204 THE HUDSON BAY ESKIMO. 



wbaliug station, where tbey encamp, to await the setting of the nets 

 forming the sides of the inclosure into which the whales are to be driven. 



The. natives spear the whales in the pound, drag them ashore, skin 

 them, and help take the oil and skins to the post, some eight miles 

 farther ui) the river. 



The same natives who engaged in the whaling are employed to attend 

 the nets for salmon, which arrive at variable dates from the 25th of 

 July to the 1st of September. Two or more adult male Eskimo, with 

 their relatives, occupy a certain locality, generally known by the name 

 of the person in charge of that season's work. The place is occupied 

 until the runs of the fish are over, when it is time for the natives to be 

 up the river to spear reindeer which cross the river. 



This hunting lasts until the deer have begun to rut and the males have 

 lost the fat from the small of the back. The season is no w so far advanced 

 that the ice is already forming along the shore, and unless the hunter 

 intends to remain in that locality he would better begin to descend the 

 river to a place nearer the sea. The river may freeze in a single night 

 and the umiak be unable to withstand the constant strain of the sharp- 

 edged cakes of floating Ice. 



The head of the family decides where the winter is to be passed and 

 moves thither with his party at once. Here he has a few weeks of rest 

 from the season's labors, or spends the time constructing a sled for the 

 winter journeys he may have in view. The snow has now fallen so that a 

 snow house may be constructed and winter quarters taken up. A num- 

 ber of steel traps are procured to be set for foxes and other fur-bearing 

 animals. The ptarmigans arrive in large flocks and are eagerly hunted 

 for their flesh and feathers. The birds are either consumed for food or 

 sold to the company, which pays G^ cents for four, and purchases the 

 body feathers of the birds at the rate of i pounds of the feathers for 

 25 cents. 



The Eskimo soon consume the amount of deer meat they brought with 

 them on their return and subsist on the flesh of the ptarmigan until the 

 ice is firm enough to allow the sleds to be used to transport to the 

 present camp meat of animals slain in the fall. 



The traps are visited and the ftirs are sold to the company in ex- 

 change for flour, tea, sugar, molasses, biscuit, clothing, and ammuni- 

 tion. Hunting excursions are made to various localities for stray bands 

 of deer that have become separated from the larger herds. 



The white men employes of the company have been engaged in cut- 

 ting wood for the next year's fuel, and the Eskimo with their dog teams 

 are hired to haul it to the bank, where It may be floated down in 

 rafts when the river opens. 



Thus passes the year in the life of the Eskimo of the immediate 

 vicinity of Fort Chimo. Some of the Koksoagmyut do not engage in 

 these occupations. Some go to another locality to live by themselves; 

 others do not work or huut, because it is not their natui'e to do so. 



