120 H. P. STEENSBY. 
any rate some Eskimo in the district who reach so far south on their sum- 
mer journeys to the mainland that they can bring wood back with them 
from the forest. 
From the notes now before us we are able to form a fairly correct 
conception of the aquatic mammals in Coronation Gulf. Whales are not 
found, or, at any rate, only as rare and stray visitors. The only person who 
mentions a whale is SIMPSON, who found the skeleton of one on the coast 
of the mainland at 103° 37’ W. long. Towards the east the pack-ice of 
Mc. Clintock Channel probably acts as a barrier, and according to Simpson’s 
observations the whales coming from the west did not reach so far east. 
FRANKLIN remarks, in addition, that by conversing with the Eskimo he had 
ascertained that neither whales nor walruses were found, but, on the other 
hand, numerous seals. STEFANSSON remarks that here the Eskimo only 
know the “Bowhead” whales from a few carcasses driven ashore, partly be- 
cause here they are very rare, and partly because the Eskimo are always 
in the interior during July and August, when the whales possibly may 
stray in. The same is applicable also where the small whales, for example 
the White Whales, are concerned. | 
When, in 1770, the first white man, HEARNE, looked across Coronation 
Gulf, a number of seals were lying sunning themselves on the ice which 
was still unbroken around the islands. All later travellers mention the great 
number of the seals, but only seldom did they succeed in catching any of 
them as spoil, partly because they were very vigilant, and partly because 
they sank to the bottom when shot, a fact with which their leanness during 
summer has some connection. It was the “small seals” which occurred in 
such quantities, or, in other words, the Ringed Seal, so well known from 
Netchillik and the more eastern territories. Moreover, according to the 
evidence of several travellers (RAE, STEFANSSON and others) the Bearded 
Seal occurs in considerable quantities, but it is hunted to a relatively slight 
extent, and almost always by employing a kind of Maupok method, when 
two men co-operate. 
Reindeer are found in large numbers round Coronation Gulf. In the 
spring they migrate from the south and cross the ice to the small islands 
where they bring forth their young. On October 9, 1852, CoLLINsoN saw 
the reindeer gathering in herds along the north side of Dease Strait waiting 
for the ice to form a bridge over to the mainland, and next spring, after 
April 6, he again saw them wandering across the strait northwards. At 
the end of April and the beginning of May 1911 STEFANSSON saw the 
beaten paths of herds of reindeer going north, both in Coronation Gulf and 
Dolphin and Union Strait. In the autumn, together with the herds came 
a flock of wolves as well as a party of Eskimo; and in Victoria Land 
COLLINSON saw a cleft which, by an arrangement of stones and turf, had 
been made to serve as a natural hunting fence. On the islands in the 
strait, he also saw an arrangement of stones which was used by the natives 
when driving the herds together. FRANKLIN and SIMPSON mention similar 
