taken to be the name of the tribe, which has since clung to them. Low calls them Kenipituiut,^[7] which is pure nonsense, as the suffix [-mio], dweller, presupposes a local designation. Boas is the first to give the right name through the information he has received from Captain G. Comer. He writes: "The name Kinipetu is said to be derived from kī'nipoq ('it is wet'), while their proper name is Kiaknukmiut".^[8] On the other hand it is not correct to connect this name, though in a slightly changed form, with the Eskimos at Back River.^[9] This same mistake has been made both by Stefánsson and Jenness, who heard the word among the Copper Eskimos.^[10]

Hauneqtôrmiut [haunᴇqtɔ·rmiut] means "dwellers of where bones abound", a river which runs into Mistake Bay north of Ferguson River. Another Hauneqtôq a little north of Hikoligjuaq has nothing to do with this. This tribe is mentioned both by Low, who refers to it as Shaunuktungmiut, and by Boas, who writes Sauniktumiut.^[11] As has already been stated, there is a vacillation between [h] and [ʃ].

The Harvaqtôrmiut [hᴀrvᴀqtɔ·rmiut] derive their name from Harvaqtôq, i. e. "where rapids abound", which is a term meaning the lower Kazan River. This group has not previously been mentioned in literature, but possibly, as a result of the similarity between the words, has been confused with the foregoing tribe, about which more later on.

The Pâdlimiut [pa·dlimiut] themselves assert that their name is not taken from any particular locality but from the many willow bushes in their country, which in fact is more luxuriant than that of the other tribes. The word [pa·dlᴇq] means "willow", perhaps especially the Image missingFig. 6.Young Pâdlimio woman. Eskimo Point. dry branches which are suitable for fuel, as opposed to [ɔpik].^[12] This word, however, also appears as a name of locality, for instance Pâdlitjuaq at Kazan River, south of Hikoligjuaq, so it may be that the Eskimos' own explanation is the result of a displacement of ideas. There is another word [pa·dli], which is part of the tribal name Pâdlimiut in Baffin Land and which comes from the word [pᴀ·q], "a fjord mouth", etc..^[13] This however has nothing to do with the root of the name of Pâdlimiut under discussion. It is mentioned by Low and is also known to Boas and Stefánsson.^[14] Petitol says about the Eskimos that "ceux de la baie d'Hudson qui fréquentent le poste de Churchill se nomment eux-mêmes Akut ou Agut, pluriel Agutit".^[15] I myself have never found this name.

Besides the four sub-divisions already mentioned and which are generally recognised, and to one of which every Caribou Eskimo is able to place himself, smaller groups might be set up in almost just as unlimited number as the size of the population permits. Owing to the social laxity and the geographical character of the names, a man who is asked who he is, will often answer not with his personal name or that of his tribe, but with the name of the place at which he lives, or he will indicate the direction of his dwelling: [iviɳmiuvuɳa] "I am from the place of the grass", [kujata·miuvɳna] "I am a southerner", etc. If the necessary care is not taken in this respect one becomes hopelessly embroiled, of which there has been more than one example among the Eskimos.

The Eskimos who live by Baker Lake often call their kinsmen to the northwest around Taherjualugjuaq: Ahiaqmiut [ahiᴀqmiut], although the inhabitants at both places are Qaernermiut; [ahiᴀq] means "the far away", or more correctly "the out-of-the-way". Aligatalingmiut [aligataliɳmiut] is also used about the Qaernermiut west of Baker Lake. This name is known to the Copper Eskimos as that of a tribe south of (sic!) Thelon River" "on a large river close to the country of the white men".^[16] The root of the word seems to mean a stone of a special kind, and [-talik] means "provided with".^[17] The Pâdlimiut at the outlet of Kazan River from Hikoligjuaq call themselves Kungmiut [ku‘ηmiut], "the river dwellers", a term that is mentioned by Boas as the name of a tribe south of the Qaernermiut.^[18] The band of Pâdlimiut that lives south of Hikoligjuaq near Maguse Lake calls itself Tahiuharmiut [tahiuhᴀrmiut], which means "the people from the place like a lake".

Diffusion. Steensby was rather exaggerating, when he concluded that every large group of lakes on the Barren Grounds was the centre of an Eskimo population;^[19] for this the population is not numerous enough. The Dubawnt and Thelon region, for instance, is wholly or almost uninhabited, and great unpopulated stretches everywhere separate the camps. But he was right in his view of the anthropogeographical importance of the lakes. Rivers and lakes attract the Eskimos though the reason is not, as is usually the case in civilisation, the possibilities of communication but, on the contrary, the possibilities of food. As the rivers in the Alps collect the population as a consequence of the possibilities of cultivating the valleys, the wealth of fish and the caribou crossing places at the lakes gather the Eskimos on the Barren Grounds. The watersheds between groups of lakes 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".^[20] 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.^[21] The first indication agrees with the fact that Klutschak likewise shows them as living south of the inlet.^[22] 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.^[23] 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^[24] was inhabited by Hauneqtôrmiut or not is not known, but it is probable. Low writes about this tribe that it occupies the "territory to the southwest of Chesterfield inlet", which is thus true enough; but in furthermore defining it as the region round about Dubawnt River^[25] he places their native area too much to the west. Maybe this misunderstanding is due to a confusion with the Harvaqtôrmiut. On the Atlas of Canada the group has been further moved so that the word "Shaunuktok" has been placed north of Baker and Schultz Lake.^[26] This is quite wrong. Boas mentions the "Sauniktumiut" as living south of the Qaernermiut.^[27]

The settlements of the Harvaqtôrmiut are in the region round lower Kazan River, where the west-to-east stretch of the river has several excellent caribou crossings. To the east they do not go much beyond the country immediately surrounding the river, as there they meet the Hauneqtôrmiut. On the other hand the western boundary is less definite and, especially after the grave famine in 1919, there is a tendency to move northwest. Iglorjualik, which is an important fishing place between Baker and Schultz Lake,^[28] was occupied by the Harvaqtôrmiut in the winter of 1922–23.

The Pâdlimiut are the biggest and most southerly of the four tribes. In writing that they "inhabit the country northward from Churchill to Ranken Inlet, and inland in a northwest direction along the edge of the forest line to about the latitude of Ranken Inlet",^[29] Low extends their territory too far along the coast, as they do not go beyond Dawson Inlet, and south of Thlewiaza River hardly any Eskimo camp will be met with either. Along the whole of the Tha-anne River Lofthouse found the country bare of human beings; traces of former habitation were only met with three days' journey from Hikoligjuaq.^[30] As late as in the seventeenth century there have been Eskimo summer camps on the extreme woodless point at the mouth of Churchill River;^[31] but after the advance of the Chipewyan in these regions, especially after a massacre of the Eskimos at Dawson Inlet ("Knapp's Bay") in 1756, it was long before the Eskimos again moved southwards, and as late as 1772 not only the Eskimos, but the Chipewyan too, traded with the Hudson's Bay Company's sloop at Dawson Inlets.^[32] Towards the end of the nineteenth century the Eskimos were again able to have summer camps at Churchill,^[33] but it is improbable that this ever happens now.

Hikoligjuaq is now a centre of the inland group of Pâdlimiut; in addition, however, J. B. Tyrrell in 1894 found the whole of the upper Kazan River between Ennadai Lake and Hikoligjuaq inhabited by a population which, under the circumstances, must be called dense. "Almost every day we passed two or three Eskimo villages", and no less than 44 tents were counted on this stretch.^[34] Nowadays Dubawnt Lake and Dubawnt River seem to be quite uninhabited; in 1893 the Image missingFig. 7.Middle-aged Pâdlimio. Eskimo Point. Tyrrell brothers saw "stone circles, dog-whip handles, stone arrow-heads, pieces of the ribs of kyacks, etc." north of Dubawnt Lake.^[35] This place may almost just as well have been inhabited by the Pâdlimiut from the southeast, Harvaqtormiut from the east and Qaernermiut from the north. It is outside the territory proper of these tribes but within the extension possibilities of them all. Between Grant and Wharton Lakes the Tyrrell brothers met a single family, and it is stated that "the hunt for musk-oxen was what had brought this venturesome hunter far up the river in advance of his tribe".^[36] The expression "up the river" indicates that in this case the people were the Qaernermiut.

