Appendix 243 



APPENDIX. 



As the MSS. of this report was going to press Dr. R. M. Anderson, the 

 leader of the southern party of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, received a letter 

 from the pioneer trader. Captain Jos. F. Bernard, who, as I have mentioned 

 in Chapter II, spent three ^'ears among the Copper Eskimos prior to the arrival 

 of our expedition. Captain Bernard returned to Coronation gulf in 1916, 

 passed one winter at the Kugaryuak river, 18 miles east of the Coppermine, 

 two at Taylor island, off the south-east corner of Victoria island, and his last 

 winter, 1919-20, at the Kugaryuak river again. His letter, which was written 

 from the Kugaryuak river in February, 1920, gives a r6sum6 of his experiences 

 and observations during the preceding three and a half years, and contains, 

 among other information, some valuable notes on the inhabitants of Dease 

 strait and Queen Maud's sea, the least known of all Eskimo tribes. Through 

 the kindness of Dr. Anderson I am able to publish these passages in their 

 entirety, making , only those few changes, mainly corrections in the spelling, 

 necessitated by Captain Bernard's imperfect command of English, his native 

 language being French. While in Ottawa during the winter of 1920-21, Captain 

 Bernard went over and explained the notes more fully. The Eskimo names 

 are given exactly as he wrote them, but are followed by my own interpretations 

 in square brackets. 



". . . . I wintered (1916-17) at Kagoryuk [Kugaryuak River], but 

 I found conditions much changed from 1911. In the migration of caribou 

 there were not half the number as in 1910-1911, and none stayed in the vicinity 

 during the winter as they did then. I also find a great change with the nativeSj 

 for the best in a few cases but for the worse in others. It is as is general at the 

 first step of civilization. 



". . . . We left winter quarters on the 22nd of July. We could have 

 left it sooner but I don't think we could then have gone far, for on the 23rd 

 there was a good deal of ice in the gulf yet. After stopping at the Coppermine 

 river and at Dead Man's island^ we got to Cape Krusenstern on the 25th, but 

 the strait was full of ice. It was impossible to get through, so we went into 

 the little harbour just east of the cape, after taking on board a man whom I had 

 left at the cape last fall to trade and trap. On the first of August, not finding 

 the ice conditions changed in the strait and apparently no ice to the eastward, 

 we decided to go east. We had clear sailing up to Lind island at the entrance 

 to Victoria strait; here we met considerable and very heavy ice. We sailed 

 into the bay inside of Taylor island on the 16th of August, 1917. The reason 

 for my going in here was to see if we might meet with those natives whom Mr. 

 Stefansson calls the Ecollouctoumeut [EkaluktomiutJ and supposed to be very, 

 numerous. As soon as we were in this bay the ice closed in on the entry and 

 never left or opened until the first of September, 1919. For two years it held us 

 prisoners in this deserted land, deserted indeed, for no native abides nearer than 

 Cambridge bay except for an accidental bear hunt in the latter part of March 

 some years; but they never stop long, as the game is scarce and they fear starv- 

 ation. 



"The first year we were here it was an extremely cold winter and the summer 

 following much the same, few places on the land that the snow entirely dis- 

 appeared during the summer, and on the first of September from three to four 

 feet of ice still remained in the lakes and bay, so you may form an opinion on 

 the cold summer we had. We had a little game during the whole year, not 



■Inyuernerit, in the Duke of York's archipelago. 

 23335—161 



