42 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



again they were overtaken by another famine, so severe that they were reduced 

 to eating the frozen corpses of their dead, and in one instance at least a boy 

 was actually killed and eaten. 



Mr. Stefansson states that a large group called Ugyulingmiut perished 

 from famine to the north of Minto inlet. The name Ugyulingmiut was vaguely 

 familiar to the natives of Dolphin and Union strait, but they seemed to thmk 

 that the tribe dwelt somewhere to the eastward. Early explorers located a 

 group with this name in the neighbourhood of King WilUam island.^ 



All the groups or tribes that have now been described, from Dolphin and 

 Union strait in the west to Ogden bay in the east, including Victoria island and 

 Banks island, form a fairly homogeneous unit. The most noticeable variation 

 that could be observed throughout this region was in the intonation of the voice. 

 The natives of Prince Albert sound have a much higher range of inflection than 

 the natives south of them. They speak in high-pitched tones, "in their heads" 

 as it were, but usually drop to a lower and more normal key at the end of the 

 word or clause. This peculiarity, however, is not confined to Prince Albert 

 sound; it is adopted by some of the Eskimos in Bathurst inlet and farther east, 

 and is said to be characteristic also of the Ekaluktomiut, so that at the present 

 day at least it is not confined to any single area. Apart from this there is nothing, 

 either in the physical appearance of the natives^ or in their culture, that would 

 distinguish one group or area from another, while the differences in dialect are 

 infinitesimal. The uniformity of culture throughout the region, and its marked 

 difference from the culture of the Eskimos in all other places, justifies Mr. 

 Stefansson in giving these natives a separate appellation, and his term "Copper 

 Eskimos" (i.e., Eskimos who use copper instead of stone in their implements) 

 very aptly seizes upon their most striking characteristic. 



The total population of the country would seem to be between 700 and 800- 

 At the close of 1914, 115 of these were living in Dolphin and Union strait, about 

 75 at the west end of Coronation gulf, 200 at the east end, and about 215 in 

 Prince Albert sound and Minto inlet. From Kent peninsula to Ogden bay 

 the population is probably not more than 150. Mr. Stefansson's estimate is 

 somewhat higher; if we add together the numbers that he assigns to each tribe 

 his total would come to about 1,100, but then he apparently overestimated the 

 population a little e^'erywhere except in Prince Albert sound and Minto inlet. 



The Copper Eskimos, like the Eskimos of Greenland^, show a preponde- 

 rance of males over females. Of the 127 natives who gathered at Bernard 

 harbour in November, 1915, 67 were males and only 60 females. The 

 disparity was apparent both in the adults and the children, 46 men as compared 

 with 42 women, and 21 boys as against 18 girls. At the settlement off the 

 mouth of the Tree river in February, 1916, there were only 11 males to 14 females, 

 but this was en exceptional case, and the inequality was in the children, 6 gu'ls 

 to 2 boys, not in the adults. Probably as many females are born as males, 

 but the mortality among them is higher; for the Eskimos, like many tribes 

 that live by the chase, much prefer boys to girls, and in times of hardship or 

 distress it is always the latter who suffer first. 



No statistics were obtained as to the mortality in this region. Amongst 

 adults death was nearly always due to natural causes, either old age or the 

 perils that are inseparable from life in the Arctic; an occasional murder added 

 to the number. The natives were remarkably healthy: measles, influenza, 

 tuberculosis, and venereal diseases, all common amongst Eskimos elsewhere, 

 were unknown here. Occasionally they were assailed with diarrhoea or with 

 indigestion, and colds were frequent at the beginning of winter, but the only 

 malady that ever proved fatal was an insidious stomach trouble that may have 



'Cp. Boas, Central Eskimo, p. 456 et seg. 



The physical characteristics of the Copper Eskimos will be dealt with in a separate memoir. 



^Except those of Smith sound. See Kroeber, Bulletin A.M.N.H., Vol. XII, 1899, p. 268. 