Number of population. The fact that the Caribou Eskimos are divisible into no less than four main groups must not lead to exaggerated ideas as to their total numbers. In 1922 and 1923 Knud Rasmussen and I kept an exact tally of all with whom we came into contact, and from the camps that we did not visit ourselves we obtained information through relatives and friends about every family, the number of children, and so on. In this manner we arrived at a number of 432. It was impossible, however, to find out how many lived round the upper Kazan River south of Hikoligjuaq, as the Eskimos there trade with Ennadai Lake and have not much intercourse with Image missingFig. 7 b.Pâdlimio woman, wife of the man pictured fig. 7. Eskimo Point. the others. Mr. McDill, of the Magnetic Observatory at Ottawa, whom I met at Churchill in 1923, told me that at Putahow Lake, the year before, he had met eight or nine Eskimos from round Ennadai Lake. The whole band only seemed to comprise about 35 persons. This brings us up to 467 individuals. I am not sure, however, that all the children at Ennadai Lake have been included, nor do I know definitely whether there are any families at Angikuni Lake that have not been counted. The highest figure to which the Caribou Eskimos can lay claim is, however, 500 and it is not even probable that they number so many.^[37]

The result of the definite counts, arranged according to households, is as shown in the following table.^[38] It will be observed that the females are in constant excess over the males among the adults, but in the minority among the children. There must be special circumstances accounting for this.

QAERNERMIUT

Household	Men	Women	Boys	Girls
I	1	1	3	0
II	1	2[B 1]	0	0
III	1	1	1	1
IV	1	2	0	2
V	1	2	1	1
VI	1	2	3	0
VII	1	1	1	0
VIII	1	1	0	0
IX	1	1	0	1
X	1	1	0	0
XI	1	1	4	0
XII	1	1	0	0
XIII	1	1	1	0
XIV	1	1	1	0
XV	1	1	0	1
XVI	1	1	1	0
XVII	1	1	0	0
XVIII	1	1	2	0
XIX	1	1	1	0
XX	1	1	0	1[B 2]
XXI	1	2	2	0
XXII	1	1	1	0
XXIII	1	1	1	1[B 2]
XXIV	1	1	1	1
XXV	1	1	0	0
Total	25	30	24	11
Grand total: 90.

HAUNEQTÔRMIUT

Household	Men	Women	Boys	Girls
I	1	1	2	2
II	1	2	2	0
III	1	1	1	2
IV	1	2	0	0
V	1	2	0	2
VI	1	1	1	1
VII	1	2[B 3]	0	0
VIII	1	1	0	2
IX	1	2[B 3]	2	0
X	1	1	1	1
XI	1	1	1	0
XII	2[B 4]	2[B 3]	3	0
Total	13	18	13	10
Grand total: 54.

PÂDLIMIUT (Coast)

Household	Men	Women	Boys	Girls
I	1	1	1	1
II	1	1	1	1
III	1	1	0	1
IV	1	1	0	1
V	1	1	0	1
VI	1	2[B 5]	0	0
VII	1	1	2	3
VIII	1	1	2	2
IX	1	1	2	2
X	1	1	2	2
XI	1	1	1	1
XII	1	1	1	2
XIII	1	2	4	2
XIV	1	1	0	0
XV	1	1	2	0
XVI	1	2	1	2
XVII	1	2	0	1
XVIII	1	2	1	0
XIX	1	1	4	0
XX	1	2	3	3
XXI	1	1	1	0
XXII	1	1	3	2
Total	22	28	31	26
Grand total: 108.

PÂDLIMIUT (Interior)

Household	Men	Women	Boys	Girls
I	1	2[B 6]	0	0
II	1	1	1	2
III	1	1	2	1
IV	1	2[B 6]	4	0
V	1	1	1	3
VI	1	1	3	0
VII	1	2	2	3
VIII	1	1	0	0
IX	1	2[B 6]	3	0
X	1	2[B 7]	2	1
XI	1	1	0	0
XII	1	1	1	0
XIII	1	1	1	2
XIV	1	1	1	1
XV	1	1	0	0
XVI	1	1	1	2
XVII	1	1	0	1
XVIII	1	1	2	0
XIX	2[B 8]	1	0	0
XX	1	2	1	0
XXI	1	1	1	0
XXII	1	1	0	2[B 3]
XXIII	1	2	2	2
XXIV	1	1	1	0
Total	25	31	28	20
Grand total: 104, besides an indefinite number south of Hikoligjuaq.

HARVAQTÔRMIUT

Household	Men	Women	Boys	Girls
I	1	2	0	0
II	1	1	0	0
III	1	1	1	2
IV	1	1	3	0
V	1	1	1	2
VI	1	1	4	0
VII	1	1	1	0
VIII	1	2	1	2
IX	1	1	2	1
X	1	1	2	0
XI	1	1	0	1[B 2]
XII	1	1	3	4
XIII	1	1	1	0
XIV	1	1	0	1
XV	1	2	1	0
XVI	1	2	1	0
XVII	1	2	3	2
Total	17	21	23	150
Grand total: 76.

1. An old, blind woman in the household.
2. Sex indefinite.
3. One old woman admitted to the household.
4. One widower.
5. One blind window.
6. Old woman in household.
7. One widow.
8. Not polyandry.

We have some figures as to population from former years, and these are interesting to compare with those above. Based upon Capt. Comer's counts, Boas puts the Qaernermiut at 146 in 1898, whilst in 1902 the Hauneqtôrmiut numbered no less than 178.^[39] From the journeys of the Tyrrell brothers there are no actual counts, but between Ennadai Lake and Hikoligjuaq alone they passed 16 camps with 44 tents — eloquent evidence of a fairly numerous population, which were estimated at five to six hundred in all.^[40] It is clear that the population not so many years ago was a good deal bigger than now.^[41] One of the principal causes of its decline is the terrible periods of famine which have ravaged the country. One of the worst is said to have been the winter of 1919; people were then living between Hikoligjuaq and Eskimo Point, but this stretch is now almost deserted. It was this Pâdlimiut band which bore the special name of Tahiuharmiut, of which there are now only three families left. The Hudson's Bay Company employees believe that at least 100 people perished that winter; but every winter some people here or there seem to die of hunger and, unless vigorous measures are taken from the outside, the day is not far distant when the Caribou Eskimos will have to be entered on the sad list of extinct tribes.

Density of population. At the most 500 people, spread over an area as large as that we are now dealing with, gives an exceedingly thin population. Of course it is impracticable to exactly measure out the Caribou Eskimo territory in square kilometres, as a region that is inhabited one year may be empty next year; but if we take the territory that is more or less regularly inhabited or travelled in connection with hunting, we arrive, as quite a rough result, at about 185,000 sq. km, or an area of the size of two-thirds of Italy and more than the New England states combined. If we take only the region from which we have definite figures of the population, it is limited to about 160,000 sq. km, which serve as a home for 437 people. This gives a density of population of one person to about 365 sq. km, or barely 0.003 to one sq. km, a figure which just corresponds to what Ratzel assumes for "Jäger- und Fischervölker in den vorgeschobensten Gebieten der Ökumene".^[42]

It would be uselesss to compare this result with, for instance, European conditions, as we have to do with quite another culture than ours. It is of more interest to try to make comparisons with other Eskimo territories. The ice-free part of West Greenland measures 116,000 sq. km and is thus considerably less than the land of the Caribou Eskimos, but nevertheless has 13,847 inhabitants (1923), or more than thirty times as many. The density of population in West Greenland is almost 0.12 per sq. km. In Alaska the density is also much greater than on the Barren Grounds, but is not now suitable for comparison, because the un-national reindeer breeding has disturbed matters.^[43] This striking difference in the density of population between various Eskimo regions has undoubtedly to some extent had historical causes; the geography of the countries, however, has also had some effect. With the uncertain caribou hunting in the interior each hunter requires a greater area than those hunting sea mammals and pursuing sea-fishing, which permit of much more concentration.

Settlements. The character of the habitations of a country is dependent upon many factors, which F. von Richthofen places under three categories: man himself (i. e. stage of culture, physical demands, etc.), natural conditions and, finally, at a later phase of development, matters of a higher kind such as state, communications and the like.^[44] Here we can entirely ignore this latter category. It therefore seems clearer in this connection to differentiate between historical and geographical requirements. It will then be seen that the historical element in the habitation does not point beyond the country's own boundaries. In all respects there is exact conformity between the character of the habitation and the nature of the surroundings. The one is closely adapted to the other.

