The second subdivision includes the Innuit dwelling on the area lying between the mouth of Leaf river, thence northward, and along the south side of Hudson strait. Their western and southern limit extends to about latitude 60°.
These Innuit are known by the other subdivisions as Ta hág myut. They apply the same term to themselves. The word is derived from Tá hak, a shadow; hence people of the shade or shadow as distinguished from the Sû hĭ´ nĭ myut, or people of the light or sunshine. These people are but little influenced by contact with the white traders, who apply to them the term “Northerners.” Their habits and customs are primitive, and many appear to be entirely distinct from the customs of their neighbors south and east. The character of the region in which they dwell is very rugged. Huge mountain spurs and short ranges ramify in every direction, forming deep valleys and ravines, along which these people must travel to reach the trading station of Fort Chimo of the Ungava district, or else to Fort George of the Moose district.
The distance to the former is so great that only three, four, or five sledges are annually sent to the trading post for the purpose of conveying the furs and other more valuable commodities to be bartered for ammunition, guns, knives, files and other kinds of hardware, and tobacco. Certain persons are selected from the various camps who have personally made the trip and know the trail. These are commissioned to barter the furs of each individual for special articles, which are mentioned and impressed upon the mind of the man who is to effect the trade. The principal furs are those of the various foxes. Among them are to be found the best class of silver foxes, and wolverenes and wolves. Those to be sent are procured the previous winter, and when the snow falls in November or early December the line of sleds starts out for the trading post. The sled which represents the wants of the more western of these Innuit speeds to where the second may be, and they repair to the place of meeting with the third, and thus by traversing the line of coast the arctic caravan is made up. Provisions are supplied by the wayside, and when all is in readiness a southern course is traveled until the frozen morasses on the south of the hills are reached. Thence the course is toward Leaf river and across to Fort Chimo. By the last week of April or the first week of May the visitors are expected at the trading post. They usually bring with them about two-fifths of all the furs obtained in the district; indeed, the quantity often exceeds this amount. They seldom remain longer than the time needed to complete their bartering, as the rapidly melting snow warns them that each day of delay adds to their labor in returning.
The homeward journey is more frequently made along the coast, as there the snow is certain to remain longer upon the ground. It is not infrequent that these travelers experience warm weather, which detains them so long that they do not reach the end of their journey until the middle of the summer or even until the beginning of the next winter. Many of the Innuit who accompany these parties have never seen white men until they arrive at Fort Chimo; women are often of the party. These people are usually tall and of fine physique. The men are larger than the average white man, while the women compare favorably in stature with the women of medium height in other countries.
They have quite different customs from those of their present neighbors. Their language is dialectically distinct; about as much so as the Malimyut differ from the Kaviagmyut of Norton Sound, Alaska. The Tahagmyut have a rather harsh tone; their gutturals are deeper and the vowels usually rather more prolonged. They are much given to amusement and still retain many of the old games, which the Sûhĭ´nĭmyut have forgotten or no longer engage in. Their dead are treated with no ceremony. They simply lash the limbs of the deceased to the body and expose the corpse to the elements, removing it, however, from immediate sight of the camp. Old and infirm people are treated with severity, and when dependent upon others for their food they are summarily disposed of by strangulation or left to perish when the camp is moved.
Women are held in little respect, although the men are very jealous of the favors of their wives, and incontinence on the part of the latter is certain to be more or less severely punished. The male offender, if notoriously persistent in his efforts to obtain forbidden favors, is usually killed by the injured lover or husband.
Gambling is carried on to such a degree among both sexes that even their own lives are staked upon the issue of a game. The winner often obtains the wife of his opponent, and holds her until some tempting offer is made for her return. The only article they possess is frequently wagered, and when they lose they are greeted with derision. The women, especially, stake their only garment rather than be without opportunity to play. The usual game is played with a number of flattened pieces of walrus ivory. On one side are a number of dots forming various crude designs, which have received names from their fancied resemblance to other objects. These must be matched. The game somewhat resembles dominoes, and whether it is original with these Innuit I was unable to conclude. They stoutly maintain that it originated with themselves. I suspect, however, it had its origin in the imitation of some one who had observed the playing of dominoes on board of some of the whaling vessels visiting these waters.
For other amusements these Innuit indulge in a number of tests of personal strength, such as wrestling and leaping.
Feasts are held at stated times in huge structures built of snow blocks. The exact signification of these feasts was not learned, owing to the limited stay these people made each year at Fort Chimo. Their dress consists of the skins of seals and reindeer. The sealskins are worn during rainy weather and by those who are in the canoe or kaiak. The skirts of their garments are ornamented with an edging of ivory pieces cut into a pear-shape, having a small hole pierced through the smaller end.
These pieces of ivory, often to the number of many scores, give a peculiar rattle as the wearer walks along. Their boots are noticeably different from those made by the Koksoak river people, inasmuch as the soles are often made with strips of sealskin thongs sewed on a false sole, which is attached to the under surface of the sole proper. The strips of thong are tacked on by a stout stitch, then a short loop is taken up, and another stitch sews a portion of the remainder of the strip. This is continued until the entire under surface consists of a series of short loops, which, when in contact with the smooth ice, prevents the foot from slipping. This sort of footgear is not made in any other portion of the district.