PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 307 



the Esquimaux in pursuit of their game, or in any way chap, 



actively employed, except in transporting their goods t 



along the coast. One cause for this is that they Oct. 

 relinquished all occupation on our appearance, to obtain 

 some of the riches that were on board the ship. It 

 may, however, be inferred, from the carvings upon 

 their ivory implements, that their employments are 

 numerous, and very similar to those practised by the 

 Greenlanders. Of thesCj rein-deer hunting appears to 

 be the most common. If we may credit the sculp- 

 tured instruments, they shoot these animals with bows 

 and arrows, which, from the shyness of the deer, must 

 ref|uire great skill and artifice to effect. The degree 

 of skill may be inferred from the distance at which 

 some of the parties are drawn shooting their arrows, 

 and the artifice is shown by a device of a deer's head 

 and horns placed upon the shoulders of a person creep- 

 ing on all-fours towards the animal, after the manner 

 of the Californian Indians, and of some of the inland 

 tribes of North America. We found the flint head 

 of an arrow which had been used for this purpose 

 broken in a haunch of venison that was purchased 

 from the inhabitants near Icy Cape. In some of the 

 representations the deer are seen swimming in the 

 water, and the Esquimaux harpooning them from their 

 caiacs, in the manner represented in the plate in 

 Captain Parry's Second Voyage, p. 508. 



As an instance of their method of killing whales, 

 we found a harpoon in one that was dead, with a drag 

 attached to it made of an inflated seal- skin. It must 

 be extremely difficult for these people, with their 

 slender means, to capture these enormous animals, 

 and it must require considerable perseverance. The 

 occupation, however, appears to be less hazardous 



x2 