The most conspicuous thing about the settlements on the Barren Grounds is their temporary character, which is further emphasised by the perishable material, snow, of which the winter dwellings are built. Normally, a hunting life involves a temporary habitation, whereas fisher tribes will often be apt to have more permanent dwellings. This latter sentence cannot, it is true, be applied to all, as the whole stage of culture has much to say;^[45] but to a certain degree the rule applies to the Eskimos. On the coasts of Greenland and Alaska the hunting of aquatic mammals — which may be regarded as being a special form of "fishing" — has certainly been contributory towards the general use of permanent winter houses, whereas it would be much more difficult to use these among a pronouncedly hunting people like the Caribou Eskimos.^[46]

The dwellings of a country are not solely characterised by whether they are permanent or temporary, but also by whether they are concentrated or scattered. This is a division which particularly applies to agricultural countries; but in Greenland and by the coast of Alaska one is also justified in speaking of dwellings concentrated in settlements, which are fixed centres in the lives of a fairly large number of people. With the small populations and the very unstable character of the settlements on the Barren Grounds the term "concentrated" must at any rate be modified in order to be applied. But is it at all possible to speak of concentrated or scattered dwellings in these regions? Mutatis mutandis it can be done. "Le groupement dispersé convient aux régions où, par suite du morcellement du relief, du sol et de l'hydrographie, la terre arable est elle-même morcelée. Le village aggloméré est chez lui, au contraire, dans les contrées où cette surface arable est continue, d'un seul tenant, permettant une exploitation uniforme".^[47] That which to the farmer is la terre arable is to these hunters the caribou, and at some seasons they are uniformly spread, at other times more scattered. Owing to this there is a certain periodicity, not only in the situation of the habitations but in their very character, but not of course so pronounced as among agriculturing tribes, the cause of the diversity not being the solid earth but living and wandering animals.

The habitation is most permanent and concentrated in the autumn, when the camps of the Eskimos lie near to the crossing places of the caribou, and in the winter, when they only reluctantly journey away from the autumn meat caches and at any rate keep close to the lakes, where there is a chance of fishing. Thus Hearne wrote long ago: "When the Eſquimaux who reſide near Churchill River travel in winter, it is always from lake to lake, or from river to river, where they have formed magazines of proviſions and heaps of moſs for firing".^[48] Still, even at this time of the year it is not an uncommon occurrence that a family breaks camp and moves out alone to a place where it believes hunting prospects are better. In that case their religion merely demands that those left behind move into a new snow house. In summer, conditions lead to a more scattered existence in the interior, whereas the Eskimos who move to the coast collect at a few places where there is good walrus and seal hunting.

Thus it may be said that at all seasons there is a tendency to flock together. The gregarious instinct is strong among the Eskimos, primitive people on the whole being reluctant to face nature or the rest of society alone. It is not always, however, that nature allows them to obey the instinct, whereby we see the inconstancy that one family moves into a settlement whereas another moves from it, and a month later perhaps the place is deserted for miles around. To give a universal list of the settlements of the Caribou Eskimos is therefore simply an impossibility.

Naturally, this has left its mark upon the social conditions, as Mauss and Beuchat have sought to show. In one of the following chapters we deal with the social life of the Eskimos; it ought however to be mentioned here that the camps on the Barren Grounds are not. from an economic, social or religious point of view, separate individualities, and no wonder, for even with the far greater permanency of habitations in Greenland there are only very vague tendencies in this direction.

As will appear from the foregoing, the factor that is determinative with regard to the choice of situation of the camp is the most simple of all, viz. access to hunting and fishing. It is only exceptionally that the question of drinking water plays any part in these regions, where there is an abundance of fresh water almost everywhere. Drinking water is scarcest on the most southwesterly shore of Hudson Bay, where summer camps for the hunting of sea mammals are often pitched on dry sandy points and islands (Tíkerarjualâq, Sentry Island); there no other water is to be had than the stagnant, insipid water from shallow water-holes. One reason why the whalers in recent years preferred Fullerton to Marble Island for wintering was the difficulty of obtaining good drinking water at the latter place.^[49] As the wealth of fish is great, and fishing only exceptionally comes into the foreground of the economic life of the Eskimos for long Image missingFig. 8.Pâdlimiut tents on the snow-bare shore ridge of Hikoligjuaq. periods at a time, it is the wanderings of the caribou that principally determine the distribution of the settlements. The big caribou crossing-places act like magnets on the population. This brings the west-to-east parts of the river courses into prominence, because they lie across the path of the caribou trek, as is shown by the crossing-places on lower Kazan River, which are vital to the existence of the Harvaqtôrmiut. The camps must not, of course, lie in the immediate vicinity of the crossing-places, in order not to scare the animals. At the east end of Baker Lake an important crossing-place has been spoiled for hunting by the R. C. M. P. having erected a building at the spot.

In winter, a settlement needs suitable snow for building snow huts. This is principally to be found in the depressions, and for preference a camp is build by a lake where fresh water and fishing through holes in the ice are available. In the early summer all low-lying ground is soaking wet. The shore ridges round the lakes or by the sea-coast then have the advantage that they are the first to become bare of snow and that the thaw-water runs away among the boulders (fig. 8). Although certain caution is necessary in order not to break one's ankle on these shore ridges, the tents are pitched on them and, inside the tent, one can hear the water purling and clucking down under the floor. In summer, naked rocky knolls are favourite camping sites, for there the wind helps to relieve the intolerable mosquito plague and, although the Eskimos now live in a formal, though far from cordial, state of friendship with the Chipewyan, there still lurks in their minds a vague fear which, at this time of the year, makes them prefer places with an open view over the country.

At the coast the requirements for summer settlements are, as in Greenland, good landing places and easy access to the hunting grounds. For this reason, small islands like Sentry Island or projecting points are preferred, in the north rocky points, in the south the sand spits which, like Eskimo Point, are formed by the eskers. The settlements are therefore more bound to certain localities than in the interior; they are usually to be found at some of the following places: Angijoq (between Rankin and Corbett Inlet); Pangnertôq (the north point of Corbett Inlet); Norrartût (its south point); Tíkerarjuaq (the naze between Nevill Bay and Dawson Inlet); Qiqertarjuaq (Bibby Island); Arviaq (Sentry Island); Tíkerarjualâq (the naze south of Eskimo Point, where the H. B. C. post is); Ivik and Arviarâjuk (south of the latter place, presumably at McConnell River). —

Only occasionally have religious considerations any influence upon the choice of dwelling place. In Baker Lake there is an island, Tûnraqtalik, i. e. the place of the spirits, where no one dares to live even for one night. The reason is said to be that some Eskimos once disappeared at this place without leaving any trace. Another island close by is also said to be "holy", and this is apparently also the case with an island in Angikuni Lake;^[50] but whether this is taboo for house building is not stated. Marble Island is supposed to have been ice and must only be ascended on the knees the first time it is visited. Sentry Island is not holy itself, but close to the camping place there is a stone (fig. 9) to which offerings should be made when the families arrive there in the spring. Death in the ordinary way has no influence upon the settlement, which is not moved for that reason. —

Even the largest camps are only small. In the winter of 1921–22 the Qaernermiut were distributed over the following settlements, the populations of which are shown in brackets: Orpiktujoq (Baker Lake; 8); Nauhap-tahia (south of Baker Lake; 12); Háningajoq (11); Taherjualugjûp-kangiane (22); Amixoq (3); Qorlortôq (24); Taherjualugjuaq (12); all these latter settlements are north and northwest of Baker Image missingFig. 9.Sacred stone on Sentry Island. Offerings of tobacco, baking powder, cooking pots, files, knives, etc. have been made on arrival at the camp in order to obtain good luck in hunting. Lake up the Back River. Among the Aivilingmiut at Chesterfield Inlet there also lived six Qaernermiut and, among the Coast Pâdlimiut, three.

In the spring of 1922 the Harvaqtôrmiut had six settlements, viz: Hiliktoq (17); Tugliuvartalik (13); Itimneq (15); Nahiktartorvik (18); Arnaquakxánguaq (5); Iglorjualik (6).

