128 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



summer; we were the only inhabitants that year of all the country south 

 of the Colville hills and west of the Kimiryuak river. Altogether we 

 numbered 20 persons, divided into five families, as follows: — 



1. Ikpakhuak, his wife Higilak, her daughter (by a former husband) 



Kanneyuk, who was about 12 years old, and Ikpakhuak's nephew 

 and adopted son Haugak, a boy of about 8 years of age. I was also 

 included as a member of this family. 



2. Avranna, Higilak's son, and his wife Milukkattak. 



3. Tusayok, Higilak's older brother, his wife Hakka, and their son KesuUik, 



a youth of about 17 years of age. 



4. Okalluk, his wife Kullak (an adopted daughter of Higilak), and their 



son Ukpik, who was perhaps 8 years old. 



5. Tutsik (Ikpakhuak's nephew), his wife Mikinrok and her son (by a 



former husband) Kimaktun, a boy of about 13 years of age. 



6. Pissuak (a kinsman of Ikpakhuak, though the exact relationship I have 



not recorded), his wife Itkellrok and their baby girl Hanna. With 

 this family lived a widower; Ivyarotailak, a brother, I think, of Itkellrok. 



May 8 : Avranna went hunting, while the other natives conveyed their blubber 

 pokes to Read island and cached them. Okalluk left for the Kimiryuak 

 river to bring back some deer-meat that had been deposited there the 

 previous autumn. 



May 9: We migrated to Okauyarvik, where Ikpakhuak recovered his large 

 spring tent which he had sent ahead a fortnight before. Milukkattak 

 put on the coat and mitts of her husband Avranna, who was away hunting, 

 and built a circle of snow-blocks as a base for their tent; Ikpakhuak then 

 helped her to set it up. Higilak gave a shamanistic performance in the 

 evening, to enquire into the prospects of food during the coming summer. 



May 10: Avranna went off alone to hunt, while Ikpakhuak and I climbed a 

 ridge to watch for caribou crossing the strait. Ikpakhuak made a low 

 semi-circular wall of snow on top, sufficient to shelter us from the breeze 

 without obstructiong the outlook; later in the day he emptied one of his 

 old caches. The other men filled in the time at various occupations round 

 the c^mp. 



May 11: Ikpakhuak feathered some arrows for Haugak, then gathered together 

 such of his possessions as he intended to cache in this place. Avranna 

 began the day by filing down some large primers to make them fit 

 Ikpakhuak's .44 Winchester rifle that he had been using; later he joined 

 Tutsik and myself hunting. The women were busy drying clothes in the sun; 

 Milukkattak towards evening M-ent off to visit two fox-traps that she had 

 set the day before. The children wandered away with their bows and 

 arrows to hunt for ptarmigan. They joined Tutsik and myself just after 

 we had secured a deer, and were sent home with the head and hind-quarters. 



May 12: The Eskimos proposed to migrate inland the next day, so everyone 

 was busy packing up and laying aside whatever was to be left behind. 

 Each family had its own separate cache, though all the caches were situated 

 close together on the side of a low ridge. The goods were piled on the 

 ground in a heap and covered with skins, weighted down around the sides 

 Avith a few .stones. Ikpakhuak cached his sled here, and piled his goods 

 above it, while my cases of pemmican were laid underneath; on top of the 

 pile he laid his kayak. Caribou were sighted in the evening, and some of 

 the natives went in pursuit of them, but returned a few hours later unsuc- 

 cessful. 



May 13: We migrated north about 12 miles over an undulating plain inter- 

 spersed with small lagoons. Ikpakhuak carried his things on Avranna's 

 sled, as he had left his own at Okauyarvik. No caribou were sighted 

 but some ptarmigan were seen; the Eskimos tried to shoot them with 



