Generally food is plentiful between the months of April and October and an ample supply may be secured without extraordinary exertion. During the winter sealing is more difficult, but sufficiently successful to prevent any want, except in the case of continuous bad weather.
I shall now proceed to a description of the single settlements of Cumberland Sound. Separated from the Nugumiut by a long and uninhabited stretch of land we find the settlement of Naujateling, the most southern one of the Talirpingmiut. In the fall the natives erect their huts on the mainland or on an island near it, as the seal, at this season, resort to the narrow channels and to the fjords. Besides, the shelter which is afforded by the islands against the frequent gales is an important consideration, and in these protected waters the natives can manage their frail boats, which would not live for a moment in the tempestuous open sea. Later in the season the ice consolidates in the shelter of the islands, while beyond the bays and channels drifting floes fill the sea.
After the consolidation of the pack ice the natives move their huts to the sea. They leave Naujateling about December and move to Umanaqtuaq. I do not know exactly where they live if the water reaches that island. Should this happen, the floe between Qaχodluin, Umanaqtuaq, and Idjorituaqtuin would offer a productive hunting ground.
About the middle of March the season for hunting the young seal opens. The hunt is prosecuted with much energy over the entire extent of Cumberland Sound, because the white coat of the young animal is of prime importance for the inner garments. The pregnant females take to the rough ice, where deep snowbanks have been formed by the winter gales, and dig large excavations, in which parturition takes place. Another favorite place is the ground ice on gradually declining shores, where large caves are found between the broken pieces of ice. Therefore the fjords and islands which offer a long coast line furnish a good hunting ground, and in the latter part of March and in April the Eskimo either visit these regions or the floes of rough ice. At such times they sometimes live for a long period on the ice of the open sea in order to be nearer to their hunting ground. As the success of the hunt depends on the extent of ice visited, the Eskimo scatter over a large area, almost every one traveling over a separate tract.
At this time the winter settlements are almost totally broken up. Some of the natives of Naujateling go bear hunting instead of “young sealing,” but only a few polar bears lose their way into Cumberland Sound. They are generally found within a few miles of the floe edge, and even if the water reaches pretty far up the sound they do not travel beyond Qaχodluin and Miliqdjuaq, nor does the pack ice carry them far up the sound in summer. On one occasion, in the year 1880, three bears were seen near Qeqerten, about five years earlier one was killed in Qingua, and almost twenty years earlier another one near Anarnitung. Every occurrence of this kind is considered an event of such importance that it is talked about for years afterwards. I myself saw bear tracks in Kouaqdjuaq in March, 1884, and also at Miliqdjuaq. In February a bear was killed between Kautaq and Naujateling.
If the water washes the foot of the cliffs between Kautaq and Sulung, the Eskimo cross the isthmus which lies between Ijelirtung, the eastern branch of Qasigidjen, and Qaχodluin Bay on a sledge road and hunt among the islands that are scattered along the shore south of Qaχodluin. In summer they visit the same region on their hunting excursions.
The principal summer settlements are at the head of Qasigidjen and Kangertlung Fjords, which are situated near Idjorituaqtuin and Qimissung.
From here they ascend the plateau of Nugumiut and hunt on the level highlands. I think it takes them but a day to travel to the top of the plateau. They travel from Qasigidjen to Agdlinartung, a fjord of Frobisher Bay, whence the Nugumiut ascend the highland. Another route leads from Kangertlung to Eχaluin, near the head of Frobisher Bay.
Farther up the sound we find the winter settlement of Idjorituaqtuin. The same relation exists between this place and Qimissung as between Umanaqtuaq and Naujateling. On Qimissung, which lies near the mainland, the natives gather in the fall after returning from deer hunting, and only move to Idjorituaqtuin after the freezing up of the sea. Deer are hunted inland, the summer settlements being at the head of one of the numerous fjords of the west shore. Favorite places are Kangertlung, which is also visited by the Naujateling Eskimo; Eχaluin, which can be reached from Kangertlung by a short overland road; Auqardneling; and Utiqimitung, at the entrance of Nettilling Fjord. A large river, which, according to Eskimo reports, runs through the greater part of the peninsula, empties into Auqardneling. As it is very deep and wide it cannot be crossed without a vessel of some character, and thus it puts a stop to the migrations from Kangertlung and Eχaluin. In traveling from Kangertlung to Frobisher Bay the river must be crossed. To accomplish this the natives fill a deerskin with shrubs, sew it up, and float themselves across. Only the road leading from Qasigidjen to Frobisher Bay avoids the river.
North of Idjorituaqtuin we find the winter settlement of Nuvujen with the fall settlement, Nuvujalung, a high cliff at the entrance of Nettilling Fjord, belonging to it.