96 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
for many years near the lower Coppermine. The western limit of musk-ox 
near the Arctic coast is now about in the region of the Annielik River 
(improperly named Unialik), flowing into Grays Bay, about one hundred 
miles east of the mouth of the Coppermine. A few musk-oxen were seen 
near the coast here in May, 1916, but the Eskimos say they are not found 
farther west. Musk-oxen are said to be more common in the very rugged 
country south of Arctic Sound, and a considerable number of skins were 
taken there by Eskimos in the summer of 1915. The Eskimos in that 
region (Bathurst Inlet) are better supplied with rifles than the Eskimos 
farther west in Coronation Gulf and Dolphin and Union Strait, a num- 
ber of them having been recently supplied from a new post to the south- 
eastward, on or near Hudson Bay, so that the last stronghold of the 
continental musk-ox is being pretty rapidly cut into on two sides, and 
the probable decrease in numbers in the past five years, and the next 
five years, will probably be proportionally greater than in any preceding 
twenty-five years. The limits of the inroads of the Dog-rib and Yellow- 
knife Indians had probably been nearly reached long ago, as the In- 
dians are not accustomed to hunt more than a certain distance from 
the edge of the timbered lands. These newly equipped Eskimo hunters 
are accustomed to travel anywhere on the barren grounds with very little 
fuel, burning oil or heather, and there is no region which they cannot 
visit with little trouble. 
When a herd of musk-oxen is seen, it is usually slaughtered, being, 
from the nature of its habits easier to slaughter than most other large 
animals. 
Since the musk-ox, so far as it is found on the mainland of North 
America, is on as decided and as rapid a decline as was the buffalo a few 
years ago, it should be put on the protected list. That would at least 
forestall any possible future market demand for skins, which would accel- 
erate the slaughter, and also reduce temptation for traders to stimulate a 
demand. Although the savages kill a certain number on their own initia- 
tive, they should not be encouraged and abetted in the slaughter by 
traders who have only a temporary interest in the country and who will 
leave the natives to their own devices again as soon as the bulk of the 
game and fur-bearing animals have been destroyed. 
On his return in 1918 from his explorations in the Arctic 
regions of Canada with the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 
Mr. Stefansson informed me that on the islands he visited 
musk-oxen were most abundant on Melville Island, where he 
and his party of seventeen lived on the animals for two sum- 
