1916] TO KING CHRISTIAN ISLAND 235 



mo-ding-wa's sledge on top of Noo-ka-ping-wa's, and 

 drove on to meet Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa, who was return- 

 ing on another sledge to tell us that the bear had returned 

 to the sea ice and had been shot by E-took-a-shoo; the 

 latter, driving up the coast, had seen her coming down 

 the hill to meet him. 



I quote from my field journal: 



April 3, 1916, Monday.—l am wondering how long this is to con- 

 tinue — perfect weather and fresh meat every day. A bear, two 

 musk-oxen, and a hare to-day. 



If I live to be a hundred, I shall never see a better scrap with 

 a bear than we had to-day. About an hour after turning into Eureka 

 Sound, we saw a bear sitting at a seal-hole, I should say one mile 

 from shore. She did not see us coming until we were about 150 

 yards away. The dogs were then at full gallop, and every Eskimo 

 shouting at the top of his voice. 



She jumped to her feet, turned her black muzzle toward us, 

 stretched out her neck, and sniffed the air. Then she decided to 

 leave, which she did in jumps resembling the skipping of a gas- 

 engine; it was a cross between a gallop and a trot. Her gait would 

 have driven a good horseman to drink. A small pup of Noo-ka- 

 ping-wa's was right at her hmdquarters, taking a nip whenever she 

 touched the ice. 



I was second in the chase, my dogs going at full speed. I turned 

 to get my camera out of the case, and when I looked again I had 

 passed Noo-ka-ping-wa and was within ten yards of the bear. Just 

 then she turned. My dogs spht, some going one side of her and 

 some the other, with the result that I scooped her up with my sledge. 

 When I reahzed that she was "coming aboard" I deserted my ship 

 and ran out to one side. In a few seconds she was fighting for her 

 life against ninety dogs. What a moving picture that would have 

 made! They fairly buried her. 



I was running everywhere, trying to focus my camera and yelling 

 to the Eskimos to shoot to save the dogs, which we could hear howl- 

 ing with pain. To my surprise, there was not a rifle in sight. I 

 yelled for Arkho to get his revolver, a .45. By this time the circus 

 had started south, with me hanging to the back of my sledge and 

 threatening my dogs in all kinds of language if they didn't stop; 

 but that was the last thing they thought of doing. 



In the mean time the Eskimos were spending their time yelling 



