Ethnographic Description of the Esliimo Settlements 295 



winter \ so long at least as the meat-depots were of any value. 

 Such large supplies of meat, as are in question here, would — if by 

 themselves — certainly attract the foxes ^' and such visits had either 

 to be exploited or prevented. To make some use of them — to 

 secure the unbidden guests by means of traps — has, as mentioned, 

 not been attempted, whilst to keep the foxes away is only possible 

 if the hunters remain constantly on the spot, in this case so long 

 into the winter as the supplies of food would permit. I believe, 

 therefore, that the stone-ovals 479 and 481 show the outlines of 

 tents for winter use (see fig. 41); — grass-turf to help in the building 

 could not be grown up here — and that the Eskimos have used 

 such heavy tent-stones just in consideration of the winter storms, 

 either to hold the tent-skin down or inside to keep it stiff. In 

 such a case a snow wall has probably been built outside as quickly 

 as possible, for the sake of extra warmth and protection. The supply 

 of skins must have been sufficient here to procure the necessary 

 warmth. No platform was seen ; possibly many layers of skin were 

 used instead. 



The Eskimos have then only moved to the coast when their 

 meat supplies ran out, or when the seal hunting or other circum- 

 stances made it desirable. 



The western hunting-ground was found on a point, which like 

 all its surroundings was old sea-bottom ; gravel with pebbles and 

 large boulders resting on clay. Further, fossilised pieces of whale 

 skeleton were found scattered everywhere, either deep in the clay 

 or loose on the gravel. At the outermost end of the point there 

 is a steep gravel ridge, 1 — 2 meters high, descending sharply to 

 the lake, the surface of which lies about 5 meters below the top 

 of the ridge. To the east a steep slope leads down from the point 

 to a low, sandy flat. West of the point several hollows run up 

 from the lake and in these small pools have encouraged the growth 

 of a considerable amount of vegetation in this otherwise barren 

 country. 



At this tenting-ground we found 8 tent-rings, 1 shelter (?), 3 

 traps, 14 permanent meat-depots and 8 stone-ovals. 



The tent-rings were on the whole of considerable age. (See the 

 table p. 297). 



With regard to the 8 stone-ovals, details of which are given in 

 the following table, reference may be made to the explanation of 

 the stone-ovals found on the eastern hunting-ground (479 and 481). 



1 Cf. Greely: I, pp. 379-84; II, pp. 356— 57; Steensby: pp. 264— 65, 398—99. 

 - Cf. Steensby: 305. 



