172 



NATURE 



\y2ine 24, 1880 



a most valuable and interesting account of his ethno- 

 logical observations and important notes on the habits of 

 the birds and mammals of the region explored. Capt. 

 Howgate's expedition was one which had several difierent 

 ends in view. The primary object of it was the collection 

 of skins, sledges, dogs, Eskimo, and other necessaries for 

 a future colony in Lady Franklin Bay. A secondary 

 object was scientific exploration, whilst the only remunera- 

 tion of the crew was derived from ordinary whaling 

 operations, every one excepting the scientific men on 

 board the Florence having a "lay" in the voyage. The 

 F/oreiice, in which the voyage of the expedition was 

 made, was a fore-and-aft schooner of fifty-six tons, which 

 had before been engaged in sealing in the southern seas. 

 Mr. Kumlien necessarily found so small a vessel extremely 

 disadvantageous for scientific operations. He had to 

 leave valuable skeletons of mammalia behind, and could 

 have procured more in addition, if only stowage room had 

 been available. 



The explorations of the expedition were made in 

 Hogarth Sound on the western coast of Davis Straits. 

 Hogarth Sound, the Cumberland Straits of Baffin, lies in 

 Baffin's Land, and its western coast is called Penny's Land, 

 after Capt. Penny, vrho visited it in 1S39. The northern 

 part of the Sound is crossed by the Arctic Circle. The 

 Sound is about thirty miles wide at its widest part, its 

 length is uncertain, but over 150 miles. It has been 

 frequently visited by Scotch and American whalers during 

 the last twenty-five years. 



The Bulletin commences with a long paper by Mr. 

 Kumlien on the Eskimo of the Sound, from which wc 

 gather the following interesting statements. The natves 

 are fast diminishing in numbers, and the total popula- 

 tion of the Sound is estimated by the author at not more 

 than 400 individuals. The Eskimo are peaceful now, 

 but have numerous traditions of former wars, in which 

 they relate that the hurling of stones was the most 

 effective and common mode of warfare. 



The natives have, as usual, suffered by contact with 

 whits men, and the Hogarth Sound Eskimo of to-day, 

 with his breech-loading rifle, steel knives, cotton jacket, 

 and all the various trinkets he succeeds in procuring from 

 the ships, is worse clad, lives poorer, and gets less to eat 

 than did his forefathers, who had never seen or heard of 

 a white man. He barters a seal-skin that should have 

 been used for repairing the tent, for a little tobacco, or 

 some valueless trinket which is soon thrown aside. 



The children are, when young, quite fair ; the adults 

 are so begrimed with soot and grease, that it is im- 

 possible almost to tell their real colour, but there are 

 some pure bred Innuits whose skins are no darker than a 

 white man's would be if subjected to the rigours of wind 

 and cold. 



" There are at present so many whaleboats owned by 

 the Eskimo, that they experience little difficulty in 

 making quite extensive cruises, three or four families 

 constituting a boat's crew. They will load a whale-boat 

 to within an inch or two of the gunwale, and then set out 

 for a few weeks' enjoyment and abundance. The squaws 

 do the rowing and the captain stands majestically in the 

 stern with the steering-oar, whilst the rest of the men are 

 either asleep or on the look-out for game. The cargo 

 consists of the tent-poles, the skin-tents, pots, and lamps, 

 with sundry skin-bags containing the women's sewing and 

 skinning utensils. The hunting-gear forms, of course, 

 quite a conspicuous portion of the contents of the boat. 

 Very few there are at present who have not become the 

 possessors of half a barrel, and this vessel occupies a con- 

 spicuous place in the boat, and is constantly receiving 

 additions of animal matter in some shape ; a few young 

 eiders or gulls will soon be covered up with the intestines 

 of a seal and its flesh. From this receptacle all obtain a 

 piece of meat whenever they feel hungry. This vessel 

 is never emptied of its contents except by accident or 



when scarcity of material forbids its repletion ; and as 

 the temperature at this season is well up in the sixties 

 during the day, this garbage heap becomes so offensive 

 as to be unbearable to any but an Eskimo." 



The powers of endurance of these Eskimo appear to 

 be no better than those of whites. Few of them could 

 stand a tramp through the snow all day long better than 

 the members of the expedition, but, as in the case of 

 other savages, it was in "tracking" that they showed 

 their superiority most markedly. "They will follow 

 animal tracks in the snow for a whole day when we 

 confess we could not discover the faintest trace of a track 

 except at long distances apart." 



The women's dress differs from that of the men in that 

 their trousers are composed of three separate pieces, the 

 lower reaching from a little below the knee to the middle 

 of the thigh ; when at work in their igloos they take off 

 the lower pieces and use their bare thighs as boards for 

 cleaning sealskins on. Amongst most races, as in Eng- 

 land, the dress of young children — both boys and girls — 

 resembles that of their mothers, but Eskimo little girls 

 wear trousers like those of the men, made all in one 

 piece, until they are twelve years old. 



Most of the Eskimo cannot count higher than ten, and 

 many not higher than six ; some are said to ha\-e numbers 

 to twenty, but they are few. The names of the same 

 numerals are differently pronounced, and difficulty was 

 experienced in finding a native who knew the names well 

 enough to give them all up to ten. 



When a woman is about to be confined she is placed in 

 a small skin tent in summer or a small snow hut in winter, 

 with a little girl only to attend her. This is done for fear 

 the mother or child may die, in which case the tent and 

 all in it could never be used again. For the same reason 

 any native when very ill is carried out to die. In some 

 instances this custom is obliged to be modified. For ex- 

 ample, a tent cover thus under tabu is sometimes cut off at 

 about two feet from the ground all round, and the top is 

 used. In one case a man's wife shot herself accidentally in 

 her igloo ; the gun was too great a sacrifice for the hus- 

 band ; he used it, but everything else was left to waste away 

 where it lay. After the birth of the child the mother, 

 with the child on her back, is conducted by an aged 

 female ancoot to a level spot on the ice, where a curious 

 ceremony of marching in circles is performed. 



The following legend gives dh'cctions as to how a 

 person may become an ancoot or angekok. It is interest- 

 mg because it does not differ essentially from the Green- 

 landers' account of the same thing. An "ancoot" may 

 be regarded as theinost primitive representative of the 

 priestly office. 



"Any one wishing to be an ancoot must go away a 

 long distance from where there is any other person. Then 

 he must find a large stone and scat himself by it, and 

 call on Torngaysuk (the greatest spirit of good and evil ; 

 the name is now used by instructed natives for the devil). 

 This spirit will then make himself present to him. The 

 would-be ancoot will at first be very much frightened at 

 the arrival and appearance of the spirit, so much so that 

 he is seized with severe pains and falls down and dies, 

 and remains dead for three days. Then he coines to life 

 again, and returns home a very wise man." 



An ancoot' s duty is, first, to heal the sick by muttering 

 over them ; secondly, to talk to Torngarsuk and get 

 useful information : thirdly, by this means to foretell 

 deaths and misfortunes. He leads in such ceremonies as 

 the killing of the evil spirit of the deer, an extraordinary 

 jumping, shouting, and stabbing performance directed 

 against an imaginary deer. A successful ancoot of long 

 standing may reach higher grade and become a great 

 ancoot by means of periods of fasting and an existence 

 for a time in the condition of a walrus. 



If an ancoot' s prophecy does not come to pass, he 

 says that a halo, corona, aurora, or some such phenome- 



