WHALE-CATCHING AT POINT BARROW. 835 



"When the whale is killed, it is towed, as I have said, to the 

 edge of the solid floe, and the work of cutting him np begins. 

 By long-established custom, universal among the Eskimos, the 

 skin, blubber, and flesh of a whale belong to the whole commu- 

 nity, no matter who killed it ; but, at Point Barrow, the whale- 

 bone must be equally divided among all the boats that were in 

 sight when the whale was killed. 



They have none of the appliances used by civilized whalemen 

 for easily and rapidly stripping off all the blubber, but hack 

 away at everything in reach, getting off all they can before the 

 carcass sinks. The news soon reaches the villages that a whale has 

 been killed, and there are very few households that do not send a 

 representative to the scene of action as speedily as they can, with 

 sledges and dogs to bring away their share of the spoils. As may 

 be supposed, there is a lively scramble round the carcass. Some 

 on the ice, some crowding the boats, they cluster round the whale 

 like flies round a honey-pot. Leaning over the edge of the boats, 

 careless of the water, they hack and cut and slash with whale- 

 spades and knives, each trying to get the most he can. So far as 

 I have ever heard, this is a perfectly good-natured scramble, and no 

 one ever thinks of stealing from another's pile on the ice. The 

 blubber, meat, " blackskin," and whalebone are soon carried home 

 to the village. The blubber is not tried out, but is packed away 

 in bags made of whole seal-skins, and, with the meat, is stowed 

 away in little underground chambers, of which there are many 

 in the villages. 



The " blackskin " is eaten fresh, and is seldom if ever cooked. 

 This curious dainty is the epidermis or cuticle of the whale. It 

 is about an inch thick, and looks, for all the world, like black 

 India rubber ; it is not so tough, however. Civilized whalemen 

 are nearly as fond of it as the Eskimos, but are not in the habit of 

 eating it raw. When nicely fried in the fresh, sweet oil of the 

 " try-pots," when they are " boiling out " the blubber of a whale, 

 for instance, it is very palatable, tasting much like fried pigs' 

 feet. It is also good boiled and " soused " with vinegar and spices. 

 The Eskimos are fond, too, of the tough white gum round the 

 roots of the whalebone. 



The jawbones of the whale are cut out and preserved. From 

 these and from the ribs are sawed out strips of bone for shoeing 

 the runners of the sledges. In fact, everything that can be cut 

 off from the whale, before the carcass sinks or is carried off by 

 the current, serves some useful purpose. 



The most favorable time for whaling is when there is a con- 

 tinuous " lead " of open water, not more than a couple of hundred 

 yards wide, with a solid pack of ice beyond it. Then the whales 

 must pass up within sight or hearing of the boats. When the 



