Distribution of the Population 39 



more were at Banks peninsula. The remainder of the inhabitants of Bathurst; 

 inlet were lost to view inland, but more than jBfty deserted snow-houses were 

 seen on one of the Barry islands, Igloryuallik; the natives had evidently erected 

 them in the previous autumn before they went out on the ice to seal, for a 

 similar settlement was noticed a few miles farther north. After spending the 

 summer in the country round Bathurst inlet the Eskimos regularly return at its 

 close to this island of Igloryuallik to sew their winter clothing, while the natives 

 round Grays bay repair at the same time to the north end of Hepburn island. 



A few Eskimos fish and hunt each summer on the opposite shore of Victoria 

 island. The only name that I could obtain for this district was Kiglinik, and 

 for the people Kiglinirmiut. Kiglinik means hterally "the back country," and 

 so might easily be applied to any district that lay north of any other. The Rev. 

 Mr. Girling tells me that the Bathurst inlet natives often use the term Kiglinir- 

 miut for any Victoria island Eskimos, even the Puivlirmiut to the westward. 

 Nevertheless the word seemed to have a more restricted meaning as well, and 

 to designate that portion of Victoria island that lies directly opposite Bathurst 

 inlet. The natives here are never very numerous. They gather in the autumn 

 somewhere on the coast till their winter clothing is completed, then move out 

 on the ice and combine with the natives from the opposite shore. The total 

 population at this end of Coronation gulf is apparently somewhere around two 

 hundred. 



Hanbury says ' that the natives between Cape Bathurst and the Copper- 

 mine river are called Kuyakiyuarmiut, but the name seemed unknown to the 

 Eskimos. I met. Probably what he heard was Kugaryuarmiut, the people of 

 the Kugaryuak river. There is a small river flowing into the bottom of Arctic 

 sound, which, with the country surrounding it, is known by the name of Kil- 

 usiktok. Strictly speaking therefore, the Kilusiktomiut should be only those 

 people who make this their summer home.^ Actually, however, the name is 

 used, both in Coronation gulf and farther west, for all the natives who spend the 

 winter on the ice off Bathurst inlet. The western natives sometimes call these 

 people Umingmaktomiut, from Umingmak, the high land on the east side of 

 Bathurst inlet not far from the Barry islands. Mr. Stefansson heard of a rumour 

 of a permanent village in this place, but rightly suspected its truth; probably it 

 merely referred to the great autumn gathering at Igloryuallik. He mentions, 

 too, the Kogluktualugmiut, or Tree river people (Kogluktualuk is the local 

 name for the Tree river), who call themselves also the Utkusiksaligmiut,= and 

 the Kogluktuaryumiut or people of the Kogluktuaryuk river which flows into 

 Grays bay. None of these names seem to be used at the present day, though a 

 few natives call themselves Nennitagmiut, or inhabitants of the district of 

 Nennitak, which seems to be the country behind Cape Bathurst. As a matter 

 of fact, any locality can potentially give its name to the people who habitually 

 frequent it, so that it is possible at any time for a new group to arise and for an 

 old one to drop out of existence.^ 



The natives say that the region about Bathurst inlet was very densely 

 populated up to some three generations ago. Many of the people were then 

 stricken with sickness and died ; their bones are said to be visible still on a small 

 island near Igloryuallik.^ The country was thus left almost uninhabited, but it 



'Hanbury, p. 177. 



'Mr. Stefansson was mistaken in supposing the Kilusiktomiut to be a Victoria island people. 



'I think Mr. Stefansson may have been misled here by the meaning of the word Ulckusiksalik— "The 

 place that possesses material for making pots," and the fact of soapstone existing in this region. The Ukku- 

 siksaligmiut, according to the testimony of the Coronation gulf natives themselves, dwell much farther 

 east. They are usually located by other writers, e.g. Boas, at the mouth of Backs river, or between 

 Backs river and Wager inlet. 



'The Rev. Mr. Girling informs me that two new group names were adopted about 1917. The people 

 who hunt in Southern Victoria island in what has been called Nagyuktok now call themselves Tuktuk- 

 tomiut (i.e. the Caribou-hunters), while some natives who spent the summer round the Napaktoktok 

 river a little west of Tree river call themselves Napaktoktomiut. 



'Dease and Simpson found several human skeletons near Cape Franklin in 1838 (J.R.G.S. Vol. 9, 

 p. 325). 