At the same time the Pâdlimiut lived around Hikoligjuaq at the following places: Morelrorjuaq (9); Himelrutaq (12); Auksîvit (7); Eqalulingnaoq (46); Nadloínaq (8); Morjunítjuaq (13). In the summer of 1923 there were the following camps inhabited by Coast Pâdlimiut; Arviaq (Sentry Island; 44); Tíkerarjualâq (39); Ivik (18); Arviarâjuk (7). One family of four lived among the Hauneqtôrmiut, who had lived together (54 persons) at Hauneqtôq in the winter of 1922–23.

This shows that the largest settlements comprise about fifty people or about ten families; more frequently, however, the camps are smaller.

Within the settlement the dwellings lie according to the topography of the country and not in any particular arrangement. Some order often appears of itself in tent camps, however, where the tents stand in a line on the back of a raised beach; this however, is due to practical considerations and is not intentional. By the side of the snow huts pillars of piled-up blocks of snow are often raised, on which sledges etc. are placed out of reach of the dogs.

Dwellings and their Arrangement.

General remarks. Many different considerations have an influence upon the character of the dwelling of man;^[51] but only the most primitive and fundamental seem to have had any real effect upon the house of the Caribou Eskimos. This is first and foremost a shelter against the climate; serviceability takes the front rank, and even if historical factors, especially in the form of constructive principles, have their essential share in the nature of the houses, both the strange material and the special climatic demands have exercised their distinct influence. There is little or no margin for the display of ideas. of beauty or considerations of religion.

In calling the house a shelter against the climate, this may be further specified as a shelter for man, and only secondarily for the fireplace, property, etc. Both snow house and tent are "home", where the family not only sleeps at night but to a great extent also spends the day. Even in summer the women sit and sew in the tent, where they are more or less left in peace by the mosquitoes, and the men often take their various small tasks in with them. If the character of their work does not actually demand it, it is on the whole not often that the women sit in the open air; but, if the weather in summer is good, it sometimes happens that they set to work to scrape skins in the shelter of a very crude wind-screen, consisting of brush bundles placed round the fire (fig. 10); in this manner it is also easier for them to keep an eye on the children who tumble about among the tents. In summer, everything is cooked in the open air when the weather permits.

While on summer journeys and hunting trips the men may do without a house for some nights. The Eskimos with whom I made the canoe trip from Hikoligjuaq down the Kazan River had no tent with them, but slept under the canoe and, although the Caribou Eskimos do not usually make long hunting trips alone in over the tundra. I have met hunters from a starving camp roaming about a couple of days' journey from it with no other outfit than their weapons. It may of course happen that in winter a hunter is caught by darkness or a snowstorm while away from the settlement; in such cases he will, with the snow knife which is always carried, build himself a small snow hut or at any rate a shelter. Without this the night may easily be fateful. In good weather, however, there is nothing to prevent him sleeping in the open air, if only all tight bands are loosened, so that the blood may circulate freely. Then the Eskimo draws his arms inside the frock on to his bare body in order to better retain the heat. If he has skins and sleeping bag with him, he is considerably better off. Out on the sea ice I have slept in a sleeping bag under the open sky in 40–45 degrees of frost (C) without feeling any other discomfort than that of creeping out and dressing again in the morning.

There is no definite rule regarding the number of families living in the same dwelling. Sometimes two families live together in the same snow house, sometimes more; but as a rule they are all related to each other, for instance an elderly couple with their married children. One family may also live alone in the snow house. The same applies to the tents. I have even seen one family occupy two tents, the man with his younger wife and children occupying one, while his elder wife and a young girl, who was a sort of help in the household, slept in a small tent alongside. The dancing house [qaᶻge] or [qa·çe], of which more later (p. 269), plays a special part in their social life.

Snow huts. The one winter dwelling of the Caribou Eskimos is the snow hut [iglo]. It is true that at many places by the coast there are ruins of permanent houses, built of earth and stones, and presumably of wood and, perhaps, of whale bones too;^[52] but these have, as we shall see later, belonged to another tribe. The name Iglorjualik, an island in the river between Schultz and Baker Lakes, means "the place of the big house", but is derived from the shape of the island, not from any house ruin on it. Among the Caribou Eskimos I have not seen huts, with walls of freshwater ice, such as the Aivilingmiut, Utkuhigjalingmiut and others use in the autunm, before the snow layer is thick; but it is possible that they do use them.

The first requirement in the building of a snow house is suitable snow, and therefore, if the autumn is a poor one for snow, the Eskimos are in a bad way, being compelled to live long in the cold tents. Not until the latter part of September — at any rate according to what I was informed at Baker Lake — can they start removing. The snow must neither be too soft nor too hard, and especially not formed in layers so that the blocks break. The Qaernermiut differentiate between three kinds of snow for house building:

• [ᴀʀil·oqᴀq] loose, newly-fallen snow.
• [pukajᴀ·q] firm snow.
• [sitijuc·uᴀq] drift snow, hard as stone.

Image missingFig. 10.Women and children cooking behind a brush shelter. Eskimo Point. The first kind cannot be used at all as it is; but in cases of emergency it may be trampled down and later on provide good building material.^[53] With soft snow, however, there is always the risk that the dome will collapse or become worn off in a storm. The Image missingFig. 11.Snow probes. second sort is the easiest to cut and the warmest, for which reason it is always preferred in winter; but in spring it is inclined to collapse, and then [sitijuc·uᴀq] is used. The nature of the snow is examined with the snow probe, a long, thin stick which is prodded deep into the snow at several places within the circle which the hut will approximately occupy, in order that the builder may not suddenly stand in need of material. In this manner it is not difficult, after a little practice, to tell the difference between suitable and unsuitable snow.

The snow probe [häƀgut] was originally made of "reindeer horn, straightened by steaming and worked down until about half an inch in diameter, with a ferule of walrus tusk or the tooth of a bear on the bottom".^[54] In the Thule collection there is one of these from the Qaernermiut (P 28: 73; fig. 11 b). It is a stick 100 cm long, slender and slightly bent, with a handle consisting of a ring of the same material pushed down over one end. There is no ferrule, nor is it probable that this has been common except perhaps at the coast; neither Gilder nor Boas give any provenance data for their statements.

Nowadays the snow probe is as a rule made of wood. We have a snow probe from the Pâdlimiut at Hikoligjuaq (P 28: 74), made of a thin stick of wood; at the fore end there is a ferrule of antler, fixed on with a copper rivet, and at the rear end a ring-shaped handle of antler fastened with a nail. Length 71 cm; cross section quadratic; ferrule 3.6 cm. On a similar snow probe from the Pâdlimiut at Eskimo Point (P 28: 75; fig. 11 a) the ferrule runs towards the rear into two wings, between which the point of the wooden stick is wedged and fastened with six nails. The handle is a crosspiece of wood. Length 90.5 cm, ferrule 6.5 cm, breadth of handle 5.2 cm.

The blocks of snow are cut out with the snow knife and vary a little in size; a medium sized block is about 75 to 80 cm long, 50 cm high and 20 cm thick. If there is only a thin layer of snow it is necessary to cut them so that their greatest dimension is horizontal; but it is both easier and quicker — and therefore always preferred — to cut them vertical. The Eskimo holds the knife with both hands and works with long, firm strokes, striking several times for each cut so that it becomes rather wide. When the blocks are cut vertically and they are not cut out of a slope, it is not so easy to bring the first one up whole. After its outline has been cut down to a suitable depth it can be loosened at the base by treading very lightly on it at the top. The succeeding blocks are easier to get out, when one can stand in the cavity left by the first block. These blocks are cut loose at the sides and base, but at the back only half way down, after which they are loosened by one or two well-directed stabs downwards along the back. If one tried to cut right down at the back the block might easily break.

The snow knife [pana] was originally made of antler or bone; these are still in use among the isolated tribes around the magnetic North Pole, but disappeared long ago among the Caribou Eskimos and their neighbours on the northeast, the Aivilingmiut. If water was applied to the edge of a bone knife of this kind, a very sharp edge of ice could be formed. Snow knives from the Barren Grounds are mentioned by Boas and Hanbury, and the former describes specimens from the Qaernermiut and the Hauneqtôrmiut^[55]. The Caribou Eskimos have two types of snow knives, of which one is mostly used in the north, among the Qaernermiut, and is identical with the Aivilik and Iglulik snow knife, whereas the latter extends to the south and is especially to be found among the Pâdlimiut. Among the snow knives described by Boas there are, however, two of the southern type from the Qaernermiut.

