Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/112

58 is a map of the area between Repulse Bay and Ponds Inlet, drawn by Ivaluartjuk, a man about 60 years old. The two most conspicuous defects of Eskimo maps will be observed at once: distances and directions cannot be relied upon. A stretch of country that has been of importance to the drawer, one that he knows well and where he has lived for a long time, is involuntarily drawn bigger and with more detail than areas which he only knows from fleeting visits. On this map it will be seen that the southern part where the man now lives, is drawn with quite a different extent and accuracy than more distant regions, for instance in northern Baffin Land. But in places he knows well all the details, points, bays, islands or lakes are indicated and everything has a name. How good an Eskimo map is depends to a great degree upon the knowledge and intelligence of the drawer. At Ponds Inlet an Eskimo drew a detailed, fairly accurate map of the coast-line from Ponds Inlet to River Clyde, whereas another man of the same coast only made a line which turned when it reached the edge of the paper and which was given a number of small indentations to mark the fjords.

A number of other Eskimo maps, drawn by Iglulik Eskimos, are published by Parry,^[1] Hall^[2] and Speck.^[3]

The names play an important part in the Eskimos' knowledge of the country. Their lack of variety and continual repetitions often make them of little use on European maps. In addition, names of large geographical units are usually lacking — Melville Peninsula, Fox Basin, Baffin Land, Bylot Island. The Eskimo names are oftenest connected with some particular locality or other, frequently a settlement or important hunting ground; these names, however, sometimes spread and are used in respect of large areas. The name Aivilik is connected with the point on the north coast of Repulse Bay, where the most important summer settlement of the Eskimos once was; but it is also used of the whole of Repulse Bay. Maluksitak is the name of a point at the northern entrance to Lyon Inlet, but it is used of the whole of Lyon Inlet; Tununeq, which is now used for the whole of Ponds Inlet area, was originally a cliff in Milne Inlet; Uvkusikssalik was originally the name of a soapstone quarry in Wager Bay but is now used for the whole of the bay.

Lines of communications among the Iglulik Eskimos follow definite routes, chosen because terrain and hunting chances are best along them. Several routes of this kind are described by Boas.^[4]