TRACES OF ESQUIMAUX.
- tended both to the north and the south; and that,
finally, the tribe now inhabiting the coast from Cape York to Smith Sound were cut off by the accumulation of ice as well above as below them; and he believed that Esquimaux were living at this present time in both directions. That there was once no break in the communication between the natives of the region about Upernavik, along the shores of Melville Bay, there can be no doubt; and Kalutunah appeared to think that the same would hold good in the opposite direction. The ice has accumulated in Smith Sound as it has in Melville Bay; and what were evidently once prosperous hunting-grounds, up to the very face of Humboldt Glacier, are now barren wastes, where living thing rarely comes. At various places along the coast Dr. Kane found the remains of ancient huts; and lower down the coast, toward the mouth of the Sound, there are many of more recent date. Near Cairn Point there is a hut which had been abandoned but a year before Dr. Kane's visit, in 1853, and has not been occupied since. In Van Rensselaer Harbor there were several huts which had been inhabited by the last generation.
The simple discovery of traces of Esquimaux on the coast of Grinnell Land was not altogether satisfactory to Kalutunah, for he had confidently expected that I would find and bring back with me some living specimens of them; but he was still gratified to have his traditions confirmed, and he declared that I did not go far enough or I should have found plenty of natives; for, said he, in effect, "There are good hunting-grounds at the north, plenty of musk-ox (oomemak), and wherever there are good hunting-grounds, there the Esquimaux will be found."
