1895.] Geography and Travels. 147 
to be found among the Eskimos of Greenland, especially among 
those above Cape Cook. Among them, however, the posterior flap is 
but a few inches in length, and during the severe Arctic winters the 
Greenland Eskimos tie these flaps together between the legs, outside and 
over the nanookies, or trousers, and so make of them a support and 
a protection against the cold. The Eskimos of Labrador are more 
or less given to ornamentation of various kinds, while those of North 
Greenland are intensely practical and display no ornamentation in 
their dress. 
The idea occurred to me that the Eskimos, in travelling northward 
along the American side, conceived the idea of tying these flaps be- 
tween their legs, and as the people parted company and split into sec- 
tions, one section retained the flaps for ornamental purposes, while 
another section, going still further north into Greenland, preserved the 
flaps for practical purposes only. 
The Eskimos and Indians of Alaska, as far as I have been able to 
ascertain, have neither the front nor the back appendage on their 
timiaks. However trivial this suggestion may seem, I wish that men 
concerned in tracing the relationship and origin of the Eskimo tribes 
would give this matter some attention. 
As regards our natural history collections, we obtained thirty-nine 
species of mammals and seventy-seven species of birds, all of which, 
with the exception of two species of birds, are listed by Prof. Packard 
in his work, entitled “ The Labrador Coast.” 
Mr. Coates made a large collection of plants, but as yet these have 
not been identified. Five butterflies not given by Prof. Packard were 
procured. We were not prepared for marine collections, but, never- 
theless, we secured a number of echinoderms, one of which was a 
magnificent twelve-rayed star-fish. Of batrachia two species were 
procured, Rana septentrionalis and Bufo americanus. We saw nothing 
of the salamander, Plethodon glutinosus, of which Packard speaks, nor 
did we see that peculiar jumping-mouse, Zapus hudsonius, which Mr. 
Bryant mentions as being so abundant along the Hamilton or Grand 
River. Any naturalist in search of specimens of the mosquito and 
black fly will find a most prolific field in Labrador. Such numbers of 
these pests did we encounter that I have come to look upon Labrador 
as the fatherland of these torments. 
We left Cartwright on September 14th for Pilley’s Island, off the 
Newfoundland coast, and here we caught the steamer Sylvia for New 
York. We arrived in New York on September 30th, very nearly 
three months from the date of our start. 
CHARLES E. Hire. 
