THE S TEFA XSSOX - . 1 XDERSOX EX FED I TIOX 241 



Richard Island and other smaller islands nearby. They were common throughout the delta. 

 Fresh moose tracks wore seen and rabbits appeared to be numerous. East of the Mackenzie, 

 rabbits seem to have been practically extinct the past winter. On Hortoii Kiver wliere a few 

 years ago they were abundant , only one or two were seen. 



EVENTS INCIDENTAL TO A ZOOLOCaCAL SURVEY 



We had only fotir dogs and only two of them were able to pull very much, but we decided 

 to take a light sled, "pack" our guns across the barren ground, and use the sled on the moun- 

 tains. The sled pulled very heavy [September 21, 19101 over spar.sely grassed hilltops near 

 the coast, which were generally fine sand or clay with scattering sharp stones and rocks. 

 We succeeded in crossing the divide the same day however and camped on the southern slope 

 although with no fuel but green willows. Next day, September 22, we moved south about 

 six miles before we sighted a band of ten caribou. We made camp at once and succeeded in 

 killing eight. It was dark before I finished skinning two for "specimens" and failing to find 

 camp I was obliged to walk the rest of the night to keep from freezing. 



TOMCOD AND OTHER FISH OF THE ARCTIC COAST 



We reached the fishing cami) at Okatou near Langton Bay IVIarch 11 [1910]. The day 

 we arrived, tliree or four people had caught nearly a sled-load of fish (tomcod) in half a day's 

 fishing. A very few codfish (apparently true cod, but none over fifteen inches long) were also 

 being caught. The fishing is done in about four fathoms of water. The female fish of both 

 species were carrying roe. The tomcod have a slightly sweetish taste when boiled 



.... On the retiu-n from Langton Bay, we had crossed fresh tracks of a band of caribou 

 going north in the Parry Peninsula. This induced me to make a week's trip [November 14-21, 

 1910] to the Ashing place on the northeast side of Langton Bay. Here we looked for the 

 caribou without success. The tomcod were not so abundant as last spring, although we 

 could hook forty to fifty through the ice any day. I caught one larger fish, about two pound 

 weight, apparently a true codfish. A few sculpin were also hooked but no other species. 

 In the summer, Ilavinirk had cauglit "whitefish," salmon, trout and a few small flounders 

 in the vicinity. 



BARREN GROUND BEARS — THE ONLY COLLECTION IN THE WORLD 



Mr. Stefdnsson reports [December, 1910] brown bears in this region, probably Ursus 

 richardsoni. The numbers which he has seen and killed around Langton Bay and Horton 

 River and on the coast east of Cape Lyon make it very probable that a good series can be 

 obtained, though probably not in a single season. Barren ground bears from any locality 

 are not very abundant in museums, and I am anxious to investigate and bring specimens 

 out. . . . 



. . . .Our collection of barren groimd bears [January, 1911] consists of seventeen motm- 

 table skins, witli skulls and legboues, and two extra skulls — both se.xes, all ages and sizes — 

 spring, siunmer and fall specimens. 



TRANSPORTING VALUABLE COLLECTIONS OVERLAND 



I started Ajiril 23 [1911], with one Eskimo named Tannatimirk, seven dogs and two 

 toboggans, hauling two good-sized loads of ethnological specimens with caribou skins and 

 skulls from Coppermine River and Coronation Gulf. We made good time up Coppermine 

 River and found no signs of thaw until we were some fifteen miles st)utlnvest of Dismal Lake, 

 May 1. The warm weather continued, the snow disappeared from the Barren Grounds 

 witli startling rapidity and we had to drag sleds over many bare ridges before reaching our 

 house on the east branch of the Dease River. We remained here on the third, drying, packing 

 and labeling such specimens as required it, and started down the river on the morning of 

 May 4. There was a little water in places on the river, but the farther we went the worse 

 matters got — no snow on barren uplands, impassable brush in the spruce trees along the 

 river (impassable for our bulky sled loads), and river flooding rapidly. We were compelled 

 to halt in the evening, having laboriously made about ten miles in ten hours. We could not 

 go back and to protect our si)ecimens were obliged to si)end nearly two days in cutting down 

 large green spruce trees to make a square cache of logs fitted togetlier strong enough to keep 

 out wolverines for a time at least. Nothing short of a burglar-proof safe will keep a wolverine 

 out for a great length of time. 



