1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 45 



Esquimaux on the beach below. These Esquimaux had come 

 over in their whale boats from Herschel island in the Arctic sea to 

 meet the Wrigiey. Their complexion is almost white with a dash 

 of ruddy colour that indicates good health. They seem very 

 cheerful, are not at all diffident or stoical like many of our Indian 

 tribes. On the contrary they are very inquisitive and disposed to 

 make themselves almost too familiar. They are of fair stature 

 and do not show any of the marks of the struggle for existence 

 that is observable in their neighbors, the Indians, in this part of 

 the country. 



At Fort McPherson, as at all the points visited for the last 

 1300 miles of our journey, no news from the outside world had 

 been received since the last winter mail in March. For over four 

 months the news received was purely local and generally consisted 

 of reports from a few posts in the surrounding country, from hunt- 

 ing parties returning from their winter quarters, and from the 

 whalers entrapped by the ice in the sea at Herschel island. We 

 were the first to inform them of the eruption of Mount Vesuviiis 

 and the San Francisco earthquake, both of which had happened 

 months before. Another message was one of sadness to all in 

 this district. It was the death of Bishop Bompas who was well 

 known and evidently highly esteemed by all. 



A few words regarding Fort McPherson may be of interest. 

 It is, as before stated, the most northerly of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's posts. Its latitude is 67° 25' and it is truly an Arctic 

 village. The sun never sets for about six weeks in summer and is 

 constantly below the horizon for the same time in winter. The 

 thermometer went as low as 68° below zero (Fahrenheit) last winter. 



The inhabitants are in close touch with the Esquimaux of the 

 Arctic sea and with the whaling ships that annually visit these 

 waters. These whalers are mostly from San Francisco, coming 

 up through Behring's strait in the summer and returning again in 

 the early fall. Last season, 1905 and 1906, most of them were 

 entrapped by the ice that blocked the straits and were compelled 

 to remain there for the winter. They went into winter quarters 

 at Herschel island where there is a detachment of the Royal North 

 West Mounted Police. They were not sufficiently supplied with pro- 

 visions for this emergency and had to rely largely on what could 

 be obtained in the country. They engaged the Indians of the 

 mainland to supply them with meat from the chase, principally 

 moose, with the result that the shipment of fur this year from the 

 post at McPherson was very much smaller than usual. 



