94 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
In his report of his exploration trip from Great Slave 
Lake to Chesterfield Inlet via Thelon River, in 1900, J. W. 
Tyrrell states that they first found musk-oxen among the 
lakes in the vicinity of the height of land between the basin 
of the Great Slave Lake and that of the Thelon, and, after 
emphasizing the fact that the musk-oxen are among the 
most valuable resources of the north country, he recom- 
mends that the territory between Thelon and Backs Rivers 
be set aside as a game sanctuary, on account of the rapid 
diminution of their numbers. In his volume, “Through 
the Sub-arctics of Canada,” he refers to the musk-ox (pp. 
241-242), and states that he has seen ‘‘musk-ox robes 
stacked by the Eskimos like hay-cocks, along the shore of 
Chesterfield Inlet, awaiting opportunity to market them.” 
In 1912 the Hudson’s Bay Company established a post at 
Chesterfield Inlet, and I am informed by a recent explorer 
from that region that the natives were being encouraged to 
bring in all the musk-ox robes that it was possible to obtain. 
As the remaining herds of musk-ox are now restricted on 
the mainland to the region between Chesterfield Inlet and 
Backs River, the significance of such hunting is only too 
obvious. 
It had been hoped by many of those of us who are en- 
deavouring to prevent the extermination of this scientifi- 
cally unique and economically valuable animal of our 
Arctic plains that in the interior of the Barren Grounds there 
was an area, more or less inaccessible on account of the diffi- 
culties of travel to the Dog-rib and Yellow-knife Indians 
on the west, and the Eskimos on the east, in which there 
would be less danger of the musk-ox being killed out. Un- 
fortunately, the latest reports indicate that this is a vain 
hope. It is true, as I am reliably informed by one of the 
Hudson’s Bay Company’s officers, that the western and 
southern range of the musk-ox has been so reduced that it 
was practically impossible to obtain musk-ox skins at the 
