Winter Life ' ~ 111 



of my arrival was held in the portico or domed interspace of one of the larger 

 double huts. The natives remained about a month at this settlement; by that 

 time their clothing was practically all finished, the ice in the strait was growing 

 more and more solid every day, and everything was ready for their winter sealing. 

 On December 11 about half the people moved down to a sandspit on the coast 

 some four miles away. The remainder, who still had a little more work to 

 finish, postponed moving till the following day, the women staying up most of 

 the night to complete their sewing. I accompanied the later party, with my host 

 and hostess, Haviuyak and Itokanna. We rose about 4 a.m. and breakfasted 

 immediately on frozen deermeat; for the Eskimos, having no watches, could 

 not tell in the foggy condition of the atmosphere how long it would be before 

 daylight. We waited idly an hour and a half, then Haviuyak iced the runners 

 of his sled and began to load up, removing the ice window out of his hut and 

 receiving the household goods from his wife through the opening. We started 

 at 9.45 a.m., Itokanna pulling in front of the dogs as usual, and Haviuyak 

 behind, while his father Haviron, who had been ailing for some time, was carried 

 on top of the sled. On reaching the new settlement Haviuyak immediately set 

 about building a hut for himself and his family beside the huts that were already 

 erected. 



This migration marked the real opening of the winter life, for they began 

 their sealing the very next day, although several more days elapsed before they 

 had any success. It was forbidden to cook caribou and fish again until the 

 spring, when the natives would return to the land, and the sewing of new deer- 

 skins Was tabooed until the sun should reappear about the middle of January. 

 A week later the whole settlement moved to a new sealing ground about ten 

 miles south by east. Here too they remained a week only, then crossed to 

 Putulik, one of the Liston and Sutton islands, where they amalgamated with 

 the three Noahognik' families that had crossed over from Chantry island. 



In the autumn of 1915 the five Puivlik families with whom I spent the 

 spring and summer in south-west Victoria island assembled at Okauyarvik, 

 while others gathered near the Kimiryuak river; all of them crossed over to 

 Bernard harbour at the end of November, or early in December, before com- 

 mencing the winter sealing. Thither too flocked the Noahognik Eskimos, and 

 others who had spent the summer round the Rae river. Some came from farther 

 east, from the Coppermine and even from the Tree river. Such a commingling 

 of the tribes at this season was due, of course, to the presence of the expedition 

 and the facilities it offered for trade. Normally the different groups remain in 

 their various assembling-places until it is time to move out on the ice and 

 begin the sealing. They live during this transition period on the dried fish and 

 caribou meat they have stored away in the summer, and the frozen meat and 

 fish kept from the fall. Should the winter prove stormy they may have to fall 

 back on these again later on, so they wisely begin their sealing before all their 

 stores are exhausted. 



Amundsen says of the Netsilik Eskimos that they "are not altogether 

 without forethought for the future. Their stock of meat and fish will last over 

 Christmas and a little way into the new year. According to their law, seal- 

 catching must not commence before the middle of January, and even then it is 

 carried on only on a small scale for some time, as the seals, which have very 

 sharp ears, can hear the hunter's steps a long way off, while the layer of snow on 

 the ground is thin, and consequently they can keep out of his way. Therefore, 

 from the middle of January up to some time in February is their period of greatest 

 privation."! The Copper Eskimos begin seahng early in December, as soon as 

 the sun has disappeared; they would begin earlier still but for the necessity 

 they are under of sewing new clothes, and the danger of living and hunting over 



'Amundsen, Vol. II, p. 22 et seq. 



