James Mooney - Native Americans - 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies

Hall met with this tribe twice, in 1866 and in 1869. On the 28th of April, in his first attempt to reach King William Land, he found the Sinimiut settled near Cape Beaufort, in Committee Bay, where they were probably sealing (II, p. 255). No further account of this meeting is found except the remark that these natives were on their way to Repulse Bay (p. 259). Therefore it is rather doubtful whether the eastern shore of Simpson Peninsula belongs to their customary district. In April, 1869, on his second visit to Pelly Bay, Hall found their deserted winter huts on Cameroon Lake (p. 386). In the early part of the spring they had lived on the ice south of Augustus Island, the only place where seals could be caught, as the rest of the bay was filled with heavy floes which had been carried south by the northerly winds prevailing during the preceding fall. The natives themselves were met with on the mainland west of Augustus Island, where they were hunting the musk ox. When Hall crossed the bay in the first days of June the natives had changed neither their place nor their mode of subsistence.

There is a discrepancy in Nourse’s extract from Hall’s journal, for he sometimes refers to the Pelly Bay natives as different from the Sinimiut, while in other passages all the inhabitants of the bay are comprised in the latter term. I think this discrepancy is occasioned by the fact that a number of Aivillirmiut had settled in Pelly Bay and some others were related to natives of that locality; the latter Nourse calls the Pelly Bay men, the rest the Sinimiut. The place Sini itself, according to a statement of Hall, is near Cape Behrens, on the northwestern shore of the bay.

As the winter huts of the Sinimiut have been found four times on the lakes of the isthmus of Simpson Peninsula, we may suppose that they generally spend the winter there, living on the stores deposited in the preceding season and occasionally angling for trout and salmon (Rae I, p. 110) or killing a musk ox. In March they leave for the sea in order to hunt seals and to secure a fresh supply of blubber for their lamps. Their chief subsistence is the musk ox; besides, salmon are caught in great numbers, for they live on dried fish until spring (Rae I, p. 124).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Following the shore westward we find the interesting tribes that inhabit Boothia Felix, King William Land, and the mouth of Back River. Among them the Netchillirmiut are the most important. Their favorite hunting grounds seem to have undergone a remarkable change since they were first visited by Ross in 1829. At that period their district occupied the southern part of Boothia Felix, particularly the narrow isthmus and the adjoining parts of both coasts. They were acquainted with Bellot Strait (Ikerasaq), which they described as the way the Victory had to take in order to effect a passage to the western sea. A part of the tribe was in the habit of wintering on Owutta Island; they also probably visited the eastern part of King William Land. The southwestern termination of their district cannot be exactly defined, but from their description of the land south of Lake Willerstedt it appears that they visited Shepherd Bay; besides, I find that in June, 1831, a number of families lived south of Netchillik, i.e., probably in Rae Strait or on Shepherd Bay (Ross II, p. 537).

So far as can be gathered from Ross’s account the tribe had three winter settlements, one on the eastern shore of the Isthmus of Boothia, another at Lake Netchillik, and the third on Owutta Island. 3As to the first meeting of the natives with the Victory two contradictory accounts are found. At first it is related (p. 252) that they came from Akugdlit, having been on the road ten days. Later, and this is more probable, it is said that two natives had descried the ship in September, 1829, when passing near Victoria Harbor (p. 309). Being in great fear, they had immediately traveled to Netchillik to communicate with their countrymen. There they met with a woman who had been on board of Parry’s ships, and she had induced all the natives, by her stories, to be on the lookout for the Europeans. At the first meeting, on the 9th of January, 1830, 31 men approached the ship. This would answer to a population of about one hundred and twenty persons, and it is quite unprecedented that such a party should travel for any distance and even beyond the limitations of their own territory and of their customary migrations. Probably a traveling party had joined the Netchillirmiut, who had lived somewhere in Lord Mayor’s Bay, and they all went to meet the ship.

From Ross we also learn that during January and February these natives lived on seals, which were killed with harpoons (pp. 250, 255, 259), but, in addition, they had deposits of venison, seal blubber, and fish (pp. 251, 262). Sometimes they went hunting the musk ox on the mainland farther north, and a small party may have staid there throughout the winter (p. 265). In the first days of March they began to scatter all over the ice (p. 290), in order to have a better chance of sealing and of catching young seals in the white coat (pp. 293, 295). The young sealing commenced about the 10th of March. It is worth remarking that this is the only tribe on the continent of America which pursues the young seal; they are enabled to do this by the extent of the land floe in the large bays. In the last days of March some of the natives started for Sarvaq and Netchillik to fetch their kayaks (p. 315), which they had left there the preceding season. As they intended to hunt deer at the lakes farther north, they were obliged to have their boats at hand at the breaking up of the ice. The further the season advanced the more the settlements were broken up (p. 338), and towards the end of April the first families left for Netchillik to join the other part of the tribe (p. 323). At this season the musk ox and the returning reindeer were frequently hunted (pp. 252, 335, 349). In the first days of May some of the natives went to Netchillik (p. 337), and another party followed a month later (p. 383). They stopped on Middle Lake for a short time to fish for trout (p. 384). A number of families remained near the ship, sealing, catching salmon, and hunting the musk ox (pp. 436, 441, 450, 453) until the beginning of July, when the fishing season ended and they went to the inland lakes to hunt deer and fish for trout in the rapids between the lakes (p. 450). In the summer their principal fishing stations were Lindsay River and Sarvaq.

The other part of the tribe which had lived at Lake Netchillik were even more numerous than that of the coast, as 21 snow houses were found which had been inhabited by them during the winter (p. 389). The number of inhabitants of this village was about one hundred and seventy, and, since there were a few who lived on Owutta Island and yet others who may have been scattered in different parts of the country, it is probable that the whole tribe numbered 350 persons.

As they were seen only a few times by the expedition the reports are rather incomplete. In the winter they lived on a plain, which was called Okavit, on the eastern shore of Lake Netchillik (p. 315). The exact position cannot be learned from Ross’s journal. As some mention is made of blubber deposits at Netchillik (p. 388), it is probable that they lived on stores deposited in summer. Toward the end of May and in the beginning of June they were met with at Spence Bay and Josephine Bay. One of their stations was on the island Inugsulik, near Padliaq, the head of Spence Bay. Here their principal food was codfish, which they caught in holes cut through the ice, while the sealing was there a less important interest (pp. 391, 426). The kayaks which were found deposited on the west shore of Boothia as far as Josephine Bay proved that they resorted to this region in the deer hunting season (pp. 406, 407). The families who had been at Owutta during the winter of 1829-’30 were found in June, 1831, in Padliaq, whence they crossed the isthmus and visited Tarionitjoq (p. 431).