MAMMALS. 65 



they have succeeded in perinanently frightening others, which, instead 

 of seeking the upper waters of the sound for a few weeks' quiet feeding, 

 strike out and are seen no more. 



Instead of allowing these animals to go up the sound, and find their 

 favorite feeding grounds, they are attacked and chased as soon as they 

 show themselves at the mouth of the sound. In fact, they have been 

 so persistently persecuted that now very few jjass up above Niantilic or 

 the Kikkerton Islands. 



The fall whaling begins late in September and continues till the ice 

 makes across the sound. The whaling at this season is attended with 

 great danger and hardshiijs to the crews, and it is while prosecuting 

 this fall " fishing" that the foundation to many a stubborn case of scurvy 

 is laid. 



The spring whaling begins generally in March or April, and continues 

 along the floe edge until July, when the ice has left the sound. 



The Eskimo from the southern part of the sound and along the coast 

 from Xugumeute to Hudson's Straits report whales as found in those 

 localities all winter ; it is then quite probable that they reproduce on 

 these coasts during the latter part of winter. 



According to Eskimo tradition, these animals were once very abund- 

 ant in the Cumberland waters, and their remains now bleaching on the 

 rocky shores faithfully testify to this fact. 



Of late years, whalers frequenting Cumberland Sound have been in 

 the habit of emi^loying natives to catch whales, supplying them with 

 boats and all necessary equipments. It is needless to say that they are 

 more successful than the whites in this hunt. 



With their own j^rimitive gear, the Eskimo seldom attacked a large 

 whale; but yearlings were frequently caught. I was i^reseuted with a 

 harpoon-head by the captain of a Peterhead whaler, that had been taken 

 out of a very large whale caught near the Kikkerton Islands; it was im- 

 bedded in the muscles, so that the Avhale must have been struck while it 

 was quite small in order that the harpoon should have pierced through 

 the blubber. The weapon is, moreover, of a pattern which the Eskimo 

 I showed it to say they never saw before ; but I must confess I can see 

 but a very slight difference in it from those in use at the j>resent day. 



The "black skin," called ''muktuk" bj'^ the natives, is considered as 

 a great delicacy; when they have not eaten of this food for some time, 

 and then get an oiiportunity to indulge to their heart's content, they eat 

 till they can hardly move. 



Bull. Kat. Mus. No. 15 5 



