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Part 39

The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin · Francis Harper — chapter 39 of 42 · ~1,956 words · public domain

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"Caribou": Kindle, 1928: 72-73 (numbers estimated at more than 30,000,000; utilization by natives for clothing and meat); 74 (economic value of reindeer).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Birket-Smith, 1929 (1): 9, 47, 57 (importance to Caribou Eskimos); 48 (back fat); 50 (wintering on Barren Grounds; moving against wind; antler shedding; poor quality of winter meat); 51 (wolves hunting caribou; does first on spring migration; fawning in June); 52-53 (Eskimos feasting on caribou in spring); 56 (fawning in late June and early July; great migration at Baker Lake, late July; plagued by Oedemagena tarandi; most important Eskimo hunting in late summer and early autumn); 86 (tents of caribou skin among Caribou Eskimos); 89 (Eskimo spade made of antler); 90 (bags of caribou skin; fat for illumination); 94 (skins for household use); 96 (the principal diet among Caribou Eskimos); 98 (hunting by means of fences); 100 (Yathkyed Lake); 101 (heedless slaughter by Eskimos; migration always incalculable; fox-trapping replacing caribou-hunting); 102 (former use of bow in hunting); 104 (arrowheads of caribou bones); 106 (hunting by Eskimos; wariness; keen hearing and smell; buck attacking a man at Vansittart Island; deer-crossings in region of Baker Lake and Kazan River); 107 (Eskimo hunting methods); 108 (snow pitfalls); 109-110 (spearing in water; swimming ability); 110-111 (driving between lines of cairns); 112 (snares); 133 (gadfly larvae as Eskimo delicacy); 134-135 (seasonal hunting); 135 (frequent starvation of Eskimos in lack of caribou); 137 (staple food of Caribou Eskimos); 138-139 (taboos in use of meat); 140-147 (Eskimo dressing of carcasses); 141-144 (raw, cooked, and dried meat in Eskimo diet); 171 (meat as dog food); 186 (deerskin for kayaks); 191, 196, 199-223 (Eskimo clothing of deerskin); 232, 239-251 (various Eskimo uses of skin, bones, and antlers); 262, 263 (Eskimo laws for hunting caribou); 268-271 (drums of deerskin).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Seton, 1929, +3+: 95-135 (monographic); 97-99 (measurements, weight, color); 102 (distribution); 102-103 (antlers); 104 (molt; senses); 105 (communication; voice); 105-107 (disposition); 107 (aquatic ability); 107-108 (food); 108-109 (Wolves and other predators); 109-110 (effect of mosquitoes); 110-111 (warble and nostril flies); 111-116 (utilization of flesh and hide by natives and civilized man); 113-114 (fat); 117-122 (hunting by Eskimos and Indians); 122 (Artillery Lake to Back's River; Arctic islands; migration); 124-125 (reproduction); 125-127 (migration); 127-128 (wintering between Great Bear, Great Slave, and Athabaska lakes and Hudson Bay); 131 (Mackenzie River to Cape Bathurst; Langton and Darnley Bays); 131-134 (numbers perhaps 30,000,000); 133-134 (destruction by Indians, whalers, and Eskimos).

"Caribou": Blanchet, 1930: 49 (E. of Great Bear, Great Slave, and Athabaska Lakes; fawns born in late May or June; antler growth and shedding); 49-52 (migration; Lac de Gras, Lake MacKay, Beverly, Aberdeen, and Baker lakes; Coppermine, Lockhart, Taltson, Dubawnt, Kazan, and Ferguson rivers; S. to Cree and Reindeer lakes and Churchill; only a small migration now from Victoria Island to mainland; Wager and Repulse bays); 50-51 (importance to Indians and Eskimos; Dawson Inlet to North Seal River; inland from Eskimo Point and Nunalla; Padlei); 52 (food destroyed by fire; several millions); 53 (fawning area); 53-54 (possibilities for reindeer); 54-55 (relation of wolves to caribou).

Rangifer arcticus (Richardson): Critchell-Bullock, 1930: 55 (Artillery Lake; weight; therapeutic value of meat); 58 (Thelon River, thousands, late July); 143 (use as fox bait); 159-160 (numbers); 159-162 (useful role of Wolf as Caribou predator); 192 (wind direction scarcely affecting migration; Artillery Lake, mostly bucks, September to November; bucks getting lean, October 17; antlers dropping and flesh improving, November 7; practically all (buck) antlers dropped, November 19; Artillery Lake, several hundred does, November 4, then continuing to pass N. during winter; bands of bucks passing S., November 26 to December 9; young bucks with does during winter; does dropping antlers, March 24 to mid-April; all does gone N. by April 27; bucks moved N. of Hanbury River by June 20; main s. migration, Thelon River, July 23; all sexes and ages, in bands up to 2,000--total number 10,000+); 193 (scourged and driven by insects; voice; stage of pelage differing in sexes; delta of Dubawnt River; possibly yearling doe with fawn; flies gone August 24, animals putting on fat; does massing in September, hundreds slaughtered by Eskimos at Thelon-Dubawnt mouth; last seen, Baker Lake, September 5); 194-196 (table of Caribou movements--localities, dates, numbers, sex, wind.)--1931: 32 (conservation); 33 (trade in hides; Back's River Eskimos living "solely" on Caribou).

