68 H. P. STEENSBY. 
it was hunted by the Polar Eskimo with whom the method of hunting 
has been forgotten. The reindeer everywhere wander to the coast in 
spring and autumn, and back again to the interior; and of special 
interest are these migrations across the Rae and Boothia Isthmuses, 
across Simpson Strait as also the narrow Straits at Coronation Gulf, 
where the herds of reindeer in the spring go northward across the ice, 
and return in the Autumn. Corresponding migrations of the musk ox, 
though in an inferior degree, may have been observed across the isth- 
muses, but for the rest the musk ox is a more distinctly settled ani- 
mal, which keeps to a definite district. The former idea that the meat 
of musk ox is not appreciated by the Eskimo is entirely wrong. The 
meat of the musk ox is actually preferred to that of the reindeer, 
which is generally mentioned as the favourite food of the Eskimo, and 
all those tribes which live in the vicinity of musk ox districts carry 
on the hunting of them with the greatest zeal. Another thing is that 
the diffusion of the musk ox is confined to the Barren Grounds, the 
Archipelago (with the exception of Baffin Land and Southampton 
Island), and the north coast of Greenland from the Humboldt glacier 
to Scoresby Sound (cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34, p. 401: map showing the 
distribution of musk ox). Of other terrestrial animals the hare, which 
in some places is snared, plays a röle in the support of life, while the 
Polar fox provides material for clothing, and the wolf, which in the 
places where it occurs in large numbers may have a decimating effect 
on the reindeer stock, ıs regarded as an enemy to be exterminated 
either by might or sleight. 
At the transition between terrestrial and aquatic anımals stands 
the Polar bear, which also, in some places, has some economic value 
for the Polar Eskimo, for whom, for example, it affords material for 
the specially warm clothing which these people need during the winter; 
but it is of even greater value in that it gives the Eskimo the op- 
portunity to display their courage, and gives full play for their sports- 
manship, besides playing an important röle in the folk-lore and 
psychology. On the other hand the economic basis for the existence 
of the Eskimo is seals, or more correctly, four kinds of seals: the 
Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida), the Bearded Seal (P. barbata), the Green- 
land Seal (P. Groenlandica), and the Walrus. The Greenland Seal, 
which, though it is of the greatest importance as regards South Green- 
land, is of minor importance, as it dwells only in the North Atlantic 
and does not visit the real Arctic waters; and where other districts 
are concerned, the same may be said of the walrus. Other kinds of 
seals, such as the Crested Seal at Greenland and the Fur Seals at the 
Aleutian Islands, likewise play a local röle. Undoubtedly the oceurrence 
of the Harbour Seal (P. vitulina) is general in Southern Arctic waters, 
but it is only in the most Southern part of Alaska that it is of great 
importance. Of the four first mentioned seals, the Ringed Seal and 
