BOAS.l DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRIBES. 461 



tung, Home Bay, Brodie Bay, Merchant Bay, and Padli are the only 

 places along the shore of Davis Strait where smooth ice occurs. On 

 the long shores between them, which are unsheltered from winds 

 and currents, the ice is always very hummocky, and, therefore, the 

 natives do not settle mpon them in the winter. In the far north, 

 extensive floes of smooth ice are formed in Eclipse Sound and Ad- 

 miralty Inlet. 



Concerning the country farther west the reports are rather scanty. 

 The southwest shore of Baffin Land and the eastern entrance of Fury 

 and Hecla Strait are always frozen over and afford a good hunting 

 ground. On the mainland, the large floes of Repulse Bay and Wager 

 River, Chesterfield Inlet and the bights all around it, Pelly Bay and 

 the narrow bays adjoining Boothia Peninsula, and the mouth of Back 

 River are important places for the distribution of the Eskimo. 



There are only a few districts where the proximity of open water 

 favors walrus hunting during the winter, and all of these have 

 neighboring floes on which seals may be hunted with the harpoon. 

 These places are Sikosuilaq, Akuliaq, Frobisher Bay, Iglulik, the west 

 shore of Hudson Bay, and Smith Sound. As to the remainder the 

 Eskimo live altogether independent of the open water during the 

 winter. 



G-enerally speaking, two conditions are required for winter settle- 

 ments, viz, the existence of an extensive floe and smooth ice. 



The diiTercnt mode of hunting in the spring c-ausfs a diffci-ent dis- 

 tribution of tlir settlements. Duringthis season tliosi' rr-ions wliich 

 had been deserted during the winter are most visited by the hunters. 

 On light dog sledges they travel over the rough ice and along the 

 shores of the fjords and islands. The natives who lived in large set- 

 tlements during the winter are spread over the whole country, in 

 order that every one may have a better chance of traveling over his 

 own himting ground. In a few places the yoiing sealing induces the 

 Eskimo to leave the winter settlements ; in other places the kayaks 

 are prepared for visiting the floe edge, and bears and the returning 

 birds are hunted. 



Though the greater variety of food which is to be obtained and the 

 difference in the methods of hiinting in the spring reqiiire the dispei" 

 sion over a wide area of the families which had kept together during 

 the winter, the selection of places for the new settlements remains 

 wholly dependent upon the state of the ice. 



After the ice breaks up, the distribution of the deer regulates the 

 location of the summer settlements. While during the winter the 

 state of the ice is of decisive importance, the orography of the land 

 comes now into consideration. 



Wherever deep valleys give access to an extensive ai'ea, wherever 

 practicable roads enable the natives to ascend the plateaus, summer 

 settlements are established. The heads of the fjords are favorite 