"Caribou": Hoare, 1930: 13 (bucks migrating NE., June, Artillery Lake to Ford Lake); 14 (10,000+ near Campbell Lake, going SW., late July); 16 (bands near Smart Lake, August); 21 (Ford Lake, early December); 22 (Artillery Lake and Pike's Portage, numerous, December; wolf predation); 27 (small bands swimming lower Thelon River, late June); 31 (swimming Hanbury River, July); 33 (great numbers of bucks going S. Thelon River, July 22; relation of migrations to insects and storms); 36 (circular migration about e. end of Great Slave Lake; ne. migration in spring down Thelon River); 37-38 (relation of migration to mosquitoes); 52-53 (summation by R. M. Anderson: carrying capacity of range--60 acres per Caribou; probably total not over 3,000,000).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Kitto, 1930: 87 (food; economy; numbers and depletion; migrations); 88 (effect of firearms; segregation of sexes and ages); 89 (wolves; insect pests); 89-90 (conservation measures); 110 (Keewatin, mainland and Southampton and Coats islands; Churchill, Eskimo Point, and Baker Lake).

"Caribou": Mallet, 1930: 13 (Eskimo clothing of skins, Kazan River); 20-23 (great migrant herd, led by a doe, crossing Kazan River near Yathkyed Lake); 27 (small herds migrating S., Ennadai Lake, August); 32 (Chipewyan drum of caribou skin); 85 (Eskimos between Nueltin and Baker lakes living on caribou); 87 (Eskimo clothing of caribou fur); 89 (Eskimos starving for lack of caribou); 90 (500 consumed per winter by 20-odd Eskimos); 92 (caribou-skin gloves; tongues as provisions for journey); 95 (Eskimos eating raw frozen caribou in winter and "lukewarm meat" in summer); 102 (Eskimo tent of skins on Kazan River); 116 (Indians eating caribou on Kasmere River); 131-140 (Eskimo band succumbing to starvation for lack of caribou).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus Richardson: Jacobi, 1931: 78-80 (description); 80-84 (N. to Baffin Island and other Arctic islands; E. to Hudson Bay, Southampton Island, and Melville Peninsula; S. to Churchill River, Reindeer Lake, and Fort McMurray; W. to Athabaska and Mackenzie Rivers); 140 (phylogeny); 156, 157, 159 (depletion by natives, whalers, and traders); 186-187 (habitat); 190 (occurrence in herds); 192-210 (migrations: causes, extent, routes, numbers, behavior, segregation by sex and age, dates, winter quarters); 216 (swimming); 219, 220 (unwariness; curiosity); 223 (food); 232 (reproduction); 236 (molt); 237 (change of antlers); 240-241 (predation by wolves); 244-245 (parasitic flies).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Harper, 1932: 30 (Lake Athabaska; excessive slaughter by Indians; Tazin Highlands; food; Thainka Lake; junction of Tazin and Taltson Rivers; avoiding lower Taltson River after fire); 31 (Great Slave Lake; "near Artillery Lake" [= Stark Lake?]; Indians spearing hundreds in water; migration; havoc by wolves; Caribou-eater Chipewyans).

"Caribou": Jenness, 1932: 47, 48, 58, 59 (caribou in Indian economy); 51, 58, 75, 406-408, 411, 412, 414, 415 (caribou in Eskimo economy).

"Cariboo" or "deer": Munn, 1932: 57 (Artillery Lake); 58 (great migration of perhaps 2,000,000 between Artillery and Great Slave lakes; relation to mosquitoes); 168 (Baffin Island); 191-192 (Eskimo sleeping-bags and clothing of caribou skin, Baffin Island); 210, 214 (Eskimos hunting deer, Southampton Island); 255 (trade in skins from Melville Peninsula); 271 (depletion of Baffin Island herds); 278 (decimation of caribou in w. Arctic due to Eskimos trapping white fox instead of sealing in winter).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: 33, 35, 36, 81, 82, 84, 85 (predation by wolves, Southampton Island); 79 (formerly abundant, but no longer); 79, 81 (migration); 80-83, 86-87 (hunting and utilization by Eskimos); 81 (scatology); 81, 84-86 (reproduction); 81-86 (antler growth and shedding); 83 (standing on hind legs); 84 (food; foot-glands; voice); 84-86 (parasitic and other flies); 87-88 (description); 88 (previous records on Southampton Island).

