The American Museum Journal 



Vol. XII JANUARY, 1912 No. 1 



QUOTATIONS FROM AN EXPLORER'S LETTERS 



THE museum's arctic EXPEDITION ' REPORTS SURVEYS OF RIVERS AND 



LAKES IN THE FROZEN NORTH AND THE DISCOVERY OF A " NEW PEOPLE," 



AN ESKIMO TRIBE WHICH HAS NEVER SEEN A WHITE MAN 



THE mail! aim of the ^Museum's Arctic P'xpedition, which left New 

 York in 1908, was to investigate the Eskimo both west and east of 

 the IMackenzie Ri\er, especially those to the east, little-known 

 tribes in the region of the Coppermine River thought to be more or less 

 uninfluenced by white men. 



The difficulties in the way of the work have been great, sometimes 

 almost insurmountable; but at last success has been realized both in the 

 work in ethnology for the American Museum and in collateral work 

 undertaken for the Geological Survey of the Canadian Government. In 

 the words of Mr. Stefansson: 



.... "We have covered the last mile geographically that we set out to 

 cover, and have found what we set out to find — a 'new people,' less 

 contaminated, more numerous than anyone thought possible. In 1906 

 authorities thought Victoria Land probably uninhabited. I shall be sur- 

 prised to find its population less than two thousand. We have taken 

 physical measurements, photographs and notes everywhere and have secured 

 and brought to a place of safety a large ethnological collection." 



]\Iost of the letters come from the expedition's headquarters in an area 

 of spruce (about ten acres) on the Barren Grounds, Upper Dease River 

 (lat. 67° N., long. 117° 30' W.). 



. . . .April 27, 1910, I started ea.st from Cape Lyon, the most easterly point at 

 which E.skimo houses were seen by Dr. Richardson on his Franklin Search Expedi- 

 tion and the most easterly point known to have been visited by the Western or 

 Baillie Island Eskimo. I hoped to reach by sled people supposed to occupj- the 

 coast and islands of Coronation Gulf north and west of the Coppermine. Our 

 progress was slow on account of numerous bad pressure-ridgos on the sea ice and a 

 rocky coast which made land travel imj)racticable. The ice was usually in motion 

 and open water could be seen less than three miles off shore. Between Cape Lyon 

 and Cape Bexley are traces of former occupation bj' Eskimo, ruined villages — 



' The history of this expedition is found in the November Journal, 1910. Extracts 

 from the letters of Mr. Anderson, the zoologist of the expedition, will be given in a later 

 issue, as well as further facts regarding the work of Mr. Stefansson. The photographs were 

 taken in March and April. 1911, on Mr. Stefansson's second trip to the Coppermine from 

 Langton Bay (tliis time accompanied bj' Mr. Anderson). The plates were exposed under 

 extremely variable light conditions and developed in most unfavorable quarters. 



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