The typical Qaernermiut snow knife has a long, narrow and slightly curved steel blade fixed in a long wooden handle, which at the butt end terminates in a unilateral "beak" on the same side as the edge. The Eskimos purchase ordinary butcher's knives and haft them themselves. They are always very cautious with their purchases of knives and carefully test the flexibility of the steel, see that the blade is straight, etc., as this is very essential for snow cutting. The Pâdlimiut snow knife has a shorter and heavier, two-edged blade which is thickest along the median line and in which at the rear end there is a notch on each side. This type, copied in ivory, is known from Labrador.^[56] It is an old type which the Hudson's Bay Company seems to have created originally for the Indian trade; at first the notches were intended for the lashing. They are very similar to the iron blades which the Indians round about the great Laurentian lakes inserted in the edge of their angular tomahawks. From the Image missingFig. 12.Snow knives. plains they are also known as knife and spear blades and, in very small size, as arrow heads. These blades are used in the south of the Barren Grounds undoubtedly because the Eskimos there have learned to know them during their two-century old connection with Churchill. And indeed their influence can also be traced among the northern Eskimos.^[57] Among these, however, the influence of the H. B. C. up to a few years ago has been so small that the ordinary butcher's knives, presumably introduced at first by the whalers, have nevertheless quite obtained the upper hand. And furthermore, it is these whose form most closely approaches that of the old bone knives.

Of the two-edged snow knives a specimen was collected from the Pâdlimiut, Hikoligjuaq (P 28: 76; fig. 12b). The blade, the free part of which is 22.3 cm long, is inserted in a round handle of antler which widens out a little at the rear end. Total length 47.3 cm. Another snow knife (P 28: 77; fig. 12 a), 51 cm long, from the same tribe, Eskimo Point, is of the same type. The handle is of wood, mounted with tin at the fore end, narrowing towards the rear end, where it is widened out bilaterally.

In the course of time the erection of a snow hut has often been described from various regions within the Eskimo territory, including some from the Caribou Eskimos.^[58] Two men preferably join in erecting the house, one of them cutting blocks while the other builds. In this manner a temporary house for five or six people can be put in an hour. There is no reason, however, why one man should not build even a bigger house; it merely takes so much more time. The blocks are, as far as possible, cut out at the place where the floor of the house is to be, so that the floor lies about half a metre below the surface of the snow outside. Big houses, however, require more blocks than the floor area can provide. Through the cutting of the snow the lower part of the wall forms of itself. The lowest row of blocks is laid in a circle on the snow, being shaped with the knife partly to fit the ground-snow so that they lean almost imperceptibly inwards, and partly to fit the block just laid. They are always placed together in a direction contrary to the sun so that the snow knife may be used conveniently.^[59] Left-handed men — rather commonly met with among the Eskimos at Hudson Bay — build the other way. When the lowest course of blocks has been laid, the upper surface is cut away at a slope for some distance, thus forming the beginning of a spiral with bearing surfaces for the next course. Standing inside the wall the worker now goes on without stopping, building upwards in a spiral. Every block is fitted by the snow knife to the previous one and to those underneath, being temporarily supported by the left hand and at last pushed home with a powerful blow. Even if gaping holes do appear here and there between the blocks owing to their being fitted, no attention is paid to them, all holes and chinks being stopped up later. The blocks are gradually laid so as to incline more and more inwards, the spiral windings at the same time being shortened, whereby a regular dome is formed. The fitting of the blocks necessitates their becoming more and more trapeziform. The last block [himɳᴀ·q] is the one in the top of the dome; it is first laid loosely over the hole and then cut until it glides into position. If it has been necessary to use more blocks than could be cut out of the floor of the house, the remainder are pushed through a temporary hole in the wall to the builder. When the house is finished the builder is at the same time entirely shut in. He cuts his way out through an opening which is later widened and becomes the doorway [pᴀ·q].

It is not strictly necessary out of regard to the construction to build in a regular spiral, as is sometimes asserted. Stefánsson describes snow house building, when several men worked each at his part of the wall.^[60] For in reality the snow hut is not a dome in the sense that it is held up by the final block; it is possible to stop building at any stage whatever without the wall falling in. I have never been so fortunate as to be present at the erection of a snow house among the Caribou Eskimos; yet, the numbers of snow houses that I have seen and have helped to build among the Aivilingmiut, and also some among the Iglulingmiut and the Arviligjuarmiut, have all been built in a regular spiral.

The Coast Pâdlimiut observe certain rules when building snow huts. Whether they are also observed by other Caribou Eskimos I do not know; on the other hand they are known to the Aivilingmiut. The Image missingFig. 13.Snow shovel. rules are followed in order that the children of the builder may be more skilful than those of other people. When a block is fitted into place, all the chips from it are thrown out of the house; it does not matter, however, that any pieces of a block already fixed fall inside. When a row of blocks has been cut ready in the snow and a side row is to be commenced, the first block must not be stabbed loose but must be entirely cut out, and such a block must only be used in the side walls of the house. The final block in the dome must be so laid that its softest end (the end that faced downwards) faces the back of the house. If sons are desired, it must be made bigger than the last block but one.

Should there be more than one to build the house, the helper begins to stop the chinks between the blocks as the wall gradually rises. Large holes are closed with a piece af snow; the chinks are closed by his scraping some of the fixed blocks with the snow knife and pressing the loose snow firmly into the crack with the gloved left hand. Finally, it is the women's task to throw loose snow up against the lowest part of the wall. This is done with the snow shovel [poalrit]. A Harvaqtôrmiut snow shovel from the settlement Nahiktartorvik (P 28: 78; fig. 13) consists of two short boards which are placed edge to edge and bound together with sinew thread; at the top the boards are narrowed towards the handle, which is of antler and split into two branches, between which the wood of the blade is spliced and fastened with iron pegs. On the fore end a sharp edging of antler is fastened with sinew thread, and this edging has also been lashed together after a fracture. On the upper side of the blade there is a hand loop of musk-ox horn which is gripped with the left hand, whilst the handle is held in the right. Length 80 cm, breadth 26 cm. Boas also mentions snow shovels from the Barren Grounds.^[61] The hand loop may be of antler, and sometimes the handle is of wood.

The finished snow house forms a dome that is a little more pointed among the Caribou Eskimos than among the Aivilingmiut. Gilder found the snow houses among the Qaernermiut "much larger and better built than those of the northern natives" (i. e. the Aivilingmiut^[62]). I cannot say as to the correctness of the statement; at any rate there is no obvious difference in this respect. Nowadays the entrance is closed by a low door of boards, on journeys with a block of snow. Over the doorway is a window [igalᴀ·q] of clear freshwater ice, which is cut in the autumn before the ice becomes too thick and is carefully carried along when moving to another house. In the few houses where blubber lamps burn a ventilation hole is bored in the roof over the window.

Various outhouses are added to the living room. There is first the entrance passage [tɔqxu·k] which is often omitted from temporary snow huts built while on journeys, but is never lacking in any that are to be inhabited for a long period. Its floor is a little lower than that of the house, so that the cold air does not come in. Its innermost section, where a low step leads from the passage into the living room, is called [katäk]. As the layer of snow round the passage gradually increases in depth, the latter is in time entirely buried in snow. It may be about 10 metres long^[63] and is so low that the family has to crawl through it. The passage often has one or two extensions at the sides which serve as store-rooms, and the entrance is protected by a wall of snow which curves away from the wind. The Caribou Eskimos, who cook over heather fires all the winter, build a side room which often opens out of the living room and serves as a kitchen [ix·avik]. It is "only another small snow-house, a hole in the roof answering the purpose of a chimney. Flat stones are used for the fireplace".^[64] In order to secure a draught the kitchen is built more pointed in shape than the house proper, almost conically.

The living room is furnished with a main platform [iglᴇq] at the rear and a smaller side platform [ikpat] at each side. As a rule there seems to be an open space for the legs of those sitting between the main and the side platforms, as among the Netsilik group sometimes. In the side of the main platform a small cavity [a'ninᴇq] is sometimes cut and serves as a locker for small possessions, being covered by a board. If more than one family lives in the same hut there are often two main platforms.^[65] They are then placed along the sides with a passage between them. The platform is of snow, a row of snow blocks being laid as the edge, and the space between them and the wall is filled with loose snow shovelled in with the snow shovel and trampled down. The main platform is so deep that the occupants of the house can easily sleep at full length on it, i. e. about 1.50 to 2 m at the deepest part. The breadth, of course, varies according to the size of the house; in a small Qaernermiut house at Baker Lake the breadth at the front was 3.70 m, which was almost the diameter of the house. The height of the platform is about 50 cm. On the main platform all life indoors goes on; it is chair, table and bed in one. The side platforms are of the same height but only small and serve for holding cooking pots, meat, etc. as well as lamps, if these are used. In snow huts that are built on journeys for one night the platform is sometimes omitted; but the time thus saved is usually lost again through the mix-up into which all the belongings inevitably get.

