96 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



for many years near the lower Coppermine. The western limit of musk-ox 

 near the Arctic coast is now about in the region of the Annielik River 

 (improperly named Unialik), flowing into Grays Bay, about one hundred 

 miles east of the mouth of the Coppermine. A few musk-oxen were seen 

 near the coast here in May, 1916, but the Eskimos say they are not found 

 farther west. Musk-oxen are said to be more common in the very rugged 

 country south of Arctic Sound, and a considerable number of skins were 

 taken there by Eskimos in the summer of 1915. The Eskimos in that 

 region (Bathurst Inlet) are better supplied with rifles than the Eskimos 

 farther west in Coronation Gulf and Dolphin and Union Strait, a num- 

 ber of them having been recently supplied from a new post to the south- 

 eastward, on or near Hudson Bay, so that the last stronghold of the 

 continental musk-ox is being pretty rapidly cut into on two sides, and 

 the probable decrease in numbers in the past five years, and the next 

 five years, will probably be proportionally greater than in any preceding 

 twenty-five years. The limits of the inroads of the Dog-rib and Yellow- 

 knife Indians had probably been nearly reached long ago, as the In- 

 dians are not accustomed to hunt more than a certain distance from 

 the edge of the timbered lands. These newly equipped Eskimo hunters 

 are accustomed to travel anywhere on the barren grounds with very Uttle 

 fuel, burning oil or heather, and there is no region which they cannot 

 visit with little trouble. 



When a herd of musk-oxen is seen, it is usually slaughtered, being, 

 from the nature of its habits easier to slaughter than most other large 

 animals. 



Since the musk-ox, so far as it is found on the mainland of North 

 America, is on as decided and as rapid a decline as was the buffalo a few 

 years ago, it should be put on the protected list. That would at least 

 forestall any possible future market demand for skins, which would accel- 

 erate the slaughter, and also reduce temptation for traders to stimulate a 

 demand. Although the savages kill a certain number on their own initia- 

 tive, they should not be encouraged and abetted in the slaughter by 

 traders who have only a temporary interest in the country and who will 

 leave the natives to their own devices again as soon as the bulk of the 

 game and fur-bearing animals have been destroyed. 



On his return in 1918 from his explorations in the Arctic 

 regions of Canada with the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 

 Mr. Stefansson informed me that on the islands he visited 

 musk-oxen were most abundant on Melville Island, where he 

 and his party of seventeen lived on the animals for two sum- 



