Chapter I: Preface

In offering the present book on the Eskimo tribes of the Arctics to the reading British public, I must discharge the grateful and pleasing duty of acknowledging my indebtedness for much courtesy and documentary assistance to the Canadian Government, in the person of F. C. C. Lynch, Esq., Superintendent of the “National Resources Branch of the Department of the Interior.” He has been zealously instrumental in enabling me to consult sources of classic recent information of which otherwise I should not have had the confirmation and the benefit, and also has placed at my publishers’ disposal the section of the official map which represents the most up-to-date geographical information about Baffin Land.

There is a considerable literature about the Eskimo (as distinct from a quite formidable list of works dealing with travel and voyages in the Arctics) which should be consulted by students of ethnography.

The classical authorities in this department are Dr Franz Boas and Dr Rink, a study of whose researches should underlie all the more recent first-hand contributions to what must remain for a long time to come a new subject.

For the photographs I am greatly indebted to the Rev. A. L. Fleming, L.T.H., who spent several years among the Eskimo of South Baffin Land. His photos were taken during many intrepid journeys in those wilds, and he knew exactly the scenes it was desired to record by photography in this work. I am also indebted to Miss A. B. Teetgen for her assistance in the literary construction of the book.

Finally, I wish to record my admiration and respect for the genial and brave Eskimos of those barren lands, and for the way they face and overcome the difficulties of the Arctic wilds.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAPTER I
The Voyage to the Arctics 17

CHAPTER II
Baffin Land 32

CHAPTER III
Arctic Flora & Fauna 47

CHAPTER IV
The Eskimo 56

CHAPTER V
The Building of the Village 72

CHAPTER VI
The Sealing Grounds 85

CHAPTER VII
Womanhood in the Arctics 97

CHAPTER VIII
Clothing—Boat Building 108

CHAPTER IX
Eskimo Dogs 119

CHAPTER X
Tribal Life 136

CHAPTER XI
Tribal Life—continued 154

CHAPTER XII
The Eskimo Language 171

CHAPTER XIII
Legends 184

CHAPTER XIV
The Conjurors 196

CHAPTER XV
The Sedna Ceremony 210

CHAPTER XVI
The Native Surgeon 224

CHAPTER XVII
Sport & Hunting 235