Caribou

The presence of caribou in the various regions is closely linked to the shape of the vertical profile of the land. During the calving period the caribou prefer to remain solitary and away from the coast, and this is greatly facilitated by the land forms of the interior of King William’s Land, with its good grazings. In July and early August, by contrast, one finds them near salt water, where a halophytic species of moss grows and commonly occurs in the low meadow lands.

Place: West side of King William Island
Date: July 7–September 30, 1879
Source: Klutschak HW. 1881. Overland to Starvation Cove. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Caribou Herds

The hill on which our tent stood … provided a panorama with a radius of five or six miles, and during the period from 10 A.M. until 5 P.M. there was not a single moment when we could not count caribou in their hundreds. I have already noted earlier that during the summer they make their home on the northern and western parts of the island and find abundant fodder on the great moss meadows there. But as fall approaches they congregate in great herds which daily reach the seashore, led by majestic bulls...

Place: South east King William Island
Date: October, 1879
Source: Klutschak HW. 1881. Overland to Starvation Cove. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Reindeer

The rein-deer is by no means a graceful animal; its high shoulders, and an awkward stoop to its head, giving it a rather deformed appearance. Our new acquaintance had no horns; he was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a broad black rim round the eyes, and very white about the tail. We observed that, whenever he was about to set off, he made a sort of playful gambol, by rearing on his hind legs.

Place: Melville Island
Date: June 1, 1820
Source: Parry WE. 1822. Journals of the first second and third voyage for the discovery of the North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 1819–20–21–22–23–24–25, in his Majesty’s ships Hecla, Griper and Fury, under the orders of Capt. W. E. Parry, R.N.F.R.S. and commander of the expedition, vol. 2. London: John Murray, Albermarle Street.

Caribou Feeding

There were here three or four acres of thick, close and rather long grass, affording excellent feeding for the rein-deer and hares of which several were seen. A great number of white whales were playing about near the beach.

Place: Lyon Inlet/Gore Bay
Date: September 15, 1821
Source: Parry, W.E. 1823. Journals of the first second and third voyage for the discovery of the North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 1819–20–21–22–23–24–25, in his Majesty’s ships Hecla, Griper and Fury, under the orders of Capt. W. E. Parry, R.N.F.R.S. and commander of the expedition, vol. 3. London: John Murray, Albermarle Street.