174 INHABITANTS IN THE FAR NORTH. 



far from improbable. It is true that the" Arctic Highlanders" told 

 Dr. Kane that they knew of no inhabitant beyond the Humboldt 

 glacier, and this is the farthest point which was indicated by Kalli- 

 hirua — Erasmus York (the native lad who was on board the Assistance 

 for more than a year), on his wonderfully accurate chart. In like 

 manner the Eskimo of Upernivik knew nothing of natives north of 

 Melville Bay until the first voyage of Sir John Eoss. Yet we know 

 that there either are or have been inhabitants north of Humboldt 

 glacier, for Morton (Dr. Kane's steward) found the runner of a 

 sledge, made of bone, lying on the beach on the northern side of' 

 it. 1 There is a tradition, too, among the " Arctic Highlanders," that 

 there are herds of musk oxen far to the north on an island in an 

 icelet-s sea. 2 In 1871, during the voyage of the Polaris, Dr. Bessels 

 saw traces of Eskimos as far north as 82°, in which parallel he 

 picked up, lying on the beach, a couple of ribs of the walrus which 

 had been used as sledge-runners, and a small piece of wood that had 

 formed part of the back of a sledge. An old bone knife-handle 

 was also found, and circles of stones showing the positions of three 

 tents of a summer encampment. Assuredly the greater abundance 

 of game far up Smith Sound, as described by Dr. Bessels, shows 

 that the Eskimos who wandered towards the Pole would have no 

 inducement to go south again. Open water means to them life. 

 It means bears, seals, walrus, ducks, and rotches. It means health, 

 comfort, and abundance. 



In the belief of some geographers there is a great Polynia, or 

 basin of open water round the Pole. 3 Wrangell says that open 

 water is met with north of New Siberia and Kotelnoi, and thence 

 to the same distance off the coast between Cape Chelagskoi and 

 Cape North.* If this be the case the Omoki and Onkilon, who fled 

 before Tartar or Piussian invasion, had no reason to regret their 

 change of residence. A land washed by the waves of a Polar Sea 

 would be a good exchange for the dreary tundra of Arctic Siberia, 

 where the earth is frozen for 70 feet below the surface. Wherever 

 a Polynia, be it large or small, really exists, there men who sustain 

 life by hunting seals and walrus may be expected to be found upon 

 its shores. We may reasonably conclude then, if the region 

 between Hall's farthest and the Pole bears any resemblance to 

 the coast of Greenland, if there is a continent or a chain of islands 

 with patches of open water near the shores, caused by ocean cur- 

 rents, that tribes will be found resembling the "Arctic High- 



Kane, i. p. 309. - Petermann's ' Search for Franklin.' 



Hayes, p. 35. l Wrangell, p. 501. 



