 The Ugarem-Le lived in village communities following traditional patterns of hunting, fishing, agriculture and trade for many thousands of years before contact was made with European visitors to the region.The people of Stephen Island call themselves Ugarem Le, and are the same people as the neighbouring Erubam Le of Erub (Darnley Island), the Meriam Le and Nog Le of Mer (Murray), the Dauarab Le of Dauar and the people of Waier.The traditional language of these islands is Meriam Mìr, of which there were formerly two dialects, Erub-Ugar and Mer-Dauar-Waier.