114 H. P. STEENSBY. 
Netchilik Eskimo do not disperse accidentally during summer, but take 
up their abode in such places where there are good conditions for reindeer 
hunting and salmon fishing. On Boothia the two transverse rows of lakes 
on the isthmus are the places mostly visited, and of the lakes, to judge 
from what is known, Netchillik is the one where the majority of them 
gather together. A narrow, river-like indentation (Skagavok) is also visited. 
Ross’s Expedition, on its sledge journeys across the isthmus, frequently found 
kayaks hidden on islets, or by the banks of lakes, where they remained 
during the winter. covered with stones and snow. In this district, where 
they only resort to the sea when it is covered with ice, the umiak is never 
mentioned, and the kayak is only mentioned in connection with reindeer 
hunting in fresh waters, and as a ferry when travelling during summer. It 
is reported from Simpson Strait, that the Eskimo can cross the strait on a 
ferry made by lashing together two or more kayaks side by side. Other- 
wise the Ugjulik Eskimo spend the summer in reindeer hunting near the 
inner waters of the Adelaide Peninsula, or on King William Land. The 
musk ox is of less importance than the reindeer, and is hunted only casu- 
aliy; but it is owing to confusion when some authors have stated that its 
meat is not liked by the Eskimo, and that its horns and skin are not 
utilised. | Musk-ox hunting appears to be of most importance towards 
Eivillik. AMUNDSEN heard from a Netchillik Eskimo, who had been staying 
at Eivillik, that there the Eskimo irritate the musk oxen by shooting at 
them with arrows, until they are roused to such fury that they rush in 
upon the hunters and are then killed by lance-thrusts. 
The reindeer meat, like the salmon, is set aside as supplies for winter 
use. The depositing of these supplies at the lakes indicates that the period 
between the departure in September and the beginning of October of the 
reindeer from the country, and the end of the darkest period, is spent just 
in these places. These months are not spent on the ice or on the sea coast. 
In 1830 the Eskimo did not come to Ross’s winter quarters until well into 
January, and in 1831, when his ship had changed station, even later. 
Where the preceding time had been spent Ross had no opportunity of learning 
personally, but the Eskimo told him that they had been staying partly at 
Lake Netchilhk and partly at another Lake in the series of lakes situated 
somewhat more to the north, and had been living on reindeer meat and 
salmon. A few more circumstances may be mentioned in support of the 
view that the first months of the winter are spent in places where the 
hunting of reindeer is pursued in the summer, and, perhaps, in the autumn. 
Ross observed that during spring the natives transported blubber to Lake 
Netchillik and other lakes to deposit it there. Lastly, the same author 
mentions winter houses near a lake where his Eskimo guide’s kayak lay 
waiting for summer use. Moreover, there can be no doubt that the “summer 
houses” Ross himself saw and described near Lake Netchillik were in reality 
winter houses. He says, regarding them, that there was a group of 30 
