Utiqimitung.
[APPENDIX.]
After the preceding paper was in type some additional information was received from whalers who returned from Cumberland Sound in the autumn of 1887. In the following notes I give the substance of these reports:
[Note 1.]
[Page 467]. Since 1883 the whalers have been more successful, and consequently more ships visit the sound. In the present winter—1887-’88—one American and two Scottish whaling stations are in operation in Cumberland Sound; a new station was established in Nugumiut two years ago, and the Scottish steamers which used to fish in Baffin Bay and the northern parts of Davis Strait are beginning to visit Cumberland Sound and Hudson Strait. The whaling in Baffin Bay shows a sudden falling off and it seems that the number of ships will be greatly reduced. This cannot be without influence upon the Eskimo, who will probably begin again to flock to Cumberland Sound and Nugumiut.
[Note 2.]
[Page 538]. In 1884 and 1885 a lively intercourse existed between Padli and Cumberland Sound, and in the spring of the latter year the dog’s disease broke out for the first time on the coast of Davis Strait, and spread, so far as is known, to the northern part of Home Bay.
[Note 3.]
[Page 574]. A peculiar game is sometimes played on the ice in spring. The men stand in a circle on the ice, and one of them walks, the toes turned inward, in a devious track. It is said that only a few are able to do this in the right way. Then the rest of the men have to follow him in exactly the same track.
One of their gymnastic exercises requires considerable knack and strength. A pole is tied with one end to a stone or to a piece of wood that is firmly secured in the snow. A man then lies down on his back, embracing the pole, his feet turned toward the place where the pole is tied to the rock. Then he must rise without bending his body.