Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

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СКАЧАТЬ in case of need, for the hunt seems to be unproductive, and they subsist on the stores deposited during the preceding summer. Towards the latter half of March the settlements are broken up and some of the natives go to the lakes to fish for trout and salmon, while others begin the sealing.

Another winter station of the Aivillirmiut is Akugdlit, which, however, has never been as important as Aivillik itself. Rae found some families here in August, 1846. They hunted the musk ox on the western shore of the bay, and later in the season, upon the pack ice which filled the sea, they hunted the walrus (Rae I, p. 58). They reported that the bay was very unfavorable for any kind of chase, as it is usually filled with closely packed ice, which prevents the visits of animals and endangers the boats of the natives (p. 49). In July the salmon creeks of Akugdlit (Committee Bay) were visited by these families, who extended their hunting ground from Colville Bay to the most northern parts of Melville Peninsula (p. 145). According to Hall a number of families live here at times. They were in the habit of staying at Repulse Bay during the early part of the summer and went to Akugdlit in the autumn to hunt the musk ox and deer. In the winter they transferred their deposits of blubber from Aivillik across the lakes to their settlement. Probably these families returned to Repulse Bay about the first of March, at which time their deposits were always exhausted (Hall II, p. 383). In some seasons the natives journey much farther south, that is, to the country between Cape Fullerton and Wager River. Klutschak’s report upon this subject, which is extracted from his observations during Schwatka’s search for the Franklin records, will be found tolerably correct (Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik, III, 1881, p. 422). The report contains the following statement:

      In the spring of every year these Eskimo live on the land floe of Hudson Bay, at some distance from the point where the tides and winds carry the pack ice past the shore. Here is the favorite feeding place of the walrus, and the Eskimo confine themselves to the pursuit of this animal. They settle near one of the numerous islands situated near the shore.

      Later in the season they live in tents, and the hunting of seals and walrus is continued as long as the presence of ice permits. The greater part of the Aivillirmiut live near Depot Island (Pikiulaq). Here, on Cape Fullerton, and near the northern entrance of Chesterfield Inlet, the natives deposit their stores for winter use. As soon as the ice is gone they resort to the mainland, where deer, which descend to the shore at this season, are hunted. When the snow begins to cover the country they move inland, where they continue the deer hunt. In October they settle near a deer pass or a lake which is crossed by the herds migrating southward. In December all the deer have left the country and the natives live upon the stores deposited in the fall. Towards the beginning of the new year part of them return to the sea and live upon the deposits of walrus meat or disperse over the land floe, where seals are killed in their breathing holes. Another part take to the hills near Chesterfield Inlet and Wager River, a favorite feeding ground for the musk ox. They only return to the bay in March or April, to hunt seals until the breaking up of the ice. If the supplies of walrus meat are very abundant the Eskimo gather in one large settlement.

      It appears from Klutschak’s own journal that this report is not quite complete, and I shall therefore add those of his own observations which seem to be important:

      The natives who had hunted deer in the fall returned in December to Depot Island, where ten inhabitants lived at that time. They hunted walrus at the edge of the floe during the whole winter, but did not exclusively use their old stores (Klutschak, p. 32). In summer whales were hunted by means of kayaks, the blubber and meat being immediately stored for future use (p. 269). It is interesting to learn that a single family spent a whole year in the interior of the country, about two or three days’ journey west of Depot Island, living on the flesh of the musk ox most of the time (p. 196). He does not say what kind of fuel they used.

      In Klutschak’s chart of Hudson Bay, which is published with his essay, a winter settlement is marked on Wager River, where the natives probably lived on seals caught in the breathing holes.

      The mode of life of this tribe, as observed by Hall during his stay among them in 1864, differs in some material points from Klutschak’s account. It is particularly important that Hall found them at Wager River.

      About forty Eskimo are said to have lived in Nuvung during that year, while others were at Depot Island. Large depots of deer meat were scattered over the country around the settlement (Hall II, p. 76) and were brought in by the natives one by one. In the middle of November, after having finished the work of currying their deerskins, they commenced the walrus hunt, but meantime they frequently fed on deer meat from their depots (Hall II, pp. 102, 128, 132, 133). Towards the end of February they commenced to disperse, at first moving southward in order to be nearer the floe edge (p. 144). In the beginning of March an advance party of natives moved to Wager River, where they intended to catch salmon through the ice and to visit depots in that part of the country (p. 149). In April all the former inhabitants of Nuvung had settled on the ice of Wager River, where salmon in moderate numbers were caught (p. 164), but the main subsistence was the seals, which were at first watched for at the breathing holes, while later on they were killed when basking on the ice.

      As a summary of the foregoing statements, we may say that the five principal settlements of the Aivillirmiut are Pikiulaq (Depot Island), Nuvung and Ukusiksalik (Wager River), Aivillik (Repulse Bay), Akugdlit (Committee Bay), and Maluksilaq (Lyon Inlet). They may be divided into two groups, the former comprising the southern settlements, the latter the northern ones. Every one of these settlements has certain well known sites, which are frequented at the proper seasons.

      It yet remains to describe the roads which are used in the intercourse between these settlements. From Pikiulaq to Nuvung the natives travel by means of sledges. In the winter of 1864-’65 two journeys were made, the first in December, the latter in January. Besides, boats are used in traveling along the shore in summer. Sledge journeys from Nuvung to Ukusiksalik cannot be accomplished on the ice, as in the entrance of the bay large water holes are formed. The sledges follow a chain of long, narrow lakes beginning near Nuvung and running almost parallel with the coast through a deep gorge. The bay is but a short distance beyond this gorge. I am not acquainted with the sledge road from Nuvung to Aivillik. Rae was visited at Fort Hope by a number of Eskimo, who came by sledges from Nuvung in June (I, p. 169). Hall traveled with the natives in boats, passing the narrows and following the edge of the land ice, while the rest of the families sledged on the shore or on the land ice (II, p. 177). The principal road across Rae Isthmus leads over North Pole Lake and is described by Rae and Hall. The latter accompanied the natives on two sledge roads, the one leading from Sagdlua, in Haviland Bay, to Qariaq, in Lyon Inlet, the other crossing the land farther south. I am not sure whether a road leading from Nebarvik to Committee Bay connects Maluksilaq with Akugdlit. It is doubtful whether the coast between Aivillik and Gore Bay is visited by the natives.

      It is remarkable that the Aivillirmiut very rarely go to Southampton Island, though they are sometimes carried across Frozen Strait or Rowe’s Welcome by drifting ice. Scarcely ever of their own accord do they visit the island, which they call Sagdlirn. They know that it is inhabited, but have very little intercourse with its people.

      The Kinipetu or Agutit

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The reports upon the Kinipetu or Agutit of Chesterfield Inlet are very scanty as compared with those of the beforementioned tribe. All authors agree that they differ materially in their habits from the Aivillirmiut, and it has often been affirmed that they scarcely ever descend to the sea. As there is, however, no other tribe mentioned south of the Aivillirmiut besides this one and as in every voyage to these shores, even far south of Chesterfield Inlet, Eskimo are met with who frequently visit Fort Churchill, the most northern station of the Hudson Bay Company, СКАЧАТЬ