THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 229 



outlines, so there was no telling whether they were stones or caribou 

 until one's mind was made up by study. They might have been 

 white geese, for in looking across a range of hills and then over 

 some invisible ice beyond to a second land, there is no easy way 

 of estimating distance. It took about half an hour of watching 

 before one of the bodies moved with reference to the other five. 

 These were then not stones, since one of them had moved, and not 

 geese, because six geese at this time of day would not have retained 

 their positions relative to each other unchanged for half an hour. 

 By a process of elimination, they were caribou, which had all been 

 lying down, until just now when one got up and moved a few steps. 



The men in the camp below had supper cooked and could be 

 seen waiting for me; but as there were no caribou on the island 

 and we had only half a meal of food, and as a wolf might come 

 along and chase away my band of caribou or fog arise to shut them 

 from view, I decided to go after them at once. Following the 

 sky line of the island to make sure that the men saw which way I 

 was going, I started eastward at a brisk walk. I knew they would 

 infer that there was no use waiting supper, I also expected they 

 would infer that they were free to eat all the meat there was. To 

 have saved a third of it might have been courteous and even kind, 

 but they ate it all on the assumption that I would secure my own 

 supper before I came back, which was a vote of confidence I valued 

 far beyond kindness or courtesy. 



When I started towards the caribou I thought I was going after 

 my supper, but it turned out to be breakfast. For when after three 

 hours of walking I came within half a mile of them, I found them 

 grazing near the middle of a huge saucer-shaped bowl of grass-land 

 where it was impossible to approach from any side without being 

 seen. In an uninhabited island caribou might popularly be expected 

 not to be afraid of a man. As I understand their psychology, neither 

 would they if they could know he was a man. But how are they to 

 know it when with their poor eyesight they can see an object and 

 still not be able to tell whether it is a wolf or a caribou? When 

 anything comes unexpectedly into sight they make their decision 

 on the side of discretion, assume what they see is a wolf and 

 promptly flee, although as often as not what they flee from is an- 

 other caribou or some other, to them, entirely harmless animal such 

 as a fox or polar bear. 



In view of the topography and of the nature of caribou, there 

 was nothing for me to do except to wait. Of course I might have 

 adopted the hunting tactics of the Slavey and Dog-rib Indians of 



