48 NATURAL HISTORY OV ARCTIC AMEIMCA. 



SO they must at a comparatively recent date have been l<»iiinl iit the 

 immediate vicinity. I conhl find no trace of the musk-ox, or any Eskimo 

 tliat had soon one; but abnost any of them couhl describe the animal 

 very intclb-^cntly, and avouUI tell you they are found far to the north. 

 The Eskimo name for this animal, "omingmuk," is by no means a rare 

 name among them, and it is possible that they were once found on Cum- 

 berland Island, but are now extinct, as other species arc in a fair way of 

 becoming. 



The vicinity of the KikUcrliMi Islands oilers many advantages to -t 

 naturalist; it is now a permanent whaling station, and a person coid 1 at 

 any time secure the valuable assistance of natives, besides having amjiU* 

 conveniences for drying, stowing, «S:c. Jt would be comparatively ca*;y 

 to secure a good skeleton of an adult right whale at this place if a i)er- 

 son went about it in the proper manner. Almost any of the smaller ceta- 

 ceans, and all the seals, adult, young, and fcetal, could \h' secur«'d at a 

 very ti'illing outlay of i)resents to the Eskimo. 



1. Ursus maritimiis, Linui^. 



"Namiok," Cuiiilx-rland Eskimo. 



It is a rare occurrence to tind a bear any distance up Cumberland 

 Sound ; they are common about (^ape Mercy, Shaumeer, and Xugumeute, 

 but seldom stray above Xiantilic, or the Kikkcrton Islands. Below 

 Kiantilic, on the southern side of Bear Sound, in the vicinity (►f what 

 the Eskimo call Okaglik and Ivokaluyah, they are (inite j)leiit.\. Many 

 are captured here every year, especially in spiing. 1»,\ the lOskinio, who 

 fearlessly attack them in their frail kyacks, but are afraid of tluMii (»n 

 the ice or land. From >.'ugumcutc to Hudson's Straits they ai)i>ear to 

 be even more jdenty, and westward, in the northern waters of Hudson's 

 Bay, whalemen iilt<'n ])rocure twenty or more .<?kins in a season. 

 , In October, 1877, an enormous female with two cubs paid the Eskimo 

 encampment, at the Kikkcrton Islands, a visit. They swam over the 

 Salmon Fjord, probably scenting a dead whale that was on the beach near 

 tlie huts. Tlie. bears mad(^ a li\-ely time among the huts, and a con 

 sidcrable outlay of ammunition and <logs was made before they were 

 finally captured. There were about two hundred dogs and half as Tian v 

 natives, besides the crews of two whalers ; all this motley crowd made war 

 on the bears; one of the whaling captains, a little braver than the rest, 

 got too close to the old bear, and she tlealt liin» a blow which knocked 

 his gun many feet into a snow-bank; she then Ix'gan to ujake way with 

 him, but was prevented by the Eskimo and tlogs. A young Eskimo wju* 



