EXTRACTS. 265 



the small lance, and ties it to the left side of the kajak, after inflating the cavity 



under the skin, that the body may float more lightly after him. This 



solitary method of seal-catching only succeeds with the stupid attarsoak. 



" Several in company pursue the cautious kassigiak and the attarsoit, in what 

 is called the Clapper-hunt, surrounding and killing them in great numbers at 

 certain seasons. In autumn these animals generally shoal together in the creeks, 

 particularly into Nepiset Sotmd in Baal's River, a narrow firth upwards of four 

 miles in length. There the Greenlanders cut ofl" their retreat, and drive them 

 under water by shouting, clapping, and throwing stones. The seals not being 

 able to remain long without respiration, are soon exhausted, and at last continue 

 so long on the surface that they may be conveniently surrounded and killed by the 

 Ac/Ukak, or missile dart. This hunt also affords the Greenlanders ample scope 

 for displaying their address. Their manoeuvres are not unlike those of a body 

 of hussars. When the seal emerges, they all rush upon him like falcons with 

 deafening cries, and on the animal's diving, which he is quickly compelled to do, 

 the whole party retire in an instant to their posts, watching to see at what spot 

 he will rise next. This is generally half a mile fi-om the former place. If the 

 seal has the range of a sheet of water four or five miles square, he will keep the 

 huntsmen in play for two hours before he is totally exhausted. Should he retire 

 to the land in his distress, he is assailed with sticks and stones by the women 

 and children, while the men strike him in the rear. This is a very lucrative as 

 well as lively diversion to the Greenlanders. A single man sometimes receives 

 nine or ten seals for his share in a day. 



" The third method of seal-catching, on the ice, is principally practised in 

 Disko, where the firths ai"e frozen over in winter. They are taken in several 

 ways. The Greenlander posts himself near a breathing hole which the seal has 

 made, sitting upon a stool, with his feet resting on another lower one, to prevent 

 the eifects of the cold. When a seal comes and puts its nose to the hole, he im- 

 mediately strikes it with his harpoon ; then enlarging the opening, he draws out 

 his prize and kills it outright. At other times he lies upon his belly on a kind 

 of sledge, near one of the holes at which the seals come forth to bask in the sun. 

 A smaller aperture is made not far from the large one, into which another Green- 

 lander puts a harpoon with a very long shaft. He that lies on the ice, watches 

 at the great hole till he perceives a seal coming towards the harpoon. He then 

 makes a signal to his companion, who forcibly drives down his harpoon into the 

 seal. 



" When the hunter descries a seal basking near his hole on the ice, he crawls 

 towards it on his belly, wagging his head and imitating its peculiar grunt. The 

 incautious animal, mistaking him for one of its companions, suffers him to 

 approach near enough to throw his lance. 



"Again, when the current has made a large opening in the ice in spring, the 

 r34 



