PRESENT COMMERCE AMONG ARCTIC COAST ESKIMO. 
7 
some conservatism that articles could easily pass from ocean to 
ocean in five years. 
It is probable that the trade route in question forked at 
Albert Edward bay — the fork still in active use has already been 
described (that leading south to the Akilinik). Well known 
archaeological facts^ indicate that another fork extended north- 
east across Prince of Wales island and North Devon towards 
Smith bay. This is made to seem likely by a glance at the 
chart, and is further confirmed by the statements made to me, 
of the Kanhifyuafmiut, who say that the Ekalluktogmiut of 
Albert Edward bay have told them of the TurnunirohifmTut, 
“whom they must have seen, for they tell long stories about 
them.” According to Boas, the Tununirusifmiut (a dialectic 
variant of the same name evidently) visit North Devon and go 
“farther to the west.” This may anciently have been an im- 
portant trade route, though now fallen much into disuse. 
There is at present an overland trade route from the Aki- 
linik to Uminmfiktok on Bathurst inlet, but it is not clear that 
it is an ancient one. It is the easterners who come northwest — 
chiefly the Back River inlanders, but also members of other 
tribes. My information leads me to think they came first some 
six or eight years ago (probably as a consequence of Hanbury’s 
journey). They bring chiefly iron ware. Some guns have 
through their agency even reached Bathurst inlet. In 1911 there 
were no guns among any of the five Victoria Island tribes visited 
by us, and no member of four tribes visited had ever heard a 
gun fired. 
Artifacts are now and then discovered on the Atlantic side 
of the Eskimo country that are almost or quite identical with 
others known from Alaska. This is considered by many ethno- 
logists as evidence of the extraordinary conservatism of the 
Eskimo. The inference is that although these tribes are distant 
both in time and space from the land of their common origin, 
they still — though a continent separates them — ^adhere stead- 
fastly to even the minutest and least essential details of con- 
struction employed by their forefathers when all dwelt together 
^ F. Boas, Bulletin, American Museum of Natural History, vol. XV, 1907, 
pp. 463-4. 