Before anyone moves into a snow house, the things that are not to be used should be buried in the snow. The bed-clothing of the occupants must not be brought in through the entrance, if there are children, but through a special hole that is cut in the wall and closed again. This is apparently done in order not to expose the children to dangers from the spirits which might otherwise follow after the bed-clothing.

Shelters. At the same places at the coast as the house ruins there are remains of shelters, consisting of stones raised in a semicircle, over which skins have undoubtedly been stretched. These are not used by the Caribou Eskimos.

In the spring, however, a period arrives when the snow houses begin to melt, and then the house is converted into a shelter [qᴀrmᴀq], consisting of the original snow wall, over which tent skins are laid flat, or nearly flat (fig. 14). If all the children of the housewife are alive, the husband himself is permitted to break down the roof and lay the skin over when he feels inclined. But if any of them are dead, he must wait until the roof falls in of itself. A shelter is equipped like the snow house. It is superfluous to remark that of course one can also be built without there having been a snow house beforehand.

Tents. Long before the country is bare of snow, the Eskimos move into tents, which are more pleasant dwellings than the snow shelter when the weather gets a little warmer. It is known through Boas that the Hauneqtôrmiut used conical tents, contrary to the Eskimos further north,^[66] and in reality the conical type rules supreme among all Caribou Eskimos.

It is always the women who pitch the tent [tupᴇq]. First, the two Image missingFig. 14.Harvaqtôrmiut snow shelter with skin roof. Kazan River. Image missingFig. 15.Harvaqtôrmiut pitching their tent on the ice of Kazan River. front tent poles, [qanai] w. suff., are tied together at the top with a long line of babiche or sealskin, and while one woman holds these leaning to the rear a little, two other poles are loosely laid in the fork formed above the lashing (fig. 15). Then two other poles are loosely laid between the last two poles and finally one or two poles at the rear. The loose end of the line holding the two foremost poles together Image missingFig. 16.Ground-plan of Pâdlimiut tent, Hikoligjuaq. In the back part sleeping rugs separated from the floor by means of short poles, at one side wooden boxes and meat tray, and at entrance the fire-place. Dark spots indicate the place of the tent poles.
(Sketch by the author). is wound several times round where the other poles cross and is finally made fast further down on one of the front poles. In this manner a conical frame of seven or eight poles is raised; sledge runners, which among the Pâdlimiut may reach a length of 10 metres, and sometimes more, are often used as tent poles. On the whole it is plain that these Eskimos have easy access to wood. A tent in the Thule collection from the Pâdlimiut at Eskimo Point has 5 poles 4.49–3.30 m in length.

The tent sheet is sewn of skin in approximately halfround shape. All the original tents which I have had an opportunity of seeing had a single sheet of caribou skin with the hair outside; but the Tyrrell brothers saw a tent “of deer-skin parchment” north of Dubawnt Lake and another of musk-ox skin at the west end of Baker Lake.^[67] Even if the tent sheet is of skin with the hair, it has at the two front edges a strip of unhaired skin with a row of holes. The sheet is drawn over the frame from back to front and tied together over the door with a line through the holes just mentioned. At night the tent is closed by means of a skin and, in windy weather, a short stick is set up under a flap of the sheet at the side of the door, thus forming a sort of windshield. Sometimes the wooden door of the snow hut acts in this manner. There is no platform in the tent, nor is any separate cooking room built, but only a fire-place of stones near the entrance. The sleeping place is, however, often marked off from the floor by a pole.

All the tents of the Caribou Eskimos are nowadays of the conical type here described (fig. 16–17), with the exception of a few conical Image missingFig. 17.Conical deerskin tent. Pâdlimiut, Eskimo Point. or A-shaped canvas tents. At the coast, however, tents have previously been used like those of the Aivilingmiut. A middle-aged man at Eskimo Point told me that as a boy he had seen such tents there. The frame of one of these tents consists for the most part of an upright pole with a crossbar and a stout thong forming the ridge. It appears from Hearne's statements, however, that conical tents were also used at Hudson Bay in the eighteenth century; for after having described the tents of the Copper Eskimos as "circular" he adds "the ſame as thoſe of the Eſquimaux in Hudſon's Bay".^[68]

Heating and lighting. All Caribou Eskimos use matches nowadays; but it is still common to strike fire with pyrites and steel, for instance a piece of an old file. Formerly they have without doubt used another piece of pyrites instead of steel. From the Pâdlimiut at Eqalulingnaoq south of Hikoligjuaq there is in our collection a piece of pyrites [i·nᴀ·q], intended for fire-making (P 28: 138). Formerly a fire-drill [iko·tit] was also used. A fire-drill worked by a cord is mentioned from Bibby Island within the Caribou Eskimo territory in the eighteenth century.^[69] The hearth of a fire-drill [niutit] was found on the river ice on Kazan River a little north of Hikoligjuaq during our stay there (P 28: 137; fig. 21 a). It is a piece of wood 25.7 cm long, originally having been used for something else, for one end is cut like a scarf-face, and there is also a nail hole. On one side of it there are three drilling sockets connected by grooves and on the other side two similarly connected sockets.

The pappus of cotton-grass is used as tinder and, like the wick Image missingFig. 18.Pâdlimiut women returning with a sledge-load of fuel to the camp at Eskimo Point, at a time when there was blubber in superabundance. moss, is kept in a bag [ikpe'ᴀrʒuk]. In the Thule collection from the Pâdlimiut at Hikoligjuaq there is a bag (P 28: 165) which is presumed to have been used for this purpose. It consists of a caribou calf's head with the hair side out; the nose is cut off and the neck sewn together. Length about 34 cm.

In the Caribou Eskimos' use of fire there is a fundamental difference from other Eskimos: the blubber lamp is hardly known at all, and even those who have one scarcely ever use it for cooking.^[70] They cook over a fire instead. At Eskimo Point, at the very height of the sealing season when the whole camp was flowing in seal blubber, I have seen the women go far into the country to collect fuel on hill tops where there was no snow (fig. 18). Both Cassiope tetragona and Betula nana contain so much resin that they will burn while green; other bushes and dry moss and lichen are also used. Ledum is an excellent fuel; but cooking with Dryas is troublesome, because its twigs are slow to ignite and give only little heat.

For digging moss for fuel or lamp-wick the women use a small, short-handled spade [tilu·t], made of the shovel of an antler by removing some of the prongs.^[71] A moss spade (P 28: 179; fig. 19a) made in this manner is 27 cm long and the triangular blade 17.5 cm broad; Image missingFig. 19.Moss spades. from the Pâdlimiut, Eskimo Point. From the Ahiarmiut west of Baker Lake comes a similiar specimen (P 28: 174; fig. 19°b) with a more square blade; length 32.3, breadth 9.2 cm. There are also specimens from Baker Lake (P 28: 175) and the Hanneqtôrmiut (P 28: 176).

Heather is either tied up in bundles, which are carried over head and breast in the tump-line (fig. 20) or stuffed into big bags. There is a bag of this kind from the Pâdlimiut at Eskimo Point (P 28: 169) formed of the completely flayed skin of a caribou, head, neck and limbs having been cut off. At the opening are two straps for tying it up. Size about 100 by 60 cm.

There is no prohibition as among the Copper Eskimos against using drift-wood from the sea for cooking land animals; this, however, is of no consequence, as drift-wood is only to be found far to the south in Hudson Bay at the extreme boundaries of the Caribou Eskimo territory. Drage relates that the Coast Eskimos in the eighteenth century "make a Fire of Sea-Weed dried".^[72]

In winter the fire is, as already stated, made on flat stones in an open out-house to the snow house. In summer it always burns in the open air when the weather is good. In case of bad weather there is a small fire-place in the tent at the side of the doorway. A couple of flat stones lie underneath and other stones are placed round three sides of them.

