Summer Life 127 



April 16: The whole settlement migrated about ten miles north by east, and 

 re-erected their spring tents, with the exception of Ikpakhuak, who intended 

 to send his shorewards the next day. He therefore built a circular wall of 

 snow-blocks instead, which he roofed over with two musk-ox skins and 

 one of my cloth tents. 



April 17 — 23 : Ikpakhuak and I made a trip to Penny bay to bring back some 

 deer-meat and deer-fat which he had cached there the previous summer. 

 We carried no tent, for Ikpakhuak proposed to make a snow hut each 

 night for us to sleep in. Near Ingnerin we found the settlement that the 

 Akulliakattak natives had built the previous winter when first they crossed 

 over from Cape Bexley and began sealing. It was now deserted, save for 

 a single family who gave us a lunch of seal meat. Four days later, on 

 our return, we found five families there, all hving in their old snow-huts 

 again for a few days before crossing over to Cape Bexley and the mainland. 



April 23: Ikpakhuak and I reached our old settlement again. We had hved 

 for four days on rotten deer-meat and deer-fat, save for two meals of seal- 

 nieat provided by the Akulliakattak natives. Ikpakhuak had found the 

 diet quite agreeable. Our camp was httered with clothes of all descriptions 

 that had been set out to dry in the sun; some were suspended on sticks, 

 others laid out on bags. Caribou were sighted for the first time crossing 

 the straits from the south. 



April 24: Most of the men went sealing. Two families left us and camped 

 ten miles to the west. There was another camp about six miles south-east. 



April 25: The blubber and pemmican that had been freighted forward on the 

 15th were brought in to camp. The Eskimos went sealing, and with them 

 Avranna's wife Milukkattak. The clothes were set out again to dry. 



April 26: Our blubber was freighted ahead again about six miles by some of 

 the natives, while the rest went sealing. 



April 27: Stormy weather, so everyone remained in camp. 



April 28: We migrated again [towards the land, travelling slowly, with many 

 halts, during which the snow had to be kicked up round the sled-runners 

 to prevent the iced surface of the mud from melting. About noon some of 

 the Eskimos made a little shelter of snow-blocks and melted some snow for 

 drinking water, using shavings for fuel. 



April 29 : All the men went sealing. 



April 30: A strong east wind in the morning caused the snow to drift. The 

 wind died down before noon, and the women hurriedly unpacked their 

 bales of clothing and beat out the snow before it had time to melt. The 

 men went sealing. 



May 1 : AH the men went sealing, save two, who were freighting blubber one 

 stage forward. Higilak held a shamanistic performance in the evening. 



jX'Iay 2: Two families left us and went towards Epiullik; two others joined us 

 from another camp and we all moved to a point on the ice about four miles 

 from Okauyarvik. 



May 3: The other Eskimos went sealing, while Ikpakhuak, Avranna and 

 myself went over to Read island and shot some hares and ptarmigan. The 

 two families that left us yesterday joined us again in the evening. 



May 4: Caribou hunting. Two herds were sighted crossing the' ice, and several 

 of us went over to the mainland and intercepted them, securing three. 



May 5-6: Stormy weather kept everyone in camp except Avranna, who went 

 caribou hunting. 



MaJ^ 7: Some of the natives went sealing, others caribou hunting. A caribou 

 fell through a crack in the ice and was speared by one of the sealers. This 

 was the last day that the natives went seahng until the fall. Our little 

 party, as now constituted, remained together more or less all through the 



