Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/39

there is open water close by as early as in June, and where the walrus. white whale and seal are hunted with the whaleboat, to some extent on behalf of the trading station; some of the meat and blubber collected is cached for the winter. A number of families, however, especially the young people, go caribou hunting in the interior as soon as the ice breaks up. The autumn is spent hunting the caribou. In the winter of 1921–22 a large group of Eskimos lived at Taserssuaq in Lyon Inlet, whence they returned to Repulse Bay on January 4th; they then built snow houses near the trading station and hunted. the seal, both from the ice-edge and at the breathing holes. Other Eskimos spent that winter in the country north and east of Haviland Bay, where they hunted the caribou and trapped foxes. Later on they all moved to Repulse Bay, where they caught seal until the ice broke up.

In the winter (February–March) of 1923 a large number of the Repulse Bay Eskimos were living on the sea ice at Qajûvfik, near Cape Martineau, hunting the seal at the breathing holes; the proximity of our headquarters, however, was scarcely entirely without influence on their choice of this dwelling-place.

During the winter of 1921–22 a group of Eskimos lived at Itibdjeriang (Pt. Elizabeth), having moved there in the spring from Usugarssuk, which had been their residence during the two previous years. These people spent the summer of 1922 caribou hunting at Adderley Bluff and also at Lyon Inlet; the following winter they moved to Qajûvfik. In the winter of 1923–24 a group of Eskimos lived round C. Wilson.

Of the various settlements in the Repulse Bay area there may be reason for going more into detail regarding the former principal summer settlement of the tribe, Aivilik. It lies on a broad, flat point, about three kilometres west of the trading station on the north shore of the bay; a very considerable area is closely dotted with tent rings, meat caches, meat columns, kayak supports, graves and other Eskimo remains, some of them lying on the rocky surface itself, others on sandy stretches between the rock; over swampy patches rows of stepping stones have been laid. The point barely reaches 10 metres above sea level. During my last visit to the settlement, in July 1922, I commenced to map the details of it — the biggest and most extensive Eskimo summer settlement I have seen: I found, however, that this mapping would take more time than could he afforded in the summer time which was so precious to the work of excavation and, owing to my being marooned on Southampton Island, I did not get an opportunity of returning later to Repulse Bay. I would roughly estimate the number of Eskimo habitation-remains at Aivilik at