398 



and bear passes over the north end of Eureka Sound and goes 

 due westwards from the south end of Heiberg Land4 



Thus, for the so-caUed musk-ox Eskimos the seal and the 

 walrus could not have offered such a certain reserve livelihood 

 or so considerable a store of food as is the case among the 

 Polar Eskimos. The districts about Wellington Channel and 

 the west end of Jones Sound have perhaps been the nearest 

 approach to this. Nor could the birds have been of any import- 

 ance as reserve food during the summer^'. The Eskimos must 

 have done the same as the previously mentioned 8 families, 

 who left Peary in 1906 and went to Lake Hazen; they lived 

 on musk-ox and hares throughout the autumn and winter, and 

 in the spring went on to the sea-ice , where they hunted the 

 seal on the way south. 



The best time of year for the musk-ox hunting is the 

 summer and autumn, at which seasons the animals are fat and 

 owing to their size (up to about 550 kg) are able to yield large 

 quantities of meat and tallow for storage and fuel. These times 

 are the same as the seasons for the true reindeer hunting, and 

 further, the musk-ox lives in quite different localities from 

 those which are suited for the reindeer, as it does not feed 

 on lichens like the latter ^; we can understand, therefore, that 

 where the musk-ox hunting is the main source of livelihood, 

 the other forms of summer hunting must be neglected or even 

 quite given up. The forms of hunting which are thus apt to 

 die out of use are for example the kayak hunting and the 

 salmon fishing. We can now understaqd, why we meet with 

 the winter-houses in the interior of the land at Lake Hazen, 

 whilst tent-rings are found at so many places on the coasts; 



1 H.G.Simmons, I.e. p. 179. — Isachsen, I.e. Chart (Pi. 14). 



^ Possibly the wild-goose and eider-duck have been of importance 

 locally. — The "Eider-duck nests" found in the west end of Jones Sound 

 and considered by the Sverdrup Expedition as originating from the old 

 Scandinavian Greenlanders, are, I think, old Eskimo egg-depots (cf. p. 300). 



3 cf. Nathorst, 1. с, Vol. II, p. 148. — Greely, 1. c, Vol. II, p. 362. 



