120 J. C. SCHULTZ ON THE 



There were three methods of taking the seal, either singly with the harpoon and bladder, 

 or in a company by the clapper hunt, or in the winter on the ice. Till the use of firearms 

 became possible, the customary method was that in which the harpoon and bladder were 

 used. The Eskimo, seated in his kayack with all his accoutrements, no sooner perceives a 

 seal than he approaches to the leeward if possible, with the sun on his back, lest he should 

 be seen and scented by the animal. Concealing himself behind a wave, he paddles swiftly 

 and silently forward till he arrives within a distance of thirty or forty feet, taking care 

 meanwhile that the harpoon, cord and bladder are in proper order. lie then takes the 

 paddle in his left hand, and seizing the harpoon in his right, launches it at the seal l:)y the 

 rest or casting board. If the harpoon sinks deeper than the barbs, it immediately disengages 

 itself from the bone joint, and that again from the shaft, and while the cord is being unwound 

 from its coil in the kayack, the Eskimo, the moment he has struck the seal, which dives 

 down with the velocity of an arrow, throws the bladder after him into the water. He then 

 picks up the floating shaft and restores it to its groove in the kayack. The bladder, which 

 displaces a body of water equal to more than a hundred pounds weight, is dragged down by 

 the seal ; but the animal is so wearied by this encumbrance that he is obliged to reappear 

 on the surface in about fiteen minutes to breathe. The Eskimo, on perceiving the 

 bladder, paddles up to it, and as soon as the seal makes his appearance, attacks him with 

 the large barbless lance, and this he repeats every time the animal comes to the surface, till 

 it is quite exhausted ; he then despatches it with the small lance, and fastens it to the left 

 side of the kayack, after inflating the cavity under the skin that the body may float more 

 lightly and tow more easily. 



This method of hunting is extremely dangerous, and exposes the Eskimo to the greatest 

 danger, for if the cord in its rapid revolutions becomes entangled in the kayack, or if it 

 winds itself around the paddle, the hand or even the neck of the paddler, as it sometimes 

 does in stormy weather, or if the seal suddenly darts from one side of the kayack to the other, 

 the inevitable consequence is that the kyack is capsized by the cord and is often dragged 

 under the water. The Eskimo now has occasion for all his skill to extricate himself and 

 recover his balance several times in succession, for the cord continues to whirl him round 

 till he is (piite disentangled. Even when he supposes all danger to be over and approaches 

 too near the dying seal, it may bite him on the face or hands, and a seal with young, instead 

 of retreating, often turns on the hunter and tears a hole in the kayack large enough to 

 sink it. 



The second method is called by them the clapper hunt, in which a number of hunters 

 surround the seals and kill them in great numbers at certain seasons. In the autumn these 

 animals generally come together in the creeks, where the Eskimos cut off their retreat, 

 driving them under water by shouting, clapping and throwing stones. The seals being 

 unable to remain long without air, soon become exhausted, and at last are compelled to 

 remain so long on the surface that they are easily surrounded and killed by the missile darts. 

 When the seal emerges they all rush on him with deafening cries, and on the animal's 

 diving, which he is soon compelled to do, they all retire to their posts and watch to see at 

 what spot he will arise next. This is generally half a mile from the former place, and if 

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

 in play for hours before he is totally exhausted. Should he seek the shore in his distress, 

 he is assailed by the women and children with sticks and stones, while the men strike him 



