SEVENTH: ANNUAL REPORT. 189 
caribou on the mainland of Labrador, and on Salisbury Islands, 
lying on the Baffin Land side of Hudson Straits. He writes me 
as follows: 
“ The tides are so swift, and their rise and fall so consider- 
able, that the ice does not afford a practicable road. This view 
is supported by the further fact that there is, and has been, 
no communication between the Baffin Land and south shore 
Esquimaux. Moreover, where the land bridge is least broken, 
the shores are very bold, and consequently clear of permanent 
ice by reason of the most severe tide rips. The natural move- 
ment would be from the south, northward, as at the time of the 
spring migration the ice conditions would be most favorable after 
the winter’s freezing; yet fewer caribou are reported on the 
islands off the south shore than off the islands on the Baffin 
Land coast. 
“Salisbury Island is a large island, and is somewhat free 
from the strongest set of the Straits currents along its northern 
shore. The existence of Esquimaux on this island proves that 
it must be accessible from Baffin Land shore; yet even here, 
on the nearest and most accessible large island, communication 
has been so uncertain and difficult that from evidence drawn 
from the Salisbury natives I should judge that many years had 
elapsed since their arrival, as I could gather from them no know!l- 
edge of Baffin Land or any inhabited land in any definite lo- 
cation. 
“Resolution Island, which is in sight of both Baffin Land 
and North Labrador, is never visited by Esquimaux, on account 
of the dangerous ice, and I imagine that few caribou ever travel 
to it, as men who have landed there say nothing of caribou, and 
I should expect to find such an island stocked with caribou that 
had migrated there from the more disturbed land inhabited by 
Esquimaux. In the latter case the hunters would soon follow, 
as the Esquimaux always follow migrating deer, and often they 
can go where the caribou cannot travel ; consequently the absence 
of hunters on the south coast islands, even the larger land masses, 
would argue against the migration of caribou to these districts. 
The only argument in favor of migration across the Straits is 
the presence of caribou on Salisbury Island, which, as we have 
seen, is situated close to the Baffin Land coast.” 
