. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ng and sealing,thus striving to find means of subsistence. The Innuits are, as I have frequently said, most perseveringsealers, and will go, with their dogs, even in the very coldest ofweather, and under most dangerous circumstances, to hunt forseal-holes. The sagacious dog, on snuffing the air and finding itcharged with seal odor, follows it to the windward till lie leadshis master to the very spot where a seal has its hole. The manthen proceeds prospecting with his spear through one to three feetdepth of snow, until he finds the small openi
. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ng and sealing,thus striving to find means of subsistence. The Innuits are, as I have frequently said, most perseveringsealers, and will go, with their dogs, even in the very coldest ofweather, and under most dangerous circumstances, to hunt forseal-holes. The sagacious dog, on snuffing the air and finding itcharged with seal odor, follows it to the windward till lie leadshis master to the very spot where a seal has its hole. The manthen proceeds prospecting with his spear through one to three feetdepth of snow, until he finds the small opening in the ice leadingto the main seal-hole. The hole found, the long spindle shank ofthe spear is withdrawn, carefully avoiding all disturbance of thesnow. Then the sealer remains silently and patiently listeningfor a seals blow. On hearing the second or third puff, the spear is forcibly 244 ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. struck through the snow to the seal-hole, the harpoon penetratingthe unseen seals head. The seal instantly dives, and runs out the. AN ESQUIMAUX AND 1318 6EAL-DOG. full length, say six to ten fathoms, of the line that connects the har-poon to the harpooner. The seals breathing-hole is then un-snowed and enlarged to the size of the main, when the prize isdrawn forth. Thus seal-holes are found and seals captured during the longwinters of the North. Among the Innuits just referred to as now arrived were Ugarng,Ebierbing, and Tookoolito; and I was glad to find them well,though the latter two had suffered considerably since I had beenwith them. Tookoolito informed me that a short time after my departurefrom Cornelius Grinnell Bay, the Innuit Jack, while out seal-ing, had nearly lost his life by falling through the ice into theswiftly-running tide. He only saved himself by catching his chinon to the edge of some firm ice just as the current was sweeping INNUITS DRIFTED TO SEA ON ICE. 245 him under, but his gun, powder, and every thing else belongingto him was carried a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjecteskimos, bookyear1865