Rangifer tarandus arcticus. . .: Weyer, 1932: 38 (most important land animal to Eskimos); 39 (utilization by Eskimos; food); 40 (fawning period; seasonal fat; migration).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Birket-Smith, 1933: 89 (immense numbers on Barren Grounds, but recently declining); 90 (gadflies plaguing caribou); 91-92 (migration); 92 (thousands at Baker Lake, late July; scourged by mosquitoes); 93 (no longer migrating from Victoria Island to mainland); 94 (occurrence in autumn and winter at Repulse Bay); 100 (good hunting near Whale Point, Roe's Welcome; use of cairns in hunting by Eskimos); 106 (not many near Eskimo Point); 112 (great migration at Baker Lake beginning in June); 118 (deer crossings on lower Kazan River); 121 (difficulty of reconciling reindeer culture with presence of caribou).

"Caribou": Ingstad, 1933: 34 (caribou deflected on s. side of Great Slave Lake by forest fires); 48 (buck on Barren Grounds harassed by black flies); 85, 110 (E. of Great Slave Lake); 86 (asleep on ice of lakes); 87 (leaping into air before running off); 88 (varying wariness); 90 (carcass as fox bait near Artillery Lake); 118, 122 (use of meat and hides by Indians, Great Slave Lake); 134-135, 324 (spring migration across Great Slave Lake); 135 (antler velvet eaten by Indians; larvae of nostril and warble flies); 139 (Indian drum of caribou skin); 156-159 (migration; followed by wolves, ravens, foxes, and wolverines); 158 (rutting season and behavior); 159 (antler shedding); 160 (numbers); 161 (migration influenced by grazing available; fawning on Arctic islands); 162 (separation into different herd groupings); 162-163 (destruction by Eskimos with firearms along Arctic coast); 163 (migration deflected by burning of country); 165-166 (conservation; wolf predation); 167 (dependence of Caribou-eater Indians on this animal); 176, 181 (Stark Lake and vicinity); 186-187 (use of meat by Caribou-eaters); 204, 216, 218, 220, 222 (upper Thelon River region); 207 (predation by wolves); 225, 229-231 (Nonacho Lake area); 247, 253 (dependence of Barren Ground Indians on caribou); 253-254 (former hunting with spears, bows, dogteams, barriers, snares); 257-259 (Indian use of meat and hides); 280 (migrating near e. end of Great Slave Lake); 291, 293, 296 (thousands in winter on Barrens E. of Great Slave Lake); 293, 297 (unwariness); 302-304, 306-307 (predation by wolves on Barren Grounds); 312 (albino caribou).

"Barren land caribou": Stockwell, 1933: 45 (large herds in August, Point, Thonokied, and MacKay lakes and Coppermine River).

"Caribou": Weeks, 1933: 65 (very plentiful on Maguse River after August 4).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): R. M. Anderson, 1934a: 81 (utilization of skin and meat; migrations; Melville Peninsula, Boothia Peninsula, and Baffin Island).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: R. M. Anderson, 1934b: 4062, fig. 9 (map shows range of subsp. arcticus extending N. only to Arctic coast and over Baffin Island).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Flerov, 1934: 240 (cranial measurements).

"Caribou": Godsell, 1934: 273-276 (trade with Eskimos on Arctic coast resulting in great slaughter of caribou); 276 (importation of reindeer to Mackenzie Delta region to replace caribou).

Rangifer arcticus (Richardson): Hornby, 1934: 105 (food; weight; fat; migrations influenced by natives, unfrozen large lakes, and fires; effects of flies; rutting season and behavior; antler shedding); 106 (irregular migrations; sexual segregation; wolf predation); 106-107 (movements, numbers, and dates in region between Great Slave and Baker lakes); 108 (beneficial effect of wolves on caribou).

"Caribou": Wray, 1934: 141 (abundant, Lac de Gras, 1932); 144 (few S. of Mackay Lake).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Degerbøl, 1935: 48-51 (specimens from Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula, including an albino from Rae Isthmus; descriptions).

"Caribou": Freuchen, 1935: 93 (abundance of rabbits supposed to lessen wolf predation on caribou); 99 (wolverine reputed to attack sleeping caribou); 120 (pursuit by wolves near Wager Inlet); 121 (followed by wolves, Melville Peninsula; predation by wolves, Southampton Island); 122 (wolves said not to follow caribou across streams; wolf methods of hunting caribou); 128 (caribou carcasses consumed by Arctic foxes).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Murie, 1935: 74, 75 (type locality; skull measurements).

"Barren ground caribou": Alcock, 1936: 9 (Lake Athabaska).

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