70 ° H. P. Steenspy. 
with a special combination of current and ice. It is distributed over 
two localities, which have no reciprocal connection. According to 
Norpeuist! and Error? the walrus north of Bering Strait goes only 
to Point Beechey (ca. 150° W. long.) on the north coast of Alaska. In 
the Archipelago it is not known to have been observed to the west 
of a line from south to north through Boothia and North Somerset. 
As will be mentioned later it is only in certain places that it plays a 
principal réle in the life of the inhabitants. Among the numerous 
kinds of whales which live and have lived in the Arctic Sea regions 
there are only 3 which have been of great importance for the Eskimo, 
and they are the Greenland whale (Balena mysticetus), the White 
Whale (Delphinopterus leucas), and the Narwhal (Monodon monoceros). 
Their occurrence is common in the northern parts of both oceans, as 
is their regular migration from North to South according to the season 
of the year and the extension of the ice. In the summer they go 
along the north coast of Alaska to the open waters off the mouth of 
the Mackenzie River; but in Coronation Gulf and the waters round 
King William Land no whales are found. In Bellot Strait White 
Whales were, however, observed by the Mc. Crintock Expedition, so 
it is not unreasonable to assume that the indicated packing of the ice 
through Banks Strait and Me. Clintock Channel sets a boundary to 
the migrations of the whales towards the west. 
After this short geographical description the distribution of the 
Eskimo ean briefly be expressed by stating that they inhabit the coasts 
of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, the coasts of the southern North-west 
Passage and those of the Alaska Peninsula, or, in other words, all the 
places where seals occur in abundant quantity; and, as the occurrence 
of these in the Archipelago and in all the pronouncedly Arctic regions 
is contingent upon the winter ice, it may be added that, as regards 
these districts, the condition is that the sea regions shall be protected 
against the intrusion of the pack-ice. 
Franz Boas was the first to make clear the significance of the 
winter ice for the Eskimo settlement. Former investigators had regarded 
‘)the sea ice in all its forms almost as an unavoidable obstruction and 
enemy rather than as a necessary basis and condition for existence. 
Boas pointed out that, as regards the settlement, the pack-ice and the ~ 
‘smooth winter ice were in their effect two opposing elements, in that 
/the first is an impediment to hunting and intercourse while the second 
/ forms the exact condition for these. His conclusions regarding the 
\. winter ice, and the significance of the coast contours for the formation 
) of this, Boas* set forth in the following lines: 
“Besides the configuration of the land, the extent of the land ice 
* Norvguist, II, p. 94. 
* Exxior, IL. 
* Boas, II, p. 417. 
