MAMMALS. • 65 



they have succeeded in peimaneiitly frightening others, which, instead 

 of seeking the ui)i)er 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, aud 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 pass 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 hardshii)S to the crews, and it is while luosecuting 

 this fall " hshing" 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 x>art of the sound and along the coast 

 from !Nugumeute 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 r.bund- 

 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 employing natives to catch whales, sui)plying them with 

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

 more successful than the whites in this hunt. 



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

 whale; bnt yearlings were frequently caught. 1 was presented with a 

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

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

 bedded in the muscles, so that the whale 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 sa.y they never saw before; but I must confess I can see 

 but a very slight difference in it from those in use at the present duy. 



The "black skin," called ^'nndctnk" by the natives, is considered as 

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

 and then get an opportunity to indulge to their heart's coutent,^ they eat 

 till they can hardly move. 



Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 15 5 