The Pâdlimiut, Harvaqtôrmiut and Qaernermiut, with the exception of a few families who are directly connected with the Aivilik tribe, use caribou fat for lighting, more rarely caribou marrow Image missingFig. 20.Pâdlimio woman carrying a load of heather for fuel. Hikoligjuaq. or fish oil, and of late years occasionally the Hudson's Bay Company's lard.

The fat is not pounded like seal blubber before use; but as a rule it is rendered down first and in a fluid state poured into bags of bird or caribou skin for keeping. Although I have no definite information on the point, I presume that musk-ox and caribou paunches are also used in the same manner, as the Netsilik tribes do. When the fat is to be lighted, the woman takes a little wick-moss [manᴇq] and rolls it; it is then called [ipᴇrᴀq]. This is shaped like a small cone [napajɔq], which is lighted, after which a little fat is held over it so that a few melted drops drip down over the cone and saturate the moss. A piece of fat is then placed alongside the cone so that the fuel gradually melts of itself and is absorbed. Wick-moss is kept in small bags.

The fat is often merely placed on a flat stone which is quite unworked and barely deserves the name of lamp. In some cases, however, a proper little saucer-shaped lamp [qudlᴇq] of soapstone is made. A lamp of this kind (P 28: 125; fig. 21 b), from the Pâdlimiut at Hikoligjuaq has a diameter of about 11 cm and a height of 2.4 cm. Nowadays a real saucer is sometimes used as a lamp. Even the Coast Pâdlimiut never use blubber but caribou fat. Only very few Qaernermiut and Hauneqtôrmiut have real blubber lamps of the common Eskimo halfmoon form.^[73] They are, however, rather small compared with those of other Central Eskimo tribes and never have a partition for dividing the still unmelted blubber from the melted. As among the Aivilingmiut, the lamp is placed on four sticks and between them. is a drip-bowl of skin. The lamp trimmer, with which the wick is attended to, is of wood, bone or stone. From the Hauneqtôrmiut there is a lamp trimmer (P 28: 127) consisting of an irregularly shaped Image missingFig. 21.Wooden hearth for fire-drill (a) and soapstone lamps (b-c). lime concretion, 6.5 cm long, broad at the butt end and with a natural, beak-shaped projection at the fore end. Similar concretions, but usually longer, are often used by the Netsilik and Iglulik groups as lamp trimmers. They occur in the Silurian limestone and become spread by means of trading.

It is necessary to pound seal blubber before using it in the lamp in order to break down the tissue; but it is asserted by the Caribou Eskimos that they never use any special blubber pounder like other tribes, but only the snow beater or any stone. Nor have they any blubber dripper, i. e. a stick placed over the lamp with a piece of blubber which gradually drips down into the flame. The Hauneqtôrmiut collect supplies of seal blubber in spring and only use caribou fat for illumination in an emergency. However, they also cook over heather fires in winter whenever more than merely a small quantity of food is to be cooked, as for instance when the principal meal for all the men is to be prepared in the evening. It is clear that even in this group, which uses the blubber lamp to a greater extent than any other group of Caribou Eskimos, it is not the central point of the indoor life as is otherwise the case from Greenland to Alaska.

I have never seen a blubber lamp lighted among the Caribou Eskimos, but the Aivilik women light their lamps in a manner which greatly resembles that in which deer's fat is ignited, so that there is doubtless no difference in the methods of the two groups. An Aivilik woman first lights a small pinch of wick-moss at the edge of the lamp, then cuts up more with the ulo and rolls it into a small cone, which is placed beside the flame, dips the lamp trimmer in the melted blubber and allows it to drip over the cone till it is saturated with oil, then lights it, teasing it out along the edge of the lamp and continuing in this way until the wick has attained the desired length.

In the collection from the Hauneqtôrmiut there is a large soapstone lamp (P 28: 259; fig. 21 c), the circumference of which is bounded by two circular arches; the front one, along which the wick is laid, is rather flat, the rearmost more curved. The walls turn sharply up from the underside, whereas the hollow on the inside is only at a steep angle with the rear wall and rises gradually towards the front wall. Size 54.5 by 31 cm, height at the back 7.3 cm. From the Qaernermiut there is a lamp of exactly the same shape (P. 28: 260); it has been broken and in several places is lashed together with plaited sinew thread and copper wire. The measurements are 42.5 by 26 cm, height at the back 6.3 cm.

It will appear from the above that only the Hauneqtôrmiut and very few Qaernermiut have warmed-up snow huts; for neither with caribou fat nor with a fire can there be any heating, of course. Apart from these few, all Caribou Eskimos pass even the coldest winters without any artificial heat whatever. This is only possible at all because the snow house itself, without any heating, provides good protection against the cold. As I have not been among any of the pronouncedly inland dwellers during the winter proper, I cannot say from personal experience what the temperature is; but of course life is not so pleasant as in an Aivilik snow house, not to speak of those of the Iglulingmiut, which often have a skin lining. I have, however, spent a day with the temperature at –27° C. in a traveller's snow hut, which was not even provided with an entrance passage and in which the door stood open all the time, without feeling any particular discomfort through it, and by my side sat a native woman, sewing.

Regarding the temperature in an unheated Qaernermiut snow house Hanbury may be quoted: "For the first day of its occupation a newly-built iglu remains cold. When the thermometer outside registers any temperature from –20° to –50° Fahr., the temperature inside is only about 10° higher; sometimes not so much. Next day, however, when the iglu has settled somewhat, and more snow has been thrown on the roof, the temperature is brought to about 24° or 26° (i. e. 6° or 8° of frost), and here it remains, the temperature outside having little or no effect upon that inside".^[74] There is a very great drawback about these unheated snow houses, however, and that is the impossibility of drying damp skin clothing in them. In snow houses that are warmed by blubber lamps, the temperature often rises so much that the roof begins to drip. The easiest way to remedy this is to press a lump of snow against the melting spot, where it immediately freezes fast. The dripping can only be permanently remedied, however, by shovelling the snow thinner on the outside of the roof. Old snow houses are completely covered on the inside with a layer of ice and are not nearly so warm as before, while their festive whiteness has been replaced by a sooty appearance. It is then time to leave them and build new ones.

A number of Caribou Eskimos now have primus stoves and some few have "camp stoves", hurricane lamps or even ordinary petroleum lamps. It makes an odd impression to see a genuine, fin de siècle drawing-room lamp with glass oil-container, lamp-glass, etc. burning in an Eskimo tent among caribou skins, raw meat and every sign of "savagery".

Furnishings. The platform is both chair and bed in the snow house. On it the occupants live during the day. The men as a rule sit farthest back with their legs stretched straight out, whereas the women sit half kneeling with their legs tucked under them, and the children tumble about everywhere. Both day and night the women's place is by the wall, where they can tend the fire in the kitchen or the lamp if there is one, whereas the man or men, if more than one family lives in the house, sleep nearer to the middle of the house. Infant children sleep between their parents.

Over the snow of the platform or the back part of the tent a sort of mat [qilaktät] is spread to prevent the skins from becoming wet or from freezing fast; for the body heat of the sleepers would gradually melt a slight hollow in the surface of the platform. The mats are made of thin willow twigs, sometimes blended with Empetrum, Ledum, Cassiope, etc., laid regularly side by side and bound together, this being done nowadays with common string. The mats form rectangles of greater or smaller length but of about the same breadth, as this of course depends upon the length of the branches, which can never be very great. A small specimen (P 28: 257), from Eskimo Point, measures 123 by 135 cm.

The mat is entirely covered by platform skins, singular [adbᴀq]. They are nearly always of caribou, for instance the big, heavy skins. of the bull which cannot otherwise be used. In one case, in the house of a shaman at Hikoligjuaq, I have seen a wolf skin used. The platform skins are merely dried but not otherwise prepared. In order that they may be brushed clean if they should be soiled by snow or dirt, they are always laid with the head towards the wall, so that the hair lies towards the edge of the platform.

During the day the sleeping rugs are rolled up against the rear wall [kilo]. Older children and unmarried people have their own sleeping rugs, whereas married couples use one between them. In contrast to the platform skins, such a rug [qipik] is made of scraped and softened skin, sewn into a regular square and, along the edge, furnished with long fringes of hairy — preferably white — skin. When the sleeper rolls himself in the skin, these fringes hang down over the shoulders and prevent the cold air from creeping in there. Sleeping bags are not used, or at any rate not until after contact with the whites; but sometimes the lower part of the rug may be sewn up into a small bag for the feet. In reality an unsewn rug is better than a sleeping bag if this cannot be dried inside now and then, for some dampness always collects in the bag owing to perspiration. The Eskimos always sleep naked. It is much warmer to sleep with the hair of the skin against the naked body than to sleep clad in European underclothing.

