54 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



with any. I have seeu ])ui(' wliite specimens during all the summer 

 niontbs, and occasionally one about half-j^ray. The Eskimo firmly 

 bc'liovc that the lungs of the hare applied fresh to ii boil or sore of any 

 kind is a sure cure. The specimens I examiued in Cumberland were 

 much smaller thau Greeulaud specimens. 



8. Raugifer tarandus, (Liniu') IM. 



"Tuktoo," CuiiilicrlaiKl K.skimo. 



The reiudeer are found in considerable n ambers on both sides of Cum- 

 berland Sound, but by far the greater luimber on the western shore. It 

 is no rare instance to find them diuing the summer months on the sea- 

 coast; they seem to delight in feeding upon the fuvi exposed at low 

 tide. In winter they retire to the larger valleys and go farther inland, 

 being seldom seen on the coast at this season of the year. 



The Eskimo go reindeer-hunting every summer, commonly during the 

 months of July, August, and September. At this season they make 

 quite extensive excursions inland, where the deer are more abundant 

 and nhich more easily procured. Within the last few years they are 

 reported as less common on the Penny Peninsula ; but I hear of no appar- 

 ent diminution in their numbers to the west and southwest, especially 

 toward Lake Kennedy, Avhere they are reported as very abundant. 



Before the introduction of firearms among the Eskimo by the whale- 

 men, they took advantage of the habits of the deer in coming down to 

 the coast, and drove them into the water, where they were easily cap- 

 tured with a kyack. The Eskimo bring the skins back with them to 

 their winter encampment, having cached the meat for the ostensible 

 purpose of returning for it in winter. This seldom hai)pens, however, 

 and the wolves generally make way witli it. 1( is said that when ;i lierd 

 is first approached b^- a hunting party that has been living on the sea- 

 coast, they scent tliem along way off, but that they soon lose this power; 

 the fact being, I take it, that the peeidiar odor of the salt-water has left 

 the Eskimo. During tiie winter tliey herd t()g<'ther in huge droxcs, and 

 when a suitable valley is found paw \\\) the snow for a considerable 

 extent, till it looks as if a herd of swine had been rooting in the snow. 

 These droves are eontinnally beset by packs of wolves, which keep a vig- 

 ilant watch Inr any that unhiekily stray out of the lierd, lor such a one 

 is immediately atta ked and rnn down. It is seldom, however, that the 

 wolves can do nnich damage to the herd when they keep together, as 

 they form a eiieh-, with the weaker ones in the centre, and can thus keep 

 the \vol\ cs .It lia\ . 



