G4 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



wall, and many of the old Eskimo hut 'foundations contain the remains 

 of this animal. The Eskimo say they got mad and left ; certain it is 

 they are found around Annanactook only as stragglers at the present 

 day. Considerable numbers were observed on pieces of floating ice near 

 Cape Mercy in July. About Nugmneute they are largely hunted by the 

 Eskimo living there. The Eskimo say the tusks of the male always 

 bend outward toward the tips, while those of the female bend inward. 



14. Cistophora cristata, (Erxleb.) Nilss. 



The bladder-nose appears to be very rare in the upper Cumberland 

 waters. One specimen was procured at Annanactook in autumn, the 

 only one I saw. The Eskimo had no name for it, and said they had not 

 seen it before. I afterward learned that they are occasionally taken 

 about the Kikkerton Islands in spring and autumn. I found their 

 remains in the old kitchen middens at Kingwah. A good many indi- 

 viduals were noticed among the pack-ice in Davis Straits in July. 



CETACEA. 



1. Baleena mysticetus, Linne. 



"Akbik," Cumberland Eskimo. 



Also called " Pumah." I think the word had its origin in this wise. 

 When whalemen first began to cruise in these waters, few, if any of 

 them, had a knowledge of the Eskimo language, and, to make the natives 

 understand what they were after, imitated the spouting of the whale by 

 blowing. This was soon taken up by the Eskimo as the "codlunak" 

 (white man's) word for whale, and soon came into general usage, and 

 thus one of the first words was made that now constitutes a part of the 

 pigeon-English of the whalemen's jargon. 



The Cumberland Sound, or Hogarth Sound of Penny (ISTorthumber- 

 land Inlet of Wareham in 1841), has been renowned among Scotch and 

 American whalemen for more than a quarter of a century as a favorite 

 resort of the right whale, and one of the most profitable whaling sta- 

 tions on the globe. But this locality, like all others, has been so thor- 

 oughly hunted nearly every season for a number of years that it no 

 longer sustains its pristine renown as a profitable whaling ground. 



So many ships were sometimes found here at one time that there arose 

 a great spirit of strife among the crews as to which vessel would procure 

 the most whales, and as a consequence whales were struck when there 

 was but the slightest chance of securing them, and the line had to be 

 cut to set them free. Such whales in all probability die, but not before 



