MCRDocHl HUNTING REINDKKU. 2fi7 



stopping for the uiglst with tolcialilf rf.uiiliiril,\ ;ii ciTtaiii sliitioiis whore 

 tlie first party thiit travels over tlie trail l)nil(l snow liiils, wliich are 

 useil hy those who follow them. At flic risers they an^ scattered in 

 suiall camps of foiu- or live tamUies, about a day's jouriie>- apart. As 

 well as we, could learn these camps are in regularly esialiHslied jdaces, 

 where the. same peojile retru'n every year, if tliey limit al ail. It even 

 seemed as if the.se localities were eonsidn-ed tlie propeity of certain 

 influential families, who cxmld allow any others they pleased to join 

 their parties.' It is certain, at all events, that the people of (Ttkiavwifi 

 did not hunt ou the Ikpikpun with the men of Xuwuk. At this season 

 they live entirely in snow huts, often excavated in the deep drifts under 

 the river blufts, and th(^ men hunt deer while the women, as before, 

 catch fish in Kuaru and Ivulujirua. None are taken in Ikplkpnfi. (See 

 above, p. oS. > 



Deer are ji'enerally very plentifid at this season, though sometimes, as 

 hai)pein-d in February, lss:i. there comes a warm southerly wind whi(di 

 makes them all retreat fartiier inland tor a few days. They are gener- 

 ally hunted by chasing them on snowshoi-s. in the manner already de- 

 scribed, but with much better chances of success, since when a iinmher 

 of hunters are out in the same regiim the deer are kept moving, so that 

 a herd started by one hunter is very apt to run within gunsh<it of an- 

 other. Tlu! natives have generally very good success in this spring 

 hunt. Two men who were hunting on shares for the station killed up- 

 ward of ninety reindeer in the .season of 1883. A great deal of the meat 

 is, of course, consumed on the s|)ot, but a good many deer are brought 

 home frozen. They are skinned and brought home whole, only the 

 heads and h-gs being cut off. The latter are disjointed at tiie knee and 

 elbow. These frozen carcasses are u.sually cut up with a saw for cooking. 

 At this season the does are pregnant, and many good-sized fetuses are 

 brought home frozen. We were told that these were excellent food. 

 though we never saw them eaten. For tin' fust two or tJireedays after 

 the return of the deer hunters to tlie village all the little boys are play- 

 ing with these fetuses, which they set uji as targets for their blunt 

 arrows. 



Before starling for the deer hunt the hunters generally take tlie mov- 

 al)le inoperty which they do not mean to carry with them out of the 

 house and biii\- it in the snow for safe keeping, apparently thiidting that 

 while a disiiunest person might help himself to small articles left around 

 the house, he could hardly go to work and dig uji a cache without at- 

 tracting the attention of the neighbors. If both families from a house 

 go deer hunting, they eitlieiwlo.se it up entirely or else get .some family 

 who have no house of tlii'ir own to take care of it during their absence. 

 During the season, small parties, traveling light, with'very little bag- 

 gage, make flying trips to the village, usually to get a fresh supply t>f 



'Dr. Richardson IjeUeve.s tliat the liuutins; -rounils ..r f;,mili.-9 iire kept sa.r,-,! anions thf Eskimo. 

 Scarchins Expi^rtition, vol. 1. p,-. iM. :)51, S,-,.. ats,., U,,/ same antliof. r^per- Xf w Philosophical .luor- 

 nal, vol. 52, p. .123. 



