214 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



ago merry laughter could be heard, now you are only greeted with the 

 snai'l of a stray dog that keeps well out of your way, or the caw of a 

 raven as it sits on a neighbouring rock watching you suspiciously. 



About the month of March, most of the seals leaving the coast, 

 food becomes very scarce and many shifts are made. Huri-ied ex- 

 peditions are taken by the men with their dogs along the shore, theii- 

 family sometimes accompanying them, but they are oftener left behind, 

 and the unhappy look of a father as he returns without success tells 

 plainly how mucli he feels for those dependent upon liim. 



As this month advanced at Cape Prince of Wales food became 

 scarcer and now, though at other times helping oue another, it was a 

 mattei- with many of life and death and every man looked out for 

 hiriiself aud his family. If he secured a seal it was hidden as quickly 

 as possible. At this time the old and those weakened by starvation 

 and unable to move from place to place were left to their fate, though 

 should a party be so successful as to capture more than would supply 

 their immediate wants they returned at once with food to those they 

 had left behind. 



Early in April, the weather becoming milder and the snow well 

 packed sleigh journeys are made to distant parts of the coast and 

 seldom before this time do they undertake long trips. At this time, 

 too, the deer come from inland to the coast and expeditions are made 

 to meet them, though few deei- ai-e taken until the end of the month. 



The latter part of April, May, and Juire may be considered the 

 Eskimo's harvest time, for besides the deer large numbers of seals are 

 taken as they appear along the wide cracks that now form in the ice. 



Towards the end of May, snow igloos melting away, tlie women may 

 be seen busily engaged in repairing the seal skin covering of their 

 tupeys which have been cached since the previous summer, and now, 

 while some are inland hunting deer, single families jntch their tupeys 

 at favourable places along the coast wdiere the men spend most of the 

 time watching the ice for seals. 



On May 23rd, four families left Cape Prince of Wales for a large 

 lake about one hundred and sixty miles to the southward. Here I 

 was informed they would remain throughout the summer living upon 

 deer, fish, and a kind of berry not found on the coast. This lake, by 



