Trade and Intercourse 45 



Two western Eskimos, a man and a woman, once stayed with the Copper 

 Eskimos, according to a native from Bathurst inlet. The man soon died, but 

 the woman hved for. a great many years among them. A year or two after- 

 wards another wegtiern native named Uksokak joined the Copper Eskimos. 

 These three natives had come by sled along the coast in spring, not by boat in 

 summer. Panigyuk, a very old woman who died at Cape Bathurst about 

 1913, and who had seen the boats of Richardson's party in 1848, was said to be 

 a native of Nagyuktok and to speak the Copper Eskimo dialect. Higilak's 

 grandfather had married a woman named Allikammik who had come east from 

 Avvak; she was one of three western women who had married Copper Eskimos. 

 It was in this generation, Higilak said, that the intercourse between the two 

 groups came to an end. 



Mr. Stefansson attaches much importance to the trade connections between 

 the Cape Bathurst Eskimos and those of Victoria and Banks islands by way 

 of Cape Parry and Nelson head. It was always the western Eskimos, he says, 

 who crossed the strait, and then it was only by sled, late in March or early in 

 April. The Cape Bathurst natives still remembered this trade route, but knew 

 nothing of the one along the coast to Dolphin and Union strait. The Copper 

 Eskimos, on the other hand, had clear recollections of the latter route, but 

 not of the former. From the large number of ruined houses round Franklin 

 bay and Cape Parry it is quite certain that many years ago (just how many 

 we cannot really estimate, but probably not much more than a century) there 

 must have been a considerable population in this region. In spite pf this, 

 however, it is hard to believe that they could have had any regular communi- 

 cation with Banks island by sled, for there is a very strong current off Cape 

 Parry, and the sea is sometimes open throughout the entire winter. The 

 Cape Bathurst natives are well aware of this, and moreover they have always 

 been chary of going far out on the ice at any time. While it is not improbable 

 therefore that small parties did cross over to Nelson head on two or three occa- 

 sions, it is highly unlikely that this could ever have been a regular trade-route. 

 Moreover no traces were found at Nelson head that would indicate visits from 

 western natives, no remains, for example, like the stone graves or houses of 

 wood and sod that were discovered in Dolphin and Union strait. The northern 

 party of our expedition had a base at Gape Kellett, and Mr. G. H. Wilkins, 

 the photographer, made one or two journeys along the southern coast of Banks 

 island, of which he furnishes the following account: — 



"The first sign of there having been human inhabitants of Banks island 

 was found on the side of the valley near the southwest coast and about thirty 

 miles from Cape Kellett. Here we found a tent ring which had been formed 

 many years ago, for it was almost completely overgrown with moss. Nearby 

 were several small sticks of driftwood which had been hacked by some blunt 

 instrument. Although the camp site looked so old. the chips of wood were 

 still in a good state of preservation. 



"As we continued along the coast toward Cape Kellett, we found a number 

 of these camp sites. Some were situated on the side but near the breast of a 

 hill, while oth.^rs were directly on top. It was generally noticed that those 

 on the side of the hill had some musk oxen horns or bones lying about nearby, 

 and usually in the vicinity one would find semicircular 'blinds built' of sods 

 for the most part, but later on in the northern part of the island we found these 

 ' blinds ' built of stone. (The stones were not available on the southwestern 

 part of the island.) They rarely were higher than nine inches high and I never 

 saw one higher than eighteen inches at the highest part. These were used 

 to hide beliind to shoot the musk oxen. 



"About twenty miles from Cape Kellett and about a mile from the beach 

 I found a skull very much weather worn and so fragile that it was difficult to 

 handle without it crumpled. It is among the collection of specimens at Banks 

 island together with another which I found seven miles from Cape Kellett. 



