140 CKUISE OF THE NEPTUXE 



education is spreading rapidly. A good example is found in 

 the natives on the northwest coast of Hudson bay, several of 

 whom have learned to read from the Big island natives on the 

 Scotch whaler, who were in turn instructed by visiting Eskimos 

 from Cumberland gulf. 



The Eskimos of the east side of Hudson bay and of the 

 Belcher islands annually come under the teaching of the mis- 

 sionary at Great Whale river, and have to a great extent 

 abandoned the practice of old customs and beliefs. The only 

 custom that they cling tenaciously to is that relating to 

 polygamy. 



The Eskimos of the Atlantic coast, under the control of the 

 Moravians, number nearly 1,000 persons. Those at Xachvak 

 and Cape Chidley do not exceed fifty. A few families occupy 

 the coast of Ungava bay from Cape Chidley to the mouth of 

 Koksoak river; these are engaged, during the summer, fishing 

 for salmon in the mouths of George and Whale rivers, there 

 being about a half-dozen families at each place. In 1893 there 

 were fifty-one families scattered along the shores of Ungava bay 

 from Cape Chidley to Cape Hopes Advance. Along the south 

 shore of Hudson strait, from Cape Hopes Advance to Cape - 

 Weggs, live some thirty families, while to the westward of these, 

 as far as Cape Wolstenholme there are about seventy-five 

 natives living on the coast, principally in the neighbourhood of 

 Deception and Sugluk bays and near Cape Wolstenholme. 

 About one hundred more, not included in the above, live inland 

 and trade at Fort Chimo. 



The western Eskimos, who trade at Great Whale river, 

 number about eighty families, including a dozen families from 

 the Belcher islands, together with a few living about Fort 

 George and on the islands of James bay. 



Allowing four or five as the size of the average family, the 

 total Eskimo population in the Labrador peninsula amounts to 



