[The North Greenlanders.—]
The North Greenlanders live in the sounds of the peninsula between Melville Bay and Kane Basin, hunting seals on the smooth floes of the bays and pursuing walrus at the floe edges. They make large deposits of the blubber and meat obtained in the fall, on which they live during the winter. They also pursue seals in winter with the harpoon. In summer they hunt reindeer on the mountains adjoining the inland ice.
[INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS UPON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SETTLEMENTS.]
In considering the distribution of the tribes it is evident that they are settled wherever extensive floes afford a good sealing ground during the winter. The Sikosuilarmiut live on the large bay east of King Cape, which is sheltered by numerous islands. The Akuliarmiut are settled near Lesseps and North Bays. I am unable to say whether there is a floe near the winter settlement of the Qaumauangmiut, as there are no reports upon the subject. Probably ice is formed in the sound, which is protected by the Middle Savage Islands, and besides it may be that the natives move to North Bay. The important tribe of Nugumiut lives on Frobisher Bay and the adjoining Grinnell and Field Bays. On the largest floe of this part of the country, in Cumberland Sound, including Lake Nettilling, the largest tribe is settled: the Oqomiut. On Davis Strait ice floes are formed between Cape Mickleham and Cape Mercy, in Exeter Sound, and between Okan and Bylot Island. The tribes are distributed accordingly: the Saumingmiut of Ukiadliving, the inhabitants of Qarmaqdjuin with their winter settlement in Exeter Sound, and the Padlimiut and the Akudnirmiut farther north. The immense land floe of Davis Strait is not so valuable a hunting ground for the Eskimo as Cumberland Sound, the ice being very rough a few miles from the coast and at some places even close inshore. When the sea begins to freeze in the fall the newly formed ice is broken up by severe gales and by the currents and is piled up into high hummocks before it consolidates. The sealing on rough ice during the winter is very difficult and unsuccessful, as it is hard to find the breathing holes and the traveling is very laborious. It is only in the northern parts of Home Bay and in the large fjords that smooth ice is formed. The settlements of the natives are manifestly distributed in accordance with these facts. In every place where smooth ice is formed we find that natives either are settled or have been settled. Aqbirtijung, River Clyde, Ijellirtung, Home Bay, Brodie Bay, Merchant Bay, and Padli are the only places along the shore of Davis Strait where smooth ice occurs. On the long shores between them, which are unsheltered from winds and currents, the ice is always very hummocky, and, therefore, the natives do not settle upon them in the winter. In the far north, extensive floes of smooth ice are formed in Eclipse Sound and Admiralty Inlet.
Concerning the country farther west the reports are rather scanty. The southwest shore of Baffin Land and the eastern entrance of Fury and Hecla Strait are always frozen over and afford a good hunting ground. On the mainland, the large floes of Repulse Bay and Wager River, Chesterfield Inlet and the bights all around it, Pelly Bay and the narrow bays adjoining Boothia Peninsula, and the mouth of Back River are important places for the distribution of the Eskimo.
There are only a few districts where the proximity of open water favors walrus hunting during the winter, and all of these have neighboring floes on which seals may be hunted with the harpoon. These places are Sikosuilaq, Akuliaq, Frobisher Bay, Iglulik, the west shore of Hudson Bay, and Smith Sound. As to the remainder the Eskimo live altogether independent of the open water during the winter.
Generally speaking, two conditions are required for winter settlements, viz, the existence of an extensive floe and smooth ice.
The different mode of hunting in the spring causes a different distribution of the settlements. During this season those regions which had been deserted during the winter are most visited by the hunters. On light dog sledges they travel over the rough ice and along the shores of the fjords and islands. The natives who lived in large settlements during the winter are spread over the whole country, in order that every one may have a better chance of traveling over his own hunting ground. In a few places the young sealing induces the Eskimo to leave the winter settlements; in other places the kayaks are prepared for visiting the floe edge, and bears and the returning birds are hunted.
Though the greater variety of food which is to be obtained and the difference in the methods of hunting in the spring require the dispersion over a wide area of the families which had kept together during the winter, the selection of places for the new settlements remains wholly dependent upon the state of the ice.
After the ice breaks up, the distribution of the deer regulates the location of the summer settlements. While during the winter the state of the ice is of decisive importance, the orography of the land comes now into consideration.