The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-20
Stefansson Receives Vociferous Wei
come From Most Widely Trav-
eled of Eskimo Tribes

Noo' AZ otiitt NOIuS' ~
was two and half or three feet high
on the ground level, and just big
enough for a man to crawl through il
on all fours. The house was dome
shaped inside as we'll as outside and
there were no rafters. They specifically
denied that sods. sticks or anything
else but stones appeared in the walls.
I asked this question with special
reference TO the manner OF construct
ing stone houses used BY the Iceland,
colony in Greenland. for in Icelan-
die stone houses sod often is employed
70 I'LL in the Chinks between the stones
On the beach here there are any NUM-
Der of FIAT and angular pieces of rock,
and OF these exclusively the house had
been built. One could not tell very
well about its dimensions because of
the mass of snow covering 1t. but II
seemed to he not over seven feet high.
and very probably had an oval floor
with transverse diameters no greater
than five by seven feet.
After Photographic this house as
we'll as the circumstances would adj
NIT We proceed to follow Natkusiak
and found that he had killed two Carl
tou. ono OF which I gave as present
TO the Eskimo. while we made use of
most OF the other.
Our course In crossing Victoria
Island from Simpson Bay. near the
mouth OF Forsyth Bay, was $40 seconds
magnetic, so nearly as the formation
of the land allowed. The elevation
gets greater and greater constantly as
one goes north until one gets within
1--WE or six miles of the shore of Prince
Albert Sound, where there is an alb
rupt descent TO sea level.
We discovered on this crossing,
which. by the way. is the first crossing
by a white man of any part Of Victoria
Island, good many natural features
of Importance. There is a mountain
range. the western end OF which was
seen first by Sir John Richardson's
party In 1926 from across Dolphin and
Union Straits but which was never
theless named by Rae in 1851 on his
journey along the southwest coast.
These mountains tthe Colville Noun
tains) come to an end in the low
stretch where we crossed the land. but
further east again they rise to con-
siderable height. and one peak is espe-
cially conspicuous. AS we did not dis
cover any Eskimo name for 1t we
called 1t Mount Bumpus. In honor OF
DR.. Herman G. Bumpus. director OF
| the American Museum of Natural His
tory, who had been the first man 10
take an active interest in the promo
ton Of our expedition.
Impressive Caribou Migration.
We had had many opportunities to
observe the migrations OF caribou, but
never a better one than now; or per-
haps a better way OF putting It may
be that the phenomenon had never i'm
pressed me so much. There were no
tremendous herds such as those which
had passed our camp on Dease River
| IN the North American Continent In
October of the previous year. which
led me TO speculate on the why and
wherefore of the fundamental differ
ence of that migration from this ore,
| 7 can never for a long time remain
of the same mind as to the reason for
the almost unbelievable massing OF
animals shown by such herd as the
Dease River one described in former
article. II some one else were 10 adj
vance the theory am about 10 present
I should no doubt Immediately see
more than one way of dcmolishing 1t,
but still we shall set +. down here.
| II is a fact known to us through the
statements OF the Eskimo, as well as
deducible on priori grounds. that
the caribou In Victoria Island begin
TO move south when the approach OF
autumn changes the conditions OF the
food. Many of them consequently
reach the sea on the south size Of the
island before the ice Is thick enough
to afford them bridge to the main
land. Accordingly they crowd up on
the south shore waiting for the
chance 10 cross. the numbers each day
being augmented by the arrival of
fresh bands from the north, whose
feeding ground has been further back
on the island Eventually, in case OF
a late fall, you would have all the
caribou Of tho entire island massed in
a few places, either where the feeding
was good or where a point jutted out
to the south. Then as soon as a night
or two OF hard frost bridges the sea
over the entire vast army moves
across
! The chief flaw In this argument Is
that the caribou that passed MS in
America In October did not seem TO
be. as a matter of fact. the same kind
OF caribou as these which re later
KILLED on Vicforia Island hut rafhep