325 



circumstances which seem to indicate that the same fact holds 

 good of the musk-oxen M. 



This fluctuation in the numbers of the reindeer took place 

 at a period where at any rate the great mass of the Eskimo 

 must have left these regions, and is thus not due to human 

 pursuit. 



The cause of this fluctuation, as Winge points out, has 

 not been fully elucidated. Nathorst^) believes that the de- 

 crease in the numbers of reindeer which has taken place in 

 recent times, is due to the appearance in these regions of the 

 polar wolf from the North, who is practically exterminating 

 them. S. Jensen, on the other hand, holds the view that 

 though the decrease is certainly due to the polar wolf, the 

 animals are not being exterminated, but merely driven into the 

 mountain regions in the interior of the fjord. And in fact an 

 actual extermination of them is hardly conceiveable, but we 

 may imagine such a large decrease that the polar wolf 

 gradually passes over to other districts for want of game, in 

 order perhaps to return again when the numbers again begin 

 to increase. An interaction of this nature is by no means 

 unthinkable. 



But if we suppose that such an invasion of wolves took 

 place while the Eskimo were living at Scoresby Sund, 

 this fact, in conjunction with the chase, would soon cause the 

 reindeer to become a rarity to the Eskimo, and the migration 

 southwards to the far better sealing grounds would then be 

 still more easily intelligible. 



And perhaps we do not need to have recourse to the 

 polar wolf at all to explain the serious decrease in the numbers 

 of the reindeer while the Eskimo were still living in these 

 parts. For the mere hunting of them may perhaps have been 



') S. Jensen. Meddelelser om Grønland. Vol. XXIX. P. 24— 27 and 35. - 



H. Winge. .Same work. Vol. XX!. P. 4.58. 

 •t Tvà Somrar i Norra Ishafvet. Senare Delen. P. 329. 



