OF THE POLAR SEA. 11 



gaze upon this extraordinary phenomenon, it 

 instantly stops, and the head begins to play its 

 part by licking its shoulders, and performing 

 other necessary movements. In this way the 

 hunters attain the very centre of the herd without 

 exciting suspicion, and have leisure to single out 

 the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes for- 

 ward his comrade's gun, the head is dropt, and 

 they both fire nearly at the same instant. The 

 herd scampers off, the hunters trot after them ; 

 in a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain 

 the cause of their terror, their foes stop at the 

 same instant, and having loaded as they ran, 

 greet the gazers with a second fatal discharge. 

 The consternation of the deer increases, they run 

 to and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes 

 a great part of the herd is destroyed within the 

 space of a few hundred yards. 



A party who had been sent to Akaitcho return- 

 ed, bringing three hundred and seventy pounds 

 of dried meat, and two hundred and twenty 

 pounds of suet, together with the unpleasant in- 

 formation, that a stiU larger quantity of the latter 

 article had been found and carried off, as he sup- 

 posed, by some Dog-ribs, who had passed that way. 



The weather becoming daily colder, all the 

 lakes in the neighbourhood of the house were 

 completely, and the river partially, frozen over 