For use at night the Eskimos have a chamber-pot [qɔrvik] which as a rule is now an empty meat can. It is emptied during the day, as old urine is never used in preparing skins as in other regions. For the event of one of the children wetting the platform or sleeping skin, they have an implement [kiliutᴀq] with which they half pour, half scrape the urine away. It is made of the proximal part of a caribou scapula, the ridges on the outer side being removed. It is exactly like a scraper for softening skins but has no carefully made edge and is frequently a little larger. A specimen from Eskimo Point (P 28: 186; fig. 92 k), which seems to have been a skin scraper originally, with the edge destroyed, is 13.3 cm long and 6.4 cm broad.

Among such a wandering people as the Eskimos the number of furnishings is naturally kept within certain limits. A few objects of more special use, for instance for serving food, will be described elsewhere. Skin bags are used for keeping things in, and some of these have been referred to; other trifles are kept in small and rough wooden boxes which are nailed together. These are often old tea or sugar boxes nowadays.

1. Mgr. Turquetil has for many years been a missionary among the Chipewyan at Reindeer Lake and speaks their language fluently. In the Indian words given "æ" and "å" mean the corresponding sounds in Danish or the vowels in the French lait and rocque respectively.
2. Powell (1891: 72) derives it from the related eskimantik, "raw-meat-eaters". Petitot (1876; ix) also quotes ayiskiméwok, "c'est-à-dire ceux qui agissent en secret".
3. Richardson 1851; I 340. Thalbitzer 1914: 542.
4. Discourse of Western Plantation cit. Gosling 1910; 156. Vimont 1641; 128. Regarding the termination -quois compare contemporary French forms such as Abenaquiois (Wabanaki), Souriquois (Micmac), Iroquois, etc.
5. I must add that Thalbitzer (1914; 680) again seems to entertain a doubt as to the correctness of his hypothesis. On the other hand he has repeated it recently in a chronicle in Politiken, August 31st, 1926.
6. Hall 1879; 171.
7. Low 1906; 135 and passim.
8. Boas 1907; 6.
9. ". . . the Ugdjulirmiut of Back River, who are called by the Ponds Bay people Kournoormiut". Boas 1907; 480.
10. Stefánsson 1914 a; 28. 302. Jenness 1922; 49 foot-note. In another place Stefánsson (1914: 290) identifies them with "Pallirmiut", i. e. Pâdlimiut.
11. Low 1906: 135 seq. Boas 1907; 6, 465.
12. According to Greenland rules of grammar the word should be [padlᴇrmiut] and Knud Rasmussen writes it this way everywhere in Fra Grønland til Stillehavet. It is of course not for me to compare my linguistic knowledge with that of Knud Rasmussen; but in this special case I must maintain that among the Eskimos themselves I have only heard the pronunciation [pa·dlimiut]; nor can any linguistic objection be made to it.
13. Boas 1888 a; 424, 440 seqq.
14. Low 1906; 135. Boas 1907; 6. Stefánsson 1914 a; 28, 290.
15. Petitot 1876; x. Boas (1888; 450) identified "Agutit” with Qaernermiut. The root of the name is perhaps [ako], interval; but it is not wholly impossible that it is simply a corruption of [aɳutit], men.
16. Jenness 1922; 48.
17. In West Greenland [aligɔq] is a rock crystal.
18. Boas 1907; 6.
19. Steensby 1905: 88. Steensby 1917; 107.
20. Hall 1879; 171.
21. Gilder 1879; 41, 26.
22. Klutschak 1881: 218.
23. Hanbury 1904; 41, 112. J. W. Tyrrell 1924; 28.
24. J. B Tyrrell 1898. map.
25. Low 1906; 135.
26. Atlas of Canada; Pl. 55–56.
27. Boas 1907; 6.
28. Hanbury 1904; 115.
29. Low 1906; 135 seq.
30. Lofthouse 1899; 276. Lofthouse 1922; 160.
31. Robson 1752: 64.
32. Hearne 1795: 198, 338 footnote.
33. Lofthouse 1922; 107 seq. 129.
34. J. B. Tyrrell 1895; 444. J. B. Tyrrell 1898; 144 seqq., 150 seqq., 191 seq.
35. J. B. Tyrrell 1894; 444. J. W. Tyrrell s. a.; 104.
36. J. W. Tyrrell s. a.; 107.
37. Turquetil (1926; 419) states that between Churchill and Rankin Inlet live 260 Eskimos and in the interior about 700. These all too high figures are doubtless due to the fact that the treatise was written several years before its publication, when the population actually was greater than now.
38. As a consequence of this arrangement the table cannot directly show the number of children. Adult children with own household are included separately.
39. Boas 1907; 7, 377 seq. Cf. Low 1906; 35.
40. J. B. Tyrrell 1898; 144 seqq., 150 seqq., 191 seq.
41. Cf. also Turquetil's figures, p. 66 note 1 in this work.
42. Ratzel 1909–12; II 173.
43. As a matter of fact, comparison with Greenland is also unsatisfactory, because the Greenlander above all makes use of the sea and not the land. In an anthropogeographic section of the work Greenland (Vol. II) I have therefore calculated the density of population in proportion to the coast line and, for the inhabited regions, found 0.51 per kilometre coast line as an average. Of most interest would be a comparison with the inland population in the Colville district before the introduction of the domesticated reindeer; unfortunately there is not sufficient data.
44. F. v. Richthofen 1908; 122.
45. It is bold to describe the Fuegians (Yagan and Alakaluf) as bodenständig as Richthofen does (1908; 150).
46. Riedel (1902; 9) is right in saying that fishing has contributed towards making the settlements of the Western Eskimos permanent, but he ceases to be correct when he considers this to be a contrast to the eastern tribes in general. The Greenlanders are in every respect just as permanently settled as any Alaskan Eskimos.
47. Vidal de La Blache 1922; 195.
48. Hearne 1795; 160, footnote.
49. Other causes were, however, also contributory, such as the great distance from Marble Island to Roe's Welcome, the most southerly place at which whaling during recent times has been profitable, and also the difficulty of procuring fresh caribou and musk-ox meat. Cf. Wakeham 1898; 55, 76.
50. Cf. Hanbury 1904; 110 seq. J. B. Tyrrell 1898; 148.
51. Cf. c. g. Schurtz 1900; 412.
52. Waterman maintains (1910; 300) that South of Chesterfield Inlet wood has been used in the houses in stead of whale bones: but I do not know his authority for this statement. Is it Jérémie? (Cf. p. 25).
53. Hanbury 1904; 70.
54. Gilder s. a.; 258. Cf. Boas 1907; 94.
55. Boas 1907; 88, 94 seq., 403 seqq. Hanbury 1904; 75.
56. Turner 1894; 253 fig. 70. Two snow knives in the Thule collection from Ungava Bay are of another form; the blade is straight, single-edged and rather long and broad, but thin. The handle is of bone, very small and angular.
57. Cf. drawing in Parry, 1824; pl. p. 550 fig. 14.
58. Franklin 1823; 265 seqq. Gilder s. a.; 258 seqq. Hanbury 1904; 75 scq.
59. In this respect many pictures of snow hut building are wrong.
60. Stefánsson 1914 a; 63.
61. Boas 1907; 96.
62. Gilder s. a.; 41.
63. Cf. Gilder s. a.; 41.
64. Hanbury 1904; 78. Knud Rasmussen 1925; 26: I 174.
65. Hanbury 1904; 76.
66. Boas 1907; 465.
67. J. W. Tyrrell s. a.; 106, 122.
68. Hearne 1795; 167.
69. Ellis 1750; 258 seq
70. Cf. Gilder s. a.; 41. Boas 1907; 466.
71. Cf. Boas 1907; 102.
72. Drage 1748; I 34.
73. Boas (1907; 98) writes only about the lamps from the west coast of Hudson Bay, that they are of the same form as those from Cumberland Sound, but does not differentiate between Aivilik and Qaernermiut lamps. Hawkes (1916; 89) mentions a lamp from Chesterfield Inlet but without indicating the tribe.
74. Hanbury 1904; 77.